Hi Everyone, today is Saturday, August 18. I DID IT, I completed the Appalachian Trail as a Thruhiker, yesterday, Friday, August 17 at 9:30 A.M. I summited Mount Katahdin along with "Metric" and "Sticks" who were a few minutes ahead of me. We were joined shortly by "Gorp", "Hawk", "Peeper", and "Gumpy". We celebrated in grand fashion with yelps  and cheers.  Some day hikers came along behind us and gave us congratulations and watched our celebration.  Also finishing today, (but arrived at the summit after I started my climb down - they were hiking up with family members at a slower pace) were "Teflon" and "Sparrow".  It was a grand feeling to finish and words cannot convey the emotions.  However all I could think of on top of the mountain was the scene in the movie of "Forest Gump", when Forest is running in the desert and stops and turns to the crowd behind him and says "I'm tired, I think I'll go home now." - that is  how I felt.  Since my last blog entry on August 9, I will give you the update of events.  I had planned on finishing on August 15, but Denise had August 17 off from work and suggested that I finished on that day.  I thought it was a grand idea.  I was stuck in this weather pattern of rain and pushing off my finish date by 2 days allowed me to take an extra zero day in Monson and sit out day 2 of 3 days of rain.  Plus it would allow me to slow down and take 5 days to go through the 100 mile wilderness instead of 4 days and give me a chance to enjoy the hike through the wilderness rather than just hiking to finish.  I am glad I took the extra couple of days because it gave me added rest before I started the 100 mile wilderness section, and I had a wonderful experience of enjoying the last section.  I left Monson and hiked a short 15 miles and held up before I had to go over the 1st of my last 2 mountains (Chairback Mt). The day was muggy and I was soaked from sweat. I started bumping into the last of south bounders and a lot of flip-flopper's (flip flopper's are north bound thruhikers who decided to get off the trail and fly north to Katahdin and start the hike south). On day 2 it rained and going over Chairback Mt was a very slow hike because it wet and slippery (only fell twice).  The next 3 days were a mix of extreme mugginess and rain.  Needless to say that I, and all of the other hikers, developed an extreme case of "hiker funk" (foul body odor).  I tried to bathe in ponds and streams every night but my cloths and gear were constantly wet and smelled as bad or worse than my body.  On my 5th day in the 100 mile wilderness, I bumped into "sharky" who was heading southbound.  I last saw "sharky" in Gorham, NH - he completed his northbound thruhike 5 days earlier and was now heading south to complete a southbound thruhike (this is called yo-yo).  I was getting a lot of congratulations from flip-flopper's and section hikers.  Although this felt good, I was cautious and getting a little superstitious that a premature acknowledgement of completion of the trail would cause me some reason not to finish.  I began to walk more slowly and navigate every step through rocks, roots, and mud with caution so that I would not break a leg or ankle, or cause some other injury that would keep me from finishing.  The last night on the trail at the Birches shelter (reserved just for thruhikers) we were all sharing the same feeling that we are all so close and feeling paranoid that some injury would keep us from finishing.  After the 100 mile wilderness I came out to the Golden Road at Abol Bridge on the Penobscot River at the Abol Bridge Convenience Store and Campground.  This is just outside of Baxter State Park. This is the unofficial marshaling area before thruhikers make the last 10 mile hike into Baxter State Park.  We stop here to resupply, and for most, spend the night and hike the 10 miles into the park, then once in the park start up Mt Katahdin the following morning.  It took me forever to fall asleep Wednesday night because I was so excited to get to this point and couldn't stop thinking of my last 10 mile hike into Baxter and then the 5 mile hike up Mt. Katahdin.  At 6:30 A.M. on Thursday morning "Teflon", "Sparrow", and I were waiting at the Abol Store to open at 7:00 so we could get a hot breakfast.  It started to rain (down pour with thunder and lightning).  We sat under a canopy at picnic tables for a couple of hours eating breakfast and having coffee when "Metric " and "Sticks" arrived, followed by "Hawk", "Peeper", and "Gumpy".  By 10:30 the electrical storm had stopped and the rain slowed from a heavy down pour to a steady rain.  I had itchy feet, and knew I'd be wet no matter what, so I decided to hike out to the Birches.  I was soaked, and the trail was full of water in sections.  It was a grand last ten mile hike (even with the rain). I followed the Penobscot River for 4-5 miles and the trail was flat and no roots and rocks to navigate.  Eventually the trail became muddy, rocky, rooted, and just one big puddle inches deep.  I slowed down so that I would not injure myself.  I arrived at the Ranger station by 2:00 P.M. checked in (I am thruhiker #203 to complete) and then went to the Birches Lean-To and settled in for the afternoon and evening.  Everyone else started trickling in.  We all got into dry cloths and proceeded to eat enormous amounts of food that we packed in from the Abol Store (subs, chips, etc), then we all had lunch, we proceed to cook supper (chili, hot dogs, etc).  We sat up until 8:30 remembering the events of the last 5 months and sharing stories.  We had a lot of laughs.  We all went to bed and were up by 5:00 and all on the trail by 6:00-6:30.  I can't tell you how fast we all hiked up that trail.  I completed the first 1.25 miles in 20 minutes and completed the 5 mile hike to the summit in 3 hours.  I went up the Hunt Trail (the AT trail) and came down the Abol Trail.  "Hawk's" father was waiting for him at the base of Abol Trail, and told me that Denise just drove by a few minutes ago on her way to the Katahdin Stream Campsite, and he gave me a ride so I didn't have to walk the 2 miles down the road to meet up with Denise.  I was so Happy to see my lovely wife.  We celebrated our reunion, had lunch, shared lunch with another (flip flop) hiker, I took a bath in the brook, changed into street cloths and we started the 5 hour trip home.  I am so grateful to everyone who supported me in this little adventure.  I am especially grateful to all of the trail angels who gave me soda, food, rest, rides, shelter.  I am grateful to my extended family who along the way came out to pick me up and host me at their homes and camps.  And most of all I am grateful to my lovely wife Denise who encouraged me to take advantage of this window of opportunity in my life to continue on with a thruhike; her coordinating of getting me new and replacement gear, her managing the home front alone and doing all of my chores, enduring my absence, her words of support and encouragement when I was emotionally spent, her rescuing me in Andover and nursing me back to health when I was sick.  I could not have done this without her.  I love you Denise -
Thank you so much.  I hope all of you have enjoyed following this adventure.  I will post the last of pictures in the next couple of days.  I will have to delete some old pictures to make room for new pictures. 

Hi everyone. Today is Thursday, August 9. I made it to Monson, Maine yesterday.  Monson is the last town before Baxter State Park and the beginning of the 100 mile wilderness. I am taking a zero day today and will resupply and head out tomorrow (in the rain) and begin the 5 day hike across the 100 mile wilderness.  I will arrive at the entrance of Baxter State Park and on day 6 hike the 9 miles to the Birches Camp site and then on day 7 will hike the 5 miles up Mt. Katahdin and complete the thruhike and hike the 5 miles back down and be done.  I could finish on the 15th but Denise will be picking me up on the 17th, so I am slowing down for the 17th.  It will be nice to have a steady pace and not rush.  Although I, like everyone else, am ready to be done.  I cannot thank Denise enough for driving the 2 hours up and 2 hours back to Kennebunk to come get me when I was sick - taking care of me and nursing me back to health - and then driving me all the way back to Andover.  She is my saving grace on this hike, (never mind everything else she has done for me). Since I have been back on the trail I have been feeling much better.  About 3/4 of the hikers have come down with this virus, and it was so bad that the Maine Board of Health was out in Andover taking samples to isolate the strain of virus.  This section of trail from Andover, ME to Monson, ME has been magnificent.  I hiked from Andover to Oquossic and was picked up by Denise's sister Celine and her husband Dale (they were vacationing on Mooselookmeguntock lake) and they brought me to the camp cleaned me up and fed me.  We had a wonderful evening.  The next day I hiked over to Rangely and hitched a ride in and did laundry ( one set of cloths soaked from rain the day before, and second set of cloths soaked from sweat).  It has been hot and muggy and the cloths get pretty rank with sweat and don't dry out in the evening.  I then hiked to Caratunk and was picked up by my sister in law Cathy's sister Ellen and her husband Ron and they brought me to their camp on Moxie Lake and they cleaned me up and fed me.  What a great spot they have - it is like a slice of heaven.  I got to look across the lake at he next day's hike over Pleasant and Moxie Mountains.  The hike from Rangely to Caratunk was the most magnificent of the whole trail for me.  This section has the reputation for being very difficult and discouraging to thruhikers.  This range includes Saddleback Mt, Crocker and Sugerloaf Mt's, and The Bigelow Mt's with East and West Avery Mt's.  Even though it was hot and muggy those 3 days, the breeze on the mountain tops kept me cool.  It was some of the most exciting climbs and views on the whole trail.  And, I did not find these climbs tough at all. I only have 2 mountains to climb, one about 2000 feet and one about 3500 feet.  The rest is flat terrain and rocky, roots, and muddy.  Today I am taking a zero day to re-supply and rest (I will miss a day of rain).  Friday and Saturday I will be hiking in rain.  For the most part I have been lucky and have not had much rain at all for 2 months.  I won't be able to update until I finish.  I hope that later today I will be able to upload a bunch of pictures - if not I will do so when I am finished some time after the 17th of August.

I've added some more pictures.  I ran out of space on Picassa so I need to clean out some old pictures so I can add another 50 pictures.  Probably will not happen until I finish the hike.

Hi everyone. Today is Tuesday, July 31.  I have struggled with this violent illness for the past few days.  I was up all night  Saturday sick - took a turn for the worst.  Denise made the 2 hour drive and came up to Andover Sunday morning and picked me up and brought me home so I could recover.  It is now Tuesday and I am feeling better and will go back to the trail tomorrow morning, Wednesday, August 1.  I am a little discouraged because I was making good time and thought I'd be done by the 10th; and people I've been hiking with are finishing up this week and next.  I am just grateful that my trip is not at an end and that I am able to go back to the trail and continue on. I have only about 250 miles left, and will complete the trail by the date I had originally planned on finishing - August 15.  I will put in Andover, re-supply in Stratton, maybe stop in Caratunk, and re-supply in Monson before I enter the 100 mile wilderness, and then Mt. Katahdin.

Hi everyone, today is Friday, July 27. Last week I got caught in the Gorham NH, vortex.  I ended up spending 5 zero days there.  I got off the trail a week ago Tuesday and zeroed on Wednesday.  On Thursday I went pack to Pinkham Notch and hiked forward to Gorham NH.  I thought this would take 2 days but I was able to complete this difficult section in one day.  Since the next section between Gorham NH and Grafton Notch in Maine is 31 miles and one of the most difficult and slow sections on the trail I couldn't hike forward or slack pack in one day (Friday) so I took another zero day.  I stayed in Gorham because Denise came up for Saturday and Sunday and we had a nice weekend together. I left Gorham NH on Monday morning and held up after only 17 miles because of looming thunderstorms.  I was in the shelter on top of Mt Success that night and a wild thunderstorm came through, and it rained all night.  The next day, Tuesday, I climb down into to Mahousic Notch.  This is considered the most difficult mile on the trail.  It was, It took me 2 hours to climb over,. around, under, and between these boulders.  What made it even more difficult was that everything was wet and I fell 14 times.  It was a slow laborious day and I only completed 10 miles. Wednesday and Thursday were better hiking days but I had not been feeling all that well.  There is a virus that has been hitting both southbound and northbound hikers between Gorham NH and Andover ME.  On Thursday about noon I jumped off the trail in Andover, ME because I had not been feeling great, the weather was lousy, I needed a shower, and needed to do laundry.  This morning, Friday, at about 3:30 I woke up ill and have been making multiple runs to the bathroom. I got the virus and feel miserable and keep vomiting, etc.  I am a little discouraged, because I keep seeing people who I passed in New York going by  me.  I feel like I'm falling behind.  It is now 6:30 and I am feeling a little better and have been able to eat Ritz crackers and drink Gatorade, and so far  so good I can keep it all down. Hopefully, in the morning I feel better and have enough energy to hike out.  It is suppose to rain Saturday and Sunday, but I need to get going and hike on.  Hopefully I can get out tomorrow and hike into Rangely for Sunday and meet up with Dale and Celine (who are spending the week there).

Hello everyone. Today is Tuesday, July 18.  I am taking a zero day in Gorham, NH.  I climbed over Mt. Moosilauke, through Kinsaman Notch, and over the 2 Kinsman peaks (very difficult climb over the Kinsman's).  This was one of the best days on the trail because when I summited Moosilauke, it was the most awesome view and reminded me of just how spectacular the White Mountains truly are.  That climb reinvigorated me for the trek across the White's and gave me a huge psychological boost.  The weather has been consistently hot in the high 80"s and low 90's and muggy (sometimes it is breezy to cool things down a bit) thus making the hiking a little more difficult.  I had planned on only hiking 10-12 miles a day through New Hampshire, but have done some big mile days including a couple of 20 plus mile days.  From Crawford Notch to Pinkham Notch was a blast and a glorious trek across Mt's, Lafayette and Garfield.  It was sunny that day and I could see forever.  In the White Mountains the Appalachian Mountain Club owns and operates a system of Huts that is like a hotel system for hikers spread out through the mountain range.  Thruhikers may stay and sleep and eat for free in exchange for a little work (give a talk, wash dishes, etc).  I have stayed at two of the Huts ( Zealand Falls Hut and Mitzpah Hut).  It was fantastic, they fed use huge amounts of food including a turkey dinner one night, pasta dinner the next night, and eggs-sausage -pancakes-coffee-juice for breakfast. On Monday, July 16 I crossed over Mt Washington, Mt Jefferson, Mt Adams, and Mt Madison.  It was cloudy all morning, but the clouds kept breaking so I had some fantastic views climbing up Mt Washington. After lunch I headed across the rest of the range and had the most difficult stretch of hiking on the whole trail so far.  After climbing over Mt Jefferson I was on the western side of Mt Adams and a rain storm with 30 plus mile per hour winds came in and  beat me up all afternoon.  The mountain is nothing but a huge rock pile, and each step is from rock to rock, and hop to hop from boulder to boulder.  This becomes extremely taxing when the rocks are wet and slippery and the wind is pushing you in a different direction than you want to go.  Basically I got the SNOT KICKED OUT OF ME. I was never so happy to be done with a day of hiking and I was so sore from my toes to my hips that I couldn't fall asleep until after 1:00 AM that night because of the constant throbbing pain in my lower body.  However, I wouldn't change the challenge of that hike because it was a real test. I actually want to go back and hike that section in the opposite direction on a non windy, sunny, and  cool fall day.  Yesterday morning the group of us that had been hiking together since Crawford Notch (Scout, Doc Dave (from South Berwick), Switchback and SID (stands for Stuck In Drive)) all decided that we needed to get off the trail and recover from crossing over Mt's Adams and Madison.  So after a 2 hour hike out to Pinkham Notch we had breakfast and waited for our shuttle to come pick us up and bring us to the Hostel in Gorham NH.  Wise choice for all of us, because yesterday was filled with heavy rainstorm and severe thunderstorms.  Lightning, exposed mountain ridges, and hikers with metal hiking poles just don't mix well.  The rest of the group have taken off this morning to continue on and hike the next 21 miles across the Wildcat Mountains.  I have chosen to zero today.  Gorham NH is 21 miles from Pinkam Notch by road.  North of Pinkham notch, the AT goes right through Gorham, so hikers can jump off the trail in a couple of spots and come into Gorham on either side of Wildcat Mt.  The group of hikers that I have been hiking with for most of the trail are a day ahead of me and zeroed in Gorham today because of the weather, so we all got together last night for supper.  It was a blast and there were a dozen of us "hiker trash" thruhikers having dinner at Mr. Pizza (nice restaurant in Gorham) toasting our accomplishments and swapping stories (this is probably the last time I'll see mouse and dutchman unless I can catch up with them).  After I finish my hike Friday, July 20, I will only have 298 miles to the summit of Mt. Katahdin.  I will be in Maine next week.  At this rate I will complete the trail sometime between August 10 and August 15, God willing and the Creek Don't Rise, barring injury, illness, weather, or any other unforeseen event.  I am at a computer that has limited band width and can't upload pictures.  I will try to get to a library by this weekend and upload recent  pictures.

Today is Wednesday, July 11.  Well since I took a zero day in Manchester Vermont I have felt much better.  The aches and pains are gone, I think mostly as a result of a new pair of shoes that Denise brought to me in Norwich, VT.  The replacement shoes I had did not give me the proper fit and support and was the cause of my aches and pains. When I left Manchester it took me another 4 days to get to Norwich.  I was a day short of hiking into Hanover, NH.  Denise came up to Norwich for the weekend and I was picked up 23 miles short of Hanover on Friday.  From Friday afternoon through Sunday morning I visited with the lovely Denise, her sister Celine and husband Dale, and the baking queen Sarah who is at King Arthur Flour for her CIA internship.  We had a fantastic time visiting, sightseeing, and dinning.  On Sunday, Denise drove me back to the point on the trail that I exited on Friday.  From there I slacked packed the 23 miles back into Hanover, NH.  I have completed Vermont and am now at mile 1785 in Glencliff, NH; only 399 miles to go. Today, I took a Nero and am eating, eating, and eating and getting some rest before I start the big climbs in the White Mountains.  Tomorrow, I will climb Mt. Moosilauke and go through Kinsman Notch, and come out at Franconia Notch.  I will resupply and head for Mt Lafayette (second highest to Washington).  I will be taking my time through New Hampshire.  It will be in the 90"s the next couple of days so the climbing will be slow.  I'm talking with a couple who just came in from slack packing and I'm getting the low down on how to slack pack through the White's as much as I can.  Hope I can make it work.

Well, today is Monday, July 2.  I woke up this morning with some aches and pains and thought it best to take a zero day.  I had today scheduled as a zero day, but was going to move on to Norwich.  I think the best plan is to rest because the next 5 days will be a lot of elevation changes.  So, I will rest and eat lots of food.  The Dutchman and Mouse have moved on, and Doug may catch up.  It is going to be in the high eighties and muggy for the rest of the week so it will be a challenging week.  I have uploaded some more pictures.  Enjoy.

Hi everyone, today is Sunday, July1. It has been a full three weeks and this is the first chance I have had to blog.   I have hiked through New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and now I am in Manchester Vermont. I ended up having 3 zero days with the Greenberg's in New Jersey; the third day was to avoid a big rain storm. I'm glad I did because everyone on the trail was talking about how miserable they were hiking in the storm.  I really like New Jersey, the views were terrific ( I could see New York City from 50 miles away). There are a lot of bears in New Jersey, and I had one sniffing around my tent one morning at 5:00 just as I was ready to get up and get going.  So I just laid in my tent quietly for 30 minutes until he was done sniffing around and walked off into the woods. The weather through all these states has been very hot an muggy.  Many days have been in the 80's and some days in the 90's.  Even with the heat and the increased difficulty of the terrain, I have been averaging 22 miles per day through this section.  New York was very difficult for me.  I was not expecting the many steep rock scrambles and the heat and humidity.  Plus, I have found that I was still not eating enough food to keep me energized.  When I got to Greenwood Lake NY, I had run out of gas after 6 miles and was wondering how I was going to keep going.  I hiked another 4 miles to a road and walked 2 more miles into town and sat for 2 hours and ate as much food as I could, and brought a HUGE sub back on the trail with me for supper - it did the trick.  The day after father's day I was tired and discouraged and ended up taking a zero day after 4 miles of hiking and washed my cloths (all soaked with days of sweat), and more food and rested.  This ended up being a big boost.  Prior to this day I hadn't seen any of the hikers that I had been hiking with all along.  And, the people that were hiking in this little bubble of hikers were a bit rough. I eventually connected with hikers I had been hiking with in North Carolina and Virginia.  We had been separated because we all took extended zero days because of various reasons, but mostly because people jumped off the trail to nurse injuries.  Meeting up with these other hikers like "mouse", "Spock", and "the Dutchman" gave me a book psychological boost.  We have been hiking together through Connecticut, Massachusetts, and now Vermont.  When I got to Kent, Connecticut, I got off the trail to resupply after 10 miles of hiking and planned on getting back on the trail for another 10 miles.  It was 98 degrees and 100% humidity that day, and the hottest day I experienced on the Trail.  "Spock" and "Glasses" came off the trail for a break to avoid the heat.  We all had lunch, went shopping at the IGA, and washed all of our sweat soaked cloths at the laundry before we got back on the trail. "spock" and I decided that we could just stay in town and get a hotel room ("glasses" needed to get back on the trail).  So the two of us got a room at a cool bed and breakfast that caters to hikers.  We ended up staying two nights so we could slack pack the next 16 miles section.  Boy, am I glad that we did, because we finished our 16 miles and called the Inn for a ride back to the Inn, and while we were waiting to be picked up a enormous thunderstorm came rolling in.  We took shelter under a wooden covered bridge in West Cornwall Connecticut.  We sat and watched the lightning strike the mountain that we would have been on if we were still on the trail and not slack packing.  Trees were blown down all over the place.  The next couple of days on the trail we were running into hikers who were caught in the storm and they had some wild stories of dodging trees that were falling around them and lightning strikes all around them. When we got to Great Barrington, Massachusetts my brother Dave, his wife Cathy,. and daughter Carly came out to see us and hiked in onto the trail to meet us.  They took us into Great Barrington and we had a great time at lunch, eating ice cream, and telling stories of the trail.  We neroed in Great Barrington and slack packed 8 miles the next day. We had a break in the weather and a couple of cool days in Massachusetts.  When we hit Dalton, Mass, we stayed at a hiker hostel that has become my favorite place on the trail.  "Spock", "The Dutchman" and I were transported to North Adams, by Tom (the owner of the hostel) and we slack packed the 23 miles over Mount Greylock (the highest mountain in Mass) back to Dalton.  This was fun because we ran into other hikers that were a day ahead of us, and hikers we hadn't seen since Virginia.  When we were getting back on the trail in North Adams, Mass to continue our trek north into Vermont, we met our first southbound thruhiker.  We talked with him for awhile and gave him trail info going south and obtained trail info going north. We met two more southbound thruhikers the two following days. Today, I arrived in Manchester, Vermont with "mouse" and "the Dutchman" ("spock" is a day behind because the heat is slowing him down, but he'll catch up and we will be together by next weekend). We are staying at this fantastic hostel in Manchester and we have resupplied and will be making a 5 day trek to Norwich starting tomorrow, July 2.  We will spend Wednesday night at Killington and will be in Norwich, Vt by Friday afternoon if all goes according to plan.  I will take a couple of Zero days in Norwich and prepare for the most difficult section of the trail - New Hampshire and the White Mountains.  I hope to have internet time in Norwich next Sunday and time to update you on my trek and post updated pictures.

Hi everyone.  Today is Tuesday, June 12. I completed the section through Pennsylvania at 7:30 on Sunday morning, June 10.  Since Harper's Ferry, my average daily mileage has been 24.7 miles per day.  Right now I am taking a couple of zero days with my brother and sister in law David and Michelle and their boys Gabe, Michael, and A.J. in New Jersey.  I crossed into New Jersey Sunday morning at the Delaware Water Gap and David came out to pick me up.  I did stop at the hostel at the Delaware Water Gap and took a shower and put on clean cloths before I got into David's vehicle (I can't explain the degree of smell from the "hiker funk" that is our body odor - it is so bad that when we leave a store the clerks walk around spraying fabreeze).  The last 11 days of hiking have been fun, adventurous, and some of the most rewarding.  First, most of the people I had been hiking with before I took a week off in Harper's Ferry and D.C. have hiked past me and I have been catching up with them.  It has been fun reconnecting with them.  I have come across a different group of people that I hadn't encountered on the trail, this is a younger crowd who likes to party - I'm way past that stage in my life and I'm just as happy to have broken away from this group.  For about 4-5 days I hiked with this nice kid (age 26) "Mr Wrong"  and we had a lot of laughs.  One day the innersole of one of his shoes cracked and caused him much pain and the new shoes were 3 days away from being shipped in, so he hiked in his Crocks for about 75 miles.  We encountered some severe weather and cut a 35 mile day short and stayed in this old mansion turned into a hostel located at Pine Grove Furnace, PA.  The next day we were going to make up the mileage and hike the 35 miles and we entered Boiling Springs, PA (one of the most beautiful 'Norman Rockwell' picturesque towns on the trail) and they were having a big festival so we stayed for some local BBQ, and then found out the local resort had a special deal for hikers - so we cut our day short at 2:00 and ended up spending the night in a nice luxury resort and had a huge buffet dinner with lots of sushi.  The next day we hiked into a town called "Duncannon" which is an old mill town and railroad town that has seen better days.  Although the people there were terrific.  We stayed at this infamous hotel called the "Doyle" and nicknamed the "Dirty Doyle".  The Doyle had the best Hamburger on the trail; but the Doyle is an old flee bag of a flop house that is one step above sleeping in a cardboard box under a railroad bridge.  "Mr. Wrong" held up in Duncannon to wait for his shoes and I moved on to meet another hiker "Marathon".  "Marathon" and I connected on Clingman's Dome in Tennessee and then again in Hot Springs, North Carolina.  He had made it past Rutland, VT (hence the trail name Marathon) and had jumped off  the trail to come home to be in his best friend's wedding.) His house is 10 minutes from the trail and he came and picked me up and we went into Lancaster, PA to eat at the world's largest buffet.  Let me tell you, it was amazing; it is the size of a Home Depot.  I ate an enormous amount of food there.  From there I went on to Port Clinton, PA where I got shuttled into Hamburg, PA by Cabela's and was able to replace some worn out gear.  As you can see in the pictures that I posted I have hiked through much farmland and some easy footing for about a 100 miles.  However, as you can see in the pictures, the next 50 miles from Port Clinton, PA to the New Jersey Border at the Delaware Water Gap was nothing but a grueling hike that was the most difficult section of the trail.  Yet all in all, Pennsylvania was some of the most enjoyable hiking I've had on the trail.  Now I am enjoying an extended stay with David, Michelle and the boys.  I have had the most enjoyable time with them and am well fed and well rested.  Michelle was going to drive me back to the trail this morning, but a huge rainstorm is coming through with thunderstorms and predicted 2 inches of rain.  David urged me to take another zero day and hunker down from the rain. I resisted at first because I don't mind hiking in the rain; but when I saw the updated forecast last night with the forecast of the severity of the storm, I decided to take David's advice and spend another day with them.  Plus, they are so much fun and I don't get to see them all that often.  Next I'm onto about 17 days of hiking through NJ, NY, CT, MA and should be in VT by the weekend of June 30th.  New pictures are posted.

Today is Friday, June 1.  I have hiked out of Harper's Ferry and am at mile 1,095 just past the official halfway point of mile 1,092.  I hope to be in New Jersey sometime between Sunday, June 9 and Tuesday, June 11 - we'll see.  Parts of Pennsylvania are flat and high mileage days, but some parts of Pennsylvania are very rocky and slow going.  I just don't know what my daily mileage will be.  For the past couple of weeks I've been anywhere from 18 to 30 miles per day.  Since I've been off the trail for a week, some people I had hiked  past have caught up and it has been good seeing them; others have moved ahead, and I'd like to catch up to them.  The past few days have been hot and muggy, but a big weather front is moving through and the forecast for the next few days calls for mid 70's temperatures and lower humidity. 

Well, since I made it to Harper's Ferry I have been resting.  Denise flew down to D.C. and we spent the Memorial Day weekend together.  It was fantastic to see her - we haven't seen oneanother since she dropped me off at Logan on March,17.  I arrived at Harper's Ferry ahead of schedule and was going to hike on a couple of days before I came into D.C., but Denise suggested that I take the time to rest my sore feet. I'm glad that I listened to her, because I feel much better.  We had a wonderful time in the city.  We toured around and saw the monuments.  Yes we walked.....it gave me a chance to break in the new shoes Denise brought to me.  We had some wonderful dinners, went to the Smithonian, and saw the Memorial Day parade.  It was sad to see Denise go.  Today, Tuesday, May 29, I am heading back to Harper's Ferry and jumping back on the trail.  The next three weeks will be a fast moving pace ( I hope).  It has been in the 90's this week, and hopefully I will have cooler weather the next couple of weeks. 

I have added another 139 photos for your viewing pleasure.  I am taking a couple of zero days in Harper's Ferry to rest my sore feet.  All of the hikers are coming in with sore feet, shine splints, or knee/ankle problems.  Compaired to most I'm fairing pretty well, but my feet are in need of a rest.

I have made it to Harper's Ferry, today, May 22 at 2:00 P.M.  Halfway Baby. I am thruhiker #184 to make it into Harpers Ferry from Springer Mt. I was  planning on hiking in yesterday, but my feet were sore, and it was pouring rain so I took a zero day at the ATC Bears Den Hostel, 20 miles south of Harper's Ferry.  It was a great place to take a zero day. I am over a week ahead of schedule.

Hi everyone.  Today is Monday, May 21.  I have just come through the Shenandoah National Park.  When I posted last I was in Waynesboro, Virginia.  Waynesboro is a great hiker friendly town.  They have this whole network of trail angel's, who when you call them, will come out to the trail head and pick you up and drive you into town, and bring you back to the trail head the next day or two when you are ready to start hiking again.  I planned on taking a zero day in Waynesboro, then I decided not to do so because I didn't feel tired, then there was this huge rain storm coming in so I decided that I will take a zero day in Waynesboro.  I'm glad I did.  There was between 3 and 4 inches of rain.  At breakfast on Tuesday morning, before I started back on the trail, I met "energizer" who is a section hiker from Saco, Maine, who just completed a 1,000 miles of the trail.  He had hiked from Harper's Ferry to Waynesboro and hiked in the rain yesterday.  He said that I made the correct decision to not hike yesterday in the rain - He said the trails were flooded and the rain was so heavy that he ended up with 2 inches of water in his back pack.  The trail through the Shenandoah Mountains was the easiest section of the trail to hike so far.  It is relatively smooth, and most of the elevation gains and losses are gradual.  The trail parallels the Skyline Drive.  Along the Skyline Drive, and accessible by side trails, are Wayside fast food restaurants and two resorts with more formal sit down restaurants.  I stopped at each one of these and had either breakfast, lunch or dinner.  It took me 4 days to hike through the Shenandoah's and on days 3-4 I had real meals (in addition to what I was eating from my pack).  I have lost 38 pounds and the size 34 inch waist shorts I purchased two weeks ago are too big for me now.  While in the Shenandoah's I have seen a total of 15 bears. For the most part when you hike up onto a bear or bears (mother and cubs) they will run away.  They are more fearful of humans than we are of them.  I had two unique bear encounters.  On my second day on the trail in the Shenandoah's, it was about 8:30 in the morning and I came to the junction of a side trail and the AT, I stopped to read the sign post to get mileage to the trail head I wanted to jump off to so that I could get breakfast at a wayside.  I heard all this ruckus in the treas above me.  I thought it might be turkeys or turkey vultures taking off because I disturbed them.  As I here all this snorting, huffing, and puffing, I look up and there is a female bear with her cub in this huge oak tree right above me.  The female isn't too happy with me, and she is climbing out of the tree towards me while making all this snorting noise.  I took off and ran up the side trail.  I stopped about 40 yards from her and she was watching me and I was watching her.  Finally the cub climbed back to the top of the tree and started eating again, and the female did the same.  Now, I'm on the wrong trail, and didn't want to bushwhack back to the AT, so I ran back down the side trail, and ran up onto the AT.  The bear just looked at me and went on eating.  That night I got to this Picnic Area at mile 904 and was about 6 miles short of the shelter and camping area that I was heading for at mile 910.  It was 7:00 PM and I decided to stop and cook dinner while it was light, plus it would give me the extra boost of energy to hike the next couple of hours, (and I wouldn't be cooking dinner at 9:00 in the dark while everyone is trying to go to bed).  This picnic area was huge, about 3-4 acres of grass, toilets with running water (and soap), and picnic tables. We are not suppose to camp at or within a certain distance of the picnic areas.  I decided that I was going to put in here for the night.  I had my dinner, washed up with soap in the bathrooms, washed my shirts in the sink, and set up my tent.  I found a spot in the back of the picnic area which would be difficult for a ranger to see me if they came through to check the park before sunset or at sunrise.  I figured, there is no one here, I'll put in at dark and be up and out before 6:00 AM, and who will be the wiser, and that is what I did.  No ticket, no fine.  Well, at 9:30, I'm laying in my tent and almost asleep when I here this grunting and snorting, stomping, and thrashing of brush in the woods behind me.  For 10-15 minutes I can hear it getting closing and closer.  I know that this is a bear since I've seen and heard enough of them by know.  The bear comes up to my tent and is sniffing around, then it moves onto the tree from which I have my food bag hanging.  I listen to it for another 10-15 minutes snorting and sniffing around that food bag.  Then by 10:05 I hear the bear move across the picnic area and back into the woods.  The next morning I look, and the food bag is still hanging in the tree.  I also saw lots of dear, rabbits, and snakes.  BIG, Diamond Back Rattlesnakes.  For the most part the Shenandoah Mountains were unimpressive because it was easy hiking and limited views.  However, the third day of hiking was spectacular views, especially the views of Sky Meadows Valley. When I left the Shenandoah mountains, I pulled into a hostel to shower, do my laundry, and eat more food.  I bumped into a couple of hikers that were ahead of me who I had been hiking with a couple of weeks earlier, "Dundee" and "Blue", it was good to see them.  I spent the next morning going into Font Royal to re-supply with a couple of days of food to get me to Harper's Ferry.  Yesterday, when I was leaving the Terrapin Station Hostel at the edge of the Shenandoah National Park, I came across a couple of families and a group of Girl Scouts out for a day hike - Happy 100 Year Anniversary.  Some of them are from Springfield Massachusetts.  I had a blast talking with them - they were fun.  This was the first group of Girl Scouts I came across; I've met a bunch of Boy Scouts out hiking and camping. After two days of hiking from Font Royal (each day about 18-19 miles per day) I pulled into the Bears Den Hostel about 20 miles south of Harper's Ferry.  I decided that since I am so far ahead of schedule and because my feet are swollen and sore, that I will take an unscheduled zero day here on Monday, the 21st and then hike into Harper's Ferry tomorrow.  I'm glad I did it is pouring rain and waterlogged hikers have been coming in all day looking miserable. I soaked my feet last night, and am soaking them in ice water today, and will soak them in Epsom salt water also.  This hostel is awesome, it is like staying at a mansion (well it is a mansion) or a 5 star resort - check it out at www.bearsdencenter.org . I have limited internet bandwidth here and they request that we don't upload pictures here. So, I will wait until I get to a Library and will upload the rest of my pictures - there is a lot of pictures coming.  That's all I've got for now.

I've done it, I've figured out how to add pictures

I've figured out how to add pictures.  Next week, when I get to Harper's ferry I will upload the rest of pictures and add them.  until then enjoy.  I will be on the trail for the next 6 days and won't hit a hostel until the 21st.  If they have internet access I will upload the rest.  Also, if you click on the link to the pictures it will increase the viewing size.

Well I give up.  I have spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to connect my Google Picasa picture album with pictures of the AT to my Google Blogger so that you can see pictures.  I can't make it work, and everyone else is using anything but Google Blogger (because google is a lousy blog format) so I can't get any of the techno people to give me a solution.  SOOOOOooooooooo the end result is no pictures.  Because I just can't figure this out.

OK, today is Monday, May 14 and I am in Waynsboro, Virginia.  I am taking a zero day.  I had planned on taking a zero day here, then I changed my mind and I was going to skip this town and go on to Harper's Ferry.  But when I got the weather report yesterday that we will be getting over 2.5 inches of rain today, I decided to hold up here and get caught up on things and head back onto the trail tomorrow.  I am trying to upload pictures but I am having a difficult time figuring it out.  Hopefully I will get it figured out.  The last few days have been a blast.  Now I know I talk a lot about FOOD and Trail Magic, but I can't tell you how fantastic it is!.  It is great to get the food, but it is also great to meet the people who a providing the trail magic. I think this is some of the most exciting part of the adventure.  I am so enjoying Virginia, and I can't believe I will be in Harper's Ferry in a few days and onto Maryland and Pennsylvania.  Since the last blog entry, I have had my first slack pack experience.  I stayed at a hostel called the Dutch Haus and met up with a couple of other hikers who slacked packed (one guy "daypack" - this is his 3rd AT hike) who convinced me to do the same.  I was driven 20 miles up the trail, took a small backpack  and put in a litre of water, water purifier, camera, phone, and lunch & snacks, and was dropped off on the trail and hike southbound back to the Dutch Haus hostel.  This was a blast.  As I was going south I met up with people I was hiking with and said my good bye's to a couple who would be going onto a different hiking schedule, and I met up with a couple of people who have been ahead of me and who I've been following in the shelter logs.  One hiker, "Doctor Dave" is from South Berwick.  I've heard about him since I started and what a nice guy he is.  I met up with him on the slack packing trip and then this morning I had breakfast with him at the hotel (he was finishing a zero day from yesterday).  I'll catch up with him tomorrow and hike with him a bit through the Shenandoah Mt's.  I will be starting through the Shenandoah Mt's tomorrow, March 15, and expect to complete this section by March 21.  This will be Harper's Ferry.  HALF WAY BABY.  Yesterday was mother's day and I got to a road crossing on the Blue Ridge Parkway around 10:15 (about a half hour after I stopped for a mid morning snack overlooking a view of a huge valley) and there were three trail angel's "king" who hiked the trail in 2010, Joe who hiked the trail in 1973 (when it was really a challenge), and his wife Sarah.  The served breakfast including pancakes, sausage, hot coffee, Gatorade, soda, watermelon, strawberry's, snickers, oreo's, granola bars, and more.  I had so much fun hanging out with them I stayed until 12:00.  They kept trying to get me to stay to have lunch which included BBQ pork chops, grilled potatoes with lots of butter, and more.  When a couple of other hikers showed up I took my leave and headed back onto the trail.  All is well, and I am going to walk over to the Chinese Buffet and stuff myself (I have lost over 30 pounds - my new size 34 inch waist shorts are even too big now).  I will come back to the library later today and attempt to upload photos.

May 11 part 2

So, I spent quite a time this afternoon updating this blog, then it only saved part of the blog.  So here I am again trying to update.  Again.  After I hiked out of Daleville, VA, the trail follows along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  This is kind of interesting because the trail keeps crossing the Parkway.  The second day out of Daleville, I had planned on a 24 mile day.  By late morning it started raining.  I don't mind the rain, it is better than hot humid weather, and generally I can hike more comfortably because I am not overheating.  At mid day I came to a road crossing just before a 2,000 foot climb and I met a nice couple who had lawn chairs set up, their SUV tailgate open with all kinds of trail magic including juice, ice tea, water, homemade bread, zucchini bread, brownies, butter, apple butter, and YUMMY hard boiled eggs (protein is a commodity).  They were very nice and I sat and talked with them for a while and was getting too comfortable, but needed to start climbing.  ( I lost the paper with their names, and hope that if they read this they will comment and leave me their names).  This gave me the added energy for the afternoon climb.  By 3:45 I came to the Cornelius Knob Shelter just five miles short of the shelter I was planning to hike to for the day.  The heavy down pour was due soon, and after reading trail logs from the last shelter and this shelter it looked like the next shelter would be full and I would have to tent in the rain.  I do not like tenting in the rain and prefer staying in the shelters when there is foul weather.  So I decided to stay put and make up the miles the following day.  I got my water, set up my bedding, changed into dry clothes, cooked and ate dinner, and cleaned my dishes.  It was now 5:15 and this clean couple in their late 50's come around from behind the shelter (there is a parking lot on the Parkway about a 100 yards behind the shelter...who knew), obviously not hikers, and carrying tote bags.  They were Zora and Cornelius, the shelter caretakers, who on the day of their 30th anniversary decided to come out in the pouring rain and celebrate with thruhikers by bringing trail magic.  They brought a complete dinner with roasted chicken, fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni salad, cole slaw, and cookies - and their was a lot of food.  Unfortunately for the other hikers, no one else hiked in to this shelter, so the three of us sat for an hour and a half and feasted.  I couldn't believe it.  The next day I continued on to the summit of the mountain and hiked down into the valley along the James River.  By 3:00 I stopped for a mid afternoon snack at a shelter and met up with two other hikers I had been leap frogging with.  I needed two days of re-supply to get to Waynsboro where I planned to take a zero day and make a big re-supply.  So one of the other hikers and I decided we would hike on 2 more miles and hitch hike the 5.5 miles(in the now pouring rain) to the town of Glasgow to get groceries.  We crossws the James river (on this very long foot bridge) and come to a bulletin board in the parking lot that has a handwritten poster stating "AT thruhikers, free ride to town at 5:00 with ride back to trail head, free BBQ, showers, shelter, and re-supply"; It was 4:00 so we waited for this trail magic along with 2 other hikers.  At 5:00 our ride shows up and we all pile into this SUV driven by Jim a retired peanut farmer who brings us into town where another 9-10 hikers are waiting.  They had a BBQ pit on a trailer, served hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, beans, oranges, sweets, coke, strawberry shortcake, and lots of it.  This was provided by two retired couples "Jim and Dawn", and "Tony and Betty".  Now the story is that this is the second time they have done this. Last week was the first time they did this, after Tony and Betty picked up a thruhiker hitch hiking into town who talked about and explained trail magic.  I have to say the best part of this whole trip so far has been meeting the gracious people who go way out of their way to provide a little comfort.  It is simply amazing and has restored my faith in the goodness of people.  I can't tell you how much it means when you walk out of the woods and your tired and you have a big hill to climb and you need sugar (hiker's heroine) to make the next hour or two of climbing and someone walks up to you and asks you if you are hungry and thirsty and sits you down and gives you a drink and a cookie.  These are the most thoughtful people one could ever come across.  The next day, Thursday, May 10, I am now fueled by two days of protein from all the trail magic and have all kinds of energy.  They weather is clear, sunny, no humidity, no rain, and a cool breeze all day.  I had two 2,000 foot climbs, one at the beginning of the day, and one to finish the day as part of another marathon hiking day which was a 26.4 mile hike.  I had views of the James River, Valleys both east and west as far as the eye can see.  This was the most enjoyable hiking day of the 53 days that I have been on the trail.  At the end of the day I was on top of a mountain overlooking Cold Mountain (for those of you who have read the book by that name), sleeping in my tent under a clear sky filled with stars in a huge field (acres and acres). When I approached the camping area there were two other thruhikers here "sprite" and "snag", "sprite " was swinging on a swing hung from a tree.  I got up at 5:00 and finally rolled out of my sleeping bag (which stinks- my cloths stink, I stink, all hikers stink -- especially after a couple of days of rain) and packed everything up ate my breakfast of Wasa bread and Cream Cheese and hike a short day called NERO (nearly zero miles) of ten miles.  I hike to a parking lot from which I and 7 other hikers were picked up from and brought to the Dutch Haus Hostel at Miles 817 (only 200 more miles to Harper's Ferry the home of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the unofficial and psychological half way point - mile 1092 is the actual half way point.  also only 50% of the thruhikers make it to Harper's Ferry, and only 50% of those hikers make it to Mr. Kathadin.)  I plan on pulling into the Dutch Haus Hostel for one night to get a much needed shower and laundry plus more hot home cooked food.  I meet some other thruhikers, one of them "daypack" who is making his third thruhike in 6 years, and another "Dutchman" just came in from slack packing.  The owners of the hostel brought them 20 miles up the trail and they hiked the 20 miles back to the hostel with just a small back pack with some water and lunch.  Only a couple pounds in the pack vs. a full pack.  After reviewing the next 9 to 10 days it will take me to get to Harper's Ferry from here, I decided that I will stay on here another day and do the same.  This will allow me to skip a zero day in Waynsboro and get to Harper's Ferry in 8-9 days from now.  Early on I had hoped to be in Harper's Ferry by June 1st.  I should be there by May 20th +/-.  With that I am still trying to get pictures posted.  I have moved some from my camera to PICASA and am trying to figure out how to link Picasa to the Blog.  It is a slow and time consuming process, and usually I am restricted on time and access to a computer.  They will be coming sooner or later.  Besides that, all is well, I am healthy (lost 30 pounds and went from a snug 38 inch pant size to a loose fitting 34 inch pant size. Much more to come after Harper's Ferry and Memorial Day weekend.

May 11

OK, it has been a few weeks so this will be a long update.  My last post was from Damascus Virginia.  I had a zero day in Damascus and re-supplied, cleaned up, did laundry, replaced some gear.  Damascus is known the be the AT Hiker town, and the annual AT Trail Days, 4 day, hiker festival is held there in May.  I didn't care for Damascus and couldn't get out of town fast enough.  Most everyone I've talked to on the trail hold the same impression and didn't care so much for this town.  Well the one thing that I was hoping to avoid was snow.  I left Damascus to climb Virginia's highest Mountain, Mt. Rogers.  They were calling for snow.  On the second day out of Damascus I started the 6 hour climb to the summit and the 4 hour climb over the backside of the Mountain, called the Grayson Highlands.  When I started my climb at 6 am, it was cold, and just started snowing.  By 9 am I was hiking in 3-4 inches of snow. I was the first one on the trail and was blazing the way.  By 9:30 "Mouse" (who I first started hiking with near Hot Springs on Easter Sunday), another hiker caught up with me and passed me and she blazed the trail over the Grayson Highlands.  We had constant 30 mph winds with regular gusts of 50-60 mph.  It was wild.  When we got to the top of the Mt. and crossed the Grayson Highlands, it was a guessing game because the "white" trail blazes that mark the trail are painted on the rocks and on some occasional poles and the snow and ice were covering the white blazes.  We made it without getting lost.  The Grayson Highlands are known for this herd of wild miniature ponies.  The weather was so bad we never saw the ponies, but could see their hoof prints in the snow.  A group of us  (mouse, stretch, earlybird)slept in a shelter that night on the backside of the Mt, and we were still at 4000 feet of elevation and the cold wind blew all night, it was the coldest that we all had been on the trail.  It took two days to hike out of this section and we all ended up in the town of Atkins, VA and stayed at this dump of a hiker hotel called the "relax Inn".  We were so grateful to have hot showers, hot hamburgers, and clean laundry.  That night it poured buckets from midnight to 7 am.  After a hot breakfast a group of us headed back on the trail by 8 am.  By 9 am it started pouring and rained buckets until 2pm.  All the  brooks turned to rivers, all the rivers flooded over roads and bridges.  The trail became a makeshift stream.  We were hiking in 3-4 inches of water on the trail, and it when we were climbing it was like a stream running over our shoes.  There was one point that the trail crosses a brook that is normally about 8 to 10 inches deep, but this day there was so much water that the brook turned into a stream and flooded over the bridge by 3 feet.  We went to the farm house next to this brook, now river, and asked the woman for directions back to that trail.. We took a 2 mile detour down some roads and got back to the trail.

I spent had my first 30 mile day, I hiked 34 miles for a hamburger and a pizza and tented by a brook that night.  The next day I had a short hike of 15 miles and stayed at the Woods Hole Hostel.  This hostel is a 100 year old log cabin made out of cherry wood. Then I ended up in Pearisburg, VA. I made friends with the "gunrunner" and "doug aka spok". I took a zero day here and connected with three other hikers from Santa Barbara, CA ("the three amigos") and we rented a car and drove 25 miles to Blacksburg, VA (home of Virginia Tech, nice town) and went to the outfitters for new shoes.  I had worn out my shoes and had little tread left to the point that they were dangerous.  The outfitter didn't have the model of shoe I was wearing and sold me a different model from the same manufacturer.  After 5 days of hiking in these shoes my feet, ankles, and leg muscles were killing me.  When I got to Dalesville I found an outfitter and had to lay over Sunday until they opened on Monday and was able to purchase a new pair of shoes.  The new shoes are working out well and I"m back to hiking comfortably.

Well, it is now April 21. I Hiked from Hot Springs, NC through Erwin, TN and I am now in Damascus, VA.  It was an eventful 11 days of hiking.  When I left Hot Springs it got very cold for the next 4 days with temps down into the low 20's at night.  I stayed in shelters rather than my tent so I wouldn't have to pack up my tent in the freezing cold at 6:00 in the morning.  I hiked over some spectacular mountains with views that went on forever.  I stopped in Erwin, TN about a third of the way through my hike from Hot Springs to Damascus and got cleaned up, re supplied, and ate a hot meal which was at Kentucky Fried Chicken all you can eat buffet.  Let me tell you, that when you get to a town you are so hungry that you will eat massive quantities of food, especially meat. I'm now in Damascus. VA and am taking a zero day to rest, clean up, re-supply, and eat.  Damascus is a hiker town.  Right now there are a lot of hikers that have come off the trail and are staying in town.  So, many that there are no vacancy's in town.  It will rain today and the next two days.  I don't mind the rain so much, especially since we haven't had that much (one day of rain in the last 3 weeks).  Although, the temps are suppose to get into the 20's again and I'm concerned about crossing Mt. Rogers (over 5,000 ft) and getting hit by snow.  Getting to Damascus, VA is a big mile stone on the trail, it is about a 100 miles short of the 25% completion mark.  The next big mile stone is Harper's Ferry which is about 600 miles from here.  Harper's Ferry is the half way point on the trail.  I plan on being in Harper's Ferry some time between May 21 and May 25.  My average daily hike has been 15.5 miles.  I've had some plus 20 mile days and some near 20 mile days over some mountainous terrain.  2 days ago on April 19th, I had my first marathon day where I hiked 27 miles.  Once I get over Mt Rogers, there isn't as much elevation gain and loss as I've had in the previous 460 miles and I expect my daily miles hiked average to increase.  My biggest concern is carrying enough food.  I've lost a good amount of weight and don't have as much fat reserves to burn and in the past couple of days I have found myself snacking more every couple of hours to gain energy.  So, I will need to carry more food to keep eating, and will need to stop more to re-supply.  All is well, no injuries or illness, spirits are good, and I can't wait to see Denise in a few weeks in Harper's Ferry.

Hi everyone.  Today is Monday, April 9.   I made it into Hot Springs, NC yesterday, Easter Sunday, at 1:40 in the afternoon.  As soon as I came into town the first thing that I passed was the diner.  I stopped in and ordered a HUGE hamburger, fries, onion rings and  about 6 litres of coke (no exaggeration).  Well, when I left Gatlingburg, Beth and Bernie gave a bunch of us a ride back to the trail.  I hike for the day with "fleetwood" who is from North Carolina.  We planned on hiking 15 miles and since thunderstorms were predicted we had a fallback plan to hike ten miles to the first shelter/camping area.  We were making good time and had spectacular views; we were on the ridge line of the Smokies all morning.  Around 1:00 a thunderstorm was creeping in upon us.  At 1:45 it was really close and we were at the shelter so we decided to stay put.  After we hiked the half mile down the side trail to the shelter and settled in, the sky turned blue and cleared up.  I made up my mind (after trying to outrun a storm on the ridge line and getting caught in it 2 days ago) that it would be wise to stay put and make up the mileage tomorrow.  This proved to be the wise choice because the storm did come in about 2 hours later, (we spoke to some hikers the next day who left the shelter we held up in, and they did get caught in the storm) and we would have been caught in it.  We did a 22 mile day the next day and came out of the Smokey Mountains.  We were only going to do 20 miles, but when we got to the shelter area we didn't like the looks of it and moved on a couple of miles to a good camping site.  I hiked with "fleetwood" and "blue eyes" that day.  It was a good thing we moved on to the camp site, because we met up with some hikers a couple of days later who stayed at the Davenport shelter the same night we would have (stayed at our camp site instead) and they said the bear activity was heavy all night.  We hiked on another 15 miles on Saturday the 7th.  "fleetwood" (age 56) and "blue eyes" (age 61) cruise uphill, I on the other hand have to stop and catch my breath every now and then, so they move ahead of me.  However, going down hill and on open terrain, I cruise ( I average between 2 and 2.2 miles per hour).  I caught up with them on this gravel road in the middle of nowhere.  There was this guy from Cincinnati, Ohio (trail name "Apple") set up with lawn chairs providing trail magic- coke, oreos, cheeto's, chips- IT WAS GREAT!!!  We sat there and fueled up for the rest of the afternoon.  Went across this grass covered mountain called Max Bald, which was filled with a lot of local day hikers.  It was beautiful.  If I could figure out how to upload pictures, you could see it.  I hiked on the next few miles to the shelter for the night (took a wrong turn and hiked a lovely half mile down the wrong path until I realized I was not on the AT anymore, and hike on back - how the blind guy hiked the trail, I have no clue). I put in at Roaring Brook Shelter for the night because my stove broke yesterday and I needed to break it down and fix it so I could have a hot supper.  If the stove wasn't broken, I would have hiked on another 5 miles to the next shelter so I would only have a 13-14 mile hike to Hot Springs.  Good thing I stopped, got the stove fixed and made supper.  Went to re-start the stove to cook my lunch for tomorrow and the stove wouldn't work.  That made up my mind, the stove is going home and I will purchase a different model at the outfitters in Hot Springs.  A lot of people came into the shelter and it was a nice evening.  Had a good night sleep, (it was cold, low 30's, good thing I have a liner in my sleeping bag for added warmth when needed) and got up at 5:00 to head out on trail by 6:00.  I don't care to hike in the dark, it can be dangerous (in my mind) plus you miss the sights.  Hiked for about 45 minutes with a trail lamp, no problems.  I wanted to get up early and hike the 18 miles to Hot Springs, NC, so I could get in by the middle of the afternoon and get a hot lunch and just have an extra couple of hours to relax and call home.  Well, I got cell service on Bluff Mt.  It was great to get every one's Easter texts.  Thank you so much.  I got to Hot Springs and after lunch settled into Elmer's Sunnyside Inn.  This place is cool, is is a 150 year old mansion owned by this guy who hike the trail in 1976 and purchased the inn in 1978.  He caters to AT Thruhikers and is an extremely generous host.  He also provides vegetarian gourmet meals.  The food is GREAT (but not as good as the food the the Lovely Denise makes for me everyday). Let me say, that eating a lot of food when in a town is a must - I've lost 21 pounds in 21 days ( and I expect to lose another 20 by the time I get to Harpers Ferry. VA).  OH, that is the only hard part of being on the trail is that I MISS Denise SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH - it kills me.  So, I'm doing my zero day here, getting some rest, taking a hot tub at the mineral springs, getting new stove at the outfitters, sending home old stove and letters in mail, groceries, laundry, email, blog, etc.,.  It is now 4:00 in the afternoon and I still haven't done groceries yet.  A zero day gets filled up fast.  To all of you I need to call, please accept my apologies.  Cell service is sketchy at best, and it is Verizon - and if you have another service provider like ATT, Verizon blocks the signal and randomly will or will not allow other service providers use their cell signal.  I figured in a town like Hot Springs, that I would have cell service, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo. So, hopefully when I get to Erwin, TN in 4 days I will have cell service. There is NO payphone in this town, go figure.  Anyway, I have completed one eighth of the trail and I am , happy, healthy, homesick for Denise BIG TIME, and ready to move on to the next section of the trail.  Damascus, VA ( a couple of hundred miles up the trail) is the next big mile stone. That is all the news for now and I will update the blog in 2 weeks when I get to Damascus, VA.

OK, today is Wednesday, April 4.  It has been a fun two weeks.  I've met a lot of people, some thruhikers and some section hikers.  Most people are really neat.  There are people college age, a lot in there 20's, a fair amount of us in our 50's and some in there 60's and every where in between.  Some people are real characters, most people are pretty cool.  The trail is a great equalizer, everyone is a hiker, it doesn't matter who or what you did back home.  After the first couple of days, people stop asking what you did before the trail. I have broken out of the pack and am hiking at my own pace.  For the most part I've separated from the people I first hike with.  Tony-"Crispy" and Corey-"Candyman" have slowed down to nurse some injuries.  I've met up with some others for a day or two and we keep criss-crossing paths. The first week I hiked about 8-9 miles a day to get my hiking legs back.  The plan for the second week was to keep it to 12 miles per day and then go the 15 miles per day the third week.  The second week I was up to 15 miles per day with a 21 mile day over Abbot Mt., and a 23 mile day over Wayah and Wessler Mt's into the Nantahala Outfitter Center.  I planned on hiking into Gatlingburg to take a zero day (day off no miles traveled), but found this cool place (Cabin in the Woods) in Stecoah NC.  I pulled in there on a rainy day, and took a zero day there.  From there I was going to hike 8 straight days through the Smokey's.  I got through the first 2 and a half days through the Smokey's and came out at Newfound Gap, around 200 miles onto the trail.  Yesterday, I was met with three tremendous rain storms, ducked out of 2 at shelters, and got soaked by the third on the last 1.7 miles into the shelter I was staying for the night (that was yesterday April 3).  I decided to hike 10 miles over Clingman's Dome and get off the trail at Newfound Gap, take a half day to come into Gatlingburg, wash and dry cloths, eat a enormous meal (full rack of ribs), and replace some gear.  When I came out of woods and into the parking area at Newfound Gap, there where about a 100 cars in the parking lot.  I went to ask someone which way to Gatlingburg, and this man Bernie asked if I was a thruhiker, and then brought me to his truck where his wife Beth was waiting with trail magic, coke, pizza, sandwiches, little Debbie's, candy, fruit cups, chips, and more.  Five minutes after I got there and started pigging out (no exaggeration), it started pouring buckets.  They waited another half hour to see if anyone else was coming off the trail, and then drove me into Gatlingburg.  It is there 28th wedding anniversary and they do this for a week every year on their anniversary because they get a big kick out of it.  They live near St. Petersburg FLA.  By far Beth and Bernie are the coolest people I have met.  Tomorrow, back on the trail and I should be in Hot Springs, NC sometime Sunday.  I will take a zero day on Monday the 9th and will try to figure out how to upload pictures.

Hi everyone.  I am off to a good start.  I have been averaging about 8 miles per day.  This is about half the distance that I will be traveling on an average day.  Average day to finish the trail is 15 miles.  I have been just getting my hiking legs.  So far so good - no aches, pains, sprains, blisters, pulled muscles or sore joints or back.  Those people who are taking off fast are a little sore.  Today, Saturday, March 24 I am having a zero day ( meaning no miles hiked).  A zero day is when you go into a town get a room, hot shower, a couple hot meals, contact home, and re-supply with a week's worth of food.  Starting next week I will average 12 miles per day, and then the following week I will start averaging 15 miles per day.  I've met a lot of nice people on the trail.  Everyone gets a trail name, either given to you, chosen by one's self, or  a combination of both.  My trail name is "sit a bit" ( walk a bit then sit a bit and take a rest).  I've been hiking with a group of people who all started on the same day at Springer Mountain and we are keeping the same pace (even though we  are primarily separated during the day and hiking at our own pace).  I"m hiking with "Kokopelle" who is 61 and from South Carolina, "Crispy" and "Candyman" who are a father and son hiking pair - Crispy is in his early to mid fifties and is semi retired and from FLA, and Candyman is a 25 year old police officer from Dayton, OH.  Some others in our little pack in include "Atlas" who is in his later thirties and from North Carolina, "Fastback" who is from Arkansas and is in his mid twenties and his hiking partner "Brightflower" who is a 58 year old woman from Colorado.  There have been other people I've hiked with during the week who were just out for a few days vacation, a very nice family Chris, Rachel, and their son Clayton from Florida, A cool couple Scott, Taylor, and their dog Jake from Alabama,  and "Redbeard" who comes out for a couple of weeks every year, he is from St. Pete (cool cat). The first 2 days were in the eighties, the last two days were pouting rain.  It has been a BLAST.  I am still having problems uploading pic's from my phone to the blog.  Candyman is going to try to fix that for me.  I can't download the pics from my camera to this computer; I tried to go to the library and do it there but they were closed (on a Saturday, go figure).  As soon as I can I will upload pics. FYI, if you want to comment, you must register to this blog as a follower, others just read and enjoy.  I am off to eat AYCE (all you can eat buffet).  You wouldn't believe how hungry you get.

Check out this blog of a father and son team I've connected with atwarriors.blogspot.com

I've had a great 1st day. Started at springer around 10:30 and made camp at hawk mtn. Others are here too

Ok, I've set up a blog.  I make no promises, this is newfound territory.  I think that I will try to text message daily for quick updates.  We'll see how it goes.  I am go to leave on Saturday, March 17.   I may be jumping off the trail for work near Gatlinburg TN or Hot Springs NC.  If work is no more, I'm thruhiking to Maine.