National Trails Day (always the first Saturday in June) is as good a day as any to mention here to my loyal blog readers (are there any of you left?) that I am not getting out to finish the hike this summer.
There are a number of reasons, including that my iron levels are getting wacky again, that I would have had to go too far into “debt” on my bank of my accrued time off from work, and that I came to realize that what I really had wanted to do all along was accomplish a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail (hiking every mile of it from end to end in one season).
I was real happy with what I accomplished last summer. It was a very successful “proof of concept” hike. That is, my gear choices, my food choices, my daily mileage, the ‘famous’ places I got to, the Trail personalities I was able to meet, all of it fit together as I always thought it could and would. It all worked. And if it hadn’t been for the anemia, I know I would have been able to walk to Mount Katahdin, Maine.
And I have to mention again that one of the most central reasons everything went well is that my wife, Ann, is the best support crew anyone could have asked for. Thanks, Ann!
So I’m back to working on a “section hike” (hiking every mile of the Trail over however many years it takes). I’ve actually been doing this since 2002, so it hasn’t even been 15 years yet. And I’ve totaled up roughly 1600 miles (last summer’s 1500 – which overlaid hundreds of miles I’d already walked once – plus 100 miles in Vermont that I hiked back in 2002), so I’ve only got some 500 left to go on the section hike.
Then I can start all over again.
Meanwhile there is other stuff to do, other places to walk, other things to read, and so on. Thanks for spending time here last summer, and for the many kind comments especially about the photography.
And finally if, for some reason, you can’t wait … you can read the pages of my trail journal that I have transcribed and put online. I don’t know why it’s taking me so long to type it into the machine, but you’ll be able to find the bits I have transcribed so far (and lots of other hikers’ journals and photos) at:
Pathology: the Study of a Path 