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.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
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
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