yeah

So I guess I never did a huge massive end of trail Update like I had alluded to in the last post. I'm busy with school at the moment and that's keeping me pretty fully occupied.

It is Done.

I don't really know where to start... or really where to finish with this blog post. I climbed Mt. Khatadin on August 17th( leaving at 3 am in an attempt to catch the sunrise up on top). It turned out to be quite cloudy however and it was kind of chilly up there. Scruggs, Corny, Castor and Orbit had left about 30 minutes before me so when I got there at about 6:15... I was greeted by those nice fellows at the top.

I expected to climb up there and be filled with massive waves of emotion and start to cry. However (while I definitly teared up) seeing Corny up there just made me Laugh.

He's about my age and an aspiring actor... and he's just plain funny. He'll just act ridiculous and play like a strange character for alot of the time... So seeing him up there immediately put me in a good mood. Him Castor and Scruggs had all bought business type suits to wear for the summit picture up top. I'll try to post a picture.

Anyway,, they were up there when I got there and it was still early so we all kind of just hung around waiting for the sky to clear up from 7 AM onward.

By the time it was approaching noon there were around 40 day hikers hovering around the top of the mountain... so to get there at like 6 and have about 2 or 3 hours to reminisce and joke around with those guys was pretty cool.

I think I'm going to wait until tomorrow to develop my thoughts on the end further... I think that I could literally sit here for 2 hours and write about how this last stretch of my journey has been and fill in on things via reminiscing. I plan on doing that.. perhaps when I move into my room in State College tomorrow.

That is something that I am scared of. Going back to Happy Valley..... I'm surprisingly apprehensive about how I am going to take the college lifestyle.

This past Fall semester was quite enjoyable and the spring delivering pizzas wasn't that bad either. I just don't know how I'm going to cope being back.

I'll see how it goes and I'm going to plan on filling in the rest of this blog sometime tomorrow....

for now I'll put up a couple picture and say Thanks for Reading.

Thank You also to everyone who supported the Hikestrong Effort.
Together as a group we're up to over $10,000 so far for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.. I am grateful to have been a part of the effort that Aly and Jeff put together.

P.S. I don't think i got that "Perfect" Khatadin Picture.. I have about 10 really good ones that will have to do. Whatever.... I'll be writing again soon.
I'm home in Kennerdell at the moment by the way.

Another Update While I have the opportunity

Hello people..

I am once again at Pine Ellis Lodge ( well.... it's not really a lodge at all it's more like a house that has hikers in it.)

Today myself and Tintin slackpacked 13 miles over Old Blue Mountain. We got going at 7:30 and I must say that tintin's lyme disease seems to have taken all the life out of him. He looked like a Ghost today and climbing up the mountain this morning really beat him. It was kind of strange to seem him so exhausted; I recall the first time that I hiked with Him, Fredo and Tornado down in Virginia for about a week or so. He would just go out in front and just cruise.... and it was difficult to keep up.

Today I was going kinda half-effort up the mountain and he was just beat. Despite the slower pace,, or maybe due to it... today's hike was actually pretty Fantastic. Other than the mid-sized mountain in the beginning the rest of the day was relatively flat and we took an Epic Blue Blaze called the Bemis River trail.

It was almost ideal terrain,, just gradual downhill for the last 6 miles of the day.

As if the day could not get any better... Up on Old Blue earlier in the day I got a text from Patch ( a good friend who I have been hiking around ever since the Smokies and who I had passed while on my last epic stretch of slackpacing via Megaladon's folks and my Aunt Barbara )

Patch asked me "if I knew where Chewy was" (Chewy being his childhood friend whom Patch had started the trail with but who had gotten ahead of him)
... I told him "he's up near us"
... Patch replies "I'm yellow blazing up there"
... I reply "Sweet"

When we got back to the house today.. Patch was there,, ready to head out tomorrow with me and tintin. I'm sure Patch wants to summit Khatadin with Chewy and I'm glad he's here. Sometimes on the trail if you start to hike alone or with unfamiliar people it gets to be lonely,, even with full shelters. There has been stretches where there were no other thru-hikers that I was good friends with and it just becomes disheartening. Hiking with people that you know and appreciate is what makes the Appalachian Trail Enjoyable. These 5 months are not about hiking on some silly dirt path through endless stretches of trees and green and rocks and frustratingly difficult mountains..

These 5 months are about smiling and laughing and sharing stories with the trail Community. In my opinion there is no other reason to be out here. You can enjoy a view to the utmost and I'll agree that moments of solitude are wonderful and very much needed. But when I look back on this trip..

I'm going to cherish the views of GreenDog cracking up laughing until he is literally crying (probably at something I said) ;alot more than the views from that one vista back in Virginia).

I'm going to remember theKid getting super pissed off that Baltimore Jack didn't serve dinner until 10 PM at Glencliff

I'm going to remember seeing a giant snapping turtle with Pittsburgh and swimming with my Mom at the Nanasomethingorother Outdoor Center in New York.

I'm going to remember especially Team Go-Dat.. My original gang of friends.. Hanging out at Standing Bear Farm by the fire until late late late at night. I'm going to remember that the next morning Trinket said to me "That's what it's all about man.. hangin by the fire... laughing.. havin a good time.. that's what you're gonna tell your grandkids about" he might have ended that with another "that's what it's all about brotha" just for good measure. I love those guys to death,,, Slackamus, swift,q-tip,trinket,cotton,holy smoke, brisket... spending a zero at NOC for no reason whatsoever,, hiking 6 miles in the smokies just because....

Hyway.



There are an endless number of Amazing Days that I have had on this trail. Not many involve me saying how much I loved climbing a giant mountain... Most all of them involve me spending time with genuinely great human beings.

I think that I could and that maybe when I'm done I actually will just spend a day writing down just random memories for hours. (I've long stopped writing in my regular journal)

It's the People out here that make this.


not going to proofread. I'm going to bed.

-Kashmir

Maine is Here my heart is not

Maine is here and I'm pretty excited about this last stretch of the trail. I'm currently at the Pine Ellis Lodge in Anover. Last night was Tintin's 30th birthday party and it was one of those days and nights on the trail that is going to be remembered for awhile...

I had camped about .5 miles from the Maine/NH border at Col something shelter and I had about 15 trail miles to go to get to Grafton Notch to get to the campground where the party was being held. I started the day 5 miles behind Tintin and Megaladaon and Apollo since I had a late start from Gorham...

anywho.. the trail that day was to take me over Mahoosic Notch (considered the hardest mile on the entire Appalachian Trail)... Instead I decided to take my own route... one that would get me to the birthday party at a reasonable time....

I left The Col something shelter at about 10 AM... and took a side trail down to a Dirt Road called Success Pond Road. about halfway down the sidetrail... I was listening to Phoenix on my Ipod when I was suddenly startled by a heavy galloping to my right.... I glanced up and was kind of frozen for a split second.

Galloping to the right of the trail was an adolescent male Moose. I would estimate that it was probably no more than 10 yards away from me when I caused it to trot away. The first thing that went through my mind was the bewilderment that I had just gotten so close to this moose without me noticing it.... I was heading down steep rocky terrain and the trail was going quite close to a stream... so basically I was just looking down.. concentrating on my Feet and I probably would not have had any time to defend myself if the big fellow had decided that I was a threat.

I've heard that moose cause alot of deaths to people,,so that was also one of the thoughts that went through my mind... Like "damn I would have had zero time to run or hide"

I also immediately grabbed my camera that is in my side pouch.. and I managed to get a very fuzzy picture of the beast. It's a pretty bad picture but you can tell it is a moose.

After making my way down to the Dirt Road,, I still had about 12 more miles of dirt road walking. It was a bit sunny out but I really enjoyed my walk that day.. About two miles from route 26 A pickup truck came buy driven by a forest maintainer who offered to give me a ride... Naturally I took him up on his offer and Not more that 3 minutes after we were driving... we saw A HUGE M***** ******* GIANT Moose!!!!!!!!!.. We were in a pretty massive 4X4x4 550 Pickup Truck and This Female Moose seemed to be at least as tall as the top of the truck.

I don't know what I would have done if I was walking and I came along it. but dang it was something else.

The guy actually gave me a ride to the campground where Tintin Had rented two Lean-to Shelters..

to make a long story short..

I went for a swim in a beautiful swimming Pool by myself as I had gotten there early...
Read my book for a half an hour
Chewy, Longshanks, Maple, Caboose and Spark Showed up

Tintin, Megaladon and megaladon's dad Willy Wonka showed up
Apollo showed up too

Tintin cooked burgers and chicken

Chewy made sasuages

Beer was drunk

Whiskey was drunk

I carry Ipod Speakers

Dancing ensued

A Good Time was had by All.


I'm having an absolute awesome time out here and today it was just me and Tintin out and about. He asked me about Canada and it was kind of hard to describe it to him. I will be perfectly honest and say that while this is what I need to be doing... Finishing the Appalachian Trail is going to happen. No matter how much fun this is... I would still rather be at Buckshot Lake Canada on vacation with my family...

I tried to describe the Family dinners where everyone cooks,, the Oh Heck games,, the Volleyball,, the Dump,, the Fishing,, Wickware :( it's hard to keep typing.

For my entire life Buckshot has been the best two weeks of my life... there has not been a summer that I haven't been up there. It's a home away from home.

It's joy. It's happiness. It's family.

Rainy days spent napping down in Cabin 9 and having long talks with Phil.
Riding to the dump with MC and JP, maybe smashing some TVs.
Chilling with my new crew out on Crab Island.
The James Store after Sunday Mass (sniffle)

It's the best time of the year. It's where I am the happiest. It's hard to say how much I wish that I was there. To the people that understand... Buckshot Lake is Heaven on Earth.

I try not to think about it because I usually end up crying. I guess there is always next year as they say... but sometimes that just doesn't come close to cutting it.


Hopefully I'll be able to give an update soon.

Kashmir.

Gorham New Hampshire... it's all a Blur at the moment

The days that are dwindling down to that final summit date are flying by at quite a rapid pace.... I am in Gorham New Hampshire at the moment.

The White Mountains were certainly fantastical...

I've been Hiking with Megaladon and Tintin for the past 3-4 weeks. It's been alot of fun to have them as company along the way.. It's been nice to be able to mention memories from the past couple months (such as Standing Bear Farm or Uncle Johnny's) and reminisce about things. The days seem to be going faster then ever though and I'm going to take time to savor it and enjoy the wilderness no matter what.

Well I've got to get off of the Computer since the library is shutting down temporarily...

Sorry if I don't post often enough.. there hasn't been a huge influx of computers recently.

bye

Long time no Say...

Sorry about the very huge gap in between my blog postings.... since I last posted back in Salisbury the trail has took me 200 miles....

I am now in Rutland Vermont with Aunt Barb and Jim,, along with tintin and Megaladon. We just went out to dinner at Three Tomatoes, it was quite good.. we flipped a coin to pick between Sal's italian restaurant and the three tomatoes and I think that the coin made a good decision and we all enjoyed our meal.

Taking the switch back in time to July 4th,,, I had one of the best 4ths that I can ever remember and quite substantially better then last years 4th.

My 2009 4th of July was not one to write home about for certain is sure. That day consisted of me likely waking up at around 11 AM.... drifting in and out of sleep for a few hours and finally making the groggy trek to my shower at around 1 or 2 PM... I likely then realized that my 3 work shirts were all slightly dirty. (It was very uneconomical to do laundry every three days when all that was at stake was my 3 work shirts) At around 2:30 I would come to the horrible realization that yes indeed I did have to go to work that day and I would mosey around until 3:30 when it was time to make the drive down to a little shop of dough making joy. 4 o'clock I started my 4th of July at Little Caesars,,, where I would roll out pizza pan after pizza pan of dough... occasionally making the switch to placing toppings and sauce and cheese. This would go on until 9 or 10 when at last it was time to sweep/mop/and do dishes. I still remember taking a trash can full of garbage outside to the dumpsters and hearing the sounds of fireworks in the background.... I could hear the bombs of noise and happiness just over the trees but I could not seem to catch a glimpse of the spectacle that is fireworks. later that night I drove home; changes; put my asics on and at either 11 or 12 I went jogging. As far as I can remember July 4th fell into the 30 day challenge that I had made for myself. I had decided to jog everyday,, no matter how late it was and no matter for how long for 30 consecutive days. It didn't matter if it consisted of a 15 minute run around the block at 3 AM I had put my mind to running everyday for 30 straight days and somehow I actually did acomplish that. I would tape White Printer Pages on my wall with the number of day that I was on..... eventually the wall began to fill up and each day I got closer to 30 my wall got fuller and fuller.

Needless to say,, last year spending the day at Little Caesars and jogging with myself and my Ipod of music was not the most epic day on record. It wasn't a bad day then either,, don't get me wrong.. it just felt like I should have been somewhere with people instead of locked up in the world of cheese and pepperoni.

This year's fourth of July an absolutely wonderful day on the trail... I woke up... walked into the town of Great Barrington.. did laundry.. got a sandwhich at the grocery store... walked down to the cinema... watched a movie.(Knight and Day - I do not reccomend it but it was not bad.. Tom Cruise did a decent job)... got a taxi the 3 miles back to the free tenting place... packed up my stuff... started hiking at 4... met a Flip Floper (when you start at the halfway point and go north to Khatadin and then South to Georgia all in the same year) Named Apple Juice.. hiked with him 6 miles to a shelter where a fellow hiker Longshanks and his brother had hiked in 2 miles Beer.. Buns... Burgers... Hot Dogs... cheese and vegtables.. and did I mention they had 4 cases of beer.... There were about 12 people there and we all enjoyed each others company while eating and drinking and being merry by the fire.

The next day tintin caught up and we met Megaladon and megaladon's parents that evening... From there on out it was 5 or 6 straight days of slackpacking and staying at Hotels and eating wonderful Dinners and breakfasts and just altogeter having a great hike despite the overwhelming heat.

Thusly I have to wrap up this blog and head to bed at we have 23 miles to do tomorrow... It looks as if my goal now is to summit on August the 12th or 13th or 14th. That's about 17 miles a day from here on out... and it seems like we can hopefully make it happen.

I really enjoy tintin and megaladon's company and they are both pretty decent guys. Megaladon is 19 from Pittsburgh and heading to college next year. Tintin is Almost 30 in two weeks from England and he's a interesting character,, but pretty cool. I like them both alot.

So that's is the plan for the final stretch of this adventure... the White Mountains and the Pain that is sure to be Maine await with their steep steep mountains and beautiful views. I do not know what to think.... Less than 500 miles to go

It's time to make it happen.

thanks for reading

Kashmir.

New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts???

Well the states just seem to be clicking By. I'm currently in the Salisbury Connecticut public Library and I'm in the midst of watching the Ghana vs Uruguay soccer game. I just had a wonderful week with my Uncle Joe and Aunt Eileen and cousins Linda,Sara and Lauren. They came up and did some more hiking with me. I had an amazing time with them. We did some solid 15 mile days and then we all hung out at the campfire at the campsite later in the evening. Sara and Linda hiked with me the first day and we were able to hike along with tintin and megaladon (two of my good thru-hiker friends) then the next day Uncle Joe joined me and the last two days I hiked with Sara mostly but Aunt Eileen and Lauren joined me for a decent portion of yeasterday. The terrain has been quite enjoyable and I just got a call that my Sister and my brother-in-law Khanh may be coming to visit me tomorrow. Needless to say I'm enjoying my hike at this moment.

I may start to put on the jets soon and attempt to hike in overdrive so that I will be able to make the second week of Buckshot Lake (a family vacation area that I have been going to my whole life) but the terrain may not be as inviting to this idea. We'll see what happens, but that was an Idea that I have been imagining may just possibly be feasible. I now have less than 689 miles left to go, and I don't know what to think about that.

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post as often as I would like. I forget if I commented about the crushing defeat that the United States had... it was simply a missed opportunity by us and I know that millions of fans around the world know exactly how I feel... it happens with every country that either gets knocked out of the tournament or even fails to qualify.. but the idea that we could have made it even 1 more round is really disappointing. I've never been more proud of the USMNT's effort though and we can leave with some sense of accomplishment that we put in our best effort. I've been trying not to think about that while on the trail as it always puts me in a bad mood,,, but overall I think we had an decent World Cup.

Hopefully I'll be able to update again soon.

Kashmir ---