I had an emotional response to walking today. I realized I haven't walked more than a mile or so since being off the trail. Although I did hike and camp for a couple of days at Acadia Nat'l Park, but that was my immediate unwinding, very amazing, very neccesary. I've just been so busy doing this and that, visiting people and places, tying up loose ends, cleaning up and clearing out (as Persephone would say) and making space for the new.Finally, last night I felt that things were settling down and a real rythym might be able to start. It felt good to putter around in the kitchen, making up my long craved for red cabbage and seaweed salad, marinating tofu for BLTs tomorrow, and looking up recipes online. Cup of tea in hand I ventured to the couch and flipped on the tube. Instantly getting sucked into the show 'Project Runway' I began to feel antsy. 'Is this what it's going to be like now?' Instead of sitting outside around a fire, staring at that with a few good friends, enjoying the simplicity of it all, I am inside, staring at people I don't know or care about, and I don't even know that it's actually really warm outside. It looked cold through the window because of the storm, so I hadn't bothered to go out. I don't like being detatched from what's going on in nature. So, I decided, at that moment that I definately need to get my butt outside....no messin' around. This morning, after cereal and tea I donned my running shoes and strolled on down the street. A more perfect fall morning couldn't have existed. Warm, but cool enough for my favorite knit cap, bright red and yellow leaves up against the bold blue fall sky and sunshine, sunshine, sunshine. Mmmm Hmmmm.
It felt so good to be moving. Stretching my legs, my knees loosening up (they are still kind stiff, especially my left one) I felt a bounce coming into my step and a surge of sweet energy. Not ten minutes into my walk, I started flashing to visions of being on the trail, or a trail. As clear as I could see the sidewalk in front of me, the houses on the road and the cars whizzing past, I could,in my mind's eye, see a brown trail beneath my feet, trees and forest growth on either side and only the sounds of the leaves blowing in the breeze, birds and chipmunks busy as ever and red squirrels bitching (they are always, it seems, going off on something from some high post in a tree)at any and everything in sight. I felt like I could walk all day, knowing that I actually could if I had food and water. It's a cool feeling to know that I could turn a 3 mile walk into 20 and never suffer for it. I was suddenly missing the trail, suddenly, a lot. I got lost in thought and memory for a bit and was feeling pretty emotional. It could've turned to sadness and longing,and in my past,that my be where I would have gone. Instead, it turned to a feeling of peace, joy and gratitude. I now have these memories I can turn to anytime I need them.
As I said in one of my earlier entries, this walk, in part, was a walk of gratitude. Gratitude for the conciousness and strenght to chose my own path. And now, the universe, seeing my heart, my soul, and determination is opening it's doors for me. I can almost here them wispering to each other, 'i think she's ready'. And I'm listening, with all my senses, to the guiding forces~
As the main character's mother in Almost Famous says to the lead guitarist in the band, "Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aide" I think that's just right on.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
थे रोड इस लॉन्ग थे रिवर वाइड.. विल इ बे थे समे व्हेन इ राच थे ओथेर साइड?
So...i wrote an amazing blog update last night a nd was about to send it when the internet connection was momentary lost, and my update was permanently lost. terribly sorry, for it was a good one. not as much in the sprit of it today b ecause i want to go kayaking and fishing...........
Aaaaah! final frontier!! Natty and I strolled into Monson, ME about noon yesterday and are staying at the lakehouse hostel/B&B along with some other hikers...namely my dear ones Firecracker and Big Fish!! Hooray...been trying to catch those two for months, but it couldn't have come at a better time.we will hopefully all finish together, pretty awsome! after a 17? miler the other day we reaaly wanted to camp on this river we had been hiking along for several miles and were hoping to find a spot, when lo and behold there's FC and BF camped with a fire going already...room for two more?? Oh yeah!! It's been so long i've been missin' my homegirl, Firecracker....and Natty's heard all about them, so finally we all meet....yaaay! we stayed up late(by hiker standards, uh 10pm) around the fire, played some tunes. played the Hiker Funk song, written by Natty, myself and our friend who we haven't seen in awhile, Honey Dew. firecracker recorded it on her DVR and listened to it while hiking yeserday...cool.
So, Maine is incredible! How is it that i have lived here but had nooo idea how magical, and beautiful it is.from the rocky bald, above treeline mountaintops to the dence packed fir and pine trees, moss lined trails. Aaah...so much moss. just gorgeous. there have been so many opportunities to camp on rivers, ponds and lakes with beauiful views, wildlife everywhere. in some places there have been more moose tracks than people tracks. we saw a huge bull moose the other day. i was walking super slow and quiet(quite by accident, my knee was killing me and i was taking it easy) and iheard him before i saw him. he was munching away on something and breathing, prety loud. i tried to sneak up to take a photo, but he started walking away. how something so huge makes his way through these densley packed forests had been a mystery. i realized that they don't 'make their way through' if it's in thier way, they run into it and knock it down....how else could it work. i had to laugh at the racket he made, you'de think out in the natural world , the creatures could be a little stealth, not so with big moose. soo loud. just before mahoosic notch, we had seen a full moose skeleton off the trail. someone had taken it upon themselves to write out the word HELP! with the bones. i helped myself to a rib bone and put it in my 'voodoo pocket' on the side of my pack, along with my two turkey feathers (i used to have a snake skin) and now a tail of some animal(a mink?or a marten??) it was just sitting there on the trail....my voodoo pocket is nearly complete!
So we got a glimpse of the ol' final destination the other day, Mt Katadhin.....getting closer every step i take. It's pretty exciting. I'm psyched to be reaching the end, the top of the mountain. and i 'm tired of hiking. i'm tired of putting in big miles, not tired of hiking, and that's the problem. i like this ...a lot. i love hiking the AT. i love camping, walkiing somewhere and setting up camp...being outside, stopping by a river for a snack or a nap. looking up at the leaves lowing in the beeze while the fallish looking clouds roll across the sky. the weather is grand. and it has ben for quite some time now.....since august 30......i hope it stays that way, the forcast says it is possible. It's very rare to have the weather that we did through the white mountains and on. it's been cool, cold crispy nights and mornings, beautiful cool, warm or hot days, sunny with some good cloud cover.
too cool for a dip...too bad, there have been so many places to swim. i could totally come back and do the whole maine section again, or parts of it at a leisurly pace..it is that wonderful. the terrain is not too hard. what a treat after such strenuous hiking.
After the initial ass kicking we got the first two days into maine my legs had gotten to a point of exhaustion that i have never experienced. they would just burn and burn the second we would start to gain elevation. there was just no energy there. in Grafton notch, where my friend, ben, dropped us off after zeroing in bethel, we ran into a ranger who told us it just gets easier and easier all the way to katadhin.... i nearly cried. ...but he was right, hooray!
Maine is full of beauiful ponds and lakes, rivers. we had to ford a river the other day(cross in our crocs), and also we had to flag down a ferryman to take us across the kennebek river. it's too deep and wide to walk. this guy, hillbilly dave, a ranger, is available for ferrying evryday in season between 9am-11am and again from 2pm-4pm so you've got to get there, otherwise that's where you're camping for the night. anyway there was an orange flag there on th side of the trail, and he had been expecting us,his previous passengers told him so, so i waved the flag and he hopped into his red canoe, paddled on over and picked us up. it was super windy and we had our life vests buckled up tight, a sweet little ride.
so here we are in monson, the last outpost before the 100 mile wildrness... we are chillin' here today, being tuesday...soo many people rolled into town yesterday it was crazy!! and great! a lot of peoplr hitched up from wherever they were because of timing, and want to get to katedhin before the snow flies and then go back to finish what they missed. so folks i haven't seen in ages are poppin' in left and right...so fun to see everyone. saw C-Bass and Swift, George(or john-anna, or beefstick), Logan(joey, or finger-mullet) and Alan (maybe he's finger-mullet...they all just got new names)tough to keep track. a bunch of folks i haven't seen since the Doyle, of the infamous doyle!!!There have been so many amazing pepole i've met out here. really good people. people who believe in themselves and in their potential. This young guy, his name is 'You' said somehting at breakfast this morning and it made me so happy. it was such refreshment. he said, 'i have learned what a great young man i am and how much potential there is within me, and i'm going to travel the world.....' i don't know if i got that right, but his youth, his goodness and his confidence was powerful.there is so much potential wrapped up within every one of us and it's a mystery sometimes to unravel, but when you know it's there, it's impossible to ingore, and a disservice to ourselves and to others to ignore. so, you've got to be who you are, find out what you are good at, and do that....because the world needs you.
so i'm nearing the end but really (and,yah, this may sound cliche) the beginning.....
the road is long, the river is wide..who will i be on the other side?
it's been amzaing knowing how many people have been following this whole journey. it's filled my heart hearing people's responses, their encouragement, their joy in sharing these stories. i've been pretty happy about that. i definatley feel really blessed.
so, peace out ya'll.........i might just keep a running , sort of, uh, after trail journal too.....see what happens now.
LOVE AND GRATITUDE TO ALL!!!!!!!
your (almost, there is another many names) one and only
~MANY NAMES~
Aaaaah! final frontier!! Natty and I strolled into Monson, ME about noon yesterday and are staying at the lakehouse hostel/B&B along with some other hikers...namely my dear ones Firecracker and Big Fish!! Hooray...been trying to catch those two for months, but it couldn't have come at a better time.we will hopefully all finish together, pretty awsome! after a 17? miler the other day we reaaly wanted to camp on this river we had been hiking along for several miles and were hoping to find a spot, when lo and behold there's FC and BF camped with a fire going already...room for two more?? Oh yeah!! It's been so long i've been missin' my homegirl, Firecracker....and Natty's heard all about them, so finally we all meet....yaaay! we stayed up late(by hiker standards, uh 10pm) around the fire, played some tunes. played the Hiker Funk song, written by Natty, myself and our friend who we haven't seen in awhile, Honey Dew. firecracker recorded it on her DVR and listened to it while hiking yeserday...cool.
So, Maine is incredible! How is it that i have lived here but had nooo idea how magical, and beautiful it is.from the rocky bald, above treeline mountaintops to the dence packed fir and pine trees, moss lined trails. Aaah...so much moss. just gorgeous. there have been so many opportunities to camp on rivers, ponds and lakes with beauiful views, wildlife everywhere. in some places there have been more moose tracks than people tracks. we saw a huge bull moose the other day. i was walking super slow and quiet(quite by accident, my knee was killing me and i was taking it easy) and iheard him before i saw him. he was munching away on something and breathing, prety loud. i tried to sneak up to take a photo, but he started walking away. how something so huge makes his way through these densley packed forests had been a mystery. i realized that they don't 'make their way through' if it's in thier way, they run into it and knock it down....how else could it work. i had to laugh at the racket he made, you'de think out in the natural world , the creatures could be a little stealth, not so with big moose. soo loud. just before mahoosic notch, we had seen a full moose skeleton off the trail. someone had taken it upon themselves to write out the word HELP! with the bones. i helped myself to a rib bone and put it in my 'voodoo pocket' on the side of my pack, along with my two turkey feathers (i used to have a snake skin) and now a tail of some animal(a mink?or a marten??) it was just sitting there on the trail....my voodoo pocket is nearly complete!
So we got a glimpse of the ol' final destination the other day, Mt Katadhin.....getting closer every step i take. It's pretty exciting. I'm psyched to be reaching the end, the top of the mountain. and i 'm tired of hiking. i'm tired of putting in big miles, not tired of hiking, and that's the problem. i like this ...a lot. i love hiking the AT. i love camping, walkiing somewhere and setting up camp...being outside, stopping by a river for a snack or a nap. looking up at the leaves lowing in the beeze while the fallish looking clouds roll across the sky. the weather is grand. and it has ben for quite some time now.....since august 30......i hope it stays that way, the forcast says it is possible. It's very rare to have the weather that we did through the white mountains and on. it's been cool, cold crispy nights and mornings, beautiful cool, warm or hot days, sunny with some good cloud cover.
too cool for a dip...too bad, there have been so many places to swim. i could totally come back and do the whole maine section again, or parts of it at a leisurly pace..it is that wonderful. the terrain is not too hard. what a treat after such strenuous hiking.
After the initial ass kicking we got the first two days into maine my legs had gotten to a point of exhaustion that i have never experienced. they would just burn and burn the second we would start to gain elevation. there was just no energy there. in Grafton notch, where my friend, ben, dropped us off after zeroing in bethel, we ran into a ranger who told us it just gets easier and easier all the way to katadhin.... i nearly cried. ...but he was right, hooray!
Maine is full of beauiful ponds and lakes, rivers. we had to ford a river the other day(cross in our crocs), and also we had to flag down a ferryman to take us across the kennebek river. it's too deep and wide to walk. this guy, hillbilly dave, a ranger, is available for ferrying evryday in season between 9am-11am and again from 2pm-4pm so you've got to get there, otherwise that's where you're camping for the night. anyway there was an orange flag there on th side of the trail, and he had been expecting us,his previous passengers told him so, so i waved the flag and he hopped into his red canoe, paddled on over and picked us up. it was super windy and we had our life vests buckled up tight, a sweet little ride.
so here we are in monson, the last outpost before the 100 mile wildrness... we are chillin' here today, being tuesday...soo many people rolled into town yesterday it was crazy!! and great! a lot of peoplr hitched up from wherever they were because of timing, and want to get to katedhin before the snow flies and then go back to finish what they missed. so folks i haven't seen in ages are poppin' in left and right...so fun to see everyone. saw C-Bass and Swift, George(or john-anna, or beefstick), Logan(joey, or finger-mullet) and Alan (maybe he's finger-mullet...they all just got new names)tough to keep track. a bunch of folks i haven't seen since the Doyle, of the infamous doyle!!!There have been so many amazing pepole i've met out here. really good people. people who believe in themselves and in their potential. This young guy, his name is 'You' said somehting at breakfast this morning and it made me so happy. it was such refreshment. he said, 'i have learned what a great young man i am and how much potential there is within me, and i'm going to travel the world.....' i don't know if i got that right, but his youth, his goodness and his confidence was powerful.there is so much potential wrapped up within every one of us and it's a mystery sometimes to unravel, but when you know it's there, it's impossible to ingore, and a disservice to ourselves and to others to ignore. so, you've got to be who you are, find out what you are good at, and do that....because the world needs you.
so i'm nearing the end but really (and,yah, this may sound cliche) the beginning.....
the road is long, the river is wide..who will i be on the other side?
it's been amzaing knowing how many people have been following this whole journey. it's filled my heart hearing people's responses, their encouragement, their joy in sharing these stories. i've been pretty happy about that. i definatley feel really blessed.
so, peace out ya'll.........i might just keep a running , sort of, uh, after trail journal too.....see what happens now.
LOVE AND GRATITUDE TO ALL!!!!!!!
your (almost, there is another many names) one and only
~MANY NAMES~
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
थे एंड इस नार......और शौल्ड इ से, थे बेगिन्निंग
Hello ! Hello! greetings....it's going to be nearly impossible to write eabout evrything that's been going on...just got to stratton, ME and the library will close in ten minutes..i will do what i can. perhaps, begin with the present and work backwards????
Or not...... i really don't like not being able to write everything i want because the quality is lacking, so i 'm wondering if i should tell at all..or do an outline and fill in later...okay..
so my birthday, august 29th has been named the 'bad saturday' due to remnants of a hurricane....we (natty and i) hiked 18 treacheruos miles to franconia notch on this day...thankfully to warm dry birthday shelter for food showers and rest.....next day we meet up with my most excellent friend anika, who came to hike part of the whites with us. the weather cleared up and it was spectacular...a super diffucult hike, and for 3 days anika, natty and i went over the beautiful franconia ridge,and other mountains unbelieveavle......magnifecent views...after all this time hiking this was the most beautiful by far, and the most difficult (sorry anika, i hope you still like me) down to crawford notch...anika went home .....natty and i coninued up to mt. washington and summited the next day...there are a bunch of cool things that happened in the whites , but alas....no time
got to gorham,NH for labor day weekend...went into town for big giant breakie and got a message from my dad...the Whole fam was in norway ME fro the holiday and dad offered to pick us up for the night....oh yeah, how couold we say no. 'Jay's shuttle service' was there within the hour and went back to the lakehouse for a day of superior R&R...so much neede...some real exhaustion had been setting in..can't even describe
dropped us back off in gorham the next day and we ventured off to finish new hampshire and enter ME......heading for the infamous 'Mahoosic Notch' debatably the most difficult mile on the trail......well it turned out to be crazy fun..just super technical manuvering and a littl sttrategy was needed to get over some difficult rocky areas...but super cool. all these rock slabs fallen on each other creating little caves and such...a giant playground. you could hear water running beneath the rocks and there are some spots with perma ice keeping things real cool down there.
I gotta go....sorry.....180 miles to go
~MANY NAMES~
Or not...... i really don't like not being able to write everything i want because the quality is lacking, so i 'm wondering if i should tell at all..or do an outline and fill in later...okay..
so my birthday, august 29th has been named the 'bad saturday' due to remnants of a hurricane....we (natty and i) hiked 18 treacheruos miles to franconia notch on this day...thankfully to warm dry birthday shelter for food showers and rest.....next day we meet up with my most excellent friend anika, who came to hike part of the whites with us. the weather cleared up and it was spectacular...a super diffucult hike, and for 3 days anika, natty and i went over the beautiful franconia ridge,and other mountains unbelieveavle......magnifecent views...after all this time hiking this was the most beautiful by far, and the most difficult (sorry anika, i hope you still like me) down to crawford notch...anika went home .....natty and i coninued up to mt. washington and summited the next day...there are a bunch of cool things that happened in the whites , but alas....no time
got to gorham,NH for labor day weekend...went into town for big giant breakie and got a message from my dad...the Whole fam was in norway ME fro the holiday and dad offered to pick us up for the night....oh yeah, how couold we say no. 'Jay's shuttle service' was there within the hour and went back to the lakehouse for a day of superior R&R...so much neede...some real exhaustion had been setting in..can't even describe
dropped us back off in gorham the next day and we ventured off to finish new hampshire and enter ME......heading for the infamous 'Mahoosic Notch' debatably the most difficult mile on the trail......well it turned out to be crazy fun..just super technical manuvering and a littl sttrategy was needed to get over some difficult rocky areas...but super cool. all these rock slabs fallen on each other creating little caves and such...a giant playground. you could hear water running beneath the rocks and there are some spots with perma ice keeping things real cool down there.
I gotta go....sorry.....180 miles to go
~MANY NAMES~
Monday, August 24, 2009
आउट ऑफ़ वेरमोंट, तठे सुल्ट्री तेम्प्त्रेस
Ah Ha Ha!! i have just finished vermont and will be hiking in new hampshire tomorrw. i think the beavers rule vermont. we passed more beaver dams and along with the dams saw quite a few moose tracks. it seem that the beavers and the moose have a bit of a symbiotic relationship. the beavers drastically alter the environment and create fantastically swampy places for the moose to chillax' in. they like that....i don't know what the moose do for the beavers. maybe just provide entertainment.
got to hang out at the inn at long trail the other night. camped out across the street and walked over for a couple of well deserved pints. he next day was crappie and natty had a rock he needed to mail home(he does this from time to time) so we took a bus into rutland(to the post office) 9 miles down the road. once there, the skies opned up, torrential rain, buildings getting struck by lightning. we decided tp go see the new quentin t. movie and when we came out of the theatre we saw about 12 other hikers with the same great idea. Hooray!!! well, since we caught the movie, we missed the last bus, and..since we left our tents set up across the street from the inn we didn't have our backpacks which can make it tough to get a hitch. people like to pick up backpackers cuz they know we cool.....but they don't want to pick up random hitchhikers. So we made a sign from materials from a local bookstore that said 'Hikers to Inn at Long Trail'. the woman at the shop wished us luck and off we went. a successful hitch and new friend later we were back at the inn.
The weather has not ben very condusive to great hiking mileage. rain , humidity, thunder storms...all equals lack of motivation. plus great ideas of,'lets do something else today..' but tonight i am writing from a comfort suites hotel where natty's parents are visiting from michigan. they took us out for a slack pack today. so we left our packs at the hotel and packed the little day packs that his parents brought with lunch, snacks, water etc.........sooooo awsome to have a light pack. we did 22+ miles today...hooray!! that's a lot of miles for a couple of bums. we are doing it again tomorrow, maybe this will be a new leaf turning over and there won't be so much bumming around. but that is really quite fun.......i just read my old friend Huck Finnn's trail journal tonight and he is IN the hundred mile wilderness. actually, by this time he may already be done !!!! Amazing! Well, i've got two states left......... must go sleep, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
~Many Names~
Oh !! How could i forget! There is another Many Names on the trail. It's a guy and he is just behind me. I've heard he is looking for me and has been for a while...but not because he feels i am steping on his many toes by sharing this name.....he also heard that i carry a guitar and i think he is quite musical as well....in very interesting and unique ways from what i hear...sooooooooooooo i look forward to my introduction to the first many names. any day now
got to hang out at the inn at long trail the other night. camped out across the street and walked over for a couple of well deserved pints. he next day was crappie and natty had a rock he needed to mail home(he does this from time to time) so we took a bus into rutland(to the post office) 9 miles down the road. once there, the skies opned up, torrential rain, buildings getting struck by lightning. we decided tp go see the new quentin t. movie and when we came out of the theatre we saw about 12 other hikers with the same great idea. Hooray!!! well, since we caught the movie, we missed the last bus, and..since we left our tents set up across the street from the inn we didn't have our backpacks which can make it tough to get a hitch. people like to pick up backpackers cuz they know we cool.....but they don't want to pick up random hitchhikers. So we made a sign from materials from a local bookstore that said 'Hikers to Inn at Long Trail'. the woman at the shop wished us luck and off we went. a successful hitch and new friend later we were back at the inn.
The weather has not ben very condusive to great hiking mileage. rain , humidity, thunder storms...all equals lack of motivation. plus great ideas of,'lets do something else today..' but tonight i am writing from a comfort suites hotel where natty's parents are visiting from michigan. they took us out for a slack pack today. so we left our packs at the hotel and packed the little day packs that his parents brought with lunch, snacks, water etc.........sooooo awsome to have a light pack. we did 22+ miles today...hooray!! that's a lot of miles for a couple of bums. we are doing it again tomorrow, maybe this will be a new leaf turning over and there won't be so much bumming around. but that is really quite fun.......i just read my old friend Huck Finnn's trail journal tonight and he is IN the hundred mile wilderness. actually, by this time he may already be done !!!! Amazing! Well, i've got two states left......... must go sleep, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
~Many Names~
Oh !! How could i forget! There is another Many Names on the trail. It's a guy and he is just behind me. I've heard he is looking for me and has been for a while...but not because he feels i am steping on his many toes by sharing this name.....he also heard that i carry a guitar and i think he is quite musical as well....in very interesting and unique ways from what i hear...sooooooooooooo i look forward to my introduction to the first many names. any day now
Monday, August 17, 2009
वेरमोंट मोर्निंग होत एंड हाजी
Good morning everyone ~
I am writing from the Green Mountain House hostel in Manchester, VT at 1640.6 miles from Springer Mountain, GA (the beginning of the AT), and 537.7 miles from
Mt Katahdin, ME......Not bad. I have gotten to a point where i am a tad bit blown away by the fact that I've walked all the way from Georgia to Vermont. And i'm not alone in this. Just lately, in the past week....I'll just be walking and be like, "We're in Vermont, can you believe it!!" and whoever i am with will maybe say, "I know, I know !!! blah blah.....Amazing!! It feels pretty good to put midly, there's this excitment building that was too timid to come out before i made it this far. Hee hee !!!!
Vermont (verd - mont, french for 'green mountain') fills my very cells with such a refreshed feeling. I am so happy to be in mountains again. It definately makes the hiking harder, and my body is feeling it, for sure, but the air is sweet with the smell of spruce trees at the higher elevations, there is so much green, so much furry moss. I left a hiking tip (Many Names Hiking Tip #1) in a shelter log the other day (for other hikers to read and do what they will with) it said.."P.S. ~If, on your hike, you should come across a big rock covered in soft, fuzzy green moss, sitting in the dappled sunlight of the forest, stop and take a nap on it. The earth will be happy and smile down upon you" I have a feeling that that advice will not go ignored. Vermont has had a big reputaion for being super muddy, messy...hence the nickname 'Ver-mud'. I've been hiking with my friend Natty Bumpo and we wanted to give vermont the benefit of the doubt, thinking that people were just trying to be dramatic. I think sometimes people tell us hard, or negative things to look forward to for the same reasons that people gossip....the need for something other that reality to occupt the mind. Anyway....'they' were right. We were not a half mile over the VT/MA border and all of a sudden the trail just turned to this rediculous slop only to get worse and worse as the day progressed. Natty fell twice, I fell once (only my 3rd real fall on this whole hike). There were spots i would stick in my trkking pole to check the depth and it would be over a foot of serious mud. Very precarious and slippery. That intense muddyness has subsided a bit, especially when we get into the higher elevations. Even the mud can't hinder my feelings of love for these green mountains. Natty was saying the other day that one day in PA he got to a relatively high point (by PA standards) looked out over the land and was a bit deppressed by the flatness of it all, like..'i thought we were hiking in the mountains' We climbed Stratton Mt the other day, almost up to 4,000 feet and then up the fire tower at the top....amazing views, beautiful blue sky day !!
I know everyone likes to hear the names of the people i've been meeting along the way, so I'll make a little list because i don't know if I'll get to fit them all in to a story. Wishy-Washy, Hot Chocolate, Cass, Swift, C-Bass, Honey-Do, Magic, Pig Pen, Wishbone, Quade, Matty-G, Turtle, Fearless Phil......ect, can't think of more right now. It's been great to meet and grooove with a whole new slew of people.
So my parents, fairly newly retired, have begun a little adventure of there own. After hearing much talk of 'Trail Magic', they decided to go on a little mission to try it out for them selves. It started off with i thnk just a cooler of cold sodas at a road crossing, i think they didn't run into any thru hikers that day. So they went a little more south to Mt. Greylock in MA were there would definatley be thru hikers passing through. There Trailside party was complete with cold sodas, beers, ham sandwiches, and to my amazement, a complete list of all the hikers i've ever mentioned in my blog or over the phone, so that when they meet one they can cross the name off, or if they meet a new one they add it to the list.....pretty neat, guys!! They are really on top of their trail-magic game! And it turned out they ran into a bunch of my old hiking friends that got way ahead while i was off trail in june...so that was awsome to hear from them. They also stopped at this guy Tom's house in Dalton, MA...he takes hikers into his home, his house is literally on the trail as the trail passed through town on his street. They also met a bunch of good friends right there on the front porch. I ended up staying there a couple weeks later and Tom was so happy to meet me because he thought my parents were so cool !!! It's always nice to complete a circle like that! So the REAL trail magic from good ol' Jay and lynn (mom and dad) came the friday just a day before the newport folk festival. One of our friends, Honey-do, was going. He was getting picked up by some friends that day. Well that definatly planted the seed. We had all been seriously jonesin' for some live music, i wanted to dance in a big way, and the thought of seeing the ocean just seemed to sweet to pass up. We toyed with differnt ideas of how to get there and none of them seemed to stick. Finally, i said,"well, i could call my parents and see if they want to come and get us" ..i've learned that if you want something, ask for it, don't be shy, the worse thing someone could say is no, no big deal. Well, they said yes!! My dad said he would be there in 3 hours (we wre just south of the NY/CT border at the time. Amazing. So they came and got me, Spoonman and Natty, took us back to westboro MA we all got showers, food, beds (i actually slept in my old bed!) in the morning they made us a grand breakfast, i borrowed my mom's car and off we went to the Folk Fets ! SOoo fun, i swam in the ocean off the peir, heard great bands, we ran into Honey_Do almost immediatly. The weather was amazing, ran into a freind from the island...and, ha ha...i played a little open mic there (so i can say that i officially played at the newport folk festival!) They had a little Gibson Guitar set up there with beautiful $3-5,000 guitars and the rule was you had to play one of them, and it had to be an original song.......so that's what i did. It's felt kind of ballsy..and while i don't think i did very well, i got nervous(of course) and the guitar was really big and i had never played it before.......anyway, i still felt proud of myself for doing that!! My friends got photos and spoonman filmed me...i watched it and hated it of course!!
Next day we set out for Block Island, took the ferry over, rented bikes had an amazing day. Saw so many freinds, loved showing my trail peeps the magical place i always talk about. Got back to mom and dad's house they made us another great breakfast and dad drove us back down to NY. Before we left my mom was just bursting with such a sweet happiness that she, and my dad have been able to meet so many of the people i've talked about and experience the whole Trail thing, see what it's all about. It was just amazing. I was thrilled beyond words.....not everyone has the support from their families out here. A lot of people's fams don't get what they're doing, or just aren't intersted. So, just to have support is cool, but to have my parents actually set out to meet fellow thru hikers and do trail magic is just killer!!! So a BIG Thank You- you are Awsome to mom and dad (from spoonman and natty too)) !!!!!!Then when dad dropped us off in NY he came out and hiked a couple miles with us .....so i can say i hked a section of the AT with my da !!! Pretty Badass !!!!!
I have so much more to write...my sisters came out to mt greylock for a day..but i will write about that next time...i have to get off the computer NOW !!
Peace !! Much love to everyone!!!!
~MANY NAMES~
I am writing from the Green Mountain House hostel in Manchester, VT at 1640.6 miles from Springer Mountain, GA (the beginning of the AT), and 537.7 miles from
Mt Katahdin, ME......Not bad. I have gotten to a point where i am a tad bit blown away by the fact that I've walked all the way from Georgia to Vermont. And i'm not alone in this. Just lately, in the past week....I'll just be walking and be like, "We're in Vermont, can you believe it!!" and whoever i am with will maybe say, "I know, I know !!! blah blah.....Amazing!! It feels pretty good to put midly, there's this excitment building that was too timid to come out before i made it this far. Hee hee !!!!
Vermont (verd - mont, french for 'green mountain') fills my very cells with such a refreshed feeling. I am so happy to be in mountains again. It definately makes the hiking harder, and my body is feeling it, for sure, but the air is sweet with the smell of spruce trees at the higher elevations, there is so much green, so much furry moss. I left a hiking tip (Many Names Hiking Tip #1) in a shelter log the other day (for other hikers to read and do what they will with) it said.."P.S. ~If, on your hike, you should come across a big rock covered in soft, fuzzy green moss, sitting in the dappled sunlight of the forest, stop and take a nap on it. The earth will be happy and smile down upon you" I have a feeling that that advice will not go ignored. Vermont has had a big reputaion for being super muddy, messy...hence the nickname 'Ver-mud'. I've been hiking with my friend Natty Bumpo and we wanted to give vermont the benefit of the doubt, thinking that people were just trying to be dramatic. I think sometimes people tell us hard, or negative things to look forward to for the same reasons that people gossip....the need for something other that reality to occupt the mind. Anyway....'they' were right. We were not a half mile over the VT/MA border and all of a sudden the trail just turned to this rediculous slop only to get worse and worse as the day progressed. Natty fell twice, I fell once (only my 3rd real fall on this whole hike). There were spots i would stick in my trkking pole to check the depth and it would be over a foot of serious mud. Very precarious and slippery. That intense muddyness has subsided a bit, especially when we get into the higher elevations. Even the mud can't hinder my feelings of love for these green mountains. Natty was saying the other day that one day in PA he got to a relatively high point (by PA standards) looked out over the land and was a bit deppressed by the flatness of it all, like..'i thought we were hiking in the mountains' We climbed Stratton Mt the other day, almost up to 4,000 feet and then up the fire tower at the top....amazing views, beautiful blue sky day !!
I know everyone likes to hear the names of the people i've been meeting along the way, so I'll make a little list because i don't know if I'll get to fit them all in to a story. Wishy-Washy, Hot Chocolate, Cass, Swift, C-Bass, Honey-Do, Magic, Pig Pen, Wishbone, Quade, Matty-G, Turtle, Fearless Phil......ect, can't think of more right now. It's been great to meet and grooove with a whole new slew of people.
So my parents, fairly newly retired, have begun a little adventure of there own. After hearing much talk of 'Trail Magic', they decided to go on a little mission to try it out for them selves. It started off with i thnk just a cooler of cold sodas at a road crossing, i think they didn't run into any thru hikers that day. So they went a little more south to Mt. Greylock in MA were there would definatley be thru hikers passing through. There Trailside party was complete with cold sodas, beers, ham sandwiches, and to my amazement, a complete list of all the hikers i've ever mentioned in my blog or over the phone, so that when they meet one they can cross the name off, or if they meet a new one they add it to the list.....pretty neat, guys!! They are really on top of their trail-magic game! And it turned out they ran into a bunch of my old hiking friends that got way ahead while i was off trail in june...so that was awsome to hear from them. They also stopped at this guy Tom's house in Dalton, MA...he takes hikers into his home, his house is literally on the trail as the trail passed through town on his street. They also met a bunch of good friends right there on the front porch. I ended up staying there a couple weeks later and Tom was so happy to meet me because he thought my parents were so cool !!! It's always nice to complete a circle like that! So the REAL trail magic from good ol' Jay and lynn (mom and dad) came the friday just a day before the newport folk festival. One of our friends, Honey-do, was going. He was getting picked up by some friends that day. Well that definatly planted the seed. We had all been seriously jonesin' for some live music, i wanted to dance in a big way, and the thought of seeing the ocean just seemed to sweet to pass up. We toyed with differnt ideas of how to get there and none of them seemed to stick. Finally, i said,"well, i could call my parents and see if they want to come and get us" ..i've learned that if you want something, ask for it, don't be shy, the worse thing someone could say is no, no big deal. Well, they said yes!! My dad said he would be there in 3 hours (we wre just south of the NY/CT border at the time. Amazing. So they came and got me, Spoonman and Natty, took us back to westboro MA we all got showers, food, beds (i actually slept in my old bed!) in the morning they made us a grand breakfast, i borrowed my mom's car and off we went to the Folk Fets ! SOoo fun, i swam in the ocean off the peir, heard great bands, we ran into Honey_Do almost immediatly. The weather was amazing, ran into a freind from the island...and, ha ha...i played a little open mic there (so i can say that i officially played at the newport folk festival!) They had a little Gibson Guitar set up there with beautiful $3-5,000 guitars and the rule was you had to play one of them, and it had to be an original song.......so that's what i did. It's felt kind of ballsy..and while i don't think i did very well, i got nervous(of course) and the guitar was really big and i had never played it before.......anyway, i still felt proud of myself for doing that!! My friends got photos and spoonman filmed me...i watched it and hated it of course!!
Next day we set out for Block Island, took the ferry over, rented bikes had an amazing day. Saw so many freinds, loved showing my trail peeps the magical place i always talk about. Got back to mom and dad's house they made us another great breakfast and dad drove us back down to NY. Before we left my mom was just bursting with such a sweet happiness that she, and my dad have been able to meet so many of the people i've talked about and experience the whole Trail thing, see what it's all about. It was just amazing. I was thrilled beyond words.....not everyone has the support from their families out here. A lot of people's fams don't get what they're doing, or just aren't intersted. So, just to have support is cool, but to have my parents actually set out to meet fellow thru hikers and do trail magic is just killer!!! So a BIG Thank You- you are Awsome to mom and dad (from spoonman and natty too)) !!!!!!Then when dad dropped us off in NY he came out and hiked a couple miles with us .....so i can say i hked a section of the AT with my da !!! Pretty Badass !!!!!
I have so much more to write...my sisters came out to mt greylock for a day..but i will write about that next time...i have to get off the computer NOW !!
Peace !! Much love to everyone!!!!
~MANY NAMES~
Sunday, August 16, 2009
वेरमोंट यू सुल्ट्री तेम्प्त्रेस इ लव यू
Hey everyone!!
So sorry i have taken so terribly long to write. i will try right now, i think it might be hard because i am in a room with 7 other people talking and it's super hard to concentrate....i might have to re update tomorrow morning... ahhhh
.....i've been sitting here for 15 minutes and keep erasing what i'm writing..too much distraction, i will do it tomorrow
~Many Names~
So sorry i have taken so terribly long to write. i will try right now, i think it might be hard because i am in a room with 7 other people talking and it's super hard to concentrate....i might have to re update tomorrow morning... ahhhh
.....i've been sitting here for 15 minutes and keep erasing what i'm writing..too much distraction, i will do it tomorrow
~Many Names~
Sunday, July 26, 2009
इ ऍम अ बिग टाइम स्लाक्कर , येः बित्चेस!!
Aloha Everyone...
How is Many Names at a computer, yet again, you ask??? I am a big time slacker!! I don't know what happened to me recently, maybe the heat, humidity, mosquitos, blah blah whatever......but here i am taking another break after staying at a hostel (the famous 'Mayor's House' former mayor of unionville, NY now takes in hikers at his home......treats us like gold and gives us much inspiration to keep on keepin on. Amazing, really) just a couple days ago.
I don't know..i keep rolling in and out of this funk, not that i'm deppressed, perhaps maybe bored?? i mean, the trail is the trail is the trail. i get up and walk..the state, the terrain, the weather changes but i'm still just walking, taking a stroll of various levels of difficulty. It's really the people and my experiences with them that are meaning anything right now. So, i'm finding that without the peeps around, i lose my motivation and have to start thinking about what could possibly inspire me...to give me some energy.
Today, i slept in...i had been really super tired yesterday, only did 12 miles, took a nap under a pine tree and camped early. There were also some minor inconviniences experienced today that sort of set the dark cloud over my head. I had only gone about 4 miles this morning when i came across a bunch of gallon jugs of spring water left there by a couple of 'trail angels'.The water sources were not going to be entirely reliable today, so that was great. They had left some business cards with their # and if anyone needed a break to call. I thought about it and was just like, 'screw it. i don't care if this is lazy. i just don't want to do this today' So i called, John, the husband, picked me up with their two awsome dogs. I am the only hiker here. It's really peaceful. We'll have dinner together later. It's really just what i needed...a break without the high energy of a busy hostel. Hopefully, my vibe will be elevated tomorrow and i can rock the trail and love it. I've already hiked 1,370 miles, and have 807 miles to go......and miles to go before i sleep
I can do that. I'm not far from Conn. and then it's just a skip into Mass......
I don't think i have anything else to say. I'm going to have a glass of wine and sit outside and play my guitar.
Peace and Love Ya'll
~MANY NAMES~
How is Many Names at a computer, yet again, you ask??? I am a big time slacker!! I don't know what happened to me recently, maybe the heat, humidity, mosquitos, blah blah whatever......but here i am taking another break after staying at a hostel (the famous 'Mayor's House' former mayor of unionville, NY now takes in hikers at his home......treats us like gold and gives us much inspiration to keep on keepin on. Amazing, really) just a couple days ago.
I don't know..i keep rolling in and out of this funk, not that i'm deppressed, perhaps maybe bored?? i mean, the trail is the trail is the trail. i get up and walk..the state, the terrain, the weather changes but i'm still just walking, taking a stroll of various levels of difficulty. It's really the people and my experiences with them that are meaning anything right now. So, i'm finding that without the peeps around, i lose my motivation and have to start thinking about what could possibly inspire me...to give me some energy.
Today, i slept in...i had been really super tired yesterday, only did 12 miles, took a nap under a pine tree and camped early. There were also some minor inconviniences experienced today that sort of set the dark cloud over my head. I had only gone about 4 miles this morning when i came across a bunch of gallon jugs of spring water left there by a couple of 'trail angels'.The water sources were not going to be entirely reliable today, so that was great. They had left some business cards with their # and if anyone needed a break to call. I thought about it and was just like, 'screw it. i don't care if this is lazy. i just don't want to do this today' So i called, John, the husband, picked me up with their two awsome dogs. I am the only hiker here. It's really peaceful. We'll have dinner together later. It's really just what i needed...a break without the high energy of a busy hostel. Hopefully, my vibe will be elevated tomorrow and i can rock the trail and love it. I've already hiked 1,370 miles, and have 807 miles to go......and miles to go before i sleep
I can do that. I'm not far from Conn. and then it's just a skip into Mass......
I don't think i have anything else to say. I'm going to have a glass of wine and sit outside and play my guitar.
Peace and Love Ya'll
~MANY NAMES~
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