Appalachian trail jokes:
Where do dogs sleep on the trail?
In pup tents.
Why didn't they let jimi hendrix be a ridge runner?
He kept painting the trees with a purple blaze.
Why didn't the hiker use the revolving door?
He was a thru hiker.
Where do you keep extra bears?
In a bear box
So I talked to Jon last night, my medical professional, and he was all "get that girl from Holland to give you a leg massage, with oils and such. But seriously, get off the leg for a bit."
I was all "boo, angry noises, this is the worst."
Then I reminded myself of the priorities set at the start. Don't get hurt, have fun, get to Maine. Pushing through now would seem to violate the first two.
I called Jaime this morning again, and I'm off the trail until I'm more confident in the calf. After I called Jamie I went back into a depression sleep while everyone else trickled out of camp to push on toward the whites.
Don't know if I'm going to update every day while I'm off trail, just a heads up.
Miles: 5
Water: 1
Today has been pretty mixed. I stuck with my plan of doing a short day.
The hiking today was awesome. It rained last night, was cloudy and cool all morning, perfect hiking weather. The terrain was neat, the views were nice and spooky. I was making good time and feeling good. I climbed mt Everett which was basically straight up, didn't really even get winded. The hiking was a lot of fun and felt good.
Just before the shelter the trail was covered with tiny frogs. I thought they were bugs at first. Each one was no bigger than a fingernail. I walked very carefully to not squish them.
On the other hand, the rain had made all the rocks slick. I fell down three times, im a bit scratched up. My calf is still hurting. If I can ruin three days of rest with two five mile days, it might be really messed up.
So I'm feeling good, but also angry at the leg. Nothing I can do about it now but wait.
The next shelter is 14 miles ahead, so I think my plan is to take another zero here, and see if I can do the 14 the next day. This shelter is nice, and I can go swimming tomorrow too.
Miles: 5
Water: 1 l
Back on the trail today. Jamie gave me a ride near to where I was. There was a two mile hike into the trail. I didn't get started until afternoon so I made it a short day. I'm at a campsite just across the CT border into MA. It's raining pretty steadily so I'm mostly just laying here in my tent.
The three days off were pretty sweet, it was nice to be back in reality, but it was also nice to get back on the trail. After an hour of reluctant hiking I found my legs and the rest was fine.
Today I climbed bear mt ct. I guess every state with bears has a bear mt. This was the first summit where the plants started to get really stumpy and stunted, soon I imagine I'll be seeing bigger peaks with actual tree lines. At the top was a pile of rocks and a stone tablet proclaiming it the highest spot in Connecticut. In new jersey they built an oblisk, in ct a pile of rocks.
I felt pretty good most of the day today, but that pain in my calf that had been entirely gone came back toward the end. That kind of sucks. I realize that I'm not going to make it anywhere if I don't hike through some injuries, they are just part of long distance hiking. So I'm going to take it easy on my leg but try to make progress.
I feel like taking the weekend off really helped my body, but it might have knocked my hiker mentality off kilter. We will see.
The mountain laurel, the beautiful tree that has been in bloom the last few weeks, is the state flower of Connecticut.
Games: 1
Junk foods: 3
I'm off the trail forever. My new summer project is going from game convention to game convention playing all the games I can and getting bloated on fingers and fries.
Today I did port con. A small mostly fandom related con in the great city of Portland Maine. It was cool to go to a small regional con as opposed to the craziness of gen con with its 50k attendees.
Portcon has about 2 thousand attendees from what I gather and there are no facilities for a con of that size in the area so the locations were a bit crazy. The vendor room was split among the three ballrooms in the doubletree, which obviously doesn't host this kind of thing often, no pipe and drape, banquet chairs instead of folding, nobody seemed to know how to turn on the lights.
With no big rooms the con decided to move many of the big audience events into a tent outside. (A 40x80 Olympic style tent for those in the know, with sidewall.) Even on a Sunday the tent was packed and people were having a good time. There were a ton of people in costume at this con, and most of the dealer room was cosplay and anime imports. This also skews the age down a good bit, cosplay isn't an old man's game, so I didn't get to bust out my zorak costume.
Separated from the rest of the con across a busy street in a vacant store front the cons game room was set up. A decent sized room, spilt evenly between video games, board games and card games with a few tables set aside for rpgs. The board game library was pretty decent. I wasn't a big fan of size of the room and the low ceilings it created a lot of noise, I can only imagine what Friday and Saturday were like. I played one rpg and it was hard to hear the other players at points. The gaming aspects were pretty free form with little in the way registering. If you wanted to get into a game you just walked up to a table with a players wanted sign.
The game I played was pretty fun, a mash up of most dangerous game and island of dr moreu. It was in the 5x5 system which I hadn't played before. It ran pretty fast and was good for a light system. The gm was fun and kept things moving, the other players were a bit harder to motivate. But we got there.
On the way out of the game I noticed I lost my drivers license and bank card, as well as some cash. Hiking I don't carry a wallet just that stuff in a rubber band. I quickly went back to the game room. No luck, nobody turned it in there. So I went back to the hotel and checked at the main lost and found. Of course my optimism was validated, and my id and card were there, as was all my money. It pays to belong to awesome subcultures, those anime nerds are super great. Gamers and hikers, both super nice.
Jamie also had a good day, raising a couple hundred bucks for extra life, and signing up a half dozen new people for the cause.
Now I start walking for indy.
miles 0
Water all the potable tap water you could want
Clothing is a balancing act on the trail. You want minimum weight for the maximum number of weather conditions.
Most everything I have is synthetic materials. Synthetics are better than cotton because they weigh less, stink less and dry faster. An alternative to synthetics is moreno wool, which people originally used for socks, but are now making tee shirts and other stuff with too.
I have two shirts, one short sleeved one long sleeved. Both tee shirt weight.
One pair of zip off pants that double as shorts. I bought these at REI, and the zipper broke first time I used them, but I managed a fix. Most of the time they are just shorts.
One pair of basketball shorts, these breath pretty well. They are probably a bit heavy but they were 4 bucks.
Two pairs of fancy ex officio boxer briefs. Until recently I was doing an experiment with having just one pair of underwear and going commando in the basketball shorts. Some folks swear by skipping underwear, but I imagine these people are skinny. As a normal sized person with some flab I constantly found myself fighting chafing with talc powder. So I picked up the second pair. Now the smooth on smooth of underwear and shorts means my shorts fall down all the time. Maybe next time at Wal-Mart I'll make a tiny improvement and get shorts that fit better.
I have two pairs of socks. Both moreno wool. They do a great job of wicking sweat, and staying soft even after they get wet or dirty. I tend to keep the pair of socks I'm not wearing strapped to my pack to dry and air them out. I bought a pair of smart wool brand, and a pair of darn tough brand. The darn tough are slightly more comfortable, and have a lifetime guarantee against wear.
I have a pair of north face ultra 109 shoes. I'll probably talk more about those in a shoes and poles post.
I have a star spangled bandana that Mike bought me. This is my bald head sun protection. It's better than the cotton bandana I had before, but lost. And it makes me look like I should be fighting for grazing rights.
For cold weather I have a cotton hat with bunny ears on it. I brought it because it is funny. Mostly I use it on cold nights. I could probably stand to send it back, as I get into summer.
For warmth layers I have a north face synth fleece. This also doubles as my pillow. I like this for warmth in camp, or to wear if say I'm washing both shirts. The big draw back is that it doesn't pack down very small.
I also have a frogg toggs raincoat that is my final warmth layer if it gets really cold. I have used it one day when we had heavy cold rain. But I picked up from Jamie using it as a cover to keep my pack dry on warmer rainy days. Like my hoodie this also doesn't pack down very small. The combination of the two leaves my pack always looking stuffed.
I have a disposable plastic poncho that I have never worn but used variously as a pack cover, food bag cover, and once to cover my phone while it charged overnight outside.
So all this boils down to two changes of clothes, and a few things I can layer on a cold day.
It's a bit disgusting but I tend to wear the same clothes straight for several days, so I can keep a clean set to change into if I need to feel more human. Some hikers have hiking clothes and camp clothes that they change into when they are done for the day. That seems like a lot of effort to me.
Seems like I've found an opportunity to do laundry about every 7-10 days. This could be a laundry mat, or at a hotel, or just a utility sink at a camp ground. I have resisted washing my clothes with soap in any natural water sources, but I will sometimes rinse things in a river.
Most of the unused clothes are in a stuff sack. I find this nice for keeping things organized. Others have said to pack all your clothes lose in your pack, to use shirts and sucks to fill small gaps inside your pack for better use of space. I might try this and report back in the, how to pack a backpack post.
I'm enjoying my time off the trail. Got to see my brother and the family. Angie is convinced I'm going to be murdered. It was great seeing that everyone was doing well. I was sorry I missed Chloe, but I'm sure I'll be in the area to visit again before I'm done.
Going to portcon tomorrow. I'm sure it will be just as good as gen con.
Miles: 1.x
Water: some
So looking at my options this morning things didn't look great. I know I want to give my leg a day off. So if I go forward 7 miles I get to a town with 200 dollar a night hotels. And a 50 dollar a night hostel. But after hiking 7 I'm going to probably stay 2 nights to get some real rest, so that's 100 bucks, and hoping I don't aggravate my leg.
The other option is to stay here at the rock free pine swamp shelter. Which has bad water, tons of bugs, and terrible internet. I'm leaning this way a little.
I'm texting my crappy options to Jamie, and he says he will come and get me. I'm kind of like meh. Then he says Indian food. And as Karen and Scott well know, I'm up for most any plan if you add Indian food. And on top of this he is working the extra life both at portland con. So add in gaming convention too. It all adds up to a weekend off the trail. But I'm ready for one of those.
Now on to what you really want, more pooping.
The most common way to go number 2 on the trail is the shelter privy. Or out house as they used to be called. The old two holer (I have only seen one two holer so far.)
I'm no expert but I guess the old style was a big hole dug in the ground with a movable privy on top. When the hole filled up, you dig a new hole, and slide the privy over the new one. I talked to a girl named ranger who said that this was a lot of her job as a park ranger. I have seen a couple of hole in the ground styles, but they are rare.
Sometimes especially at private camp sites there will be portajohns. These are an excellent place to steal some toilet paper if you are running low.
The most common privy is the "mouldering privy". Like the photo, they are high platforms above ground. There is no hole dug under it, the waste just piles up. Just do your business and throw your tp on the pile, then apparently the important part. There is normally a bucket of leaves or duff (the small crushed up leaves under the top leaf layer in the woods) or a big cube of cedar shavings like your giant hamster might use. You take a handful of leaves and toss it in on top of the pile too.
This magic mixture supposedly gives the right ph and materials for nature to break the waste down super efficiently. Some privys say don't pee on the pile, others say go for it, the extra moisture helps the process along. I do know that most of these mouldering privys are very clean, and generally don't stink. Also flies don't seem to be an issue. So they are doing something right.
This part is speculation. The privys in NJ had wide bins on the sides with screened tops. I suspect that a caretaker has to rake the pile into that side periodically. Also someone told me that the caretaker in annapolis rocks campsite had to pull big sheet pans of poop out of the privies and dry them to use as fertilizer elsewhere in the campsite. The privies in CT all seem to have two spots you can put the toilet. So they must periodically change sides. It looks like all the trail clubs have their own quirks for how to build a toilet.
I have never seen any heaps of the finished fertilizer near the privies, so I wonder what they do with it? Maybe I will get an answer from a trail club member in the future.
Dinner was the last of the mystery dehydrated meals. Asian turkey and grits. Things that whoever made it probably didn't know. Turkey jerky just gets wet and tough instead if being just tough when boiled. Grits will never cook, no matter how long you cook them. They remain tiny inedible gravel. Hence the name grits.
Someone reported seeing a bear today in the shelter book. So with light dwindling I pack my food and go to do a bear hang. Step one of bear hang is to find a rock to tie your string to. So you can throw it over a branch. There are no rocks at this shelter. There are huge stones embedded in the earth sticking out of the ground, but nothing resembling a stone you could throw. I guess all the other hikers picked them up and took them home. Or my personal theory, the bear came by and took them all so hikers would get frustrated and leave their food out. I had lots of time to come up with theories as a ranged all around the shelter looking for rocks. Thankfully the other hikers were already gone to the tenting areas. I finally kicked a huge rock out of the ground. It was nearly spherical and impossible to tie a string to. I threw it twice and lost it in the dark. It's now not just dusk, its dark, I have my headlamp on still trying to find a rock. Finally kick another big stone free, wrap my line around it about twenty times tying granny knots around it. There is no way this rock is escaping. I throw it over the limb first try, and have to dodge as it swings directly for my face.
It's now dark, I have no camp, I just have a full pack and every mosquito in the swamp hovering around me, looking for a hole in the deet stink. So I built my tent and threw it in the shelter. Which is really rude taking up that much space. But I'm alone here and hopefully nobody will show up. Mostly alone. I hear mice now.
Totally frustrating night spent limping around in the dark. I almost just left that food bag out for the bear. But the fact that I kept looking for that elusive rock means I don't think I'm close to quitting yet.
Miles: 10
Water: 3
Suspect water: 0 so far
Woke up early today on the promise of heavy rain. Was up at 5, checked the weather, they canceled the rain, so I went back to sleep. I slept like a rock until nine, which is pretty late on the trail. I thought about taking a zero or nearo since I had such a late start, but I opted to stick with my plan of doing ten today.
I talked to the battle axe dude due to popular demand. He was staying and taking a zero at the river shelter. Turns out the axe is a throwing axe. He got it from cold Steel or cold iron, I forget. He highly recommends the site for all your sharp archaic weapon needs. That is also where he got his Viking long sword (not carried on him). I asked him to throw the axe for me but he didn't see any good targets. He said that carrying it was part of his ancestral heritage. He comes from a long line of frisbee and axe flinging hippies I guess. His grandfather Thor Rainblossum could hurl a pole arm while leading a drum circle.
Once I started hiking I noticed a pain in my calf muscle. I must have done some damage on that near vertical rock descent yesterday. After an initial flat bit along the histaonic river (close enough) the trail was determined to show me annoying peaks of Connecticut. Nothing tall enough for any vistas, and what vistas I did see I just walked by, no time for extra steps when you are in pain.
I ate lunch, and there was a tree frog with nerves of steel who sat next to me the whole time. After lunch I still had 6 miles to go. With the pain in my leg slowly increasing as the aleave wore off.
After lunch I talked to an infuriating happy through hiker. Just laying on the side of the trail in some leaves. He was writing a blog post. Apparently he blogs three times a day and has 3k followers. Including a bunch of paraplegics who do what they call virtual hiking. Which is pretty cool. I left him still smiling happily laying in tree filth.
I hiked along side a mountain stream so rugged I wanted to make terrible beer.
Then I passed a camping site. This demonstrates the flawed thinking that can arise from goals. Instead of bailing on the day early and camping there. To maybe take a short day to the shelter tomorrow. I convinced myself to push on, up another hill. I'm not sure why I did this. Maybe to keep my miles at ten per day minimum. Maybe because that's what I had decided the day before. Maybe because I wanted to see if I could push through on the strained muscle. The better choice was probably to stop. But perhaps the better skill to cultivate is pushing through.
Up another hill, through a narrow crack in a spilt boulder I was forced to make a big step upward, cementing the strain on my calf, and leaving me limping the last mile or so to the shelter. At least I got to listen to the radio the last mile.
The water at the shelter is down a hill and into a swamp. So the mosquitos are crazy thick here. The water supply is a slow swampy stream. I saw a giant set of crawfish pinchers on a rock. No doubt the prey of some racoon.
There is a German couple here noisily eating ramen as I wait for my grits to soften. And happy blogger guy just showed up. So at least I'm faster than him. I might be a lazy jerk and just set my tent up in the shelter tonight. I don't think anyone else is coming and I feel like I earned some lazy jerk today.
Now my question is what do I do tomorrow? Do I stay at the buggy shelter and through the rest of my food? Do I find a hotel or hostel and head there tomorrow? It is time to resupply. Most of this depends on where I am. And I haven't looked yet. Time to eat my grits and snickers bar. It will no doubt be easier to work it all out on a full stomach.
Miles: 12.6
Water 3l
Dudes with battle axes: 1
Don't feel like writing today. Lots of ups and downs in a literal sense. Watched a tree fall over. It made a noise. Will try to do an easy day in the rain tomorrow.
Miles 13.8
Water 4 l plus a beer and a Pepsi
Long day, I tried a new method, I hiked all morning until I got to a shelter and I took a nap for a couple of hours. Then hiked again afterward. I ended up hiking until about 8. I'm camped on top of a mountain illegally. I have wandered into the world of Connecticut. Where you can only camp in official spots.
I almost stopped at a shelter around 530, but moved on anyway. I'm glad I did, the trail was following the ten mile river, and just past the ten mile shelter I came on a side path to a set of rapids. I walked past it at first, then after a few minutes of walking headed back. If I'm not here to play in random rapids, why am I here? So I went down and did some wading, there were lots of holes. I saw a blue Herron fly by, I got washed up, soaked my shirt, so I was sorta clean, it was great.
Hiking at dusk is good from a temperature standpoint. But it is a bit scary, there is a clock ticking as the sun goes down, the idea of night hiking is pretty scary. Maybe if I hadn't stopped for the rapids I might have made it down to the next campsite.
So! I've used the term trail magic before I'm sure, but today I'll talk about it until it is boring. Let's explain trail magic.
New York was pretty bad for trail magic, but as soon as I crossed the border into CT it started like crazy.
Trail magic at its core is just someone doing something nice for you. It takes many forms. The most common is people leaving food or water on the trail. I'll just list a bunch that I have encountered.
Got a ride from the owner of the doyle to a grocery store. Flicker gave me some water from his supply. A guy today gave me a beer, he was carrying a cooler up the hill to the shelter I was just napping in. Found a cooler full of bananas and soda, another cooler with soda and chips, both today. Then in my bonus hike today, just some bottles of water on a rock. The best trail magic was in New Jersey when blue bandana make jamie and I pancakes and Orange juice.
There are other kind of trail magic ish things. Often hikers will abandon food or gear in shelters or even just in the middle of the trail. Leaving something in a shelter I'm ok with. They are well traveled and tended by volunteers. Leaving your stuff in the middle of the trail just seems lazy. If you didn't want that oatmeal chances are no one else does and you are just leaving trash on the trail. When Mike and Phil were here we found a nearly empty fuel can for a stove at the shelter. A person can rationalize, hey I'm giving free fuel to hikers. But he is really just leaving trash for someone else to carry out. We used up the fuel, and Phil packed the empty can out.
Who is responsible for all that magic? A mix of people, trail volunteers, ex hikers, friends of hikers, current hikers coming back on the trail. Anyone who wants to get a little piece of AT joy.
I hope the trail magic keeps coming.
Miles 10.9
Water 2l ran out
Bunnies:1
I miss hanging out with friends.
My food bag is crazy heavy.
Send Mike to negotiate with park rangers.
It's ok to steal swimming.
Ipod of music you don't know on random is like slowly turning the radio dial in Phil's brain.
Phil's sister is neato.
As soon as Mike and Phil leave the trail is all cool lakes and vibrant swamps.
The largest tree on the trail is 21 feet in diameter.
Hiking after 5 is nice and cool.
If you pay 2 dollars to camp somewhere, expect it to be between an Amtrak line and a busy freeway.
Don't spill boiling water on yourself.
Miles:9.x
Water 2.5l
Angry dogs: 1
Did part 2 of guest hikers today. Leaving the crazy elaborate shelter, for a ten mile hike to the more normal shelter.
Phil brought his bear canister with him, and he likes the convenience of it quite a bit. When it come to protecting your food from bears, you can either hang it from a tree. Or use a bear canister. Which is a sturdy plastic bucket with a locking top you can keep your food in. Bears can smash it around but can't get in. So he normally just walks his food well out of camp and leaves the canister. The canisters also make neat chairs.
I'm always up for trying new things, you never know what piece of gear will work for you until you try it. So today I packed his canister in my pack, and he packed my bag. I was surprised that I was able to pack my normal stuff, with the bulky can in the middle of my pack. It didn't take much work at all. The pack even felt a bit more stiff as well.
The draw back of of the can was more immediate when I picked up my pack. Between the can with some food in it, and the extra water I was bringing because water was going to be scarce today, I think this was the heaviest my pack has been all hike. It wasn't too bad but I felt it in my knees pretty early today, and a little in my back right now.
I don't know how much it weighs but it has to be at least a pound more than my bag and paracord. I would say that I'd be happy to use it for short hikes, but through hiking it seems really hard to justify the weight.
I just talked a ton about a piece of plastic and nothing about my friends.
Once again, it's fun to have hiking partners, it's fun to have people who you know well enough to have back and forth conversations with instead of one way info dumps. It was fun to hear stories about things I missed. Made me a bit homesick, but not too bad. The day goes by much faster, and I wasn't relentlessly refreshing the blog looking for comments. This probably hurt my page views.
We played some games, even an improvised rpg, we ate a bunch of did food. Mike started a fire. We had the shelter to ourselves most of the time we were there. Tomorrow they head home, I'm gonna inconvenience them a bit, and get them to take me on a resupply. I need snacks and breakfast food.
So! If anyone wants to guest hike, I'm up for it. Any time or section of the trail works for me. Can you walk 10 miles? We know that Mike and Phil have the gear, just borrow it from them.
Miles: 5
Water: disgusting
Boardgames: 2
Camped at a state park last night right on a lake. I got up early because I thought the staff was going to yell at me, but nobody showed up until 8. So I had a whole beach and lake to myself all morning. Watched the swallows skimming bugs off the lake. Then Sat on the dock and watched fish catching bugs off the lake. Wondered what the hell the bugs were doing there when everyone wants to eat them. I saw some turtle tracks on the beach. Made me wish I could stay another night to watch the turtles nesting.
Mike and Phil came to today, they are hiking today and tomorrow with me. It's been a lot of fun to have them along, it's a good pick me up after my first week solo hiking. Mike has old man foot and I was worried he wouldn't be able to do hike. But we crushed five miles to one of the nicest shelters. Phil is just naturally ready to hike and could probably do bigger days than me.
One of the guys who tends the shelter gave us beer. A ton of through hikers showed up and applied maximum bronage. There was literally a dude named monster, six foot something, all abs with an accent, and he hikes 20s every day. He is designed to make me feel inadequate.
Short pointless post today, tomorrow we do a ten, then they head back Monday. I might have them drive me for a resupply, but I still have a lot of food, don't know yet.
Oh and they brought an ipod! Radio and grindy metal, can't wait.
Oh a different frog today. I think he was a smaller wood frog like the one we saw early on. You can sorta see him in the photo.
Miles: 13.8
Water: 4 liters
Times lost:2
Long day today, topknot and company tried to lure me into making a shelter 18 miles away. Early in the day I was optimistic about it. But around lunch I was back in the realm of reality. I didn't Take any pain meds today, so my feet were hurting after lunch.
I ended up stopping at a state park with a lake. So ending the day with a swim is pretty awesome. I met top knot and company just after they took a swim and stole a row boat. This is the big difference between me on the trail for a month, and them for 3 months. I was only about an hour behind them, and I took breaks. So the difference isn't speed. It's the fact that after 8 hours of hiking, then swimming, and rowing, that they are good to hop on the trail at 530 at night and do another 4 or 5. Me I'm going to stop here set up camp in a picnic area and plead ignorance when a park guy wakes me up in the morning. There is a real camping area in the park a half mile away, but I'm too beat to walk there.
Saw this cute tree frog today, he was about an inch and a half to two inches long. We need the Tammy frog id service.
So pooping in the woods.
You honestly don't have to do it too often. Most of the time you can wait until a privy or public restroom is available. I'll talk about privies in another post. I have had to go in the woods once so far. And I have had to bury uneaten food twice. Which is the same method.
Your three main tools for pooping in the woods. A trowel, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. When Jamie and I were hiking together we shared the trowel, now I inherited it. Ultralight hikers say you don't need the trowel and that you can use rocks to dig holes. They are filthy liars.
I carry my tp in a Ziploc, when I first started I was using the crazy ultra light advice, of carrying just ten panels, using only two at a time, and stealing tp from places four sheets at a time. I gave up on this pretty quick, and found a mostly used roll with about a quarter left on it and stole that. It isn't too bulky and it gives a much greater margin of error than rationing two sheets per privy.
The first step is to find a good spot to go. This means somewhere well off the trail and no where near a water supply. You also want a tree or rock nearby to steady yourself with. I picked a rock. Then you dig a hole six to eight inches deep. This is where I say those ultra light guys are lying. Digging a hole in the woods is hard! Once you get through the leafy layer it's all a tangle of roots and rocks. Every inch of the forest floor is claimed by a root. So you have to saw through them. My trowel has a serrated edge just for this. That's a lot of hack and slash to get down six inches. Doing it with a random rock seems out of the question.
Then you squat and poop in the hole. Aim carefully. Wipe, and throw the tp in the hole two. Human waste and toilet paper are the two exceptions to pack in pack out. However! Wet naps are not included in that exception. So if you want to use them you have to bag them up, and probably burn them at camp later. I have a few wet naps in a baggy if I have a catastrophic hygiene failure. This hasn't happened yet.
Bury the waste. Being careful not to get any on your shovel.
Head back to your pack that you left on . The trail, put away trowel, and use that hand sanitizer. I've read that more people get sick while hiking from poor bathroom discipline than from drinking bad water.
Poop!
Today seems like it will be more eventful than most so I'm going to stop every couple of hours and write.
400 am wake up to rain coming in the tent, have to get up and put rain fly on tent in the dark.
730 am wake up, still raining. Go back to sleep.
8 am rain stops, lay there a while, finally get up, eat cheerios and a pop tart. Pack my stuff. Am on the trail by 9. I drink the last of my water. I made a mistake yesterday and didn't bring enough. There are vending machines two miles ahead.
9 to 10. Hike up bear mt. One of the most well maintained trails I've seen, the top half is all crushed gravel and trees in bloom. It's like walking through a garden. Get to vending machines, so thirsty I chug a powerade. Get another for the trail. No water source up here. Poop in a porta potty that is vile. Worse than most privvies.
Climb another tower built in the 30s. That was a popular time to build towers.
Sit down on a bench to write this, chat with a guy named john who is a Chaplin at west point. I recommend a nice look out I saw on the way in. He blesses my day. Back on the trail by 1045.
1145 down bear mt, so many stone steps. They even have a museum about stone steps at the bottom. Stop at a big park, there are many vultures here lurking in the trees. They are eying me up. Finally get some water from a fountain, but it tastes bad. So I only get one liter. I know there is better water ahead. I think about doing lunch here but I'm not hungry.
100 pm: just hiked through a zoo. Also the lowest point above sea level on the trail. At 400 something feet. I was all ready to make a joke about caged animals being the low point, but all of their animals are rehab or rescues. Most of them handicaped. It was actually very nice. I think with this park being so close to nyc they have some money to make bear mountain, weird lake with vultures, and the zoo pretty nice. Then I crossed a suspension bridge over the hudson, did some road hiking, and ended up back on the real trail. Rocks straight up the side of the hill.
So halfway up the hill it was close enough to 1 to do lunch and my belly was growling. I didn't eat any meat protein yesterday so I'm going with tuna for lunch. Tomato basil tuna, with onion powder and pepper from my spice kit. Also will finish off that sport drink from this morning.
Four more hours of hiking today. There is a campsite up ahead, I'll stop there and consider my next move. I want to end within a mile or two of parking to make meeting Mike and Phil easy.
430: feet were tired so I was gonna stop early. Had a sweet stealth camp picked out. Right across the street from a market and deli, so breakfast and dinner would be delicious. When I went to the deli I ran into a bunch of through hikers including topknot, the super friendly guy who talked us into eating a half gallon of ice cream. This time he talked me into hiking another mile to a monestary that lets you camp in their ball field. I'll be social tonight, I guess. I'm a bad crazy loner. Just ate half a hero, I'll have the other half tonight. A vanilla coke and a mango Italian ice.
Now to go back pick up my gear and hike one more mile today.
545 hiked that extra mile got to the monastery campsite. Saw two turkeys with a bunch of mini turkeys with them.
Wrote an email to Mike and Phil. I'm sitting between three groups. My through hiker friends, who are chilling in tents. This group of guys in matching AT shirts, who are making a crazy complicated curry, and doing some hike bragging. I've been following these guys since the vultures at the lake. And the third group seem to be people camping at the monastery, playing a bible themed version of mind trap. (Cue falsetto metal voice: MIND TRAP !!)
I should set up my tent, but my shoes are off and this picnic table is comfy.
645 tossed a frisby around with a guy named flicker. Turns out he works for the pro ultimate frisbee team in pittsburgh. It turns out that there is a pro ultimate league at all. I saw him yesterday, he gave me some water when I was making camp, since I was almost out. Turns out he has been hiking with topknot. They have been carrying the frisbee since devils backbone, and this was the first time he got to toss it around. He gave me pointers on throwing side arm. Maybe someday I will dominate disc golf. It was pretty fun.
Turns out I sent the "hey meet me here" email a day early. Did you know today is Thursday? I didn't.
Almost 7 now, tent is set up. Going to eat the rest of this sandwich, drink a bunch of water, and go to my tent to read. I've been reading the Shackleton book. Turns out old timey descriptions of logistics are great for falling asleep. Soon they will be stuck in the ice and start dying. (Is that how you spell dying? Dieing? Dyeing? One of them means they are coloring their clothes)
700 posting this blog.
Miles 11
Water: 4 liters
Overly long blogs: 1
