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