August 2009

No one’s in the kitchen with Dina

August 31, 2009

I’ve decided to go no cook, which is to say that I have decided that my trail life should match my home life. No cook hikers don’t bring stoves and subsist largely on powerbars and poptarts. You can end up carrying more weight than other people because you don’t have the freeze dried dinners. But [...]

Read the full article →

Adorable

August 31, 2009

Yesterday I slammed my hiking pole so hard against a rock that it actually created a spark. In short, I was pissed. Let me tell you about my day. It started the day before when I had stayed in a hut. The huts are kind of like primitive motels and they are spaced throughout the [...]

Read the full article →

“Nature is a Girl’s Best Friend” by Outloud

August 28, 2009

Another song by Outloud, printed here by her permission. This one is to the tune of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” A couch in your house may be quite comfortable, But nature is a girl’s best friend. A couch may be grand, But it won’t expand your senses like nature can. So get outside, [...]

Read the full article →

How to climb a mountain in Maine

August 25, 2009

I’m done with the state of Maine now, so I though I’d pass on a few tips. Hiking here can be challenging because there are no switchbacks. It is as if the creators of the trail said, “Lo, there is a mountain. You will now walk straight up it.” Often, the trail is actually a [...]

Read the full article →

Impossibly beautiful

August 23, 2009

Last night I stayed in a lean-to with an impossibly beautiful couple from Holland. They snuggled and kissed and spoke to one another in Dutch. I had to interrupt them, “Um, excuse me,” I said to the man, “would you mind turning away while I change?” This is what everyone does in lean-tos. Neither them [...]

Read the full article →

Mountain House freeze dried dinners: win

August 22, 2009

Mango Mamma brought some freeze dried meals with her for our trip in Maine, and I have to say they won me over from being a skeptic. Normally, I hate to cook, in part because the most options for cooking are too much food for me and in part because I am lazy, but these [...]

Read the full article →

Weight, weight, don’t tell me

August 22, 2009

“You are never going to make it through the Whites or the Mahoosacs with that pack,” another backpacker tells me. I nod and think I heard you the first four times you told me. He is traveling with a friend, wearing spandex, carrying only a fanny pack. He began to lecture me on the weight [...]

Read the full article →

Reader Question #7: Going Southbound

August 21, 2009

Abe Y. from Austin, TX. Question: Why did you choose to hike the trail Southbound? Answer: Because I am a masochist and a misanthrope. Actually, I love people, so it is sometimes lonely to hike Southbound, but I am getting some good time to reflect and meditate. And I am importing hikers by getting my [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries