Melomaniacal
Smash Champion
Link to original post: [drupal=5261]The Appalachian Trail and Me[/drupal]
This turned out a lot longer than I was expecting...
This is a blog about me, and my passion and life goal to complete the entire Appalachian Trail. For those of you who don't know, the Appalachian Trail is one of America's largest marked trails, spanning over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine. I am very serious about attempting to hike the whole thing, and I believe I am going to make this attempt as soon as I graduate college in 2014.
So, I was raised in a house of people who would much prefer to go on a camping trip rather than a city trip. Growing up, we used to take bi-yearly trips to Maine to hike the mountains and camp in the parks. As a child, I loved this. I really just loved doing anything, because, you know, I was a kid. We would go on week-long camping trips and hiking trips very often, and I loved it. As I got older, I kinda started growing away from it. I became more interested in technology and video games. My parents got older and it became harder for them to go on these difficult day-hikes of climbing mountains and the like. So it kind of disappeared from my life.
However, towards the end of high school (I'd say about five years ago), I started to get interested once again in the outdoors. We went back to Maine and stayed in Bar Harbor near Acadia National Park for a week. We woke up every morning and climbed a different mountain. My parents, especially my dad, who is an older man, were slower than they used to be, but they did it and they loved it. My brother was never too into it, but even he was having a good time. We climbed some difficult mountains with some pretty dangerous spots. I'm talking two feet paths with drops that will kill you. But at the top, we were rewarded with fantastic views of the ocean... from the top of a mountain. It was absolutely beautiful, and it really reignited my desire to experience the outdoors more.
So, last year, me and a friend were brainstorming about hiking the Appalachian Trail, which has entry points not but one hour away from home. We planned to do a week trip with a group of friends. All in all, seven of us went on this trip, including my closest friends and my girlfriend. Now, let me note that this was my first time tackling any backpacking. We weren't ready for this. I didn't realize how drastically different backpacking was from hiking or camping. So, before I get into the story of my first experience on the AT, I'll go over some phrases for anyone who isn't familiar:
AT: Appalachian Trail
Thru-hiker: A hiker who is attempting the trail in its entirety. The trail is over 2,000 miles long and takes on average six months to complete.
Section-hiker: A hiker who is attempting a section of the trail, it could be as short as a two day hike, or as long as hiking all of the PA trail.
Day-hiker/camper: What we normally think of when we think of hikers/campers. Those who go out for a day, maybe set up camp and stay the night, then head home.
Now, let me preface this by explaining that this was one year ago. Some details will be left out, but really the point of this story is more to explain what I have learned from my first trip.
So, our planning was pretty mediocre. We set an arbitrary date in the middle of Summer, just to ensure our party can do what they need to be available for the trip. Ignorantly, we packed for a five-day trip. That means five days of food and supplies. Even more ignorantly, we packed canned food. Ignorantly, we planned more for what to do if a bear shows up than what food to pack. I will explain later why this was ignorant and, really, plain stupid. If there is one lesson I learned from attempt one, it is "pack light." We began at the Lehigh Water Gap; the valley of a mountain. We had no clue what we were in for. Let me try to paint you a picture (I'm a terrible story teller, so this picture will probably be painted pretty poorly):
Me and my inexperienced friends with their 60-80lb packs got out of the cars. We were leaping for joy, literally shouting "WE'RE GOING TO KICK NATURE'S ***," with laughs. We gathered around for a group picture. We all looked happy and smug, wearing bandanas and some wearing aviators. The parents get back in the car, wish us luck, and drive off. We head towards the trail entrance, still talking about how amazing this is going to be, and how we are going to conquer the trail, blah blah blah. Ten steps in we realize we planned this trip during the hottest week of summer. It was 103 degrees Fahrenheit outside. No matter, we got this ****. We look at the trail ahead. Uh oh, it goes straight up. It takes 10 minutes, I kid you not, no more than 10 minutes, for us to be put in our place. I mean, we were taking breaks every five steps. This trail was steep. Seriously steep. We have moments of "maybe we should quit." We reach the top where there is a spring. We have been going through our water very quickly, so this was welcomed. We expected, I don't know... flowing water. Something. Let me explain what an AT spring is like:
It's a trickle. A little trickle that maybe someone put a PVC pipe in front of to collect the water. We spend a good 30 minutes filling and purifying our water. At this point, an old, bearded man approaches. He tells us he's come from Georgia and is thru-hiking. He goes on his way and ****ing BOLTS down this mountain. Well... we suck.
So, we continued onward. We had to cover a certain distance before night to reach a campground. Eventually we reach the campground. Now, let me explain what an AT campground is like:
An AT campground is a 10' by 10' plot of soil and rocks that trees happened to not grow in; maybe with a circle of rocks to put a fire in. It's really nothing. Either way, we made it to the campsite so we were going to camp. At this point, one of our members is throwing up from heat exhaustion. We sent half of our group down the trail to fill our canteens, while we stayed to start the fire. Well, everything was wet, so I ate cold spaghetti-o's that night. Meanwhile, the water group has been gone for hours. The spring was supposed to be close. It's dark outside. Apparently, they have been going through hell to get to this water. One mile straight down a mountain, then straight back up. Luckily, a car came by and hitched them a ride back up to our altitude. We all collapsed in our tents, and I slept on a rock.
The next morning we realize we aren't going to reach our destination in time. An average thru-hiker goes 15-20 miles a day. We went five, I believe. We set our destination for the night to Bake Oven Knob Shelter. This is when we learn the next truth about life on the trail: You wake up, you hike until the sun goes down, you sleep, you wake up when the sun comes up and you do it all again. It is not a camping trip. The 60lb pack on my back became a much more serious issue than I thought.
When we made it to the shelter, we learned another thing. A shelter is not what you think. An AT shelter is no more than an old wooden platform with a ceiling to protect from rain, infested with hornets and mice. At this point, spirits were low, but at least there were three springs near by. However, the first spring was dry, the second spring was dry, and third was... almost dry. I did manage to take a "shower" that night, though, which was pretty awesome. We met a bunch of thru-hikers who taught us more about how to prepare for the trail. Here I learned that you pack three days of food, which is generally things like pasta sides, ramen, power bars, etc. Light things. High calories, low weight. A typical thru-hiker needs 5,000-6,000 calories a day. Things we brought that were stupid:
A shovel.
An axe.
CANNED FOOD.
A Frisbee (lol).
A machete.
It was here that we also learned that everyone you meet on the trail is amazing. It's like one big family.
So, another thru-hiker stopped over and asked where we were heading. We were heading south, towards Knife's Edge. She explained that she, a thru-hiker who has come 1,000 miles, stopped at Knife's Edge, called her mom crying, and turned back. Her advice to us was literally "spread out when you cross it so if one of you fall, you don't take everyone with you and die." At that point, with the heavy packs, the heat, the lack of water, and the point ahead of us, we knew we had to quit. We camped there that night, hiked up to Bake Oven Knob (top of the mountain; beautiful view), then came down and got picked up. So, things I learned:
Pack light. I mean... 30lb pack MAX (for me anyway).
Pack for a few days. You will cross a town to restock.
Don't worry about bears, they are more afraid of us. Worry about ticks.
There is no time for **** like Frisbees.
Now, let me make something clear. That trip didn't discourage me. Though it was the most difficult thing I had ever done, I loved every second of it. I loved the trail. I loved the people I met. I loved the blisters. I loved everything, and I couldn't wait to try it again. In fact, I have become inspired to thru-hike the entire trail at some point in my life. It is a serious life goal that me and my girlfriend share. Here are some videos I took during the trip (let me know if they are viewable):
[COLLAPSE="Videos"]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270233912402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270237762402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270239492402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270266697402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270289712402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270302537402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270331477402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270309567402[/COLLAPSE]
So, we planned to do the trail again, picking up where we left off. I just got back from that trip three days ago. Only four of us were willing to go again this time, but we were much more successful. We went about 36 miles in four days. My pack weighed under 30lbs.
As I said before, we planned to pick up where we left off: right after Bake Oven Knob, right before Knife's Edge. We did exactly that. We arrived at the Bake Oven Knob parking lot at 12:00pm on Saturday, July 16th. This time we were much more prepared. We packed light, and managed to stay under 30lbs with five days of food. We packed five days of food because we learned that Port Clinton (the town we would be passing through) has literally no markets. The closest market is in Hamburg - 7 miles away. We could hike it, but it would be a good three hours of time wasted. We could hitch it... but we were able to pack the extra food anyway without going over weight, so we figured we would pass (we got offered a hitch to Hamburg when we arrived to Port Clinton anyway, which was kinda funny. We thought it would be much harder to hitchhike).
Day one basically went like this:
The weather was BEAUTIFUL. We started down the path, it was very rocky, but no big deal. Couple hours in we reached Balanced Rocks. Not much to say, it was just a near little view point. Afterwards, we reached Knife's Edge. It was... well, a let down. Sure, a fall could be dangerous, but it really wasn't that bad. Basically it was just a narrow rock formation at the top of the mountain. You could fall left or right and get injured, but it would be pretty difficult to make that mistake. We talked to some day-hikers up there who thought that the girl who warned us must have been messing with us. She certainly didn't seem like it. Anyway, after that it was just a hike to the next shelter.
At the shelter, we talked to a really nice thru-hiker. He gave us tips on what kind of socks to wear, what kind of food to eat, etc. He explained that the youth he meets on the trail give him faith in humanity and the future of our country, which was nice to hear. Oh, let me take this opportunity to explain the proper way to pack for the trail. Here's what you bring:
3-4 days of food. I explained earlier what kind. Basically, nothing heavy.
About 3 liters of water.
ONE pair of cloths. NO cloth clothing; either synthetic or wool. Maybe a warmer set for cold nights, depends on where you are and the season. Maybe an extra pair of socks.
Tent/hammock.
Pack cover/poncho for rain.
Camp stove+fuel. Alcohol makes good fuel and can also be used to clean wounds.
Sleeping pad.
MAYBE a knife.
First aid kit/hygiene. Band aids, disinfectant, tooth brush, etc. No scented soaps or deodorants.
...that's about it. Anything beyond that is personal preference and will just add weight.
Anyway, a group of campers also came through that night. I learned that day-hikers and campers have much less respect for the trail. The left trash everywhere, left their fire unattended, and were overall loud and unpleasant. We were in bed by 8:30pm. We need sleep. These guys made that difficult.
On day one we covered about 10 miles. The same amount we covered in all of last years trip.
Day 2:
It was freezing in the morning. Was not prepared for that. We woke up late, around 8am. Ate breakfast and got moving around 10am. Way too late. After that we were up by 7am, moving by 8am, which is still late, but acceptable. So we got moving and eventually came across a notepad warning us of copperhead snakes. We did end up coming across a few snakes, but they left us alone. We moved slow this day, but still came across a lot of good views. More importantly, we came across a lot of good people. I've learned that the trail is equally about the people that you meet as the things you see. The trail really changes you. It challenges you and you learn a lot about yourself. Everyone on that trail is with you on that, and they are all great people. I stopped every chance I got to talk to the other hikers and learn.
Also on this day, we had an almost-sort-of-close encounter with a bear. A day-hiker ran up to us and stopped us, warning that a bear had stopped on the trail ahead. We all went to check it out, because this bear had to move. We had places to go, man! Well, by the time we got there, the bear had ran off. Bummer.
That night we stayed at Eckville Shelter. The most interesting shelter I've ever seen. Instead of the normal wooden crap-shack, Eckville shelter was... someone's house basically. He allows hikers to camp in his front yard. In his back yard he has a place to drop off trash, a barn house filled with cots, and a privy with a bathroom and a solar shower (a freezing cold shower). Very nice of this man.
On this day we only covered about six miles. Pretty weak.
Day 3:
This was my favorite day of the whole trip. Here we saw a thru-hiker with his dog, some of the nicest views ever, but most importantly we conquered a mountain in two hours, and we pushed ourselves harder than we ever have. We didn't cover the most distance, but we pushed through a lot of pain. Chelsea (my girlfriend), at this point had some very serious blisters on her feet. Her shoes were not meant for this kind of trail abuse. We thought we were moving very slowly up this mountain, but it turns out that our pace was great. Our spirits were extremely high when we learned that we reached Pinnacle in only two hours. We felt amazing, except for Chelsea's feet. We stopped at the top, where a German hiker on his second thru-hike gave Chelsea medical attention. He fixed up her feet, and we stopped to enjoy the amazing view at Pinnacle.
On the way down, the day really caught up to us. We were absolutely exhausted. We were at the point of collapsing, really. We couldn't make it to the next spring, so we decided to just camp wherever we could find a spot to fit our tents. We stopped at a little spot and ate a bit. I was shaking pretty bad from exhaustion, but we decided to push on. It was a very testing moment for all of us, but we squeezed out another mile to the next spring and campground. Here there were signs pointing to Port Clinton, saying that the locals were not hiker friendly and we should avoid the town. That turned out to be wrong.
Day 4:
It started POURING rain on us at about 5am. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I stayed up in the tent and enjoyed the sound of the rain. I used to find heavy rain to be scary, but now I find it extremely relaxing. Luckily, this was to be our last day. We originally wanted to go five days, but due to the ride situation, we had to stop on this day. Port Clinton was only 5 miles away, so we would finished pretty early in the day. It was a short but difficult hike. Had a very steep incline out of the campsite, then a very steep, very long decline down the mountain to Port Clinton. We met some day hikers on the way, who left a mess of trash in their wake.
Anyway, in Port Clinton, we went to the hotel restaurant. Here I learned something about AT towns: they serve you... A LOT of food. One order of small fries was a massive bucket I couldn't get through half of. I ate like a maniac at this place. You work up a CRAZY appetite on the trail. Life of the trail is literally just... wake up and start moving, so you're almost always hungry. We ate our fill, then stopped at this epic candy shop where I got to try chocolate covered bacon. It's exactly as weird as you would expect. What I found most weird is that ever since I ate in Port Clinton, I haven't been able to stop eating. My appetite has been nuts, even still today.
So, the locals. They were supposed to be awful. Let me address that in one sentence: On our way to the hiker's pavilion, two locals sitting on their porch said to us, "hey, would you like some chocolate cake?" We did. The locals fed us cake, and then gave us a giant pie to bring to the pavilion and share with the thru-hikers. We brought it there and ate and talked with a hiker. He was a very interesting guy. Told us his story, how he had no idea what he was doing when he started. Told us to take garlic supplements to combat ticks and chiggers. Gave us a lot of useful information.
After that, we waited for our ride home, and that was that. I'm leaving a lot of details out because I am lazy. Here are some videos:
[COLLAPSE="Ignore the vocal log numbers, I had no idea what number I was on at the time"]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150980313677402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150980319932402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982522727402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150980372072402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982523417402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982524537402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982542172402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982542792402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982543252402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982544492402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982624522402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982546912402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982547792402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982625327402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982625782402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982626292402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982626687402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982628292402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982629567402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982630372402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982630912402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982631407402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982631962402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982632452402[/COLLAPSE]
I don't have any cool way to end this blog, really.
TL;DR: All I want to say is that the AT has already changed my life. Every day all I can think about is how excited I am to tackle all 2,000+ miles. I want to be on that trail for 7 months. I want to experience it all, and meet people, and have stories. I want to get away from mundane life where everything is handed to me. I want to struggle. I want to get used to uncomfortable. I want to experience the real world.
Other TL;DR: Just watch the videos, I guess
If you have any questions about the trail, what life is like on the trail, feel free. I'm glad to talk about it. By thru-hiker standards, I have experienced nothing, but I'd like to think I know enough to talk about it at this point.
This turned out a lot longer than I was expecting...
This is a blog about me, and my passion and life goal to complete the entire Appalachian Trail. For those of you who don't know, the Appalachian Trail is one of America's largest marked trails, spanning over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine. I am very serious about attempting to hike the whole thing, and I believe I am going to make this attempt as soon as I graduate college in 2014.
So, I was raised in a house of people who would much prefer to go on a camping trip rather than a city trip. Growing up, we used to take bi-yearly trips to Maine to hike the mountains and camp in the parks. As a child, I loved this. I really just loved doing anything, because, you know, I was a kid. We would go on week-long camping trips and hiking trips very often, and I loved it. As I got older, I kinda started growing away from it. I became more interested in technology and video games. My parents got older and it became harder for them to go on these difficult day-hikes of climbing mountains and the like. So it kind of disappeared from my life.
However, towards the end of high school (I'd say about five years ago), I started to get interested once again in the outdoors. We went back to Maine and stayed in Bar Harbor near Acadia National Park for a week. We woke up every morning and climbed a different mountain. My parents, especially my dad, who is an older man, were slower than they used to be, but they did it and they loved it. My brother was never too into it, but even he was having a good time. We climbed some difficult mountains with some pretty dangerous spots. I'm talking two feet paths with drops that will kill you. But at the top, we were rewarded with fantastic views of the ocean... from the top of a mountain. It was absolutely beautiful, and it really reignited my desire to experience the outdoors more.
So, last year, me and a friend were brainstorming about hiking the Appalachian Trail, which has entry points not but one hour away from home. We planned to do a week trip with a group of friends. All in all, seven of us went on this trip, including my closest friends and my girlfriend. Now, let me note that this was my first time tackling any backpacking. We weren't ready for this. I didn't realize how drastically different backpacking was from hiking or camping. So, before I get into the story of my first experience on the AT, I'll go over some phrases for anyone who isn't familiar:
AT: Appalachian Trail
Thru-hiker: A hiker who is attempting the trail in its entirety. The trail is over 2,000 miles long and takes on average six months to complete.
Section-hiker: A hiker who is attempting a section of the trail, it could be as short as a two day hike, or as long as hiking all of the PA trail.
Day-hiker/camper: What we normally think of when we think of hikers/campers. Those who go out for a day, maybe set up camp and stay the night, then head home.
Appalachian Trail, Attempt One:
Now, let me preface this by explaining that this was one year ago. Some details will be left out, but really the point of this story is more to explain what I have learned from my first trip.
So, our planning was pretty mediocre. We set an arbitrary date in the middle of Summer, just to ensure our party can do what they need to be available for the trip. Ignorantly, we packed for a five-day trip. That means five days of food and supplies. Even more ignorantly, we packed canned food. Ignorantly, we planned more for what to do if a bear shows up than what food to pack. I will explain later why this was ignorant and, really, plain stupid. If there is one lesson I learned from attempt one, it is "pack light." We began at the Lehigh Water Gap; the valley of a mountain. We had no clue what we were in for. Let me try to paint you a picture (I'm a terrible story teller, so this picture will probably be painted pretty poorly):
Me and my inexperienced friends with their 60-80lb packs got out of the cars. We were leaping for joy, literally shouting "WE'RE GOING TO KICK NATURE'S ***," with laughs. We gathered around for a group picture. We all looked happy and smug, wearing bandanas and some wearing aviators. The parents get back in the car, wish us luck, and drive off. We head towards the trail entrance, still talking about how amazing this is going to be, and how we are going to conquer the trail, blah blah blah. Ten steps in we realize we planned this trip during the hottest week of summer. It was 103 degrees Fahrenheit outside. No matter, we got this ****. We look at the trail ahead. Uh oh, it goes straight up. It takes 10 minutes, I kid you not, no more than 10 minutes, for us to be put in our place. I mean, we were taking breaks every five steps. This trail was steep. Seriously steep. We have moments of "maybe we should quit." We reach the top where there is a spring. We have been going through our water very quickly, so this was welcomed. We expected, I don't know... flowing water. Something. Let me explain what an AT spring is like:
It's a trickle. A little trickle that maybe someone put a PVC pipe in front of to collect the water. We spend a good 30 minutes filling and purifying our water. At this point, an old, bearded man approaches. He tells us he's come from Georgia and is thru-hiking. He goes on his way and ****ing BOLTS down this mountain. Well... we suck.
So, we continued onward. We had to cover a certain distance before night to reach a campground. Eventually we reach the campground. Now, let me explain what an AT campground is like:
An AT campground is a 10' by 10' plot of soil and rocks that trees happened to not grow in; maybe with a circle of rocks to put a fire in. It's really nothing. Either way, we made it to the campsite so we were going to camp. At this point, one of our members is throwing up from heat exhaustion. We sent half of our group down the trail to fill our canteens, while we stayed to start the fire. Well, everything was wet, so I ate cold spaghetti-o's that night. Meanwhile, the water group has been gone for hours. The spring was supposed to be close. It's dark outside. Apparently, they have been going through hell to get to this water. One mile straight down a mountain, then straight back up. Luckily, a car came by and hitched them a ride back up to our altitude. We all collapsed in our tents, and I slept on a rock.
The next morning we realize we aren't going to reach our destination in time. An average thru-hiker goes 15-20 miles a day. We went five, I believe. We set our destination for the night to Bake Oven Knob Shelter. This is when we learn the next truth about life on the trail: You wake up, you hike until the sun goes down, you sleep, you wake up when the sun comes up and you do it all again. It is not a camping trip. The 60lb pack on my back became a much more serious issue than I thought.
When we made it to the shelter, we learned another thing. A shelter is not what you think. An AT shelter is no more than an old wooden platform with a ceiling to protect from rain, infested with hornets and mice. At this point, spirits were low, but at least there were three springs near by. However, the first spring was dry, the second spring was dry, and third was... almost dry. I did manage to take a "shower" that night, though, which was pretty awesome. We met a bunch of thru-hikers who taught us more about how to prepare for the trail. Here I learned that you pack three days of food, which is generally things like pasta sides, ramen, power bars, etc. Light things. High calories, low weight. A typical thru-hiker needs 5,000-6,000 calories a day. Things we brought that were stupid:
A shovel.
An axe.
CANNED FOOD.
A Frisbee (lol).
A machete.
It was here that we also learned that everyone you meet on the trail is amazing. It's like one big family.
So, another thru-hiker stopped over and asked where we were heading. We were heading south, towards Knife's Edge. She explained that she, a thru-hiker who has come 1,000 miles, stopped at Knife's Edge, called her mom crying, and turned back. Her advice to us was literally "spread out when you cross it so if one of you fall, you don't take everyone with you and die." At that point, with the heavy packs, the heat, the lack of water, and the point ahead of us, we knew we had to quit. We camped there that night, hiked up to Bake Oven Knob (top of the mountain; beautiful view), then came down and got picked up. So, things I learned:
Pack light. I mean... 30lb pack MAX (for me anyway).
Pack for a few days. You will cross a town to restock.
Don't worry about bears, they are more afraid of us. Worry about ticks.
There is no time for **** like Frisbees.
Now, let me make something clear. That trip didn't discourage me. Though it was the most difficult thing I had ever done, I loved every second of it. I loved the trail. I loved the people I met. I loved the blisters. I loved everything, and I couldn't wait to try it again. In fact, I have become inspired to thru-hike the entire trail at some point in my life. It is a serious life goal that me and my girlfriend share. Here are some videos I took during the trip (let me know if they are viewable):
[COLLAPSE="Videos"]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270233912402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270237762402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270239492402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270266697402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270289712402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270302537402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270331477402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150270309567402[/COLLAPSE]
So, we planned to do the trail again, picking up where we left off. I just got back from that trip three days ago. Only four of us were willing to go again this time, but we were much more successful. We went about 36 miles in four days. My pack weighed under 30lbs.
Appalachian Trail, Attempt Two:
As I said before, we planned to pick up where we left off: right after Bake Oven Knob, right before Knife's Edge. We did exactly that. We arrived at the Bake Oven Knob parking lot at 12:00pm on Saturday, July 16th. This time we were much more prepared. We packed light, and managed to stay under 30lbs with five days of food. We packed five days of food because we learned that Port Clinton (the town we would be passing through) has literally no markets. The closest market is in Hamburg - 7 miles away. We could hike it, but it would be a good three hours of time wasted. We could hitch it... but we were able to pack the extra food anyway without going over weight, so we figured we would pass (we got offered a hitch to Hamburg when we arrived to Port Clinton anyway, which was kinda funny. We thought it would be much harder to hitchhike).
Day one basically went like this:
The weather was BEAUTIFUL. We started down the path, it was very rocky, but no big deal. Couple hours in we reached Balanced Rocks. Not much to say, it was just a near little view point. Afterwards, we reached Knife's Edge. It was... well, a let down. Sure, a fall could be dangerous, but it really wasn't that bad. Basically it was just a narrow rock formation at the top of the mountain. You could fall left or right and get injured, but it would be pretty difficult to make that mistake. We talked to some day-hikers up there who thought that the girl who warned us must have been messing with us. She certainly didn't seem like it. Anyway, after that it was just a hike to the next shelter.
At the shelter, we talked to a really nice thru-hiker. He gave us tips on what kind of socks to wear, what kind of food to eat, etc. He explained that the youth he meets on the trail give him faith in humanity and the future of our country, which was nice to hear. Oh, let me take this opportunity to explain the proper way to pack for the trail. Here's what you bring:
3-4 days of food. I explained earlier what kind. Basically, nothing heavy.
About 3 liters of water.
ONE pair of cloths. NO cloth clothing; either synthetic or wool. Maybe a warmer set for cold nights, depends on where you are and the season. Maybe an extra pair of socks.
Tent/hammock.
Pack cover/poncho for rain.
Camp stove+fuel. Alcohol makes good fuel and can also be used to clean wounds.
Sleeping pad.
MAYBE a knife.
First aid kit/hygiene. Band aids, disinfectant, tooth brush, etc. No scented soaps or deodorants.
...that's about it. Anything beyond that is personal preference and will just add weight.
Anyway, a group of campers also came through that night. I learned that day-hikers and campers have much less respect for the trail. The left trash everywhere, left their fire unattended, and were overall loud and unpleasant. We were in bed by 8:30pm. We need sleep. These guys made that difficult.
On day one we covered about 10 miles. The same amount we covered in all of last years trip.
Day 2:
It was freezing in the morning. Was not prepared for that. We woke up late, around 8am. Ate breakfast and got moving around 10am. Way too late. After that we were up by 7am, moving by 8am, which is still late, but acceptable. So we got moving and eventually came across a notepad warning us of copperhead snakes. We did end up coming across a few snakes, but they left us alone. We moved slow this day, but still came across a lot of good views. More importantly, we came across a lot of good people. I've learned that the trail is equally about the people that you meet as the things you see. The trail really changes you. It challenges you and you learn a lot about yourself. Everyone on that trail is with you on that, and they are all great people. I stopped every chance I got to talk to the other hikers and learn.
Also on this day, we had an almost-sort-of-close encounter with a bear. A day-hiker ran up to us and stopped us, warning that a bear had stopped on the trail ahead. We all went to check it out, because this bear had to move. We had places to go, man! Well, by the time we got there, the bear had ran off. Bummer.
That night we stayed at Eckville Shelter. The most interesting shelter I've ever seen. Instead of the normal wooden crap-shack, Eckville shelter was... someone's house basically. He allows hikers to camp in his front yard. In his back yard he has a place to drop off trash, a barn house filled with cots, and a privy with a bathroom and a solar shower (a freezing cold shower). Very nice of this man.
On this day we only covered about six miles. Pretty weak.
Day 3:
This was my favorite day of the whole trip. Here we saw a thru-hiker with his dog, some of the nicest views ever, but most importantly we conquered a mountain in two hours, and we pushed ourselves harder than we ever have. We didn't cover the most distance, but we pushed through a lot of pain. Chelsea (my girlfriend), at this point had some very serious blisters on her feet. Her shoes were not meant for this kind of trail abuse. We thought we were moving very slowly up this mountain, but it turns out that our pace was great. Our spirits were extremely high when we learned that we reached Pinnacle in only two hours. We felt amazing, except for Chelsea's feet. We stopped at the top, where a German hiker on his second thru-hike gave Chelsea medical attention. He fixed up her feet, and we stopped to enjoy the amazing view at Pinnacle.
On the way down, the day really caught up to us. We were absolutely exhausted. We were at the point of collapsing, really. We couldn't make it to the next spring, so we decided to just camp wherever we could find a spot to fit our tents. We stopped at a little spot and ate a bit. I was shaking pretty bad from exhaustion, but we decided to push on. It was a very testing moment for all of us, but we squeezed out another mile to the next spring and campground. Here there were signs pointing to Port Clinton, saying that the locals were not hiker friendly and we should avoid the town. That turned out to be wrong.
Day 4:
It started POURING rain on us at about 5am. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I stayed up in the tent and enjoyed the sound of the rain. I used to find heavy rain to be scary, but now I find it extremely relaxing. Luckily, this was to be our last day. We originally wanted to go five days, but due to the ride situation, we had to stop on this day. Port Clinton was only 5 miles away, so we would finished pretty early in the day. It was a short but difficult hike. Had a very steep incline out of the campsite, then a very steep, very long decline down the mountain to Port Clinton. We met some day hikers on the way, who left a mess of trash in their wake.
Anyway, in Port Clinton, we went to the hotel restaurant. Here I learned something about AT towns: they serve you... A LOT of food. One order of small fries was a massive bucket I couldn't get through half of. I ate like a maniac at this place. You work up a CRAZY appetite on the trail. Life of the trail is literally just... wake up and start moving, so you're almost always hungry. We ate our fill, then stopped at this epic candy shop where I got to try chocolate covered bacon. It's exactly as weird as you would expect. What I found most weird is that ever since I ate in Port Clinton, I haven't been able to stop eating. My appetite has been nuts, even still today.
So, the locals. They were supposed to be awful. Let me address that in one sentence: On our way to the hiker's pavilion, two locals sitting on their porch said to us, "hey, would you like some chocolate cake?" We did. The locals fed us cake, and then gave us a giant pie to bring to the pavilion and share with the thru-hikers. We brought it there and ate and talked with a hiker. He was a very interesting guy. Told us his story, how he had no idea what he was doing when he started. Told us to take garlic supplements to combat ticks and chiggers. Gave us a lot of useful information.
After that, we waited for our ride home, and that was that. I'm leaving a lot of details out because I am lazy. Here are some videos:
[COLLAPSE="Ignore the vocal log numbers, I had no idea what number I was on at the time"]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150980313677402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150980319932402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982522727402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150980372072402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982523417402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982524537402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982542172402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982542792402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982543252402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982544492402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982624522402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982546912402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982547792402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982625327402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982625782402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982626292402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982626687402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982628292402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982629567402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982630372402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982630912402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982631407402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982631962402
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150982632452402[/COLLAPSE]
I don't have any cool way to end this blog, really.
TL;DR: All I want to say is that the AT has already changed my life. Every day all I can think about is how excited I am to tackle all 2,000+ miles. I want to be on that trail for 7 months. I want to experience it all, and meet people, and have stories. I want to get away from mundane life where everything is handed to me. I want to struggle. I want to get used to uncomfortable. I want to experience the real world.
Other TL;DR: Just watch the videos, I guess
If you have any questions about the trail, what life is like on the trail, feel free. I'm glad to talk about it. By thru-hiker standards, I have experienced nothing, but I'd like to think I know enough to talk about it at this point.
