Date: 2012-05-24
To: Phase 1 Recap
Miles today: 0.0

I arrived home to Phoenix Tuesday night after a great 2 weeks on the Appalachian Trail. I completed about 215 miles through northern Virginia including Shenandoah National Park. I was very impressed with the beauty of this stretch. (I also completed West Virginia and went over the Potomac into Maryland.) Just south of SNP the peaks are consistently over 4,000¢. At one point I climbed from a river valley at 900¢ to the top of The Priest at almost 4,100¢ in just over 3.8 miles. So some fun, rugged terrain. The leaves were just coming into bloom along the higher ridges allowing you to see many pretty views out over the Virginia countryside. I really enjoyed this stretch. Once I got north of SNP the terrain became much lower. My last 2 days on the trail I did not go over 1,500¢. There were very few views and just much closer to civilization. I had told my hiking buddy, Mark, that if I was really enjoying the trail, I would probably come home early and go back to do northern New England, because that is really where I wanted to hike. Everyone you talk to that has hiked the AT loves New England, especially New Hampshire and Maine.The whole decision to start in Virginia was kind of a knee jerk reaction. I was anxious to get started, Elizabeth was planning on being out of town for 3 of the 5 weeks I was going to be gone, and the recent changes in my business spurred me to do something sooner, rather than later. Then Elizabeth had 2 weeks of jobs get cancelled, the terrain turned less interesting, my ankle started bothering me, so why not go home and set up for a New England hike. I will again time it to be with many thru hikers, hopefully many that I met on the trail these past few weeks. Hopefully it will work out so Elizabeth can do a few days with me, probably in New Hampshire going hut to hut.Bottom line ¢ I had a great two weeks, am looking forward to Rainier in June and getting back on the AT in July up north. I still have every intention of doing a few more weeks on the trail and getting to the top of Katahdin. This break will allow me to make minor adjustments in what I carry. Overall I was very pleased with my preparation, but I will do a little tweaking.I know many of you have been reading my journal. It has been fun to document. Before starting I envisioned writing more, but the reality is it is tough to type on a tablet, and the evenings are spent socializing with other hikers, which was one of my main objectives for going on the trail. I will continue to update my journal all summer as things come up. Certainly my climb of Rainier and when I do get back on the trail in July.I went to the doctor today about my ¢shin splints¢ because even though the pain has really subsided, my foot and ankle are still very swollen. I went to an urgent care, which sent me to a podiatrist. He was also in his 50s and an avid hiker. He told me I have gout. I have never had issues like this before. Doc said I need to be careful what I eat, take an anti-inflammatory med for a few days and I should be ready to go. That was the good news; the bad news is the gout will probably come back. The doc also recommended more arch support. I had been more worried about heel cushioning. He saw no problem with being ready for Rainier in 4 weeks. He does want me to take things easy for a week, and then I can start ramping up again. Rainier is easy on the feet, since it is all snow and ice for a walking surface. I have never had foot problems on previous snow climbs.