A Long Walk With Nature
We have finished another great pilgrimage! The Appalachian Trail was a great challenge for me in many ways, much more so than I thought it would be. It feels really good to be done right now, but I am also very grateful that it was an experience that I saw through to the end. This spring/summer we hiked about 2,500 trail miles, starting 300 miles before the Appalachian Trail (AT) in Alabama.
Here we are at the start of the AT on top of Springer Mountain in Georgia, after our 300 mile warm up.
Of course there is more than can be said about such a journey, but at the same time there is something so simple about the lifestyle on the trail. We carry everything we need on our backs, get up in the morning and hike until dusk, and enjoy nature as much as we can. As with any life style there are good days and bad days.
I love the simplicity of trail life though, you are living a pretty self sufficient lifestyle in which you are moving with the rhythms of the world around you. This is something that I think many people dont get to experience very often in their lifetimes.
I made it to the end! Here I am on the top of Mount Katahdin, an amazing end point for our journey!
This is Bernie’s second time making the journey from Georgia to Maine.
We took (and by that I mean mostly Bernie) over 1,900 pictures of our trip. Bernie will be putting pictures and his story on his blog soon, and this time around (since we now have highspeed internet!!!) I hope to share some of the pictures also and tell my own story of the hike. With this I hope to share at least a little bit of what I experience out on our long distance hikes both physically and spiritually/feeling. It feels great to be back home! And I look f0rward to catching up with all my lovely online friends also! I hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far!
One Third of the Way Through
Hi Everyone!
Another update along the pilgrimage of the Appalachian Trail. Can you believe that we have made it 1/3 of the way already? In many ways I can’t. It really is amazing how time flies when you are out on the trail. I am lucky if I remember what month it is, let alone what day it is. I think this summer is just going to disolve, we will be done before we know it.
This trip has plenty of new experiences for me, and the latest one that I am adjusting to is the humidity and heat. It is so vastly different hiking in high humidy, I am not used to that on the west coast. I feel my body learning to get used to this new feeling, although now that we have taken a zero in a hotel room with air conditioning, it might take a little re-adjusting.
Everyone’s comments are so wonderful, thank you everyone for visiting and sharing your thoughts with me! I really do enjoy it. In my last post Gaelyn and Tammie asked what trail might be next on our mind. At this point I am not going to fully commit, but there is the possibility that next year we would hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). The CDT was actually my first long distance trail, of which I only hiked 2,000 of the ~3,000 miles. It was extremely challenging for me in so many ways being my first hike, and so I am tempted to do the whole thing over again from start to finish. This would allow me to hike it with more ease, and have better memories over all of the journey. There is a lot of time in between now and then, so it is hard to say that we will do that for sure, but if we do that will be my triple crown in three years. The triple crown is hiking all three of the major long distance trails.
Well my body is well rested, and the sun is shining outside, I believe it is time to get back outdoors and continue the trek north. We start hiking along the blue ridge parkway in the next day or so, it is supposed to be a beautiful stretch, and I look forward to it! Enjoy summer everyone, it is a beautiful time of the year!!
Onto Another State
Well, we have made our way into Virginia. We hiked into Damascus yesterday at about 2 in the afternoon. We decided to take to evenings off here in town, mostly because I am just plain tired.
Its really a beautiful experience being immersed in nature on a daily basis, but there are those days that the body just decides it is tired. The last couple of days on the trail were this way for me. Actually Sunday I started out really strong, climbing up a series of hills for several miles, feeling really strong. But then in the afternoon my energy just drifted out of me, and forward movement was not on the top of my bodys list of priorities. But none the less, we hiked 24 miles that day. There is something very valuable in being able to move through those moments of challenge, and know that your body can do some amazing things. When we know that we can accomplish anything we set our minds to, the world opens up in endless possibilities!
Spring keeps coming out with more and more beauty each day for us to enjoy. I am learning more wildflowers each day, and getting familure with ones that might be just a little different than those we have on the west coast. The green of the trees is slowly creaping up the hills, and soon we will be engulfed in the ‘green tunnel’. I really look forward to this, while some people do not like the concept of hiking through the tunnel all day. I think the filtered light that comes down through all the beautiful green leafs is AMAZING! I am celebrating the different feel the hardwood forests have from the evergreen forests back home.
This is such an interesting trail to me in so many ways, because the feel of it is so different. As another hiker put it, the Appalachian trail is very Domesticated. What a perfect term for it! Just about every day now we cross a road that either will take you to a hostel or a town. These are a strong temptation to many people along the trail, and thus being it is quite easy to spend LOTS of money along this journey. We are not enticed into many of the stops that we cross, but try to make our stops count. We try to really enjoy the towns that we do go into.
We have been slowly moving through the ranks of hikers, catching up to people we had been hiking off and on with before we took our three zero days (a term used along the trail, describing a day that you put in no trail miles) with our friends Lyndsay and Jordan. Its great to see some of their faces again! Its such an interesting community that develops out here on the trail. Bernie and I pass many hikers, and most likely will not see them again, but we have caught up to the front wave again. These are people with a rythm quite close to our own, so it will be nice to fall into step with them again, and get to know them even more.
When we started this trail we had decided to ‘take our time’ and move at a pace slower than we typically do on a long distance trail to enjoy the journey. We are really enjoying it, and stopping often along the trail to enjoy views and good company, and still find ourselves moving at a good pace. So it looks like we will most likely be done with this trail before we thought we might. We will most likely find ourselves at the end of the trail sometime around the end of July or begining of August…… It is interesting when you get in ‘hiking shape’ your body just flows along the trail (well most days at least).
There is so much I could say, and sometimes I feel not enough words to express it. Each Long Distance Hike is a unique experience, and this one has all kinds of new lessons and things to explore for me. I hope I convey a little bit of that in my updates for others to have a tiny taste of what we are experiencing out here, but to really get a feel for it, you will have to come out and hike it yourself!
Thank you for sharing in my life everyone! I wish I had the time to catch up with everyone, and respond to each comment. Just know I appreciate each of you, and the beautiful thoughts and feelings you share with me.
A Grand Adventure, And Wonderful Rest
It looks like spring has finally sprung for us on the Appalachian Trail. I had thought that spring may have started for us when we reached the AT, but mother nature still had a couple surprises for us. When we left Neels Gap (the last place I updated) the rain poured on us almost constantly for the 11 miles to Lowe Gap Shelter where we planned on spending the night. When we got there it was full and overflowing, so we set up our tarp, and crawled in as quickly as possible. In the morning we woke up to dry conditions and thought it might be a better day, and then it started to snow…… We had not planned at dropping down into a town that day, but road into Helen Georgia was only 9 miles from where we had camped, and after getting snowed on all day we decided to hitch in. The Helendorf hotel had an AMAZING hiker rate of $25/night for the both of us, including a simple continental breakfast! So we had a lovely hot shower, and had the chance to explore the cute Bavarian Village the next morning. The weather improved greatly the next day, and so we headed up the trail again.
Now there are plants peeking out along the trail as we hike, especially when we drop to slightly lower elevations. I am like a kid in a candy shop when we come across something blooming. The beautiful flowers bring me such joy! I look forward to this new experience of spring in the east.
We have covered quite a bit of ground since I last updated, much more than my mind can put into type at the moment. But I will share the highlights. As we crossed into North Carolina it seemed like we moved into steeper country. This gave my muscles a really good workout, propelling me to another level.
We resupplied at Fontana Village, a lovely little resort that provided us with a nice partial day rest. We had breakfast at the lodge, yummy, and a very good price! And then we sat on the portch of the General Store and visited with other hikers after resupplying. Our first stop on the climb up out of the Fontana Dam area was Shuckstack, a lookout tower. You could climb all the way to the top, which we did. It was truely a beautiful view from the top, but my stomach had that that amusment park ride feeling. We had the most beautiful weather through the Smokey Mountains, a true blessing. We were often surrounded by beautiful views, highlighted with warm sunshine. There were many different feels to the landscape through the park. I love the Smokey quality to the air in the mountains, it truely makes it feel like a painting when you look out across the layers of mountains dissapearing into the distance. We will have many beautiful photos to share from this section of the hike.
Bernie and I have been enjoying a wonderful break with a beautiful couple we met on the PCT last year. Lindsay and Jordan (or Petal and River if you go by trail names). They have been so kind and loving towards us. First of all they drove an hour and a half each way to pick us up from the trail. We were picked up on Saturday afternoon, and will be headed back to the trail tomorrow. It was a longer break than we thought we might take, but one that our bodies have greatly appreciated! Its been so wonderful to get to visit more with Lindsay and Jordan, and the exciting part is that they are soon moving to the Leavenworth, WA area for a year. So when we are done with the trail, we will get to see them again. They will only be about 3 hours away from Bellingham. I look forward to a beautiful fall hike with them through some part of the North Cascades!
Alright, I am off to watch a movie to enjoy our last evening off, and then we are back to hiking tomorrow. I think my body has fully mended itself, getting plenty of rest and good food! Now we will see what it thinks about hiking again in the morning. =) I wanted to say thank you for all the wonderful comments! I am sorry I do not have the time to respond to each of you, but you each touch me deeply with your warm and kind words! Enjoy your spring everyone!
Each Little Thing
We are on the Appalachian Trail! We have made it 30 miles into the trail, and are enjoying a bit of relaxing time at the hostel here at Neeles Gap.
Its a great feeling to be on the AT, we are now on our journey north. I feel that spring has started just as we get on this trail, a fresh begining to a new journey. We have been meeting some nice people, and have had the chance to get to know some of them a little better here at the Hostel. The hard thing is that no one is putting in the same mileage as we are, so we really will not see the same people again, unless we stop for a day or two like here at the hostel.
Its so magical being out in nature. Although I do have to say that this trail feels a little closer to society than any of the other trails we have done, but thats an amazing dynamic to experience too. Its so great to see people that have not had the chance to experience the outdoors for long periods of time starting their journey along a trail that will bring them closer to nature and all the wonder that she holds. It’s as if everyone is sticking their toe in, testing the waters, getting a feel for their new world.
I love looking at the little details as I move along the trail, I seem to be able to focus on the small details better than the larger picture much of the time for some reason. But I feel that I get to experience some things that very few would ever notice. Like, did you know that crickets like chocolate? On one of our food breaks the other day, I happened to look down at my pants, and there was a tiny little cricket type creature, snacking on some minute crumbs of my meal. I wanted to find him something to eat, and found a little piece of chocolate. When offered to my little friend, he started to gobble it up. Now who would have ever known!! When his appetite of sweets had been fulfilled, he started to explore. His little antenai going a mile a minute (sugar high?) as he jumped from leaf to leaf around our viewpoint.
I look forward to all the other small and large details that fill our experience along the trail. I hope we have the chance to check in online and update along the way. I would love to practice my writing, and learn how to become a story teller of our hiking adventures. Until next time, enjoy each moment everyone!!
New Horizons
A New Adventure is expanding upon my Horizon.
It’s gentle call getting louder.
Offering new perspectives of the world from within and without.
What paths lay ahead of you?
This Tuesday night Bernie and I fly out of Seattle to Birmingham Alabama.
We will then make our way to our starting point on Wednesday.
We are starting about 285 miles before the Appalachian Trail,
In Alabama on a trail called the Pinhoti Trail.
This summer’s adventure is hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT).
We will hike a total of about 2,500 miles this summer.
I hope you all have beautiful Summers,
Filled with adventures and explorations of your own!
Always remember that Life is one big journey,
Enjoy each step of the way!
If you would like to see Photos of last summers adventure
along the Pacific Crest Trail visit Bernie’s Blog Here
