Date: 2010-09-07
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Miles today: 0.0

I was in my shop yesterday just doing the usual daily job when the door opened and in walked a bearded man that looked just like a hiker from the trail. Well by golly it was a hiker I saw on the trail near Erwin, Trail Mark. He lives in Jacksonville Beach and is one of my long time customers. He has sported a beard and came to talk trail. I have been thinking and dreaming of being back on the trail since we left. So what a real treat! When I started to plan to hike the AT back in 2005, I picked Mark's brain about gear, conditions and some information about backpacking. He has hiked quite a bit on the trail and loves it as much as I do. He also takes boy scouts hiking to teach them. I was much interested in the winter hiking he had done because I thought we may run into some weather on the trail. So his incite helped me plan our thru hike this year.Our conversation was all trail talk, who we met, where we ended up, (us in Harpers Ferry, he in Harrisburg, PA) and what are our plans. He is pumped up about planning another thru for 2011. He wants to get together and review things I liked and disliked about gear, electronics, photo etc. Can't wait.I miss the trail soooooooooo much! I'm ready to pack up and begin now. EZ Hiker who summitted a few weeks ago updated his journal and sent me a link to his photos. Wow what a great trip he had. Definitely go to his trail journal and read his remarkable story! Attroll is also updating his journal but mostly on Facebook. His posts photos that just bring me right to the trail. He has some people we hiked with on the photos like Puma, Skid Mark and his cat, GipCgirl, Forest aka Solo. So many more I can't name them. I don't think this feeling will ever go away, I am addicted!Mark wants to do his thru hike next year. It makes me want to plan and get Tom and go. Unless a miracle happens, that wont happen. We will trail magic and go to trail days though. Hopefully we will see lots of these people up there when we go. Here is a journal entry Wild Poodle sent on Sept 2nd. They are doing so good! They have also reunited with lots of our trail friends, Dune, Peru, Radar, Sam, Hat Trick, Buttons and Home Brew. It brings such a smile to my face to see them. Good Luck all of you!Message from Wild Poodle 9/2:hello everyone, this is the first time we've been in a town since lincoln. we have been hiking (actually rock climbing!) in The Whites here in NH. what an experience we're having. it is so beautiful here with wonderful vistas every day that it's not rainy or foggy. fortunately we have some really good weather. where to begin. how to describe the past 9 days. ok. we were stuck at chet's hostel for 3 days due to rain and storms - too dangerous to be hiking in the mountains. one night there were 27 thru hikers there! our hiker friend tom henson (aka mr. lucky) from NC was up our way visiting his brother and sightseeing. was able to visit us in lincoln and hiked part of the Trail with us when we started backpacking again. was wonderful to spend time with him. he, cahoda and i met in damascus, va in '06. we had all hiked on the At that year and were in damascus due to injuries. have continued our friendship thru the years. we have been hiking in the whites since then. it's very hard because of the rocks, the wind, the extremes of terrain. our mileage the first day was 5.9. and since then averages 6-8. quite a difference from downsouth. our first night was spend at liberty spring tent site which had us tenting on platforms. luckily cahoda and my tents can be freestanding by using our treki poles on each end of our tents. the next day we experienced extreme weather on mt. lafayette: freezing rain and wind gusts of 60 mph so decided that this was not a safe situation. we backtracked and hiked down 1.1 miles to greenleaf hut. they took tin 11 thru hikers that night due to the harsh conditions. there are huts situated in very isolated and rugged areas of the whites. many established in the late 1800s and early 1900s. thru hikers are accepted many times if there is room for what's called work to stay. we have been fortunate enough to have work for stay in 4 of these. otherwise we have stayed in tent sites, two shelters and have done what is called stealth camping - just in the woods where there is a level area. I've just been told that the library is shutting down in 5 minutes so this will be shore. this is very hard hiking due to the ROCKS that we have to climb up, over and down! it's very hard on our knees. today i spent the day in bed alternating sleeping and applying ice to my right knee. all is better now. we will start back on the trail tomorrow. be out for two days and back to gorham and hopefully into maine in a few days. we have what is called the wildcat stretch to hike tomorrow and will stay at another hut called carter tomorrow night. wr are all well - taking it slow and easy. i will say that we are very tired at the end of the day; however, very proud of ourselves!! my love and best wishes to each of you. hope you enjoy the picts. Barbara/wp