Wednesday, September 1, 2010
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.
Friday, August 20, 2010
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.
Friday, July 30, 2010
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
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
Thursday, July 29, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, July 26, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, July 2, 2010
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 ---
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 ---
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Walking
I am having a good couple of days with my Parents. My mom joined me for about 8 miles yesterday after the United States Game.
I was pretty emotionally drained after the game so it was kind of a long walk but it went well.
I'm starting off today at Unionville New Jersey.
Got To get going.
The best to everyone.
Kashmir.
I was pretty emotionally drained after the game so it was kind of a long walk but it went well.
I'm starting off today at Unionville New Jersey.
Got To get going.
The best to everyone.
Kashmir.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
New Jersey is Beautiful
Sorry about the lapse in the Blog postings. It's been 12 days since I updated,, and the only day that I think I would have been able to update was Duncannon and I was enthralled in the atmosphere of the World Cup party.
Anyways... The past (I guess it's been almost two weeks_) but they have been a great two weeks... It really hasn't been the same type of hiking that I've grown used to since the start,, I've been doing alot of slackpacking. And when I say alot I mean A LOT.
In the past month I am pretty positive (and I haven't worked out the actual dates) but I'm pretty sure I've done more days of Slackpacking/river canoeing than days of Full Pack Hiking. Is this a bad thing? Am I not a real true "thruhiker" since I'm not carrying 40lbs every single day that I hike??? I must admit that this thought crosses my mind. However the trek that this thought takes across my inner workings of personal dwellingness is quite brief. I am loving every minute of my slack-packing days.... well not every minute.. but I am comparatively much more happy. There is a much greater possibility that I would not have made my August 21st deadline if I were on my own,,,I still have a little under 900 miles left but I can start to feel the miles flying by and the confidence that I may actually finish just gets stronger every day.
but yeah,,, it's alot different... In the past month I think I've only taken one true Zero day.. I've done a 5 mile day and a couple tens but the only zero day that I took was the USA vs England Game.
Starting out I was all about the Zero days... Life was alot different back then,,, August was soooo far away and I wasn't thinking about anything,,, I was just hiking little by little and hanging out alot. I remember that I would get into shelters at like 2 PM and think "oh I've done 12 miles,,, that's a pretty good day,,, I think I'll stop" Nowadays I'll hike or slackpack until at least 6 or 7 PM and a 12 mile day is a short day rather than a Very Very good day.
Starting out was alot more exciting too going through new terrain and constantly meeting new people... Now everything is kind of routine almost. I miss taking pointless Zero days. I am missing alot of the people that I started hiking with too... I miss Hyway and Grolar Bear and Green Dog and Team Go-Dat , ,, I like the people that I am around at the moment well enough,, but I'm definitely not hiking "with" anybody else currently.. I hope to catch up to tintin and Megaladon this week and start going their pace and join them,,, I wouldn't mind summitting Khatadin with them. I've been 1 or 2 days behind for over a week now and it kind of sucks. I don't know ?? we'll see. I don't know where I will be in 1 month. Hopefully I'll be back to where I once belonged as a famous band once said. This is a different type of trail than the one I started on.
Hmmm I've now been at this blog for close to two hours and it is getting nowhere. I didn't even describe to you
my
>Awesome visit from my Uncle Joe and my cousin Sara
>Awesome visit from the Philadelphia Pegans
>Mostly Awesome time at the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon PA to watch the United States play England.
It's really late though and I havn't even started to upload my photos that I have...
I'm hiking 30 miles tomorrow. It should be a long long day..
My parents came down again to slackpack me for a few days... My mom and I (and a few other random people_) swam in this gorgeous lake near the Moheican Outdoor Center 11 miles from the Delaware Water Gap. It was just an absolutely amazing place and the water temperature was as close to perfect as you can get.
I'll try to post again tomorrow after my 30 mile day.
Thanks to you relatives that have came down and helped me out/are planning to I appreciate it a whole lot and it means alot to me.
Kashmir
Anyways... The past (I guess it's been almost two weeks_) but they have been a great two weeks... It really hasn't been the same type of hiking that I've grown used to since the start,, I've been doing alot of slackpacking. And when I say alot I mean A LOT.
In the past month I am pretty positive (and I haven't worked out the actual dates) but I'm pretty sure I've done more days of Slackpacking/river canoeing than days of Full Pack Hiking. Is this a bad thing? Am I not a real true "thruhiker" since I'm not carrying 40lbs every single day that I hike??? I must admit that this thought crosses my mind. However the trek that this thought takes across my inner workings of personal dwellingness is quite brief. I am loving every minute of my slack-packing days.... well not every minute.. but I am comparatively much more happy. There is a much greater possibility that I would not have made my August 21st deadline if I were on my own,,,I still have a little under 900 miles left but I can start to feel the miles flying by and the confidence that I may actually finish just gets stronger every day.
but yeah,,, it's alot different... In the past month I think I've only taken one true Zero day.. I've done a 5 mile day and a couple tens but the only zero day that I took was the USA vs England Game.
Starting out I was all about the Zero days... Life was alot different back then,,, August was soooo far away and I wasn't thinking about anything,,, I was just hiking little by little and hanging out alot. I remember that I would get into shelters at like 2 PM and think "oh I've done 12 miles,,, that's a pretty good day,,, I think I'll stop" Nowadays I'll hike or slackpack until at least 6 or 7 PM and a 12 mile day is a short day rather than a Very Very good day.
Starting out was alot more exciting too going through new terrain and constantly meeting new people... Now everything is kind of routine almost. I miss taking pointless Zero days. I am missing alot of the people that I started hiking with too... I miss Hyway and Grolar Bear and Green Dog and Team Go-Dat , ,, I like the people that I am around at the moment well enough,, but I'm definitely not hiking "with" anybody else currently.. I hope to catch up to tintin and Megaladon this week and start going their pace and join them,,, I wouldn't mind summitting Khatadin with them. I've been 1 or 2 days behind for over a week now and it kind of sucks. I don't know ?? we'll see. I don't know where I will be in 1 month. Hopefully I'll be back to where I once belonged as a famous band once said. This is a different type of trail than the one I started on.
Hmmm I've now been at this blog for close to two hours and it is getting nowhere. I didn't even describe to you
my
>Awesome visit from my Uncle Joe and my cousin Sara
>Awesome visit from the Philadelphia Pegans
>Mostly Awesome time at the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon PA to watch the United States play England.
It's really late though and I havn't even started to upload my photos that I have...
I'm hiking 30 miles tomorrow. It should be a long long day..
My parents came down again to slackpack me for a few days... My mom and I (and a few other random people_) swam in this gorgeous lake near the Moheican Outdoor Center 11 miles from the Delaware Water Gap. It was just an absolutely amazing place and the water temperature was as close to perfect as you can get.
I'll try to post again tomorrow after my 30 mile day.
Thanks to you relatives that have came down and helped me out/are planning to I appreciate it a whole lot and it means alot to me.
Kashmir
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Quick Post
I'm currently in the midst of a six day slackpack by my mom. It's going okay,, I'm hiking some long days and putting on some miles everyday..
it kind of stinks though because none of my hiking friends are around me,,, I did see a guy Tup whom I hiked with for the first 100 miles into Franklin NC and he started the same day as me and was at the very first shelter that I stayed at.
But for the most part it has been 8+ hour days of me listening to the radio on my new MP3 player that I bought... my old ipod didn't get the radio so perhaps that's the silver lining.
My anticipation for the World Cup is getting to the point where I am (durning the day) day dreaming of how the game will go....
In response to Styxx and Bones about the Aqua Blazing,, I would definitely say go for it... it is alot different and less stressful for your legs.
I had a really fun time,,,, Grolar Bear did a full description of it on his blog http://grolarbear.wordpress.com/ we used the Shenandoah river outfitters.
me and my mom are currently in a motel in Holly Springs PA
It's now way past bed time but having the access to my own laptop and the world wide web is kind of time zapping
it kind of stinks though because none of my hiking friends are around me,,, I did see a guy Tup whom I hiked with for the first 100 miles into Franklin NC and he started the same day as me and was at the very first shelter that I stayed at.
But for the most part it has been 8+ hour days of me listening to the radio on my new MP3 player that I bought... my old ipod didn't get the radio so perhaps that's the silver lining.
My anticipation for the World Cup is getting to the point where I am (durning the day) day dreaming of how the game will go....
In response to Styxx and Bones about the Aqua Blazing,, I would definitely say go for it... it is alot different and less stressful for your legs.
I had a really fun time,,,, Grolar Bear did a full description of it on his blog http://grolarbear.wordpress.com/ we used the Shenandoah river outfitters.
me and my mom are currently in a motel in Holly Springs PA
It's now way past bed time but having the access to my own laptop and the world wide web is kind of time zapping
Friday, June 4, 2010
Almost through VA and almost at 1 K
1000 miles is alot of miles.
I am currently 19 miles south of Harpers Ferry and just about done with the great state of Virginia. Virginia has had its ups and downs,,, mostly literally.
This great mecca of flat lands and easy terrain turned out to be a complete myth. Virginia was hot and filled with large uphill climbs and more recently infested with bugs.
143 of its miles were done via Slack Packing and 100 miles were traversed via an Aqua Blaze. (An aqua blaze is basically when some thru-hikers decide to canoe 100 miles of the Shenandoah River as opposed to hiking the AT) Myself and a fellow hiker "GRolar Bear" both did the aqua blaze.
The trip turned out to be a pretty awesome break from the monotony of the trail... The first day (within 30 minutes) however we swamped the canoe going over an interesting set of rapids.. I wouldn't say that they were extremely difficult,, I would put the spill down to more of a miscommunication and the fact that we had not yet gotten used to the Canoe or paddeling down rapids just yet. Either way it Cost us both in the items department... My beautiful purple $200 ipod got soaked beyond repair and I am pretty upset about it... #1 I can't listen to music anymore and #2 I loved that Ipod.. it was the first ipod that I got ( I had a Zen before that) and I loved everything about it... Soooo many miles and hours of running with my purple Ipod Nano,, listening to music in my car... It kind of sucks...
When I purchased the ipod,, you are able to write inscriptions on the backs of them if you ordered from the Apple website.
I must have taken at least 3 hours to come up with a good one. I still remember it like it was yesterday...
I had just moved into my new Aparment complex (Vairo Village) and I was just about to start my Junior Year of College. It was still warm out and I was still in the midst of settling in to the flow of life. Things were definitely on the upside with my life and I was starting to find my place.
I thought long and hard while I layed on my carpet on my bedroom floor,,, thinking about the perfect inscription that I could put on my ipod,, something that would be there forever,(or at least until it broke or I got a new one), something that I would read whenever I turned the device over and read it while immersed in my favorite music.
I finally came up with a perfect inscription.
Listen & Breathe
j.a.m
j.a.m being my initials
Listen & Breathe..... muisic can take you places as we all know... you can get lost in it and it will move you if you want it to. I left those words however as a reminder to myself to take a step back whenever I read them. A reminder to myself to stop a second and think about things,, a reminder to just be yourself.
Those two words together can have many meanings...
getting lost in music is sometimes as good as it gets.
Listen & Breathe
Anyways... My Ipod is ruined and my phone also is broken. Other then the first collapse of the boat however,, we didn't flip again.. ( we had to both jump out when we went over some Class 2 or 3 rapids towards the end but it was all good.
We went through a 24 pack the first two days and then the 3rd day we were out of beer so we kind of asked around or looked hoplessly tired enough that we got some free trail magic beers ( asking people with a cooler "where the next place to buy beer is" kind of leaves you a good chance) The other time we were just laying down and letting the current take us and some fisherman were like "You want a Beer"
Grolar Bear was like ("did he even need to ask,, he should have just said "Here""" because the answer was an instand YES
The river turned out to be more populated then I imagined however,,
I expected the Shenandoah River that John Denver sings about to be a idealistic picture of beauty and nature.. Instead there were three Power Dams that we had to portage over and the sides of the riverbank were filled with Hundreds of RVs and Tents and Campers that RedNecks had set up... There were many farms too with Cows along the side.. This likely was causing a significant amount of pollution to envelope the river,, and even after filtering the water it was still Horrible. We just drank beer or Coke or The powerades that we picked up instead.
We camped just anywhere along the rivers edge and the last nights campsite especially was awesome. We were right by the river on a flat pebbled bed of rocks that (since we both had ThermaRest NeoAirs) was just as comfortable as anything.... we made a fire, smoked A Cigar that Grolar Bear had,, and ate some awesome Baked Beans courtesy of the Bush family recipe. It was a great night.
Since getting picked up at Front Royal at like noon of the 4th day.. we got a hotel room and went and saw Prince of Persia at the movie theatre and then watched TV until like 1 am (The Movie Yes Man with Jim Carey actually was pretty funny),, and then hiked out the next day. (doing 5 miles after leaving at 3:30) THe next day (yeasterday) rained for alot of the 19 miles.. and today was Amazingly Hot and I could only make it 10 miles over a section of the trail nicknamed the "Rollar Coaster".
Tomorrow I will be in Harpers Ferry and my Mom and maybe Uncle Phil will be coming down to help slackpack me. At this point I think I would Slackpack all the way to Maine if I had the opportunity. Some people frown upon it, but not many...
Today however I read an entry from a guy that I just saw for the first time,, His name is Coal Crusher (cause he is from the Coal section of PA) he wrote in the Trail Journal that he made it 1000 miles in 53 days and that he didn't do any of it via the "Girly" Slackpacking and that he had little respect for people that jump on the chance to slackpack whenever they can...
I don't think he was directing this at me or anyone else,,, but he very well might have been directing it at me.. He worte in the next shelter that he Apologized for the comment and that it was more about people bragging that they did Big Miles while Slackpacking....
I actually wrote in a shelter a while back that I was happy that I did 143 miles in 6 days... so now that I think of that maybe I am not so sure that he was not talking about me...
Either way I think he's kind of a (insert any number of things)
There is a phrase that people use out here... "Hike Your Own Hike"
THe majority of people that I know have Slackpacked at least once and those that have not typically don't object to it... Guys like that who have been going non-stop for 53 days I just don't get..... That means that he started a full Month ahead of me. Sure you're doing very well, making great time yada yada,, but I guarantee that he hasn't met as many people as I have and for sure he hasn't made the type of relationships and friendships that I have made.. You can't be going that fast and get the full experience,, I just don't think it's possible. I could be wrong but I'd put my memories that I've had thusfar up against some speed demon purist's every day.
Ugh!!!!! "Girly" Slackpacking ...... Screw You.
anyways in other news I'm almost caught up to TinTin and Fredo who I'm planning on watching the world Cup with (tintin is from England and I promised him when we hiked together for about a week that I'd be there when The United States pulls of one of the greatest upsets of all time and gives The Three Lions a major whooping)
I'll be in Duncannon on June 12th and I can't wait...
anyways I've been writing this for about an hour and I'm not going to re-read it.
I'm just going to enter it and go...
until next time..
Kashmir
I am currently 19 miles south of Harpers Ferry and just about done with the great state of Virginia. Virginia has had its ups and downs,,, mostly literally.
This great mecca of flat lands and easy terrain turned out to be a complete myth. Virginia was hot and filled with large uphill climbs and more recently infested with bugs.
143 of its miles were done via Slack Packing and 100 miles were traversed via an Aqua Blaze. (An aqua blaze is basically when some thru-hikers decide to canoe 100 miles of the Shenandoah River as opposed to hiking the AT) Myself and a fellow hiker "GRolar Bear" both did the aqua blaze.
The trip turned out to be a pretty awesome break from the monotony of the trail... The first day (within 30 minutes) however we swamped the canoe going over an interesting set of rapids.. I wouldn't say that they were extremely difficult,, I would put the spill down to more of a miscommunication and the fact that we had not yet gotten used to the Canoe or paddeling down rapids just yet. Either way it Cost us both in the items department... My beautiful purple $200 ipod got soaked beyond repair and I am pretty upset about it... #1 I can't listen to music anymore and #2 I loved that Ipod.. it was the first ipod that I got ( I had a Zen before that) and I loved everything about it... Soooo many miles and hours of running with my purple Ipod Nano,, listening to music in my car... It kind of sucks...
When I purchased the ipod,, you are able to write inscriptions on the backs of them if you ordered from the Apple website.
I must have taken at least 3 hours to come up with a good one. I still remember it like it was yesterday...
I had just moved into my new Aparment complex (Vairo Village) and I was just about to start my Junior Year of College. It was still warm out and I was still in the midst of settling in to the flow of life. Things were definitely on the upside with my life and I was starting to find my place.
I thought long and hard while I layed on my carpet on my bedroom floor,,, thinking about the perfect inscription that I could put on my ipod,, something that would be there forever,(or at least until it broke or I got a new one), something that I would read whenever I turned the device over and read it while immersed in my favorite music.
I finally came up with a perfect inscription.
Listen & Breathe
j.a.m
j.a.m being my initials
Listen & Breathe..... muisic can take you places as we all know... you can get lost in it and it will move you if you want it to. I left those words however as a reminder to myself to take a step back whenever I read them. A reminder to myself to stop a second and think about things,, a reminder to just be yourself.
Those two words together can have many meanings...
getting lost in music is sometimes as good as it gets.
Listen & Breathe
Anyways... My Ipod is ruined and my phone also is broken. Other then the first collapse of the boat however,, we didn't flip again.. ( we had to both jump out when we went over some Class 2 or 3 rapids towards the end but it was all good.
We went through a 24 pack the first two days and then the 3rd day we were out of beer so we kind of asked around or looked hoplessly tired enough that we got some free trail magic beers ( asking people with a cooler "where the next place to buy beer is" kind of leaves you a good chance) The other time we were just laying down and letting the current take us and some fisherman were like "You want a Beer"
Grolar Bear was like ("did he even need to ask,, he should have just said "Here""" because the answer was an instand YES
The river turned out to be more populated then I imagined however,,
I expected the Shenandoah River that John Denver sings about to be a idealistic picture of beauty and nature.. Instead there were three Power Dams that we had to portage over and the sides of the riverbank were filled with Hundreds of RVs and Tents and Campers that RedNecks had set up... There were many farms too with Cows along the side.. This likely was causing a significant amount of pollution to envelope the river,, and even after filtering the water it was still Horrible. We just drank beer or Coke or The powerades that we picked up instead.
We camped just anywhere along the rivers edge and the last nights campsite especially was awesome. We were right by the river on a flat pebbled bed of rocks that (since we both had ThermaRest NeoAirs) was just as comfortable as anything.... we made a fire, smoked A Cigar that Grolar Bear had,, and ate some awesome Baked Beans courtesy of the Bush family recipe. It was a great night.
Since getting picked up at Front Royal at like noon of the 4th day.. we got a hotel room and went and saw Prince of Persia at the movie theatre and then watched TV until like 1 am (The Movie Yes Man with Jim Carey actually was pretty funny),, and then hiked out the next day. (doing 5 miles after leaving at 3:30) THe next day (yeasterday) rained for alot of the 19 miles.. and today was Amazingly Hot and I could only make it 10 miles over a section of the trail nicknamed the "Rollar Coaster".
Tomorrow I will be in Harpers Ferry and my Mom and maybe Uncle Phil will be coming down to help slackpack me. At this point I think I would Slackpack all the way to Maine if I had the opportunity. Some people frown upon it, but not many...
Today however I read an entry from a guy that I just saw for the first time,, His name is Coal Crusher (cause he is from the Coal section of PA) he wrote in the Trail Journal that he made it 1000 miles in 53 days and that he didn't do any of it via the "Girly" Slackpacking and that he had little respect for people that jump on the chance to slackpack whenever they can...
I don't think he was directing this at me or anyone else,,, but he very well might have been directing it at me.. He worte in the next shelter that he Apologized for the comment and that it was more about people bragging that they did Big Miles while Slackpacking....
I actually wrote in a shelter a while back that I was happy that I did 143 miles in 6 days... so now that I think of that maybe I am not so sure that he was not talking about me...
Either way I think he's kind of a (insert any number of things)
There is a phrase that people use out here... "Hike Your Own Hike"
THe majority of people that I know have Slackpacked at least once and those that have not typically don't object to it... Guys like that who have been going non-stop for 53 days I just don't get..... That means that he started a full Month ahead of me. Sure you're doing very well, making great time yada yada,, but I guarantee that he hasn't met as many people as I have and for sure he hasn't made the type of relationships and friendships that I have made.. You can't be going that fast and get the full experience,, I just don't think it's possible. I could be wrong but I'd put my memories that I've had thusfar up against some speed demon purist's every day.
Ugh!!!!! "Girly" Slackpacking ...... Screw You.
anyways in other news I'm almost caught up to TinTin and Fredo who I'm planning on watching the world Cup with (tintin is from England and I promised him when we hiked together for about a week that I'd be there when The United States pulls of one of the greatest upsets of all time and gives The Three Lions a major whooping)
I'll be in Duncannon on June 12th and I can't wait...
anyways I've been writing this for about an hour and I'm not going to re-read it.
I'm just going to enter it and go...
until next time..
Kashmir
Thursday, May 27, 2010
about to Enter Shenandoah
Hello All.
So I made it to Shenandoah and I'm currently in the Waynesboro Public Library,, I finally got to upload some pictures.. but I didn't get to spend 3 hours editing them in Picasa so they may not be as great as they could be..
This past week my Parents came down and helped me out by slackpacking me from mile 660 to Mile 803. in the Span of 6 days I walked 143 miles (24 miles a day roughly),, and while I didn't have a full pack on... walking 33 miles in one day and walking for 13 straight hours with just a few 20 minutes breaks in between Does take it toll and I was pretty tired some of the days... The stay was made even better by the fact that a few of my trail friends came along and were able to share the cabin that my mom and dad rented with me.
My parents got a cabin near the Peaks of Otter (T... I think you would have loved the area if you had decided to take that position,, it was a very picturesque area.)
Anyway we got the cabin for 3 nights and Patch and Grolar Bear and Pixie all came along and were wined and dined by my mom and dad. We had a home cooked breakfast and dinner everyday.
I can't thank my parents enough for coming down. It was awesome. I love them very much. Thanks Mom and Dad.
So anyway I'm in Waynesboro,, I've only got 26 minutes left on this computer and I'm going to go check out my photos that I uploaded... I'll post a link momentarily
So I made it to Shenandoah and I'm currently in the Waynesboro Public Library,, I finally got to upload some pictures.. but I didn't get to spend 3 hours editing them in Picasa so they may not be as great as they could be..
This past week my Parents came down and helped me out by slackpacking me from mile 660 to Mile 803. in the Span of 6 days I walked 143 miles (24 miles a day roughly),, and while I didn't have a full pack on... walking 33 miles in one day and walking for 13 straight hours with just a few 20 minutes breaks in between Does take it toll and I was pretty tired some of the days... The stay was made even better by the fact that a few of my trail friends came along and were able to share the cabin that my mom and dad rented with me.
My parents got a cabin near the Peaks of Otter (T... I think you would have loved the area if you had decided to take that position,, it was a very picturesque area.)
Anyway we got the cabin for 3 nights and Patch and Grolar Bear and Pixie all came along and were wined and dined by my mom and dad. We had a home cooked breakfast and dinner everyday.
I can't thank my parents enough for coming down. It was awesome. I love them very much. Thanks Mom and Dad.
So anyway I'm in Waynesboro,, I've only got 26 minutes left on this computer and I'm going to go check out my photos that I uploaded... I'll post a link momentarily
Monday, May 17, 2010
I'm at Captain's
This place is amazing.
Basically a local guy who lives near the trail.. offers his living room to thru-hikers to sleep in. I got a shower and was able to cook on his stove. He's a really nice guy. I'm here with my friend Green Dog who I'd first met in Irwin I believe. As well as three other thrus who I met yeasterday.
I'm almost shocked at how awesomly nice this guy is for to be able to open his home to thru-hikers. I'm very thankful.
Trail Days in Damascus was an awesome time.. It was awesome to be able to see so many people who had hiked ahead or else whom I had passed.
A big thanks to Hyways TrailTalk friends, Chainsaw drove me down there and Arthur gave me and Hyway a ride back. I got there Wednesday night and had a few beers...
Thursday, Friday and Saturday was kind of a non-stop party after that. I ran into Aly and Jeff in town at the Dairy King but I didn't see them afterwards
I also saw both of my friends from Penn State -Brooke aka Wampus Cat and Nick aka Grumps.. but only for a little bit.
I got to hang out with Didgeridude and Doodlebug a bit,, it was neat that they knew some of "Team Go-Dat" Cotton, Holy Smoke and Slackamus.
That was where I hung out the majority of the weekend,,with Slack, Holy Smoke, Cotton, Squash and Trinket. Team-Go-Dat all the way.
The hiker parade was great and there was alot of Water war-fare ala balloons and guns and the such. Then there was a drum circle every night and on Friday a local jam band played called Native Sway.. It was pretty sweet. Something I'll never forget and something that I'm looking forward to comming back to next year.
Basically a local guy who lives near the trail.. offers his living room to thru-hikers to sleep in. I got a shower and was able to cook on his stove. He's a really nice guy. I'm here with my friend Green Dog who I'd first met in Irwin I believe. As well as three other thrus who I met yeasterday.
I'm almost shocked at how awesomly nice this guy is for to be able to open his home to thru-hikers. I'm very thankful.
Trail Days in Damascus was an awesome time.. It was awesome to be able to see so many people who had hiked ahead or else whom I had passed.
A big thanks to Hyways TrailTalk friends, Chainsaw drove me down there and Arthur gave me and Hyway a ride back. I got there Wednesday night and had a few beers...
Thursday, Friday and Saturday was kind of a non-stop party after that. I ran into Aly and Jeff in town at the Dairy King but I didn't see them afterwards
I also saw both of my friends from Penn State -Brooke aka Wampus Cat and Nick aka Grumps.. but only for a little bit.
I got to hang out with Didgeridude and Doodlebug a bit,, it was neat that they knew some of "Team Go-Dat" Cotton, Holy Smoke and Slackamus.
That was where I hung out the majority of the weekend,,with Slack, Holy Smoke, Cotton, Squash and Trinket. Team-Go-Dat all the way.
The hiker parade was great and there was alot of Water war-fare ala balloons and guns and the such. Then there was a drum circle every night and on Friday a local jam band played called Native Sway.. It was pretty sweet. Something I'll never forget and something that I'm looking forward to comming back to next year.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Pearisburg to trail days
Hello All,,
My last update was Bland,, roughly 45 miles ago.
Since then I've only done three days of hiking. 19, 15 and 10
I got into Pearisburg at around 2 o'clock on Monday and made the trek down to the town.. I first stopped at Dairy Queen and then hiked up to the Holy Family Hostel. It's actually the first Catholic Hostel that I've seen on the trail and it was a really nice place. The first night it was only myself and one other hiker Maple who were there...
The next morning Red Kielty, Stryder and Green Dog and Ikabob showed up. The first night most people were downtown in hotels drinking and while a beer is always hard to pass up.. the quietness of a Hostel practically to yourself was a really nice break. That first monday night I actually walked over to the Wal-Mart and noticed that a girls high school soccer game was going on... and so I went over and watched the end of the second half. It was actually pretty enjoyable to sit down,, get some Nachos and just watch a game... It brought back some good memories of the sports that I played growing up. It got my mind off of the trail and it was just a really good break from the AT Normality.
The next day (tuesday) I woke up and went to say Hi to Father John. I only was planning on saying a quick hello,, but He ended up talking to me for about an Hour.
He was a nice guy, but by the time I left and he gave me a blessing.. I had a terrible headache,, so As I was walking back towards downtown and the Trail... I turned around went back tot he hostel,,, took a couple of iBprofines and took a nap.. By the time I woke up it was 4 o'clock and there was no point in leaving town.
So I stayed there last night and TODAY (WEDNESDAY) I'm sticking around again because in order to get a hitch down to Damascus for trail days... this is the best Option.
So it will be 6 Straight Days of NO HIKING. :( !!!!!!!!.... I was contemplating not going to trail days after something came up and my initial ride down there was not able to come... but I know that I would regret not going... This is once in a lifetime thing that I'm doing and to skip Trail Days ( a festival for "me") so I can hike a couple more miles just doesn't make sense to me at all. So I'm in the process of trying to figure out either splitting a shuttle down there or trying to hitch it... I'm going to Damascus Tomorrow and I'm excited for a Weekend of Fun and meeting up with friends that I've passed or that have passed me.
Cherish the Day
Kashmir
My last update was Bland,, roughly 45 miles ago.
Since then I've only done three days of hiking. 19, 15 and 10
I got into Pearisburg at around 2 o'clock on Monday and made the trek down to the town.. I first stopped at Dairy Queen and then hiked up to the Holy Family Hostel. It's actually the first Catholic Hostel that I've seen on the trail and it was a really nice place. The first night it was only myself and one other hiker Maple who were there...
The next morning Red Kielty, Stryder and Green Dog and Ikabob showed up. The first night most people were downtown in hotels drinking and while a beer is always hard to pass up.. the quietness of a Hostel practically to yourself was a really nice break. That first monday night I actually walked over to the Wal-Mart and noticed that a girls high school soccer game was going on... and so I went over and watched the end of the second half. It was actually pretty enjoyable to sit down,, get some Nachos and just watch a game... It brought back some good memories of the sports that I played growing up. It got my mind off of the trail and it was just a really good break from the AT Normality.
The next day (tuesday) I woke up and went to say Hi to Father John. I only was planning on saying a quick hello,, but He ended up talking to me for about an Hour.
He was a nice guy, but by the time I left and he gave me a blessing.. I had a terrible headache,, so As I was walking back towards downtown and the Trail... I turned around went back tot he hostel,,, took a couple of iBprofines and took a nap.. By the time I woke up it was 4 o'clock and there was no point in leaving town.
So I stayed there last night and TODAY (WEDNESDAY) I'm sticking around again because in order to get a hitch down to Damascus for trail days... this is the best Option.
So it will be 6 Straight Days of NO HIKING. :( !!!!!!!!.... I was contemplating not going to trail days after something came up and my initial ride down there was not able to come... but I know that I would regret not going... This is once in a lifetime thing that I'm doing and to skip Trail Days ( a festival for "me") so I can hike a couple more miles just doesn't make sense to me at all. So I'm in the process of trying to figure out either splitting a shuttle down there or trying to hitch it... I'm going to Damascus Tomorrow and I'm excited for a Weekend of Fun and meeting up with friends that I've passed or that have passed me.
Cherish the Day
Kashmir
Friday, May 7, 2010
I'm in Bland Virginia
Nestled next to Interstate 77, between the towns of Bastain and Wytheville, lies the town of Bland. It is small. It is quiet. There is a Courthouse. There is a small Grocery Store. There is a Dairy Queen connected to a gas station. There is a Subway. There is a Post Office. There is a Library which blocks the uploading of pictures. A library of which I am uploading this blog from.
I'm at mile 583 and I'm taking a zero day here in Bland Virginia. The past few days were dry and hot and rough. Virginia does not seem to be the vast flatland that I expected. Nowadays I am in what I believe are the Blue Ridge Mountains and it seems that we are constantly going up 500 ft and then down 500ft, Multiple times each day. Wednesdays day of hiking from Chestnut Bald Shelter ( I might be wrong on that name) to Jenkins shelter... about 12 miles was in my top 5 worst days on the trail so far... It was just DRY. Plain and Simple Dry
hmmmm
let's see the last time I updated I was in Damascus...
Out of Damascus I passed through the Grayson Highlands, which is a terrain that seemed to resemble the Old West. It was quite rocky and treeless and there were "wild" Ponies. (although there seemed to be fences everywhere surrounding the park so I don't know how free roaming they really could have been. It was a nice place and I wish I could upload some photos. Anyways I did 10, 19, 17, 10, 14,12 and then a 12 mile day (most of which I was hiking with Tintin, Fredo and Tornado). So today I'm zeroing and I'm going to enjoy it. I'm staying in the Hotel with Hyway (who I met the second day and is a constant on my journey) He's, married with 3 kids and he's a great guy with a good sense of humour. I'm also splitting the room with Groler Bear (mix between grizzly and polar bear) He's a cool guy as well. Last night in the hotel we watched The Mummy Curse of the Dragon "something" it was absolutely horrible,,, The type of movie that you just laugh at how stupid some of the dialogue is. There was a scene with Yetis that was just mind boggling how people could come up with that stuff....
Anyway,, I'm looking ahead to Shenandoah which is around mile 800 I believe.
I'm really bummed I can't post pictures, but I hope everyone is well and I'll try to update this the next time I can. Thanks for reading.
Kashmir******************
I'm at mile 583 and I'm taking a zero day here in Bland Virginia. The past few days were dry and hot and rough. Virginia does not seem to be the vast flatland that I expected. Nowadays I am in what I believe are the Blue Ridge Mountains and it seems that we are constantly going up 500 ft and then down 500ft, Multiple times each day. Wednesdays day of hiking from Chestnut Bald Shelter ( I might be wrong on that name) to Jenkins shelter... about 12 miles was in my top 5 worst days on the trail so far... It was just DRY. Plain and Simple Dry
hmmmm
let's see the last time I updated I was in Damascus...
Out of Damascus I passed through the Grayson Highlands, which is a terrain that seemed to resemble the Old West. It was quite rocky and treeless and there were "wild" Ponies. (although there seemed to be fences everywhere surrounding the park so I don't know how free roaming they really could have been. It was a nice place and I wish I could upload some photos. Anyways I did 10, 19, 17, 10, 14,12 and then a 12 mile day (most of which I was hiking with Tintin, Fredo and Tornado). So today I'm zeroing and I'm going to enjoy it. I'm staying in the Hotel with Hyway (who I met the second day and is a constant on my journey) He's, married with 3 kids and he's a great guy with a good sense of humour. I'm also splitting the room with Groler Bear (mix between grizzly and polar bear) He's a cool guy as well. Last night in the hotel we watched The Mummy Curse of the Dragon "something" it was absolutely horrible,,, The type of movie that you just laugh at how stupid some of the dialogue is. There was a scene with Yetis that was just mind boggling how people could come up with that stuff....
Anyway,, I'm looking ahead to Shenandoah which is around mile 800 I believe.
I'm really bummed I can't post pictures, but I hope everyone is well and I'll try to update this the next time I can. Thanks for reading.
Kashmir******************
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Damascus - 460 miles and counting
Hello Everyone,,
So I have reached the safe-haven of the wonderful trail town of Damascus. This past week or so since Erwin has been the best week of hiking that I've done yet. Out of Erwin, as I mentioned I did a 20 mile slack pack South back to Erwin and then the next day I headed 19 miles Over Roan Mountain to a converted Barn called Overmountain Shelter. Nearby was a route that the Overmountain men took in during the Revolutionary War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overmountain_Men . There was a plaque out in the woods that described how the men walked over the mountains in "boot high snow" to makes it to a battle. Anyway,, sleeping in a Barn was pretty neat.
The next day I did Nine Miles to Mountain Harbor Bed and Breakfast,, which was perhaps the cleanest Hostel I have stayed in so far,, I got in early and we watched Commando, Dances with Wolves and Back to the Future.. in succession. As far as taking your mind of the trail and having a moment to relax.. there really is nothing better then a Classic VHS. The breakfast there the next morning.. despite being 9 dollars was well worth it.. they had everything homeade and I filled up throughly. Thas same morning I did some slack-packing and Hostel hopped to Kinkora. The guy at Mountain Harbor Took myself, TinTin, Hightower, Thin Mint, Three Bears and D'boua's packs to Kinkora and we all hiked 24 miles to the next hostel.
Kinkora was not as clean as Mountain Harbor by any means but it made up for that in Character and Warmth. The atmosphere at that place was what the epitome of Trail Community. The first night there we played cards and then Monopoly,, and then after a 9 mile southbound slack pack the next day we all Had a Community Dinner of Chicken Parmesean and Salad and Cake and Ice Cream and White-chocholate covered Strawberries. Afterwards a few of us played Risk as well. Kinkora was everything good about the Appalachian Trail and the group of hikers that I spent time with there were a fantistic group of people.
I'm still hiking with most of them and after 50 miles of hiking we made it to Damascus.
more to come later.
Kashmir
So I have reached the safe-haven of the wonderful trail town of Damascus. This past week or so since Erwin has been the best week of hiking that I've done yet. Out of Erwin, as I mentioned I did a 20 mile slack pack South back to Erwin and then the next day I headed 19 miles Over Roan Mountain to a converted Barn called Overmountain Shelter. Nearby was a route that the Overmountain men took in during the Revolutionary War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overmountain_Men . There was a plaque out in the woods that described how the men walked over the mountains in "boot high snow" to makes it to a battle. Anyway,, sleeping in a Barn was pretty neat.
The next day I did Nine Miles to Mountain Harbor Bed and Breakfast,, which was perhaps the cleanest Hostel I have stayed in so far,, I got in early and we watched Commando, Dances with Wolves and Back to the Future.. in succession. As far as taking your mind of the trail and having a moment to relax.. there really is nothing better then a Classic VHS. The breakfast there the next morning.. despite being 9 dollars was well worth it.. they had everything homeade and I filled up throughly. Thas same morning I did some slack-packing and Hostel hopped to Kinkora. The guy at Mountain Harbor Took myself, TinTin, Hightower, Thin Mint, Three Bears and D'boua's packs to Kinkora and we all hiked 24 miles to the next hostel.
Kinkora was not as clean as Mountain Harbor by any means but it made up for that in Character and Warmth. The atmosphere at that place was what the epitome of Trail Community. The first night there we played cards and then Monopoly,, and then after a 9 mile southbound slack pack the next day we all Had a Community Dinner of Chicken Parmesean and Salad and Cake and Ice Cream and White-chocholate covered Strawberries. Afterwards a few of us played Risk as well. Kinkora was everything good about the Appalachian Trail and the group of hikers that I spent time with there were a fantistic group of people.
I'm still hiking with most of them and after 50 miles of hiking we made it to Damascus.
more to come later.
Kashmir
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Next Stop... Virginia
Hey Everyone... sorry that it's been a while since my last post.
I didn't go into the Library in Hot Springs to do a blog update so I have not checked in since Standing Bear...
Wow.. that seems ages ago and it really was
This past Week has been a roller coaster of emotions and advancements.
The roughly 60 mile section of the trail from Hot Springs to Erwin TN (where I am at right now) was probably my most difficult yet. There was the fact that I was aiming to get out of Hot Springs on Saturday and didnt' end up doing a full day until Monday... so that got me back a ways.. and the hike out of there seemed to be strikingly difficult. The days were Hot and the terrain was dry and the hiking just didn't seem fun. The realization that I am going to have to increase my pace Big time if I am going to finish on time was sort of playing on my mind and mixed with what I assuming was a spout of Deyhdration just doesn't make for a good hike. I went 11 miles on my Worst day which was Thursday. The next day however,,after some powerades at a Gas Station I went ahead and had my biggest day yet 18 miles... It was just strange how you can go from almost no energy to feeling Great.
Anyway I made it into Erwin (mile number 340) very early yeasterday and Spent the day taking the free shuttles into town for Breakfast Lunch and Dinner.... then I did my First SlackPack of my AT thru-hike existence.
It was about 15 bucks alltogether and that afforded me a day where I hiked 20.2 miles with only about 4 or 5 pounds instead of my 40ish lb regular pack. They shuttled about 5 of us ahead 20 miles and then we hiked South back to Uncle Johnnys hostel,,starting at 8 and getting back at 4:30 in time for the Dinner shuttle at 6 o'clock.
Some may question the purist nature of a Slack Pack but I say it was soooooo worth it. The diference between a full pack and the latter is truly night and day.
It was the easiest day hiking yet and also my longest day yet.
Anyway that puts me at mile 360. with a LONG LONG was to go. But the weather is supposed to be clear the next few days and soon the flatter terrain of Virginia will appear. These next couple of weeks will hopefully see bigger mileage days but at the moment I've came to the conclusion not to worry too much about the Miles, I'm just goign to continue enjoying the journey. I've now had two full, stomach stuffing meals two nights in a row and I did twenty miles today which Felt Like a stroll in the park. tomorrows goal is 19 (I think) to Overmountain shelter and then after that I actually foget what's next,,, a Bed and Breakfast inbetween Damascus and then it's just more of the same.... Following the White Blazes... Another Day in the Woods = another good day.
Things are looking okay.
Later,
Kashmir
ALSO Yeasterday I bought some cheap Clippers at the Dollar General and Shaved off ALL OF MY HAIR!!!!!!!!!!! except my beard.
I'll post a picture in time,, this computer that I'm on at the moment is kind of old
I look different, kind of "tougher" but people said they like it and I kind of do as well. It was just too hot.
I didn't go into the Library in Hot Springs to do a blog update so I have not checked in since Standing Bear...
Wow.. that seems ages ago and it really was
This past Week has been a roller coaster of emotions and advancements.
The roughly 60 mile section of the trail from Hot Springs to Erwin TN (where I am at right now) was probably my most difficult yet. There was the fact that I was aiming to get out of Hot Springs on Saturday and didnt' end up doing a full day until Monday... so that got me back a ways.. and the hike out of there seemed to be strikingly difficult. The days were Hot and the terrain was dry and the hiking just didn't seem fun. The realization that I am going to have to increase my pace Big time if I am going to finish on time was sort of playing on my mind and mixed with what I assuming was a spout of Deyhdration just doesn't make for a good hike. I went 11 miles on my Worst day which was Thursday. The next day however,,after some powerades at a Gas Station I went ahead and had my biggest day yet 18 miles... It was just strange how you can go from almost no energy to feeling Great.
Anyway I made it into Erwin (mile number 340) very early yeasterday and Spent the day taking the free shuttles into town for Breakfast Lunch and Dinner.... then I did my First SlackPack of my AT thru-hike existence.
It was about 15 bucks alltogether and that afforded me a day where I hiked 20.2 miles with only about 4 or 5 pounds instead of my 40ish lb regular pack. They shuttled about 5 of us ahead 20 miles and then we hiked South back to Uncle Johnnys hostel,,starting at 8 and getting back at 4:30 in time for the Dinner shuttle at 6 o'clock.
Some may question the purist nature of a Slack Pack but I say it was soooooo worth it. The diference between a full pack and the latter is truly night and day.
It was the easiest day hiking yet and also my longest day yet.
Anyway that puts me at mile 360. with a LONG LONG was to go. But the weather is supposed to be clear the next few days and soon the flatter terrain of Virginia will appear. These next couple of weeks will hopefully see bigger mileage days but at the moment I've came to the conclusion not to worry too much about the Miles, I'm just goign to continue enjoying the journey. I've now had two full, stomach stuffing meals two nights in a row and I did twenty miles today which Felt Like a stroll in the park. tomorrows goal is 19 (I think) to Overmountain shelter and then after that I actually foget what's next,,, a Bed and Breakfast inbetween Damascus and then it's just more of the same.... Following the White Blazes... Another Day in the Woods = another good day.
Things are looking okay.
Later,
Kashmir
ALSO Yeasterday I bought some cheap Clippers at the Dollar General and Shaved off ALL OF MY HAIR!!!!!!!!!!! except my beard.
I'll post a picture in time,, this computer that I'm on at the moment is kind of old
I look different, kind of "tougher" but people said they like it and I kind of do as well. It was just too hot.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Standing Bear Farm
So I got to Standing Bear Farm at around 2:45. So ten miles in roughly 4 hours... not tooo bad. It was pretty much all downhill though. But I'm Officially OUT OF THE SMOKIES!!!!!!!!!!
The past couple days in the mountains were actually pretty great... it was absolutely perfect weather and the views and company were excellent. I'm feeling Fantastic physically and while when I started the smokies I was feeling tired and worn out after the days hiking, I feel pretty good right now. I got some Centrum Performance daily vitamins as well so that will hopefully give me an even greater boost so I can start knocking out some bigger days...
I know the next stop will be hot springs in a few days and then after that I'm not sure,, but until then..... Adios until next time
Kashmir
P.S. This place is AWESOME, it's like a Log Cabin Bunk House type of thing and everything is very "Appalachian". It's great.
The past couple days in the mountains were actually pretty great... it was absolutely perfect weather and the views and company were excellent. I'm feeling Fantastic physically and while when I started the smokies I was feeling tired and worn out after the days hiking, I feel pretty good right now. I got some Centrum Performance daily vitamins as well so that will hopefully give me an even greater boost so I can start knocking out some bigger days...
I know the next stop will be hot springs in a few days and then after that I'm not sure,, but until then..... Adios until next time
Kashmir
P.S. This place is AWESOME, it's like a Log Cabin Bunk House type of thing and everything is very "Appalachian". It's great.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Gatlinburg Rest
Hey everyone,
Well today I am simply relaxing at the hotel here in Gatlinburg Tennessee. My parents, who were on a cruise and driving up from Florida, came and picked me up at Newfound Gap, which is about halfway through the Smoky Mountains.
If you check the date of my last post, you will see that my pace this past week has been pretty downright Slow. lol In the last six days I went about 40 miles. I'm going to account that to the excessive rainy condition,, and it really was raining and windy and crappy out,, but a couple of the days,, the Russell Field Shelter to Spence Field Shelter day was pretty bad. I went 3 miles that day,,, it was raining and windy and me and a fellow hiker "Jack Straw" went down to check out Spence and when we got there it was very nice and very dry and very "not in the rainstorm" so at 1 o'clock we both said "ehhh good enough for today".
I can demean my lack of milage now jokingly,, but in reality I am glad that I stopped that day... we kind of just hung out in the shelter all day until other hikers got there. We ever hung around specifically because we knew Cotton, Q-tip, Trinket and Hyway were going to catch up.
Thusly we hung out at Spence all day and listened to my eton crank-up radio dialed in to the Knoxville Classic Rock station. A great way to pass a rainy day if there ever were one.
Anyhow, I went 6 miles the next day and then 7 the next and then I went 10 miles yesterday morning before being picked up at Newfound Gap at noon before heading into Gatlinburg Tennessee. I must say Gatlinburg is like being dropped off on an entire different planet,, it was kind of like the touristy part of Niagra Falls or Atlantic City, with about 50 Pancake houses and thousands of people walking around downtown.
It's pretty crazy, but the hotel I'm at right now is pretty nice, and I'm on my own laptop in the hotel room so it's nice to have that, I went to holy Thursday mass yesterday with my parents and it was nice, even though the priest has a little un-typical sermon.. talking about "the kids these days with the Che Guevara shirts on" and he was critical of people coming to mass with sandals one looking like they just left the beach... haha I looked at my mom and she had on black sandals,, we though it was kind of silly. but this hotel has a Hot Tub and the Golden Coral buffet is "da bomb" as Randy would say (yes that is an Idol reference that I don't know why I added) Anyways it was pretty great to have unlimited food and then afterwards yesterday we got a Stuffed Crust Pizza and I ate all but two pieces,, and I went and got a Whopper Jr. and Two scoops of Cotton Candy Ice-Cream at a Baskin Robbins,, it was just too easy when Pizza Hut,, Burger King and the Baskin Robbins were literally right next to each other on the same stretch of road.
Anyway Clingmans Dome and the Smoky Mountains were/are amazing when the sky is clear,, as I mentioned previously it was rainy the first couple days so the views were not there,, but the Smokies really are gorgeous.
What else..... oh
the collective group of other hikers that I've been hiking along with, and maybe part of the reason that I've been un-motivated to hike dawn to dusk. Our self-appointed captain "Swift" ..I believe he came up with the plan to call us "Team GoDat" Meaning that we Go "Dat Far" and then we Stop. haha We're just hiking along,, enjoying ourselves,, not trying to kill off 20 mile days just yet.
One guy in team GoDat is actually named Slackamus Maximus.
I've been hiking along with them for the past week or so and I'm loving it,, no sense rushing at this point,, the long days will come later.
Well... I will be setting off tomorrow morning,, going ten miles tomorrow and then maybe 13 the next,, who knows after that.. I'll try to keep this updated a bit more regular,, I can usually get verizon service on my phone in the mountains and it does connect to the blogger website,, the only problem is that it freezes up all the time,, I just have a normal phone (no droid or blackberry type deal_) it's a waterproof Boulder by motorola but nothing with easy access internet. my cell is 814 758 8556 if anyone who happens to be reading this does not have it already.
I'm going to just go ahead and submit this blog post at the moment,, I'll be uploading a few pictures here and to facebook as well
so until Next time.....
Have a great week and enjoy
--Kashmir
Well today I am simply relaxing at the hotel here in Gatlinburg Tennessee. My parents, who were on a cruise and driving up from Florida, came and picked me up at Newfound Gap, which is about halfway through the Smoky Mountains.
If you check the date of my last post, you will see that my pace this past week has been pretty downright Slow. lol In the last six days I went about 40 miles. I'm going to account that to the excessive rainy condition,, and it really was raining and windy and crappy out,, but a couple of the days,, the Russell Field Shelter to Spence Field Shelter day was pretty bad. I went 3 miles that day,,, it was raining and windy and me and a fellow hiker "Jack Straw" went down to check out Spence and when we got there it was very nice and very dry and very "not in the rainstorm" so at 1 o'clock we both said "ehhh good enough for today".
I can demean my lack of milage now jokingly,, but in reality I am glad that I stopped that day... we kind of just hung out in the shelter all day until other hikers got there. We ever hung around specifically because we knew Cotton, Q-tip, Trinket and Hyway were going to catch up.
Thusly we hung out at Spence all day and listened to my eton crank-up radio dialed in to the Knoxville Classic Rock station. A great way to pass a rainy day if there ever were one.
Anyhow, I went 6 miles the next day and then 7 the next and then I went 10 miles yesterday morning before being picked up at Newfound Gap at noon before heading into Gatlinburg Tennessee. I must say Gatlinburg is like being dropped off on an entire different planet,, it was kind of like the touristy part of Niagra Falls or Atlantic City, with about 50 Pancake houses and thousands of people walking around downtown.
It's pretty crazy, but the hotel I'm at right now is pretty nice, and I'm on my own laptop in the hotel room so it's nice to have that, I went to holy Thursday mass yesterday with my parents and it was nice, even though the priest has a little un-typical sermon.. talking about "the kids these days with the Che Guevara shirts on" and he was critical of people coming to mass with sandals one looking like they just left the beach... haha I looked at my mom and she had on black sandals,, we though it was kind of silly. but this hotel has a Hot Tub and the Golden Coral buffet is "da bomb" as Randy would say (yes that is an Idol reference that I don't know why I added) Anyways it was pretty great to have unlimited food and then afterwards yesterday we got a Stuffed Crust Pizza and I ate all but two pieces,, and I went and got a Whopper Jr. and Two scoops of Cotton Candy Ice-Cream at a Baskin Robbins,, it was just too easy when Pizza Hut,, Burger King and the Baskin Robbins were literally right next to each other on the same stretch of road.
Anyway Clingmans Dome and the Smoky Mountains were/are amazing when the sky is clear,, as I mentioned previously it was rainy the first couple days so the views were not there,, but the Smokies really are gorgeous.
What else..... oh
the collective group of other hikers that I've been hiking along with, and maybe part of the reason that I've been un-motivated to hike dawn to dusk. Our self-appointed captain "Swift" ..I believe he came up with the plan to call us "Team GoDat" Meaning that we Go "Dat Far" and then we Stop. haha We're just hiking along,, enjoying ourselves,, not trying to kill off 20 mile days just yet.
One guy in team GoDat is actually named Slackamus Maximus.
I've been hiking along with them for the past week or so and I'm loving it,, no sense rushing at this point,, the long days will come later.
Well... I will be setting off tomorrow morning,, going ten miles tomorrow and then maybe 13 the next,, who knows after that.. I'll try to keep this updated a bit more regular,, I can usually get verizon service on my phone in the mountains and it does connect to the blogger website,, the only problem is that it freezes up all the time,, I just have a normal phone (no droid or blackberry type deal_) it's a waterproof Boulder by motorola but nothing with easy access internet. my cell is 814 758 8556 if anyone who happens to be reading this does not have it already.
I'm going to just go ahead and submit this blog post at the moment,, I'll be uploading a few pictures here and to facebook as well
so until Next time.....
Have a great week and enjoy
--Kashmir
Friday, March 26, 2010
Friday Zero
So yeasterday I got into Fontana and Spent the night at the Hike Inn with another thru-hiker Yanni
The owners were really great, and for 40 bucks they picked us up and then drove us into Reynoldsville where we went to an Excellent,, very authentic mexican restaruant, where I had two Chicken Fajitas.. and then to Ingles where I resupplied.
It was a great stay and then, I'm now at the Fontana Village Resort where i'm using their internet and taking a Zero day at the Fontana Dam Shelter... which is called the Fontana "Hilton" mainly because there are public showers and restrooms nearby.
So a zero day today and then I'll be heading out Tomorrow into the Great Smokie Mountains.
I'm feeling Great and the hiking has been fantastic,, the smokies are going to be cold but fortunetely passable. Hopefully in between a few rainy/snowy days coming up the skys will be clear and I'll be able to enjoy the great views that this Park has to offer.
I'll either check back in if I decide to stop and head down to Gatlinburg,, in between the Smokies or else I'll check back in once I get out of them in Hot Springs.
Either way these next 70 or so miles is going to be a rough and beautiful stretch,, the Smokies is the Nations Most Visited National Park,, more people than Yellowstone and Yosemite combined each year,, I'm looking forward to it....
Until Next Time
Joe aka _Kashmir_
signing off
The owners were really great, and for 40 bucks they picked us up and then drove us into Reynoldsville where we went to an Excellent,, very authentic mexican restaruant, where I had two Chicken Fajitas.. and then to Ingles where I resupplied.
It was a great stay and then, I'm now at the Fontana Village Resort where i'm using their internet and taking a Zero day at the Fontana Dam Shelter... which is called the Fontana "Hilton" mainly because there are public showers and restrooms nearby.
So a zero day today and then I'll be heading out Tomorrow into the Great Smokie Mountains.
I'm feeling Great and the hiking has been fantastic,, the smokies are going to be cold but fortunetely passable. Hopefully in between a few rainy/snowy days coming up the skys will be clear and I'll be able to enjoy the great views that this Park has to offer.
I'll either check back in if I decide to stop and head down to Gatlinburg,, in between the Smokies or else I'll check back in once I get out of them in Hot Springs.
Either way these next 70 or so miles is going to be a rough and beautiful stretch,, the Smokies is the Nations Most Visited National Park,, more people than Yellowstone and Yosemite combined each year,, I'm looking forward to it....
Until Next Time
Joe aka _Kashmir_
signing off
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Pictures
Those pictures in the blog post below are, first the Diamond size hale-ice,, me and my parents at the start,, sunset on the top of Blood Mountain,, snickers break and Me wearing my 100%Cashmere Hat,, which has duely gotten me my trail name of Kashmir... and another of me at the official Start of the Trail
These next ones in this current post are of GA/NC border
the crazy snow
and some of us checking out the Second Biggest Poplar ?sp? Tree in America,, it was dead and not very tall but it would have been huge if still alive,,
That's all for now, I'll update the next time I can
Kashmir onward.....
Hey everyone,, So I would have updated at neels gap, Mile 30, but the computer was out the previous evening and I just wanted to get going in the morning.
So far, including the Approach trail I've gone about 115 miles in 11 days,, I'm feeling great and excited to continue on. I took a "rest" not quite zero day today and just hiked 4 miles from the Rock Gap shelter and took a Shuttle into the Town of Frankline NC. I'm updating at Ron Haven budget inn at the moment. I had a massive breakfast(eggs, sausage and bisquits and hashbrowns) with 4 of the other guys who decided to stay in town today. and then after we were done eating breakfast,, it was 11 and the restaurant (I actually can't remember the name,, it was right next to the VFW someting like the Nanadine)anyways at 11 they switched to the lunch menu and so we just all decided to keep eating.. haha I ordered a fantastic huge Burger and Onion Rings and A grilled cheese, It was Fantastic,, all only 14 bucks
I had hiked the past 3 days with not enough food and that is someting I'll never do again,, I kind of just had 2 or 3 granola bars and then a lipton dinner... Way too little calories and I'll for sure be packing more food next time. I got into town with absolutely Zero food as I ate my last Cliff bar during the 3.7 miles this morning,, so a bit of a miscalculation but not something I'll do twice.
Anyhow,, everything out here has been amazing so far,, Everything was going smooth until I crossed into North Carolina and had to hike up a crazy mountain to get to the Muscrat Creek Shelter. Literally as soon as you passed into NC and started climbing up,, these giant Diamond Crystals of Ice started falling and as you hiked a steep, steep climb the temp dropped like 15 degrees and everything went from damp and foggy to Snow and Ice everywhere. It was pretty nasty and the Muskrat Creek Shelter was quite cold. If that is what the Smokies are going to be like then it is going to Suck,, I heard the smokies shelters are pretty nice but waking up in the cold snow is awful.. once you start hiking though and warm up, you beging to appreciate the beauty of the snow,, but in the morning everything seems terrible.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Made it to the start.
So I'm here down in Amicalola Falls State Park,, original plan was to hike the approach trail this morning 8 miles to the top of Springer and then my parents were going to pick me up at the top and I would have the first 8 out of the way and then start Sunday,,, However Trecherous snow and ice is preventing cars from reaching the summit and they would not have been able to come a pick me up..
new plan is to start Sunday Morning after some presentations on Saturday, one by Gene Espy,, the second man to ever walk the entire trail. It should be pretty interesting.
So I'm leaving early sunday and I'm probably not going to have Internet access for another 4 or 5 days. it's just about ready to kick off and I can't wait,, I did a short 1 mile hike this morning and i'm ready for more.... (i think) =)
new plan is to start Sunday Morning after some presentations on Saturday, one by Gene Espy,, the second man to ever walk the entire trail. It should be pretty interesting.
So I'm leaving early sunday and I'm probably not going to have Internet access for another 4 or 5 days. it's just about ready to kick off and I can't wait,, I did a short 1 mile hike this morning and i'm ready for more.... (i think) =)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Forgotten stuff
So I'm having two things mailed to me that I forgot back at my previous places of dwellingment.
Thankfully my friend Nick is going to mail my Crankup Radio/cell phone charger down to an outfitter at Neels Gap. I had left that in the trunk of the car after breakfast on sat.
Other missing item that is being mailed is My glasses. That's pretty bad to forget, I must say. I'll be wearing contacts but I'm practically blind without anything so I would like to be able to function after taking contacts out every night. so anyhow, we're just about to take off and drive down to Georgia, from our hotel here in Virginia.
Hopefully I don't forget anything.
Thankfully my friend Nick is going to mail my Crankup Radio/cell phone charger down to an outfitter at Neels Gap. I had left that in the trunk of the car after breakfast on sat.
Other missing item that is being mailed is My glasses. That's pretty bad to forget, I must say. I'll be wearing contacts but I'm practically blind without anything so I would like to be able to function after taking contacts out every night. so anyhow, we're just about to take off and drive down to Georgia, from our hotel here in Virginia.
Hopefully I don't forget anything.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Last Day in Kennerdell
So this will be my last day at home for a while,,, it was nice to see my Grandma, Aunt Barbara and Jim and Monday night we all had a enjoyable dinner of Pierogies and mashed potatoes. I'm 50% Polish and I grew up enjoying my Grandma's Pierogies,,yet for the past I'll say 5 or 6 years though, my mom has sort of taken over as Pierogie maker and I must say that they are excellent. So yeah, I spent a few days at home, got interviewed by the local paper and now I'll be driving down once we're all packed.
I'm going to try to weigh my gear momentarily.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Last day in State College
so it's 3:34 AM monday morning here in state college PA, and I'm in the midst of moving out of my apartment. Most of my belongings are just about packed. Original plan was to leave early on Sunday but I inadvertently fell asleep at Noon and didn't wake up until 11:30. I still have to head downtown early today and purchase a few more items of gear,, mainly Crocs and maybe a titanium spork if AppOutdoors carries them. I have an interview with my hometown paper at 4 PM today as well and I hope I won't be too tired. Now, back to packing.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Hikestrong
So I just set up this blog a couple of days ago and I haven't spent very much time exploring the tools and functions and whatnot.
http://hikestrong2010.giving.officelive.com/default.aspx
More to come---
http://hikestrong2010.giving.officelive.com/default.aspx
More to come---
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