It came to an end rather suddenly, I decided to leave the AT. In the end I spent 106 days on the trail and covered 1,329 miles. I was eating lunch near the New Jersey/New York border thinking ahead to how much time I had left. It was the beginning of July and if I... Continue Reading →
Day 99 – Summer Solstice
The days are really blending together, if I didn't write up these summaries each night I wouldn't be able to remember what happened each day. It was raining yet again when I woke up, so I stayed in the hammock until 7:30 am. I finally packed up camp and was on the trail, in the... Continue Reading →
Day 98 – General Frustration
Another early morning out of town and we started our way up the hill. The rocks are starting to get a little more serious, but nothing crazy yet. About a mile before my lunch shelter the skies opened up and poured. I was drenched for 20 minutes before I got to the shelter and was... Continue Reading →
Day 97 – Spaghetti Dinner
Pennsylvania has a reputation among hikers for being rocky, the kind of rocks that will wreck an ankle. So far, it hasn't lived up to the reputation - I'm sure I'll find the rocks soon enough. It's mostly been flat and I made decent time over the first 11 miles with my hiking buddy of... Continue Reading →
Day 96 – Officially Halfway
I stumbled across the official 2019 halfway marker about 0.5 miles after leaving the shelter this morning. I'm glad that I didn't miss it entirely. I also found the original halfway point marker of the AT. It poured last night and today was still near 100% humidity so the trail never dried out. Having my... Continue Reading →
Day 95 – 1100 Miles
Another long day without many exciting things to share. The morning started out with rain that continued to the afternoon. With a little more experimenting and adjusting I was able to get my feet to a point where they seem semi-happy. I found the 2018 halfway sign but must've missed the official 2019 1/2 marker... Continue Reading →
Day 94 – Insole Struggles
The lack of arch support made my foot pain a lot worse today. The new insoles do a great job for the ball of the foot but almost nothing elsewhere. I tried doubling up the insoles by stacking the new ones on top of the old ones. It felt good, but there isn't enough room... Continue Reading →
Day 93 – Saturday Night Races
The group got together for breakfast at the hotel, it really was energizing to see everyone again. I hope we're able to meet up again before the end of the trail. I picked up my new insoles this morning before hitting the trail, they don't have as much arch support as I'm used to but... Continue Reading →
Day 92 – Halfway-ish
Harpers Ferry is the town closest to the halfway mark of the trail and there's an Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) branch there. Hikers passing through can register and get a new hiker number, so my goal was to be there before they closed at 5 today. I was on the trail by 8, thinking that... Continue Reading →
Day 91 – Setting out alone
It's really exciting that my mileage count is in the 1000's now. I know it's just another 100 mile mark, but for some reason it's a huge mental boost for me. The rest of the tramily only wanted to do 15 miles today, so I left camp around 9am while they were still in bed.... Continue Reading →