410-gone

a wookiee walks a lot.

at2022

valley way campsite to gorham, nh

14 July 2022

the privy was really comfortable. the roof was clear plastic so i could see the light from the moon, and when the sun came up we woke up naturally. it rained a bit last night and we were both happy to not have to pack a wet tent.

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zero

12 July 2022

our zero was pretty low key. a relatively late wake up followed by a hitch into town, again riding in the back of a pickup. we passed a sheriff and looked up the legality of riding in the back of a pickup.

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woodstock, nh to garfield ridge campsite

10 July 2022

i didn't sleep all that well at the hostel. the bed was far too short. my pillow fell off the bed a few times and i had to climb down and get it. (i was in a top bunk.) finally i shoved the pillow under the fitted sheet so it couldn't fall anymore.

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kinsman notch to woodstock, nh

09 July 2022

we were able to sleep through the night unmolested by park rangers. i slept pretty well. there was a nice cool breeze all night which kept any dew from saturating my tent.

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green house restaurant to kinsman notch

08 July 2022

we woke up at 04:30 to two crows screaming at each other. it literally sounded like one scared the other (aaah!) who scared the other (aaah!) and back and forth. i rolled over and dozed until 06:00.

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trapper john shelter to green house restaurant

07 July 2022

i woke up a little before 06:00. my tent was on the opposite side of the shelter from everyone else, so i couldn't tell if anyone was stirring. i didn't feel like dealing with mosquitoes, so i had my breakfast in my tent before packing up.

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hanover, nh to trapper john shelter

06 July 2022

i slept pretty well in the hostel. the mattresses were foam, so they were very comfortable. it was a little hot, but i just slept without a sheet. early in the morning i saw bugs get up and adjust the air conditioner, and that helped.

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thistle hill shelter to hanover, nh

05 July 2022

we woke up around 06:00. magz and i were on trail right at 07:00. it was a tough day for magz. she was tired pretty much immediately. thankfully the elevation profile for the day was reasonably mild, not even 3000' ascent over the 14 miles we had to go.

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rutland, vt to the lookout shelter

03 July 2022

i didn't sleep well last night. the room in the hostel was so hot. i slept in nothing but my hiking shorts and with no sheets whatsoever, but anywhere i was touching the mattress i was sweaty. i kept having to turn over to dry off.

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clarendon shelter to rutland, vt

02 July 2022

i set my alarm for 05:00 for two reasons: 1. i wanted to get into town early for more town time, and 2. it sounded like maybe a lot of folks from the shelter were aiming for the hostel. (this turned out to be both untrue and a non-issue as they have tons of beds.)

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lost pond shelter to clarendon shelter

01 July 2022

i woke up around 06:00. i was awake, so decided to get going even though we had no rush. i had breakfast in my tent to avoid the mosquitoes - they were a big part of dinner last night.

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congdon shelter to glastenbury fire tower

28 June 2022

slept pretty well. the temperature dropped and it was nice and cool. i waited until i heard signs of stirring from nearby tents before i got up. it was pretty late, the sun was already well up.

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home to congdon shelter

27 June 2022

i woke up around 06:30 this morning and definitely didn't want to get out of bed. when 07:00 came i forced myself to get up and get going. i focused on the tasks i had to do; shower, coffee, pack, etc.

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vacation

26 June 2022

i forgot to write a journal entry for my last day on trail before my week off. it was a short day. i hiked from the cheshire town tent site up greylock and down the other side to north adams where magz picked me up.

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double zero

10 June 2022

i spent 2 days at home. the back to back 30 mile days got me an extra zero.

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sharon mountain campsite to home

09 June 2022

when i woke up it was raining. i lay in my tent, cozy and dry, but i wasn't feeling good about the day. i considered doing a short 12 mile day to a road and having magz pick me up there. my joints weren't feeling all that great, but i decided to move around a bit to see how bad they were. i was surprised to find that once i moved a bit they actually didn't feel too bad. okay. plan a it is.

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brink road shelter to secret shelter

03 June 2022

it rained a bit last night, so i was happy to be in the shelter. the rain was supposed to stop before we woke, but it was still going. thankfully it had stopped by the time we got on trail.

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palmerton, pa to wind gap, pa

31 May 2022

today was hard. we slept in a little since the grocery resupply wasn't open till 08:00. but i am pleased to report that we woke up feeling good. at around 07:30 we walked around to the restaurant side of bert's steakhouse. half the restaurant was a diner, the other side looked more like a steakhouse.

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port clinton to allentown shelter

29 May 2022

rocket and i were on trail just before 07:00. the pavilion was a decent place to sleep, though it was between two roads, one quite busy, so it took my brain a bit to figure out how to tune out the noise.

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501 shelter to port clinton

28 May 2022

the 501 shelter got a little strange last night. there were two non-hikers there, an older woman who slept all afternoon, and man who hung out with the hikers. at some point nearing dusk, the older woman started talking, and she was a little nuts.

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peter's mountain shelter to rausch gap shelter

26 May 2022

just a day of moving and not much more. rocket and i did 18 miles across flat ridge with literally no views all day. there was one descent and one climb as we transitioned from one ridge to another. at the bottom there was a single road crossing. the weather was cool and grey.

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raven rock shelter to thru it all hostel

22 May 2022

i didn't sleep well last night, i'm not really sure why. there weren't really any bugs, but my skin decided to interpret everything as a potential mosquito bite. we had some serious thunder in the distance, but it didn't end up raining.

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rocky run shelter to raven rock shelter

21 May 2022

easy day today. i'm going to try something different today. i feel like my writing here is very formulaic. i explain how i got up. (duh.) i ate breakfast. (duh.) and packed up. (duh.) none of that is particularly interesting. the question then is what do i write about? i haven't a clue.

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harper's ferry, wv to rocky run shelter

20 May 2022

i had trouble getting up this morning. i'm definitely having trouble mentally the last few days with home sickness. when everyone else was already moving i finally got up and went to breakfast where i didn't really feel like eating, but i did anyway.

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whiskey hollow shelter to bears den

17 May 2022

i slept well in whiskey hollow shelter except i have confirmed that my new nemo sleeping pad has a leak. i wasn't quite sure the past two nights, but i kept waking up with a soft pad. i thought maybe i didn't fill it up all the way, but last night i filled it up and made a mental note. this morning however my hips were on the ground. i'm not sure what's going on with nemo. this is really disappointing.

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pass mountain hut to front royal, va

15 May 2022

so many big days lately. today we did 26 miles into front royal. thankfully the weather held off and aside from a small sprinkle just after we left shenandoah we stayed dry.

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big meadow campground to pass mountain hut

14 May 2022

it rained pretty much all night. my tent stakes didn't stay put in the soggy ground and my tent went slack and let a little water in, but not much. my new sleeping pad seemed to stay full all night long, and because of it's thickness neither my sleeping bag nor i got wet.

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hightop hut to big meadow campground

13 May 2022

long day today. i'm going to keep this brief. we made it to elkton around 10. it rained on and off on the way there. when we got to town it was a pretty nice day, but we could see that the tops of the mountains were enshrouded in rain clouds.

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blackrock hut to hightop hut

12 May 2022

i'm not going to bother to check the weather anymore because i can't actually predict what the weather will be based on the forecast. the weather called for a 20% chance of less than a tenth of an inch. it actually rained most of the day, at times pretty hard.

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waynesboro, va to blackrock hut

11 May 2022

the morning routine was the same as yesterday. get up, eat breakfast, pack up. i noticed bugs and lyric got up a full half hour later than yesterday. fatigue is setting in.

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zero

10 May 2022

we woke around 07:00 and went to the quality inn's complimentary breakfast. it was pretty good. we returned to the hotel room and started packing up. bugs climbed back in bed.

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seeley-woodworth shelter to devil's backbone brewery

08 May 2022

we woke to what sounded like rain. the weather forecast had us hoping for a day that we could dry out, but it wasn't to be. while it technically wasn't raining, the fog was condensing on the trees and dripping enough to make you wet. it was also still quite cold.

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punchbowl shelter to seeley-woodworth shelter

07 May 2022

a very hard day. last night just as we were going to bed, a thunderstorm rolled in and dumped a deluge. the wind drove some of it directly into the shelter, so i had to huddle at the back until the storm passed through.

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thunder hill shelter to punchbowl shelter

06 May 2022

i woke up pretty early despite the rain. there was a pause, and i took the opportunity to try and get on trail before it started again. i went out of the shelter to grab my food bag from the bear box (this shelter was one of the very few that had one) and i swung by maestro's tent to see if he was awake.

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daleville, va to cove mountain shelter

04 May 2022

i slept well in the hotel bed. i was offered a bed because of my sleeping pad. maestro was happy to sleep on the floor as there was a game on he wanted to watch, and he thought it would bother us less.

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campbell shelter to daleville, va

03 May 2022

the night was warm and dry. it started with a very noisy whippoorwill, but it moved away thankfully. it was nice to be in my tent again. so much more room and i didn't have to worry as much about disturbing the others when i blew up my sleeping pad.

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pickle branch shelter to campbell shelter

02 May 2022

i spent the night again reinflating my sleeping pad. my slow leak is now a medium leak and i'm reinflating every 30 minutes. the way these pads work, they also have no insulative value when they aren't inflated, which meant i was also cold.

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hb farm to pine swamp branch shelter

29 April 2022

a relatively easy day on trail. the crew, bugs, kick, lyric, rocket, and i slept great in the barn on the farm. we packed up and breakfasted and were packing the mini van by 8.

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woods hole hostel to hb farm

28 April 2022

another massive day. i slept so well on the mattress in woods hole. it was a little short for me, but otherwise very comfortable. i slept pretty late, but woke up, rolled out my muscles, and was dressed before the breakfast bell rang.

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old orchard shelter to partnership shelter

22 April 2022

not much to write today. it was a day of travel without much else. slept pretty well last night, but noticed this morning that the hole i patched, i can clearly see the air working it's way through the adhesive.

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unnamed campsite to old orchard shelter

21 April 2022

the wind continued all night. small sticks rained down on my tent, and just as i was settling in for the night a fairly sizeable one clipped the tent. i spent some time reminding myself that i had taken a good look at the trees above my tent and had evaluated them with the wind in mind, and there weren't any spots that looked safer.

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damascus va to unnamed campsite

20 April 2022

it took us a while to get out of damascus. the town vortex is strong. we woke up late, took a very long time to clean and pack up, and ended up with two grocery bags we wanted to donate to our extended tramily that had just got into town.

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double zero

19 April 2022

our 33 mile day brought us to town a day early, so instead of the one zero day we had planned, we had two. we spent our days resting, tending injuries, eating, fixing gear, watching movies and a lot of seinfeld since it's now on netflix.

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19e to moreland gap shelter

15 April 2022

it was a great day. the weather was beautiful. warm and sunny all day without almost any wind. the trail was pretty flat and dry.

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roan high knob shelter to 19e

14 April 2022

it was pitch black outside when i woke to quick's stuffing sounds. i powered on my phone and checked the time. 05:45. time to get going. the plan was to be on trail by 06:30 and motor so we could have as much time at the hostel as possible. my sleeping pad definitely has a small hole in it. i had to top it up a few times during the night.

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cherry gap shelter to roan high knob shelter

13 April 2022

the weather report was true! it stayed dry all night! i slept well, except my sleeping pad kept deflating and i kept having to top it up. i'm not sure if it's because i have a leak, or the plug didn't seal correctly.

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zero to cherry gap shelter

12 April 2022

slept pretty well despite the plastic mattresses. i forgot to drink anything all day so i had to get up and get some water as my muscles were twitching. when i woke up it had been raining on and off all night.

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zero

11 April 2022

we decided to take a zero at uncle johnny's today. not a lot happened, and i didn't really take any photos.

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jerry's cabin shelter to nature's inn hostel

09 April 2022

it snowed all night long, and all day. i'm pretty sure it was our coldest night yet as well. i think my sleeping pad was not quite enough, as i slept pretty cold. i lay in my tent not wanting to leave the relative warmth of my sleeping bag.

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spring mountain shelter to jerrys cabin shelter

08 April 2022

slept well and woke to no rain. the forecast had predicted a wet morning turning to snow, but we were spared. packed up and hiked down to the shelter for breakfast, grabbing my food from the bear cable on the way. a couple packets of oatmeal later and i was on trail.

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roaring fork shelter to hot springs, nc

06 April 2022

slept pretty well despite sheltering. today was an easy handful of miles into hot springs, nc. the walk in was a very long descent out of the mountains. i had expected to be able to chat with magz on my way in, but hot springs has no at&t cell service. interesting.

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pecks corner shelter to davenport gap shelter

04 April 2022

didn't sleep all that well, or at least it felt that way. i spent a lot of the night changing position to satisfy my twitchy joints. one person in the shelter snored and i swear it sounded exactly like a palm nailer.

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double spring gap shelter to pecks corner shelter

03 April 2022

i woke to the sounds of the shelter packing up. it wasn't even 5 yet. i waited just a couple more minutes before i got going myself. quick, intel, dan, and i skipped breakfast and just got on trail. we hiked in the pitch black freezing wind and fog by headlamp.

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spence field shelter to double spring gap shelter

02 April 2022

it was pretty cold last night, and i spent a lot of it fighting my sleeping bag and joint discomfort. my sleeping bag neck closure system pretty much pops open every time i move, so i have cold air blasting down my bag until i close it again.

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unofficial campsite to fontana dam parking lot

31 March 2022

last night was pretty rough. despite our good position, we still got a good amount of rain. most of the wind was well above us, but about once an hour a mighty gust would shoot up the valley and almost flatten us.

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locust cove gap to unofficial campsite

30 March 2022

i woke a bit before the sun came up and layed in my tent until i heard the sounds of nico packing up. breakfast was a couple packets of grits that i found in a hiker box back in franklin. not bad, bit too salty.

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wayah bald shelter to nantahala outdoor center

28 March 2022

it was our coldest night yet, but the new-to-me wear everything experiment was going pretty well. i wore everything and this time draped my puffy over me inside my sleeping bag. i slept decently, waking only to pee and eat the protein bar i had kept with me.

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franklin, nc to wayah bald shelter

27 March 2022

we got up pretty late. we had the curtains drawn in the hotel and the sun came up without notice. we packed up, ensuring our batteries were topped up and headed across the street to mcdonalds.

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carter gap to franklin, nc

26 March 2022

it was our coldest night yet, and extremely windy. i was happy nico and i moved our tents to a spot where the wind was a bit less intense. the trees above us creaked all night.

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cheese factory to deep gap shelter

22 March 2022

i'm way behind in my writing, and am having a hard time rembering all the details. another short day today. the four of us were the last to leave the cheese factory camp site. we hiked together for most of the morning but split up in the afternoon.

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low gap shelter to cheese factory

21 March 2022

nice easy day today. the weather was dry and breezy. the trail out of camp was a beautiful, gentle incline for a few miles, and it was very easy going.

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neels gap to low gap shelter

20 March 2022

woke up after daybreak and the wind was still pummeling the tent. i lingered for a moment as it was close to freezing, but mustered the motivation to get going.

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one year later - the blog gets ugly

18 March 2021

a year ago yesterday, i was in georgia taking my first steps on the appalachian trail amidst the backdrop of the first days of the global pandemic. time is no longer linear.

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