Update

7/7

(start 1:45. Finish 6:45. @ stony brook shelter. 10.0 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.69191,-72.73016&ll=43.69191,-72.73016&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Late start. I missed bus into Rutland from the Inn because the dude from the inn told me the wrong time. I choose it was time to trim the beard so I wanted to go into town to a barber. It costs me $5 to trim down the beard.

One of the things I didn't like about being at West Point and in the military is when people are passing each other they don't look at your eyes, they see what your rank is and then act accordingly. I found it very judgmental and impersonal. I am finding a similar dynamic out here. The first question most people ask is 'are you thru-hiking?' like why is that the most important thing you need to know about someone. How about- what's your name, where are you from, how ya doing?

I was talking to some cool people at the shelter tonight and I think ive come up with how I'm going to respond to 'you thru-hiking.' I'm gonna say I'm an adventurer. Another funny response I've came up with the help of Coyote (he is actually the dude i slept with at the shelter on my first night) is when people ask where'd you start, the response is going to be 'the beginning.' where you going to 'the end.'

I hammered out the 10 miles today. Felt strong. There was a decent climb. It was only 1300 feet and it was a great steady climb. The trail was awesome, no mud, no rocks, no roots.

I miss read the book and miscalculated the distance to Hanover. For some reason I thought it was 60 miles, so I planned on 4 days. Well it's only 40 miles, so I'm carrying extra food, but the real pickle is the timing of when I'll get there because I have a mail drop there of my goretex pants and coat. They say that I'm going to need warm clothes in the White mountain range so my mama mailed them to me. The problem is I could hike normal miles and get there in 3 days which would mean i would get there by Saturday but since the post office closes at noon and is closed on sunday, I'd have to wait there until Monday morning to get my stuff, so I've decided to hike smaller miles, get there on Sunday, resupply and plan the next few days, tent nearby, walk to the post office Monday morning and be on my way. (Gina, was that a run-on sentence? If not, it was a damn impressive sentence) (Russ,that's why i dont like mail drops or bounce boxes) (some hikers use bounce boxes. Which means when they're in a good town to resupply, they buy extra stuff and mail it to another town ahead so they can have good supplies in towns that may not offer good stuff but have easy access to a post office)

7/8

(start 8:40. Finish 4:20. Tented after Woodstock Stage Rd. 15.4 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.67447,-72.55106&ll=43.67447,-72.55106&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

I'm done with sleeping at shelters for the time being. Last night there were two people about to go to sleep at like 8:30. 3 hikers came in late and made a lot noise, talked a long time and were not considerate of the two trying to sleep. So the two trying to sleep early repaid the favor this morning. They set an alarm for 4:30 and let it go and go and go. Then they proceeded to pack their gear loudly on purpose for a long time, rustling everything they could and banging stuff on the ground. It was hilarious and I couldn't blame them. However i was an innocent bystander. Then the dudes that were loud the previous night woke up at 6:30 and continued their loud shananagins while i was trying to sleep. I don't know if they're wrong or it's something that is to be expected in a public place. And it's all about freedom out here. I don't want to impose on someone else's experience. So I'm just gonna stay away. I plan to tent from now on in none shelter/campsite locations.

7/9

(start 9:40. Finish 4:30. @ iron bridge Vt 14. 11 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.7094,-72.41855&ll=43.7094,-72.41855&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Today was a lot of ups and downs. And the guide book i use to hike the trail isnt good at telling you the terrain. It just gives major landmarks and their elevation. So for instance today it showed one road at 880 feet and the next landmark was another road at 820 feet that's 2.5 miles away. So in planning I thought ok that should be an easy flat 2.5 miles. Nope. It was straight up then straight down. It was pretty much like that all day; however. . .

Today I hit hiker JACKPOT. The trail went briefly through this town. I was about to cross this bridge when from afar I saw this girl on the other side of the rail, looking like she was about to jump off and two people were talking to her. I was like oh snap, she's about to commit suicide and they're talking her down. As I got closer I realized there was a river down below and she was going to jump into it. She was pretty frightened and it was taking her a long time. So then I was like I'll do it. So I put my stuff down, took my boots and shirt off and hopped on the other side of the railing. Well it took me a while to finally jump. I have a fear of heights, but i finally did it. It was fun. It hurt my taint a lil. I'm guessing it was about 30 feet. (I have video of it but it's on my camera so i have to wait to get back home to put it on the computer) so anyway then the two girls jumped too. We took pictures and I was about to be on my way. Well it was the two girls and one of the girls dad there and the father invited me to have a beer back at his brother's party. I couldnt turn it down so i went. It was awesome. Great food. Great people. Great beer. Great house. This very nice lady was trying to sell me a house in the area and get me a job at the local school. She was great. And the guy who owned the house was a retired teacher. His house was amazing. He's such a craftsman. He built this little shack to have a brick oven pizza house. And that's where I'm sleeping tonight. I have a video of the party on my mobile me gallery. The link is in my blog description at the top of this site. It's definitely a night I'll never forget.

7/6

7/6

(start 10:30. Finish 1. @ us 4. 6.3 miles)

No spot check- Inn at the Long Trail

Ok so I forgot to mention yesterday how awesome the hike was up to the summit of mt Killington. It was 4.3 miles rising 2000 feet. Some people like to do the elevation change in a shorter distance to get it over with. I prefer the longer, more gradual climb. This climb had an awesome vibe. I felt like i was in some enchanted forest from lord of the rings or harold potter. it was scattered with evergreens. Half were dead and barren, the other were alive and well with a weird moss growing on them. The forest floor was covered with moss. There were humongous, veiny roots all over. It was a super cool feeling.

So I walked my 6.3 miles to get to the road where I planned to hitch hike west 7.5 miles to resupply in Rutland, VT. it took a while to get a hitch but then I got the best hitch ever. She was a sexy, outdoorsy girl, 25 yrs old. She quit her teaching job to work for this outdoors guide company. She takes groups out hiking and kayaking. I wanted to ask her to marry me. Haha. Jk. But really.

I planned on tenting for free at the Inn at the Long Trail, but on the bus ride back from Rutland, I met up with Christian (a dude i met a while ago on the AT) and he said it was a good place to stay. So I wussed out and got a room. An hour later it went from a beautiful day to a torrential down pour, hail and lightning. Good decision on the room. I plan on a big burger and a few beers for dinner.

Ok so I've been sitting at the pub with steve, dan and Mary. Awesome times. No burger because I ate a block of cheese and a package of pepperoni (that I bought at the grocery store when resupplying) but the beers are flowing. And I'm sitting at the bar in boxers because that is my back up, clean shorts. I keep them clean and hike in my real shorts. I probably should start using real shorts as my clean shorts so I'm not in public in boxers. I don't wanna get tipsy and let the turtle head pop out and not realize it.

Question, respond please

Ok so I have a new question on hiker etiquette (please respond)

What should the hiker etiquette be on who gives way to whom when passing on the trail?

(aspects to consider: going uphill, downhill. Day hiker, multiday hiker, multimonth hiker. Carrying a pack, not carrying a pack)

(the trail is very narrow in a lot places, so when passing opposing hikers, who should give way to whom?)

Update

7/3

(start 7:50. finish 5:20. @ lost pond shelter. 14.8 miles. Tent)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.34768,-72.95285&ll=43.34768,-72.95285&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Watched hang over last night. 'we dont remember anything from last night, remember?'

The present is called the present because it's a gift. Unwrap that b•tch and start enjoying it.

Decent day of hiking. I got dropped off at the trailhead with Beth and good foot by Jeff (owner of hostel) at 7:50. Hiked up to the summit of mt Bromley 3 miles, 1400 feet up before 9. Then it started pouring and lightning. So lucky for me and Beth that mt Bromley (a ski resort) keeps a little building open for hikers, so chilled in there. Good foot was a little slower and got soaked. That always sucks. We spent a whole day dry and clean at the hostel, did laundry, took a shower, fresh and clean, and poor dude gets soaked within the first 2 hours back on the trail. I waited about 40 minutes and the rain stopped so I was relatively dry. The mud on the AT up here is crazy so my feet are wet and dirty again, already. But everything else is dry so no complaints from me. I'm really tempted to come home. I could be having great times with family, watching the tour de France, riding my bike; but I can do all those things all the other months so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna stick this out.

It was cool for me today because where I started hiking was where I attempted a winter hike two Christmases ago, attempted being the key word. So almost two years ago, I left a day or two after Xmas (keeping christ out of that materialistic holiday that he probably wouldn't approve of) to hike, snow shoe for a few days. So I made the drive up in decent time. I think it took me like 5-6 hours to get to Manchester Center. However once I got there, I drove all over trying to find the trailhead. It probably took about an hour of driving around the town to find it. And the only problem was that I read the map wrong. So anyway, it was starting to get dark. I parked my car, got my gear together, put my snow shoes on and started hiking. The plan was to sleep at Bromley shelter which is exactly 2 miles from the parking lot and it's about 700 feet uphill, not too bad. I wound up having to hike in the dark which wasn't too bad either. So i finally get to the shelter with a little feeling of accomplishment and a little nervousness about my first serious winter trip. I set my stuff up and realize that i forgot my sleeping bag in my car. Doh! So 2 miles down 700 feet and then back 2 miles up 700 feet.

Now its really night time. I hiked with my head lamp. And on the way back up I noticed that the stream was freezing. I dont know what the temperature was that night unfortunately but it has to be pretty cold for moving water to freeze.

So I'm finally in my sleeping bag and for some reason i decide to read a book- The Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner by Dean Karnazes. It was awesome. I couldn't stop reading. The next thing I knew it was 3 AM.

I didn't wake up until noon. I knew I was in a little bit of trouble. I contemplated staying in that shelter and just starting the next day. The plan was to hike 8.2 miles to the next shelter. I thought it was possibly doable and I was hella-fired up from the book that i just went for it. Ernt. Bad decision. 8.2 miles in the summer would take less than 4 hours. But I now know snow shoeing is much, much slower.

I was moving super slow and it was difficult to find the trail sometimes. it was getting dark and I was nowhere close to the shelter. It was freezing cold. It was starting to snow heavily. It was so cold that after a few hours of hiking, the water in my water bottle was frozen solid from being on the outside of my pack. I had to hike with the bottle under my down jacket to thaw it out.

So I was very nervous and beaten mentally. I was about to set my tent up in the midst of the snow storm when I heard snow mobiles. Ahhh yes. I went a little farther and there was a woods road. I waited by it. They stopped for me and asked me what the hell I was doing out there and then gave me a ride back to my car. So my first winter attempt, I lasted about 24 hours. I'm not proud but it's pretty funny.

7/4

(start 9:30. finish 6:40. at Minerva Hinchey shelter. 14.9 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.48761,-72.92438&ll=43.48761,-72.92438&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

I'm feeling weak. The miles are hard to do. My feet hurt. I'm missing the 4th of July BBQ.

In the moment of weakness play rocky songs... In the burning heart. In the warrior's code theres no surrender. Your body cries stop. Your spirit screams never!!

Tonight at the shelter there was a wilderness camp of 8 girls and 2 counsellors. They were so cute. All full of energy and curiosity. They asked tons of questions. Song lots of songs. Cooked up s'mores. Cool group.

Today i came across an older dude that looked real familiar and as he kept talking (which he did a lot of) I realized I met him two years ago while hiking on the AT in NY. I remembered him because he was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and he always had cool stories. Cool dude.

I also got to canoe a little bit at Little Rock pond. I canoed across the pond and chilled and ate lunch on this huge rock formation overlooking the pristine mountain pond.

7/5

(start 9:15 finish 7:15 @ cooper lodge shelter. 15.2 miles )

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.60608,-72.82248&ll=43.60608,-72.82248&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

This morning I had an alarm clock of 8 squirrely little girls playing- "Oh Big booty. big booty big booty big booty. Big booty number 1. Number 1 number 3..." these girls were great. So full of life and high spirits. They have been out for days grinding out the miles and they were still squirrely.

Sometimes while walking through the woods I hear these very weird noises. And at those times I can't help but to be very thankful that I don't have to be worried about being hunted by veloca raptors. You know?!?! They're guile little buggers. They hunt in threes. The first one gets your attention to distract you while the other two work on flanking you. It would definitely make hiking much more stressful. Thanks Ice Age.

Had a great breakfast at whistle stop- The Works- 2 eggs, home fries, toast, French toast, a pancake, 2 sausages. Mmmmm

My feet have been dry all day. Out of 20 days this might be the 2nd or 3rd time that has happened. It feels nice. I was actually contemplating buying new, waterproof boots. Not any more. I will continue to cheap it out.

This shelter is .2 miles below the summit of Mt Killington. I dropped my pack and walked the blue blaze trail up to the peak and it was amazing. It's probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen (the only two things that rival it are the views I had in Colorado on Mt. Elbert and the views from Old Rag in Shenandoah). The sun was on the horizon so the sky was a mix of blue and red. The sky was clear, so I could see forever. The mountains very plentiful and big. It was awesome. I should have ate dinner up there.

7/2

7/2

(zero day. Green Mountain House Hostel)

The Tour de France starts today!!! super bummed I’m going to miss watching this year. Let’s go Andy Schleck.

I’m taking my zero at the best possible hostel. this place is amazing. its huge, its clean and its got everything. the owner is a hiker and he’s been around to see a lot. He knows what we need and want, and he does his best to give it to us. You can use the kitchen, eat the food in the house, he has a pint of ben and jerry’s ice cream for you, you can use the computer, wifi, he has a piano, a guitar, a nice tv, lots of dvds, a phone, you can do laundry, there is an awesome hiker box, there are things to use in the bathroom such as nail clippers and Q-tips. And he only charges $20. awesome! thanks Green Mountain House.

Ok so I didn’t want to have to do this, be negative or hate on people. And actually I’m not hating, because these people are actually pretty cool and nice and good people; I think they’re just young and lack a certain perspective right now, but here goes: so these two people, boyfriend and girlfriend of a long time, in their early 20’s have this ‘better than thou’ attitude, mainly because they are thru-hikers and have a little experience doing other hikes. The first time I noticed it was when the dude was judging other peoples packs and how they packed them. He was making mountains out of mole hills, acting like he knew so much. Another time was when he looked at what food I bought to resupply. I got this awesome dried fruit medley for my trail mix. He asked how much was it and I said 2 bags for $4. He was all high and mighty, ‘oh you spent way too much. puh, section hikers.’ (looking down on a section hiker) meanwhile this douche bag is spending $55 on a horrible hostel and he’s acting cool over 50 cents. ok so that was yesterday, then today on our way out of town this morning I came across them at the supermarket. we were hanging out in front by some seats and a picnic table. I was waiting for a ride to this new hostel and they were doing some resupplying before heading out. so I was sitting between them and two thru-hikers that both of us have never meant before. Now usually there is a lot of love between hikers, lots of talking, greetings, etc. Well these two new people obviously saw us, but choose not to talk to us. They left after like 10 minutes and when they left the doucher asked me ‘do you think they were thru-hikers’ I said ‘they certainly smell like ‘em’ (they definitely were) And doucher’s response was ‘(all sad) they didn't even say hi to ME’ and he emphasized ME. like he understood why they wouldn’t talk to me because I’m just a section hiker, but those people definitely should have said hi to him... Ok so one more thing (last thing). They knew I was uncertain about whether or not I was going zero today. So a little after those people left, we began to talk and I told them I was zeroing and waiting for a ride. I forget her exact response because I try not to focus on the negative (and the only reason I’m writing this post is because I’m at a hostel on a computer with nothing else to do, otherwise I wouldn't waste time or energy of immaturity) but anyway it was something to the effect of your are a weak individual to zero after a nero. I almost went off. I felt my blood boiling, but I calmed down and again, I didn’t want to waste energy on immaturity. Because it really is just immaturity, they are not malicious, because these are good people. They are just young and haven’t realized that different people have different goals and it makes no sense to impose your way of life onto someone else. You run into a lot of people out here that are doing a thru-hike with the mentality that they have something to prove and usually leads to being competitive and judging others.

7/1

7/1

(start 6:30. Finish 8:30 AM. Manchester center. 6.3 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.17936,-73.05646&ll=43.17936,-73.05646&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Dude what a sleeping experience I had last night in the shelter with battle cat and ott. I've been hiking close by with this couple for a few days now (those are their trail names which pretty much all thru-hikers have). They're cool people. A little negative but very cool. So anyway we laid down early (8 PM) hoping for an early wake and an early arrival into town. So dude was first to fall asleep and he was snoring a lil. His girlfriend woke him up and asked him to 'roll over' so he would stop snoring. Little did I know how that would be a classic foreshadowing of what was to come!!! OMFG!!! I guess I'm a snorer. So this girl, lady, proceeded to wake me up multiple times during the night asking me to "ROLL OVER PLEASE!!!" it was a weird experience because I didn't know if I was dreaming it or it was an unfortunate reality. So when it was 5 AM and I was wide awake and felt like I got NO sleep, I knew it was reality. well I also know that non-interrupted sleep is very important. You have to go through the stages of sleep continuously to get to REM sleep which is the important part of sleep. If you interrupt sleep and don't get to REM sleep, it's almost like getting no sleep at all. AND I got no sleep because she was either yelling at me or her boyfriend ALL night to tell us to "ROLL OVER" I guess it was a blessing in disguise because I did wake up early and arrived in town early, which was nice.

The shelter experience is a staple of AT life. We are so use to solitude and peace all day and then at night we congregate at the shelter and have to coexist. The problem is everybody brings with them a different view on what is right and what is the polite thing to do. Should snorers sleep outside in a tent, or should light sleepers be the ones who have to tent? Ear plugs? Then there's the early risers who wake up the late risers by getting their stuff together. And by the same token, there are those who don't like to go to sleep early that keep the early to bed people awake. It's really funny. And these are just a few of the many issues. There should be a psychology case study done on this dynamic of human interaction. everyone always thinks their way is the right way. The early risers look down upon those who dont wake early. And the late risers get pissed at the noisy early risers.

So I'm in town and it feels nice. I ate breakfast at mcdonalds and hung out with Charlie, dreamwalker, sprocket and inchworm. I'm staying at hostel for a Nero (near zero miles of hiking). And I'm thinking of staying at a cheaper hostel tomorrow to make it a 0 (zero miles of hiking) to let everything heal and get strong.

For me this hike is about getting back into shape and enjoying my time of freedom, on the road, in nature. So I've decided I'm not going to care about the miles. I'm going to enjoy each day, I'm going to stop to enjoy every bit of beauty I encounter and not worry about how many miles I do. And eventually I'll make my way to my family on July 30th with my fam (minus Kara) on Moosehead lake. That's the goal. Thats the plan. I was inspired to take this plan action because I passed by this beautiful lake in the middle of nowhere and another hiker was about to take a swim and I decided not to because I wouldn't make my distance goal of the day. That night I was like, dude, that could have been an awesome experience and I passed up on it just to say I walked big miles. Not cool.

I spent most of the day chilling at the hostel talking with hiker people's- Charlie, inch worm and sprocket mostly. We had some intense convos. The one that really sticks out is our talk about the evolution of world power from Britian to the US and now possibly to China. It was cool to get charlie's perspective since he's from the UK and the other dude was sort of a southern conservative so his views were sort of predictable.

Update

6/27

(start 10. Finish 7. Sherman brook campsite. 12 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=42.71729,-73.15128&ll=42.71729,-73.15128&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

This morning this dude from Virginia said something funny to me. He was talking about how in all of the southern states you can have fires anywhere but in the most of the northern states you cant have a fire or only in certain locations. He was like but up here it's cold. What do they do in the winter? Just sit there and wish about having a fire, yea the north is really enlightened.

Man I've been weak today too. I didn't want to continue hiking after sitting around at the top of Mt. Greylock. It's the highest point in Mass and it's a tourist attraction. Its beautiful up there. It was a tough hike and a tougher hike down. There was this cute little kid up there looking down into the valley saying over and over again so joyously "Everything looks like toys... Lots of toys!" (because all of the houses were so small) You can see forever up there.

So i contemplated for a long time on how I could get down easily. Btw it's almost 3000 ft down, very steeply. So I thought about hitching or walking the roads or a combo of both. But I didn't. I humped it down, slipped a few times, cursed a few times, but I made it. One of the things motivating me to get down was I knew Friendly's was on the bottom in this town we pass. I've been planning to stop here since before I started. I was just going to have ice cream but I decided on dinner as well (the Reuben and picture menus are a mighty temptress). And while I was eating a married couple passed me on their way out and asked if I was going north or south. I said north and they nonchalantly walked out. A minute later my waitress came up to me and told me those people paid for my meal. It's amazing how often people help out hikers. Thank you anonymous couple!!!

I'm thinking I'm not gonna make the goal of 16.7 miles today. It's getting late and I'm tired.

Side note- the weather was great today. My boots are dry for the first time since June 21st. No bullshit. At no point before about an hour ago have my boots been dry since the 21st.

My legs are finally sore and I'm not liking it and I tweaked my hamstring a lil. One of the sayings that has been getting me through tough times is "there are good times. There are bad times." dean karnazes said that during an interview while he was running 40-50 miles a day to run across America. It's simple but powerful... and true. There are going to be good times (enjoy em). There are going to be bad times (get thru them so you can have more good times). That's what it means to me anyway. Expect the bad times and if you still want the end result, you gotta persevere to make it to more good times.

6/28

(start 9:50. finish 7:30. Melville nauheim shelter. 18.4 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=42.88803,-73.0954&ll=42.88803,-73.0954&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Today was just a grind it out day. I was sore, my hammy was hurting, I got a late start, but I hammered away the miles. I started by pretty much walking for 6 straight hours. Then took an hour break and knocked out my last 6 miles. The finish was tough- 1000 feet steeply down, then immediately 1000 feet steeply up.

It's not illegal. It's frowned upon. Thanks a lot bin laden.

Yo, this dude in the shelter is snoring loud!!!!

6/29

(start 10:10 finish 7:10. @ story spring shelter. 17.4 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.05038,-73.01236&ll=43.05038,-73.01236&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

This has been my 14th day out so it's officially my longest trip... I walked about 4 straight hours (8.5 miles) to start the day, took an hour rest then walked another 4 hours straight (8.9 miles) to finish at the shelter. My knee is completely better. My hamstring is close to be 100%. My feet and ankles are the weakest link. Everything else is doing good.

There really needs to be a term like "you've got boy scoutted." and here's why- it was a tough hike today, ups, downs, rocks, mud. Others decided to stay at the previous shelter and make it a shorter day, but I decided I'm behind schedule of getting to Katahdin by July 30th, so I'm trying to push the miles. So I pushed the miles, I'm really tired, really hungry, really thirsty and I get to the shelter hoping to set my stuff down, cook a peaceful meal and just relax AND no, because there are 15 adolescent boy scouts, who walked their 5 miles today and now they will take up all the spots in the shelter and be loud and annoying. 'I got boy scoutted'

6/30

(start 9:40. finish 6. William Douglas shelter. 15.8 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.14458,-72.99091&ll=43.14458,-72.99091&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

It's starting to smell a lot like Christmas... It was great today. The AT went through intermittent forests of evergreens that smell like Christmas trees. It's amazing how smell evokes memories. I couldn't help reminiscing about when I was kid and getting an Xmas with the fam. Good times. Its ashamed that as you get older you stop wanting to do those things. Now I'm so cynical i don't even want to celebrate christmas. All I wanna do now is get drunk and watch the grinch (kara will get that).

I've recently met this British bloq trailed named Charlie after Charlie Chaplin (not Charlie bit my finger). He's a cool cat. He finished schooling at age 15 and went into becoming a zoo keeper. He bought a house and paid it off in 15 years. Now he rents it out and travels all over. This is his 3rd thru-hike of the AT. He has hiked the PCT and biked the CDT twice. he and his girlfriend rode their bikes from anchorage Alaska to the bottom of south America in 9 months. They have done bike tours all over Europe. They have travelled around working on organic farms in Europe. He calls it playing. He's an inspiration to me.

Man I wonder what Arsenio is doing right now. He's probably at a wine and cheese party... He's probably mad cause somebody didn't tell him how good the cheese was.

That was from the Chapelle show, btw, but when i walk into this town tomorrow I'm getting a hotel room, a bottle of wine, a block of cheese and maybe a pack of cigarettes. Pass out for an afternoon nap, wake up and eat dinner either at a Greek pizza place or a Mexican restaurant. I've been trying to push the miles the pass few days and it's making me not appreciate nature. All I worry about is hitting my time and miles marks. I'm thinking I'm gonna slow it down which means I'm not gonna make Katahdin by july 30. So Im thinking I'm gonna hike at a fun pace then just hitch hike so i get to the 100 mile wilderness by july 23. (the 100 mile wilderness is the last 100 miles of the trail leading to Baxter state park and Mt Katahdin) that will give me 7 days to hike about 110 miles and then I can meet the fam at Moosehead Lake, hollerrrr at me!!!