The Skinny: I think if I grew up in Pennsylvania, I never would have gotten into hiking. The trails here are designed to hurt you. “Trail” through Northern PA has been–more often than not–miles of fields of jagged rocks. I can confirm that the nickname “Rocksylvania” is an apt one. There’s no point in …
Read more “Appalachian Trail: Days 71-80, Hune 16-25: Northern PA to New Jersey”
The Skinny: Day 61: Saturday, June 6, 2026From tentsite at Mile 999.7 to David Lesser Shelter at Mile 1017.6 The previous blog entry left off with my having entered “the roller coaster”: ~13 miles with 13 little mountains and tough, rocky terrain. Trillian and I camped in the middle of the roller coaster — just …
Read more “Appalachian Trail: Days 61-70: Harper’s Ferry to Duncannon, PA”
The Skinny: I’ve never eaten so much junk food sugar in all my life. Hiker hunger is affecting me now, and my weakness is all the sugary junk I usually deny myself. It might just be the best part of the hike: eat as many cakes, Snickers bars, Twizzlers, whatever — and still lose weight. …
Read more “Appalachian Trail: Days 51-60: Northern Virginia (including Shenandoah)”
The Skinny: Day 41: Sunday, May 17, 2026Rice Field Shelter to tentsite just north of Wind Rock at Mile 666.1 The day started out fine enough. We got an early start, before 7:30 a.m. The kids (scouts?) that camped by the shelter were making “Monkey Balls” when we left, using some contraption to steam bake …
Damascus to Pearisburg, VA: May 7-16, 2026 The Skinny: A note to readers: these blog posts are edits of my journal entries. This may be readily apparent, but I’m still mentioning it — partially to excuse the curt nature of my prose, at times. Day 31: Thursday, May 7, 2026to the Cherry Tree Shelter (Mile …
Read more “Appalachian Trail: Days 31-40: Damascus to Wood’s Hole (Virginia)”
The Skinny: A commenter on my last blog post asked me to explain why I’m out here doing this. That’s not an easy question to answer. I’ve found that most other hikers are also vague in their rationale. In fact, I’ve yet to hear one person clearly and succinctly say why they’re out here. To …
Read more “Appalachian Trail: Days 21-30: Hot Springs to Damascus”