Date: 2015-02-24
To: Epilogue
Miles today: 0.0

Well, it's been over 4 months since I summited Springer (longer than I was on the trail) and it's almost March (and the beginning of another northbound season) so I decided it's about time to put this thing to bed and write my long-overdue "wrap-up" entry. As I expected, when I got back to Maine there wasn't much in the way of work waiting for me. Just dribs and drabs of work, a mouse colony in my yurt, and winter fast approaching with a pathetic pile of wood meant that it was shaping up to be a long, lonely winter...made even more difficult by having spent 4 months spending - but not earning - any money. So I started looking for more consistent work elsewhere. Originally I sort of hoped to find something "throw away" - a job at an outfitter or something similarly temporary or easy to quit - and make some money then do some more hiking next (well, by now, this) season. But despite casting a fairly wide net, I wasn't finding anything that both fit the bill and felt suitably fulfilling to me.Then, through the sort of strange turn of events that tends to befall me, I stumbled across an an ad for a surveyor position in New York's Hudson Valley, just a little ways north of New York City. I sent off a resume, got called in for an interview, and walked out an hour later with a job. This was just after Thanksgiving; I've been at it ever since. Turns out they're good folks (I always say that I only do good work for good people, so that works out), they like what I bring to the company, and I love the work. I miss working and living in the Maine woods (this will never be home to me), but it's a different kind of adventure surveying in and around New York City. Let's just say I never thought I'd be running traverse OVER a building instead of around it...I'm a little upset about putting the hiking aside for a while longer, but there is an upside to working/living down here - I'm a stone's throw from the AT basically everywhere I go. Instead of hogging out on greasy food at the Appalachian Market, now I gas up the work truck there a couple times a week. I drive across the Bear Mountain Bridge almost every day. I go skiing and snowshoeing around Canopus Lake every weekend. Really, it's hard to complain!!So instead of going for a long walk this summer, I'm going to be doing a bunch of (much) shorter ones. And lots of trail magic too! I can't wait to meet a bunch of the 2015 thru-hikers as they cruise through the area, and catch up with some of the folks I've met on past hikes at Trail Days this May! This marks 10 years since the start of my first long walk, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend a large part of every day thinking and dreaming and scheming about life on the trail. 2014 was the greatest hiking year I've had, and the memories will certainly stay with me for the rest of my life. A number of people have signed my guest book since I've finished and I just want to assure everyone that I've read the messages and enjoyed them immensely, even though I totally dropped the ball on responding to them all! Feel free to leave comments or questions there or email me at mil1233@gmail.com if you want to get in touch. If you're ever hiking or traveling through NY, give a shout - It's always great to catch up with like-minded hikers! And if you ended up here because you came to one of my presentations, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoy giving them!Thanks for tuning in, and see you on the trail!-Padre