Paul's AT blog

I'm back on the trail after a long week recharging at home. My new ultralight pack and summer sleeping bag reduce my pack weight a few pounds. Switching out winter clothes for summer clothes further reduces weight. I traded my low hikers that gave me nasty blisters for a trusted pair of boots that should last at least a few hundred more miles. I think I am ready for the next big leg of this adventure. I made a pretty big decision while I was home this week. Since my calendar is mostly clear for, oh, the rest of my life, I am not going to try to complete the entire 2190 miles of the AT this year. Instead I hope to hike the 800 miles from Springer to Buena Vista, VA, between now and early August. That will give me about 1350 miles for the year. Then I will take ten months to rest up (and regain some much-needed body fat) before I attempt the final 850 miles of the trail from NJ to Maine next year. This plan allows me to significantly reduce my weekly mileage. I'll walk 12-15 mi...

I came off the trail for a week. Alison picked me up in Lexington, VA, on Thursday and we went to Pittsburgh for her father Jess's memorial service. At 97 Jess lived a good long life. The whole family was there celebrating Jess's life and sharing memories. The timing is good. I needed a longish break. The Priest got me. It's the first really big climb on the AT heading south. A 3,000 foot climb over three miles - comparable to hiking from Indian Gardens to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. But it wasn't the steep climb that got me. I changed hiking boots about 150 miles ago and it turned out to be a mistake. I had hiked 400 miles without a blister but after the Priest I have some pretty nasty ones that will require a few days of rest to heal before I try knocking down many miles again. Not the worst thing but irritating none the less. The rest gives me a chance to downsize my gear and reduce pack weight for the warmer months. I also decided to restart my hike at...

For most of the five weeks I have been hiking the AT, I have enjoyed the solitude of hiking alone. It has been an amazing experience to walk for miles through the forest over ever-changing terrain and in wildly varying weather immersed in my own thoughts. But this week I discovered something very special - the joy of backpacking with a good friend. Speed Bump has been a friend for over forty years and he is one of the Three Amigos - a trio of old hiker buddies prone to doing things our wives think are crazy. This week Speed Bump joined me for over 100 miles to hike through the Shenandoah National Park. Walking through the woods for a week with a good friend who finds great joy in the beauty and challenge of living on the trail refills my fuel cells and reminds me just how special this journey is. Speed Bump can't go ten minutes without pointing out how beautiful the trees are or how incredible the views are or how perfect the weather is. He sees the special gift that the Trail give...

This week finally feels like spring. The day after a hard rain in Maryland I walked through carpets of wildflowers and saw my first redbud tree in full bloom as I descended into Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Here in Front Royal, VA, at the northern end of the Shenandoah National Park I took a zero day with Alison and hiking friends Jan, Jim and Chuck and enjoyed a warm summer-like day doing laundry, restocking food, and making some modifications to my gear. Chuck is joinimg me to backpack the 100 miles of the park and the others are doing day hikes with us for a couple of days before heading back to warm dry homes. My thoughts this week as I passed the 400 miles mark drifted into various plot lines and scenarios for possible stories inspired by the weather and the woods - story lines that maybe I'll develop into short stories in the months after I finish this hike. I passed the time walking alone in the woods letting ideas like this bubble in my head.... A thousand centu...

Most of this past week was a long-planned break from the trail to attend a talk by Margaret Atwood (she is brilliant!), a concert by Carl Palmer of ELP fame and maybe the best pure drummer I have ever seen, and the wedding of our close friends’ son who is like a nephew to us. Since I did few miles this week ("nero" is trailspeak for "near zero" miles), this post is a reflection on the idea of a long hike, not on the actuality of one. It may help explain why I am doing this. My long hike on the AT is a gift to myself. Simultaneously self-indulgent and self-denying. It is one of those “periods between the parentheses” separating my past world focused on career and community from my future world whose focus I hope to discover. It is an opportunity for me to strip life down to its barest bones devoid of nearly everything that comprises so-called normal life. No TV, refrigerator, or microwave. No bed, recliner chair, sofa, or dresser full of clothes. No plumbing. N...

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 count...

I've hiked only about 150 miles so far but in that little bit of the AT, I have walked on snow, ice, mud, and swampy muck. I've scrambled up and down knarly boulders on all fours. I've beaten my boot soles over miles of sharp rocks. And, oh yeah, every once in a while I have walked on soft, dry, flat trail. One constant I have learned about the AT - no matter what you are walking on, it will change abruptly and often. So I walk on the steep or rocky or muddy trail happy to know it will end soon. And I speed along the dry, flat trail fretting that it will end around the next bend. One of the beautiful things about hiking long distances is finding that place in your soul where you live totally in the moment. I'm obviously not there yet. But I'm getting close. Most of the time, my time horizon is down to a few minutes, just around the bend or over the rise. Eventually I expect I will quit thinking about how the trail will change up ahead and learn to just take whatev...