Manali

We are staying at a hotel called apple view in manali. As the name suggests, it is in front of an apple orchard, up on a hill overlooking the valey, river and mountains. The owner is really friendly and treats us like family. We are constantly getting tea and snacks from him and he gives great advice about things in town. The hotel is a bit away from the main drag which is nice because it is away from the noisy indian roads. The trail getting up to it is quite exhausting though.

Unfortunately Korey starred to get sick shortly after we arrived. We spent sunday exploring the town and walking through the forest. On monday Robson and I did a day hike while Korey rested. The hike was quite epic. After a strenous and steep 2000 m climb out of the valley we were treated with views of 2 different valleys and some peaks exceeding 6000 meters. Along the way we saw some hurders tending to sheep and goats that graze in the alpine meadows.
On tuesday Korey had to go to the doctor to seek medical attention, so tuesday and wednesday were spent pretty much relaxing at the hotel, reading and drinking tea. If you have to get sick, this is a pleasant place to do it. I enjoyed the downtime and Korey recovered quickly. She is mostly better now and we plan to go hiking tomorrow. Our plans have been pushed back 2 days so we changed all of our bus and train tickets back. Everything should work out well. Hopefully next time I write I'll have some good camping pictures to share.

India Begins

After a quick but terrific week in annapolis, it was time to embark on the second half of my adventure. On the flight over to london I stayed up most of the time reading and watching movies and TV. Virgin is an awesome airline. They treat coach like first class with less leg room. I even got some free cabernet! Unfortunately this meant that I arrived in london very tired. But, I had 15 hours to kill so I took the tube into the inner city and explored a bit. I was a bit disapointed that the parliament building was closed for the day but I went and saw westminster abbey instead. Afterwards it started to rain, so I decided to escape to the british museum before grabbing dinner and heading back to the airport. For the flight into delhi, I made sure not to turn on the TV and I slept the whole way.
My first impression of india was awe at how modern it seemed. The airport express into downtown was propabaly the nicest I've ever seen. The metro system is also pretty extensive and nice, although very overcrowded. Sometimes we have to wait 2 or 3 trains before enough space emerges to squeeze on. I had heard that india was very difficult to navigate, so I was pleasantly surprised. That being said, there are no street signs, and without a quality map, it took me about 3 hours to find my hostel where I met my friends Robson and Korey. Actually, a nice young kid who was trying to scam me into going into a knock-off hostel eventually gave up on me and told me where the real one was.
Delhi is intense and chaotic on all senses. There are so many people doing so many different things all at the same time and in close proximity. It also takes about an hour to walk a relatively short distance because of the congestion. And, at the end of the day you can see all the city grime on your skin. Because of all of this, we had to take things slow. We spent most of the day at rooftop restaurants and bars and ventured out to see a tomb that was the precursor to the taj mahal. The second day followed with more rooftop cafes and a trip to the red fort. We then caught a bus into the himalayan city of Malalli. After an exhausting 15 hours of jostling and bouncing we were greated with amazing moutain views, a quaint and relaxing town, and nice cool temperatures. More to come on the town in the next update. For now, check out Robson and koreys blog for cool pictures and stories at www.happinesssisonlyrealwhenshared.wordpress.com

Chilling in Annapolis

After 2 months on the trail, I was happy to relax in town a bit and hang out with Amy.  On Tuesday, I pretty much spent the day sleeping and catching up on Game of Thrones (about 7 hours worth).  Wednesday continued with a lazy streak, but I did manage to do some chores and get Amy's car washed.  On Thursday Spencer came into town, and we went for a run on the B&A trail followed by a quick sailing trip and some crab-eating on the water.  On Friday, we went into DC to explore the monuments, see some Smithsonians, and ate at little Ethiopia.  We also ran on the Obstacle and Endurance courses that the marines use to train on.  Saturday was spent playing frisbee at the park and grilling at Amy's friends' house. Then on Sunday, we went up to Baltimore for brunch with Britany.  Phew, that seem's like a busy weekend now that I write about it.  I have 2 full days to relax and prepare before heading over to India.  I just bought all of our train tickets and Amy and I watched Slumdog Millionaire last night in preparation.

Sailing!

Cargo nets are surprisingly difficult

Good ol' Abe

In Baltimore

Getting some Ethiopian food

1st Half Complete

As you probably already know, I've completed the first half of the AT, and I'm now a Townee again.  Overall, it was an amazing experience.  It is true, that a good portion of the trail is just walking through the woods and you may go days without any spectacular scenery, but when the trees do clear, the view is awesome.  Plus, I find a peaceful walk in the woods to be enjoyable on its own.  However, the people are what make the AT so great.  The most memorable aspects of the trail are all of the cool people you meet (and some of the crazy people you meet).  I hope to finish up the New England portion of the trail before I go back into the workforce, and I've already begun plans in my head to do the John Muir Trail out in California.

Well, I guess I'll write about the last few days on the trail.  After the Shenendohas I met up with Amy in Front Royal.  After a few quick errands and a Chipotle burrito, we set out northward on the AT to camp for the night.  It soon turned dark, and somehow we missed the turnoff for the campsite, so we ended up doing 2 bonus miles and had to backtrack to look for our shelter.  Finally we found a clearing with a destroyed shelter, and assumed we were out of luck and began discussing sleeping in the car for the night.  Luckily, we found a new shelter just down the trail, so it all worked out.

Last Night in the Shenendohas

Cool Waterfall

One of the Bears I saw.

The old shelter that tricked us

The next day Amy's cousins met up with us for a day hike, and we decided to do Old Rag Mountain.  It was a great day hike, although the summer weather had started to kick in.  There are some great views and some good scrambles on the route.  That night we dropped Amy's car off in Harper's Ferry and grabbed some dinner before going to the Bears Den castle for the night.

Scrambling up Old Rag Mountain

After a good night's sleep, a pint of ice cream, and some pancakes for breakfast, Amy and I left the Bear's Den to finish off "the roller coaster", which is a series of short but steep rolling hills.  We had planned to do 10 miles that day, but around mile 7 we say some people playing Settlers of Catan, and I decided that was a clear sign that we were meant to make camp early that day.  What a good decision that turned out to be.  It turns out that a big trail maintenance crew was making that cabin their base camp for the weekend, and they kindly showered us with food and drinks all evening (and breakfast too!).

A good game of Settlers

On Memorial Day, we made our way into Harper's Ferry and concluded my trip.  Harper's ferry, is a cool historic town, and I really enjoyed walking around all of the old buildings.  There were tons of people out in the parks and floating the rivers as well.  I went into the AT headquarters to get my picture taken for their book, and then went across the river to Maryland for a bit.  There is a cool trail called the C&O canal trail that goes from Washington DC to Harper's Ferry and beyond.  Just another thing to add to my to-do list.

The Shenendoahs

After three days in the Shenendoahs I have mixed feelings about the place. Sometimes I get quite annoyed because the trail pretty much stays in the woods along the skyline trail. All of the good stuff (waterfalls, springs, overlooks, etc.) Are on spur trails half a mile or so off the trail. I go to some of them, but it burns time. It would be so easy for them to route the AT to go to these places, especially since the spur trails end up parrallell with the AT anyways. Ok, enough complaining. The good part about the park is that it's great for magic. I've received 2 lunches, 2 beers, and some freeze dried dinners while in the park. The shops along skyline drive also make for a nice break - the blackberry milkshakes are amazing. Oh, and a saw two bears! It only took 900 miles. I met a supper hippie at the shelter tonight. She spends most of her time as a stole-away on trains and boats. She says she's been to several coutries that way. Recently she was arrested for halting a coal train to protest moutaintop removal. Well, hope all is going well in civilization.

Trail days

The past few days since my last post have been beautiful days to be outside. Encouraged by the cool dry air, I decided to put in some big miles to make it to Waynesburo by Friday when Amy came in. But after two days of 30+ miles, I decided to scrap the plan and just relax on friday. It was one of the toughest sections of virginia (including one of the most famous descents called "The Priest") and I was worn out. So, on friday I took a three hour lunch, stopped to talk to several people, and just mozzied along. I met a guy from Annapolis, a girl named tag who got engaged while on a previous thru hike (apparently it didn't last) and a cool guy from Harpers ferry that develops facial recognition software for the FBI. Soon the day was coming to an end and I still had 6 miles to go before meeting Amy so I hurried down the trail trying to make it in time. I turned out that Amy was running about 2 hours late due to DC traffic, so I went back up to an overlook, watched the sunset, and warmed up by the fire a local family had made. Soon after sunset, I met up with Amy (who had arrived a bit early and went hiking to find me, only in the wrong direction) and ate 3 chick-fil-a meals and some homemade cookies that Amy brought me.

We got into Damascus around 1:00 AM for trail days and set up our tent at The Place. I spent most of saturday morning shooing around at the vendors and bought two hammocks and some socks. In the afternoon we participated in the hiker parade, watched the hiker talent show, and listened to some concerts. In the evening we watched a documentary about the first thu hike of the American Discovery Trail, or ADT. The day ended with a stroll through tent city checking out all of the different neighborhoods. Riff raff was a good party scene with a huge fire and good music, but I think billville was my favorite. It's set up by a bunch of old guys who thu hiked in the 90s I think. On their thru hike, one guy (now the billville mayor) went to a yard sale and met a retired man who was selling all of his work clothes from Tractor Resupply. Another guy had torn his shirt, so when he heard about the yard sale he bought one too. On and on it went until it became fashionable to wear Tractor Resuply shirts on the trail, and there was an army of hikers out there with these shirts saying their name is Bill. I heard the original Bill even bumped up the price from 50 cents to $10 due to the demand. Anyways, all of these "Bills" come back to trail days each year.
On sunday we drove back to waynesburro and stopped at Devils Backbone brewery for some tasting. It's a nice area. There were at least three other breweries and several wineries in the area. Then we were going to go hike to a waterfall, but decided to just get dinner due to time constraints. I'm sleeping in my hammock in the city park tonight and will enter the Shenendoahs tomorrow. I ended up skipping about 15 miles of the trail, but I don't really care. There wasn't much to see anyways and I can always come back if I eventually want to hike every blaze.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my presents! Amy bought a new Osprey backpack for me and brought down a fixie bicycle to use at trail days. It was great being able to cruise around damascus on a bike and I'm excited to try out my new pack.

Where's my compass? 5/15/12

The rain finally stopped this morning, but it's effects could still be felt in the several stream crossings that now had to be forded. When I got to the "swimming hole", which now was more suited for white water rafting, I met South Park and Ma'am who were giving out trail magic for breakfast.  I had some AMAZING zuchini bread, apple butter, eggs, and orange juice. They said their neighbor likes to farm, but doesn't want to bother with selling it, so he gives it to them to make stuff for the hikers. I met up with Beacon again who was being dropped off on the trail again after avoiding the rain. The shuttle driver said 9 inches of rain fell over the past 2 days. I also met a day hiker who was stranded on the trail because the high waters had closed the roads and his wife couldnt come pick him up. Later that day I blue-blazed for two miles to see a 300 foot waterfall. Due to the rains, it was a bit of a pain to get down there, but the waterfall was quite impressive. Upon getting back to the AT, I grabbed a snack and was on my way. But, about 30 min later, I had a flash of recognition and I realized I had been walking south! Damn bonus miles. Tonight I'm staying in a shelter with a sociology professor at Marshal university, who wrote her dissertation on thru hiker subculture. I want to check it out when I get the chance. Oh, and my pack started ripping so now all othe weight is on my sholders instead of my hips - no bueno. I hope to get a new one at trail days.