I have a good friend who lives in Southern Vermont, and my dad decided to take a somewhat spontaneous trip (those who know him shouldn't be surprised) to come visit me in Massachusetts, where a couple of very hospitable friends of his took the pair of us in. It was unfortunate that my two holidays were back to back, and I've only averaged like 5 miles a day over the last 2 weeks, which includes 8 nonconsecutive zero days. This has helped reinforce the idea that this is not a race, and the people I was hiking with are now several days ahead of me and I likely won't see them again. It's also renewed my liking of the trail, and I've been better at stopping at the viewpoints and sidetrails, which I was starting to skip more and more as the terrain has gotten easier and will continue to for the next few states. Maine and New Hampshire, while only 20% of the mileage of the A.T., are 80% of the overall elevation change. So it's flater, although still not a walk in the park. Well, sometimes it is literally a walk in the park, as the trail often cuts through parks, but that's besides the point.
Yesterday I crossed the border from Vermont to Massachusetts. 3 States down, 11 to go.
It's not a race. And I was undeniably more comfortable with my dad here with a car and these fancy roofs and porcelain toliets. But now, to get to my dad's house by Thanksgiving, I have to average 15 miles a day. Before he decided to visit it was 13 miles a day. For 4 months. And if I hike 15 miles a day, and then take a day off every four days, it will take me 5 months. But again this is the thinking that leads me to higher mileage days and I miss figureatively and literally stopping and smelling the flowers. If I was in that big of a hurry, I'd just fly to Georgia. This experience isn't about the destination. The difference between "traveling" and "commuting" is if you want to be on the move, or if you're just trying to get to your destination. I'm traveling along this trail, not commuting.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
The People Who Hike the Trail
Thru-hiking the entire Appalachian Trail attracts a couple specific types of people, and most will turn into a couple specific types by the time they're finished.
First off there are the "conquerors" (my own term). They are trying to, ahem, conqueror the trail. They're usually trying to do the trail as efficiently as possible, and are usually obsessed with their average miles a day and the logistics and resupplying. The food they're carrying will be marked with, for example, "Thursday Dinner" and their small-talk with other hikers consists of analysis of differences in gear and where the best resupply points are.
Second are "wanderers" (also my term). They're more likely to go to a town, not just for the logical reason of resupplying, but also to hit up a tourist attraction or find some sort of underground music scene or something. They can be your typical transient hippie, or maybe someone mulling something over, like a recent divorce or election to a political seat in South Carolina. These people literally and figuratively stop and smell the flowers. The easiest way to distinguish between a conqueror and wanderer is if they wear a watch. Some love to go the whole hike without ever having to wake up to an alarm, some are happy to say it only took them __ days, as opposed to __+1 days. To each his own. "Hike your own hike" is a common saying.
There's a lot of other sayings and inside-baseball vocab words. "Thru" hiker means you're doing the entire trail, as opposed to a "section" hike. If someone spends 5 months and hikes from Georgia to Conneticut is a section hiker. Someone who spends 4 months and hikes the entire trail is a thru hiker. Most hike Northbound (from Georgia to Maine), and they're known as "Nobos" or "GAMEs". As someone hiking southbound, I'm known as a "Sobo" or "Mega". (MEGA = Me->Ga Maine to Georgia. GAMErs follow the same logic).
There's 10,000 other terms for the ways people classify other hikers and terrain and other aspects of the hike. But that's one of the (arguable) problems, that people create labels for one another. Almost every thru-hiker becomes at least somewhat arrogant, and tend to look down on day/weekend/section hikers, or even people thru-hiking Vermont's Long Trail (which takes a couple weeks and a little more than 100 miles of it overlap the AT). Thru-hikers also inevitably become control freaks, due in no small part to the reality that they do control almost everything (as I mentioned in my last post, only I am forcing myself to keep going). But I've met some really great people. I've been selflessly given food more in the last month than any other part of my life. After the established work-for-stay structure in the Whites, it's been fun to unofficially work for stay. I just randomly met a sweet "young" lady, who put me up in her house and cooked me breakfast, and all I did was help her change a lightbulb and switch the batteries in her smoke detectors (she had chores for a tall person). Food, bed and a shower was all I needed, and if you've ever had dying smoke detectors, you know that she felt like she won out on the deal. So it was win-win between us. Yesterday I helped paint a porch, and I did some vacuuming carpet-cleaning today. It's nice to day-labor my way along, despite having a Graduate degree. The whole point is to slow down and enjoy the little things.
First off there are the "conquerors" (my own term). They are trying to, ahem, conqueror the trail. They're usually trying to do the trail as efficiently as possible, and are usually obsessed with their average miles a day and the logistics and resupplying. The food they're carrying will be marked with, for example, "Thursday Dinner" and their small-talk with other hikers consists of analysis of differences in gear and where the best resupply points are.
Second are "wanderers" (also my term). They're more likely to go to a town, not just for the logical reason of resupplying, but also to hit up a tourist attraction or find some sort of underground music scene or something. They can be your typical transient hippie, or maybe someone mulling something over, like a recent divorce or election to a political seat in South Carolina. These people literally and figuratively stop and smell the flowers. The easiest way to distinguish between a conqueror and wanderer is if they wear a watch. Some love to go the whole hike without ever having to wake up to an alarm, some are happy to say it only took them __ days, as opposed to __+1 days. To each his own. "Hike your own hike" is a common saying.
There's a lot of other sayings and inside-baseball vocab words. "Thru" hiker means you're doing the entire trail, as opposed to a "section" hike. If someone spends 5 months and hikes from Georgia to Conneticut is a section hiker. Someone who spends 4 months and hikes the entire trail is a thru hiker. Most hike Northbound (from Georgia to Maine), and they're known as "Nobos" or "GAMEs". As someone hiking southbound, I'm known as a "Sobo" or "Mega". (MEGA = Me->Ga Maine to Georgia. GAMErs follow the same logic).
There's 10,000 other terms for the ways people classify other hikers and terrain and other aspects of the hike. But that's one of the (arguable) problems, that people create labels for one another. Almost every thru-hiker becomes at least somewhat arrogant, and tend to look down on day/weekend/section hikers, or even people thru-hiking Vermont's Long Trail (which takes a couple weeks and a little more than 100 miles of it overlap the AT). Thru-hikers also inevitably become control freaks, due in no small part to the reality that they do control almost everything (as I mentioned in my last post, only I am forcing myself to keep going). But I've met some really great people. I've been selflessly given food more in the last month than any other part of my life. After the established work-for-stay structure in the Whites, it's been fun to unofficially work for stay. I just randomly met a sweet "young" lady, who put me up in her house and cooked me breakfast, and all I did was help her change a lightbulb and switch the batteries in her smoke detectors (she had chores for a tall person). Food, bed and a shower was all I needed, and if you've ever had dying smoke detectors, you know that she felt like she won out on the deal. So it was win-win between us. Yesterday I helped paint a porch, and I did some vacuuming carpet-cleaning today. It's nice to day-labor my way along, despite having a Graduate degree. The whole point is to slow down and enjoy the little things.
Next Mail Drop
Cameron Bynum
c/o General Delivery
Dalton, MA 01226
Please Hold for Thru-Hiker
Estimated Date of Arrival: 7/28/11
c/o General Delivery
Dalton, MA 01226
Please Hold for Thru-Hiker
Estimated Date of Arrival: 7/28/11
Vermont
After slowing down and working the system through the huts in New Hampshire's White Mountains, I hit terrain I had almost forgotten existed: relatively easier terrain. Although there are still mountains in Western New Hampshire and Vermont, they are the rolling Green Mountains. They're not universally easier. For example, I sweated a lot more as they were more muggy (hello mosquitoes, I did not miss you), plus it's been hotter the last week or two, but I was able to actually hike in a "higher gear". To all of you who drive, it may not seem like much of a difference to travel at 2 mph or 3 mph, but the difference is huge in hiking. The day I left the Whites was the highest mileage I've done yet, breaking 20 miles in a day for the first time. I actually did 40 miles in 40 hours (despite sleeping for 8 of those hours, and cooking and eating and hand-pumping water from creeks every time I was thirsty, which is all the time).
But I've slowed down the last few days. Just because you CAN go faster doesn't mean you should (I could just get on a plane and fly to Georgia in 2 hours if I was in that much of a hurry). Most of the locals I've talked to have similar assestments. SLOW DOWN they say. The whole point of the trail is to stop and notice the little things you'd miss if you were just "commuting" through an area. Julia taught me long ago that it's not a race, and it's good to remind myself that the only thing that's forcing me to do this is myself, and I can slow down or even stop completely whenever I want. But, that said, I have full intentions to go the full distance, and even though I've done only 20% of the miles, I've done 80% of the altitude change. So on to the flatlands (most aren't intimidated but the "mountains" of, say, Conneticut or Maryland).
But I've slowed down the last few days. Just because you CAN go faster doesn't mean you should (I could just get on a plane and fly to Georgia in 2 hours if I was in that much of a hurry). Most of the locals I've talked to have similar assestments. SLOW DOWN they say. The whole point of the trail is to stop and notice the little things you'd miss if you were just "commuting" through an area. Julia taught me long ago that it's not a race, and it's good to remind myself that the only thing that's forcing me to do this is myself, and I can slow down or even stop completely whenever I want. But, that said, I have full intentions to go the full distance, and even though I've done only 20% of the miles, I've done 80% of the altitude change. So on to the flatlands (most aren't intimidated but the "mountains" of, say, Conneticut or Maryland).
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Next Mail Drop
My next mail drop can actually go to a friend of mine, who's coming and hiking with me for a couple days, and then I'm going to get off the trail a couple days and (shudder) work before continuing down into Massachusetts.
Cameron Bynum
C/o Evan Chadwick
383 Western Ave #2
Brattleboro, VT 05301
Cameron Bynum
C/o Evan Chadwick
383 Western Ave #2
Brattleboro, VT 05301
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
New Hampshire: The Sellout State
New Hampshire is distinctly different from Maine. The first town I went to, though admittedly larger than any of my Maine towns, was still rather small. Nevertheless, it managed to still have a Walmart and McDonald's. The Maine towns usually just had "The (Town Name) General Store" and I would eat at, simply, "The Diner". Walmarts creep up right on New Hampshire's borders, like casinos on the edge of California, as if to tempt it's more naturally organic neighboring states, Maine and Vermont. New Hampshire had more mountains carved into ski lifts, more road crossings with annoying "Appalacian Trail Parking Lot"'s I had to walk through. The worst was Mt Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast (and second highest on the whole A.T.), which had a cog and road that leads to the top of it. This means there was a gift shop with magnets, pens, snow globes, and "this body hiked Mt Washington" t-shirts. Not only does that mean you get some weekend warriors, but fat people in flipflops and trophy wives in stilettos. It was actually the worst culture shock I've experienced so far. The Whites also have what are called huts, rather expensive cabins in the woods with bunk rooms, well water, and delicious meals for its guests. They're very popular with families and the aforementioned weekend warriors. A night in a hut normally costs $80-$120/night, and for a family of four for a weekend, they can become very expensive. But they have established a wonderful agreement with thru-hikers, plus I'm here early in the hiker season, which helps. Thru-hikers can work-for-stay, where we do 1-2 hours' work sweeping the floor and doing dishes, and then we can sleep on the floor and eat whatever food is leftover at the end of the paying guests' dinner. Some fellow thru-hikers said they felt like slaves, obeying the caretakers' demands to clean the floor, getting out of people's way, and literally eating the leftover scraps. But I loved it. I'd move hut to hut and worked my way through several all-you-can-eat meals and paid nothing for them. Sometimes my work-for-stay would include me telling stories to the guests about my thru-hiking experience, or playing my own wake-up song on the guitar to rally guests awake and let them know when breakfast was. I actually ran the last one while the caretaker stepped out for a few hours because I was so proficient at running them (I stayed at like half a dozen of them).
I also realized, to my horror and with an absolute inability to do anything about it, that I went through this popular National Park over 4th of July weekend, and it was packed. But again that was to my advantage, as so many people offered me food and supplies "since I'm going back to civilization tomorrow."
But so I undeniably gave in to sellout New Hampshire culture, giving up freedom for a little security, which is ironic given that New Hampshire's State Motto is "Live Free or Die." I was undeniably more comfortable in the huts, despite the lack of flushing toliets or places to plug in and charge my camera and phone.
But boy there are so many people in this popular National Forest over July 4th weekend. I was amazed at how many people I saw with not just one, but TWO X-chromosomes. I did not see a single straight single female within a decade of my age for the entire time I was in Maine (what about the snakebite girl, you say? Prefers women over men. Ahh, now I understand why you have a male companion who is not your boyfriend). My first night in a hut a handful of us, boys and girls, went skinny dipping in the nearby lake late at night. So again I've had a more enjoyable time since I've been in New Hampshire, yet somehow feel more hollow.
I also realized, to my horror and with an absolute inability to do anything about it, that I went through this popular National Park over 4th of July weekend, and it was packed. But again that was to my advantage, as so many people offered me food and supplies "since I'm going back to civilization tomorrow."
But so I undeniably gave in to sellout New Hampshire culture, giving up freedom for a little security, which is ironic given that New Hampshire's State Motto is "Live Free or Die." I was undeniably more comfortable in the huts, despite the lack of flushing toliets or places to plug in and charge my camera and phone.
But boy there are so many people in this popular National Forest over July 4th weekend. I was amazed at how many people I saw with not just one, but TWO X-chromosomes. I did not see a single straight single female within a decade of my age for the entire time I was in Maine (what about the snakebite girl, you say? Prefers women over men. Ahh, now I understand why you have a male companion who is not your boyfriend). My first night in a hut a handful of us, boys and girls, went skinny dipping in the nearby lake late at night. So again I've had a more enjoyable time since I've been in New Hampshire, yet somehow feel more hollow.
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