Date: 2015-07-29
To: Feelings on scary hiker stories
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It seems like I've now entered into a stage of research where I stumble upon a 'bad' story of a lost, injured, or otherwise unfortunate hiker every time I google around for gear reviews or thru-hiker blogs. Today, I learned about Gerry 'Inchworm' Largay and the confusing (and unimaginably sad) circumstances surrounding her disappearance on the Maine portion of the trail two years ago. Strangely enough, I was reading an article about the events when a friend of mine called to say that he was watching a television documentary about the same thing, at the exact same time. Spooky!Honestly, I was only mildly upset with what I read - she was hiking at non-peak time (I get the impression that she was a flip-flopper), her husband didn't seem too concerned about looking for her when she didn't show up at the pre-appointed time (... strange. I'd be very nervous, especially as it was raining and they had consistently met at almost every road crossing as she hiked from Harper's Ferry - she was hiking with heavy help from him), and nothing was ever found in the massive search for her (no body, no gear, no scrap of evidence of any kind. that's so improbable that it's basically impossible)I ended up personally concluding that she was either abducted or purposely left the trail and stayed under the radar. Side note and October update: her remains seem to have been found and indicate that she got lost offtrail and perished.My crazy theories are hogwash. Rest in peace, Inchworm.. Having also watched far too many episodes of 'Murder She Wrote', 'Columbo', and 'Perry Mason', I additionally concluded that her husband was responsible or knows where she is. Mystery solved!!...My friend, on the other hand, is not-so-quietly panicking about my safety and asking me to promise that I won't randomly disappear. I'm really so grateful to have people in my life who are wonderful enough to care about my wellbeing and to voice their concerns about my plans for a solo hike while being a fairly young female person. I'm also incredibly grateful that none of these concerned people have tried to stop me from actually doing the hike, including my panicky friend. It's the best feeling in the world to know that I have people surrounding me who care about me and are willing to support me on this adventure even when they think it's crazy and don't understand why I need to do it so badly. I'm a lucky person and I know it! I'll just have to make sure that I follow through on my promise to update an online journal for everyone at home to follow and to check in through phone calls and messages at every town possible. I hope cell service isn't too spotty and that I can continue to reassure everyone that I'm alive and still walking. I wonder if it's worth the weight to invest in a gps messenger?Anyway, the moral of my big rambling post is that i think i'll be just fine, safety-wise, on this hike. especially considering that there will be epic amount of people out hiking the season after 'A Walk in the Woods' comes out in theaters. Those scary hiker stories just don't scare me - I'm choosing to put my faith in the statistics and believe that everything will be perfectly fine