Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Read the full account as I reflect - one year on day by day
Visit my blog written one year later - AT in Retro -
Friday, October 22, 2010
Images and videos of the trail
Nearly a month after we completed the trail, I have finally found some time to sit down and organise my photographs and videos. This will take some time time but here are is a link to the first album on 'Hikers' which shows hikers we met and the wonderful trail angels who supported us on the way.
Web Album - Hikers and Trail Angels
And if you want a laugh here is the first video
Appalachian Trail - River Crossing
Web Album - Hikers and Trail Angels
And if you want a laugh here is the first video
Appalachian Trail - River Crossing
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Aftermath - 2 weeks after the summit
We have been home on the farm for a week, and memories from the trail bombard me continually as I re-adjust to my life at Cape Trib.
As I wake up at 3.00am to visit the toilet, I revel in the fact that I am walking from the bedroom to the bathroom, and not crawling out of a sleeping bag, into the freezing cold and pissing behind a bush. Each night at around 3.00 am for the last 2 weeks I have given thanks for my new circumstances. Comfort is something that many people take for granted. I probably will in time too, but at the moment, I appreciate each night as it comes.
I am still wearing my trail clothes as nothing else fits me, apart from the new pair of jeans I bought in Boston - extra small size. Everything else falls off me. I no longer have a bum (or butt, as the americans would say) to hold them up and I still haven't had a chance to get to town to go shopping.
Friends in our community are asking me ' did you enjoy your time in the US?'. I still don't know how to answer this question. There was so much deprivation during our 6 month hike that 'enjoy' is not the right word. Not yet anyway. Maybe in 6 months time I will be able to say that I 'enjoyed' our time hiking for 177 days. What I answer is to describe a specific situation on the trail to them so that they can get a glimmer of understanding of what life was really like. Each time I am asked, I provide a different example of deprivation. I don't have to search for examples - they pop into my mind. Everywhere I look a stimulus provides another memory or story of our adventure where we have been pushed to the limit.
It is great to catch up with friends in the community after 6 months, and to find out the latest news. I have some idea of what I have missed through following my Facebook page on my mobile phone, with postings about the Cape Trib news. I am really enjoying linking up with the young women in the community again. Digby says it is a 'mother/daughter' relationship. They are great company and it makes me think about the young women I met on the trail, especially my 'warrior princesses', Scatters and Stucco, who by now are back in normal life too, and going by names of Kate and Carrie. They are both powerful role models and how I envy them and wish I was as confident and strong and fit when I was thirty. I laugh when Carrie tells me that they think of Digby and I as their heroes.
Walking the trail gave us time to re-examine our lifestyle to see what we wanted to keep and what to change. We decided that we did still want to live at Cape Tribulation, and to continue running our farm business, but we realised that we were not taking time to smell the roses. One resolution we made was that we would not only work, but also play and enjoy life. So we are going to be taking more time off away from the farm.
As we sort through our photos, I find myself wanting to share my experience - to stand up in front of people and speak about our experiences. Maybe I have a new career waiting to unfold as an after dinner motivational speaker!!
I promised myself that I would cook nutritious meals when I got home, after eating all that rubbish and preservatives. Looking through the recipe book tonight for a chicken recipe to make from scratch, I found Chicken Pot Pie. This was the trail name for a group of young people hiking the trail, who we met many times over the 6 months. I stopped cooking the recipe and started wondering - where are they now? What has happened to Tiny Dancer and Salty, two members Chicken Pot Pie. They were 'yellow blazers', and would walk a bit of the trail, then get a car ride to cover some of the distance and then hike a bit more. All the time Digby and I would be steadily walking, every step of the way. They would appear, disappear, then reappear. A completely different approach to the trail and to life. Just do the good bits, and skip the bits you don't want to do. And yet they were so fit, so keen, so young and good fun. What a pity that they would not be able to call themselves '2000 milers', the group that walks the 'whole trail'.
As I wake up at 3.00am to visit the toilet, I revel in the fact that I am walking from the bedroom to the bathroom, and not crawling out of a sleeping bag, into the freezing cold and pissing behind a bush. Each night at around 3.00 am for the last 2 weeks I have given thanks for my new circumstances. Comfort is something that many people take for granted. I probably will in time too, but at the moment, I appreciate each night as it comes.
I am still wearing my trail clothes as nothing else fits me, apart from the new pair of jeans I bought in Boston - extra small size. Everything else falls off me. I no longer have a bum (or butt, as the americans would say) to hold them up and I still haven't had a chance to get to town to go shopping.
Friends in our community are asking me ' did you enjoy your time in the US?'. I still don't know how to answer this question. There was so much deprivation during our 6 month hike that 'enjoy' is not the right word. Not yet anyway. Maybe in 6 months time I will be able to say that I 'enjoyed' our time hiking for 177 days. What I answer is to describe a specific situation on the trail to them so that they can get a glimmer of understanding of what life was really like. Each time I am asked, I provide a different example of deprivation. I don't have to search for examples - they pop into my mind. Everywhere I look a stimulus provides another memory or story of our adventure where we have been pushed to the limit.
It is great to catch up with friends in the community after 6 months, and to find out the latest news. I have some idea of what I have missed through following my Facebook page on my mobile phone, with postings about the Cape Trib news. I am really enjoying linking up with the young women in the community again. Digby says it is a 'mother/daughter' relationship. They are great company and it makes me think about the young women I met on the trail, especially my 'warrior princesses', Scatters and Stucco, who by now are back in normal life too, and going by names of Kate and Carrie. They are both powerful role models and how I envy them and wish I was as confident and strong and fit when I was thirty. I laugh when Carrie tells me that they think of Digby and I as their heroes.
Walking the trail gave us time to re-examine our lifestyle to see what we wanted to keep and what to change. We decided that we did still want to live at Cape Tribulation, and to continue running our farm business, but we realised that we were not taking time to smell the roses. One resolution we made was that we would not only work, but also play and enjoy life. So we are going to be taking more time off away from the farm.
As we sort through our photos, I find myself wanting to share my experience - to stand up in front of people and speak about our experiences. Maybe I have a new career waiting to unfold as an after dinner motivational speaker!!
I promised myself that I would cook nutritious meals when I got home, after eating all that rubbish and preservatives. Looking through the recipe book tonight for a chicken recipe to make from scratch, I found Chicken Pot Pie. This was the trail name for a group of young people hiking the trail, who we met many times over the 6 months. I stopped cooking the recipe and started wondering - where are they now? What has happened to Tiny Dancer and Salty, two members Chicken Pot Pie. They were 'yellow blazers', and would walk a bit of the trail, then get a car ride to cover some of the distance and then hike a bit more. All the time Digby and I would be steadily walking, every step of the way. They would appear, disappear, then reappear. A completely different approach to the trail and to life. Just do the good bits, and skip the bits you don't want to do. And yet they were so fit, so keen, so young and good fun. What a pity that they would not be able to call themselves '2000 milers', the group that walks the 'whole trail'.
Friday, September 24, 2010
At last - we have completed the journey!
Yesterday we climbed Katahdin, the climax of the whole AT experience. A towering mountain with huge plateaus above the treeline and a rock boulder climbing approach which is daunting. It was a fitting end - day 176 on the trail.
It took us 3 and 3/4 hours to get to the top at 5268 ft, and 3 and a 1/4 hours to get down. The day was sunny with wind speeds 5-10 mph. It was glorious to be up on the summit, with 15 other thru-hikers who were also completing their hike, with a view stretching for miles over the 100 miles wilderness that we had walked through the last 7 days.
How do I feel? Initially it was relief that I had made it, and that it was over. Now 24 hours later, it is disbelief that we actually achieved it, that we actually did walk the whole way - 2179 miles. This is a major achievement - and by tomorrow it may be exhilaration and pride. But at the moment I still can't believe that we have actually done it.
We have 4 days booked in Boston in a small apartment in Beacon Hill, the historical downtown area, until we fly home on the 29th - Boston - Los Angeles - Melbourne - Cairns, arriving on the 1st October.
It took us 3 and 3/4 hours to get to the top at 5268 ft, and 3 and a 1/4 hours to get down. The day was sunny with wind speeds 5-10 mph. It was glorious to be up on the summit, with 15 other thru-hikers who were also completing their hike, with a view stretching for miles over the 100 miles wilderness that we had walked through the last 7 days.
How do I feel? Initially it was relief that I had made it, and that it was over. Now 24 hours later, it is disbelief that we actually achieved it, that we actually did walk the whole way - 2179 miles. This is a major achievement - and by tomorrow it may be exhilaration and pride. But at the moment I still can't believe that we have actually done it.
We have 4 days booked in Boston in a small apartment in Beacon Hill, the historical downtown area, until we fly home on the 29th - Boston - Los Angeles - Melbourne - Cairns, arriving on the 1st October.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Southern Maine is hard work!
We breathed a sigh of relief to leave New Hampshire. At last we are in Maine, and hopefully on the home straight. Then we discover that the mountains in Maine are even worse than the Whites in NH. Over the last 4 days we have only been able to manage 10 miles a day.
Yesterday we did the Mahoosic Notch - a very deep valley which is filled with huge boulders - I mean really huge - and we have to wend our way through them, sometimes crawling through small crevasses, and having to take our backpacks off and push them through ahead of us. It took an hour and a half to travel the one mile through the notch. I emerged covered in scratches on my knees and elbows from the granite.
Yesterday we did the Mahoosic Notch - a very deep valley which is filled with huge boulders - I mean really huge - and we have to wend our way through them, sometimes crawling through small crevasses, and having to take our backpacks off and push them through ahead of us. It took an hour and a half to travel the one mile through the notch. I emerged covered in scratches on my knees and elbows from the granite.
Monday, August 30, 2010
We survived the Whites
Ten days later we emerge from the White Mountains, the toughest part of the Appalachian Trail, with very difficult terrain and weather. We have covered just over 100 miles, much of it above the treeline, in hypothermic conditions. We have learned what 'wind chill' means. And with winds over 50 miles per hour, the temperature with wind chill taken into account drops below freezing. One day was so bad that we stayed at the hut for a rest day hoping that the cold front would pass. It sure took its time!
The hut system in the mountains provides huts every 4-5 hours walk, with dinner and breakfast. These bunks are booked out months in advance. We took our chance. They offer thru-hikers 'work for stay' which means you get to sleep on the floor of the dining room after everyone has gone to bed, and eat cold leftovers, and do some chores - but it costs nothing. The paying guests pay $100 a person per night. We did work for stay in 2 huts and were paying guests in 2 huts. Conditions were so bad, that Digby had to 'rescue' a woman wearing light cotton trousers and a plastic poncho which had been shredded in the wind. She couldnt standn up when the gusts came through.
Reminded me of Tasmania and the south west wilderness a lot.
The hut system in the mountains provides huts every 4-5 hours walk, with dinner and breakfast. These bunks are booked out months in advance. We took our chance. They offer thru-hikers 'work for stay' which means you get to sleep on the floor of the dining room after everyone has gone to bed, and eat cold leftovers, and do some chores - but it costs nothing. The paying guests pay $100 a person per night. We did work for stay in 2 huts and were paying guests in 2 huts. Conditions were so bad, that Digby had to 'rescue' a woman wearing light cotton trousers and a plastic poncho which had been shredded in the wind. She couldnt standn up when the gusts came through.
Reminded me of Tasmania and the south west wilderness a lot.
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