Click on picture to read Chaco's poems
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Waiting Game Begins Again
We have been back in Dallas for a few days now and are staying at the WE CARE HOUSE in Arlington for now. This is the place we stayed last time Sheila had to have chemo treatments. Yesterday we went to the Arlington Cancer Center and had her lab work and bone marrow biopsy done all over again since the lab botched her last biospy before we left to drive north to the Appalachian Trail. It was heartbreaking not to be able to get back on the AT after getting so close. only to turn around and drive 1500 mile back to Texas. We tried to have a good time on the drive back and followed the coast to see some new sights and the oil slicked beaches of the Gulf, but with a new worry hanging over our heads it was difficult to make the best of it. We are supposed to hear from Dr. DiStefano tomorrow for some preliminary results, then the final vedict in about 8 more days. So we are stuck here in limbo waiting.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Cafe Du Monde New Orleans
Cafe Du Monde
Jackson ParkBuggy Tours of French Quarter
Artist's work and bike
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Apalachicola, Florida to the Mobile Bay Ferry
Well I have lost track of the days as we continue on our quest to drive from Virginia to Texas sticking as close to the coast as possible and only using the interstate when we need a cheap motel for the night. After leaving Jekyll Island, Georgia we continued on to Jacksonville, Florida for the night before we headed west to the Gulf. I wondered how bad the oil spill was going to be and if we would see any unspoiled beaches along the way. First we had to get across the north of Florida and that meant getting on I-10 and just doing 70MPH while seeing nothing but malls, fast food and billboards. We hate the interstate! We were both tired and in no big hurry so we stopped for the night in Madison, Florida with the idea the motels would be cheaper than in Pensacola, and we were right. Thunderstorms with flashes of lightning all the way at least gave us something to look at in instead of the urban sprawl and the traffic. The next morning we set off for Pensacola and the Gulf Coast. We set the GPS for the roads right along the coast and headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama right beside the water. pelicans flew right alongside the car as we passed over bridge after bridge. We thought we saw protesters as we breezed through downdown Pensacola but gave it no thought until we started seeing all the work camps and buses of temp workers heading to and from all the beaches. We stopped in Perdido Key just long enough to buy some postcards and a sticker for Farkus' roof box then passed right through Gulf Shores, Alabama on a narrow spit of land that would take us to Fort Morgan and the ferry that would get us across Mobile Bay. The beaches were closed and flying double red flags as we passed through Orange Beach and we started noticing that there were no tourists around at all! All the resorts and motel parking lots were full of work crews and heavy equipment for people cleaning up the beaches. As far as we could tell the beaches were not all covered with oil and looked pretty good to us. We saw none of the oil booms that we watched on TV everynight. When we reached the ferry landing we were lucky to get in the second line of cars on the marked loading spots so we knew we would fit on the first ferry to arrive. The temp had to be one hundred degrees and we gathered with all the other waiting passengers in the shade of one of the massive oaks near the shore. Offshore there were lots of oil or gas platforms and alarms seemed to be going off on the one nearest to the ferry landing. No one seemed concerned though. The ferry showed up right on time and we drove Farkus onto his first ferry ride. Farkus had been running great the whole trip and we thought he might like the treat of a new oil change and a ferry ride! The ride was about 40 minutes to the other side and it was nice and breezy as we walked around the ferry. One the other side we checked out anothe old fort but decline the tour charge and continuted on to Pascagula, Mississippi. Again we hugged the shore along US90 and drove through Biloxi and Gulfport, Long Beach and Pass Christian. Here we started noticing not only oil booms but miles and miles of beachfront houselots for sale with nothing on them but empty slabs. Hurricane Katrina!! Five years later and all you ever hear of was New Orleans. Biloxi and Gulfport looked like they had almost been wiped off the map as well and now five years later they are just now fixing the beaches, parking lots, sidewlaks and roads. A big number of houses are ...well...just gone! Last night we again got on I-10 to find a cheap motel and stayed in Slidell, Louisiana just north east of New Orleans.
Toesocks looking for hermitcrabs on Carrabelle Beach
Hermits in the tide pools
Shopping in Apalachicola, Florida
The Mobile Bay FerryThursday, June 17, 2010
Hardeeville, SC to Jekyll Island, GA
-Mary Anne Radmacher
Yesterday we left Hardeeville, South Carolina and headed back to the coast on 17 toward Savannah Georgia. On the way we stumbled upon the smallest church in the USA. It was right alongside the road set back in the woods, surrounded by towering spanish moss covered oaks. We almost missed it, but Toesock's sharp eye spotted it and she said, "Hey, did you see that?". We turned right around and were soon glad that we did. It was no bigger than a garden shed , about 10 x 15 feet and was built in 1949 by a local grocer named Agnes Harper. She had limited funds and was told by the locals that she could not afford the kind of chapel that would do justice to God. She did it anyways and wrote the deed in the name of Jesus Christ and invited everyone to her bargin sized house of prayer. Mrs. Harper installed stain glass windows from England and the folding chairs (pews) have fold away knee rests. There is even a glass star in the roof that lets the light in.
Toesocks in a church and it was'nt stuck by lightning!
Toesocks leaving a donation
After we visited the church we headed south on 17 hugging the coast and avoiding anything that looked like a freeway toward Savannah, Georgia. After driving on some very small backroads we came to a slightly larger road but still not what I would call a freeway and soon were on the beautiful Sidney Lanier Bridge just before the causeway to Jekyll Island. We had never heard of Jekyll Island and even though it was near 100 degrees and very humid we decided to check it out. We soon came to a Visitor's Center and found out that the island used to be a sort of Millionaires Club back in the 19 century with plantations and a fort. It now was a tourist stop with nice beaches, historic buildings and the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. We had a good long walk on the beach and I even went in for a dip. Then we checked out a book store that was housed in the old Infirmary and the incredible sea turtle hospital.
Toesocks finds a Horsehoe crab
Inside the turtle hospital
Turtle in Surgery
Turtle in rehab tank-
note patches on shell
Turtle in rehab tank-
note patches on shell
Loggerheads still nesting on island
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Making the Best of Things in The Low Country
I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks."
[Daniel Boone]
Here we are now in Hardeeville South Carolina making our way back to Texas and trying to stay off the Interstate and hug the coastline as much as possible. Since leaving Elizabeth City North Carolina we have been to North Carolina's Outer Banks and saw the Wright Brother's Memorial and Nags Head, Kill Devils Hills and Roanoke Island. On Roanoke Island we visited the museum there that had all the history of the Lost Colony and Virginia Dare the first English baby born in the New World. We got to go onboard a replica of the Elizabeth II and were entertained by "crew" in period costumes who even spoke to visitors in the Old World English and told us all about their long voyage to the New World. Then we toured the Indian Village and Settlement complete with working carpenter and blacksmith shops! Again all the people were in period clothing and spoke the Old English. The blacksmith was intriqued by the 160 year old square "cut" nail I wore around my neck on a string and I explained to him how I had pulled one out of the old house we were raised in for myself and my sisters to have as a memento. He then got his forge blazing and made me a square nail from stock he had "brought with him on his voyage from England" and made a nail like they would have used in the first colony. We watched as he heated the iron stock red hot and then hammered and cut it with five facets on the nail head. It was really some thing to see it made and then he demonstrated how it would hold in wood even better than a modern round nail! Then next day we headed for Myrtle Beach and the Crystal Coast. The traffic along that bit of the coast was bumper to bumper with college age kids heading to all the hotels and beaches so we just pushed on down 17 until we hit Georgetown and got another great motel room at the Jameson Inn for 49 bucks! Today we headed for Savannah Georgia but decided to stop for the night in Hardeeville South Carolina because motels here are only 30-40 dollars and we also thought we might drive into Beaufort and Hilton Head in the morning and see what they have to offer. Today we hit a stretch of 17 that was called The Sweetwater Basketweavers Highway and we soon found out why. This part of South Carolina is near the Santee River and Delta (you might remember this name from the movie The Patriot) and it is where many freed slaves settled after the Civil War and also hid out during the war. The highway was lined with wooden shantys selling woven baskets made with sawgrass from the local salt-marshes and sold by decendants of slaves that still live in the area. On some of the sea islands here there are still people who live poor and simple lives fishing and farming and making baskets who speak Gullah a language combining English with a West African influence. There are also many old plantations in the area that are open to tours. We may stop at one tomorrow because we read that the plantation owner planted over 400 live oaks on both sides of the road over 250 years ago and they are now huge and draped with spanish moss on the two miles into the plantation! This is all called the South Carolina Low Country and you could spend quite some time here just exploring all the old history.
Toesocks hitching a ride with Wilber on the Outer Banks
Chaco trying to hollow out a dugout canoe with an oyster shell...they REALLY did this!
Toesocks removing the hair from a deerhide again...with ONLY an oyster shell...there was no metal in the New World then.
Toesocks on board the Elizabeth IIFriday, June 11, 2010
Whisper Hill Farm
Chaco outside the USMC museum
"OOH-RAH!""Like one that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head,
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread."
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
First an update as to why we had to cancel our planned AT hike. The day we left Sunny & Share's we had visited the ATC in Harper's Ferry and were on our way to the AT Museum in PA., the doctor called and said for us not to get on the trail. The bone marrow biopsy was botched by the lab by putting some samples into the wrong fluid. They did find in some tests that they had previously done that her marrow showed 10% blast. The doctor said that all her prior blood work in Dallas had only showed 2% blast and that it could be normal blood cell rejuvenation. The doctor said we would need to be back to the Cancer Center within 1-2 weeks for another biopsy and then they would know where to go from the new results. So now we are slowly making our way back to Dallas to begin these tests and/or treatments.
While we were at Whisper Hill Farm we had the best time with James and Holly (Sunny & Share). Some of the things we did was pull weeds in the fields, pick different veggies, hand wash them, stake tomato plants spread chicken maure fertilizer and wire the barn with new lighting. We got to see how much work starting and running an organic vegetable farm really is. Both of us were sore from all the bending and leaning over while picking and weeding! We also went to the farmers market and helped Holly set up her booth and we got to see what a professional job she does with the customers, the display and with educating her customers on some of the more rare veggies you dont see in markets everyday, like chard. They have created a unique and interesting life for themselves in Virginia with nothing more than a dream and lots and lots of hard work! We look forward to the next time we can visit them and see how the farm changes and improves over time.
Right now we are in Elizabeth City, North Carolina at an Econo Lodge Motel. Tomorrow we plan to go to the Outer Banks and explore the barrier islands as we make our way south along the coast as close to the Atlantic as we can. Earlier today we left the motel in Hampton, Virginia where we satyed last night and drove to Norfolk and just caught the Tall Ships Parade on the Elizabeth River at the start of a three day festival there. There were thousands of people lined up along the banks and food booths and even a retriever dog competition. We watched all the ships pass by and then had chicken on a stick, roasted corn on the cob and lemon-aid. The weather was beatiful and it all helped to take my mind off of the change of plans the doctor's report has caused. us. Yesterday as we drove south out of PA and back into Virgina we happened to pass right by the Marine Corps Museum near DC, so of course I had to go in and check that out. Tomorrow we hope to get to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and see the wild Spanish Mustangs living on the undeveloped north end of the islands. There are many free ferrys and a couple bridges from island to island, so it should be another interesting day.
James and Holly's 1930 Farmhouse
Morning View out the bedroom window
The cows next door
Holly & Sheila picking scallions
Hand washing the lettuce
Steve & James staking tomatos
Happy the picking is done!
Sheila & Holly at the Farmers MarketSaturday, June 5, 2010
Virginia Creeper Trail
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up them and coast down them. –ERNEST HEMINGWAY, US writer, 1899—1961
Today we rode rented bikes and completed the 34 mille VCT ( Virginia Creeper Trail). It is called the "creeper" from back in the days when trains carrying iron ore and lumber would struggle to make it up the steep grade from Damascus to White Top , making lots of noise and steam they had to creep up the inclines. Before it was a railroad line it was a route that Daniel Boone used as part of his Wilderness Road he blazed on the way to Kentucky and before that it was used by Indians as a trade route. It has been called the most beautiful trail in the country and after riding it today I would have to agree! We rode mostly downhill for the first 17 miles down into Damascus, Virginia following beautiful rivers and creeks, over many trestles and through cool green tunnels with blooming Mountain Laurels. Along the way there are old restored train stations that sell colds drinks, hot dogs, ice cream and postcards for the thousands of people on horses, bikes and hiking the Creeper. We stopped in Damascus for a break and rest at the very park where we had visited when we hiked through Damascus on our 2008 AT hike. It was great to be back and we even saw a few thru-hikers passing by making their own way to Maine. Shortly after leaving Damascus the trail started heading uphill on its way to the tiny town of Alvarado and then ending back in Abingdon. Now the real work began as we were really spent and it was still 17 miles back to the bike shop and Farkus our car! Since we have been travelling we have not been riding our bikes often and it showed! We did manage to get the bikes back to the shop just before they closed and now we knew why most of the riders in our shuttle van opted to only go as far as Damascus and catch a shuttle back to Abingdon. We wanted to do the whole Creeper and we did it!
Today we rode rented bikes and completed the 34 mille VCT ( Virginia Creeper Trail). It is called the "creeper" from back in the days when trains carrying iron ore and lumber would struggle to make it up the steep grade from Damascus to White Top , making lots of noise and steam they had to creep up the inclines. Before it was a railroad line it was a route that Daniel Boone used as part of his Wilderness Road he blazed on the way to Kentucky and before that it was used by Indians as a trade route. It has been called the most beautiful trail in the country and after riding it today I would have to agree! We rode mostly downhill for the first 17 miles down into Damascus, Virginia following beautiful rivers and creeks, over many trestles and through cool green tunnels with blooming Mountain Laurels. Along the way there are old restored train stations that sell colds drinks, hot dogs, ice cream and postcards for the thousands of people on horses, bikes and hiking the Creeper. We stopped in Damascus for a break and rest at the very park where we had visited when we hiked through Damascus on our 2008 AT hike. It was great to be back and we even saw a few thru-hikers passing by making their own way to Maine. Shortly after leaving Damascus the trail started heading uphill on its way to the tiny town of Alvarado and then ending back in Abingdon. Now the real work began as we were really spent and it was still 17 miles back to the bike shop and Farkus our car! Since we have been travelling we have not been riding our bikes often and it showed! We did manage to get the bikes back to the shop just before they closed and now we knew why most of the riders in our shuttle van opted to only go as far as Damascus and catch a shuttle back to Abingdon. We wanted to do the whole Creeper and we did it!
Sheila at the Bike Shop in Abingdon
The Green Cove Station at Mile marker 30.5
Toesocks happy riding downhill!
Wanna race that Nag???
Leaving Damascus 17 miles to Abington to go
One of the almost 100 bridges we crossed
Yes Sheila we must get back on these bikes!
An old barn trailside
End of the trail back in Abingdon Glad to return the bikes!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Dallas to Malvern,AR. to Cookeville, TN.
"The Road goes every on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And wither then? I cannot say."
- J. R. R. Tolkein, Lord of the Rings
Well we left Dallas yesterday right after Sheila's doctor checkup. The check up went good, by that I mean her blood counts are all great but they did a flow cytometry lab and they noticed some BLAST in her blood (2%) but it could all be normal regenerating marrow. The only way to know for sure is the bone marrow biopsy, so thats what she had and we will know the results in 10 days. So...we are still planning to hike the trail and visit friends and family and will deal with the news once we know what it is.
Yesterday we drove as far as Malvern, Arkansas and got our usual budget motel from the ROOM SAVER book and it was a very bad place with Jeffery Dalmer lookalikes hanging around outside and ghetto cruiser cars with flat tires sitting outside the rooms right alongside the upscale status symbol ....shopping carts littered about the place. The room was clean though....and "remodeled" meaning they painted it.....once... a long time ago...and the newly cut oversized patches of sheetrock that was just screwed to the walls covering holes....made by.....well who knows what went on there.....police SWAT team or DEA raids?? The bathroom was clean even though the tub faucets were loose pipes sticking out of the wall, but the water pressure was better than in some high dollar motels I have been in and I had a good shower....wearing my CROCS on my feet the whole time! The night was mostly quiet and we only got up a couple of times to make sure Farkus was not molested out in the parking lot and went right back to sleep after I propped a chair under the room's door knob! We passed on the free breakfast in the morning but did manage to say good morning to Charlie Manson who was just leaving the banquet room as we walked across the street to McDonald's. Then we headed to Tennessee! Now we are in another $32 room in Cookville, Tennessee, but this time we were amazed by the difference! Green mountains all around us in place of purple cars with giant shiny rims and flat tires. Not one shopping cart to be found. A nice outside patio with table and chairs for each room with a view of the mountains in place of and old beer cooler with a view of the motel dumpster! What a difference one new state can make...and Virginia is next!! We plan to make it to Damascus tomorrow and then on Saturday we want to bike the entire 34 mile Virginia Creeper Trail.
(http://vacreepertrail.com/) <------Click on this link to check it out!
Then then the plan is to drive up to Rapidan, VA on Sunday or Monday and see Sunny & Share (James & Holly) on their new farm, Whisperhill! They just started their own organic farm this year and though we saw it just as they were moving in we cannot wait to see all the work they have out into the house and farm! Maybe we can even work a day or two with them and get our hands dirty and learn something about organic farming! We are not sure how long we can visit Sunny and Share as we know they are very busy witht he farm and markets but will next head to sister Sue's home in Trumbull, CT. and get ready to finish the AT. We have a 10 day period to sweat out waiting on the Doctors lab results but feel confident all will be well and we can start hiking again! Sue and her son Chase...who now I think go by the trail names Little Feet and Crooked Toes will be joining us on the trail about the 27th of June. What a fantastic thing to be joined on the AT by your sister and nephew and get to show them about life on the trail!! Stay tuned......what an adventure it will be!!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Song of the Open Road!!!
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"From this hour, freedom!
From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute,
Listening to others, and considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the hold that would hold me."
-Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road
"From this hour, freedom!
From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute,
Listening to others, and considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the hold that would hold me."
-Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Reading Robert W. Service
Toesocks is sleeping after being up sick all night with a stomach virus that's been going around. I have been reading some Robert Service poems and came across one I have not read in a long time.
The Lone Trail
Ye who know the Lone Trail fain would follow it,
Through it lead to glory or the darkness of the pit.
Ye who take the Lone Trail, bid your love good-bye;
The Lone Trail, the Lone Trail follow till you die.
The trails of the world be countless, and most of the trails be tried;
You tread on the heels of the many, till you come where the ways divide;
And one lies safe in the sunlight, and the other is dreary and wan,
Yet you look aslant at the Lone Trail, and the Lone Trail lures you on.
And somehow you're sick of the highway, with its noise and its easy needs,
And you seek the risk of the by-way, and you reck not where it leads.
And sometimes it leads to the desert, and the tongue swells out of the mouth,
And you stagger blind to the mirage, to die in the mocking drought.
And sometimes it leads to the mountain, to the light of the lone camp-fire,
And you gnaw your belt in the anguish of hunger-goaded desire.
And sometimes it leads to the Southland, to the swamp where the orchid glows,
And you rave to your grave with the fever, and they rob the corpse for its clothes.
And sometimes it leads to the Northland, and the scurvy softens your bones,
And your flesh dints in like putty, and you spit out your teeth like stones.
And sometimes it leads to a coral reef in the wash of a weedy sea,
And you sit and stare at the empty glare where the gulls wait greedily.
And sometimes it leads to an Arctic trail, and the snows where your torn feet freeze,
And you whittle away the useless clay, and crawl on your hands and knees.
Often it leads to the dead-pit; always it leads to pain;
By the bones of your brothers ye know it, but oh, to follow you're fain.
By your bones they will follow behind you, till the ways of the world are made plain.
Bid good-by to sweetheart, bid good-by to friend;
The Lone Trail, the Lone Trail follow to the end.
Tarry not, and fear not, chosen of the true;
Lover of the Lone Trail, the Lone Trail waits for you.
–ROBERT SERVICE, The Lone Trail, 1907
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Friday, May 21, 2010
A Plan Starts Coming Together
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Nearly everyone I talked to has some gruesome story involving a guileless acquaintance who had gone off hiking the trail with high hopes and new boots and come stumbling back two days later with a bobcat attached to his head or dripping blood from an armless sleeve and whispering in a hoarse voice, ‘Bear!’ before sinking into a troubled unconsciousness. —BILL BRYSON, A Walk in the Woods, 1998
Today I got an email from my sister Sue to tell me that both her and her son Chase will be able to join us on the trail for up to a full week of hiking. This is fantastic news, to be able to share some of the AT with my sister and nephew! We are now about packed up for the trip north and have extra gear to lend Sue and Chase for when they join us somewhere along the trail. I also heard from Holly (Share) who said they would be glad to see us for a short visit even though they are extremely busy getting their new organic farm in Virginia up and running. We are hoping to spend a few days with them and see if we can even help them out with weeding, planting or any other type of work that we may be able to do. I can't wait to see all the work they have done to bring this dream of theirs to life! Tomorrow we volunteer at The Cedar Ridge Preserve doing trail work. This is the local place we hike to get in shape for the trail and it has about 9 miles of good trails and even some of the good hills to practice on. So for now it looks like things are falling into place to finish our 2 year quest to hike the entire 2175 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
Nearly everyone I talked to has some gruesome story involving a guileless acquaintance who had gone off hiking the trail with high hopes and new boots and come stumbling back two days later with a bobcat attached to his head or dripping blood from an armless sleeve and whispering in a hoarse voice, ‘Bear!’ before sinking into a troubled unconsciousness. —BILL BRYSON, A Walk in the Woods, 1998
Today I got an email from my sister Sue to tell me that both her and her son Chase will be able to join us on the trail for up to a full week of hiking. This is fantastic news, to be able to share some of the AT with my sister and nephew! We are now about packed up for the trip north and have extra gear to lend Sue and Chase for when they join us somewhere along the trail. I also heard from Holly (Share) who said they would be glad to see us for a short visit even though they are extremely busy getting their new organic farm in Virginia up and running. We are hoping to spend a few days with them and see if we can even help them out with weeding, planting or any other type of work that we may be able to do. I can't wait to see all the work they have done to bring this dream of theirs to life! Tomorrow we volunteer at The Cedar Ridge Preserve doing trail work. This is the local place we hike to get in shape for the trail and it has about 9 miles of good trails and even some of the good hills to practice on. So for now it looks like things are falling into place to finish our 2 year quest to hike the entire 2175 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Life at Two Miles Per Hour
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"Half the walk is but retracing our steps. We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return--prepared to send back our embalmed hearts only as relics to our desolate kingdoms. If you are ready to leave father and mother, brother and sister, and wife and child and friends and never see them again,--if you have paid your debts and made your will, and settled your affairs and are a free man, then you are ready for a walk."
Henry David Thoreau, Walking
In less than one month we hope to be on the start of another adventure. In one respect it is to finish up something we started two years ago and in another it is the start of what to do next.....after we reach our goal...Mount Kathadin, Maine....2175 miles from starting out on a very long walk from Springer Mountain, Georgia in 2008. Little did we know that this hike would have so many twists and turns before we could summit Katahdin and reflect on what we had accomplished. There are not many people who can say they walked over 2000 miles through 14 States over mountains carrying all they would need to survive on their backs! Here are the miles by state that we still have to walk to reach the northern terminus of the AT in Maine:
New York....30 miles left
Connecticut...52 miles
Massachusetts...90 miles
Vermont....146 miles
New Hampshire...161 miles
Maine....281 miles
We also plan (if we still feel strong and healthy after reaching Katahdin) to somehow get back over to the Long Trail in Vermont and "end to end" that trail. The Long Trail is the oldest established hiking trail in the country and runs the length of Vermont from the Massachusetts border north to Canada for a total distance of 273 miles. It also crosses all of Vermont's tallest peaks!
https://www.greenmountainclub.org/page.php?id=2
This was our plan last year when we tried to complete our AT hike but got sidelined with Toesock's leukemia. This year we both feel like things will all come together for a great hike, awesome scenery, new friends and even my sister Sue and hopefully her son Chase joining us somewhere along the trail for a few days!
"Half the walk is but retracing our steps. We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return--prepared to send back our embalmed hearts only as relics to our desolate kingdoms. If you are ready to leave father and mother, brother and sister, and wife and child and friends and never see them again,--if you have paid your debts and made your will, and settled your affairs and are a free man, then you are ready for a walk."
Henry David Thoreau, Walking
In less than one month we hope to be on the start of another adventure. In one respect it is to finish up something we started two years ago and in another it is the start of what to do next.....after we reach our goal...Mount Kathadin, Maine....2175 miles from starting out on a very long walk from Springer Mountain, Georgia in 2008. Little did we know that this hike would have so many twists and turns before we could summit Katahdin and reflect on what we had accomplished. There are not many people who can say they walked over 2000 miles through 14 States over mountains carrying all they would need to survive on their backs! Here are the miles by state that we still have to walk to reach the northern terminus of the AT in Maine:
New York....30 miles left
Connecticut...52 miles
Massachusetts...90 miles
Vermont....146 miles
New Hampshire...161 miles
Maine....281 miles
We also plan (if we still feel strong and healthy after reaching Katahdin) to somehow get back over to the Long Trail in Vermont and "end to end" that trail. The Long Trail is the oldest established hiking trail in the country and runs the length of Vermont from the Massachusetts border north to Canada for a total distance of 273 miles. It also crosses all of Vermont's tallest peaks!
https://www.greenmountainclub.org/page.php?id=2
This was our plan last year when we tried to complete our AT hike but got sidelined with Toesock's leukemia. This year we both feel like things will all come together for a great hike, awesome scenery, new friends and even my sister Sue and hopefully her son Chase joining us somewhere along the trail for a few days!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Appalachian Trail Terms
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Walking connects you to the land, it sews a seam between you and it that is very hard to unstitch. – KELLY WINTERS, Walking Home: A Woman’s Pilgrimage on the Appalachian Trail, 2001
The following is a list of those terms and commonly used words, phrases, abbreviations, and slang used in the Appalachian Trail community.
2000 Miler is a person who has hiked the entire distance between termini of the official (white-blazed) A.T., either by thru-hiking or section hiking.
A.L.D.H.A.: The Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association began in 1983 as an off-trail family of fellow hikers who’ve all shared similar experiences, hopes and dreams on the Appalachian Trail and other long trails. ALDHA sponsers the Gathering each October and member volunteers compile the The THru-hikers' Companion for the ATC. Membership in this nonprofit group is open to all.
Alpine Zone: The area consisting of all the land above tree line in New England. The alpine zone is best defined by its plant life. Conifers such as spruce and balsam grow as Krumholz near the tree line, giving way to tundra-type lichens, moss, and shrubs above.
A.M.C.: The Appalachian Mountain Club, maintaining the AT in the White Mountains of New Hampshire to Grafton Notch in Maine.
AMC Huts: In New Hampshire's White Mountains, in heavy use areas and above treeline, the AMC provides buildings called Huts for backpackers to stay overnight.
A.T.C.: The Appalachian Trail Conservancy The Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) is a volunteer-based, private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, management, and promotion of the Appalachian Trail as a primitive setting for outdoor recreation (on foot) and for learning. ATC is both a confederation of Trail-maintaining clubs and an individual-membership organization.
Avery, Myron: Myron Avery, 1931-1952the first 2000 miler, and the man credited with building the Appalachian Trail. Chair of the ATC from 1931 until his death in 1952. More on early AT persons and history:
AYCE: “All You Can Eat” Restaurants that offer all you can eat buffets are very popular with hungry hikers.
Bald: A low elevation mountain surrounded by forest yet devoid of trees on the crown. Typically covered with meadows, balds can offer great views and are a good place to find wild berries, they also attract much wildlife. A southern term.
Baseball Bat Shelter: An old style of shelter construction in Maine where the floor would be constructed out of parallel logs each with diameters not much greater than that of a baseball bat.
Baxter: Baxter State Park, where Katahdin is, and the AT's Northern terminus on Baxter Peak.
Bear Bag: The bag used by hikers to hang their food out of reach of bears and other critters, see 'Food Bag.'
Bear Cable: A permanent cable rigged high between two trees, specifically for hanging bear bags.
Blackflies: There are about 40 species of these tiny biting insects that breed in running water and flourish in late May and June in Maine. These critters are the cause for most people to hike the AT south to north; they are so aggressive that they tend to drive hikers off the trail.
Bivouac: To sleep outdoors without a tent or proper gear, usually done only in emergency situations. Though alpine climbers may do planned bivouacs on long and difficult routes, carrying gear known as a bivouac sack.
Bivy Sack: Is a lightweight and waterproof bag that covers a sleeping bag. Simple, sometimes cramped shelter.
Blazes: Are painted, 2-inch by 6-inch, vertical white rectangles that are placed at eye height on trees and other objects, in both directions, to mark the official route of the Trail. Side trails are marked with blue blazes. You see horizontal, diagonal, arrows, and other blazes along the Trail.
Blaze Orange: A very bright, visible in low light, hue of orange. The color to wear during hunting season.
Blow-Down: A tree or shrub that has fallen across the Trail. Trail Maintainers have dozens of words to describe each kind of fallen tree.
Blue Blaze: Spur trails off the AT to bad-weather routes, views, shelters, water sources etc are often marked by AT style blazes painted Blue.
Blue-Blazer: A long-distance hiker who substitutes a section of blue-blazed trail for a white-blazed section between two points on the Trail.
Bog Bridge: A narrow wooden walkway placed to protect sensitive wetlands.
Bounce Box: A mail-drop type box containing seldom-used necessities that is 'bounced' ahead to a town where you think you might need the contents.
Bushwhack: To hike where there is no marked trail.
Cache (pronounced cash): is a supply of food and/or supplies hidden for later retrieval.
Cairn: An obviously manmade pile of rocks erected as a trail marker. Chiefly used above timberline. Should be close enough to see the next one in heavy fog, and high enough to see above fallen snow.
Cannister Stove: The type of small backpacking stove that uses metal cans of fuel.
Caretaker: The person who maintains and collects fees at certain shelters and campsites.
Cat Hole: A small hole dug by a hiker for the deposit of human waste.
Col and Sag: Typically dips in the ridge without a road, while Gap and Notch are typically larger dips that have a road going through. Sag is a typically southern term, as is Gap, while Col and Notch are typically northern terms. Water Gap, is of course, a Gap with a river.
Companion: The ALDHA Thru-Hikers' Companion is an AT guidebook compiled by AHLDA volunteers for the ATC.
Cove: A Southern Appalachian word meaning a high, flat valley surrounded by mountains. Cades Cove in the Smokies is the one most people know about.
Corridor: The Appalachian Trail is a long and narrow Park, sometimes less than 100 feet wide. The Area set aside for the AT to pass within is called the Trail Corridor.
Cowboy Camping: Where one camps without any shelter - just spread one's pad and bag out under the stars and putting one's faith in their opinion about the weather staying dry.
Croo: The crew of caretakers who man the Appalachian Mountain Club Huts. For the most part, the summer Croo will be college students.
Data Book: Published for over 25 years by the ATC the Data Book is a consolidation of the most basic guidebook information into a lightweight table of distances between major Appalachian Trail shelters, road-crossings, and features--divided according to the guidebook volumes and updated each December to account for Trail relocations, new (or removed) shelters, and other changes. Now keyed to both guidebook sections and maps.
Dead Fall: A maintainer's term for a fallen dead tree across the trail.
DEET: A powerful insect repellant. Don’t leave home without it.
Double Blaze: Two blazes, one above the other as an indication of an imminent turn or intersection in the trail. Offset double blazes, called Garveys, indicate the direction of the turn by the offset of the top blaze.
Dead Fall: Fallen dead trees across the trail. This term is used by maintainers all the time.
Dodgeways: V-shaped stiles through fences, used where the Trail passes through livestock enclosures.
Duct Tape: A wide, heavy duty, and multi purpose tape used by hikers for everything from covering blisters to repairing gear.
End-to-Ender: An alternative term for 2,000-Miler.
Fall Line: The fall line is the most direct route downhill from any particular point. The Appalachian Trail runs the fall line in much of New England.
Flip-Flop: A term used to signify a hiker that starts hiking in one direction then at some point decides to jump ahead and hike back in the opposite direction. Some hikers on the AT will start hiking northbound from Springer Mt. and usually at Harpers Ferry they may decide to go to Katahdin and hike back down to Harpers Ferry, thus completing their thru-hike. This is a good way for someone to still get their hike completed if they are behind and their time is limited due to the oncoming winter.
Food Bag: A bag a hiker carries in their pack specifically for keeping all their food in. It is typically suspended from a tree at night so bears and varmints don't get into it. Also called Bear Bag.
FSO 'From Skin Out.' When considering the weight of gear, its important to remember that your total gear weight 'from the skin out' is as important a total as what your pack weighs.
GAME or GAMER: A hike or hiker going from Georgia to Maine.
Gap: A southern term for a low spot along a ridge line, called a col by northern individuals.
Garvey, Ed: Ed Garvey 1914-1999 Celebrated friend of the AT, conservationist, thru-hiker, author of 1971s 'Appalachian Hiker' an adventure story that offered practical advice for AT hikers, and widely credited with popularizing backpacking and the Appalachian Trail. A 'Garvey' is a double blaze where the top blaze is offset to indicate the direction of a turn in the Trail.
Gear Head: A hiker whose main focus is backpacking and outdoors gear.
Giardia: More properly known as giardiasis, an infection of the lower intestines cause by the amoebic cyst, Giardia lamblia. Giardia resides in water so it is wise to always chemically treat or filter your water before drinking. Symptoms include stomach cramps, diarrhea, bloating, loss of appetite and vomiting. Also know as, a backpacker’s worst nightmare.
GORP: “Good ole raisins & peanuts”, or some other variation thereof. Also known as Trail Mix.
Gray Water: (Dirty dishwater.) Some campsites will have designated spots to dump your gray water. Such designated spots may be provided with a strainer so that you can remove your food particles from the gray water and pack those out.
Ground Control: Hiker support that handles the 'real world' concerns like bills and pets, and mails a hiker packages. Also known as Trail Support.
Handbook: The Thru-hiker's Handbook is an AT guidebook compiled by Dan Bruce.
Harpers Ferry: The ATC's National Headquarters and Information Center is located in Harpers Ferry WV, about 1000 AT miles north of Springer Mountain. A short blue blazed trail leads to HQ, where AT hikers traditionally sign the register and have their photo taken. This is the psychological halfway point on the AT.
Headlamp: A small flashlight attached to a band or strap and worn on the head.
Hicker: A person who is still trying to figure out the whole hiker/gear thing while on the trail.
Hiker Box: A cabinet or box at hostels where hikers donate unwanted food for the hikers coming behind them.
Hammock: A sleeping system that combines a tent and sleeping bag, hung between two trees.
Hostel: An establishment along the trail that has bunks, showers, and sometimes cooking and mail drops, for AT hikers.
Hydration System: An 'improvement' on drinking out of a bottle, consists of a plastic bladder, hose, and mouth piece/valve that allows hands free drinking.
HYOH: “Hike your own hike”, and not imitate someone else's.
Hypothermia: Potentially fatal condition caused by insufficient heat and a drop in the body's core temperature. Classic symptoms are call the 'umbles', as the victim stumbles, grumbles, mumbles, and fumbles with confused thoughts.
Iceberg: Icebergs are large rocks planted in the ground at an overused campsite to discourage any more tenting.
Katahdin: The AT's northern terminus is at Baxter Peak on Maine's Katahdin. Katahdin is a Penobscot Indian word meaning Greatest Mountain.
Knob: A prominent rounded hill or mountain. A southern term.
Lean-to: Another word for a three sided open shelter, used primarily in New England.
Long-Distance Hiker: A somewhat indeterminate term applied to anyone who is hiking more than a few weeks, and who usually has to re-supply at least once during his or her hike; often used interchangeably with the term thru-hiker. At Baxter State Park, a LDH is someone who has hiked in from 100 or more miles south.
LNT: 'Leave No Trace', a philosophy and skill used to pass as lightly as possible when backpacking.
It also means that you pack-out all your trash and leave no visible signs that you were there.
Long Trail: Vermont's Long Trail runs from the Massachusetts to Canadian border, the southern third in conjunction with the AT.
MacGyver: Based on an old TV show where the hero would construct useful devices out of common materials. To hikers it means to build or repair gear with imagination.
MacKaye, Benton: Benton MacKaye (rhymes with high, not hay) is the man who in 1921 proposed an Appalachian Trail as the connecting thread of a 'project in regional planning." MacKaye envisioned a trail along the ridge crests of the Appalachian Mountain chain from New England to the Deep South, connecting farms, work camps, and study camps that would be populated by eastern urbanites needing a break from the tensions of industrialization.
Mail Drop: Mail drops are a method of re-supply while hiking. A mail drop is usually made ahead of time, before the hike starts, and a person not hiking (usually a spouse or relative, but it can be a friend) mails the package according to a pre-arranged schedule so that it arrives on time for the hiker to receive it at the post office.
Maintainer: A volunteer who participates in the organized Trail-maintenance programs of the ATC and its member clubs.
MEGA or ME-GA: A hike or hiker going from Maine to Georgia.
Mountain Money: Toilet paper.
Mouse Hanger: A 12”-18” length of cord run through a tin can with a small stick tied to the end. Hung from a beam in the shelter, a hiker will hang his/her pack on the stick. Mice, attempting to climb down the rope to get into the pack are deterred by the tin can.
Nero: Almost a Zero ...in other words, a very short mileage day.
NoBo: Northbound thru-hiker, also a GAMEr (Georgia to Maine)
NPS: National Park Service.
Pot Cozy: A foam or cloth wrap to keep a cooking pot warm while it finishes cooking.
Power Hiker: A hiker who habitually chooses to cover very long distances each day, often hiking late into the evening.
Privy: A trailside outhouse for solid waste.
PUDS: Thru-hiker shorthand for "pointless ups and downs", referring to the less interesting sections of mountains thru-hikers encounter from time to time; several PUDS in a row are MUDS, which is shorthand for "mindless ups and downs".
Puncheon (also called a bog bridge) is a wooden walkway built to provide a stable, hardened tread-way across bogs, mud flats, and marshy areas.
Purist: 1. A hiker who wants to pass every white blaze. 2. A hiker who wants others to pass every white blaze.
Register: A log book normally found at a trail shelter or a trail head. The original intent was for hikers to sign in so a searcher needing to find a lost hiker could tell where they last were. Registers are now used for hikers to write information regarding their hike and other information that other hikers nay find useful.
Relo: A section of trail recently relocated.
Ridge Runner: A person paid by a trail-maintaining club or governmental organization to hike back and forth along a certain section of trail to educate hikers, enforce regulations, monitor trail and campsite use, and sometimes perform trail maintenance or construction duties. Such persons are most often found in high-use areas of the trail.
Section Hiker: A person who is attempting to become a 2,000-Miler by doing a series of section hikes over a period of time.
Shaffer, Earl: Earl Shaffer 1918-2002 "The Crazy One," the first person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. Poet, WW2 veteran, author of 'Walking With Spring,' and 'The Appalachian Trail, Calling Me Back To The Hills,' and three time thru-hiker, northbound in 1948, southbound in 1965, and northbound again at age 79, 50 years after his first hike. http://www.earlshaffer.com/
Shelter: A three sided wooden or stone building, spaced out a half day's hike apart, near a water source, and with a privy. The AT has many kinds of shelters, from barns to cabins.
Shuttle: A ride from town to trailhead, usually for a fee.
Skunked: Failing to get a car to stop when hitch hiking.
Slabbing: A hiking term that refers to going around a mountain on a moderately graded footpath, as opposed to going straight up and over the mountain.
Slackpacking: A hiking term coined in 1980 to describe an unhurried and non-goal-oriented manner of long-distance hiking (i.e., slack: "not taut or tense, loose"), but in recent years has been used to refer simply to thru-hiking without a backpack. Recently called "Freedom Packing".
Southbounder: A hiker who is hiking the AT from Maine to Georgia. A small minority of hikers actually hike this direction, primarily because of black flies.
Spruce Trap: When snow is deep enough that it cover the top of a spruce tree, beware. Since there will be voids in the snow pack, you can fall into those voids and get caught. When you appear to be above timberline, but you know that the trees are 8 feet high at this place in summer, then beware. Since you can't see where the trail is, you cannot stay on it, and you cannot avoid the spruce traps.
Springer Mountain: The summit is the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.
Springer Fever: is the almost uncontrollable urge to be back on the Trail that hits thru-hikers of past years each spring.
Stealth: A manner of camping where there is no indication that you are there, and no trace of your being there is left when you've left. Sometimes used as a term for camping illegally on public or private land.
Stile: Steps constructed over a fence to allow people, but not livestock, to pass.
Swag: The lowest connecting point between two ridges in the South.
Switchback: A method of building a trail that forms a zig-zag across the face of a mountain. The strategy is to prevent erosion and to make the climb easier. Switchbacks are not made to be short cutted, although some people do, which damages trail. Switchbacks are often appreciated by hikers.
Tarp: A simple tent with no floor or door.
"Ten Essentials": Short lists of 10 or 12 items thought necessary to be carried by backpackers. An example of one list: Map, Compass, Water and a way to purify it, Extra food, Rain gear/extra clothing, Fire starter and matches, First aid kit, Army Knife/multi purpose tool, flashlight with extra batteries/bulbs, sun screen/sun glasses.
Tent Pad/Platform: At some camping sites, tenting is restricted to built up earthen 'pads' or wooden 'platforms' to ease impact on the area.
Thru-Hiker: Traditionally a person who is attempting to become a 2,000-Miler in a single, continuous journey leaving from one terminus of the Trail, and backpacking to the other terminus.
Trail Angel: Someone who provides unexpected help or food to a hiker.
Trailhead: Where the trail leaves a road crossing or parking lot.
Trail Magic: Unexpected, but welcome, help or food.
Trail Name: A nickname adopted by or given to a hiker. This name is used almost exclusively when communicating with others on the trail and in trail register entries.
Trail Runner: A person who runs the AT, as opposed to walking it.
Treeline: The point of elevation on a mountain above which the climate will no longer support tree growth. Sometimes also referred to as the “alpine” area.
Thru-Hiking: The act of attempting to become a 2,000-Miler in a single, continuous journey.
Tour Hiker: A person who pretends to be hiking the entire AT, as a thru-hiker, but instead skips sections and usually looks for ways to spend more time lounging in towns and less time hiking the AT; usually scoffs at the traditions of thru-hiking and thinks that the phrase “hike your own hike” is an excuse for just about anything.
Ultra Light: A style of gear or hiking that focuses on using the lightest gear possible.
Vitamin I: Ibuprofin is an over the counter anti-inflammatory drug that many hikers use while backpacking.
Waterbar: A log or rock barrier that diverts water off the Trail to prevent erosion.
Webface: What happens to the first person on the trail each morning – they clear away all the spider webs across the trail with their face.
Web Master: The first person on the trail each morning – result (see Webface)
The Whites: The White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Whiteblazer: A term from the Appalachian Trail to describe a person hiking pure (see purist), that is, hiking past every white blaze - which are the standard trail markers on the AT. Also what members of WhiteBlaze.net are called.
Widowmaker: Limbs or whole trees themselves that have partially fallen but remain hung up overhead and so pose a danger to a person below.
Wilderness Area: An official designation for public lands set aside to be protected from humans.
Work for Stay: Some hostels, the AMC Huts in the Whites, and a few other places along the AT allow some hikers to work in stead of paying the fee for lodging.
Yogi-ing: The good-natured art of "letting" food be offered cheerfully by strangers without actually asking them directly (If you ask, it's begging!).
YMMV: “Your Mileage May Vary”, hiker jargon for “this worked for me, but your results/opinions might not be the same.”
Yo-Yo-ing: The act of completing one A.T. thru-hike, then immediately turning around to begin another in the opposite direction.
Z Rest: A closed cell sleeping pad that folds into a rectangular block, rather than rolling up.
Zero Day: A day in which no miles are hiked, usually because the hiker is stopping in a town to re-supply and/or rest.
Walking connects you to the land, it sews a seam between you and it that is very hard to unstitch. – KELLY WINTERS, Walking Home: A Woman’s Pilgrimage on the Appalachian Trail, 2001
The following is a list of those terms and commonly used words, phrases, abbreviations, and slang used in the Appalachian Trail community.
2000 Miler is a person who has hiked the entire distance between termini of the official (white-blazed) A.T., either by thru-hiking or section hiking.
A.L.D.H.A.: The Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association began in 1983 as an off-trail family of fellow hikers who’ve all shared similar experiences, hopes and dreams on the Appalachian Trail and other long trails. ALDHA sponsers the Gathering each October and member volunteers compile the The THru-hikers' Companion for the ATC. Membership in this nonprofit group is open to all.
Alpine Zone: The area consisting of all the land above tree line in New England. The alpine zone is best defined by its plant life. Conifers such as spruce and balsam grow as Krumholz near the tree line, giving way to tundra-type lichens, moss, and shrubs above.
A.M.C.: The Appalachian Mountain Club, maintaining the AT in the White Mountains of New Hampshire to Grafton Notch in Maine.
AMC Huts: In New Hampshire's White Mountains, in heavy use areas and above treeline, the AMC provides buildings called Huts for backpackers to stay overnight.
A.T.C.: The Appalachian Trail Conservancy The Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) is a volunteer-based, private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, management, and promotion of the Appalachian Trail as a primitive setting for outdoor recreation (on foot) and for learning. ATC is both a confederation of Trail-maintaining clubs and an individual-membership organization.
Avery, Myron: Myron Avery, 1931-1952the first 2000 miler, and the man credited with building the Appalachian Trail. Chair of the ATC from 1931 until his death in 1952. More on early AT persons and history:
AYCE: “All You Can Eat” Restaurants that offer all you can eat buffets are very popular with hungry hikers.
Bald: A low elevation mountain surrounded by forest yet devoid of trees on the crown. Typically covered with meadows, balds can offer great views and are a good place to find wild berries, they also attract much wildlife. A southern term.
Baseball Bat Shelter: An old style of shelter construction in Maine where the floor would be constructed out of parallel logs each with diameters not much greater than that of a baseball bat.
Baxter: Baxter State Park, where Katahdin is, and the AT's Northern terminus on Baxter Peak.
Bear Bag: The bag used by hikers to hang their food out of reach of bears and other critters, see 'Food Bag.'
Bear Cable: A permanent cable rigged high between two trees, specifically for hanging bear bags.
Blackflies: There are about 40 species of these tiny biting insects that breed in running water and flourish in late May and June in Maine. These critters are the cause for most people to hike the AT south to north; they are so aggressive that they tend to drive hikers off the trail.
Bivouac: To sleep outdoors without a tent or proper gear, usually done only in emergency situations. Though alpine climbers may do planned bivouacs on long and difficult routes, carrying gear known as a bivouac sack.
Bivy Sack: Is a lightweight and waterproof bag that covers a sleeping bag. Simple, sometimes cramped shelter.
Blazes: Are painted, 2-inch by 6-inch, vertical white rectangles that are placed at eye height on trees and other objects, in both directions, to mark the official route of the Trail. Side trails are marked with blue blazes. You see horizontal, diagonal, arrows, and other blazes along the Trail.
Blaze Orange: A very bright, visible in low light, hue of orange. The color to wear during hunting season.
Blow-Down: A tree or shrub that has fallen across the Trail. Trail Maintainers have dozens of words to describe each kind of fallen tree.
Blue Blaze: Spur trails off the AT to bad-weather routes, views, shelters, water sources etc are often marked by AT style blazes painted Blue.
Blue-Blazer: A long-distance hiker who substitutes a section of blue-blazed trail for a white-blazed section between two points on the Trail.
Bog Bridge: A narrow wooden walkway placed to protect sensitive wetlands.
Bounce Box: A mail-drop type box containing seldom-used necessities that is 'bounced' ahead to a town where you think you might need the contents.
Bushwhack: To hike where there is no marked trail.
Cache (pronounced cash): is a supply of food and/or supplies hidden for later retrieval.
Cairn: An obviously manmade pile of rocks erected as a trail marker. Chiefly used above timberline. Should be close enough to see the next one in heavy fog, and high enough to see above fallen snow.
Cannister Stove: The type of small backpacking stove that uses metal cans of fuel.
Caretaker: The person who maintains and collects fees at certain shelters and campsites.
Cat Hole: A small hole dug by a hiker for the deposit of human waste.
Col and Sag: Typically dips in the ridge without a road, while Gap and Notch are typically larger dips that have a road going through. Sag is a typically southern term, as is Gap, while Col and Notch are typically northern terms. Water Gap, is of course, a Gap with a river.
Companion: The ALDHA Thru-Hikers' Companion is an AT guidebook compiled by AHLDA volunteers for the ATC.
Cove: A Southern Appalachian word meaning a high, flat valley surrounded by mountains. Cades Cove in the Smokies is the one most people know about.
Corridor: The Appalachian Trail is a long and narrow Park, sometimes less than 100 feet wide. The Area set aside for the AT to pass within is called the Trail Corridor.
Cowboy Camping: Where one camps without any shelter - just spread one's pad and bag out under the stars and putting one's faith in their opinion about the weather staying dry.
Croo: The crew of caretakers who man the Appalachian Mountain Club Huts. For the most part, the summer Croo will be college students.
Data Book: Published for over 25 years by the ATC the Data Book is a consolidation of the most basic guidebook information into a lightweight table of distances between major Appalachian Trail shelters, road-crossings, and features--divided according to the guidebook volumes and updated each December to account for Trail relocations, new (or removed) shelters, and other changes. Now keyed to both guidebook sections and maps.
Dead Fall: A maintainer's term for a fallen dead tree across the trail.
DEET: A powerful insect repellant. Don’t leave home without it.
Double Blaze: Two blazes, one above the other as an indication of an imminent turn or intersection in the trail. Offset double blazes, called Garveys, indicate the direction of the turn by the offset of the top blaze.
Dead Fall: Fallen dead trees across the trail. This term is used by maintainers all the time.
Dodgeways: V-shaped stiles through fences, used where the Trail passes through livestock enclosures.
Duct Tape: A wide, heavy duty, and multi purpose tape used by hikers for everything from covering blisters to repairing gear.
End-to-Ender: An alternative term for 2,000-Miler.
Fall Line: The fall line is the most direct route downhill from any particular point. The Appalachian Trail runs the fall line in much of New England.
Flip-Flop: A term used to signify a hiker that starts hiking in one direction then at some point decides to jump ahead and hike back in the opposite direction. Some hikers on the AT will start hiking northbound from Springer Mt. and usually at Harpers Ferry they may decide to go to Katahdin and hike back down to Harpers Ferry, thus completing their thru-hike. This is a good way for someone to still get their hike completed if they are behind and their time is limited due to the oncoming winter.
Food Bag: A bag a hiker carries in their pack specifically for keeping all their food in. It is typically suspended from a tree at night so bears and varmints don't get into it. Also called Bear Bag.
FSO 'From Skin Out.' When considering the weight of gear, its important to remember that your total gear weight 'from the skin out' is as important a total as what your pack weighs.
GAME or GAMER: A hike or hiker going from Georgia to Maine.
Gap: A southern term for a low spot along a ridge line, called a col by northern individuals.
Garvey, Ed: Ed Garvey 1914-1999 Celebrated friend of the AT, conservationist, thru-hiker, author of 1971s 'Appalachian Hiker' an adventure story that offered practical advice for AT hikers, and widely credited with popularizing backpacking and the Appalachian Trail. A 'Garvey' is a double blaze where the top blaze is offset to indicate the direction of a turn in the Trail.
Gear Head: A hiker whose main focus is backpacking and outdoors gear.
Giardia: More properly known as giardiasis, an infection of the lower intestines cause by the amoebic cyst, Giardia lamblia. Giardia resides in water so it is wise to always chemically treat or filter your water before drinking. Symptoms include stomach cramps, diarrhea, bloating, loss of appetite and vomiting. Also know as, a backpacker’s worst nightmare.
GORP: “Good ole raisins & peanuts”, or some other variation thereof. Also known as Trail Mix.
Gray Water: (Dirty dishwater.) Some campsites will have designated spots to dump your gray water. Such designated spots may be provided with a strainer so that you can remove your food particles from the gray water and pack those out.
Ground Control: Hiker support that handles the 'real world' concerns like bills and pets, and mails a hiker packages. Also known as Trail Support.
Handbook: The Thru-hiker's Handbook is an AT guidebook compiled by Dan Bruce.
Harpers Ferry: The ATC's National Headquarters and Information Center is located in Harpers Ferry WV, about 1000 AT miles north of Springer Mountain. A short blue blazed trail leads to HQ, where AT hikers traditionally sign the register and have their photo taken. This is the psychological halfway point on the AT.
Headlamp: A small flashlight attached to a band or strap and worn on the head.
Hicker: A person who is still trying to figure out the whole hiker/gear thing while on the trail.
Hiker Box: A cabinet or box at hostels where hikers donate unwanted food for the hikers coming behind them.
Hammock: A sleeping system that combines a tent and sleeping bag, hung between two trees.
Hostel: An establishment along the trail that has bunks, showers, and sometimes cooking and mail drops, for AT hikers.
Hydration System: An 'improvement' on drinking out of a bottle, consists of a plastic bladder, hose, and mouth piece/valve that allows hands free drinking.
HYOH: “Hike your own hike”, and not imitate someone else's.
Hypothermia: Potentially fatal condition caused by insufficient heat and a drop in the body's core temperature. Classic symptoms are call the 'umbles', as the victim stumbles, grumbles, mumbles, and fumbles with confused thoughts.
Iceberg: Icebergs are large rocks planted in the ground at an overused campsite to discourage any more tenting.
Katahdin: The AT's northern terminus is at Baxter Peak on Maine's Katahdin. Katahdin is a Penobscot Indian word meaning Greatest Mountain.
Knob: A prominent rounded hill or mountain. A southern term.
Lean-to: Another word for a three sided open shelter, used primarily in New England.
Long-Distance Hiker: A somewhat indeterminate term applied to anyone who is hiking more than a few weeks, and who usually has to re-supply at least once during his or her hike; often used interchangeably with the term thru-hiker. At Baxter State Park, a LDH is someone who has hiked in from 100 or more miles south.
LNT: 'Leave No Trace', a philosophy and skill used to pass as lightly as possible when backpacking.
It also means that you pack-out all your trash and leave no visible signs that you were there.
Long Trail: Vermont's Long Trail runs from the Massachusetts to Canadian border, the southern third in conjunction with the AT.
MacGyver: Based on an old TV show where the hero would construct useful devices out of common materials. To hikers it means to build or repair gear with imagination.
MacKaye, Benton: Benton MacKaye (rhymes with high, not hay) is the man who in 1921 proposed an Appalachian Trail as the connecting thread of a 'project in regional planning." MacKaye envisioned a trail along the ridge crests of the Appalachian Mountain chain from New England to the Deep South, connecting farms, work camps, and study camps that would be populated by eastern urbanites needing a break from the tensions of industrialization.
Mail Drop: Mail drops are a method of re-supply while hiking. A mail drop is usually made ahead of time, before the hike starts, and a person not hiking (usually a spouse or relative, but it can be a friend) mails the package according to a pre-arranged schedule so that it arrives on time for the hiker to receive it at the post office.
Maintainer: A volunteer who participates in the organized Trail-maintenance programs of the ATC and its member clubs.
MEGA or ME-GA: A hike or hiker going from Maine to Georgia.
Mountain Money: Toilet paper.
Mouse Hanger: A 12”-18” length of cord run through a tin can with a small stick tied to the end. Hung from a beam in the shelter, a hiker will hang his/her pack on the stick. Mice, attempting to climb down the rope to get into the pack are deterred by the tin can.
Nero: Almost a Zero ...in other words, a very short mileage day.
NoBo: Northbound thru-hiker, also a GAMEr (Georgia to Maine)
NPS: National Park Service.
Pot Cozy: A foam or cloth wrap to keep a cooking pot warm while it finishes cooking.
Power Hiker: A hiker who habitually chooses to cover very long distances each day, often hiking late into the evening.
Privy: A trailside outhouse for solid waste.
PUDS: Thru-hiker shorthand for "pointless ups and downs", referring to the less interesting sections of mountains thru-hikers encounter from time to time; several PUDS in a row are MUDS, which is shorthand for "mindless ups and downs".
Puncheon (also called a bog bridge) is a wooden walkway built to provide a stable, hardened tread-way across bogs, mud flats, and marshy areas.
Purist: 1. A hiker who wants to pass every white blaze. 2. A hiker who wants others to pass every white blaze.
Register: A log book normally found at a trail shelter or a trail head. The original intent was for hikers to sign in so a searcher needing to find a lost hiker could tell where they last were. Registers are now used for hikers to write information regarding their hike and other information that other hikers nay find useful.
Relo: A section of trail recently relocated.
Ridge Runner: A person paid by a trail-maintaining club or governmental organization to hike back and forth along a certain section of trail to educate hikers, enforce regulations, monitor trail and campsite use, and sometimes perform trail maintenance or construction duties. Such persons are most often found in high-use areas of the trail.
Section Hiker: A person who is attempting to become a 2,000-Miler by doing a series of section hikes over a period of time.
Shaffer, Earl: Earl Shaffer 1918-2002 "The Crazy One," the first person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. Poet, WW2 veteran, author of 'Walking With Spring,' and 'The Appalachian Trail, Calling Me Back To The Hills,' and three time thru-hiker, northbound in 1948, southbound in 1965, and northbound again at age 79, 50 years after his first hike. http://www.earlshaffer.com/
Shelter: A three sided wooden or stone building, spaced out a half day's hike apart, near a water source, and with a privy. The AT has many kinds of shelters, from barns to cabins.
Shuttle: A ride from town to trailhead, usually for a fee.
Skunked: Failing to get a car to stop when hitch hiking.
Slabbing: A hiking term that refers to going around a mountain on a moderately graded footpath, as opposed to going straight up and over the mountain.
Slackpacking: A hiking term coined in 1980 to describe an unhurried and non-goal-oriented manner of long-distance hiking (i.e., slack: "not taut or tense, loose"), but in recent years has been used to refer simply to thru-hiking without a backpack. Recently called "Freedom Packing".
Southbounder: A hiker who is hiking the AT from Maine to Georgia. A small minority of hikers actually hike this direction, primarily because of black flies.
Spruce Trap: When snow is deep enough that it cover the top of a spruce tree, beware. Since there will be voids in the snow pack, you can fall into those voids and get caught. When you appear to be above timberline, but you know that the trees are 8 feet high at this place in summer, then beware. Since you can't see where the trail is, you cannot stay on it, and you cannot avoid the spruce traps.
Springer Mountain: The summit is the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.
Springer Fever: is the almost uncontrollable urge to be back on the Trail that hits thru-hikers of past years each spring.
Stealth: A manner of camping where there is no indication that you are there, and no trace of your being there is left when you've left. Sometimes used as a term for camping illegally on public or private land.
Stile: Steps constructed over a fence to allow people, but not livestock, to pass.
Swag: The lowest connecting point between two ridges in the South.
Switchback: A method of building a trail that forms a zig-zag across the face of a mountain. The strategy is to prevent erosion and to make the climb easier. Switchbacks are not made to be short cutted, although some people do, which damages trail. Switchbacks are often appreciated by hikers.
Tarp: A simple tent with no floor or door.
"Ten Essentials": Short lists of 10 or 12 items thought necessary to be carried by backpackers. An example of one list: Map, Compass, Water and a way to purify it, Extra food, Rain gear/extra clothing, Fire starter and matches, First aid kit, Army Knife/multi purpose tool, flashlight with extra batteries/bulbs, sun screen/sun glasses.
Tent Pad/Platform: At some camping sites, tenting is restricted to built up earthen 'pads' or wooden 'platforms' to ease impact on the area.
Thru-Hiker: Traditionally a person who is attempting to become a 2,000-Miler in a single, continuous journey leaving from one terminus of the Trail, and backpacking to the other terminus.
Trail Angel: Someone who provides unexpected help or food to a hiker.
Trailhead: Where the trail leaves a road crossing or parking lot.
Trail Magic: Unexpected, but welcome, help or food.
Trail Name: A nickname adopted by or given to a hiker. This name is used almost exclusively when communicating with others on the trail and in trail register entries.
Trail Runner: A person who runs the AT, as opposed to walking it.
Treeline: The point of elevation on a mountain above which the climate will no longer support tree growth. Sometimes also referred to as the “alpine” area.
Thru-Hiking: The act of attempting to become a 2,000-Miler in a single, continuous journey.
Tour Hiker: A person who pretends to be hiking the entire AT, as a thru-hiker, but instead skips sections and usually looks for ways to spend more time lounging in towns and less time hiking the AT; usually scoffs at the traditions of thru-hiking and thinks that the phrase “hike your own hike” is an excuse for just about anything.
Ultra Light: A style of gear or hiking that focuses on using the lightest gear possible.
Vitamin I: Ibuprofin is an over the counter anti-inflammatory drug that many hikers use while backpacking.
Waterbar: A log or rock barrier that diverts water off the Trail to prevent erosion.
Webface: What happens to the first person on the trail each morning – they clear away all the spider webs across the trail with their face.
Web Master: The first person on the trail each morning – result (see Webface)
The Whites: The White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Whiteblazer: A term from the Appalachian Trail to describe a person hiking pure (see purist), that is, hiking past every white blaze - which are the standard trail markers on the AT. Also what members of WhiteBlaze.net are called.
Widowmaker: Limbs or whole trees themselves that have partially fallen but remain hung up overhead and so pose a danger to a person below.
Wilderness Area: An official designation for public lands set aside to be protected from humans.
Work for Stay: Some hostels, the AMC Huts in the Whites, and a few other places along the AT allow some hikers to work in stead of paying the fee for lodging.
Yogi-ing: The good-natured art of "letting" food be offered cheerfully by strangers without actually asking them directly (If you ask, it's begging!).
YMMV: “Your Mileage May Vary”, hiker jargon for “this worked for me, but your results/opinions might not be the same.”
Yo-Yo-ing: The act of completing one A.T. thru-hike, then immediately turning around to begin another in the opposite direction.
Z Rest: A closed cell sleeping pad that folds into a rectangular block, rather than rolling up.
Zero Day: A day in which no miles are hiked, usually because the hiker is stopping in a town to re-supply and/or rest.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
ChocSox 2010 AT Expedition #3 Outline (Only Deli's and Ice Cream will stop us this time!)
Ok it's about time I updated this blog! We are in Arlington Texas staying at the Intown Suites extended stay motel and waiting for Sheila's checkup date and getting gear together for our last and final push to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Minor setbacks in 2008 and 2009 (broken leg and luekemia) have interrrupted our last two tries to complete all 2175 miles of the Appalachian Trail. By now several of our trail friends are at this minute working their way through snow covered passes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on their journey to walk over 2600 miles from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail (the PCT). The PCT is generally regarded as a more extreme hike (due to the higher elevations and danger of deep snow in the mountain passes and long desert sections w/o water) and is a more isolated hiking experience, not having the number of hikers or social interactions as the AT. We had hoped by now we would of also have completed that hike but still consider ourselves lucky to even be able to get back on the AT after Toesocks' luekemia. We read on another blog recently of a lady who in 2009 experienced the exact same situation on her AT hike. She got extremely fatigued and short of breath while hiking in New Hamshire and when in town had blood work done, thinking she was just anemic, but it turned out she also had leukemia and ended up having a bone marrow transplant. She also had a full "recovery", if there is such a thing as a full recovery from something like luekamia, and will also be back on the AT hiking again. Its amazing to me that people can come back from being so seriously sick to hike thousand of mile on the Appalacian Trail. Then again there is that old trail saying that, " God does not subract from your life, the days spent on the AT" I am beginning to believe it! Right now the planned schedule for our AT hike looks like this:
June 1&2....doctor checkup and blood work
June 3......head north with Farkus
June 3-??? do trail magic, visit AT headquarters in Harpers Ferry, WV and Sunny/Share in VA
June 8? or so.......head to sister Sue's to visit and get dropped off (in the rain?) on the AT at mile 1416
TBA.....hike with sister Sue and maybe nephew Chase a few days on that AT (could anything be better!?)
August week 2?-4?......summit Mt Katahdin!!!! (anyone want to come to Maine and summit with us??)
August TBA.....hopefully visit sister Carol and Scott at cabin in Newport, Maine!!??
End of August???...attend "Woodstock" at Morningmist Farm, Jamestown, RI!!??
We have no set schedule to keep and we will take our time to visit with friends and family and even get off the trail (temporarily) if we need a break or have something we would like a side trip to do...so this schedule is not carved in stone...we are going to stick to the only true rule and commandment of the Appalachian Trail..and that is....HIKE YOUR OWN HIKE!!!
June 1&2....doctor checkup and blood work
June 3......head north with Farkus
June 3-??? do trail magic, visit AT headquarters in Harpers Ferry, WV and Sunny/Share in VA
June 8? or so.......head to sister Sue's to visit and get dropped off (in the rain?) on the AT at mile 1416
TBA.....hike with sister Sue and maybe nephew Chase a few days on that AT (could anything be better!?)
August week 2?-4?......summit Mt Katahdin!!!! (anyone want to come to Maine and summit with us??)
August TBA.....hopefully visit sister Carol and Scott at cabin in Newport, Maine!!??
End of August???...attend "Woodstock" at Morningmist Farm, Jamestown, RI!!??
We have no set schedule to keep and we will take our time to visit with friends and family and even get off the trail (temporarily) if we need a break or have something we would like a side trip to do...so this schedule is not carved in stone...we are going to stick to the only true rule and commandment of the Appalachian Trail..and that is....HIKE YOUR OWN HIKE!!!
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