Friday, July 29, 2005

Hiking on the AT

I've spent the last 8 days hiking in New England -- we started in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and are now in Bennington, Vermont. (I'm writing this from the public library in Bennington, where the librarian is giving me the hairy eyeball even now).

The hiking is going well -- no blisters, just some sore feet. We've done 94 miles and have about 130 left to go. It's a great time, and I love it. But I have to say, I'm missing my oh-so-wonderful spouse in the worst way. I think we were born to be hiking partners.

Must go, as my computer terminal will self-destruct if I go over my one-hour allotment.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Gone Hiking

Dear Small Audience of Reader(s):

I'm leaving this evening with a great friend and now hiking partner (Red) to fly off to the Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts and Vermont. I should be gone a month, barring any unfortunate occurrences, and we will be hiking about 230 miles on the AT, from South Egremont, Massachusetts, to Hanover, New Hampshire. Once this section is hiked, I'll have only a couple hundred more miles in southern Maine to finish up.

Of course, before I leave, I must run around town like a chicken with my head cut off, getting everything done that I should have done last week.

If you see my spouse, give him a hug for me. He so wishes he could go with me, but can't get the vacation time.

If you're one of my students, keep a stiff upper lip. You'll do fine without me . . . and I'll be back in late August.

In the meantime, happy trails to you -- enjoy the rest of your summer!

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Sneeze Attack

So, yesterday a friend and I drove out to the Platte River Wilderness for a day-long hike. We are getting ready for our trip out to the AT in Massachusetts and Vermont, so we both carried our packs, full of gear and a bit of food. Not the same weight as we'll be carrying there, but enough to get a sense of what it will be like. This "getting the sense" thing is important as the friend who is going with me (trailname: Red) has never been on a backpacking trip before. We'd done one other full-day hike (about 7 miles) and she experienced some pain in the balls of her feet, so we wanted to give the experience another chance to see if Advil and some different shoe inserts would help.

We arrived at about 9:30 and were hiking by 10. We kept with my new hiking plan of stopping every hour for a short break, and all went very well. Red was experiencing a bit of pain, but it was manageable; at the end of a 10-mile day, she said "With another break, I could have hiked some more."

This is very good news, as we're planning to hike about 10 miles a day in Massachusetts/Vermont.

The bad news was that as soon as we started hiking, I started to sneeze. The scenery was beautiful, it was VERY warm, and the wildflowers and grasses were out in abundance. Needless to say, hiking while sneezing and constantly blowing one's nose is not the most pleasant (or elegant) way to spend the day.

Made it through, however, and I'm feeling better today. Drugs help.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005


We spent the weekend at Yellowstone National Park.  Posted by Picasa