That’s me, Doug Shobert, my ex brother-in-law Chick, and my soon to be daughter Marta at 2 years. The weekend after a football game. How about that shirt? Elephants. A harbinger of the future? That hair. Ha. Wow. The young man I was then is still alive and well inside me. (Sometimes, it’s all I […]
Otzi our host at Garden Mountain Hostel, had a bad day. Therefore, I too had a bad start to my day. The night before, everything was ok. He was gracious, I met Tuna and Minnow from PA. (Pennsylvania was all over this trip, BTW.) I stayed up too late chatting with the three of them […]
The night before day 3, a hiker came into the shelter, as I was heading down the hill to take care of business. I’m a little foggy here. I know we spoke briefly that night or the next morning. Mostly about how far down the hill we had to go for water. There was no […]
I had the best time yesterday. When I left Garden Mountain Hostel yesterday, I stopped in to Matties. I didn’t know what to expect. It was so beautiful! It’s run by an Amish family. One of the guys who works at the Hostel told me that these were “Mennonite Amish.” I kept quiet because the […]
Those are some dirty feet. My feet! No shower for 4 days Wrong socks. Bad shoes. Uncomfortable sleeping pad. My first serious backpacking trip It was day 4 on the Appalachian Trail in Maryland. 40 miles. Just me and the trail and the woods. They said it would be easy. It was not easy. They […]
This rare piece of geology was first discovered in the 1740’s by James Burke while hunting in the area. The name “Burke’s Garden” was given to the valley as a joke in 1748 after Burke planted potato peelings by the campfire of a surveying party. The next year, a fine crop of potatoes was found. […]
Why are so many people so angry in my country. Everyone seems to be angry at someone. Blaming someone else. When will you realize that this kind of anger and finger pointing, accomplishes nothing? Why don’t we all try and direct our self-righteous anger toward something useful? Stop blaming the other side. Do something positive. […]
And that is what it looks like in the morning at Mountain Garden Hostel Virginia. Stunning, wouldn’t you say? Just earlier it looked like this: I spent the evening before, and stayed up much to late, chatting with these two. You know, I’m generally not a people person. I looked over and saw these two […]
To all you lovely people I’ve met this week: I don’t have energy or time enough right now, to write what I want to write. So, I’m just going to post some photos, and get to the stories later. Here goes! Well. There are the introductions. The good stuff will follow soon. I am so […]
I’m not sure what you all (all 3 of you who read this) have in your minds about why I do this. Hike the trail. I have been really thinking hard about that. Trying to sort out the important reasons, in order to insure my commitment to finishing the AT. The most rewarding aspect of […]
