17 miles to Maine

It's a cold rainy day today, and I am happily resting my weary self, warm and dry with a crowd of hikers in a hostel.  I have completed the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I had gorgeous views, rocky climbs, hail and thunderstorms, and one moose. As beautiful as they are, these mountains are rugged; most trails go straight up and then straight down! By the time I arrived yesterday I felt like I had been chewed up, swished around, gargled and then spit out. Pretty much every muscle was sore! But a relaxing bath and some good food has me feeling ready to go again, though not in this weather!

I was thankful to have wonderful weather when I climbed Mt Washington, a place reputed to have the worst weather on earth. It was a Saturday and many others were taking advantage of the good weather to hike, drive, and arrive by cog railway at the top. It was overwhelming to suddenly be among a crowd of hundreds of people thronging the top of the mountain. My inner peace was restored when the crowds thinned out as the trail went farther along the spine of the Presidentials.

I have 17 more miles to hike in NH before crossing my final state line into Maine! I will be hiking the infamous Mahoosuc Notch in a few days. It is a mile long stretch of the trail that is essentially a jungle gym of boulders and can take hours to cross. Katahdin is still 300 miles away, but each step is bringing me closer.

~Little Bird

5 second update

I now have less than 400 miles to go! I have climbed my first mountain in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Mt Moosilauke. Northward I go!

Two more to go!

Two more states that is.  Today I crossed into New Hampshire, leaving Vermont behind. Aside from a farewell thunderstorm this morning and a few miles of road walking to leave the state, Vermont has been one of my favorite states. The scenery has been gorgeous and there are so many places I made a note to come back and spend more time at.  Because we have had such gorgeously nice weather, the mud has been at a minimum and so have the rocks, which means the trail is actually a dirt path!

I have been running into many SOBOs (Southbounders) the past week, as they all approach 500 miles on the trail. They have finished the Whites, the section I am about to begin, and are winding down the 4,000 ft mountain climbs (for now). We NOBOs are beginning to head into the section with large climb after large climb. We've certainly done a lot of up and down the past few days. 1,100 ft in 0.7 miles (Quimby Mt) feels a bit like trying to rock climb while carrying a huge pack. And it will only increase in the White Mountains, but at least there will be views to anticipate (Quimby Mountain did not have a view at the top! We just turned around and went sharply down!).

After climbing over what felt like a million "shark teeth" yesterday (my name for sharp up/downs in short mileage), and racing through a thunderstorm this morning, I'm feeling a bit beat up. Thankfully a shower makes it all better (and so does being inside while another thunderstorm goes by!).

The light outside is fading and this hiker is fading rapidly. Hiker-midnight approaches and if I'm still awake I'll turn into a pumpkin. Time for bed!

~Little Bird

A note on trail hygeine

The saying goes "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." Where the saying came from and it's veracity is up for debate, but there is no doubt in my mind that "Cleanliness is Heavenly!" After going two full weeks without taking a shower and over two week without doing laundry (my longest stretch so far), cleanliness was not part of my vocabulary.

The trail in Vermont started out very muddy after two days of rain. In fact in many places the trail was a stream.

Where does the trail go?

Oddly enough, my dire feelings of need for a shower did not translate to other hikers. I had comments on how nice my hair looked and how clean I was (I do rinse the mud off my legs at night before going to bed). One guy I ran into thought I was out for the day. When he learned I was headed to Maine he asked if I'd just had a shower. My answer was, "I haven't showered in 10 days!"

I think it's the dress. People are so confounded to see a hiker in a bright blue dress they don't notice the dirt. That or the dirt blends in with all my freckles! Or perhaps the smell. Smell is the main way to identify who's out for the day, the week, or months.  Julia and I were passed by one thru-hiker who smelled so bad we were both gagging! (I have since heard about the "4 state challenge" which involves not showering for four states! Yuck.) The only thing I can figure is that since I use a mineral deodorant stick, I don't smell as bad (I still think I stink!) and so other hiker's noses are fooled into thinking I am clean!

I don't think I can properly convey to you my utter delight and blissful satisfaction in taking a shower yesterday. It was pure heaven to wash away two weeks of extreme humidity, rain, sweat and mud (yes, my legs were still dirty even though I rinse them off).

One acquires a sort of reverse french manicure from the permanent layer of dirt under the fingernails. I picked up a bottle of nail polish to hide this dirt!

Clean legs, clean socks, clean hands!

 A side note:

My hiker hunger has definitely returned!

My huge french toast lunch in Manchester, VT.

I ate all but the last few bites!

The bear box

Massachusetts was very nice and provided bear boxes at most of the campsites and shelters.  It provides a safe place to store your food from the two menaces - mice and bears. As I mentioned before, while Julia was with me we had a bear encounter in the night. We were woken up by the noise of the bear banging on the bear box. In the morning we discovered this:

Julia looking worried that the bear box almost rolled down the hill!

Good thing it was chained to the tree!

Thankfully though, our food was safe inside!

All of it was still there!

It seems, however, that Vermont is not filled with bear boxes as MA was, so I have resumed hanging my food in the trees to keep it away from the bears, but really more importantly the mice!

Travel Buddies

I have been enjoying a lovely stretch of hiking sans showers, laundry, or internet.  My college roomie Julia joined me the past four days and we had a lovely and eventful four days. Between a bear banging on the bear box in the middle of the first night trying to get our food out (thankfully the box was chained to the tree or it might have rolled down the hill and burst open!) and the sudden monsoon that flooded Julia where she was sleeping underneath my hammock the second night, we are not lacking in stories to tell.  We spent a lovely night next to a marsh at a small stealth camping spot last night and then had a cool morning hike into town.

The lack of showers and laundry continues for me as I head up into the Green Mountains of Vermont, having made this brief stop in town. By the time I get a shower and laundry in three days it will feel so amazing! I have crossed the 1600 mile mark and entered Vermont.  I have 578 miles and three states to go; the trail is entering the mountains again, and the going is getting steeper.

Thanks to everyone who continues to support me! Pictures to come later...

~Little Bird

Parasols and Cocktail Parties

I decided to switch out some of my hiking gear for the remainder of the trip. Most notably was my rainjacket and hiking outfit. I switched to an umbrella instead of a rain jacket. I also switched to a hiking dress instead of pants/t-shirt combo.

My new hiking attire.

It works for me, and the umbrella provides shade as well as rain protection.  Indeed, my umbrella is my new best hiking partner, so much so that I have given her a name: Poulnabrone Bumbershoot. Where you may ask did I come up with such an unusual name? Well, as I was hiking along enjoying the shade from my umbrella, I thought about how convenient it was to have portable shade.

My shade goes wherever I go!

This got me thinking about portable tombs. What you may ask is a portable tomb? Well, in reality:  nothing. 

However when visiting Poulnabrone Dolmen in Ireland, which is a "portal tomb," some other tourists read the sign out loud as "portable tomb." Now is you are standing there reading the sign, this is what you see before you:

Not very portable, though it would provide lovely shade underneath.  Also, what exactly one would do with a portable tomb is rather unclear. This was what was running through my head as I hiked along enjoying the shade from my umbrella. And so her name became Poulnabrone, the portable shade. And she needed a last name, so bumbershoot was the logical surname of choice given her occupation (favorite usage of the word occurring in Aristocats).

Poulnabrone became elevated from a mere umbrella to a lofty parasol by a police sergeant from Long Island, out for the weekend on the trail, who exclaimed "You have a parasol!" when I went hiking by. He later commented to me that I arrived at the shelter (after a rather steep climb) looking ready for a cocktail party. I don't know about you, but I don't usually go to cocktail parties (at all) with my sweaty hair plastered to my head, wearing a dress with hot chocolate spilled down the front and caterpillar guts on the butt (I accidentally sat on one and it has proven difficult to wash out of the awkward location on my behind.).

Such have been some of my adventures so far. Two days ago I was met by my fabulous friends Prairie Dog and Dragonfly, whom I fittingly am spending the 4th of July with after spending it with them last year on the trail. Yesterday Prairie Dog took me into the city, as in NYC, which was fun and very different from the trail.

On the Staten Island ferry.

In Times Square.

Today is my first real zero day (yesterday doesn't count since we walked about 6 miles around town!) and I timed it just right so that I am in town rather than hiking in the rain!

Happy 4th to all!

~Little Bird

On the road again...

And I'm off on the trail again! After saying goodbye to Peppy, I headed east to PA to finish the section between Lehigh Gap and Delaware Water Gap.

Bye PepPep!

After three days of slack-packing with the amazing assistance of Bald Bird (he named himself!) I was done with PA!

Back on the trail!

My "Done with PA" dance.

I jumped up to New York and got back on the trail where I got off last summer.  It's amazing how it seems as if I never left.  The rocks are right where I left them! I spent a lovely night by Island Pond. I came down Bear Mountain to a park chock full of families celebrating and cooking out. While hiking through the Trailside Zoo, I passed the lowest spot on the Appalachian Trail at the bear cage.

Such a nice place to camp!

And now I am spending a lovely evening with a fellow member of Wild and White Blazing who is generously hosting me at her house! The trail is full of blessings :)

319 Zeros

319 Zeros. That's what it feels like. 319 days that I didn't hike any miles on the Appalachian Trail. I never really felt like I "quit" and I never felt any compulsion to start over in Georgia. To me, this has felt like a continuation of my thru-hike. It may not fit the technical definition of a thru-hike in which the entire Appalachian Trail is completed in one calendar year, but I'm not done. The trail is still calling me and it is calling me to finish.

And so today I head out back to the woods to continue walking north to Katahdin.  I have spent a large majority of the last 11 months battling Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. It is a pernicious little spirochete bacteria and one I will have to live with the rest of my life. I am in remission now, and going out better armed to protect myself against reinfection from the little buggers with continued antibiotics and special homemade bug spray.

I am actually all packed and ready to go this time (rather than leaving late and arriving at 3am like last year!). My food is prepackaged in daily bags with help from my sister and her friend (who wrote stuff on every bag -what sort of stuff you ask? -I don't know I'll find out as I go).

Complete with random TV show character paused creepily in the background...didn't notice that at first!

This time I was good and took over my own room for food prep, rather than taking over Meredith's room; a fact I'm sure she appreciates.

One main difference on this portion of my hike is that my noble Sir Ernesto Peppington will not be joining me.

Cue obligate picture of my adorable pup!

Although Peppy had a wonderful time hiking with me on a trip out east to visit friends in February, the northern section of the trail is far rockier and cliff-ier (made up word) than what we have already completed. By leaving him at home I don't have to worry about carrying him up cliffs and ladders sections. It also has the added bonus of making my pack significantly lighter (approximately 6 pounds lighter!) which is very helpful seeing as the nasty spirochetes may have had an impact on my health and fitness over the last year.

"I'm going there soon!" From the top of Julia's mountain, I could see Mt. Greylock and the ridgeline of the Appalachian Trail in the distance.

All in all, I am ready to get back out there and finish the journey I started last year, though I am a bit nervous to see how my post-Lyme body handles the rigors and stress of the trail. I started reading Walking by Thoreau, thinking it an apt book to read on the eve of a walking expedition. I was delighted by Thoreau's derivation of the word "sauntering" from an expression for those supposedly seeking the Holy Land or "la Sainte Terre" in the Middle Ages. "For every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us, to go forth and reconquer this Holy Land from the hands of the Infidels." It is my turn to resume my walk, to take the next step in reconquering my life from the hands of Borrelia burgdefori.

And so I'm off to follow a small footpath through the woods and see what new adventures may follow...

~Little Bird

A New Year

Nope, I didn't fall off a mountain and vanish.  In my last post, circa 5 months ago, Peppy and I were headed north.  Well, we only made it about 4 miles before I decided Peppy still wasn't well (he's perfectly fine now).  My dad drove out to pick him up and I got sick!  After a few days I wasn't any better, so I came back to Ohio, ostensibly to rest for a week and then head back to the trail.  Obviously that never happened.

What followed was a health rollercoaster and lots of bloodwork/doctors visits.  Despite an initial guess, it took 3 months to reach a diagnosis of Lyme disease, by which point the nasty little bacteria was well entrenched.  Antibiotic treatment results in large die-off of the bacteria and release of lots of toxins, resulting in feeling worse before getting better.  Huzzah!  If you feel worse you are getting better.

It was quite a change to go from being outdoors and climbing mountains to bedridden with limited energy to climb the stairs.  In fact, I changed so much my family didn't recognize me! (This is only partially true--I in fact just chopped off all my hair so I was confused for my older sister--but it sounds more dramatic that way ;) )

After months of treatment I am beginning to regain some of my former health.  I have months of treatment to go, but in this new year I have every faith of new health.  In fact, I have every intention of getting back out on the trail and finishing what I started.  Katahdin is still calling my name.

May you all have a prosperous, happy, and healthy new year.

Little Bird and Peppy