(STEP ONE - A STARTER FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO LIKE TO PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD): All ye who enter here shall leave knowing full well the rigors and joys of America's longest east-coast hiking path, the Appalachian Trial.  Some of it is good. Some of it is bad. Some of it is ugly. There's no room…Read more An Appalachian Journey: The Compendium

After two long weeks of lonely wooded paths and walking through thousands of face-clinging spiderwebs I decided that it was time for my AT experience to come to a close. The decision was simple, as are most when you're unafraid to follow your own intuition. It went like this: I stepped off the trail onto…Read more The Greyhound Home

To all who have been following my Appalachian journey again I’ve got to apologize. While the trail has taught me perseverance, I’m still sorely under-practiced when it comes to meeting a deadline or setting one for myself. So I’m sorry for the glacial pace that I seem to move at when documenting my adventure. As…Read more The Northern Terminus: Mount Katahdin

Early morning on the 13th we were shuttled to the beginning of the Hundred Mile Wilderness. In our packs were six days of food. Poet, the owner and operator of Shaw's, wished us luck, recommended a few spots that he'd enjoyed in the 100 mile during his thruhike, and we were off. I was excited.…Read more July 13-17: The Hundred Mile Wilderness

After leaving Rangely, the next week was to be characterized by eleven hour hiking days (which we were quickly growing used to) and the blossoming eccentricities of my crew members (which heretofore had been repressed, dormant, but seeing as we knew each other now...all cards on the table).  Everybody seems to go a little stir-crazy…Read more July 6-12: Glass Houses and Woods

On July 5th, the group and I made it to Rangely and the highly recommended Farmhouse hostel. We were covered in grime from the trail, and tired. Southern Maine had beaten the hell out of us.  The Farmhouse wasn't quite a farmhouse in the typical rough-cut-livin' kind of way, but there was a Bobcat digger…Read more July 5th: Nostalgia Now

The next days, July 3rd and 4th, were filled with good things. On the 3rd Cosmo and I were able to hitch into Andover thanks in large part to having a woman in our midst. The men we run into on the backroads of Maine are a grizzled type with calloused hands courtesy of the…Read more July 3rd-4th: A few words on Mainers, “real talk,” and Independence Day

July 1st. I leave the White Mountain hostel and its plethora of civil comforts to head back out into the wild. But things are alright because I'm back in the company of friends. And the group has grown. There are faces I recognize, Cosmo, White Rabbit, and Large, but there are also a few I…Read more July 1st-2nd: “Dirigo”

The Notch was good to me. It's owners, Serena and Justin, let me trim my three day rent by folding laundry, dressing beds, and driving recyclables to the town's processing building in their Toyota pickup. When I wasn't acting as housekeeper I was popping my pills, drinking copious amounts of water, eating bland foods that…Read more The Close of June and A Happy Ending

On June 11th Cosmo and I wiped the cabin down, bagged up our trash, locked the doors and hit the road to hitch toward trail. I still felt like there were weights strapped to my ankles, but it was easy to ignore that ominous premonition in the moment. The sun was out and the shower…Read more Mid June and Stage Two Denial