Date: 2005-11-07
To: Florida
Miles today: 0.0

It's been 8 days since I summited Springer Mountain in Georgia. I've been very busy since I finished and still have sooooo many things to do that I am having a hard time organizing everything. I spent a few days immediately after I finished just hanging around the trail. I have been feeling the need for some place to hang my hat...even if I am only home for 2 to 4 weeks a year. I checked out some property near the trail in Tennessee, but felt like I was under pressure to find something. I don't like buying anything under those conditions because my standards wouldn't be in the right place to really get the property I wanted, so I decided to come on back to Florida and not worry about looking at property right now. I have spent the last 5 days visiting relatives and letting the grandkids tell me how much they love me. :-))) I've been at my mom and dad's for 2 days now and will be here for another day before I head up to my oldest grandaughter's 13th birthday party. I had looked at travel trailers before I started my last hike and really liked one in particular, so I called the no-pressure sales lady I had talked to and ordered one. It's supposed to be in Indiana by December 15th. That might work out good because I'm driving to California for a wedding on December 2nd and on the way back I will stop in Las Vegas for a couple days to make enough money to pay for the trip. :-))) Then I'll stop by my older brother's house in western Tennessee on the way to get my new home on wheels. I started this hike on the A.T. that I just finished on July 5th. My plan at that time was to try and finish in time for the holidays this year. I really wanted to spend Thanksgiving with family for a change. That would have meant doing the hike in a little under 5 months or at least getting far enough south on the trail that if I wasn't done, I could get off trail long enough to go back to Florida and eat turkey, then come back and finish whatever was left of the trail. I had never walked that far that quickly before and wasn't sure I could. The quickest I had finished the trail before was 6 1/2 months and I was kind of proud of the fact that I went slow enough to keep my weight up. :-))) I started walking south and had a friend that wanted to walk through the wilderness in Maine with me when she found out I was walking the trail again. That was nice because it got me into walking at a pace I was used to. I think it took about 6 days to get to Monson. Quicygirl left the trail and I continued on. I was really feeling good and looking forward to a good walk when Lew dropped me off at the trailhead at Monson after a good seafood dinner. My one mistake at that time was that because I had slept cold in the wilderness 2 nights, I left my summer quilt in my truck which was parked at Lew and Frogcaller's cabin near Monson instead of putting it in my bounce box. I guess that seafood dinner was all I was thinking of at the time. That meant that I had my 10 degree Western Mountaineering down bag with me and it was summertime. I carried that 10 degree bag with me for the whole walk. I ended up sleeping on top of it most of the time. At least it packs up small and doesn't weigh alot. I walked south and started shedding a few pounds of body weight that I always put on when I'm not walking all day long. I had friends in almost every state that I walked through that helped me out more than they know. They would pick me up somewhere along the trail when I got close to where they lived and take me to their homes for the night. I would get fed and cleaned up and sleep in a real bed, but the best part was that I got to see good friends and always ended up staying up late talking. I never once got enough sleep when I was staying at their homes, but that wasn't important. It was great staying up late and talking with my friends and I always got back on the trail the next day except once. Mrs Moosie talked me into taking a zero day in Connecticut by telling me about some really good food at a local fair that was taking place the next day. I really like Mrs Moosie and I really like food, so it was an easy decision to stay and not walk for a day. I guess it was even good to stay and hang around with Moosie too. :-))) I took a zero day there, but my body really felt like it didn't need it. I had only taken one other zero day and that wasn't because I needed it. It was in Gorham, NH and I was getting ready for the 100 mile stretch through the White Mountains and the weather was supposed to be really bad for one more day, then be beautiful for the next week. I made the right choice by staying an extra day in Gorham because I had gorgeous weather all the way through the Whites. I would send my bounce box about 400 miles up the trail, so I could charge my camera and get my maps for the trail ahead. That way I didn't have to carry all that stuff. I kept walking everyday and didn't feel the need for a zero. The only other time that I walked with anyone besides when I walked through the wilderness in Maine was when Moosie walked for 2 days with me in NY. That was nice having the company for a change until he chafed a little and finished walking one day in his underwear. I made him walk behind me then. :-))) I kept walking and was feeling better than I've ever felt. The mountains that used to seem hard, started feeling like bumps and I got into such great shape that it felt like I just kind of floated up those bumps. I had planned all along to go to The Gathering in NH in October. That was nice to look forward to, but as it got closer to time to get off trail for that, I started having mixed feelings about it. I really wanted to go because I knew I would see lots of friends that I wouldn't see otherwise. I also really wanted to stay on the trail and keep walking because I had never felt so good walking everyday. I ended up taking 8 full zero days and a couple neros while I left trail for The Gathering. When I got back on trail, it took me a couple days to get that feeling back that I could walk all day without getting tired, but it did come back and I felt really strong again. I continued having help along the trail from friends who would go out of their way to help me when I was in their area. I had some of the best weather I could ask for. All though the water had been hard to come by ever since I entered Vermont, I had some of the best weather I've ever walked in. I don't remember for sure, but I probably didn't have more than 8 days of rain on this whole walk. I started getting close to the end of this walk and I started getting mixed feelings about finishing.It is such a good life out on the trail and I knew I was going to be off trail for some time when I finished. It's hard to explain other than the woods really have become my home and when I'm off trail, I'm not home. My last days on the trail were spent thinking of alot of things, but my thoughts were mostly about my next hike and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to go the wrong way on the A.T. next spring and walk north from Springer. :-))) When I started this walk I was worried whether I would get done in time for the holidays. I had never walked that many miles and been able to stay focused on walking, but it just worked for me this year and it ended up being one of my favorite walks. People ask me all the time why I keep walking the A.T. One of the reasons, although not the most important reason, is because it's always a different hike...different direction, different season in different areas, different people, different weather....it's always different and I always see friends and make new friends each year. My summer pack weight is usually around 18 pounds with full food and water (2 nights and 3 days of food and one litre of water). I try to keep my pack weight down, but I'm also very aware of keeping the volume of things I carry down too. I don't filter water...I'm just careful where I get water. I do carry a very small plastic bottle (1/8th ounce) of clorox just in case I have to get water out of a lake or pond or other standing surface water and I'll use a few drops to a litre of water. I think I used that twice on this hike. I sleep in my tent most nights and I stealth tent almost always for 3 main reasons...I get to find nice soft duff and leaves to sleep on (it's like sleeping in a feather bed), I'm a lite sleeper, so I don't get woke up by someone snoring in a shelter, and I sleep with my food in my tent, so I don't worry about bears coming up to my tent when I'm away from where they usually go looking for table scraps. There are other benefits to stealth tenting too. I eat and socialize at shelters, but will walk another 1 to 2 hours after dinner. That way I never eat where I sleep at until breakfast time and I walk off that full feeling from dinner and I get to walk in one of my two favorite times of the day...watching the sunset while I'm walking. I only carry the clothes I'm wearing in the summer and a lite weight jacket and rain gear. The rain gear is only for wind though because a nice summer rain is a free shower without the work. :-))) It's amazing how clean you get by walking in the rain. Once your clothes dry out, everything (except your shoes and socks) smell good again. My one real luxury that I carry all the time is my plastic Dunkin Donuts coffee mug, coffee filter, Starbuck's coffee and the stove and denatured alcohol used to heat up the water each morning. It really adds alot of weight to my pack, but I feel it's worth it to have that great cup of coffee each morning. I usually walk all day with only a few stops. I stop by a shelter if it's not too far off the trail and sign the register and get to use some of my smiley face stickers. I also stop when I see animals or views or other hikers. The poor animals and other hikers...they never get by me without having to hear me talking. :-))) I don't usually eat hot meals for dinner on the trail mainly because there's not alot of hot dinners available that I like that are lite enough to carry. I did enjoy the meals that Mrs Moosie and I made and dehydrated earlier this year though. I do eat well when I get into a town. In fact, I eat very well when I get to town and I think that keeps me in good health for walking the miles I walk each day. I can't stand to even think about Lipton's noodles for dinner anymore.   I usually like to have 4 to 6 small snacks ready to eat during the day and try to eat a little every hour that I'm walking. I don't like to sit down during the day to eat lunch. I call my style of eating while I'm walking...grazing. It keeps my energy level high and I never eat too much while I'm walking. My favorite breakfast on the trail is friut filled fried pies and I need 2 of them to satisfy me. That gets me started with almost 800 calories in the morning. I always start off walking at a much slower pace and after about 30 to 60 minutes my body is warmed up and won't want to quit walking until late in the day. My feet are a little tired by the end of the day, but when I wake up in the morning, I feel fantastic and ready for another walk. I always smile at anyone I see and I always try to talk to any hikers I might see on the trail. I have one more entry I'm going to make for this hike before I'm done with my journal. I've had some requests to talk about the gear I use.I'll get that posted within the next week. I'm also working on getting somemore pictures posted. I've been posting a few pictures from the last month of the hike and will post the pictures from the middle of the hike as soon as my mail arrives with my camera memory chip in it. I have to thank all the people and friends that helped me make through the hike this year. It was a great year for a walk. :-)))