I'll see you in September

New posts coming soon, guys, I promise!

I've got acres of words, stories and images to share from the trail, circa northern Virginia to Pennsylvania and then another round of New England hiking. At the same time I've recently [very recently] moved to South Philly to begin grad school. This has meant I've been busy with moving and setting up a life, however temporary, here, in this teeming urban environment. I swear there's but one tree, a sapling, on my entire block. Quite different from the Trail.

My absences will be shorter.

-Ink, the once and future

Upper Goose Pond

[The cabin at Upper Goose Pond.]

I got off the bus in Lee, Ma. and stepped straight into a high-powered storm. I sprinted for cover but not before hitting a parking lot flash flood that soaked me to my calves. A taxi brought me to the trailhead and a 1.6 mile southbound hike brought me here, where a nice family is serving as caretaker.

Zero day today, pancakes for breakfast and Dalton tomorrow. Then a 20-mile-a-day dash to Manchester, Vt. by Sunday.

Warm welcome back to the Trail

[Sudden thunderstorm hits Lee, Massachusetts, July 19.]

Now boarding: the Vermonter

After like a month off in Pennsylvania, during which I got my grad school future that much more sorted out, I'm traveling trailwards again.

Here commences MA->NH '10!

I'm hoping for new memories, new friends and to catch up with my friends from this spring. Surely I'll be taking it easy because of the heat-I'm built for cool temps-and I'd like to savor lovely Vermont and rugged New Hampshire.

Harper's, 6/6/10

Thru-hiker! Technically, at least. I did the 2,175 miles in under a year. Which makes it so.

[The ATC hq, the place I started a year ago.]

[Somebody toss me the mic!]

I briefly entertained the idea of re-hiking WV->ME and clock 3,000 miles, completing a traditional thru-hike. But, it got too hot, I have too much business to attend to to be ready for grad school [less than two months away!] and I require novelty to drive me. So I'm off the trail. I am coming back to hike a section I'm keen to hike, and shortly. That would be Dalton, Mass. to at least Rutland, but perhaps to Gorham or Andover.

I'll keep you in the loop. And I'm going to add more posts about upper VA->upper PA.

Happy 4th! This time last year I was celebrating at The Mayor's House in Unionville, NJ. Remember that?

Palmerton once again

I've hiked beyond Harper's Ferry, beyond the half-gallon challenge and Duncannon to Palmerton, PA, which longtime readers of this blog will know became a special place for me roughly this same time one year ago.

I'm not sure how much hiking I've got in me today as I'm feeling much under the weather, despite a zero at my girlfriend's family's house yesterday and several days off this week.

I'm still alive, still itching to keep you up to speed with my journey and still thinking of keeping hiking north. At the same time I've got a lot else going on, not least of which is preparing for grad school in the fall, at Temple University.

Nowadays I walk the Trail content knowing that I'm a thru hiker, with the whole 2,175 miles of the AT done in under a calendar year.

To be continued...

June 6: V GA->WV Day

[Bears Den Hostel, northern Virginia. An amazing place built in the 1930s. Of all the hostels on the Trail, only this one reminds me of the kind of hostels that are travelers' oases in Europe.]

Less than three months after starting in Georgia, I am within a matter of hours of hiking today from reaching Harper's Ferry, W.Va., at 19 miles from where I'm sitting right now.

Time to get another picture of me for the books at the ATC!

And I'm not stopping. I've decided to continue at least as far as Duncannon, Pa. There will be a viewing party there for the USA-England World Cup match in six days.