My Grip is Packed to Travel

and I'm scratchin' gravel...

Today's story will be about trees. One of me favorite tree-comments was when dear Kelley was out hiking with us back in NJ/NY. We were throwing up our tents in a make-shift campsite in the middle of the woods and she had to stash her bug spray somewhere outside the tent since she forgot to put it in the, ahem...bear bag. I'm inside my tent listening to her say from some indiscriminate location within a 50ft radius, "okay guys, remind me tomorrow that I put it by the tree."

"THE tree"? I laugh.

But sometimes the trees are indeed distinct and take on stories of their own. I was immediately reminded of this little column/story I read in an old ATC (Appalachian Trail Conservancy) magazine from 2005 back in Greasy Creek Hostel back near Roan Mountain, TN. A man had walked into an ATC office somewhere in PA - I can't remember exactly where - and told the volunteer that he was looking for a tree. The ATC guy was a little bemused at the needle-in-a-haystack proposition, much like I was at Kel's little tree reference, but inquired as to which tree and why. The man explained how there was this beautiful, large oak tree that he was pretty sure was nearby on the trail next to a large creek and that he remembered it from a week-long hike he had done back in Boy Scouts - his father was the troop leader - when he was growing up. His father had in recent years suffered from Alzheimers and he struggled to identify family members and memories in general - but for some reason he had a few times brought this particular tree up to his son and remembered it clearly from the hike they had done so many years ago. This man wanted to find the tree, take a picture, and send it to his father in hopes of sparking memories and making a connection with him once again.

By some stroke of luck the ATC volunteer actually did have a pretty good idea of the prominent tree the man was referring to and set out to find it with him. They were able to find that spot on the trail and the tree in question and the man reflected something along the lines of "you know? That weeklong hike may have been one of the best times of my life."

Yeah I was pretty much tearing up reading this little trail tale (I am Mama Kath's daughter, after all), and it was better told in the magazine, but it gives a little glimpse into the connection to the trail some people feel. I'm going to make a concerted effort to get a little more reflective in this last 500 miles. Look out.

And in other news, congrats to Kevman on winning his latest golf tourney! Big sis is proud.

All Hands on Deck

Status: Achy
Projected Mileage for the Day: 25mi
Last Movie Seen: HP6
Ben & Jerry's Consumed: Pint & change
Weather: Not Good
Fording the River?: Caulking the Wagon

A video before I go. As previously stated, will finish the updates in Rutland!

Where's Walden?

OH HI! Yes I've been slacking a wee bit on the blog but thankfully Highlife and Lydia have picked up said slack in my internet absence. I'm knee-deep in Vermont!! and currently on the part of the AT that coincides with the Long Trail for 105mi. The Long Trail (namesake of a very fine microbrewery) runs for 272mi from the Mass border to the Canadian border and is one of the oldest long distance trails in the country. History, people...history. Scenery hasn't sucked either. Currently in Manchester Center, VT at the Green Mountain House hostel where a very nice man from Ohio named Jeff lets hikers stay (real cheap) in his summer place with laundry, showers, kitchen, etc.

These past few weeks I've been extremely fortunate in receiving wonderful hospitality when I needed it. There have been many trail angels responsible for pushing me forward and I shall address them in bullet format as per usual:

* Our first day in Connecticut we were lucky to happen upon a woman playing with her two dogs (who are bomb swimmers) near the water at the confluence of the Ten Mile and Housatonic Rivers. Despite the hiker funk and fact that we were complete strangers, Norah invited us back with her to stay at her home for the night in South Kent, CT and cooked us the most wonderful dinner/breakfast for a mental and physical refuel. Most importantly, she noted that by calling our foodbags 'bear bags' when we hang them from trees at night - we're actually saying that the bag is indeed the bear's and practically inviting them to try their luck. We now refer to it as our supply bag and keep bear-free camps. It's liberating.

* From Kent I took off alone for the next four nights to see what I was made of - try the 'I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar' thing. It was a pretty cool experience being alone in the woods most of the day, the uncertainty of who I would see when it came time to camp, to make the mental push at the end of the day without a hiking buddy. I'm very glad I did it and felt completely safe despite my hesitations. When you're alone I feel like the senses are heightened - living amongst the real versions of fabric softener and cleaning agent scents...mountain breeze, summer showers, pinesol. Dreamy. I've since met up with Greenlite again and I have to say that having someone there to share in the moments & views with you is a pretty valuable part of the AT experience.

* A few days later I was also lucky to meet up with Grandpa's Dartmouth classmate, David Batchelder, and stay with him and his wife at their home in Salisbury, CT in the shadow of Bear Mountain. My sophomore year at Dartmouth I had actually hosted David's granddaughter, Addie, as she checked out the school so it was great to see them again, chat about Hanover, and get an update on Addie! Another hearty meal with a doggie bag of steak, potatoes, and berry pie to hit the trail with the next day. I dream sweetly of Connecticut.

* Other sweet spots. Goose Pond Cabin near Lee, MA. It's a cabin on a sizeable and scenic pond run by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) with a full-time caretaker who makes you blueberry pancakes & coffee in the morning. The 'Cookie Lady' near Becket, MA who lives on a blueberry farm 0.1mi off the trail and leaves homecookies for hikers on her porch. Amazin'.

MORE TO COME! I have yet to tell of meeting up with Raina in Dalton, MA and catching a ride with her to Boston, my time taking a zero day in Cohasset with the Kelley clan, Mt. Greylock and trail magic from Fahmah and Ma Fahmah, the stay in Bascom Lodge, having Lydia come hike, Stratton Pond, running into Buckeye who we haven't seen since Daleville, VA...and the great journey North in general. 538mi to Katahdin! Will update again from Rutland, VT in a few days with the remainder. Thanks to Lyd for writing about her experience! Did you know Walker Fullerton is back in the country for a few days? Exciting. Hi Walker. Bye folks.

24 Hours on the Trail...

Hey! It's Lydia here, hacking into Kim's blog to report on my 24 hours on the trail with Kim and Green Lite.

First off, I am in complete and utter awe of those two - as I sit here nursing my blisters and aching legs, I cannot fathom how they have already made it over 1600 miles on foot.

I met up with Kim and Green Lite in Vermont close to the Massachusetts border. I can't tell you how happy I was to see Kim! Despite spending the last three months in the wilderness, Kim looks virtually the same - her hair is a bit shorter and her lean muscles put me to shame, but she's still Kim.

We met up in the late afternoon, so we had a nice 5-mile stroll (read: steep climb) to the spot where we camped for the night, which was a lovely dirt patch called Porcupine Ridge. A couple was also camped there, and it turns out the wife was an '02 Dartmouth grad. The '02 told Kim that she and her friends used to have a competition during sophomore summer to see who could kiss a thru-hiker! Let's just say that tradition must have fallen by the wayside by the time we were sophomores...

Kim and I woke up at 5:30 a.m. yesterday morning to get a head start on our day's hike (we were aiming to be at a road crossing 18 miles away by 2 p.m. for my mom to pick me up). It's a strange schedule out on the trail - breakfast at 6 a.m., lunch around 10:30, continuous eating throughout the day, dinner at 6, and bed at 9 p.m. As Kim said, 9 p.m. is the hiker's midnight.

Anyway, we hiked over Glastenbury Mountain, which has a fire tower at the top with beautiful 360 degree views of the forest. One book on the AT calls the mountain "hauntingly beautiful," perhaps because in the 1940s at least eight people vanished off the mountain at different times. Let's just say it's a good thing we decided not to tell ghost stories Wednesday night, and I was fairly happy to make it off the mountain.

I noted earlier how I am in utter awe of Kim and Green Lite, and I can tell you it is because of how much I struggled out on the trail yesterday! At about mile 14 of yesterday's hike, my ankle was screaming with pain and I pulled off my hiking boot to find a blister on my foot about the size of two quarters put together. When it was apparent we were going to really push it to meet my mom at 2, Kim and Green Lite both took some weight from my pack. At nearly mile 17, Green Lite ran ahead to direct my mom back to a fire access road a bit closer in order to pick me up.

After Green Lite took off, Kim and I spent a considerable amount of time envisioning the exchange between Green Lite - who at this point has quite a bushy beard - and my mom. As it turns out, my mother and my 16-year-old sister (who was also in the car) had never heard of the idea of a "trail name," so when Green Lite introduced himself (and then hopped in the car), they were quite confused. My sister said she thought he must have been the son of a celebrity to have such an odd name, and when we said goodbye to Kim and Green Lite, my mom said, "Goodbye Green Leaf!" She had forgotten his name and thought Green Leaf was a more logical name for a hiker.

The moral of the story is that I feel so honored to have gotten a glimpse of life on the AT with Kim and Green Lite. The people we encountered along the way were so impressed with their speed on the trail. I can tell you, the distance they cover in a day truly is impressive. A man we encountered is planning on covering the same distance in a week that Kim and Green Lite are traversing in two and a half days. In fact, I think Kim and Green Lite are probably just now getting to Manchester Center, VT, which is where this other man plans to exit the trail - in a week!

I'll stop there and let a few pictures tell the rest. But as I said, boy am I impressed.

It Was A Hard Day's Night

As promised by Blue Sky, it's Mama Kath (aka High Life) checking in with tales from the trail. I'd just like to start by announcing to the world (or anyone who reads this blog!) that I am extremely proud of Kimberley, with what she has accomplished to date and what she has left to accomplish. It was the experience of a lifetime for me to share a small part of her journey with her last week.

I met up with Blue Sky and Green Lite near High Point State Park in northwestern New Jersey. They had already hiked 11 miles that morning - all warmed up for me. The first thing Kim did was go through my frame pack and dump out things that she said I wouldn't need - a trail veteran! The afternoon was spent hiking across the ridges of NW New Jersey, beautiful vistas and voracious mosquitos. Three applications of bug juice were all in vain. After another 11 miles, Green Lite picked a spot to set up our tents and we literally dove into them and were all hunkered in by 6:30pm- the mosquitos were that bad! For the next three hours, until it got dark, I amused myself lying in my tent and watching all the mosquitos, ticks, spiders and random bugs flying and crawling on the outside of my mesh screen above my head - lots of fun! I'm pretty sure I barely slept - not even the heavy rain through the night would lull be to sleep.

We rose early, packed up the wet gear and started off. Still raining, but light. It's a good thing nobody cares what they look like on the trail - my attire that morning consisted of my long john bottoms, a coat with a hood leaving just my face exposed and a big yellow plastic poncho over that. Our hike this morning took us down off the ridge through "agricultural lands" which is just a euphanism for ankle deep muck. Another 11 miles of this and we were ready to stop for the day. As Kim mentioned, we decided to stay in Unionville, NY, population 600 and try a night at "The Outhouse", home of the Mayor. A special trail angel, the Mayor, a 71-year of named Dick, opens his home to thru hikers in honor of his deceased wife. We were picked up at the General Store by his helper, Butch, who drove us to the Outhouse blasting Deep Purple on the radio -a great omen. Once there, we were treated to the Rules of the House. There were a couple of interesting ones - if any word over 3 syllables in length were used, we owed them a quarter! Also, the first beer was free, they were a quarter a beer after that, limit of four. We were particularly amused by the one that told us we would have to watch a video in the living room after dinner. More on that later. Our stay at the Outhouse would include lodging, a shower, the opportunity to do laundry, internet access, beer and wine, dinner, breakfast the next morning, and a ride back to the trail. It was an amazing display of kindness and camaraderie, even if Dick did keep referring to the thru-hikers as dumb f***s. Cocktails on the deck ran all afternoon, dinner was fabulous, I cried during the story about Mrs Mayor,and the video turned out to be an inspirational life lesson fashioned around the story of Britain's Got Talent winner from a few seasons ago, Paul Potts. Seems Dick is a huge opera fan. We all watched attentively and took his words to heart. The message was to accomplish your dreams and he was happy to play a small role in helping the thru hikers reach Katahdin.

Not sure if trying to sleep on a plywood bunk with seven other funky-smelling thru hikers and their gear was an improvement over the insects the night before, but we gave it a go. After a hearty breakfast the next morning, people started out - Blue Sky and Green Lite to get in another 11 miles or so before big sister Kelley arrived and we "switched out" I decided my "contribution" to the Outhouse before I left was to scrub the two bathrooms in the house. I'll leave it to your imagination how disgustingly dirty they were to me - I'm sure the thru hikers didn't care!

In closing - I want to thank all of you who are reading this, because if you are, you are a friend of Kim's, important to her, and are supporting her in this herculean effort. She is a very special girl and I'm so fortunate to have a daughter like her. Hope to join her for a day hike up in Vermont and I will be at Katahdin with a bottle of champagne in August!

Felt the Lightning, Waited on the Thunder

Pawling, NY...library: Well folks a lot has happened in the past week and a half or so and I'll try to cover a few things here in bullet point format...me fave:

* Pennsylvania, New Jersey and now (almost) New York are states of my past. That's 9 states down and 5 to go (CT, MA, VT, NH and ME). That's 1435 miles down and 743 to go. 350 or so to Mt. Washington. Maybe 40 nights or so left out here. Countdowns are strange to think about.

* After all my talk and search of moonshine in the south, my first day in New Jersey I happened upon a few hikers that did Hardcore with us back after trail days and they had just driven up to Delaware Water Gap from Tennessee with a mason jar full of goodness. So I finally had my first moonshine and it was wonderful...didn't have a whole lot of bite to it really - much much smoother than Virginia Lightning. Anywho...that was 2 points for New Jersey.

* Saw my first rattler my last day in Pennsylvania. T'was about 5-6 ft. long and mildly terrifying - particularly with the startling manner in which it makes its presence known. I don't have a picture for you. Cool story, huh?

* Had first 'might be close to death' moment on a ridgeline in New Jersey when a thunderstorm rolled across the ridge and lightning started crashing around us. Greenlite did the old walk 30 yds behind me trick which I later determined was because lightning would probably on strike one of us instead of both and the other could go for help. Sweet. After one particularly terrifying crash, we managed to get down off the ridgeline and crouch under a rock overhang until it passed. Certain death averted.

* Mama Kath came out last Wednesday to Friday to hike with us!! She was ready to attack mountains and ogle at New Jersey vistas with her rockin' external framepack and ski poles. She braved some wet rocks, pouring rain, a lotta muck and a hellspawned cloud of mosquitos on the ridge where we camped - we couldn't even really get out of our tents - and all in good spirits. Our second night we were lucky enough to be hosted by the former mayor of Unionville, NY - a trail angel who takes hikers into his home and offers showers, dinner, breakfast, beer, bunks, laundry and inspirational motivation. There were probably 25-30 or so hikers there that night - this guy is a saint. I'll let Mama Kath tell a bit more about our stay at the Mayors - she's going to attempt to write her first blog post evaaa!

* Kelley came out and joined us from Friday to Sunday to help us celebrate the great birth of our nation, to cross the NJ/NY border and to bring the spirit of Camp McKee to the AT. She endured some mighty rocky trail, more rain, sparse water...and still managed to be excited about being out there even when all I can do is complain. Kel, Greenlite, Sir Richard and I spent the Fourth in Harriman, NY at the American Budget Inn (Americaa!!) watching Neil Diamond and drinking Busch Light. It was both magical and patriotic. Kel also got to experience the excitement of hitchhiking as we tried to get from the trailhead to town. A pickup truck, a charter bus and a mile of roadwalking later we saw that glorious 'motel' sign...score. All in all it was absolutely wonderful to have Mom and Kel come out and share in the experience with me - to be able to sigh knowingly when I whine about bugs, mud, rocks, so on and so forth.

* Onward into upstate New York - Harriman State Park was absolutely beautiful and it was mindblowing just how close to NYC it really was. From Shenandoah Mtn and Bear Mtn you could get a fairly clear view of the Manhatten Skyline. My friend Hustler who thru-hiked in '04 says he saw the view of the NYC Skyline and six hours later had a bear come into his camp...quite the trip. We saw a huge train of Japanese tourists out on a hike in Harriman State Park and though we had a bit of a language barrier all we could really make out was him asking if we were walking to Maine and telling Sir Richard and Greenlite that they looked like Jesus. Guess that's all we really needed to catch. To continue the Jesus theme, we camped in the ballfield at Graymoor Spiritual Life Center, a monastery not too far from Bear Mountain, NY that lets thru-hikers camp and use the outdoor showers. Good fun. Ms. Fieseler made a trail reappearance last night near Stormville, NY to meet up for dinner and tell tales of Belize !! Most wonderful.

Hope to have Mom and Kel do blog posts about their experiences soon!! Just turned dark and started hearing thunder outside which is no way for Connecticut to introduce itself but that's life. Stopping briefly in Kent, CT tomorrow and probably hitting Massachusetts by Thursday night. Now it's pouring. For the love of God. Think that about sums it up. Thanks to the nice library man that just told us to bring our stuff inside even though it smells of hiker funk. Nice folks here in Pawling. A few people have asked about the next maildrop and if you're interested in sending anything, I'll be stopping at the post office in Dalton, MA in 6-7 days. You can mail to:

Kim McKee
c/o General Delivery
Dalton, MA 01226
Hold for Thru-hiker ETA July 14

Now it's hailing. Oh cruel world...

Wide River To Cross

Well I find myself at home in Newtown Square after a week of PA hiking. I passed through Boiling Springs, Duncannon, Lickdale, Hamburg, Port Clinton, PA...up on ridges, through the valleys to the next ridges, across rivers, ad infinitum. Truthfully Pennsylvania has been a gorgeous state - sometimes rocky, both literally and figuratively, sometimes you're walking through beautiful farmlands on rolling hills, sometimes you're walking through old coal settlements...but I'd describe it most accurately right now as 'the middle'.

They say the first month of the trail is the physical challenge and once you're in shape it becomes much more of a mental challenge and I find myself in the thick of it - especially after having come home last weekend briefly and being confronted with all the comforts and 'stuff' from real life I've momentarily left behind. I've been hiking for two and a half months now and some of the novelty of getting to a town or a cool new shelter or the next shower or a vending machine has really worn off. Suddenly a town means spending more of the dwindling funds, the shelter means dealing with the skeeters while trying to sleep, the shower means 5min of cleanliness before the 'hiker funk' kicks back in, the vending machine means I chug the 20oz coke so I can throw the bottle in the trash before moving on - less baggage.

The hike just doesn't seem as 'fun' as it once did. The weight of the rest of the trail is hanging over me as I do the math and see I need to average 19-20mi days to reach Maine in time. I want to stay ahead of that average but it doesn't seem to pan out as such and I get anxious - probably for no real reason. The mentality is that I want to 'knock out miles' but there's that nagging sense that I should just calm self and focus on enjoying the present - but how much enjoyment do I really deserve when it was my choice to be unemployed and walk through the woods this spring/summer? It's just a weird spot to be in when you're free to choose your own schedule, but as a person who enjoys a sense of purpose - I always have Maine on the brain. It's been a weird and kinda difficult couple weeks and I do get the sense that other hikers are going through it as well which is a mild consolation.

I happened upon a few fellow hikers, a young married couple from the next town over at home, that were waiting on a ride to Philadelphia when I met up with them at a road crossing. My overwhelming feeling was that I was absolutely in the right place at the right time, that I should take this ride home for a day or two and really check out from the trail, that I need to recenter. After all, there still is so much to look forward to - the Delaware Water Gap, the Mohican Outdoor Center in Jerz, the Berkshires, the mighty Whites, the 100 Mile Wilderness...the elusive Katahdin. And I'm going to go ahead and say that life is still pretty damn good. I just know sometimes it takes stepping back and looking on the experience from a different place/perspective to remember this.

I've met some pretty amazing people that do some pretty cool stuff. You find a lot of folks out here who are just the types that make things happen for themselves - the travel, the cool jobs, the atypical life experiences...it's inspiring. The mountains and folks that live in the surrounding regions have been wonderful - more welcoming towards strangers than I imagined people could be these days (bah, what does 'these days' even mean?) I'd say that more than anything else, this hike has reminded me that at heart people are generally good, they are trusting, they are generous even when they have little, they want to leave you with a good feeling about the place they live, they want to help you connect to that place, they want to see the good in people too. Aside from that not-small life lesson, it's also been interesting to see how little you can actually live on. How attached I am to the tiny alcohol stove (thanks Hustler!). How the 'one's junk is another's treasure' concept functions so seamlessly in hiker boxes where people leave things they no longer need and they're picked up by others.

Yeah. Halfway.

Enough deep thoughts by Jack Handey. I leave you now with an NPR article on the AT that just popped up after they interviewed thru-hikers in Harpers Ferry a few weeks back aaaaaaand the Public Enemy song that's been running through my head when I scramble over PA rocks - Harder Than You Think. 'Cause, as with most things in life, if I'm gonna get through this damn thing...it's gonna be with the help of Flava Flav.

(sidenote: the young married couple in the video from the NPR article, Quixote & Panza, are the wonderful folks that offered me the ride home when I needed it...great people)