Welcome to my blog.
Expect reflections on long distance hiking, hiking culture, nature, creativity and my undying love for backrests.
I’ve made peace with the fact that I’m going to be on the spectrum from moderately damp to totally drenched for the next month. Such is the reality of hiking in the South in July.
After an 18 mile day, the holy grail of long distance hiking is mine!
The best part of the day was discovering HOT SHOWERS at the Thunder Rock Campground on the Ocoee River, where Ralph met me for resupply and brought fluffy towels to go with my shower.
Eventful day on trail today…I saw another human being! And feral pigs. Neither wanted anything to do with. me.
Gear failure! I hiked in the rain for an hour and discovered my umbrella has a hole in it, which makes it periodically dump water down the back of my shirt.
It was a yellow blazing kind of day. And now I’m into yellow blazing.
I heard the hootin’ and hollerin’, presumably from people jumping in the river, but nothing could prepare me for the circus that surrounded said hollerin’. At least there was an ice cream sandwich to be found after wading through Tubing Ville.
I found the Holy Grail of bear bagging rocks. And I packed it out. I intentionally put a rock in my pack before hiking out.
So far, the Benton MacKaye Trail has been well-marked; well-maintained with only a handful of overgrown sections and zero blow downs. But it’s only Day 2 and anything can happen.
Two weeks ago, I asked Ralph what he thought and me taking a “little 300 mile walk,” and he said, “I think you should hike while you can....Also, it makes you happy.”
So here I am. On the Benton MacKaye Trail. It makes me happy.
I’ve got an itch that won’t be scratched by day hiking. So I’ve made a plan to safely hike a long trail in pandemic times.
On April 23, after breakfast and books at the Pupfish Cafe (in back of Spellbinder Books in Bishop, California), we rattled up Buttermilk Road a few miles and found another happy place.
