Date: 2011-09-15
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It has been a little over a month since I completed my thru-hike and life is sort of back to normal. I¢m glad to be home with my family, but I still find myself thinking about and checking up on those still on the trail. About a week after I finished I was able to have the best of both worlds, my family and I went up to Kinsman Notch with some trail magic as we figured Walkin Wally, Shutter and Peregrine would be coming by and we hoped to surprise them. On the way to the notch we gave a ride to a hiker named ¢Steamer¢ who was hitching back to the Welcome Hiker inn in Glencliff. After we dropped him off we drove and set up at the notch and fed one Southbounder, but then there didn¢t seem to be much traffic. Suddenly my phone rang and it was Peregrine, he was at the Welcome Hiker hostel and when the ¢Steamer¢ arrived at the Hostel he told Peregrine someone was looking for him, and Peregrine reasoned it must be me. Peregrine told me that Walkin Wally had gone over Moosilauke, but that he and Shutter were going to be at the Hostel for most of the day. I left a note for Walkin Wally and headed to the Hostel. When we arrived I was surprised to see not only Shutter and Peregrine, but also Moondoggie, Dayman, Doc and Pyrite, all whom I¢ve hiked with in the past. Peregrine¢s son Thomas or ¢Little Wing¢ was up for a week to do a section with his dad also. Glide and Daydreamer were also at the hostel. We brought the food from the car and fed the entire bunch of hikers at the hostel which totaled about 15 or so. It was great to talk with hikers I¢d met on the trail, some I haven¢t seen since Georgia. We chatted for some time and then many were going about 1 mile up the trail to the next shelter to get ready for Moosilauke in the morning. As we were leaving we got a call from Walking Wally who found my note, so we went back to the notch to see him. When we arrived Glide showed us where Walkin Wally was camping. It was amazing that I hadn¢t seen him since day 1 on my hike but we felt like long lost friends. It is really amazing the friendships that develop due to a common bond, like starting the trail together, even though we didn¢t hike a lot of miles together. All in all it felt really good to see everyone again, and I¢ve since tracked down ¢Chainsaw¢ and will probably meet up with him after he summits.   My feet are starting to recover, they still hurt but I think some of it is because I¢m back running quite a bit and they tend to get sore again after a long run. The hiker hobble is still kind of there after I sit or ride for a while, but I think some of that is now runner¢s hobble. I still think about the trail every single day and miss it. It doesn¢t help that my wife has been bitten by the bug and is talking about a hike possibly in 2016. It¢s funny because in the end of the hike I was ready to be done, but now all of the tough times have already faded and I¢d go back in a minute if circumstances allowed. I really miss my hiking buddies and it doesn¢t help that the ones I know the best live in Germany and New Zealand. I also miss being able to eat anything I want, but have tried to control myself, and so far have only gained back about 2 or 3 pounds.   I¢ve gotten quite a few questions about my gear and what I liked or didn¢t so I¢ll probably do one more entry about what worked and what didn¢t then I¢ll put the journal to bed until the next adventure.