Moody Mother, Denizens of the Woods, Trail Legs, and a Trail Name...
Interesting week on the trail. Several inches of snow on Tuesday, nearly 90 degrees on Friday and Saturday, then cold wind, fog and drizzle all day Sunday leading up to Sunday night's frigid downpour. I'm pretty sure that Mother Nature is menopausal. Walking through her mood swings is fun. It's easy to adjust clothing and outerwear to whatever disposition nature may be exhibiting. But camping is another story. Cold, windy rain is just not fun to camp in no matter what gear you have. With a little luck Mother Nature's emotional status may stabilize now and we can get on with real spring and summer weather.
Just as interesting as the temperamental weather are the odd goofballs, malcontents, rebels, and other characters you meet on the trail. Overhill is trying to do the entire trail in 100 days - that's 22 miles a day with no rest. Peanut Butter and Jelly are a young couple who started in Georgia on January 1. They are taking it slow and enjoying the towns and country-side on their long hike. PeeVee is section hiking 200 miles each year and passed the half-way point yesterday. Her plan is to finish in 2022 when she'll turn 70. Anish is probably the most famous hiker in the world right now and I met her on the trail outside Boiling Springs. She is attempting to hike the AT, the PCT and the Continental Divide Trail all this year. No one has ever done that. She holds the speed record on all three trails. Meeting her was the hiking equivalent of meeting Mick Jagger except she's young and pretty.
People with names like Redbeard, Upchuck, and Faceplant (obviously some stories there) all heading north stop to chat and share trail intel. I am still the only long distance SOBO (south bound) hiker anyone has seen so everyone is happy to warn me about all the nasty, rocky, steep, slippery miles I'm heading into and ask me about what they can expect. After about twenty of these conversations I realize that no matter which way you are going, for the optimist the trail ahead is always easier than the trail behind. Another life lesson from the woods.
Looks like I'm getting my trail legs. About 265 miles in and my usual day now is between 16 and 18 miles with an occasional 20-miler. If the day ends with a long, steep climb it can be tiring but it hasn't felt like the Bataan Death march since the first week.
Last note this week...I have a trail name. For most of the first 250 miles or so, whenever I wrote in any of the shelter logs or trail registries, I initialed my comments since I didn't have a trail name. PEP shows up on maybe a dozen notebooks between Vernon, NJ, and Duncannon, PA. A couple of nights ago in Boiling Springs I was talking with some people and they noticed my initials in the hostel log and asked if Pep was my trail name. After I explained I didn't have a trail name yet we had a conversation about variations of PEP. When one suggested Pepto, that got some enthusiastic support from the others, but I vetoed it saying Pepto implies an unfortunate backstory that so far is not part of my experience. Then Pepsi was suggested. I kind of liked it. The next day I tested it out on people I met along the trail and everyone smiled when I told them "I'm Pepsi." Smiles are good. So there it is. My official trail name is Pepsi and I have christened my AT Thru Hike my own personal Pepsi Challenge.
Just as interesting as the temperamental weather are the odd goofballs, malcontents, rebels, and other characters you meet on the trail. Overhill is trying to do the entire trail in 100 days - that's 22 miles a day with no rest. Peanut Butter and Jelly are a young couple who started in Georgia on January 1. They are taking it slow and enjoying the towns and country-side on their long hike. PeeVee is section hiking 200 miles each year and passed the half-way point yesterday. Her plan is to finish in 2022 when she'll turn 70. Anish is probably the most famous hiker in the world right now and I met her on the trail outside Boiling Springs. She is attempting to hike the AT, the PCT and the Continental Divide Trail all this year. No one has ever done that. She holds the speed record on all three trails. Meeting her was the hiking equivalent of meeting Mick Jagger except she's young and pretty.
People with names like Redbeard, Upchuck, and Faceplant (obviously some stories there) all heading north stop to chat and share trail intel. I am still the only long distance SOBO (south bound) hiker anyone has seen so everyone is happy to warn me about all the nasty, rocky, steep, slippery miles I'm heading into and ask me about what they can expect. After about twenty of these conversations I realize that no matter which way you are going, for the optimist the trail ahead is always easier than the trail behind. Another life lesson from the woods.
Looks like I'm getting my trail legs. About 265 miles in and my usual day now is between 16 and 18 miles with an occasional 20-miler. If the day ends with a long, steep climb it can be tiring but it hasn't felt like the Bataan Death march since the first week.
Last note this week...I have a trail name. For most of the first 250 miles or so, whenever I wrote in any of the shelter logs or trail registries, I initialed my comments since I didn't have a trail name. PEP shows up on maybe a dozen notebooks between Vernon, NJ, and Duncannon, PA. A couple of nights ago in Boiling Springs I was talking with some people and they noticed my initials in the hostel log and asked if Pep was my trail name. After I explained I didn't have a trail name yet we had a conversation about variations of PEP. When one suggested Pepto, that got some enthusiastic support from the others, but I vetoed it saying Pepto implies an unfortunate backstory that so far is not part of my experience. Then Pepsi was suggested. I kind of liked it. The next day I tested it out on people I met along the trail and everyone smiled when I told them "I'm Pepsi." Smiles are good. So there it is. My official trail name is Pepsi and I have christened my AT Thru Hike my own personal Pepsi Challenge.
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| Windy, foggy trail through a controlled burn area - Very eerie. |
If I could do this for 100 days, I'd be in Maine in early July.
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| Above Duncannon and the Susquehanna River on a rare warm day |
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