Hiking Dude Blog

Tomorrow starts this year's long hike for me. I'll be taking a plane to D.C., then bus, metro, and train to Harper's Ferry, WV where I'll find the Appalachian Trail.

The trail runs from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine which is about 2180 miles, but I'm only doing the northern 1165 miles this summer/fall - that's why I'm calling this my "Half Hike". Other commitments both in the earlier summer and in October have allowed me only 55 days to hike so this is how far I figured out I can go - at a pretty brisk pace.

About 2000 people or so start hiking from GA to ME each year and they all start around the same time. This creates a big bubble of people moving up the trail. Since they have different paces, the bubble spreads out the farther north it moves. I will be starting my hike at the very tail end of the bubble, and hopefully will catch up to hikers every day. I'm excited about this, but also a bit concerned...

Who will I most likely find on the trail? Well, those that are slow, injured, or got a late start. Possibly people not having a really good time. But, they've all made it over 1000 miles, so I plan to be as encouraging as I can, and learn as much from them as I can quickly.

I'm starting on a fairly easy area of the trail so I have a few hundred miles to "warm up" before reaching what seems to me like the most challenging part - the White Mountains. Since I'm hitting these barren mountain tops late in the season, I will see cold temps and possibly snow. I'm hoping for a warm, dry Indian Summer in the northeast! :-)

As usual, you can follow my progress here since I'll be carrying my Spot tracker that will blip to a satellite every 15 minutes or so, and I'll be blogging every day.

I've made it possible to read comments you leave here on my cellphone and reply to them - assuming I have coverage out there. Just a 'howdy' can be a real boost when I've been plodding down the trail for days on end, so I look forward to hearing from you.

Also, I would appreciate it if you could tell any hiker friends you might have about my hike so they can follow along.

Finally, anyone living anywhere near the Appalachian Trail is welcome to contact me and hike along. An unexpected night off the trail at someone's house has always been a great surprise!

Hike On

I actually stepped on the Appalachian Trail today - but just stepping over it while walking from the train station to the Teahorse Hostel in Harper's Ferry. My entire day was spent on planes, trains, automobiles, and buses. So, I'm here and ready to start tomorrow morning. I met one other hiker at the hostel tonight, but she's hiking southbound. The rest here are a bunch of bicyclists - they're ordering pizza for their dinner just now and it's amost 9pm. Looks like a late evening. The hostel, and its owner Laurel, are very nice. The town is very 'civil war' like - cannons, barricades, and such all over. Very cool. Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings!

I walked 68165 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 32 miles today.
My first day on the Appalachian Trail has been spectacular! At Harper's Ferry, this sign started my journey at about 6:30am and I'm now settled in Cowell shelter almost 32 miles from my start. Check out my current location on the map. I've already met more hhikers than on my entire AZ Trail hike, but nearly all are day or short-trip folks. I found one guy that has been hiking the whole trail and is now following behind me. Another guy, Rising Star, let me hike with him to this shelter. He's a wealth of information, having hiked arund here often. He's heading to NY, but we'll separate tomorrrow. The cicadas are amazingly loud tonight as the sun has set and things cool down.

I walked 62232 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 25 miles today.
This was my excitement for today! I was trucking along pretty fast, but this guy stopped me quick. I slowed down for a few miles after meeting him. :-) Avter a nice rest in my first A.T. shelter last night, I got a late start but covered a lot of very rocky miles. I detoured off the trail to get food in Waynesboro, then hooked up again. Learned an important lesson - since the trail is on a ridge, all detours to towns involve another big down and up. And, the roads here are just as steep as the trail. I met a handful of SoBos on the trail, most at the end of the day. They were all going to wind up at a shelter I had just passed. There's noone at the Rocky Mt. Shelter with me except some extremely loud insects out in the woods. I guess they are cicadas. So, it's to bed by 8:30 and hopefully an early, healthy start tomorrow. No service so this will post tomorrow, I guess.

I walked 45602 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 20 miles today.
Wonderful, but challenging, day of hiking! My left knee throbbed all day, especially on downhills, so I did a shorter day. On the trail, I met 'Toots' and his sister. Ran into them a couple more times and we're staying at the same shelter along with Wildfire and a Sobo guy. Wildfire is a young lady started in Springer and hoping to reach Katahdin. Toots is also doing the whole trail - his sis is with him for a week or so. It was great to reach camp early, wash a little, and get to visit instead of just crashing in bed. This pic is of me on one of the many Washington monuments around the area - taken the first day. I'll let you know how the knee works out tomorrow.

I walked 46149 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 19 miles today.
Made it to Alec Kenndy shelter on a bum knee. :-( The folks I met yesterday didn't get here, but two SoBos showed up separately. They are a real testament to the variety of people, styles, and goals out here on the trail. :-) Both seem like good guys and it sounds like they are at the front of the SoBo bubble so I should be seeing more each day, as long as the knee holds out. I'm giving my knee tomorrow and then the next morning into Duncannon to get better, or I see a local doc for advice. And, thanks a ton for the supportive comments. It really helps to get them on a ridgetop with cell coverage. Speaking of ridgetops, this pic is the Rock Maze - a big jumble that the A.T. goes through.

The 'scattered thunerstorms' have changed to a downpour the past hour. Fortunately, I got to Boiling Springs and hve waited out much of it at a gas station. It's letting up, so I'm back on the trail. A local guy here chatting with his buds gave me a cantalope from his garden - mmmmmm! Hoping for Duncannon and a bed tonight, but we'll see.

I walked 63558 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 29.5 miles today.
This view from the north across the Cumberland Valley shows the mountains where I started hiking this morning. From this nice view, I still had 12 miles of mountain trail to reach Duncannon, PA which I did a little after 7pm. Dead tired and out of water, I stumbled into town to find a bit more walking required due to a construction detour. Finally reaching the Doyle hotel here just before John locked the door made my extra efforts on the trail pay off. I'm checking in with a doctor tomorrow for my knee to see what can be done about it. As you can see from the miles of today, I can still hike but it's miserable and it would be dumb to force more injury. I met few people today, just a couple SoBos and some day hikers. The rain probably kept folks off the trail.

I think a good question to ask yourself when you are participating in a recreational activity, such as a long hike, is: 'Is the effort I'm expending worth the enjoyment I'm receiving?'

Most outdoor activities include some strenuous effort that result in rewards. For example, hiking to a mountain top, or paddling across a lake, or climbing up a cliff. Parts of the activity are grueling work, but the rewards of beautiful views, exciting rapids, or new terrain are worth the expected work.

When the answer to the question is 'No, the effort is more than the rewards,' then it's no longer recreational. And, I feel, it's time to stop. That happened to me earlier this week, for the first time on my long hikes.

My left knee became painful the second evening of my hike, most likely because I was pushing too hard on very rough, very steep, downhill portions of the trail. The next day, the discomfort grew until it hurt on every step - up, down, or level. For 3 more days, I continued on with the hope it would eventually work itself out but it maintained a fairly consistent irritation.

So, when I arrived in Duncannon, PA on Sunday night, I had a plan to visit a doctor in the morning and then make a decision. If the knee should feel better in 2 days or less, I would continue. If it would take longer than that, I could not afford to sit in a town for 3 days or more because I would miss my already small window of completing the trail before winter weather.

Monday morning, the doctor checked me out and said it looked solid with no major tearing and I could continue to walk on it - but recommended slower pace and even terrain. She said continuing my hike on the trail would most likely not make it worse, but it would not get a chance to heal and the pain could take a long time to abate.

This is when the question came up. A 2 hour debate with myself and I concluded: 'No, I'm not enjoying this.' The ongoing discomfort from the past 4 days would continue for the near future and I would not have fun.

I arranged a 20-mile shuttle to Hamburg, PA where I caught a 1,106-mile greyhound bus ride home. Late Tuesday night, after 24+ hours touring the country, I was home. I took yesterday to rest and come to grips in my head with my first long distance hiking failure.

Failure is the description that I keep coming back to for this hike. I had a goal to walk a certain distance in a certain time and reach the trail end. I failed to do that, actually didn't even come close. So, my trail record is now 3 wins and 1 lose. I completed the AZT, SHT, and IAT. I didn't complete my first effort with the AT.

It's pretty easy to start coming up with better ways to look at failed goals to make them not seem so bad. I hiked 123 miles in 5 days. I walked in 3 states - WV, MD, and PA. I learned a lot for future hikes. I met some interesting people. But, for now, I'm just sticking with 3-1 and admitting to myself that, however I look at it, I didn't reach my goal.

I'll share tomorrow some of the things I learned on this short trek and my plans for some shorter hikes the rest of this year.

PS: This picture is the last one I took on my hike. I am resting on a mountain before the final 600-foot steep, rocky, drop into Duncannon.

I've posted my trail journal, photos, and map from my short Appalachian Trail excursion. You can review it all at AT Hike page.

I've been out walking 4 to 8 miles on the local trail this past week to keep my knee moving. It's feeling much better and I will be spending days over the next month taking in some local hikes around the Twin Cities. I have a book titled '60 Hikes Within 60 Miles' for Minneapolis and I'll check out a few of those.