Posts
Marble and Birch: Into the Green Mountains
In the past week, I’ve traveled north through the Berkshires and up into Vermont. The terrain is rolling higher, with 3000-foot plateaux and peaks pushing up towards 4000 for the first time since Virginia. The highlands host a landscape that belongs entirely to the north, full of beaver ponds and fir trees and papery-white birche Down in Massachusetts there were valleys of marble, packed with towns and farms and houses. Up here there’s nothing but forest and hills and streams trickling out of bogs.
Hudson & Housatonic Highlights
I’m now over two-thirds of the way to Katahdin! Woohoo! From here on out, I have less than half as far left to walk than I already have. The trail’s been wilder, higher, and more scenic than it has been for hundreds of miles. Massachusetts in particular feels like the gateway to new heights, a world of northern crags that’s different from anything further south.
Crossing the Delaware
Four days ago, I crossed the Delaware River and left Pennsylvania behind. I knew this would be a big milestone, but I hadn’t realized just how different the Jersey trail would be! It’s been one of my favorite sections of the trail so far.
Penn’s Woods, or, a test of strength
I’m now two-thirds of the way through Pennsylvania, and honestly? It’s been tougher than I expected. Not because of the rocks, though that’s been part of it, but because of the distances involved. The PA section of trail is over 200 miles long, and all of it’s roughly halfway to Katahdin.
Riding the Blue Ridge Home
Well, I made it! I’m in downtown Frederick, Maryland, taking a zero day right back near where I grew up. It’s hard to believe that I’ll be trekking on north through Pennsylvania in just a few days. In the past week I’ve walked 145 miles, so I can use the break!
Day 54: Adjusting to a Middle State
Things have felt different since the third-way point in Daleville. The mountains are lower and rounder, the trees are greener, the trail feels less buried in the mountain fastnesses of the South. I may not have crossed a state line, but for the first time I find myself truly in a middle state.
Day 47: Continental Divides
Of course there’s only one Eastern Divide. But the trail crosses over this divide three times between Peters Mountain and the Triple Crown. And this triple crossing is not just a technicality — you go from the bottom of the valley to the top of a ridge each time.
The Mysteries of Virginia
Southern Virginia’s a mystery to me. I have a pretty good understanding of where the Appalachian Trail travels as it snakes its way up towards Maine. But from Damascus to Roanoke, it takes a sudden detour into the heart of the Southern ridges, an area I knew nothing about before I came. It felt like a magical place at the ends of the earth, and honestly, it still does.
Snow on Roan Mountain
With no trees to block it, the wind roared across the open mountainside, pelting my face with heavy snow as it piled up drifts. The muddy ruts in the trail, which had merely been inconvenient the day before, now became hidden trenches of foot-deep snow.
The Race to Uncle Johnny’s: Three Days of Hiker Life
I reconnected with my speedy friends in Hot Springs on Sunday, and found out that Pantless needed to be in Erwin on Wednesday morning to catch a shuttle off-trail for a wedding. So Ibex and I decided to join them for a 3-day sprint of 70 miles, arriving at Uncle Johnny’s hostel on Tuesday evening. They’re both a bit zippier than me, so it was a fun challenge to keep up, and I did my first marathon day of the trail along the way!