Date: 2023-01-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

Note: This post has been in the works for a while and it¢s been a struggle to work on and finish this post due to a bad case of post trail blues. I¢ve started and stopped writing it multiple times, often with big delays between attempts. I¢m focused on the trail aspect in this post but will detail the post trail aspect in a follow up post.Five Million Steps. That¢s the rough number of steps that you will take while hiking the AT. It¢s a daunting number that¢s hard to wrap your head around. It seems impossibly high when you are contemplating hiking the AT. as you begin hiking, eventually you realize that you are usually focused on the current day and hardly ever look past the next one or two resupplies. The journey becomes a long series of day or overnight hikes looking to get to the next water source, shelter or point of interest. Five Million Steps. That¢s the number of times that you must successfully place your foot on trail whether it is smooth or covered in roots, rocks, leaves or combination thereof, whether it is dry or slippery, whether you are tired or fresh, or any number of other issues that you encounter while hiking. Any one of those steps has the ability to end your hike, but at the same time it¢s not something that you can control. I found that I would trip or land badly enough to notice that step wasn¢t quite right about a half dozen times per day. Most of those were innocuous but every three to four days I would step badly enough that I would have to stop, evaluate the situation and determine whether I had done any damage. That¢s around 50 times that I came close to a potentially bad situation and another 1000 near misses. From that aspect it¢s amazing to me that I actually finished the trail and emerged relatively unscathed. Towards the end of the hike, especially after I face planted, that little voice in the back of my head would get louder and louder that I was pressing my luck and cheating the odds.As far as actual injuries and ailments, prior to starting I was worried about my toes (Morton¢s neuroma) and ankles. I used non custom orthotics with met pads and thankfully had no toes issues the entire trip. In fact the toes might even be slightly better than when I started. A big thanks to my podiatrist Dr Cafengiu for making that possible. I had some minor aches and pains that came and went in my knees and hips but generally I used almost no pain meds (Ibuprofen, etc.) throughout the journey. I still have no idea what was the cause of the abdominal pain in New Hampshire and I guess I¢ll never know. I¢m thankful that my case of Covid was relatively mild and had a very small impact on my hike. My only lingering post trail injury is my shoulder which I hurt falling in Maine. I keep putting off getting this treated, one of the effects of having the blues.As I write (well start writing) this in FL while visiting my son, it¢s been a couple of days since I finished at Springer. It still seems so strange to me that I am finished and that I completed what I set out to do. When I got to the end, mentally I was still having fun and not ready for the journey to end, and from that aspect I wish the journey could have continued on. However, physically I was tired and ready for a longer break and to see my family again, and from that aspect it¢s nice to be done , sleeping in a bed with running water, and not on trail right now. Except for some rare situations, hiking never became a chore or something that I had to do. I came across many hikers whose last couple of hundred miles were not fun, but more like an obligation they had to complete. I am so grateful that I was never in that situation and that the end of my journey was just as fun as the start. I am immensely grateful that I decided to finally take the plunge and make this adventure a reality. This journey has whetted my appetite to get out and see many of the other national parks and regions that my fellow hikers talked about. This is likely not the last long distance trail I will complete, although it¢s likely that future adventures will look much different. If I had a penny for every person that found out that I was thru hiking and told me they could never do a Thru Hike, I wouldn¢t be a rich man but I¢d certainly be able to buy a nice beer. I heard this most often in town, but also from many day and overnight hikers. I¢m not na ve enough to think that everyone could do a Thru Hike or whatever their big adventure is, but I firmly believe that most people could if they really wanted to. There¢s always a reason or excuse not to go. Even my journey was put off, first by my kids being in college and then a second time in 2021 by a family issue just prior to announcing my hike. Even this year I was agonizing over the decision and uncertain about leaving for a long time. However, on trail I met people who wished they had started earlier in life, those whose parents passed away prior to or early in retirement, but nobody who wished they were still working instead of hiking. People of all ages (a 76 year old woman was the oldest hiker that I met and she made it to Katahdin), shapes, experience, family situations, work status, etc. get out for their big Adventure. I am sure there are many people that convince themselves that they can¢t go because they are too (fill in the blank). I am now a convert and encourage you to get you and do your big Adventure while you can. Ironically I had my own health scare with melanoma followed by blood clots five years ago but it was actually getting out on trail that finally converted me. Part of me wishes that I had seen the light earlier and not delayed my start but you can¢t change the past. As the Jack Kerouac quote goes ¢Because in the end, you won¢t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.¢ Adventure awaits, go find it. I passed thousands of people on the trail and as those who hiked with me can attest, I greeted nearly everybody with a ¢Hey, how are y¢all doing today¢. Nearly everyone would respond, but I¢d estimate only half of them would ask how I was doing. Sadly, Orchid got much lower response rate even if she was leading. Apparently being a ¢graybeard¢ and not a women matters to some. I¢d respond with Fantastic, Awesome, Peachy Keen or Just Ducky (my favorite being the inside joke and which almost never failed to get a chuckle) and then some comment about the day. If they were backpacking I¢d usually ask them where they were coming from or going to try to politely determine if they were a thru hiker. Most Thru Hikers would reciprocate, but almost nobody else would. They¢d generally answer specific questions but never ask any. This was one of those things that became noticeable and would stick out the more people we met. It¢s an observation and honestly I¢m not even sure what point I¢m trying to make here other than lets all try to at least be equally polite to everyone. Obviously YMMV.Now that I¢ve been off trail for a while a number of questions have percolated to the top of the frequently asked list.Did you see any bears or rattlesnakes? (Yes to both)Did you go alone? (Started alone but met Orchid early on)How did you eat, poop, sleep, and shower? (Hopefully this journal answered these questions)How much did it rain? (Not much)How many pairs of shoes? (Six)What was your favorite section? This is actually a really hard question to answer. How do you boil down 2200 miles and 168 days into one favorite part. It¢s easier to name the few areas I didn¢t like. Weather, seasons, and what constitutes a ¢section¢ all play a factor. For a 5-10 mile section, Franconia Ridge (stunning), Mt Katahdin (epic) and Big Firescald Knob (foliage) took top billing. For a multi-day section Shenandoah (blooming wildflowers and bushes) and the Whites (amazing views) were my favorites. For a state, my home state of NJ is obviously the best, in my opinion of course.Were there anything unexpected things? The three biggest unexpected things were how many times I stayed off trail, how many times I slackpacked, and how poorly the AT is marked in some sections. I originally expected I would stay in town about once a week. However, I found it was nice to carry no more than four days of food and to get a shower and do laundry at the same time. On average I tended to sleep better in hotels and hostels than on trail which also contributing to more frequent off trail stays. Slackpacking wasn¢t even on the radar before I started, but it is a good way to make miles without the strain of a full pack. Thus helping to reduce the effort you need to put forth. It also usually requires a second night in town, adding to the off trail count. As far as the trail, I¢ve seen that there are supposed to be 160,000 blazes on the AT which roughly comes down to roughly 20-25 blazes per mile. Yet there were times where you were walking for 5, 10, 15 minutes between blazes, were at an intersection where it wasn¢t clear which way to go, or needed to check our GPS position to make sure we were still on track. Don¢t get me wrong, volunteers do an amazing job of maintaining and marking the trail. It¢s just they say you can¢t get lost on the AT and that¢s true on the parts I frequently hike, so this was a bit unexpected. I¢d say it¢s difficult but not impossible to get lost and you definitely need some form of a map.It¢s now well past New Year¢s and I¢m finally (hopefully) finishing this post. I had an amazing journey and I wouldn¢t change a thing. There were definitely challenges and times that I was cold, wet, tired or miserable. As Coach is fond of saying, ¢THIS SHIT IS HARD¢, but it NEVER GOT OLD and I never stopped having fun. This was in no small part due to the people I met. I lucked out in having such an awesome tramily in Orchid, Pilgrim and Coach. I couldn¢t have asked for a better set of traveling companions. So many others played a part and often came at the most opportune times including but not limited to Sparkles (non binary and band director), Harmony, Relish, Play by Play, Big Hungry, Pappy, Blondie, Smiley, Sojourner, Grits, and Bloom. In addition there were many family and friends that put us up for the night, shuttled us around or otherwise helped us. Thank you so much for all of your kindness and support. It means the world to me. I know my journey would not have been the same without you. Ending the trail is bittersweet as you know you won¢t see most of your trail friends again. I¢ve been lucky to have lunched with Pilgrim and just finished a visit with Orchid. Coach is just a wee bit further away, so ¢¦For those that have followed my journey, thank you. This journey is over for me, but Adventure Still Awaits around the corner. Go find your adventure.Duckie¢