The Incident on the Appalachian Trail
Day 153: The Kennebec
Crossing Maine’s Kennebec River is one of those milestone moments on the AT, similar to climbing Georgia’s Blood Mountain, standing on Virginia’s McAfee Knob, or getting your picture taken at...
Day 152: The Way Life Should Be
I love Maine. I’ve forgiven it for trying to kill me on its New Hampshire-like trail near their border. I’ve forgotten the rain and cloudy summits during the first two...
Day 151: Tramily
Two thousand miles and we finally have a tramily (a trail family).
Day 150: After the Rain
A half mile later, I reached the 2,000-mile point. Two thousand miles. That’s a long walk, for sure, but it’s a hard number to comprehend. Most people have no basis...
Day 149: Rain and Big Water
Most of the trail flowed like a small mountain stream. At first, I tried stepping around and over the rushing water and puddles, but after a few slips and missteps...
Day 148 – Sick Leave
It was a rough night – chills, shivering, runny nose, and coughing. By morning I knew I wouldn’t be hiking today, especially with the big storm moving in. I turned...
Day 147 – Hikers Hike
I’ve got a full-blown, honest-to-goodness cold. But hikers hike, or so I’m told. Hey, that rhymed!
Day 146: The Hurricane Birthday Zero
I spent the day in Rangeley, Maine, sitting out the non-hurricane, nursing a cold and celebrating my birthday. And by celebrating, I mean sitting in a motel room doing nothing...
Day 145: The Day Before the Storm
I also had near-perfect hiking weather - just chilly enough that I wasn’t soaked with sweat on the climbs but not so cold that I needed to layer up. Or...
Day 144: What? Another Easy One?
The thrill of hiking in the woods is back. As I sped along a soft, well-graded trail at over two miles per hour, past moss-blanketed terrain, bear-scratched trees, and fragrant...