NEWS: This blog will be different

I've been thinking long and hard about what to do here, now that all that hiking is done. There will be more trails, but in the meantime, there's life.

And I want to blog about parts of that that I feel like blogging about.

I'm thinking a broader set of concerns will be my topic here in the months to come. Certainly not as epic as climbing Mt. Katahdin, or going to bed in a rainy shelter in the woods in Georgia after a long time away from the trail, or doing the half-gallon challenge.

Instead, things like what it's like attending writing school after years away from Miami (Ohio), living in a big city for the second time (last was Prague, 2005-06), and eating brunch with my girlfriend at different hotspots all the time (cause brunch is a big deal in Philly, and for me personally).

So I hope to be uploading the first new posts and doing a little bit of redesign while I'm on Spring Break in Florida. Plane leaves at 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Cheers,

JH

Coming soon:

a final data sheet on my hike. And then I have to figure out what I want to do with this blog.


As you can see from the sparsity of posts I've not been around here much. Grad school is occupying!

-ink

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?