Here I am in Duncannon, PA. I arrived last night around 7:30p and received the warmest welcome as I, along with Rebel, Big Shanty, and Fuzzy Monkey all approached this park in town that we had plans to camp at for the night there were about 50 hikers cheering and clapping for us! Wow...that was a great surprise. There was a bunch of trail angels at the park who had food, beer, and entertainment for all of us hikers passing thru! We camped there and went down to a famous trail hotel/restaurant/bar in town called the Doyle. It was a blast. I'm waiting on my mail drop here today and heading our early tomorrow morning for the treacherous rocks of PA! Oh yea..there is a Japanese crew that have been following the major waves of hikers this season taping different aspects of the trail. They are doing a documentary on the trail. Yep...they interviewed me! Pretty neat. I think I might be famous over in Japan!
That's it for now,
-Tumbleweed
Sunday, July 8, 2007
The 'Family'
So, after my beloved Backtrack left me all alone out here on the long, lonely journey to Maine I had no choice but to meet up with some fellow hikers. Besides, what fun is hiking, soaking in creeks, and drinking way too much during town visits while all alone? Answer: not nearly as fun as it is with three guys who smell even worse then myself, drink way more then me, and are obsessed with the commonly used 'body glide' out here on the trail (used to prevent chaffing and/or blisters).
I first started hiking with Rookie, a fellow St. Louisian. It was really nice to talk baseball with someone who finally was not an Astro's fan (there seem to be a lot of those out here). I proceeded to call him 'county boy' seeing as how he is from the county NOT to mistaken for city. He proceeded to call me 'city girl.' It was a great match, plus he didn't mind hanging my bear bag at night, always a plus in a hiking partner. Later on down the trail when I hurt my ankle, he stepped up and carried my pack a full 2.5 miles to a road after taking his pack first. I was in no state to be walking on my ankle, much less walking on it with an extra 41 lbs on my back (yes my pack was still ridiculously heavy at that point which may have been part of the healing process problem with my ankle). We hiked a ways thru the beginning part part of VA. There was one night he kept talking about the wild boars around VA. I was not too fond of the idea of sharing the same woods with a wild boar, much less many wild boars. That night I did not finish my dinner and I had to take it away from where we were camping and bury it. All I think about while I buried my food was a wild boar tearing up the ground to get to the food. Later that night, as I lay in my tent, Rookie was camped about 10 feet away from mine in his matching Mountain Hardware tent, I had trouble falling asleep because I was thinking about these beast lurking about the woods! Not two minutes after I started drifting to sleep I heard something just outside my tent sniffing around. I was freaking out at the thought of it being, well of course...a wild boar. I yelled to Rookie to wake up and check it out. Turns out it was just a dog that we later found out was taken from a thru-hiker by a drunk thru-hiker. The dog and the drunk thru-hiker were lost that night...not good.
I had you going though! You all thought this was a story about a wild boar tackled to the ground by the county boy known as Rookie who later became known on the trail as 'wild beast tamer' or something of the like....not so much!
Rookie and I later on in Atkins, VA met up with D.O.T (director of trail). D.O.T is a hiking machine who has already hiked the PCT (pacific crest trail) and has plans to not only finish out the AT, but to do the CDT (continental divide trail). This would make him a 'triple-crown er' in the hiking world. One thing you all should know about D.O.T is that everyone knows him out here! Everyone! If they haven't had the pleasure if meeting him, they have heard about him. You see, in most hiker's mail drops you will find assorted noodles, snacks, maybe some extra batteries you get the picture. In D.O.T's mail drops you will find all the same plus a delicious bottle of wine! In every mail drop (by the way, he gets a mail drop about every 3-5 days)! Yeah...he likes to share and he knows how to make a long day of hiking...well, still a long day of hiking but a fun one and does a great job at keeping spirits high and attitudes in check out here! Rookie soon coined D.O.T 'Doctor Of Tumbleweed instead of Director of trail. When I had about 20 billion blisters on both my feet and my swollen ankle he was always 'reminding' me of what I should be doing to heal quicker. I came limping up one of the many mountains one day to find the guys waiting for me while they rested (I always told them not to wait for me, that I would eventually catch up to them. I was moving pretty slow at this point due to the excruciating pain I was in with my feet and ankle). D.O.T told me to give him my boot and that he was going to cut the toes out so that my toes could have some breathing room. We were only about 2 days from a town where I had plans to get new boots at the local outfitter, so I agreed. After the major surgery on my boots I put them on and allowed my toes to go free, it was like a brand new pair of boots! Of course this was only going to last for a little while because my socks kept getting wet and there was always the chance that I might stub my toe on a rock or a root. The following day (the day we would be getting into town) D.O.T came across a pair of old tennis shoes (men's size 13) and told me to put them on. At first I thought it was probably the dumbest idea I have ever heard of until I tried them on (not until after D.O.T got all 45 bazillion ants out of them) and my feet were 'free birds'! I hiked in these clown shoes for 12 miles into town!
Trail-Pooh joined up with us not long after the size 13 day. Card games and whiskey-that's Trail-Pooh in a nutshell! You never really know where his accent is from. He sounds like he might be from the south or the southwest or possibly Peru while in fact he is from Rochester, NY! Figure that one out. Rookie did the best impression of him. When my ankle would be seriously hurting he would be right there offer me his 130 proof whiskey to help with the pain. When we were 'aqua-blazing' (canoeing) he supplied a fair amount of the live entertainment and we were so lucky to have seen his 'blue moon' (or very white) about every half hour on the trip!
The four of us hung out with each other for the better part of VA until Harper's Ferry where we all split and went our own ways. They were a great bunch out here and I miss them a ton:/
I have met so many other great people out here and have been hiking along with a couple guys for a few days now, Rebel, Big Shanty, and Fuzzy Monkey. Good times.
-Tumbleweed
I first started hiking with Rookie, a fellow St. Louisian. It was really nice to talk baseball with someone who finally was not an Astro's fan (there seem to be a lot of those out here). I proceeded to call him 'county boy' seeing as how he is from the county NOT to mistaken for city. He proceeded to call me 'city girl.' It was a great match, plus he didn't mind hanging my bear bag at night, always a plus in a hiking partner. Later on down the trail when I hurt my ankle, he stepped up and carried my pack a full 2.5 miles to a road after taking his pack first. I was in no state to be walking on my ankle, much less walking on it with an extra 41 lbs on my back (yes my pack was still ridiculously heavy at that point which may have been part of the healing process problem with my ankle). We hiked a ways thru the beginning part part of VA. There was one night he kept talking about the wild boars around VA. I was not too fond of the idea of sharing the same woods with a wild boar, much less many wild boars. That night I did not finish my dinner and I had to take it away from where we were camping and bury it. All I think about while I buried my food was a wild boar tearing up the ground to get to the food. Later that night, as I lay in my tent, Rookie was camped about 10 feet away from mine in his matching Mountain Hardware tent, I had trouble falling asleep because I was thinking about these beast lurking about the woods! Not two minutes after I started drifting to sleep I heard something just outside my tent sniffing around. I was freaking out at the thought of it being, well of course...a wild boar. I yelled to Rookie to wake up and check it out. Turns out it was just a dog that we later found out was taken from a thru-hiker by a drunk thru-hiker. The dog and the drunk thru-hiker were lost that night...not good.
I had you going though! You all thought this was a story about a wild boar tackled to the ground by the county boy known as Rookie who later became known on the trail as 'wild beast tamer' or something of the like....not so much!
Rookie and I later on in Atkins, VA met up with D.O.T (director of trail). D.O.T is a hiking machine who has already hiked the PCT (pacific crest trail) and has plans to not only finish out the AT, but to do the CDT (continental divide trail). This would make him a 'triple-crown er' in the hiking world. One thing you all should know about D.O.T is that everyone knows him out here! Everyone! If they haven't had the pleasure if meeting him, they have heard about him. You see, in most hiker's mail drops you will find assorted noodles, snacks, maybe some extra batteries you get the picture. In D.O.T's mail drops you will find all the same plus a delicious bottle of wine! In every mail drop (by the way, he gets a mail drop about every 3-5 days)! Yeah...he likes to share and he knows how to make a long day of hiking...well, still a long day of hiking but a fun one and does a great job at keeping spirits high and attitudes in check out here! Rookie soon coined D.O.T 'Doctor Of Tumbleweed instead of Director of trail. When I had about 20 billion blisters on both my feet and my swollen ankle he was always 'reminding' me of what I should be doing to heal quicker. I came limping up one of the many mountains one day to find the guys waiting for me while they rested (I always told them not to wait for me, that I would eventually catch up to them. I was moving pretty slow at this point due to the excruciating pain I was in with my feet and ankle). D.O.T told me to give him my boot and that he was going to cut the toes out so that my toes could have some breathing room. We were only about 2 days from a town where I had plans to get new boots at the local outfitter, so I agreed. After the major surgery on my boots I put them on and allowed my toes to go free, it was like a brand new pair of boots! Of course this was only going to last for a little while because my socks kept getting wet and there was always the chance that I might stub my toe on a rock or a root. The following day (the day we would be getting into town) D.O.T came across a pair of old tennis shoes (men's size 13) and told me to put them on. At first I thought it was probably the dumbest idea I have ever heard of until I tried them on (not until after D.O.T got all 45 bazillion ants out of them) and my feet were 'free birds'! I hiked in these clown shoes for 12 miles into town!
Trail-Pooh joined up with us not long after the size 13 day. Card games and whiskey-that's Trail-Pooh in a nutshell! You never really know where his accent is from. He sounds like he might be from the south or the southwest or possibly Peru while in fact he is from Rochester, NY! Figure that one out. Rookie did the best impression of him. When my ankle would be seriously hurting he would be right there offer me his 130 proof whiskey to help with the pain. When we were 'aqua-blazing' (canoeing) he supplied a fair amount of the live entertainment and we were so lucky to have seen his 'blue moon' (or very white) about every half hour on the trip!
The four of us hung out with each other for the better part of VA until Harper's Ferry where we all split and went our own ways. They were a great bunch out here and I miss them a ton:/
I have met so many other great people out here and have been hiking along with a couple guys for a few days now, Rebel, Big Shanty, and Fuzzy Monkey. Good times.
-Tumbleweed
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