The Glass is Always 2/3 Full

Just another beautiful day on the AT

"So are you thru-hiking?"
I nodded and chewed thoughtfully on a pretty big handful of Cracker Jacks until I was ready to actually speak.
I should get a Dr. Pepper
"Yessir."
"Northbound or South?"
"North."
"Well, I have to say, you're one of the cleanest of them I've seen."
Is that a joke? I took a moment to consider what he was saying and realized my shirt and hair and such were actually cleaned as I had just taken a partial shower the night before. I say partial shower because the shower was an outdoor shower on the side of a vine-covered building near a power plant. I say partial shower also because it was a FULL OUTDOOR shower and I didn't want to get nude in front of a whole family (with children) that was fishing about 200 yards away. I had dried my shirt in the sunlight on a banister near the power plant. I've had the luck of beautiful weather lately, it hasn't rained in at least five days which is a great thing to experience when hiking. It surely won't last.
"Well, thank you."
I tried to change the subject.
"Have you seen many other NOBO's go through?"
He nodded and looked away.
"I work in a lot of the restaurants around here. You guys come through all of the time and you all stink pretty bad. The older guys like you keep themselves clean but the younger folks come in drunk and smelling like shit. It's actually pretty rude."
I was flabbergasted.
"I suppose it is."
"Well, they can't help it you know, it's just part of it."
He got up.
"Happy trails."
"Yes, you have a good day."

I had just gotten out of La Bonne Epicure Market in Salisbury and talked with a local before this engagement. People were polarizing on the trail-- in the South you had unfounded and godly kindness-- as I've gone further north though, you get discussions like that. How irritatingly out-of-place it makes you feel.

La Bonne Epicure Market... I can at least say 1 of the 4 words in that title. I enjoy French culture but I truly don't know how to say more than a few words in French, let alone spell them. It's a clever idea for a little town in Connecticut, though... I'm sure the owner's thoughts were: let's build a business... a grocery unlike any other... a regular grocery store that charges 6$ for Annie's organic fruit snacks... yes.... and let's give it a French title so it sounds so quaint and.... PRICEY.

I got out of there quickly enough and I wound up buying a bountiful supply of Ramen. Another one of THOSE resupplies.

The trail lately has been difficult. As I came into New York, I had to deal with rough terrain. Something new came into play and that's the glacial rock-- it's here to stay from what I've heard from those traveling South. The rock is huge, ski-slope like and it can stretch on a single rock for way too long. In the dry weather it's just annoying, in the wet weather it slows you down to a crawl.

Glad to say it started to even out again. I was gifted with the beauty of Harriman state park and some friends to travel with. One kid is named Magic Lungs and he is socially skilled-- the man can get laid from locals whenever he chooses, can get free food and attention whenever he pleases and he is also great company. Alas, him, Still Joe and Wooly are now behind me. Still Joe was a cool guy, Wooly was a fun companion who looked like Tommy Chong-- the last I saw of any of them was Bear Mountain near Fort Montgomery.

Harriman State Park was gorgeous. I dipped my feet into a few lakes, found a sweet fawn that wasn't afraid of me at all and I also found some cool rock caves buried in the hills that I went by. I thought it was epic-- a beautiful spot to be in New York and not at all what I was expecting.

I didn't get to see Bear Mountain's Perkins monument at the top-- all of the talk of seeing New York City Skyline from 34 miles away was lost on me-- it was closed and also foggy. I DID get to see the trailside museum which didn't disappoint. I got to see porcupines, red foxes and coyotes. Man, the coyotes were massive. I saw the rattlesnakes above and many different frogs and owls and hawks. It was a splendid time. A really cool thing I didn't get a picture of was a monument to Walt Whitman. Sometimes I look at Walt and I think we look awfully similar. Other times I do not.
Getting into Bear Mountain Recreation area began a strange adjustment. I believe the language around there is primarily Spanish because aside from a few vendors, nobody spoke a bit of English.

Donde estan mis pantalones

 Not to complain or be racists in the least bit-- it's just that everywhere I went, EVERYBODY was speaking Spanish. I saw some Blue Bunny ice cream vending machines which made me smile. Blue Bunny is made by Wells Dairy which is in Le Mars, Iowa where my wife is from. I of course had a strawberry eclaire to enjoy the comparison.

Apparently Bear Mountain Bridge, just after the zoo, is a common site of suicides. I snapped this picture going along where there was another such phone. The drop down looked very steep but I did see a train go by beneath me.

After that, the terrain was just easy with rocks and short ups and downs. New york didn't really have any mountains so they just had us go up and down the ridge again.. and again... and again. I hit some ankle rollers which I actually refer to as conveyer rocks. You take a step on one and it rolls you down-- sometimes flat on your ass. They're more dreaded than banana peels.

Strangely, there was a great deal of swamp in New York. I crossed many boardwalks like this-- stepping on some boards there were loose produced a quick squishy noise, a loss of balance and a foot full of mud. I predict that's why my feet smell so bad lately.

Newts have just been everywhere!

Dover Oak-- sorry I couldn't reposition it.

Humorous cows just as I was about to leave New York. I came to a field and they were all standing by the trail. They weren't exactly afraid just kind of like... "hey man, what are you doing here?" I felt like I was in an Earthworm Jim alternate reality.



New York on it's own was a difficult state for me. It started out physically bad and then it was just a mindfuck the rest of the way through. For a period of time while I was with wooly, Still Joe and Magic Lungs I felt good until a particular night before Bear Mountain when it started to rain. I wanted to set up camp early and last out the thunderstorm but I felt a bit urged on, plus the comments of "I wouldn't want to camp up here, it's too exposed" were making me feel my camp spots were ill-chosen. We wound up in a valley, I was soaked through and through, worried I would get cold over night so I wound up sleeping with my wet sleeping pad under my wet tent and me crossing my fingers. While I was setting up my tent, a random Chinese guy was wandering down the road where I was setting up.

"Hello, are you hiking!?"
"Yes."
"North or South."
"North."
Piss off Mr. Miyagi, I'm cranky, wet and I want to go to bed.
"This. North? Trail here?"
"Yes."
"You start where?"
"Georgia, man. Ok?"
"Yes. You sleep here?"
"No, I'm just setting my stuff up for now."
It's 8:30 and I'm soaked, what the hell do you think I'm doing?
"Oooooo, ok. See you later!"

I went to bed ticked off but I had a wonderful climb up Bear Mountain. Some days with the sunrise being so gorgeous, your heart expands all over again. I hit lonliness after I broke off from the group and got ahead but I got more beautiful views soon after and my mileage picked up.

The real, true block I've been facing lately hasn't been the physical difficulty or the mental isolation. It's the question of: what are you doing out here? It's easy to answer locals with a jibe-- something that makes both of you smile and then your day is better but you still haven't answered the question. What have you walked almost 1500 miles for?

 I tried every answer in the book, some worked for a while. When I need to pick up pace, it's the idea of catching up to people. That lasts for a while and then I stop caring because I know it's a silly thing to aspire for, it causes more ill than anything and doesn't feel like a wholesome goal. A wholesome goal is the idea of doing this in memory of my dad-- that keeps me from quitting of course but it doesn't always give me the motivation to hurry and keep striding. I get days where I am languid, every step is a jarring force on my body because I realize there are times I just don't want to do it because I ask myself the question: what are you doing out here?
And then the answer came to me. When the question is asked, the only good answer is silence.


Gazing on an infinitely beautiful view for a while, quieting my mind and taking it in without words or expectations and my heart just fills back up again. As I get further north, the long green tunnel will break and I'll have every reason in the world to keep going on again. This middle half has been the push but now that I'm getting into Massachusetts I'll hit the mountains and beauty and my question will die off on my lips before it is asked. What am I doing this for? I won't even need to reply. I don't even have to after the view I had this morning, the one at the top of this post.

 As I walked into town today, I met some SOBO's, the first I've seen in a brief while. One stopped me to ask if I had seen a dog.
"yea, I saw a golden retriever last night actually-- there was no one around and it acted like I wasn't even there."
"No no, I'm looking for a German Shepherd but that's weird what would a go-"
"Does he bite?"
"He nips."
"Okay, well, I will keep my eyes out for him."
We both laughed. I had the secret thought of walking along and finding a big German Shepherd on the trail that would likely try to bark and nip at me just like every dog on the trail. A question I ask more frequently than anything: why the hell do people bring their dogs out here? Don't they realize how annoying it is?

Yesterday morning I met my first people of the day and they had a baby Collie with them that barked like an old woman who just smoked a pack of cigarettes, drank a quart of milk and ate a block of cheese. It reared up to me and acted like it would bite-- I regarded it like a fly and thought if you bite me, I'll bite back and pretend you're a footlong sub from Subway. Dog, I am ITCHING for Subway.

Ahead, I hit some brilliant mountains-- another Bear Mountain that looks intimidating-- one after is Mt. Everett which is quite steep and in a week, Mt. Greylock-- the first time I'll be getting above 3,000 ft. since Virginia. I cannot wait for the beauty to come and of course, VERMONT.

Peaceful days and love to you all. :)

Roll The Dice

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.

you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is.

- Charles Bukowski

Greenwood Lake, New York-- snake killing, bears and WALKING

It's been a while ;)

Hey guys-- I'm not about to go in-depth with everything that's happened the last few weeks so I'll wind up touching briefly on the awesome stuff-- I'm still having an awesome time and i'm walking on pretty strong even though i'm alone much of the time. It's been tough to update for the mere fact libraries are never open as i go through and i'm on some adrenaline kick that i don't stop in towns long enough to really sit around. I spend a great deal of time on the phone though, it makes the lonely times much easier to deal with.

The Shenandoah's were pretty sweet-- at first I was just bored as heck as i went along and i pulled a 20 without really trying. I made it to the first shelter and found a couple who were section-hiking. The guy was in his mid-20's and the girl a little younger-- I talked with them for long enough to hear some pretty great stories. The guy (fountain pop) was a long-distance bicycler who did a trail across the country. I asked enough question to realize i was interested in possibly doing the trail someday as it coincides with the American Discovery Trail quite a few times. We were sitting around when a massive copperhead snake came out from a hole under the shelter-- fountainpop quickly hit it with a privy shelter and asked me "could you help me out?"
"certainly."
I grabbed a huge stick around the side of the shelter and started wailing on the pinned snake-- it's mouth opened, it bit at the stick and soon was pretty well dead. The whole time I swung, I was thinking of the movie office space when they crush the copy machine to death.

Second day was superb, another easy mileage day and some great times. I caught up with a kid named Sleeping Bear and that night was the last I saw him. We had a rain storm come through that night and the rest of my time in the Shenandoah's was all fog and rain, all the time. During the day I had to take a dump by a view and had a bear come up the trail right next to my pack-- the bears act extremely different in the Shenandoahs because they just don't care that you're there. I saw quite a few in the park and I'm now up to 13.

not much else came of the Shenandoahs, it was a blur. i had some annoying tourists, got lost during a 28.5 mile day during the fog and dark and wound up having to camp only to realize i was a mere 50 feet from the shelter. Front Royal was a terrible town and people yelled stuff at me in the streets-- before i knew it, i was in maryland and then out again. i slept on a pavillion in pen mar park after a wedding and slept on the balcony with flowers from the wedding all over the floor. I ate epic AYCE Chinese food, continued to sleep in places i really wasn't supposed to and never got caught and i haven't seen anyone I know that were behind me. i've passed numerous people-- through PA I saw a kid named Waterboy who i hadn't seen since Fontana Dam. I met a kid named Ping who pulled a 20 while i pulled a 29-ish mile day. on the way, while we hiked, Ping almost stepped right on a rattlesnake-- that was the second one I saw on trail and that's been it, fortunately. I hung out with Wild Thing who yellow blazed often to get to the end of PA and was one of the most amiable folks i've ever met-- he had a hell of a good time. I've eaten some great pizza, did the half-gallon challenge (eat a half-gallon of ice cream in under 40 minutes) after eating two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, stealth camped nearly every night in PA, saw a wicked ugly porcupine that looked as scary as the girl from The Ring.... just so much. The rocks in PA weren't terrible but there were spots that weren't fun-- Lehigh Gap was scary and Knife Edge was frightening, the worst of which was Wolf's Rocks that i did in the rain and hurt my shoulder after falling. New Jersey is already done, it started out rocky, went smooth as butter in the middle and finished ridiculously hard yesterday with walking on pure chutes of rocks and climbing a ladder into new york. on my way into New York, I saw my first ny black bear-- at the sound of my poles clanging together, it ran off just like all of the others.

I saw some great rocks around a place called The Pulpit in PA-- they glistened in the sun like emeralds-- I had the kindest people pick me up: police, locals, sweet old women that were excited just to meet a hiker and i also am beginning to appreciate that people say "Wow" when i mentioned i've hiked up from Georgia. All-in-all, not being cocky, I'm proud of what i've done and i only hope my body can hold up through the rest of the trail. It is getting more and more difficult.

The Sobo's have both been kind and asinine. The good side of them would be the amiable folks i met in Delaware water gap-- Cloudkicker and Rocket-- they were so great i wished i could just turn around and hike south with them instead of going north to the unknown but that would be one certain way to not complete my thru-hike. Rain has been nasty but the sun comes out long enough to get everything dry-- an afternoon storm doesn't seem so scary when you've got sunshine on the way at SOME point and you always know the lightning and booming thunder will cease just like the sun-- it becomes one big circle.

Music is in my head all day, I've grown to be more in my head all day as i barely get to speak to anyone. i meet a few groups and pass through past them soon enough. i'm closing in on people like Firefox, Desperado and Micro-- it seems like a few short weeks and i'll be in the same spot they are. I'm not far behind but the locals like to remind me i'm at least behind. i'm doing near-20 for average all of the time, i try not to waste time but some mornings it rains and you just have to convince yourself to try.

I have New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts,  Vermont, new hampshire and Maine and i'm done-- it's not even that far on.

And it's all so beautiful-- give me luck and hope and i'll make it ;)