September 2009

Reader Question #9: Beautiful Things

September 16, 2009

Cecily O. from Portland, OR Question: You seem to complain a lot on your blog, are you actually having a good time? Answer: Yes. Things on the trail keep getting better, except when they’re not. I am seeing beautiful things here. For example, the other day I started hiking in a thick fog. As the [...]

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Laugh Track

September 13, 2009

Today I learned some practical advice that I would like to pass on to you. Here goes: the REI Quarter Dom tent has two different color poles, two orange and one silver. If, as you take down your tent early in the morning, you would like to avoid being smacked in the face, take out [...]

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Emergency blanket: win

September 11, 2009

It’s 3:30 on a cold, foggy night and a woman tells me that my attitude is not helpful. “We’re all in this together,” she says. And I think, “I’ve been ‘in this’ for 6 hours. You’re just now showing up.” Let me rewind a little and say this: an emergency blanket is a windproof, waterproof [...]

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Fruit cakes

September 10, 2009

Yesterday a woman about my age came up to me and said, “I have a present for you.” She held out a ripe orange. I felt like she was handing me a glowing, golden orb. Seriously. I cannot in my life remember a time when I was this excited to eat fruit. She said, “You’re [...]

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Shoving my pack through the Mahoosac Notch

September 6, 2009

The Mahoosac Notch is known as “the hardest mile on the Appalachian Trail.” In it, you wiggle under big boulders, stuff your backpack through holes, and hop from rock to rock. It was incredibly fun. Here are a few pictures of me shoving my pack ahead of me as I climb through a tunnel.

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When Addy met Sally

September 5, 2009

When I hiked onto a gravel road right after Caratunk, Maine, I came across a woman and her energetic golden retriever. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Tortoise.” I said, “No way! I’m Turtle.” We were immediately a team. Tortoise (real name Sally) and I hiked together for several days. She is a retired professor of Nursing [...]

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Basic information on the Appalachian Trail

September 4, 2009

Northbounders (Nobo’s)- Hikers who go from Georgia to Maine. Most people head this direction. Southbounders (Sobo’s) – Hikers who go from Maine to Georgia. Southbound represent! Flip-floppers- People who go one way for part of the trail and then jump down and go another direction to finish it. Trail names- Every thru-hiker chooses or is [...]

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Instant pudding: win

September 3, 2009

As some of you may know, getting enough calories on the trail is very important. I told someone recently that now food is more like firewood to me, and I don’t care about the taste very much. One way backpackers judge which foods to bring is by caloric density–the ratio of weight to calories. My [...]

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