Date: 2010-05-30
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Marie picked me up this morning in Salisbury at the home of Maria McCabe. Maria rents out rooms in her home to hikers. She is around 82 years of age and a real pistol. Originally from Tyrol, Italy, she describes herself as being of German descent because Tyrol before WWII was part of Austria. She certainly still has the accent. When I called her from the trail about getting a room, she couldn't understand me very well when I tried to spell my name. She said it was because she was German. I said...:"Maria, then certainly you have heard of the name Carl Friedrich before." She started cracking up because of course she had and spelling it was not necessary. She was a tremendous host and went out of her way to make sure you were comfortable. She picked me up at the trail head, gave me a soda when we got to her house, and was just a pleasure to talk to. The lady is a real inspiration. I hope I have her energy at 82!I have decided to go ahead and end my hike this year in Salisbury. I have been thinking about it since Fort Montgomery and there are several reasons for stopping now. For one, I have been on the trail now for a month. That is a long time to be out on the trail and I was honestly getting kind of tired. I have completed a good chunk of mileage and feel that I have made significant progress on my goal of completing the whole trail. Another reason is that the hike this year is so much different than when I started in Georgia. I was one of many hikers who started in Georgia in 2008 and were hiking north. It was easy to develop a circle of friends on the trail with so many people doing the same thing as you. But when you start halfway up the A.T., it is a lot tougher to establish lasting friendships. The thru-hikers who were that far north were doing 25 to 30 mile days, each and every day. I might spend the night at the same shelter with them but they were long gone the next day. There was no way I could keep up with them. All the others were mostly section hikers who were just on the trail for a couple of days. In the end, I only saw, at the most, hikers for a day or two and then I wouldn't see them again. Friends on the trail are important. They provide the camaraderie and support you need to complete long distance hikes. Without them it was tougher to stay focused and to deal with all the difficulties of hiking through the mountains every day. And most importantly, I did miss the family and wanted to get home to them. And the World Cup starts on June 12th and I definitely had to be home to take in the tournament. I am a soccer fanatic and the tournament only happens once every four years. The foot actually was not a problem this year, though I was starting to wonder if it was going to be a problem if I went all the way to Maine. I would feel a little something down there as the day went on. Stretching alleviated any pain, but it did seem to be getting progressively worse.So in the end, I have completed a large chunk of the trail this year from Duncannon, Pennsylvania to Salisbury, Connecticut. I completed the A.T. in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York and hiked a total of 350 miles.Next year I will return to Salisbury and continue north. I may just complete Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Then follow that up with a hike through the White Mountains in New Hampshire. And, of course, that only leaves Maine. Time to enjoy the summer!