7/30 Chillaxin in Bennington, VT

Only 14 miles today, so I took a detour into Bennington, for pizza and junk food. I'll be doing some short days, while Churchmouse is doing 25+. Hopefully he'll catch up in a week.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/29 A good day

I did a massive 7 miles today! But that's not the good part. I heard from Churchmouse, he yellow blazed up to Salisbury, CT. I don't know why yet, maybe it is my charming personality, or maybe he committed some heinous crimes further south and is now evading capture. Either way, it means he should catch up soon. I'm going to go slow for a couple days until we come up with a plan. There is a festival in Bennington, VT on Aug. 1st, but it would be hard to stretch the 12 miles to Bennington for 3 days. Oh, by the way, I'm now in Vermont, scratch another state off the list! Also, I'm under 600 miles left, just 590 miles to go!

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/28 Still here!

I did a 24 mile slackpack yesterday in about 7 and a half hours. Why the rush, well, we got a late start, I didn't hit the trail until 10am, then our Hero's band was playing and we needed to leave by 6p. Result was a long day which included Mt Greylock. 2400ft uphill in approx. 4 miles, OUCH! It is probably the bigest climb since central Virginia. While hurrying, I think I tweaked my groin muscle. One of my feet slipped, and while I didn't go down, it was an odd motion as I caught my balance. So I'm hanging out at The Birdcage again and plan to hike out of North Adams tomorrow, and out of Massachusetts. Vermont here I come!

11am ... Reading a funny book,"Straight Man" by Richard Russo. The book doesn't have a compelling plot, yet, but the style of writing is hilarious.
The resident dog here, Tinkerbell, is sharing my bunk, he seems to sense I'm a dog person. Tink is a black lab / pit bull....call it 100lbs plus. We are in negotiations for bed space currently. His point is that this is his house and my bunk is the best place to guard the premisis from mailmen and cats. (Both have attempted infililtration this morning) My point is that I'm human. Right now I have a good 80% of the bed, but every time I move there is a subtle shift of the battle lines and Tink expands like a sponge. Before you all place wagers on the outcome, you should be warned that I've had a large coffee, I fear that the battle that has been won through my larger brain, will be lost through my smaller bladder. It makes me wonder if any great historic battles have been lost because a General was in the privy at a decisive moment.

2:30p Well, Tink won, I got up to use the bathroom, then helped out around the hostel a bit. When I returned, Tink had tranformed into a bunk shaped dog-blob. His eyes had laughter in them...So I moved over to the next bunk and picked up my book. Tink got up, languidly stretched on his hard-won territory, then he got down, wandered over to my 'new' bunk, placed his head on the bed and looked at me until I invited him up. He is now dreaming and kicking me as he chases imaginary mailmen.
--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/27 Back to Dalton

Slackpacking back to Dalton Mass today from 26 miles up the trail, North Adams. Is it that great of a town, you ask? Well, no, but in this town is a gem of a guy.
He is the epitome of a Trail Angel. He owns one of the gas stations in town, the Shell, and has opened his home and his heart to the hiking community. His 'hostel' is called 'The Birdcage', but he doesn't charge any money for a stay. He puts thousands and thousands of miles on his minivan shuttling us back and forth to trailheads, restaurants, the outfitter etc, but won't let you give him a dime. Wow! you say, he must have really gotten some trail magic when he hiked to compel him to give so freely! Nope, not a hiker.
His story starts 7 years ago on a dark and stormy day, as all good tales must. A downtrodden, dejected soul of a hiker rolled into town, head down, beaten into submission by days of rain and, I'm sure, the requisite Mass. Air National Guard escort (mosquitos). He wandered across the street to the Shamrock Village Inn, the motel your author stayed at his first night in Dalton. The hiker emerged looking, if at all possible, more down hearted and walked across the street to our Hero's Shell station.
The hiker stood in the rain for a moment, then asked if there was another motel in town. There wasn't and the poor hiker's chin hit his chest with an audible thump. I can tell you from personal experience how low you feel when everything you own is damp, when all that has kept your feet moving is the promise of a hot shower and a soft bed.

Our Hero took pity on him and took him into his home, washed him up and sent him on his way the next day. That hiker's name has been forgotten by history, all that remains is a Polaroid snapshot. But the hiker spread the word of this great guy at the Shell station, and his home up the street. 7 years later, 350 hikers a year visit and stay, and have their picture taken. The Birdcage is in none of the handbooks we carry, our Hero won't let them add him. It is all by word of mouth.

I was waiting for the bus to go to the next town over, they have a supermarket, and he picked me up, waited while I shopped and dropped me back off. We listened to his band's brand new CD (really good BTW) and no, he wasn't going to the town on an errand, he just did because I needed to go. Last night he ran a bunch of us over to an all you can eat buffet, so I bought him dinner before he could protest. I can't imagine how much he 'gives' to hikers, monetarily and his time. Folks like this are what makes the trail, 'The Trail'.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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And on the Seventh day

He Zeroed....well, actually 17th day and 275 miles. Not bad, over 16 miles per day average.

619.6 miles to go
--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/25 Dalton, MA

In to town, I may zero tomorrow, we'll see how the body feels in the morning.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/24 Upper Goose Pond Cabin

Wow! This is the lux! I was going to just check this place out then move on to make tomorrow an easier day into Dalton, MA....But, this place has beds, with matresses, scrrens on the windows...all for just 3 dollars! Pretty sweet, and to top it off the caretaker makes pancakes in the morning.

I talked with Churchmouse, he just entered New York, about 12 or 13 days behind. Good news is he has hooked up with Big Shanty, bad news is he probably won't catch up with me at this point. Who knows, maybe I'll take a couple weeks off....naaahh at this point I just want to get this hike done with, it has been fun, but I'm ready to be home.

I just met my first '07 SOBO hiker, kind of neat, but man, those guys are crazy!
--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

7/24 5:30a The toughest part

So it is still raining, I'm laying here in my hammock. I really should get up, pack and start the day, but the shoes are wet and it is chilly out. So I'll lay here a while and hope the weather moves on, if it still sucks by 8, I guess I'll get up. The shoes will still be soaked from yesterday, all my cloths will be just as damp. This part really sucks.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/23 Tom Leonard Lean-to

Woke up with a headache, then it started to rain...great day! Made 15 miles or so, not great but enough to call it a day.
Shared the shelter last night with Uncle Tom, and tonight with Calamity Jane and Sinage. I had never met these people but had been reading their entries in the shelter registers for a while. Oh, and we have a section hiker with us, we'll call him Grumpy Old Man #4. He has pajamas with him, like you know nice thin, matching, cotton jammies.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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Trail Notes -- types of hikers

There are lots of hikers out here, and it can be difficult for an outside observer to tell the difference between the sub-species. Here are some helpful hints:
The Day hiker-- This creature wears a small pack that is usually stuffed with enough food to feed an army. Usually there will be 1 lb of GORP per person in the group. They are easily recognized by the 100% Cotton labels on all of their clothing. And at least one item will declare that 'Life is Good'.

The section hiker-- this beast has two phases. Early and Late. An Early phase Section Hiker is clean, while a Late phase will be grubby and smelly like the thru-hiker. Note, however, that the Late phase will still be carrying a huge pack and will be wearing clean cloths. The clean cloths on dirty hiker is a quick test you can use in the field.

The Father-Son team-- Another two stage variant, again there is an Early phase and a Late. They look like Section Hikers except they travel as a duo. To distinguish between the phases it is neccesary to evaluate the ratio of total gear weight each is carrying. For example, in an Early Phase pair, the 6'2" Father will be carrying a Section Hiker sized pack, and the Son will have a pack appropriate to his weight. In a Late phase pair, gear will have been shifted to the son, resulting in the 9 year old's pack, now larger than he is, being festooned with tents, cooking gear, dad's espresso machine and the groundcloth all strapped to the outside. If approached, the son (In a Late phase) will remark about how he hates hiking, and the Father will talk about going back to the gym.

The Thru-hiker-- A rare variant, esp. in northern climes. They can be difficult to spot as they move fast, and rarely stop for very long. They can be identified by smell from quite a distance. Typically their packs are smaller than all but the day hiker. If you see one on more than one occasion, they will be wearing the same clothes. This can make identification of individuals easier. With the rarity of this species, several tests have been developed to ensure proper identification. First is the vista test. For this test position yourself at the intersection of the trail and a side trail that leads to a vista. The side trail should be at least 200ft long. The Day Hiker will go to the vista then return the way they came, as the vista was their destination. The Section hiker will go to the vista, take pictures, and perhaps take a break there. The Father Son team will split up with the Father collapsing at the intersection, while the Son mills about, eventually gett!
ing bored, the Son will head to the vista. The thru-hiker will not stop for the vista and may, in fact, make a rude noise or mumble derogatory remarks about the trail crew's inability to have the trail visit the overlook directly.
The First test is flawed due to it's requirements for terrain and its vulnerabilty to having results skewed by inclement weather.

The definative field test is the 'Snickers Test'. While the hiker in question is approaching toss a half eaten Snickers bar onto the trail. The Day hiker will lecture you about respect for the wilderness, and feeding animals. The Section hiker will comment that you dropped a snickers. The Father Son team will either just trudge by, or the Son may kick the Snickers down the Trail for a while (depends on the phase, Late and Early respectively). The thru-hiker, in one smooth motion will skewer the snickers with his hiking pole, shove it into his mouth and mumble a heartfelt thanks while picking leaves and small twigs out of his teeth. Later the thru hiker will be heard describing the 'Trail magic' he got from 'The Snickers Dude'.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/22 The Hemlocks Lean-to

Another one bites the dust! Conn. is in the bag, I'm in the great state of Mass. And what a day, we started with the standard up out of town, then meandered around a bit, then hit a big up, Race Mtn. The top of Race was fantastic, a big rocky5 bald surrounded by short stunted trees. The views were breathtaking I would guess 100 mile visibility, little New England towns dotted on the landscape and big puffy, white clouds slowly rolling by the mountain. Just enough breeze to cool you down and temps still hovering around 80...Fantabulous! But wait, there's more. We also hit this real gem of a spot called Sages Ravine, right onthe Conn-Mass border. The trail follows a fair sized stream of crystal clear water down 400 ft of elevation drop. The stream is an endless cascade of waterfalls and deep clear pools. The sides are steep and the woods are olllddd. This area, according to the books, has never been logged. I tried taking pictures, but the camera (or my lack of sk!
ill) just couldn't capture what the Mark 1 eyeball was showing me. This is a place to revisit. Perhaps the best part is that it is relativly inacessible by road, and the hiking isn't a cake walk. Hopefully this area will remain as-is for a long time.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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Trail Notes -- North vs South

Well, this isn't what you might think, this is not a comparision. Actually it is just a random thought I had the other day.

Back in the Civil War days, the line of demarcation between North and South was the Mason-Dixon line. As time has passed, however, this has become less relevant. The true line is best describe by where the culture shifts from a 'southern' attitude, to a 'northern' one. The challenge in determining this is to identify a set of benchmarks that can be used as a gauge. The benchmarks I've chosen are food related. Each are taken seriously by their creators, and pride is taken in how good each is...for example, you would hear "We have the best XYZ food in town".

So I have determined that the Sweet Tea-Bagel line is somewhere near Catawba, Virginia. South of here if you want unsweetened iced tea, you are SOL. Likewise, if you want a bagel, you're screwed. As of Catawba, and points north, you probably will be back to dumping sugar in your tea and stirring like crazy to get it to dissolve. And you can get a bagel with cream cheese most mornings in town.

So as we can see, the line has migrated south quite a few miles. Now I know there is someone out there screaming at the computer, as he dunks his bagel in his sweet tea, upset because his locale does not neatly fall into one of the categories....relax, you are just in the DMZ of the culinary war, but stock up, one or the other is going away.

Oh and for the record, the best bagels are in New York, I doubted the word of my wife (a New Yorker) as I figured she was biased. But, to this point, NY has the best bagels. And pizza too, I can't tell if it is the sauce or the crust, but man o man.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/21 Stealthing

Just outside of Salisbury, CT. This is my last night in Conn. The trail here is pretty well maintained, except for several spots where it is not maintained at all. Kind of weird, you get used to a nice well blazed trail, then all the sudden, overgrown and no blazes...odd

The weather has been fantabulous. low 80's 70% humidity, good breeze. From talking with 1/4 Moon (who is from Mass. and has been around the Whitws a bit) it looks like I may have to get some cold weather gear back. I'm trying to decide both what to get back and when to get it sent.

Speaking of 1/4 Moon, I think I lost him today, it is 7:30p and he hasn't passed by on the trail. We are meeting up with Ohm tomorrow, he is getting back on trail. I'll get up early, get to Salisbury and do a resupply, hopefully I'll still make some miles tomorrow.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/20 Sippin a coffee

Thanks for the emails and voicemails from everyone! It is great to get contact from home, even if it is just a note to say howdy.

Just some random thoughts this morning and answers to some questions.
First, what am I dreaming about? Frankly, most nights I am too tired to dream, when I do they are odd dreams about normal everyday stuff. I had a dream the other night about trying to organize a list of things I had to get (at home), random stuff, you know weekend projects around the house etc, and I couldn't figure out the shortest route between stores and no matter which way I went there were really big uphills between every stop.
Usually the dreams are a weird synthesis of life out here imposed on 'normal' life.

Second What are you going to do when you get back? Dunno, it changes day to day. As of yet I have no plans, Char may have an adventure that she wants to do so who knows?

I heard from Oddjob and his ankle is doing fine, he is back to running on it so no permanent damage done. It was really interesting hiking with him because his trip last year had been southbound from Harpers Ferry. It sounds to be a completely different experience than my NOBO hike. Specifically, more solitude, going northbound is a very social experience.

Finally, we got whalloped by a storm that produced a tornado last night. It is the talk of the town and I for one am glad I wasn't 'blowing in the wind' in my hammock last night!

We got word from Ohm that he will be back on trail Sunday with his hand in a splint. Good news as we have lost a lot of people recently, our numbers are dwindling quickly.

I'm missing home as much as ever. We build our lives and surround ourselves with people and things we are comfortable with. Without them, your psyche is just making do. I've gotten to the point of comfort out here, but my surroundings don't contibute to the comfort, rather they are something to be coped with. I guess I miss the subconscious support you get from being 'at home'.

The end run: Yeah I'm getting close, but I'm not obsessing on Katahdin yet. There are folks out here recalculating their 'plan' daily to see when they will finish the trail. I guess we all deal with it differently, but I choose to go from town to town, planning only to the next resupply. I find the most enjoyable part of this experience is living an unscripted life. No grand plans, no far off deadlines. Just point your toes north in the morning and start walking. I noticed something funny the other day as we were crossing a farm field. We could see a large mountain ahead, (a 1000ft up was in our future), I stopped looking at it, just put my head down and kept walking, pretty soon I had passed over it, even though it was a tough climb, it melted away one step at a time. Same thing with the 700 miles or so left, at 100 miles a week (15 a day about) I'll be done in 7 weeks. Call it 14 resupply stops, 15, 3 or 4 day hops between completing a 'chunk'. Big problems and !
tasks are just a bunch of related sub tasks, even if the overall goal seems huge, each small task seems, well, small. I guess that is the moral of this rant. <g>

Anywho, it is a beutiful day, breezy, a little overcast and low 80's. Looks to be our lot for the next 7 days. Maybe I'll go for a hike or something! <G> Next stop is Salisbury, CT a day and a half away, NICE! That means a light food bag and happy feet.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/18 Kent, CT

Well, I know I said a couple short days...and I tried, I really tried! But I slipped up and did 29 miles of night hiking to get to Kent, CT on the morning of the 19th.
Now here is what happened.....
<stage lights down, spotlight on hammock>
The plan as of bedtime was to do a 12 mile day the next day, the sky was clear, we had a campfire, all was good. I awoke at 5am to 25mph gusting wind, rain, and inside a cloud. I hollered at Quartermoon and asked him if he wanted to wait until 7am to make a move...needless to say, he agreed to my proposal. I went back to sleep for a couple hours, but the weather rambled on throughout my 'bonus' slumber.

At 7am, with no marked improvement in the weather, we delayed again until 9am.

Again, Mother Nature decided to keep on clobberin and slobberin. She huffed and she puffed and she blew Quartermoon's tent down.

At this point I made an executive decision. I announced that I was going to zero right where I was. I would let the world turn once more upon its axis before attempting to increase my latitude by foot borne locomotion.

This plan was as easy to sell to Quartermoon as selling water to a man dying of thirst in Death Valley.

I hunkered down, grabbed my book, the latest of the Dune series, and got busy doing nothing.

All was going swimmingly (yeah, we had lots of rain, but I mean 'going well' in this context) when at 2pm I discovered the flaw in my cunningly brilliant master plan....I ran out of book.

By 2:30pm I was pacing the campsite and convincing myself that the rain really had stopped for good this time. It looked good, time to formulate the 'what'. The next shelter was 7 miles...we would be done by 6pm easy...but there was no water there :(. OK, after that, another 6 would take us to the last shelter in NY and it had water...but we would be setting up camp in the dark. Furthermore, if we continued on another 4 miles (total 17) we could finish NY which would be cool! But again, no water!!! hmmm only 5 miles later we had a shelter, with water and in Conn. ok...total 23 and we would be rolling in at 3am...ya know, 6 more miles and we are eating breakfast sandwiches in Kent tomorrow......

SOLD! We were packed and hiking by 3pm. Now you may think this is all crazy, but we were one with the trail. Rolling, bobbing, weaving, going with the flow and following the subtle clues she gave us as to what she wanted us to do.

You doubt me? Think ole Bytecode is a little sleep deprived? Maybe so, but I tell you, we listened, she spoke. We hit 4 different instances of 'Trail Magic'.

1) at 8:30pm we are taking a break at a road crossing in a parking lot of a garden center, the last employee stumbles wearily out to his car and warily eyes us...then asks if we want a ride to a deli that is open until midnight...oh and don't worry, I'll wait and bring you back. Score an italian sub, gatorade, snickers and headlamp batteries.

2) Midnight, cooler of oranges, cookies and ice water...just in time because the well pump we were going to hit is out of order.

3) 8am, in Kent after slaying 2 Bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, a lady walks by, plops t fresh blueberry scones on our table and says 'good luck on your hike!'

4) 10am at the outfitter, another lady rolls in, and asks if we want a ride anywhere...she proceeds to take us to our motel, then the grocery and Post Office...and hooks us up with an ice cold soda.

So crazy as it seems the 'day' of hiking, while long and arduous, went from Zero to Hero in record time...And, by the way, we got nary a drop of rain, took a 2 hr nap on a rock outcropping, going to sleep looking at stars and waking to sunrise rolling over the Conneticuit ridges. Just enough rest to make the final push into Kent, Ct.

2/3 of the trail done
9 of 14 states done
722.5 miles to go!

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/17 Short day

Only 10 miles today, I've decided to hike a couple easy days and try and enjoy it more. Some really nice hiking today, probably the best maintained section we've seen. The trail maintainer who we met has been working on this one section since 1990 after completing his thru hike. He has widened the trail, put in tons of switchbacks and removed all the rocks (enough to build stone walls down one side of the trail for miles). Really an enormous amount of work. I noticed another thing today, NY has very few songbirds compared to down south. There are stretches of woods that are dead silent. In fact we have seen almost no wildlife in NY, except, of course, for chipmunks. Perhaps the NY chipmunks are slightly more evolved and have eliminated their competition. Watch out...we may be next!

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/15 Graymoor Friary

What a couple odd days. Yesterday we hit a family reunion/hiker feed at a lake in NY. Then today we are staying the night at a friary. Pretty nice place, we ordered a pizza which is always a nice treat!

The hiking has been great, we have been hiking in Harriman State Park, really the prettiest forest we have hit yet. The hiking is tougher, we are getting back into mountains. NY doesn't believe in switchbacks for some reason, so it is straight up and straight down. Making good progress...779.4 left!

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/16 RPH Shelter

Well, I guess I've got the Virginia blues, just a little late. So I'm going to take a couple really low days, finish my book etc. I'll be in Conn. in 2 days, New York has been nice, but the water is awful. Either the streams are dry or there are signs posted saying to not drink the water even if you filter. NY has some really pretty hiking, nice open forrests, little undergrowth etc. Oh, the raspberries, blue berries and blackberries are ripe...good eatin!
One of the guys I was hiking with, Ohm, fell and broke his hand (not a finger) so he is off trail for a while, hopefully he'll get back out here.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/13 Fitzgerald Falls

Weird day today! I guess since it is Friday th 13th I should have expected as much. I woke up at 4am for some reason, wandered around town, as we stayed at a hiker hostel last night in Vernon, NJ, searching for a cup o joe. No luck until Dunkin Donuts opened at 5. By then the guys I'm hiking with, 1/4 Moon and Ohm were up, so we got breakfast. As we are walking out, some firefighters ask us if we want a ride back to the trail...cool! But they take us to a different trailhead, no biggie, it chopped off a mile or so and wasn't out of their way. The about half way through the day we see that there is a .9 mile trail into a small town, so we took that and got some lunch and a beer....then got a ride out of town, again to slightly the wrong place, but again, only a mile or so. We ended up staying at a great campsite and are looking at a short day tomorrow because there is the rumor of a hiker feed 12 miles further down the trail. Overall it was a day that if you tried to!
plan it out, it would have not worked, but just rolling with the punches ends up making a good day.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/12 Vernon, NJ

Well sports fans, I am certainly NOT a long haired hippy freak any longer! I went and got myself a buzz cut, the first one of my life I believe. The good news is that I have a pretty normal shaped head, no dents, bulges or other oddities. The bad news is that I'm going to have to be careful of sun burn for a while.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/11 The Secret Shelter

Well, my Aunt Cindy came out and we did 2 days of slackpacking out of Delaware Water Gap. She did very well, knocking out a respectable 27 miles with no major problems. It was interesting to listen to her aches and pains after day 1. I know them all! I commented that she would be surprised that she felt fine in the morning. That was met with a bit of skeptisism, but lo and behold she felt better in the morn. Our bodies really are designed to walk miles and miles each day, eating lots of small meals. After the initial shock, the body seems to have an incredible ability to recover from the stress that hiking creates.
We saw 1 bear, from quite far away thank you, and one really pretty rattle snake from way too close. We were walking pretty close together when all of the sudden, from right next to the trail, we hear a lound rattle. The snake was about 3 feet long and in great shape, 8 rattles and in its 'yellow' phase. Cindy did a remakable dance down the trail when she heard the rattle and it 'clicked' in her hind brain what the sound was. It reminded me of a cartoon, her feet and posterior section were 3 feet down the trail before the rest of her body started moving. Quite hilarious!
Other than that thwere were no problems except for the weather, 96 degrees with 112% humidity. Today is much better, 80 degrees and drizzling, still humid as all get out, but maybe the heatwave has cracked. Into New York tomorrow, so add New Jersey to the 'done' list.

Forgot to mention, I saw a momma bear and cub today, mom stood up to check me out...those cubs are so darn cute!
--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/8 Delaware Water Gap

Well, Stroudsburg, PA really, but thats a small detail. I zeroed today, which I really needed. The rocks of PA really crunched up my ankles, not that I rolled them or anything like that, but the day after day of pounding really added up.
My Aunt Cindy is out for a hike also, hopefully I won't injure her too quickly, and we'll get at least two FULL hiking days out of her(just kidding Kirk!). We plan on 13 miles of NEW JERSEY (Can I get an Amen!) tomorrow, maybe a bit more the following day, we're playing it by ear.

Got new shoes today, Vasque something or anothers....predators maybe... dunno, no one had my Hardrocks in stock and my feet had grown out of the size 10s. Well, 'grown' is the wrong word...been squished into submission by repetitive slamming into the ground is probably better. It is actually pretty common for you to go up a 1/2 size or so when you hike these long distances. Oh well, one can only hope that is the only permanent damage done by this escapade!

I'm getting to the 'Get er done' stage of the trail. I get this alot as I'm cruising towards a town day. "25 miles to town?"...."Noooo Problem, McDonalds here I come!". I'm starting to get that feeling out here, I see the end, now I want it to hurry up and get here. Don't get me wrong, each day out here has it's own special 'thing'. For example, yesterday, while hiking the last couple miles into the DWG, I entered a section of the trail that still had tonnes of mtn. laurel in full bloom. I haven't seen them in a month, it was like a scene from spring in the middle of the summer.
And I really enjoy the new people I meet on the trail, but the goal now, I guess as it has always been, but more so now, is to finish this beast off.

894.6 left to go!
--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/7 Delaware Water Gap

Out of PA! Couldn't stand being in PA anymore, so I've been pushing to get here. Pennsylvania is done...New Jersey here I come!
Just for the record, I did not enjoy PA, the rocks were awful.

894.6 miles to go!
--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/6 Wind Gap

Stealthing at Wind Gap, PA. 24 miles today, my feet are killing me!

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/5 Outerbridge Shelter

21 and change today. It is like running through those tires that football players run trough, except the tires aren't evenly spaced, and are jagged and sharp. And in each tire is a sharp pointed rock that pokes into the bottom of your foot.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/4 Eckville Shelter

Only 16 miles today, but boy was it rocky! PA is really pulling out the stops. This is a nice 'shelter', really a barn in a backyard, flush toilets, solar shower...lush accomodations by trail standards.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/3 Ye olde Backpacker

Resupplied and stayed at a new hiker hostel, 'Ye Old Backpacker'. Free hostel stay which is good and he drove us to a grocery store as Port Clinton PA has nada in town. I also ended up getting a light weight sleeping bag, the fleece liner I was using just wasn't cutting it. The new bag (LaFuma) is rated at 40 degrees, but from talking to folks and looking at it, it is more like 50 degrees.

955.9 left!
--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/2 501 Shelter

Well, I talked to Churchmouse he is zeroing in Duncannon, and planning on moving slowly for the next month. Hopefully he'll catch up some time in August.
It looks like I'll be out of PA by the 7th of July and into New Jersey. New Jersey is the 'easiest' state they say. Just for the record, the rocks of Pennsylvania started yesterday, and Pensylvania is very flat! Much flatter than Virginia.

BTW...today we crossed a big milestone, LESS than 1000 miles left to go!!
--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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7/1 And just like that...

3 hikes are over. First off, I made it through snake alley, only seeing 1 rattler, but he did give me a couple rattles which was cool. There is something primal about that sound, it really hits a nerve.
So Kirk and I were hiking this morning and I heard him stumble behind me, I turned around and he was gimping around on his ankle. We took a short break and started again and only a few steps later I watched as his ankle fully rolled over...ouch! After 30 minutes, I could tell by his face that it wasn't good...but what are you going to do? Well, ask and the trail provides, a day hiker walks up and after 2 minutes of chit-chat we have secured Kirk a ride back to his car in Duncannon...magic!
Then when I got to the shelter tonight, a good trail buddy, Sylvan, told me she was getting off the trail tomorrow due to an inflexible work situatuion. She had been originally planning to only hike a section, but the bug bit her to do the whole thing. It is too bad it didn't work out, but you never know what life has in store for you, maybe the next great adventure is waiting back home. No regrets! Also, if she does thru in a couple years she'll be so far ahead of the game, preparation wise and mentally that she'll blow through.
The last was someone I just met, but he just didn't want to keep going, and stayed in Duncannon.
I guess the moral of the story is to not take for granted any days out here nor the people, family, friends and co-workers back home that make this possible. All it takes is one mis-step and it could be me. The ridgerunner said the other day that only 50% of the folks that make it to Harpers Ferry make it to Maine. Kind of grim statistics, but I'm beginning to see how it could be true.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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6/30 Peter Mtn Shelter

Ahhhhhh, the weather turned! Cool breezes, low humidity, it was a fantastic day! Oddjob made it to Duncannon and we got out of town at about 9 or so. We had an easy 11 miles to do, I had figured we would get out later, so we eneded up done hiking for the day by 2pm. Kind of nice, this shelter doesn't have a ton of bugs so that was a bonus.
Odd wildlife sighting today, as we were walking out of town, I saw this little bat clinging to the curb on Main street. I'm not sure why he thought that was a good place to 'hang' for the day, so I moved him to a tree....with my hiking pole mom! No I wouldn't touch a bat, yes I'm being careful, yes I'll brush my teeth...sorry folks, mom worries you know. Ah...mom stop reading....
So we've been warned that tomorrow we will encounter an area that has a bunch of rattlesnakes. 6 have been sighted within a mile or so of each other. The ridge runner describes them as 'hiker friendly'. I hope that means they won't bother me if I don't bother them.

The invasion of the moths continues, I guess PA doesn't spray like VA does...really incredible the amount of damage these things do.

--Brian
aka "Bytecode"

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