Day 193

Day 13
Thursday 9/10/09

Weather: sunny, no rain

Today's Hike: Northern Outdoor Center -0.0 miles

This morning we went over to the girls cabin for omelet's and coffee. By 8:30am I was crashing and felt awful. I went back to the room and laid down until 10:30am. Finally, I forced myself up so I could get packed before checkout time. I was feeling better, but certainly not a 100% better.

Grom was also feeling awful and by 11am she was on the verge of a full blown migrane. Hiking in the heat of the day over Pleasant Pond Mtn. (an 1100 ft. climb) was not even feasible. By noon, Grom was only getting worse so we got a room again for the night.

It's 37 miles between Caratunk and Monson. We had planned to hike the miles in 2.5 days. Now, we will hike the miles in 2 days in order to stay on track. Tomorrow will he tough but the hike into Monson will be easier but longer (20 miles.... maybe). Better to hike when we're feeling good then feeling awful.

Just another day in hiker paradise.

Today's Video:

• Loon
  

Day 183

Day 183
Monday 8/31/09

Weather: Sunny, No Rain

Today's Hike: Southarm Rd. - 0.0 miles

OK, I know that I've said that I didn't want to take anymore zero days until we finished this thing, but how can you hike the AT and NEVER take a zero in the woods? You can't. So today Grommet (Grom) and I zeroed in the woods and it was the best zero day on the trail. Nothing but relaxation and pure bliss. Somewhere around noon I finally climbed out of the tent to find Nutmeg and Billy Hoot also still at camp. Sweet, zero day company :) Unfortunately, Nutmeg was having a migraine. So Grom and I went into town, picked up pizzas for everyone and some med's for Nutmeg and made our way back to camp.

After an exhausting 3 hours in town (sense the sarcasm), I took another 2 hour nap and awoke sometime around 7pm, apparently just in time to find David (Pine Ellis hostel owner) at our campsite with an 18 pack of Bud. And of course, Grom was back to knocking down trees and making an out of control bonfire. Didn't I say best zero ever???


Zero Day Company!


Grom Getting Firewood

Day 174

Day 174
Saturday 8/22/09
Weather: Sunny, no rain
Today's Hike:
Gorham, NH/White Birches Campground - 0.0 miles

Grommet and I both slept in late this morning, and got a late start on our town chores. After showering and starting laundry we headed into town for resupply and breakfast. We ate breakfast/lunch at Welches that served up the best omelete's on the trail. Next, we headed to Walmart on the other side of town to resupply. By the time we were done and back at the campground it was nearly 5pm. So much for hiking out today. Instead, we set our tents up again and turned in early for the night. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have the energy to make up the miles.

Day 164

Weather:
Rain on and off throughout the day.

Today’s Hike:
Glencliff, NH/Hikers Welcome Hostel - 0.0 miles

Living out here brings on a sense of inner stillness that invites you to listen if you let yourself be aware enough. The babble of your everyday thoughts slowly fades away and you begin to become aware of that inner voice you've silenced. That voice that is your sixth sense but that you've skillfully learned to rationalize with and instead have let yourself live with the idea of how life should be. It becomes a rude and painful awakening when all at once you choose to stop rationalizing with that voice, and rather choose to get real and listen. No one ever wants to see the faults of their ways and how not only those faults have affected themselves, but how those faults have affected others as well.

Once the truth of your life is recognized it cannot be ignored. So it was at this point, the point of true self-honesty that I found myself admitting that I no longer wanted to go back to the life I was living. I no longer wanted to rationalize with that inner voice. I no longer wanted to coexist within a life partnership with someone I had spent the last nine years building my entire life around. I wanted to know who I was and wanted to rediscover what I had let myself lose.

And so it was. This realization has not only altered my life but my thru-hike as well. Muster and I have split and began separate hikes; I am hiking with the Packadivas and she is hiking with Billy Hoot and Nutmeg. I will continue on to Katadhin and will return to a new life when I'm done. I know it won't be easy, but I'm ready to see what the future has to offer.

Day 156

Weather:
Sunny, no rain

Today's Hike:
Inn at Long Trail - 0.0 miles

We spent the day in Rutland, VT doing town chores; resupplying, laundry, etc. Despite getting up and out early, the haul into and out of Rutland took more time then expected. By the time we got back to the Inn and repacked our bags it was 4:30pm. By this time Lil’ Dipper and Early Bear had made it to the Inn, and Muster went to the bar with Lil’ Dipper to have “a” Margarita. After awhile, Muster came back out and pitched the four of us an idea of splitting a room so that we could shower. It appeared to me that none of us were thrilled with the idea, but told her to look into it. About 30 minutes later Muster came back out and pulled me aside and told me that she got a room…..for $150. I about shit myself. How could she not ask anyone before she did that? My response……whatever. She was paying for and no one else should be obligated to pitch in given that no one was consulted.

She told the rest of the girls that she got a room, and we all moved our stuff in while Muster went back to the bar. We were pissed. I took a hot shower and tried to calm down. When I got out the four of us walked over to the bar for dinner. While waiting to order I overheard Muster talking to Lil’ Dipper about soul mates, declaring that its best not to spend your life with your soul mate. In fact her “soul mate” was not her life partner, rather it was someone else. WTF kind of philosophy is that – the one that you tell yourself when you’ve settled for your second best and try to tell yourself that you didn’t. What am I doing and why have I never followed my own instincts on this one? Stupid. I have some serious thinking to do.

Day 152

Day 152
Friday 7/31/09

Weather:
Rain all day

Today's Hike:
Green Mountain House Hostel - 0.0 miles

It is hard to find the words to describe what it feels like to sit still for two days when your body is use to walking 10 - 12 hours a day. By the end of day one your nerves twitch and you can't keep your legs still. It's what we image the very definition of restless leg syndrome to feel like. By day two not only are you restless, but you become stir crazy. Insanity. So why take more then a day off? Rain, rain, and more rain. We have started a pattern we can not seem to break. Take a day off, our day off is nice, then our departure date is rain and severe thunderstorms. Maybe we shouldn't take anymore days off???!!?? Yeah right.

We had all intentions on leaving today. The forecast said it would rain until early evening, so we hung around the hostel all morning and were ready to leave after lunch. By then, Jeff (the hostel owner) was dealing with some plumbing issues so we patiently waited around for another hour or so. By 2pm the plumbers left and Storm asked Jeff when it would be a good time to leave, then Jeff replied "why not stay another night?" Are you kidding? So we did some quick planning, and came up with a schedule that would still permit us to hike into Rutland by August 3rd. They'll be long days, but doable.

So here were are, another night in luxury. Tomorrow's forcast is sunny; a good forcast for hiking twenty-miles.

Day 151

Day 151
Thursday 7/30/09

Weather:
Morning rain showers. Partly cloudy rest of the day.

Today's Hike:
Green Mountain House Hostel - 0.0 miles

This hostel is so incredible we had to stay another day. The five of us feel like we're at home. We started this wonderful day off with an egg, cheese, and potato scramble made by our own Ms. Muster. Afterwardswe spent the morning relaxing and listening to Rocket go completely school girl in love with Richard Gere in "An Officer and a Gentleman".

When the movie was over it was time to tackle the chore of planning out the rest of our hike. The five of us put our heads together to come up with a draft timeline to reach our desired summit date of September 10th. Once the draft was done and we tossed around some ideas Muster took the lead in developing a final plan. All we need to do is hike 90 miles/week to make it; completely feasible. We even scheduled in target dates for resupply.

Once business was over it was back to an entire afternoon of relaxing; reading and watching movies.

For dinner, Muster and I are making the crew bean and cheese quesadilla's. Can't wait, I'm starving!

Day 142

Weather:
Rain all day.

Today's Hike:
Angela's House - 0.0 miles

We woke up at 7:45am this morning, 15 minutes before our scheduled time to leave. The sky was overcast and the wind was blowing strong. I'm sure we all noticed the unpleasant state of affairs, but none of is mummed a word. Better not to complain. So we all packed our bags and were completely ready to leave when Angela called us to say a final good-bye and provide us with a weather report; rain. The words were mummed and the current weather was up for discussion.

Storm suggested slackpacking our miles and returning to Angela's that night to dry out. Angela suggested we take another zero day at her house and actually zero. After some discussion about what to do the choice came down to just leaving and hike in the rain (not slackpacking) or take the day off. A big sigh, we all really did want to hike, but hiking in the rain is miserable. So that left the option of taking the day off. So here we all are, showered and laying in Angela's living room actually taking a zero day. It's pouring outside, and we’re dry and restful inside.

Rain or not, we'll be back out tomorrow.

Day 141

Weather:
Sunny and warm. No rain.

Today's Hike:
Angela's - 0.0 miles

Today was a typical zero day despite our best efforts to make it a real day off. We were all awake by 7am; sleeping in is impossible even when you really want to. Storm and Rocket made a wonderful french toast breakfast which was a wonderful tasty surprise.

After breakfast we all got ready and headed to REI. The drive there was awful. We got stuck in a traffic jam for an hour. Let's just say that being stuck in a traffic jam after consuming large amounts of coffee is an unbearable situation. It may force you to do things you never thought you would out of shear humiliation. Still, I give thanks to empty 16oz. coffee cup that was in the car.

REI was also challenging. I got new shoes for the last leg of the trip. I also had to buy a new pack, since the waist-belt broke on my current pack. This was way more complicated then I anticipated. I tried on five different packs which took forever but finally settled on an Osprey Ariel 65. The pack is comfortable which is an important plus, but it's heavy which is a huge disappointment. So much for reducing my pack weight. At least I know the pack will get me to Katadhin and it has a lifetime warranty.

We ate lunch at Moe's, a huge surprise. I’ve been dreaming about Moe's for months and finally gave up the idea of ever finding one along the trail. It was so good! It made me realize just how much food I can consume in one sitting now. Before the trail, I could only eat half of a burrito, but today I ate the whole thing, some chips, and a scoop of ice cream and still felt hungry. Ridiculous. Muster thinks I have a tapeworm.

After lunch we finished our chores and were back at Angela's by 5pm. After we dropped off our groceries, we headed over to Angela's parents for dinner and a movie. Angela made us a wonderful meal of citrus marinated flounder, orzo salad, and a tomato, mozzarella, fresh dill, and balsamic vinaigrette salad. Her mom also grilled me up some yummy spicy black bean burgers. The entire meal was out of this world. The evening feature presentation was Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Storm and Rocket's favorite childhood movie which they quote constantly. Now we can all relate :)

The night ran late; way past hiker midnight. We were back at Angela's and in bed by 11:15pm.

Day 120

Weather:
Sunny. Small afternoon shower.

Today:
Mohican Outdoor Center - 0.0 miles

We started this morning off with fantastic blueberry pancakes thanks to Grommet who bought bisquick mix during resupply. The blueberries were picked from the hundreds of blueberry bushes that are currently lining the trail. Natures best; unfertilized and no pesticides. Yum! Our pancakes were followed up by grilled cheese sandwiches, made on rye onion bread purchased from the Delaware Water Gap Bakery. Double yum!

After breakfast it was time to veg. Today has been one of the most relaxing zero days yet, thanks to Jonathan and his family’s hospitality and thanks to the fact we are in the middle of no where. We have nothing to do but relax and enjoy each other’s company and the company of Storm's family and friends who came to visit. It was an afternoon full of great food, great beer, and great people.

We're relaxing in our tents and getting ready for a campfire, smores, and maybe some more beer :)

Day 108

Weather:
Raining and cool.

Today:
Duncannon, PA - The Doyle Hotel - 0.0 miles

We were up by 8am this morning, got packed and ready to go. At 9:30 we went with the Diva's to a place called Goodies for breakfast. Delicious. I devoured a plate of french toast, 2 eggs and 2 pieces of toast then finished off Storms french toast, eggs, and toast. After finishing we made our way back to the hotel and continued to get ready. Georgia's Girls were staying another day because Georgia (the dog) was sick and were begging us to stay. We kept preparing to leave anyway. Once we were packed and ready the Diva's and us sat down together and over the next 45 minutes we somehow talked each other into staying another day. We're tired and the weather sucks. So a zero day it is.

Day 98

Weather:
Sunny and warm. No rain.

Today’s Hike:
Harpers Ferry – 0.0 miles

Storm's mom officially became a trail angel when she gave hikers free haircuts. My hair hadn't been cut since December and was looking pretty ratty so a trim was nice. Grommet cut off all her dreads and was given a mohawk, and Egg was given a mohawk as well. Rocket cut off most her hair and now looks like she belongs in a 1980's Oliva Newton John video. We spent the rest of the day with the Diva's and prepared ourselves to hike out of town first thing on Monday morning.

Day 97

Weather: Sunny, no rain.

Today’s Hike: Harpers Ferry, WV – 0.0 miles

Last night (Friday) Grommet called us to let us know the her and the rest of the Packadivas would be hiking into Harpers Ferry Saturday night. They'd been dying to catch up with us and wanted to hang out and try to hike out together. We'd missed them heaps over the last month so we decided to take a 2nd zero day (Sunday) so that we could try to get on track together for a little while.

The morning was filled with doing chores. I went and did our laundry and resupplied at the neighboring Super Walmart. Meanwhile, Muster was taking care of stuff at the Post Office. We were done by 10am and had the rest of the day to relax. The Packadivas got into town around 5pm and we met up for dinner along with Storm's mom and Grommet's dad and brothers. After dinner we headed to a pub on the other side of town that required us to ring a bell to enter. Weird. We made it back to the hotel sometime around 1am.

Day 62 - Day 65

Weather:
Rain, everyday

I have just spent 4 wonderful, relaxing days with Muster's family in West Virginia doing almost absolutely nothing but eating wonderful home cooked meals, fresh fruit, and fresh veggies, and spent time with Timmy, Bev, Mary, Doug, and Sheena.

On Monday we did take a field trip outside of the house when Timmy took us to the Coal Mining Exhibition in Beckley. It's one of the only places that you can take an interpreted ride under ground in an old coal mine; very interesting. The exhibition also houses old homes and a school house so we could see how coal miners and their families use to live.

We spent most of Tuesday getting ready to get back on the trail: getting food organized, getting a schedule together for the next two weeks, showering....over and over :), and mentally preparing to be hiking in rain for the next several days. It's been raining here and on the trail since Friday, and the forecast is predicting rain for another five days... Ugh! At least we missed four days of it.

Comment Option Fixed

Hi all ~

I've had a few of you let me know that the comment option for the blog wasn't working. It should be fixed now so comment away!

We are still hangin' in Beckley, WV with Cindi's family, but should be back on the trail Wednesday.

Pictures have been added to the Virginia (Southwest) album, check then out when you get a chance!

Day 51

Weather:
Rain.

Today’s Hike:
Damascus, VA – 0.0 miles

When I woke up this morning there wasn't a single part of me that felt like hiking today which was kind of unusual; I've always been ready to hike after a zero day. So, I gave myself a pep talk, and slowly crawled out of my sleeping bag. I got dressed, packed my pack, and got ready to head out. After I finished packing, Muster and I walked down to Dairy King for breakfast with the Tag Team, then headed back to the hostel to wrap up some last minute chores.

While I cleaned up the room, Muster headed to the Post Office to mail some currently unneeded items to ourselves several miles up the trail. When she returned it was around 10:30, and the storm clouds were rolling in. Joining Muster were four of the Diva girls (Rocket, Storm, Grommet, and Egg) all of whom were just as thrilled to hike out as I was. It took about 25 minutes between the six of us to decide to take another day off.

We spent the day actually doing much of nothing (since zero days are always crammed with doing chores and no free time). We hung at the coffee house, the library, and ate lunch at a place called Fatty's that served vegan burgers (contradictory but strangely satisfying).

In the evening we discovered the one and only local bar (Dots) was open and the six of us decided it was time for beer. When we walked in it became obvious that every other hiker in Damascus had the same thought. We spent the evening mostly with each other, but did our fair share of fraternizing with other hikers. After an all bar solute to Pond Flats which "had no pond and was definitely not fuckin' flat", Egg did a little dance, we spread a little love, and we got down for the night. By 10:30 Muster and I were back in the hostel and I was downing a bag of Cheeto’s Cheese Puffs (definitely not vegan) and were sleeping by 11:00pm.

Now that's what I call a day off :)

Day 38 - Day 39

4/8/09 Wednesday - 4/9/09 Thursday

Uncle Johnny's Hostel/Aunt Vonzee's House

In the morning we ate a good breakfast, and resupplied at the local Dollar General (we love Dollar General). Then we went back to Johnny's and made an unplanned purchase of new backpacks. In short our current bags sucked.

At 2pm my aunt came and picked us up and wisked us off to her house (AKA the best B&B ever). For two days we ate home cooked meals, drank good wine, and watched chick flicks. I also got to spend time with my aunt, see my uncle Mike for the first time in ten years (minimum), and see my cousin Tiffany. It was fabulous!

Day 32

Weather:
Partly cloudy, no rain.

Today’s Hike:
Hot Springs, NC - 0.0 miles

Today I spent the day resting and preparing for the next 5-6 days of hiking. In my preparation for the week, I stopped by the local outfitter, Bluff Mountain. They had a scale, so Muster and I both weighed ourselves to see how much weight we've lost. Muster has lost 20 pounds and looks fantastic! I have lost.....6lbs. Are you kidding me? Six pounds? That's it? Muster attributes it to the fact that I always am about to eat something, am eating something, or have just finished eating something. Oh well, I still have 1800 miles to go…..hopefully I’ll lose another six pounds by Katadhin.

Day 17

Weather: Sunny, No Rain

Today's Hike: Nantahala Outdoor Center - 0.0 miles

After hiking 16.3 miles the day before there was no way that either one of us were going to make the treacherous climb out of NOC, so we zeroed with the Tag Team.

Today was a day that zero days are made of; relaxation, beer, laundry, and warm showers. Most of the crew we've been hiking with came down the mountain by lunch time. Around this time Cindi had discovered that the NOC general store sold Fat Tire beer - her favorite - and she hadn't had one in years. She was so excited she bought two.

The afternoon was spent sitting by the riverside chatting with Tag Team and the Packadivas, brainstorming ideas for Cindi's trail name. Given that Cindi and I were a hiking team, it seemed only fitting to name her something that paired her well with my trail name. After
much debate we settled on Ms. Muster. Ms. Muster because she orders me around..... So, that's it, we are offically Katchup & Ms. Muster aka the Condiments.

PackaDivas (L to R): Rocket, Loon, Grommet

Lefty

Day 14

Weather: Rain all day
Today's Hike: Franklin, NC - 0.0 miles

The rain continued today so we stayed in town. We did laundry over at the Budget Inn and met finally the Packadivas who were also there doing laundry. We had been hearing about them from the Tag Team. We didn't talk to much, but they seem really funny. Hopefully we'll run into them more out on the trail.

We went into town to resupply. No luck on finding new rain jackets. Hopefully the next town will have a better outfitter.