Days 36-38 Massachusetts

The mileage for each day respectively was 24, 33, 20.  I am writing this on the evening of day 38 (8/30/14). Massachusetts has been gorgeous and hiking through the Berkshires has been incredible.  The weather has been phenomenal but tomorrow that is supposed to end with a storm system moving in for a couple days.  I really enjoy how the AT in Massachusetts goes through the valleys in some parts.  There are many flowery meadows and farmer fields that the AT goes through which I really enjoy seeing.  I will upload photos but will not comment on them for a while nor will there be a blog update for a few more days at least.  I got to keep pushing and save cell battery as long as I can.  This section is very expensive and there are no hostels so I am just trying to keep grinding out miles until Pennsylvania.  I think I will have to get a motel room in about 140 miles in New York though.  I am at mile 676 right now.

Day 34-35: Leaving Vermont

On both these days I did over 30 miles a day.  I crossed the Vermont/Mass border around 5:30 pm on day 35 which was August 27th.  Vermont was an absolutely beautiful state and although it is muddy I had a great time.  I cowboy camped for the first time in my life on top of some peak going up Mt. Greylock which had an incredible view of the town of North Adams and surrounding mountains.  It was absolutely beautiful and one of those memories i hope to remember for a long time.  Tomorrow I get my new shoes in Cheshire so that is exciting.

Status Update on My Feet

What a lovely subject to talk about right? The first thing is the constant slight numbness/tingling in my feet. That is something a lot of AT thru hikers get from what I have read on the subject. There are nerves that run along the bottom of the feet that when pounded on constantly like during a thru hike they lose sensitivity so your feet feel numb all the time and they tingle. From what I understand it will take a few weeks to 6 months for the numbness/tingling to go away after I am done with this journey. I do use very cushioned aftermarket insoles that also have plenty of support so I am not sure if there is anything I can do in regards to this matter. This sensation doesn't really bother me or affect my hiking at all so I am not concerned. The second issue is that every thru hiker on the AT gets swollen feet that is guaranteed. Basically they look like somebody that is developing diabetes... that kind of swelling. Accompany that with the very wet trail conditions I have had so far and constant pounding on the rocks/roots/mud my feet have started to deteriorate. I have always been blessed with very tough feet; I rarely get a blister and have incredibly tough pads on the bottom of my feet. The biggest issue right now is my pads have started to disappear leaving me with very soft skin rather than tough skin in some spots on my feet bottoms. The next issue is the soft skin on the sides/top/ankle areas of my feet are being rubbed raw. There is slight red blotchy discoloration in some areas as well as splitting of the skin in a couple areas on my ankles. The splits are all scabbed over and healing which I am grateful for. My main concern at this point is if the skin were to split on my pads or heels of my feet. It hasn't happened yet but I am trying to be very careful to make sure it doesn't happen. My feet have been my top priority to take care of from day 1. I do my very best to keep them dry which is easy at night all I have to do is apply gold bond powder and they are dry. But during the day on all but a handful of days so far the trail has been sopping wet. Changing socks while hiking hasn't been of any point thus far because they would be soaking wet within a few minutes. Even all the days I have had nice weather the trail is usually wet due to how much rain has been falling each time it rains. Things so far just do not dry out when hiking. I do wear toe sock liners which are very helpful at preventing foot chafing and I wear Merino Wool padded hiking socks. I also wear trail runners which dry quicker than boots but they still are never dry unless I can leave them in the baking sun for half a day. Yes, I do cinch my laces down snugly but not too tight. One thing I have noticed is that on days where my feet are dry when hiking I don't develop issues its only on days where they are soaking wet which is most days. The zero day I took today in Manchester Center, Vermont has really helped so far and they feel so much better. Fortunately the weather is supposed to get dryer and dryer as I head southward more. Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont have a reputation from what I hear to be wetter than a lot of other AT states so I hope that stays true. I know this is off subject but a good resource if you want to read about each state I am traveling through and see how it ranks in difficulty level in comparison to other states go to http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/terrain-by-state then click on the tab on the left for the state you want to look at.

Day 33: Zeroing in Manchester Center, VT

Today is 8/25/14.  My mind wants to keep pushing on to Georgia but it cannot get there without my feet which I have to respect.  Looking at the guidebook I have I do not see any hostels for the next couple hundred miles at least.  So if I have to stay anywhere anytime soon it would be an expensive motel/hotel.  Paying 25 bucks for another night at such an awesome place like Green Mountain House is worth it to me if it helps me avoid paying 70+ bucks somewhere else sometime soon.  The Serta beds here are so comfortable too.  I sat down this morning with a cup of coffee and actually watched the morning news.  Dang the world is screwed up and here on the trail my biggest concern is my feet.  Sure is a whole nother lifestyle on the AT.  The weather is supposed to be nice for the next 5-6 days so giving the state of Vermud another day to dry out before i hit the trail again should help me keep my feet dry after i leave tomorrow.  I should be in Massachusetts after 3 days more of hiking.  Ohhh yeah to answer the comments about my weight.  I officially weigh more than when I started.  I am around 161 lbs and I started at 159 lbs.  Granted most of that is muscle buildup in my legs since I originally lost a lot of fat weight.  Since Gorham and the White's which i got to eat a lot I did gain a few pounds of fat on my belly.  Wooohoo i have a little bit of a gut again!  It actually helps because my hip belt on my pack doesn't have to be cinched down all the way any more.  I did lose about 1lb fat when i ran out of food the past two days.  I am nonstop eating right now though to help gain more weight.  Looking at my diet, the amount of hours I hike, and how I push myself hard I am burning approximately 5500 calories a day on average.

Lessons from the trail: What to do when hiking

So what do i do with myself all day long when hiking?  That is a question everyone asks me.  Number one is I pray.  I pray dozens of times throughout the day for anything I can think of that would pop in my head.  Number two is I think.  This is what takes up the most time.  I would need a printer with 10,000 sheets of paper in it to jot down all i think about every day. Number 3 is I listen to music and even sing with it sometimes.  This is very important to most of us thru hikers the music is.  I personally listen to a lot of real country music like Patsy Cline, Hank Williams  Sr., George Jones, Tracy Lawrence, Chris Ledoux, Loretta Lynn, etc.  If you know me you know I am tone death.  So imagine me flying down the trail lost in my thoughts singing along to Tracy Lawrence's song Texas Tornado.  Yeah its not a pretty sound and I get a lot of weird looks when I dont realize people are around.  I dont give a lick though. 

If there is one thing i enjoy the most its listening to the family life today free downloadable radio broadcasts they have.  My father grew up listening to Focus on the Family broadcasts and I have seen the man he became so ever since i was 16 when i drive my pickup truck to work, school, fishing, or whatever i would try to listen to some Christian radio broadcast so that one day i could try to be as great of a man and father he has been.  Family life today is the only one i know of that lets you download the broadcasts free and doesn't require data/reception to listen so whenever i get to a town i download more broadcasts so i can continue to grow as a man.  Lets face it i aint exactly going to church while hiking so between this and reading the bible i have on my phone every day thats as close to hearing some good preaching as i can get.  I hope that it is God's will and plan for my life to be a future husband and father and I want to do the very best i can to prepare for those days before/if they come.  I encourage everyone reading this to listen to those broadcasts.  If you listen and apply what they discuss to your life it will really strengthen your friendships, marriage relationship, relationship with you kids, and more. 

Day 32: Running on Fumes

I hardly had anything to eat today while hiking.  I underestimated my appetite when resupplying in Killington.  I am eating around 3lbs of food a day (not calorie wise but physical weight).  I did 16.5 miles to the road to get into Manchester Center, Vermont.  Louis, if you read this thank you once again for the hitch.  I apologize I smelt so bad in your car.  I made a reservation this morning at the Green Mountain House Hostel which i cannot say enough about.  I need to take the time to effectively clean and dry my feet, socks, and shoes before pushing on.  I may zero here tomorrow for my feets sake.  I resupplied on food in town today and ate at McDonalds!  This was the first time I have eaten fast food since I started hiking and boy does ordinary people food taste so much better when thru hiking.  The hostel then picked me up in town.  The owners are very nice and this is officially the cleanest,  nicest, and best value hostel I have seen thus far.  It even has actual serta bed mattresses and box springs!  No bunk bed tonight baby!  I could go on and on about this place but it would bore you. 

Day 31: Passed the 500 Mile Mark

31.4 miles that count hiked today.  But to do it I had to hike until 10:30pm.  Thats right, I headlamped it for 3 hours which was really cool.  At one point I passed a pond and you could see the mountains and stars reflecting on the water.  I had to stop for a second to take in the breathtaking scene.  That's one thing I like about being an outdoorsman is i see all these spectacular things you cant quite absorb if you weren't there.  It didn't rain at all today fortunately but was still wet from last nights rain as well as the previous days.  I hiked an additional .4 mile round trip up to the top of Mt. Killington to do some blog posts.  I dont think i ever mentioned that according to Paul (Ole Man) at the AT Lodge in Millinocket the average thru hiker will walk about 2500 miles in the entire journey even though the exact mileage for the trail is 2189 I think for 2014.  It makes sense due to all the extra miles i hike to viewpoints, around towns, to get water, trail detours, etc.  The reason I did 31 miles was because I dont have enough food to get to the next town.  I do not like hiking on an empty belly when I am burning 5000-6000 calories a day.  So I pushed it so I have less miles to do tomorrow when I am running on fumes.  Good news is today is day 2 of hiking with no wrapped up ankles.  They feel great now so thank you for your prayers.  Bad news is my feet cannot stay dry when hiking no matter what i have encountered so much rain/mud thusfar.  They have officially started to fall apart and are becoming painful.  I will do a post just on my feet they concern me that much.  Offical mileage total hiked as of where I am camped is 521.6 miles.