Date: 2004-08-02
From: Dalton, MA

To: Dalton, MA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

My two new favorite machines; the washer and dryer. The great thing about hiker clothes is that high-tech fabrics dry in a blink of an eye. So a visit to the laundromat is never longer than 45 minutes. I never remember laundry being so effortless. It was always something to avoid., you know, with those big baskets loaded beyond full. But now, with so very little that we carry and the promise of clean smelling, crisp and strangely stiff garments void of miles and miles of dirt, it is something I always look forward to. My how the trail changes us.It was then over to pick up the mail drop and stop in for a visit to the Dalton Library and free Internet access. I caught up with Carp through e-mail who five days ago was in Palmerton, PA (The Devils Forehead area as I call it)... that means I'm about two weeks ahead. Spoke to Belle last night and she's planning on coming up with her good friends to their house in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire (better known as "The Whites") when I get near there. Which is rapidly approaching.Although I've been hiking solo for sometime now, I'm not lonely. The many new discoveries I hike into each day keeps me filled with excitement and smiles! I really like hiking the woods and mountains this way. And besides, its not like I'm by myself, there's quite a few of us out here moving solo. We run into one another frequently. I've actually had a pattern where for a week or two, another and myself have hiked to similar pace. But the point that I'm really trying to say is how much stronger emotionally the trail has enabled me to become. It wasn't always that way, so I tend to be a bit more empathetic towards others when I detect they're having a tough time of it. Without a joyful spirit, facing the many physically difficult aspects of the trail can play havoc with your will to go on. Its certainly no secret how few actually finish a Thru-hike. Things happen. Moods weaken. Some will come off the trail simply because what they wanted to experience has and the motivation has evolved. The one's I feel for are those who come off the trail at a moment of despair, who really didn't want to but they couldn't step outside of the situation they got mired in. Currently, I'm sitting at the counter stuffing my face at Dalton's Restaurant, the TV in the background just informed me that the rainfall for the month of July was more than double the average. In fact, it was the fifth wettest! Borrowing from a childhood phrase... duh?!?!This hike has taken me to many a Main Street. Here I am just hanging out, seeing, feeling, visiting our Land. It's really a unique experience on top of all the other wilderness ones. Understanding all that the Appalachian Trail is before you begin is next to impossible. Case in point, it never occurred to me how abundant the wildlife would be. Or that hitching into town would prove so easy, that running around town doing the necessary errands proved never to be a burden.A true adventure in a modern world, it may be the hardest thing you will ever ask of yourself physically and possibly the most challenging mental-emotional test you may ever face as well. To clearly define all of what the AT is would be quite difficult since it manifests itself on the individual in so many varied ways. It is one thing if not all things. And it is all those things simultaneously and randomly. Simply put, it just is and it is our interaction with it that creates the joys and sorrows. It is for that reason why our true Achilles is our outlook. I find it a terrible shame to know individuals who cannot see the brighter side of life. And frankly, I go out of my way to limit my time in their company.Life is on a level of ten right now, just amazing! I hope you're having as much fun as I am?