Date: 2013-09-21
From: Stealth Camp near Wind Gap

To: Stroudsburg, PA
Miles today: 1.6

The Crunchmaster stealth camped last night and got up early so he could meet us at the trailhead at 6:30 this morning. Trevor has put in some long days in anticipation of meeting family at Delaware Water Gap, which was the starting point of the last section my dad, Happy's Pappy, when he completed his section hike of the AT in 2007 at 82 years of age.Trevor will not post today. Maybe that helped a little in putting the 'smile' on his face in today's feature photo.As promised, this post will instead, include Trevor's response to a variety of questions, some of which you, the readers, have asked. If there are additional questions demanding a response, fire them to us via the guest book attached. The questions and answers are at the end of this post.The "us" in the first sentence of this post refer's to 3 of Crunchmaster's most ardent supporters, his 'mama', his 'gramma', and his 'dad'. While these 'ardent' supporters weren't eager to have their photo published to the 'world' we must be prepared to practice what we preach, as we have all been pressing Trevor to include more pictures of himself. People are the most important part of this experience and the more people captured in photos, the better.Crunchmaster with his "Mama"Crunchmaster with his "Gramma"Crunchmaster with his dad, "Happy"The Interview:With 2.5 months and nearly 1000 miles behind you, I am curious as to what you think about your experience. Is there a particular part of the trail you have favored?¢Maine was definitely my favorite, followed very closely by the White Mountains. The scenery and the landscape was stunning, inspiring, absolutely incredible.¢Was there a region you particularly disliked?¢Vermont and New York. Vermont, probably because I was dealing with foot issues, heat, and bugs, more so than the trail itself being bad. There just wasn¢t as many good views. The White Mtns are a hard act to follow. New York had very few outstanding views, not near enough water, and it was during a stretch of hot weather. When the heat index gets to 110 degrees it¢s really hard to enjoy even the best of trail. Many thanks to the trail angels that left jugs of water for us at 4 different places during the stretch of trail after the NYC visit.Meeting people is a huge part of the trail experience. Who made the biggest impression on you?¢Harpo & Groucho, because they are outgoing, entertaining, easy to talk to and that makes being around them fun. They continue to reach out to me and email me. They are SOBO¢s who are about a week or so ahead.¢¢Milkrun and Cerveza, because they are fun and easy to talk to, are the same age, have similar interests, and have similar hiking pace. We¢ve formed a pretty good friendship after hiking a few hundred miles together.¢¢Professor Kent and his incredible hospitality. Taking 3 smelly, dirty hikers into his home was so appreciated, and incredibly good of him. He made us feel right at home, fed us well, and went out of his way to assure we had a fun, relaxing weekend. He continues to follow us with ¢likes¢ and ¢comments¢ on FB and has encouraged us from the very beginning on the importance and value of journaling.What is one of your most ¢memorable moments¢ on this journey?"¢Hiking into camp (Pierce Pond Shelter) one evening and finding a group of girls our age. Being fed macaroni and cheese by them and sitting around the campfire and talking with them about our adventure.¢What is one of your most ¢unmemorable moments¢ on this journey?Walking up to a shelter at the end of the day and finding hikers who have their tents set up inside the shelter, leaving little to no room for others. This is a huge pet peeve of mine and requires a lot of self-control on my part not to be mean or hateful.¢What was your worst day on the trail?¢Pretty much every day in Vermont, for reasons noted above.¢What was your best day on the trail?¢I had a lot of good days, and it¢s hard to single out just one. Things that made days special were: meeting interesting people, hiking with family, hiking with good friends, swimming in cool water on a hot day, seeing an incredible view, seeing a moose with it¢s baby, relaxing in comfort on a Zero day, hiking all day with no soreness or tiredness, and sitting down to a delicious meal.¢What is the biggest surprise in hiking the trail? Something you didn¢t expect?¢It¢s pretty much like I expected. I¢ve hiked enough prior to starting the thru hike to know what I was getting into. I¢d never hiked for any longer than a week at a time, so that has been a ¢new¢ experience for me. If anything, it¢s easier than I expected.¢Tell us some of the biggest highlights of your trail experience? Beyond what you¢ve already shared.¢I had a tough time in Vermont and on one of the toughest days I came to a place on the trail where there were coolers of sandwiches, frozen Gatorades, snacks, bananas, s¢mores, cheese, and other goodies. When you¢re hot, tired, and hungry it¢s just mind-blowing to walk up to something like this unexpectedly. The trail angels that set that up hit a home run.¢¢Every case of trail magic was special: it included rides to town, chocolate milk, lemonade, water, food, foot care mailed to me (thanks Don Stuart). They come when least expected and from people that don¢t even know you. There are a lot of good caring, giving people out there. It¢s inspiring to me.¢What has been your biggest challenge?¢Being alone for a month and hiking by myself. I¢ll try to avoid that in the future, if at all possible. I really value the friendship and camaraderie that develops on the trail.¢Have you had any ¢anxious¢ moments?¢There have been several. I recall the bad fall I took on a slick trail coming down Baldpate Mtn, running out of food before reaching Andover, ME, dealing with bouts of homesickness, walking 6 miles during the middle of the night after visiting NYC, dealing with foot problems and the uncertainty of how it might impact my journey, a ride I got to town with a guy who was a little weird, waiting for an hour for a ride into town, just to recall a few.¢Would you care to share ways you¢ve been ¢blessed¢ on this journey?¢There are too many to recount. I haven¢t gotten sick. I¢ve had very little rain, no extended days of continuous rain. My feet healed. Most importantly, I¢ve had incredible support from family and friends, and even from complete strangers. Word of encouragement, even from a complete stranger, do make a difference.¢Has your journey to date changed how you think about things, has it awoken any new interests?¢I¢ve been impressed by the generosity of so many people who provide many forms of trail magic. I too, feel compelled to ¢give back¢ to the trail by providing trail magic after I¢ve completed my hike. I feel I¢m more conscious of the importance of relationships and how much difference it can make in your outlook.¢What do you plan on doing after completing the hike?¢I probably won¢t hike for a while after completing. I¢ll need to find work before starting college next fall. I¢m still uncertain on what career I want. I guess I¢ll have plenty of ¢think¢ time in the next couple of months, maybe I can sort out some of these things.¢Have you had fun?¢Yes, very much!"What has made it fun?¢Being outdoors. Discovering and seeing new things every day. The freedom to be out on my own and not tied down to a tedious routine of work or school. The sense of accomplishment, particularly when meeting the many physical challenges the trail throws as you. Making new friends and getting to know people has played a big part of making this journey enjoyable.¢How bad, really, are the rocks in "Rock-sylvania?"I've only completed about 15 miles, which were pretty rocky. I will be in PA for about a week to a week and a half and I'll let you know once I've completed it. I know it will be easier than it was for most NOBO's, who hike it during the intense heat. I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures, and know that will help a lot."