Date: 2003-08-17
From: Telephone Pioneers Shelter

To: Appalachain Trail Station
Miles today: 3.0

Ok...it is time I came to grips with the truth. I am a lousy thru-hiker. Now, don't get me wrong, I am a great hiker! I can survive for days on end in the great outdoors, I can climb a mountain, ford a stream, and traverse a bog with the best of them! Living with sweat, dirt, pain, bugs....I can do all of that!! But when it comes to those attributes that are important to being a sucessful thru-hiker, I am seriously lacking. What attributes are those you might ask? The ability to commit oneself to hiking mile after mile, the ability to avoid distraction and the ability to stay strong in the face of temptation. It's that avoiding distraction thing that gets me every time!! So, we get up this morning and set off on a lovely hike. A wide, smooth path strewn with pine needles under towering trees......bog bridges made of planks that travel through jungles of six-foot tall foliage.....the trail was gentle and inviting, just what we needed for a 13 mile day. However, after three miles, we came to a raised platform bordering rail road tracks. Across the top is a sign that says Appalachian Trail Station. Yep.....it is an actual stop on the railroad that goes into New York City! Upon further inspection, we see that the train only stops on the weekends. WAIT......today is Sunday! We look at the train schedule, we look at each other and burst out laughing. Bumpkin suggests that we get on the next train, regardless of where it is going, just because we can! Of course, I agree immediately, cause as we have already established....I am lousy at avoidng distractions!   The next train is due in three hours, so we head down the road to a deli/gas station. Many of these little places along the trail have put picnic tables outside so that the hikers have a place to sit and eat, so we buy our sandwiches and head back outside to relax. Shortly, we look up to see Bear Magnet walking down the road. We haven't seen him since southern Virginia, and it was great to catch up on the trail news.    After lunch, and some fun conversation, we all three headed back up to the AT. There were several other hikers at the station by this time, and we all chatted easily as we waited for the train. We had an hour before the train was due, but within minutes it pulled up and the conductor jumped out. "You folks want to ride in the air-conditioning?" he asked. It turns out that he would let us ride down to the end of the line and back, before he collected our ticket money. Isn't that cool?! It was blazing hot, so we jumped on board, and before we knew it, we were heading to New York City!! Ain't life grand? :)So, several hours have passed and we have a hotel room in Times Square, we dined on fabulous sushi on Restaurant Row, and saw a movie on Broadway. (Unfortunately, broadway shows don't do a Sunday evening performance, so the balcony seats for Hairspray I was envisioning never materialized). This has been a wonderful, eye-opening experience that I can sum up in five words....New Yorkers are a trip! I could never be hip enough to live here! And just for the record, you haven't lived 'til you've heard a true New York audience rip apart a bad Kevin Costner movie! The audience was a hundred times more entertaining than the movie!!    Tomorrow, we head back to the trail. We would both love to sight see, but we have miles to go before we sleep. And just for the record, I may be lousy at this thru-hike thing, but I am great at this living thing!!Love, Anna aka Mud Buttwww.trailjournals.com