miles hiked, My buddy Dave D. (AKA Pancho Villa) gave me a ride to GA to the AT trailhead. On the last day we hit the largest flea market in GA. Pancho Villa is below in one very small part of this flea market. The place was huge with a number of buildings and a bunch of […]
8.1 miles hiked, Cool and partly sunny day. My buddy Dave dropped me off at the parking lot and I hiked over to Springer Mountain and back. Then, met Bilbo and hiked with him to the shelter. The shelter was full so we camped out.
8.5 miles hiked, Camped out next to this creek. Got there around 3pm and set up tents. There were probably 6-7 tents out. Around 4pm it started raining so everyone jumped in their tents until 7am! Thankfully the rain stopped in the morning when we packed up to leave. Tried bear bagging for the first […]
7.4 miles hiked, Got a cabin with Bilbo and one other guy. Had a shower and did laundry. The other guy had a pickup truck and we went into town to resupply. We also stopped at a GREAT barbacue joint in the middle of nowhere and had an excellent meal.
11.5 miles hiked Milestones: First day to hike over 10 miles
9.7 miles hiked, Stayed at a Best Western. If I remember right it was cool and a bit rainy.
12.1 miles hiked, Made it to a campsite near some water just outside Hiawasse, GA.
10.7 miles hiked Milestones: Crossed GA-NC border at mile 78.5 Average Miles/State: 9.0
16.2 miles hiked, Camped near a creek. Milestones: First day to hike over 15 miles
12.2 miles hiked, Stayed at a Budget Inn. Milestones: passed 100 miles
16.5 miles hiked, It was a very rainy day hiking in to the NOC. Wet, wet, wet. Parts of the ridge and trail down were very steep and slippery. It was a LONG day. Got a room and shared it with Kemosabe and Simple. Had a good dinner.
0.0 miles hiked, The forecast was for heavy rain so we spent the day at the NOC. Had a big breakfast, lunch and dinner. Had to change roooms though which was a pain. I think 9 out of the last 11 days have had some rain.
13.4 miles hiked, Camped for the night. The rain had stopped over night and it was a good day to hike but my pack was heavy because I resupplied.
5.4 miles hiked, Short hike into Fontana Dam and got a room at the resort. Pretty dead time of year as there were not many guests. Got my permit for the Smokies online. Resupplied some more as we were going into the Smoky Mountains and there were no other towns for resupply until we got […]
8.0 miles hiked, Rain, rain, rain… Milestones: Passed 200 miles
14.9 miles hiked, Sunny day but it is supposed to be a cold night.
12.9 miles hiked, Very chilly night in the shelter. It could have been better but there was no tarp across the front. This section trail drops off steeply on both sides. Very thick brush and trees but very steep too. It is deceptive because there is nowhere to go on either side. I assumed any bears […]
17.6 miles hiked, Stopped at Standing Bear Farm hostel for a shower and some food. Had a long and painful uphill climb out of this gap. This picture is actually Pecks Corner Shelter which I was at on the 12th. I included it becauseI think it was the only shelter on the trail that had […]
0.0 miles hiked, Took a zero day to relax and resupply. Tried the hot springs and had a 1.5 hour massage which was well worth it.
11.0 miles hiked, Had a lift up the road and then proceeded to hike the wrong way which added about 5 miles to the day. I was very aggravated I made that mistake. Lots of mice at this shelter but Nomad had 3 mouse traps and we had fun with those. 2 confirmed kills, 1 […]
8.6 miles hiked, Thunderstorms coming in and I hiked fast for the last 1-2 hours to beat them to the shelter by 30 minutes. Lots of rain and hail. Had the shelter to myself for the night. Being alone in the shelter was pretty strange as there are lots of “sounds” at night…
12.7 miles hiked, Sun came out in the afternoon. Milestones: passed 300 miles
5.8 miles hiked, Resupply and a night in the Super 8 for shower and bed and laundry. Rainy hike. Strange to see a turtle up in the mountains. I saw this one a couple days ago. Almost stepped on it.
7.3 miles hiked, Started hiking around 2pm. 7.3 miles to a campsite. It was a windy and chilly night. Probably in the low 30’s. I found out later that many towns in the area set the all time low temp for this day at 35 degrees.
14.5 miles hiked, This was an awesome shelter and my favorite of the trip so far. It had a great view! I will send a couple pics of this one.
18.0 miles hiked, Stopped in Roan Mountain, TN for 3 hours to resupply and eat some BBQ. Pretty small town! Milestones: Crossed NC-TN border at mile 389.1 passed 400 miles Average Miles/State: 11.8
15.6 miles hiked, 15.6 miles to a hostel for the night. Resupply, shower and laundry.
10.5 miles hiked, It was a long climb on a hot day over a PUD (pointless up and down). Basically, this was a peak in the middle of nowhere that would have been easier to walk around instead of up and immediately down.
21.6 miles hiked, I was running out of water and dehydrating. Had to stop at a shelter for 1-2 hours to rehydrate and rest before moving on. Warm day of hiking. But, got my first 20 mile day in. I set 2 mouse traps I inherited from Nomad and both went off within 15-20 minutes. […]
18.7 miles hiked, Will take a zero day tomorrow to get supplies, get a haircut, mail some cold weather gear home and rest. I have been through GA, NC, TN. VA will be a long time though as over 500+ miles of the AT are in VA! Milestones: Crossed TN-VA border at mile 463.2 Average […]
0.0 miles hiked, Took a zero day to resupply, get a haircut, do laundry, eat a good meal or two and relax.
9.2 miles hiked, It started raining an hour after we started hiking. Got to the shelter around 11:30am and just decided to not hike in the rain all day.
18.6 miles hiked, Saw a couple wild ponies about a mile before the shelter. I think I sent pictures of that already.
10.7 miles hiked, Resupply, etc. Got there in 3.5 hours which is probably the fastest I have hiked so far. Nice day with no rain.
11.5 miles hiked, It rained hard before the first shelter but we pressed on into town and stayed at a dumpy motel to get dry. A lot of hikers did the same thing. This photo….when you have to go, you have to go… OK, it really wasn’t me!
24.3 miles hiked, Woke up to rain. It rained all night too. We did not want to waste a day so we got a shuttle and slack-packed 24.3 miles back to Atkins from further north on the trail. Slack-packing is where you only take water and food and a couple other minor items with you. […]
15.7 miles hiked, Stayed at a bizarre hostel which was not worth it. Weather was ok. Mostly cloudy. This is a place we stayed one night. Usually a hostel has bunk beds, showers and toilets. This had none of those and you set up your tent instead. It was a waste of time and we […]
11.9 miles hiked, It was a warm day. Sunny for most of it then it started pouring around 5pm after we got to the shelter. We decided to stay the night instead of hiking more in rain.
14.2 miles hiked, Another wet day. Mostly cloudy but then it rained for an hour or two in the middle of the day. Huge puddles and streams on the trails everywhere. This trail so far has surprisingly few views. This is a rare one on a cloudy wet day. It didn’t rain but the accumulation […]
16.6 miles hiked, It rained most of the night but had stopped when we started hiking. However, another wet day of hiking. Got a room and some Mexican food. After 630 miles and 3 years of regular use, my boots have had it. The tread is minimal and I was occasionally slipping going into Damascus […]
21.7 miles hiked, We slack-packed back southbound to Pearisburg, VA from further north. Used my new boots and started getting blisters. This photo shows around 5 days of food. Breakfast at the bottom, snacks in the middle rows and dinner up top. Also some random spices, gatorade powder, raman noodles, etc.
1.5 miles hiked, Took a shuttle to where we started slack-packing yesterday and hiked in 1.5 miles to the Bailey Gap shelter. Unfortunately 30 minutes after starting hiking we had thunderstorms, high winds, rain and hail. We were soaked and ended up staying at the shelter for the night. It was a wasted day and […]
14.6 miles hiked, The last big climb today we were lucky to get some trail magic with beer, apples, sodas, etc.
20.2 miles hiked, We camped out for the night. My blisters are starting to bug me more and more. This photo is part of the Audie Murphy memorial on the trail. You will see another picture on the next day.
8.0 miles hiked, We stopped at the four Pines hostel for the night. We went to the Homeplace restaurant with all-you-can-eat late lunch. It was very very good and we didn’t feel like hiking after. it was a really nice day. Yesterday we saw this memorial to Audie Murphy 100 feet off the trail. It […]
16.3 miles hiked, It was a great day to hike. The weather was hot and humid in the morning but then cooled off a little bit in the afternoon. MacAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs were great. McAfee’s Knob is supposed to be the most photographed spot on the southern part of the AT. We had good […]
9.4 miles hiked, It was a very rainy morning and hiking in to town got me soaked. But I had the afternoon off to get some stuff done and resupply. This picture was taken from Tinker Cliffs and is looking back at McAfee’s Knob. Look at the highest point and follow the ridge to the […]
0.0 miles hiked, Took a zero day to buy food, rest, eat out and get supplies at the outfitter. Ended up buying some new boots which I will explain in another email. This picture shows the field I hiked through tomorrow with plenty of cows. New boots + High miles = ?????? The answer is […]
18.5 miles hiked, It was a nice day to hike. This is a typical privy on the trail. Usually located near shelters but occasionally you will find one just about anywhere.
18.4 miles hiked, There were two tough climbs and it was a very hot and humid day. It was a tough day overall.
21.6 miles hiked, We jumped in the river at the James River footbridge which was a very nice break from hiking for an hour. This is the longest foot-use only bridge on the AT. This is where we took a break and jumped in the water on a really hot day.
20.1 miles hiked, It was a great day of hiking with a very tough climb to start. I sweated so much it was like I just stepped in the shower with all my clothes on.
1.8 miles hiked, I’m taking the day off to resupply and relax. The weather the last four days has been great. Mostly sunny although it’s tended to be more hot and humid that I like to hike in. Temps have been in the mid 80s. Scattered thunderstorms are predicted for the next 6 to 8 […]
20.6 miles hiked, Excellent day of hiking. Low humidity, clouds in the AM and a nice breeze. Confessed all my sins to the priest (pretty small list of those!). The photo is actually where we stayed in two days on the 26th and 27th. I am including a couple pictures because it was awesome.
11.2 miles hiked, We got a shuttle to the Devils Backbone Brewing Company (DBBC). We did a blue-blaze side trail and although it was shorter than the regular AT, it was a very tough 3+ miles! Had dinner and they let you tent on their property. The food and beer was excellent at the DBBC. […]
0.0 miles hiked, The plan was to go back to the trail today and start hiking. The only problem was they could not find a driver to bring us back to the trail. So around 11:30 we decided to have a beer while we waited. Around 2pm we still did not have a driver but […]
19.3 miles hiked, 19.3 miles to a road where I got a ride to Waynesboro, VA for the night. On the way out on the last 3-4 miles I saw my second bear of the trip. I was coming up a slight hill and heard a noise. I looked up and saw a black bear […]
19.8 miles hiked, We entered the Shenandoah National Park. Around 4pm I saw another bear. I was coming around a switchback and heard some crashing and saw a small tree shaking and then watched a bear fall out of it. He ran across the trail in front of me and down the hill in the […]
13.2 miles hiked, Stopped at the Loft Mountain Wayside near the trail for a burger and blackberry shake. Spent a couple hours there and fell asleep on the lawn for a while. Saw another bear on the trail. This was a full grown bear and was not too interested in getting out of the way. […]
20.6 miles hiked, I have seen a lot of deer. This one was about 15 feet from me. Milestones: 900 miles
11.5 miles hiked, Stopped at Big Meadows Campground for a shower and laundry. Hiked out around 5pm for the last 3.1 miles in some light mist. Had lunch with Titus and Half Life.
15.6 miles hiked, North Marshall mountain where we camped on a ridge. 3 of us were hiking and we saw another bear. This one was off to our right about 30 yards in the woods. We could just we see its ears, back and eyes. Stopped at the Elkwallow Wayside for a 4 hour break […]
16.1 miles hiked, It was a very hot day and the last hill was much harder than we expected. On the plus side we had some fresh raspberries and blackberries on the trail. This shelter was my second favorite on the trail. Milestones: got out of the Shenandoah mountains
18.4 miles hiked, We met a 14 year old girl who was hiking the trail alone with her mother supporting her on the way. Her trail name was Chipmunk. Also met an ultra runner at the shelter. He was out to trailrun 50-60 miles in 48 hours. He had a water bottle full of whiskey […]
17.8 miles hiked, Another pretty hot day but around 4pm a thunderstorm rolled in and poured on us for a couple hours while we hiked. On the plus side, the temps dropped about 10 degrees and the humidity dropped a lot. Fresh raspberries on the trail with Titus and Half Life. We kept stopping and […]
12.5 miles hiked, Got a room downtown and will take a zero day on the 9th to recuperate, resupply, laundry, etc. it was a warm day but clouds helped keep temps reasonable. Lots of fresh raspberries on the lower part of the trail. Crossing the Shenandoah river into Harpers Ferry
0.0 miles hiked, Zero day in Harpers Ferry to recuperate and resupply, Half Life chowing down some energy.
22.9 miles hiked, Fell for the second time on the trail. Stepped on a rock and slipped. No damage done. Shelter was maybe half a mile from the highway and it was amazing how noisy the traffic was all night. Got into the shelter late and it was packed so I set up my tent […]
18.7 miles hiked, Cloudy and cooler until the afternoon which was nice. Some sections of trail were very rocky. It rained overnight which got my tent pretty wet. Milestones: Crossed MD-PA border at mile 1,059.9 Average Miles/State: 20.8
17.6 miles hiked, Had great trail magic with dinner and breakfast. It rained overnight again. This family rents 3 spaces at Caledonia State park every year for a week and hikers can stay for free. They provide dinner and breakfast and there are showers in the park we can use. They do this at their […]
15.8 miles hiked, Another nice cloudy and cooler day to hike. Had two cops stopping people and asking questions about the Birch Run shelter where I stopped for a break. They thought someone was holding or threatening people there. I didn’t think there was an issue but one guy there had a certain “Deliverance” look […]
22.9 miles hiked, Very hot and sunny day. Lots of walking through fields too. Weather is supposed to be in mid 90’s and humid the next week. Harpers Ferry is considered the half way point on the AT but this is the real half way point based on mileage. Milestones: 1,100 miles
5.0 miles hiked, Had lunch at The Doyle Hotel and got a haircut. Waiting to resupply and will hike 5 miles out later today to Clark’s Ferry shelter. A short day but got a couple things done and its hot for hiking anyway. The photo shows a snake in my way when I hiked out […]
24.6 miles hiked, Very hot and humid weather. The photo is a preview of the PA rocks. I really hit most of these starting July 18th and dealt with them for 2-3 weeks all the way into New York. They were pretty much endless and slowed you down a LOT. This pictures shows some bigger […]
17.6 miles hiked, This shelter was great. You could order pizza and have it delievered and there was a shower. Another very hot day and lots of gnats constantly buzzing you and making suicide dives into your eyes and ears. The PA rocks have also started. This picture shows the smaller rocks…it is deceptive, but you have to look […]
15.1 miles hiked, Lots of gnats again. Very annoying. Not as warm as yesterday and it cooled off at the shelter. This is the last picture of the rocks. These rocks are medium sized. Again, you have to constantly pay attention to where you are placing your feet. These 2-3 weeks dealing with the rocks […]
9.0 miles hiked, It was warm hiking and a sunny day. Called a friend from college after searching google for his number since he was from the area. Amazingly I got to him and he picked me up and we went to his lake house for the afternoon. I hadn’t talked to him in over […]
14.8 miles hiked, A cooler day in the mid-80’s with clouds until around 3pm. Some pretty rocky sections of hiking. PA is known for rocks and it was. Painful week getting through them!
17.4 miles hiked, Cooler and mostly cloudy. Rocky sections not as bad until the rain started around 3pm. Then things got slippery. The shelter was not very nice and the water was .5 miles down a hill.
7.9 miles hiked, Into town by noon. Another warm day. Stayed at the Jail House hostel downstairs from the town offices. Did laundry and resupplied. This picture is some random trail magic. If I remember correctly, lots of water and PB, Jelly and Bread.
20.2 miles hiked, Cool and cloudy – an awesome day to hike. Tented behind the Beer Stein bar and restaurant in Wind Gap, PA. The owner lets the hikers camp behind the place. In the morning, he opens up his restaurant kitchen and let’s us use it – at no charge!!!!. We can have pretty much […]
15.7 miles hiked, Stayed at the Church of the Mountain hostel. On Thursday nights they put on a hot dog feed for the hikers. Some of the church members provide other cooked items and dessert. Excellent that I happened to be there on a Thur night!! More rocks…endless rocks to hike over…
13.4 miles hiked, Got a late start due to resupply and breakfast at a diner. Milestones: 1,300 miles Passed PA-NJ border at mile 1,289.6 Average Miles/State: 15.4
17.9 miles hiked, An excellent day of hiking with cooler temps and lower humidity even though it was sunny most of the day. Finally there were fewer rocks compared to PA.
13.0 miles hiked, This was a rainy day. Misting at first and then a big deluge about an hour after starting. The rain eased up and not too bad for the rest of the day. I got to the shelter around 3pm and found out it was going to rain again so I decided to […]
23.9 miles hiked, A great day of hiking. Sunny but good temps and low humidity.
12.1 miles hiked, A warm day and I ran out of water with 3+ miles to go. The last stream had some nasty looking water and I took some but did not drink any. I brought it along in case I got really, really thirsty. Had hot dogs and ice cream just 0.3 miles off […]
14.3 miles hiked, Another tough day with lots of short but rocky and steep ups and downs. Warm but not hot. I tented behind the shelter and was the only person here for the night.
15.4 miles hiked, Stayed at a small motel to do some laundry, shower and sleep in a real bed. It starts raining about 1 hour after hiking and it stayed wet until I got to the zoo in town which hikers can walk through for free. Although it was rainy, it was nice and cool […]
11.8 miles hiked, 11.8 miles and stealth camped by myself. Short day but I spent 3 hours or so at the Appalachian market eating, charging my phone, etc. sunny and comfortable day to hike. Disaster strikes just a short way out of town…my trekking pole snaps in half. Luckily I am in cell phone […]
22.4 miles hiked, 22.4 miles to Morgan Stewart shelter. Long day but good miles.
20.6 miles hiked, 20.6 miles to ten Mile River shelter. Milestones: passed the largest tree on the AT
8.7 miles hiked, 8.7 miles to Kent, CT. Short day due to resupply. Had a couple good meals and camped for free behind a women’s business right downtown. I think there were at least 12+ people staying on her property that night. Milestones: Crossed NY-CT border at mile 1,458.6 Average Miles/State: 15.5
17.0 miles hiked, 17 miles to Pine Swamp shelter. Got a late start at 10am. Also had some tough miles even though the weather was very nice. Probably due to a heavy pack from resupplying.
21.0 miles hiked, Nice cool and cloudy day. Terrain was pretty easy except for a couple climbs. I just beat some light rain to the shelter. It was nice not to get wet.
8.9 miles hiked, Short day. A number of steep climbs and decents. I slipped once and fell but did not get hurt. Milestones: 1,500 miles Crossed CT-MA border at mile 1,502.9 Average Miles/State: 15.6
16.3 miles hiked, The first 4+ hours were in POURING rain. Absolutely huge puddles and streams everywhere. I stepped in one stream and the water was half way up my calf and over the boots. It really didn’t matter at that point. It was actually a nice hike since it was not cold out. I […]
0.0 miles hiked, Took a zero day. Had some very critical financial stuff to take care of and was very happy a TD Bank was only 3 miles away. By late morning I hadn’t resupplied yet and I decided to just take the day off. We went to the Norman Rockwell museum, a winery and […]
19.1 miles hiked, Nice day, great temps and good terrain. The next morning there was an excellent pancake breakfast. The only bummer was I almost saw a fight break out the next morning between two hikers jawing at each other. Luckily they did not get physical…just jawing.
17.6 miles hiked, Half way along we stopped at the cookie lady and had cookies, a coke and a Klondike bar for $2.50. They had fresh blueberries you could pick also. Great weather again. This photo was taken near North Adams, MA.
11.8 miles hiked, Stayed at the Harbor House Inn B&B. Excellent place with a great breakfast.
14.1 miles hiked, A few of us decided to slack-pack over Mount Graylock which is the tallest peak in MA. It was a windy and cool day but nice to not carry a heavy pack. Stayed another night at the B&B.
14.1 miles hiked, Nice day of hiking – cool and partly sunny although the trail was pretty muddy and wet. Milestones: 1,600 miles Crossed MA-VT border at mile 1,593.4 Average Miles/State: 13.3
18.7 miles hiked, Nice day of hiking but still muddy and a lot of slippery roots. Photo shows a typical shelter on the trail.
22.9 miles hiked, Great day. Perfect weather and pretty easy terrain. Nice sunset from the shelter.
13.1 miles hiked, Nice cool day – great terrain. Climbs were easy except for parts of Styles Peak.
19.6 miles hiked, Perfect weather and great terrain.
20.1 miles hiked, Good day of hiking and great weather again. Only bad section was climbing Killington mountain. It was a long approach with lots of roots and rocks.
10.0 miles hiked, A short day. Had to hike .4 miles off the trail to an outfitter to get fuel. Then walked another .2-.3 miles to a market/deli for lunch and other supplies. Goofed off for 2+ hours and started hiking again. Had a very steep climb up Quimby mountain. Felt pretty tired and did […]
21.5 miles hiked, This was a long day with some steep climbs and descents. A mild thunderstorm rained the last 2 hours of the hike. It was so dark I almost pulled out my headlamp to see.
14.7 miles hiked, Not sure if I am staying here or not. Will resupply and try to do laundry, etc. Hanover has a list of trail angels (15-20 people) that have places to stay for hikers. I called a few and one lady I called came back into town to get me. We took the […]
16.6 miles hiked, Good day of hiking and a cool night for sleeping. Perfect.
16.3 miles hiked, I missed a shelter by taking a wrong turn and was not real happy I didn’t pay attention! The good news is I got 3 miles further down the trail. I tented out with another guy (Steady Eddie) at a random spot on the trail. We didn’t have much choice as it […]
11.5 miles hiked, My buddy Dave picked me up on route 25 and we stayed in Lincoln, NH. It was a cool and cloudy day of hiking. He brought my winter gear with him again and this time I swapped out some items to prepare for the rest of NH and Maine. This photo shows […]
0.0 miles hiked, I was pretty exhausted and decided to take a zero day and hang out in town to relax and resupply. We stayed another night and I got to eat some great meals at local restaurants. The photos shows a pretty typical mountain summit in NH.
16.8 miles hiked, This was a very long day. Mount Moosilauke was very tough and technical going up. I felt pretty good and decided to press to the next shelter. Around 3-4pm thunder started while I was on a long ridge climb. An hour later I passed the summit of mount Wolf and some light […]
8.8 miles hiked, Although short for miles, this was a very long and tough day. North and South Kinsman mountains had the steepest and most technical climbs and descents yet. In addition, much of the trail was damp and wet so the rocks and roots were very slippery. It was very slow and in sections […]
10.3 miles hiked, I felt good and the weather was mostly cloudy. The rain held off but there were limited views up top. The pace was slow as there were a lot of steep climbs. The shelter was built in 2011 and was one of the nicer ones.
14.5 miles hiked, I guess I was tired as I don’t have any notes for this day. There was one long climb and a few small ones. The rest was downhill to a long flat trail for 4+ miles to the shelter.
14.1 miles hiked, The day started with flat terrain to a descent to Crawford Notch. The ascent over Mt Webster was steep in sections and technical over 3 miles. But, I am in the presidential range which is great and the weather has turned sunny and mostly clear! This is good as t-storms had been […]
7.0 miles hiked, Our goal was 15 miles but the endless rocky terrain and descents and climbs slowed us down. The day started cloudy and rainy but by the time we left the hut it was only cloudy on the top of Mt Washington. We stopped at the top and had lunch. After 30 minutes […]
7.8 miles hiked, We stayed at the Joe Dodge Lodge. This was another short mileage day. The day was very sunny as we climbed up and over Mt Madison. But the terrain was also very rocky. This was not too bad as the rocks were dry. However, once we went below tree-line, the rocks and […]
13.1 miles hiked, I felt really good physically and made pretty good time. The climb up Wildcat as very steep the first 1-1.5 miles. After that there was a series of moderate ups and downs over the various peaks of Wildcat. After Wildcat the trail had some very steep climbs and descents. The last steep […]
8.0 miles hiked, I decided to stay in Gorham to resupply and because there were minimal spots to stop if I kept hiking. The night was rainy and cooler than it has been for quite a while. There was no rain while hiking but low clouds and wind occasionally. After an hour or so the […]
11.8 miles hiked, Great sunny and cool day for hiking. Met a couple from Portsmouth, NH at the shelter. This is the second couple from Portsmouth I have met on the trail. The next morning I went down to the pond around 7:20am to get some water and saw 2 moose. A mother and young […]
9.6 miles hiked, I snapped another trekking pole on a very steep section. I was not happy about this because I rely on them so much in this type of terrain. It was a stupid pole plant and move on my part. Some of these climbs and descents are incredibly steep. What a pain. Milestones: […]
9.7 miles hiked, 9.7 miles to Grafton Notch. Stayed at the Chapman Inn in Bethel, ME. Did the Mahoosuc Notch. The guide book I used says “Most difficult or fun mile of the AT. Make way through jumbled pit of boulders.” It rained the night before and sprinkled a bit in the morning so everything […]
10.3 miles hiked, Resupplied in Bethel and an outfitter fixed my trekking pole for free by using Lexi parts on my Black Diamond poles. He was pretty awesome for doing this! In the afternoon hiked 10.3 miles to East B Hill road and camped for the night. It was a great day of hiking with […]
10.1 miles hiked, 10.1 miles to South Arm road. Stayed at a hostel in Andover, ME. It was a good day with no rain! The photo shows a beaver dam right on the trail.
11.5 miles hiked, Tough day. Warm and sunny until late afternoon. Lots of thunder and a little rain after 6:30pm. I fell twice while hiking. The first time I was sideways and my head was downhill. I had to remove my pack before I could get up. Luckily no damage other than a couple scratches […]
16.7 miles hiked, OK day except for lots of roots and mud from rain. Big thunderstorm 35 minutes before we got to the shelter and we were soaked. But we had a roof and only one other person in the shelter.
11.6 miles hiked, We camped for the night. It was a wet rainy day and night. The peaks were socked in. Some very steep sections coming off Saddleback mountain. Another tough day. Milestones: Got my last two 4,000 foot peaks in New England. There are 48 in NH, 5 in VT and 14 in ME.
11.5 miles hiked, Forded first 2 streams. Fording required us to walk in a fast stream up to mid-thigh in depth. All the rain made the rivers high and fast. Had to be really careful.
7.3 miles hiked, Weather clears up and we had some sun all morning. Resupplied in town and dried out all gear.
10.4 miles hiked, It was a cold windy day going over the Bigelow mtns. The peaks and some of the ridge was all exposed and above treeline. I finally remembered I had some rain pants and put them on over the last peak to stay warm. They were predicting night temps into the teens but […]
15.1 miles hiked, The day started cool and cloudy but by mid-day the sun was out and it was perfect hiking weather. I hiked most of NH and ME with Krispen. I met him in MA and ran into him again in Hanover, NH. He was a great hiking partner.
11.5 miles hiked, There is a ferry service (canoe for 2 people) over the Kennebec River which we have to take since there is a dam upstream that releases multiple times a day and it is very dangerous to ford this river. Got to the ferry site at noon and had to wait until the […]
14.7 miles hiked, A cool day for the first hour and then perfect blue skies and no wind after that. Had some great views from Pleasant Pond Mtn. Forded another stream.
22.0 miles hiked, Another day of perfect weather. Forded 3 rivers. Two were mid-thigh in depth. The other was knee deep.
15.3 miles hiked, Slack-packed 15.3 miles back into Monson from the north. Cloudy and cool to start but sun came out later for another great day. Forded 3 rivers. Terrain was lots of short ups and downs which can be harder than sustained climbs and descents sometimes. But it was nice not to have a […]
0.0 miles hiked, Zero day in Monson due to rain and to resupply.
10.7 miles hiked, Had a very cold (mid 30’s maybe) and wet night at the shelter. Very windy all night long but at least we were dry in the shelter. The trail had lots of small ups and downs which slowed progress a bit.
9.9 miles hiked, Another very cool, cloudy and wet day. Not pouring but damp and misty in the clouds. Had to ford the West Branch of Pleasant River. This was pretty shallow (maybe up to the mid-calf, and wide. Not flowing real hard so it wasn’t too bad. Met Chiquita and Spider who I hadn’t […]
15.9 miles hiked, The day started out cold and wet but was cooler later. No sun at all but warmer at the lower elevations. I fell once and almost fell 2-3 other times. Luckily it was a minor fall and I didn’t break my trekking poles. Had a few climbs at higher elevations but the […]
18.7 miles hiked, Another overcast day but no rain. Very flat terrain with some rocks and rooty areas to deal with. Finally got some higher mileage though and that was nice.
17.7 miles hiked, Beautiful, sunny and warm day. Lots of color in the leaves. Another really flat day of hiking which helped. On top of Nesuntabunt Mountain we had a 16 mile line-of-sight view of Katahdin.
11.2 miles hiked, Fantastic day in the 70’s and sunny. No clouds at all. Great views of Katahdin. Mostly flat hiking so was at the campsite by noon. There was a restaurant and store at the campsite. I was going to push on another 10 miles to camp and summit Katahdin Sunday but there were […]
10.0 miles hiked, The trail was very flat. Had to ford one stream and was able to rock-hop the other one instead of fording it. Was at The Birches early afternoon and saw a bunch of people that had summited during the day. The weather was perfect – warm, minimal wind and no clouds. Another […]
10.2 miles hiked, 5.1 miles up Katahdin and 5.1 miles back down. We all started around 5-5:15am and I hit the summit at 8:46am. We did night hiking with our headlamps for the first hour. The terrain was pretty flat the first mile and then gradually got steeper for the next hour. After that we […]