jon blogham

Happy Everybody Draw a Duck Day

2010-05-27T12:02:12PD-05:00

A Word Problem

2009-05-27T15:59:08PD-05:00

A local coffee shop charges $3.35 for a medium latte with two shots of espresso, and $3.70 for a large latte with three shots of espresso. Additional shots of espresso cost $0.65. I normally just order a medium latte with an extra shot because I know that it's not worth the $0.30 savings to try to get a large latte without the full load of steamed milk.

Today I was feeling frisky, so I attempted to order a "large latte in a medium cup." The immediate response was "that's impossible." I was reminded of Carol Beer.

After some back and forth, one of the more experienced baristas offered some assistance and said "just order a large latte with room."

That almost worked... tomorrow I'm going to order "a large latte with room with room with room with room with room." Hopefully they can hit the "with room" button enough to simulate my paying an extra $0.30 for a negative amount of milk.

Oh Yeah

2009-04-25T10:46:32CD-05:00

I forgot about you. Sorry if you've been feverishly refreshing this page since October.

I've been having fun exploring my new job and my new town. A bulleted list:

I've gotten back into climbing.
I haven't done as much hiking as I'd like because there's too much to do that's more convenient than a 40 minute bike ride over to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I ride my bike to work every day. The weather here is obnoxiously flawless.
I've gotten even more snobby about beer, as you may have noticed from my beerblog.
I still suffer with javans, but at least a significant portion of this batch seems to understand that there's a world outside of their Most Holy Virtual Machine.
I've had a lot of visitors, and I've got a bunch more over the coming months. It's fun living somewhere that people want to visit! (When are you visiting, again?)

I've gotta get back to visiting with family... I'm in Clinton, Missouri for the weekend for my grandmother's funeral. It's been nice spending time with a side of the family I rarely see, even if it required a rather epic three flight journey. (Thanks for visiting me at one of those airports, Jay & Becca!)

Unemployment's End

2008-10-27T18:26:58ED-05:00

I'm finally moving from doing nothing to having a job again! It's in a wildly different industry from anything I've done before, so I'm really looking forward to learning whatever there might be to learn. (I'm still not entirely sure what it actually entails, but life's much more fun when upcoming challenges are able to blindside you.)

Since my last post, I've attempted two hiking trips, vaguely gotten back into climbing, visited a few cities, dabbled in a few interesting but largely useless projects and wondered about where I'd end up after this last round of shakeups came to a close. San Francisco it is!

The hiking trips were both abortive efforts, the first lasting less than a day before my waterlogged boots forced my knees out of the woods and the second ending a day early after a little gastroparty with my friend E. coli. Even so, it was nice to get back to the woods for a little while. Note to self: avoid the spinach omelet at that diner near Penn.

As for those projects, a couple of them are too facile to give much mention, including a bit of an extension to a bit of sample code I whipped up last spring and a beefing up of the guts of my beerblog. The others weren't really fun enough to provide my wandering noggin with enough incentive to finish, they included an automatic crossword puzzle solver (feed in the weekly Merle and it'd output the solution or melt the internet trying) and an implementation of a few of the Project GIPF games (this has been done to a pulp, it was more of a way to rewet my feet with some infrequently used tools).

I suppose now's a good time to get back to packing for my upcoming move... luckily I don't really own anything, so I ought to be able to jam the majority of my necessary possessions into my luggage. I return to employment on Friday!

Trail's End

2008-08-23T13:55:49ED-05:00

I reached the end of the trail on Sunday, August 17 at 10:30am. Since then I've tried vainly to find words to express what I felt after climbing to the peak of Katahdin, but the truth is I really don't know what I felt. It was a strange mixture of excitement, relief, sadness and joint pain. I had an amazing adventure filled with unforgettable moments, some painful or dangerous but most pleasurable. If you ever want to experience true bliss in your life all you need to do is walk over 2000 miles, spend a full month of that walking through 6" deep mud in neverending cold rain, and then find yourself laying on a warm rock in the middle of a placid lake soaking in the sun and the breathtaking view of the very last mountain you'll climb on your journey.

After my last post, we had a few more crummy days but then things started to dry out. We relied on the kindness of our fellow hikers (HUGE thanks, Shiloh!) to get around a river that was so swollen it wasn't even safe in a boat, and to provide information on the conditions of upcoming river crossings. It took a few days of "normal" Maine weather before the world started to dry out and we were no longer hiking through overflowed riverbanks and four foot deep bogs.

The last several days were some of the best I've ever had, with one particularly perfect day standing out, making whatever suffering I'd endured completely worthwhile. The weather was great all day, allowing us to stop at several crystal clear, warm lakes and either swim or just soak our feet. (When the weather's bad, there's very little desire to stop at all... just keep going and get the day over with ASAP.) At one of those lakes, a group who had canoed in a bunch of food decided they had canoed in too much so we inherited a dessert from them. At another lake, we sat on a rock and stared at Katahdin looming on the horizon. Yet another lake, we went for a swim and hung out with Pippi and Hamburglar... it was then that we realized that the far end of that lake had a sandy beach with a small spring, so we decided to hike the rest of the length of the lake and then camp. I built a small fire on the beach of this perfectly calm, quiet lake disturbed only by the occasional loon call and the sound of bats zooming along the water, and we all stayed up as late as possible, not wanting the day to end.

The day we climbed Katahdin, we got up at 3:30am to cover the rest of the miles before we actually started our ascent. The climb itself was incredibly fun, with a couple of miles of technical bouldering above treeline. Once I made it to the top, I snapped a couple of pictures and then took refuge between some boulders with my emergency blanket to stave off hypothermia while I waited for Stripe and Forest Gimp to arrive. I was on top for 70 minutes, and apparently my lips turned blue. I didn't progress to anything more than mild hypothermia, but I sure was cold. Next time, I'll have to remember to climb a little slower.

Thanks to everyone who helped make my hike a truly wonderful experience, most notably my Dad. My logisticians Mom and Scottie made the whole thing possible, I'd have been awfully hungry without their help! Thanks to everyone I hiked with, from Stinger and Swamp Dogg at the very beginning to Forest Gimp and Stripe at the very end, and everyone in between. Big thanks to the various people along the way who saved either my hike or my sanity, including Ron Haven, Elmer, Troutbum, Jennifer and Barry Stoots, Tucker Maxwell, the people of Maine, Bearfoot, Stripe and Forest Gimp. I'm very sure I'm omitting someone, I'll probably be editing this for a while before I'm satisfied I've enumerated everyone. Oh, here are a couple that I almost forgot: George Washington Carver and Lee Zalben of Peanut Butter & Co! Without peanut butter, I might have wasted away to nothing. (Lee Zalben did for peanut butter what George Washington Carver did for peanuts... try the White Chocolate Wonderful, you'll be a believer!)

The Rain in Maine Falls Mainly on My Brain

2008-08-08T13:01:39ED-05:00

The weather in Maine is worse than I could possibly have imagined. Every single day is depressing, especially when you have to go hiking. The trail is so sloppy that by the end of the day, you've got mud caked so heavily on your shoes and legs that you can't discern their original shape.

We've had one day so far since I got into Maine where there were any views at all, which I suppose was nice. It's frustrating going over what could be stunning scenery and seeing only the 50 yards around you. There are only so many pictures depicting bad weather that I can take... gray is gray is gray.

Since my last entry, I've changed tack a bit... Jordan and I were hanging out in Andover when Forest Gimp showed up, so the three of us went to dinner and decided to finish our long distance slog together on August 18th. If it wasn't for the commiseration, I'm pretty sure I'd either have quit or gone completely insane by now. Having other people around makes decisions like "let's just sit around and watch TV today, because they're calling for 2 inches of rain" a lot easier. And hiking together makes a day of miserable hiking go a lot faster... it's been story time for Gimp and I for the last few days.

I think our (un)merry band of muddy hikers has picked up another member: Stripe! The guy who inherited the beard book after I read it. It'll be good to have two resident beard experts in our miserable gang of wet hikers.

The good news is that Maine is an amazingly friendly place. I think since everyone here is depressed thanks to the weather, they all try to be as warm and welcoming as possible. When Forest Gimp and I pulled into town a couple of days ago, we got into the mudroom of the local pub and started taking our wet shoes off when the waitress came running up and said "COME IN! COME IN! SIT DOWN! WHAT CAN I GET YOU?" without any worry that we were dripping mud all over the place. Normally, people are ticked if you smell bad; here, people are ticked until you're warm and comfortable.

I should probably get back to laying around and watching TV... this internet thing is really wearing me out. I thank you for your continued prayers for a sudden, drastic drought in Maine. If it rains for too much longer, they're going to have to get the National Guard in here with a million Shop-Vacs... or just change the US map to remove Maine because it's officially become part of the Atlantic Ocean.

The countdown to August 18th begins! From here on out, my strategy is to spend as few nights in the woods as possible. So far so good, Gimp and I have figured out how to cover almost 100 miles with only one night outside. Too bad the 100 Mile Wilderness won't be so well-roofed.

Review of New Hampshire, Preview of Maine

2008-07-31T21:48:57ED-05:00

The Whites were absolutely incredible. The miles didn't come easy, but the scenery made it all worth it. There's just nothing like hiking for hours above treeline, watching clouds form far below you. Keep your eyes open though, because they form below you then get huge and come right at you. Weather moves extremely quickly up here!

I had the very rare pleasure of being atop Mt. Washington without clouds, wind or other people. I got such an early start that day that I even was able to pee on the cog tracks without getting arrested or put on The List.

The entire time I was hiking the White Mountains, the weather was absolutely amazing... as soon as I was out of the Whites, however, things went downhill fast. And as soon as I got to Maine, things went way downhill, way fast. Since I just wrapped up my first full day in Maine and it's fresh in my mind, I'll summarize:

I broke my camera.
I snapped a trekking pole.
I dislocated my left thumb.
I scraped the flesh off both of my palms.
I scraped the back of both calves.
I turned my left ankle badly enough to have to down some ibuprofen immediately.
I landed on my right knee hard enough to lose feeling in my foot, twice.
I had to run and find shelter from thunderstorms, once in a cave and once by hurrying down an exposed rock face (resulting in the palm damage).

Yes, that all happened today. Probably the most miserable day on the trail, though that's an awfully strong statement... maybe I should reserve judgement of such things until I'm done with the trail. Then I'll be able to impartially compare today with the day Mr. Burns broke or the day I nearly broke in Grayson Highlands.
At least for tonight I have found a real roof to sleep under, and have laundered and showered and life is happy. Tomorrow I hit the trail again, hopefully covering a lot of ground... I'm a half day behind where I want to be!

Also staying at this hostel: Jordan! I haven't seen that kid since Erwin, TN, roughly 1500 miles ago! (He sends his regards, Mr. Burns.)

This post would be more coherent, but I spent most of my day screaming expletives at the uncaring trees and cursing the unending wilderness. That plum tuckered me out.

The Whites

2008-07-25T08:24:05ED-05:00

(Hand me the ringer, chop-chop!)

Vermont was a blast. It was great to get back into mountains, see some views and enjoy actual wilderness again, fleeting though it was. I scooted through Vermont's 150 miles in 6 days, going over ski slopes (walking up a green circle... not as easy as skiing down it) and moose droppings. Did you know that moose are scary? I didn't until my first night in Vermont when some local hikers were talking about how they're more scared of moose than they are of bears. A bear will only maim you, a moose will flatten you leaving naught but a hiker pancake.

Of the five nights I camped in Vermont, only two of them were with other people. I had shelters all to myself three nights in a row, and didn't see many people during those days either. Eerie. I met a handful of people doing the Long Trail, a 280 mile trek from the MA/VT border up to Canada, presumably for some french fries and gravy. I can't imagine any other reason to go to Canada.

I made it to Hanover, NH in time to get picked up there by Mom and Dad (thanks so much for making it a breeze to get out to Seattle, 'rents!) and then fly to Jason and Becca's wedding. Airports are always disconcerting after months in the wilderness with like-minded souls, but Seattle itself was really nice. I even managed to get new shoes there, after throwing out the old ones with about 600 too many miles on them.

A 757 fuel pump encouraged me to take an extra day in Seattle, so I got to wander around town and soak in a really beautiful day. That did mean I'm a day farther behind than I'd planned, making my goal of finishing on August 11th a bit harder. No worries, as long as I have food and legs I can make it.

After finally getting back to Hanover and running a few errands, I headed northwards again... this time stopping after only 17 miles because the new shoes were brutalizing my ankle. I ended up taking a day off at the shelter 17 miles north of Hanover to heal up and wait out some bad weather, which was a great call in the end. Yesterday I covered 27 miles from that shelter to Glencliff, NH and a really nice hostel that shuttled me to wallyworld to replace my camera and sleep on a real, dry bunk. (Oh, did I not mention that on the day my ankle was killing me, my camera died too? It was a good day. My tent also collapsed during the night, getting all of my stuff wet. The sob story could continue, but I've been told that parentheticals shouldn't be too long, lest we forget we're in one.)

I'm about to leave Glencliff and start the White Mountains... today I ascend Mt. Mooselauke (a 3500' climb), and then two other decent hills (1500' and 2000', respectively), ending at a hut where I'm hoping to "work for stay". Ideally that work will entail sitting around looking beautiful, but we'll see.

Almost to Vermont

2008-07-10T16:56:55ED-05:00

I've made it to Dalton, MA, which is about 30 miles short of the Vermont border. I'm hoping that not walking today will mean that I'll really, really walk tomorrow and get into Vermont by the time I call it quits tomorrow evening.

I've been riding a bike all around town, so doing laundry and getting food has been a breeze. Sadly, though, I've got 3 days of food in my foodbag... and nine miles to go before I pick up 4 more days of food. So I may be hauling over 20lbs of food up Mount Greylock (the first real mountain since southern Virginia!), but that just means I'll be eating a whole lot more than normal. You'll hear no complaints from me on that score.

I've caught yet another group of friends in Dalton, most of whom have started to slow down to savor their time on the trail. I'm still of the finish-as-soon-as-possible mindset, especially because Mr. Burns and I seem to be firming up plans to finish the rest of the trail from Bear Mountain Bridge to Katahdin in the coming years. I'll take my time then!

The library here is closing now and I have to get back to the house I'm staying at because we're heading to an AYCE buffet soon and I'm not one to turn down that sweet, sweet acronym.

I Do Not Heart New York

2008-07-05T14:39:04ED-05:00

Since leaving Port Clinton, PA, we've endured some horrific anklebusting rocks in the last miles of Pennsylvania, a fun exposed climb up from Lehigh Gap, a town (Delaware Water Gap, PA) that the trail goes right through but doesn't have a laundromat (smart thinking, guys!), a state chock full of bears and humidity, a state chock full of pointless boulders and pointless ups and downs (PUDS), and a broken leg.

There's a large mass of rock called the Lemon Squeezer in New York that has a little bit of bouldering immediately following it. It had rained only a few hours before we got there and the air was humid enough to not let anything dry at all. Slick, worn down boots and a wet climb added up to a very, very scary moment. I had already ascended the boulder, I took Mr. Burns' trekking poles from him and he started the climb up the boulder. He slipped, falling backwards down a steeply inclined boulder field, breaking his leg in the process. I was up on top of the boulder so I couldn't safely jump down to help him, and I was totally powerless to do anything about it. I can't think of any time I've felt anything so awful as that moment, wondering if he'd broken any limbs or cracked his head open on the tree he came to rest against, or if he was knocked out cold, or worse. I hope I never experience anything so terrible again, and I certainly hope the same for him.

Because it was the smaller bone in his lower leg, he was able to walk... which made us (note: we're not doctors, we're hikers) think that he must've just bruised it badly. So he hobbled another 16 miles from there to Bear Mountain, New York. That hobble took him over a couple of large hills, and across several roads where I asked if he'd like to hitch into town to give his leg a rest or if he'd like to trade packs... he said, in true Thru Hiker fashion, "no, I'm fine."

If we hadn't had the fortune of meeting a trail angel named Gene who ferried us around the very spread out area of Fort Montgomery, NY, we wouldn't have been able to get an X-Ray and Dad would maybe still be hiking on his broken leg, tempting a compound fracture with every step. In a way, I'm glad he's off the trail and recovering, because it could have gotten much, much worse. At least this way we'll be able to finish together next year.

In the meantime, I'm going to complete my thru hike if I can. It's hard to get used to hiking with someone for 1400 miles, knowing they're in the area to help you and vice versa and growing closer to them than you'd ever been before, only to have their hike terminated so quickly. When I was walking across Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson, Mr. Burns was being driven by Gene to the train station in nearby Peekskill, NY to catch a train back home. Seeing him heading home and seeing 800 miles of trail in front of me that I'd be hiking alone was absolutely crushing. That bridge was definitely the hardest stretch of trail I've encountered so far.

Since the Hudson, my goal has been to get out of New York as quickly as possible. It took two days to cover the remaining 55 miles to Connecticut, and fortune thus far seems to have turned around a bit. A few minutes across the state line, and there was a cooler with trail magic. Several hours later and I'm in Kent, CT (not terribly hiker friendly, but at least I could get a shower, laundry and free camping), recuperating a bit and gearing up for a short stretch to Salisbury, CT for a maildrop on Monday morning. After that, I'm going to push through Massachusetts quickly, catching some friends who are currently far, far ahead. If I can cover 25-30 miles a day I can be done with the Trail in early to mid-August. The terrain might be tougher once I get to New Hampshire, but I'm eager to summit Katahdin and look forward to really enjoying the hike with Dad next year. Obviously I'm enjoying my hike this year, but at this point my pride and anger are really pushing me along. Maybe my attitude will change in a few hundred miles, maybe it won't. The Trail does funny things to you, it seems.

I love you Dad, thanks for a really great first 1390.5 miles... we'll finish it out whenever you're ready. Until then, I'm a greenshirted ultralighter.

Still Truckin'

2008-06-20T11:33:25ED-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything... it doesn't feel like it's been so long, though. Days and miles are flying by at an alarming clip. We recently passed halfway, we more recently got to within 1000 miles of Katahdin, even more recently we realized "hey, we've been living in the woods for three months!", and just now we're taking a day off in Port Clinton, PA.

Neither Mr. Burns nor I are too terribly jazzed about hiking in Pennsylvania, so we've minimized the dilly-dallying. In the last five days of hiking, we covered a stretch that normally would take a full week. The aggressive pace and the brutal terrain have taken their toll, however. There are more wobbly, ankle-breaking rocks in Pennsylvania than I was expecting, and I thought I was prepared for the worst. Add an infected bee sting on Mr. Burns into the mix and it becomes clear why we're sitting today out.

The good news is that some friends who are a day back have a chance to catch up, so tonight will be full of stories from folks we haven't seen in 600 miles. Our thinly spread nomadic family is getting slowly stretched farther and farther apart, so chances to spend time with old friends are becoming increasingly rare, and increasingly appreciated. The last several hundred miles haven't been very heavily trafficked, some days we see only each other and the wildlife. It's serene and wonderful, but sometimes it makes me miss the days when the trail was a highway bustling with my smelly friends.

Earlier this morning we chatted with Bag of Tricks, the guy who gave us our first trail magic! We hadn't seen him since Woody Gap, on the afternoon of March 20, only our third day on the trail. He didn't recognize Mr. Burns's svelte new shape... it's amazing what 1200 miles on foot will do to you. Having not walked any appreciable distance, Bag of Tricks was very recognizable.

We successfully got our food drop, so we're resupplied and ready to get the heck out of Pennsylvania starting tomorrow morning. Less than 24 hours in town and I'm already antsy, yearning for the trail. 970.9 miles left!

Nearly Halfway, Pictures Posted

2008-06-03T18:11:57ED-05:00

Last Friday, Mr. Burns and I both got to road crossing near enough to home that Mom came and picked us up... I had a wedding to attend in Atlanta (Lori, I second your review: "casual and intimate and fun and pretty." Thanks Rob and Bonnie for getting hitched so well!) so I flew down on Saturday and returned yesterday.

Prior to departing, however, we went to REI and I got some new toys... you'd be amazed at how readily your wallet comes out when you've walked over 300 miles with the following thought nagging you: "For $400, this pack could weigh 10 pounds less." So I now have a new tent coming from Henry Shires Tarptents and a new pack that's much, much smaller than my old one. New toys! Yay!

I think I've come down with Giardia, which isn't much fun... so we've taken an extra day off to see if my system can calm down a bit and allow me to get back on the trail without spending too much time digging holes. I seem to be making progress on that front, and the extra time has allowed me to finish uploading pictures from the first half of our trek! Check out the Appalachian Trail gallery here for the full set, or if you're too lazy to do that I now inflict upon you a sample of my favorites:

Here's Mr. Burns and me at Neels Gap... only 30 miles in but we felt like we'd come an awfully long way.

A lot of people have asked me what I eat on the trail... a lot of peanut butter, a lot of Clif bars, and a lot of peanut butter and Clif bars. I've been casually tracking my peanut butter intake, and it's sitting at about 10 pounds per month.

The Trail wanders along the ridgeline of the Appalachian Mountains for so long that you frequently pass by incredible vistas... everyone who carries a camera has to exercise great discipline when they get to an overlook, lest they return with a thousand pictures that all look the same. It's usually pretty hard to restrain yourself, though, especially when there's a sea of clouds 1000' below you, washing up on mountains in the distance.

On my last morning in the Smokies, the snoring in the shelter was so awful that I was up most of the night... which allowed me to make it to the Mount Cammerer Fire Lookout at dawn. Slight miscalculation meant that I had to scurry 4.1 miles in 55 minutes, but I made it in one piece. Here's one of my favorite shots of dawn, and photographic proof that I, a fierce opponent of mornings everywhere, was actually there at dawn:

One of the most incredible things about the Appalachian Trail is the abundance of Trail Magic. One sunny afternoon I was moseying along and came upon a large group of people all hiking together. When they heard me, they stopped and the handful in the very back started rummaging through a daypack. I got closer and they asked if I'd maybe like some cookies. Obviously I'd love some cookies! Things like this happen every so often, usually when you're least expecting and most in need.

We've seen a lot more snow than we thought we would... this snowstorm in southern Virginia near Mount Rogers was probably the most dramatic:

Ever since we've been near enough to home, we've gotten the occasional visit from Mom... this was one of my favorites, spending a couple nights in Marion, VA. Yes that's a real live beer in front of me, something that's hard to find in the woods. (But don't worry, beer is pretty findable out there... Trail Magic is frequently beer.)

My rarest find so far... identifiable fossils! Fossils are pretty frequent along the trail, but most are plant matter or such early animals that it just looks like a rock that was carved to look like spaghetti. These seashells were about 1/2" across, at an elevation of 3500'.

And no batch of AT pictures would be complete without the feet-dangling-off-McAfee's-Knob picture:

Almost in the Shenandoahs

2008-05-22T20:49:57ED-05:00

Mr. Burns and I got out of camp early this morning to get a free lunch at The Dutch Haus B&B in Montebello, VA... we're staying the night here and just had a really nice dinner.

The computer I'm using right now is the closest thing to capable I've come across since the start of this trek, and it's only barely adequate for uploading pictures. It turns off every so often just to make sure I appreciate those precious moments that it's on... so the uploading has been very, very painful.

I tossed a very small sample of Georgia and some of Tennessee/North Carolina up in the gallery here, I hope that'll keep you wolves at bay until I'm able to get on my computer at home next weekend and actually upload everything. I bet you can't wait to see me dangling precariously over the edge of McAfee's Knob!

The walking since Daleville's been really great... if a little intense. On Monday through Wednesday of this week, we did 7000, 6600 and 6200 vertical feet, respectively. To celebrate the last 3000' worth of elevation, I hitchhiked into a town and picked up a couple of pounds of Krispie Kremes to bring to camp that night... they're delicious when roasted over a roaring campfire.

Halfway through Virginia

2008-05-17T19:25:58ED-05:00

We left Daleville, VA today after a nice near-0 with Mom. The stretch of trail from Pearisburg to Daleville was amazing, with more than a few beautiful overlooks and cliffs. The weather's been a little obnoxious, getting frigid the day after I sent my winter stuff home. That meant a couple of really short days, getting into the sleeping bags in the early afternoon to thaw.

I've seen fossils, gotten blackberry pie from a USFS guy for breakfast on top of a mountain, dangled my shiny yellow shoelaces over a cliff, and eaten a whole lot of everything that happened to make the mistake of getting in front of my gaping maw. Today I packed out a big Entenmann's coffee cake and had half of it for dessert. Mmm, sweet gluttony.

Alive and Well, in Pearisburg

2008-05-09T13:16:49ED-05:00

Well that was a bizarre few days. We started hearing rumors about the Wapiti killer being somewhere near the Trail on Tuesday afternoon, so we stealth camped (pitched our tents off the trail to avoid being seen by passersby) that night. That same night, about a day north of where we were, he shot two fishermen after eating dinner with them. Crazy stuff. I'm glad we took an extra zero day in Marion, VA with Mom, otherwise we'd have been right in the area of the shootings.

The Trail was closed the next day so authorities could search the area for clues, so we ended up spending an evening at Trent's Grocery, where we ate enough honey buns to give an elephant diabetes. We got back on the trail yesterday morning, watched a downpour from inside a shelter, and arrived in Pearisburg around noon today. We've rented a car and are about to go hunt down an outfitter so I can pick up some trail runners... I've walked about 130 miles in Crocs and I'm awfully tired of not having actual shoes.

Other than the new shoes... the exciting thing about Pearisburg is that it's one of the traditional places where you send your winter gear home. That ought to shave at least 5lbs from my pack, putting me below 40lbs unless I'm carrying way too much food! Hooray!

Oh, and I'm quoted in this Roanoke Times story about the shootings. Sadly I didn't get my ugly mug attached to a story like my fellow hiker Bear Trap did. (When he was at Trent's, he was three spoons shy of finishing a half gallon of ice cream... then he tossed it up. Silly hikers, thinking they can eat anything.)

My Goodness, Real Towels

2008-05-03T11:03:14ED-05:00

On Thursday night, Mr. Burns and I rolled into Partnership Shelter, located about 0.1 mile from the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area headquarters... I guess they want to impress the casual visitor, so that shelter has a shower (disposable towels, aka tiny paper towels, are available for $0.25!), sink, no mice, etc. Pretty cushy! Obviously I took myself a nice long (sometimes scalding) shower to clean off the funk of forty thousand steps. After the shower, we walked over to the headquarters building and ordered pizza??? Talk about luxury! That was a whole lot of calories I didn't even have to carry! For the record, I had a 16" pizza, a stromboli (14" or so) and a loaded baked potato. I can't get town food without getting inordinate amounts of town food... I've got a reputation to look after.

The next day was a nice little amble to I-81, and the weather was absolutely perfect. I couldn't have asked for more. On top of the lovely walk, it was a walk to a motel where we were meeting Mom, who came down from the DC area with a picnic lunch for us. And a cooler full of Belgian beer. Mmmmm, beer.

To make things even more ridiculous, we then checked into the General Francis Marion Hotel in Marion, VA, which is certainly one of the swankest hotels I've ever stayed in... let's compare, shall we?

Tent	Hotel
1" thick sleeping pad	impossibly thick king sized mattress
sleeping bag just long enough to fit in, that smells like, well, me	no fewer than 4 different layers of sheets, blankets, quilts, etc, all freshly laundered
a tiny little 8"x14" towel that's about as thick as a paper towel	ELEVEN, COUNT 'EM, ELEVEN TOWELS IN A WAY-TOO-BIG-BATHROOM

In other words, this is definitely the cushiest zero day I've taken so far... egad.

The last bit of good news for this post: the 200ml Nalgene bottle I bought in Nantahala (slightly over 100 miles into the hike) that's been empty since then because every county we walk through is dry... it'll be full of some lovely single malt Scotch this afternoon. I've toted the silly thing about 400 miles and finally it's going to get some use!

Ok, one last bit of good news... I'll be trekking up roughly parallel with I-81 for the next 4-5 weeks, so if you're a Virginian (Richmond kids, NoVA kids...) you should email me and we can figure out how to hike together. The hills here aren't nearly as brutal as GA, NC and TN, so I wouldn't even feel too bad about making you walk up them.

Three states down, a few to go

2008-04-26T12:49:48ED-05:00

In the end, I decided to go ahead and be a moron and walk 33 miles into Damascus... it was certainly moronic, but the meal paid for by the Pied Piper of Pain (Sharkey) made it worthwhile, and the chance to take two zero days in a row (also known as the Robert Parish) in Damascus is really quite nice. Oh, and these fancy yellow shoelaces I got as a reward for the long day are freakin' sweet.

My feet should be healed up and ready to go by Monday morning when we start plodding through the rest of Virginia. We're 4-5 weeks from the DC area. (And one week or so from being near Blacksburg, Walp. I got your text, but by the time I tried to respond I lost cell reception. There isn't much technology out here... I can't wait to reach the Virginia Technology Corridor!)

Some sweet day in the hopefully near future I'll get to a computer that'll let me upload the pictures I've taken so far.

Rather than be a moron with me, Mr. Burns decided to do that 33 miles in two days, pulling into town this afternoon. I have to swing by the outfitter's here to pick up some new insoles and sundry stuff, and then the rest of my weekend involves beer and sitting by a river... it's a tough life out here!

Almost in Virginia

2008-04-23T14:04:28ED-05:00

We're a few days shy of Virginia right now, resupplying before making a run into Damascus, VA. People keep calling Damascus the "1/4 point", but it's actually more like 1/5. It's the same way with the "halfway point", Harpers Ferry, which is a couple hundred miles short of the actual halfway point. Goofy trail traditions. Hikers can't do math, I guess.

If my foot wasn't complaining so loudly, I'd be doing a 33 mile day into Damascus (another goofy trail tradition) just because. As it is, though, I'm glad to still be making forward progress. A couple of days ago my right arch felt like it'd spent too much time in a Cuisinart. Such is life out here, I suppose. I'm looking forward to Damascus where I can get some insoles that'll support my foot a bit better. Happily, that's it for the injury report... we're both holding up pretty well, especially the spry old Mr. Burns.

The last 50 miles of trail have been surprisingly mellow... nothing really brutal since Erwin, TN. Well, maybe a few hills here and there... at the top of one particularly infamous hill sits the highest shelter on the Trail, at 6250'. I stopped to have lunch there and watched what I hope is the last snow I see until New England. It was definitely the last 6000' hill until Mt. Washington, so at the very least we won't have much brutal mountaintop weather for a long while. It's always a bit of a shock to walk through a valley where it's 60F and sunny, then an hour later be on top of a hill in a driving snowstorm.

We've Passed Through a Long, Unconnected Stretch of Woods

2008-04-16T17:34:14ED-05:00

(unconnected in the Internets sense, the woods themselves are quite connected.)

Sorry for the lack of updates, but there hasn't been much in the way of wired-ness out here since we left Franklin, NC a couple hundred miles ago. We're now in Erwin, TN, and only a shade over 100 miles from Virginia.

Since leaving Franklin, we've walked through an interesting mixture of weather patterns. It feels like most days have been overcast or rainy, but we've had plenty of utterly perfect days as well. Today was absolutely gorgeous, and a nice way to (hopefully) say goodbye to winter. You have no idea how nice it is to walk in 60F and sunshine after two days of snow! Most of the terrain we've covered looked like it'd be really nice in better weather, but that's how it goes sometimes. When the weather cooperates, there's more than enough beauty out here to make up for the wetter days.

I (yes, me!) even got up before dawn to make a sunrise at Mt. Cammerer Lookout in the Smokies. I broke camp later than I wanted to, and misjudged the mileage, so I ended up doing 4.1 miles (mostly up) in 55 minutes. Hopefully that'll be the last time I have to pull such antics, but it's nice to know I'm capable of it.

The first real town outside of the Smokies, and the first town truly on the Trail is Hot Springs, NC, and it's amazing. If you're looking for a weekend of peace and quiet, look no further than Elmer's Sunnybank Inn... even Mr. Burns (Greg and/or Dad) enjoyed a huge vegan meal and was amazed by how tasty it was.

We're staying here in Erwin at least tonight, and maybe another night to let things recover a bit... knocking out 15 to 18 miles a day, every day, really wears on you quickly. A lot of our fellow hikers are also starting to realize that it's better to cover more miles on days when you walk, and really relax on days when you don't. It's just about time to catch a shuttle into town to buy a 2lbs jar of peanut butter, hopefully this time it'll last me more than 3 days. (That's a bit of a fib... I actually went through 2.5lbs of peanut butter in 3 days.)

So Long Stink, Hello Hygiene!

2008-03-27T20:50:10ED-05:00

Mr. Burns and I pulled into Franklin, NC this afternoon and checked into a motel. All it takes to transition from stinky mountain man to a semi-civilized human is a shower, some laundry, and a few pounds of all-you-can-eat country goodness.

We're looking forward to a little weekend party here for hikers, featuring free BBQ and free beer. It runs both Friday and Saturday night, but we'll be leaving here Saturday morning to get to Nantahala Outdoor Center by Sunday and then Fontana Dam (the start of the Smokies!) by Wednesday. And five days later, we'll be out of the Smokies, inching ever closer to weather that one could call "temperate". We've had a couple of mornings that were around 20 degrees, and we'll probably see a few more of those when we're in the high altitudes of the Smokies. I can't wait to do the 3 mile walk from Fontana Dam to Shuckstack (a firetower pretty much directly above Fontana)... 2000' of elevation in 3 miles. Yeehaw!

The computers I'm able to use (at least so far) aren't very capable, so it doesn't look like I can get pictures uploaded for a while. No worries, though, I'm carrying 6GB and doubt I'll take near that many pictures on the whole trip. Worst case, pictures from GA through WV will be posted on the weekend of June 1.