Date: 2014-12-20
To: Statistics and final thoughts
Miles today: 0.0

5 months and 5 days total, or 159 days.17 zero days.Average 13.83 miles per day, including the zero days.Average in ME/NH: 12.3 miles per day, including the zero days.Average for rest of trail: 16 miles per day, including the zero days.If I hadn't gotten sick and taken a week off to go home and regroup, the numbers would have been a little better, but they are what they are.Average 5.6 days between resupply.I weighed about 178 when I started, and 159 when I finished.Laurie kept accurate records of what I spent, and its not pretty. Over $9000 on postage, food, lodging, equipment, shoes, eating out, transportation, trip to the emergency room, and so forth. Way more than I thought I would spend.Going southbound is tough, especially on the senior hiker. You start off in Maine and New Hampshire, the toughest states. I got to the rest of New England in time for all the streams and springs to dry up. Then the days got shorter and shorter, so that I was spending at least 2 hours a day, sometimes twice that, hiking in the dark. So I missed several famous views, like Max Patch, because I went over them in the dark. I had 4 snowstorms, which is more than usual I think, including one arctic blast of single digit temperatures. Brutal.After the northbound hikers thinned out, I was alone most of the time. Some days I saw no other hikers of any kind, but those days were actually rare. Usually I saw someone, either a section hiker or a day hiker or maybe just someone driving by at a road crossing. I camped most nights by myself. Even at the end of the trip, when I was staying in shelters, I was alone. For instance, from Hot Springs to Neels Gap, I only saw 2 other people in the shelters - no one in the Smokies. On my last night at Hawk Mt, some college kids were on Christmas break from school and almost filled the shelter, the only time that happened. So if you are not self reliant, and if camping solo scares you, don't go southbound.I should have started mid June instead of mid July, but I had other things I had to do, and needed to spend time with family. But that is my advice - start in mid June and avoid some of the cold weather and darkness.One thing I forgot to mention in the gear review was that I used my smart phone for listening entertainment constantly. I bought audio books from audible.com and used their app to download and listen. I bought music courses from The Great Courses through audible also. I learned to do this when I saw the northbounders. Almost every NOBO was listening to something as they hiked. With the phone in airplane mode I got 3 days of listening. Charge with the spare battery for 3 more days of listening pleasure. That was usually enough to make it to the next resupply.I could not have done this without the support of my wife, Lovely Laurie. I called her almost every day, and she dispensed advice and encouragement, and was always upbeat and perky. She shipped all my resupply boxes, and shopped for things I needed like shoes and Spam. She had to deal with being alone and taking over all the things that I would normally do. So it was a big burden for her, and a source of guilt for me. But she supported and encouraged me all the way. When I got sick and came home for a week she encouraged me to go back and finish. The hike was almost as much her adventure as mine. The thought of walking home to her kept me going to the end. Thanks Laurie!So that's it for this journal. Hope its been helpful to people who are thinking of doing the same thing. Thanks for all the kind comments!