Yo,
Three years ago today, I embarked on a journey. I started my Appalachian Trail thru hike with absolutely zero backpacking experience. I distinctly remember the lump in my throat while driving all the way to the starting point. Whenever my brain went to that zone where all my fears popped up, I just thought in my head "You're nervous, but this is no big deal."
A couple hours later, I was on my way to a 5 month long journey that would definitely be the most life-changing event I have ever experienced. Once I finished the trail, I came back a different human being. One who followed that flame of curiosity that was on his brain. A person who was able to achieve something that 99.9 % of the population hasn't done.
Then, I had to go back to the "real world".
In my last blog post, I'd promised that I would update how my transition was back into the "real world" was. Well, this post is a little late, but HERE'S MY UPDATE!
I decided to make a video because its way more easy for me to go "off the dome" then sit here and write sentences on a computer. And I know all the HARDCORE FANS will watch my video!! (All ten of you) I talk about how it was coming off the trail, what has happened in the past 3 years, and what I'm planning on doing.
Here it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZX1VAvIUzs
So yep, that's my life right now. One thing that I forgot to mention that I feel like is a big part of my "psychy" now is that I accept that life just doesn't make sense. Period.
A lot of the times it doesn't make sense in a negative way. "I had my sister die of cancer...why?" "Why am I never good enough at anything to be considered great...why?" "This girl just broke my heart...why?" Why are the cards always stacked against me!? WHY!? And when you are thinking about that and living through it, that stage of life it sucks.
But, at certain times, I have found that life won't make sense, but can be fucking incredible at the same time. The Appalchian Trail was a perfect example. I couldn't believe that walking the AT was what I was doing every day of my life. This just showed me that when you follow whats in your heart, you can achieve these moments of bliss.
At least, that's what my motto is in my current mood. I'm feeling pretty damn positive about life. Spring will do that to me. Let's see if I can keep this ball rolling, keep on doing what I'm doing, and hopefully when I'm old and gray I can tell myself "I can't believe I did so much awesome shit".
That's it for me.
Cya later alligator,
Joey (Lighthouse)
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Welp, I did it!
I finished the hiking the Appalachian Trail! I summited mount Katahdin almost two weeks ago! Sorry if some of you were on pins and needles waiting for my blog entry, but once I got back home, I thought I owed it to myself to just vegetate out for a little bit. I have finished vegging out, and now I am starting to feel lazy and I DON'T LIKE IT. For now, I will tell you about my last leg of my journey!
So, the last town going north on the A.T is Monson, Maine. Right after you hike back into the woods, you come across this sign, which marks the 100 MILE WILDERNESS!! OHHH SOOO SCARY!!! Nope, not really. 100 miles is a long way to go without resupplying, but the last 50 miles or so of it is super flat, so you can make up a lot of ground there. I think we went through it in about five and a half or six days. Still, since I am a skinny mo-fo already, I have to eat LOTS and LOTS of food to keep myself going. I think this was the heaviest my pack was ever right when this pic was taken. But hey, I did it!
I don't think I ever included a typical campsite setup, so here is an example! My tent is the green one (MSR Hubba). This was a cool campsite because it was close to a nice waterfall. I love listening to the rush of a river at night to put me to sleep.
Here is a pic of the waterfall that we were camping close by.
So purdy. I like the formation of the jagged rocks.
We found a nice big rock next to the river to chill and take a snack break at.
Lazyboy and Snuggles proving that you don't need a rope in order to ford a river. THAT STUFF IS FOR PANSIES! And, this probably doesn't look too tough fording something this strong, and it isn't too bad. But let me tell ya, those rocks underwater are SUPER SLIPPERY! Add some current to the mix, and you could easily bust your butt and drench your entire pack.
View while fording the river.
Oh man, do I miss looking at this kind of stuff every day.
So, I was wrong in saying that Moxie bald was the last nice view before Katahdin. Barren Mountain was pretty sweet.
And it had a super sketch rusty tower that you could climb up!
You bet I climbed up it! What can I say....I like to live dangerously.
View from the opposite side.
It's hard to take a good pic when you are hanging almost your entire body off of this wonky structure so the bars don't get in the way.
So I got off of the structure and started walking again. Can you see fall coming?
Me likey big rocks and flowing water.
Katahdin!!! 83 Miles away!!!
Golly jeepers I love clouds rolling in....Now, when they have already ROLLED in...not so much.
Can you tell that its a little windy in this picture? (Hint: look at the camera in my hand).
OHMAH GUAD IT'S KATAHDIN!!! So when you get close to Katahdin, you will find 'K' painted on some trees/rocks along with a white blaze, signifying that you have a view of Katahdin coming up. Me being an R-tard, the first few times I saw that, I was just like "What the heck does K mean? durrr I have no clue!" I'm dumb.
I AM COMIN FOR YOU KATAHDIN!
This is where I start singing R-Kelly's other classic hit "The Worlds Greatest".
So, right after this picture was taken, my camera decided that it did not want to take pictures any more! Hurray!!! I think the software was messed up because the pictures would come out like the picture below.
.JPG)
Surprisingly, the video function on my camera still worked! Therefore, from this point on, I had to rely on Snuggles' and Lazyboy's camera to get all my summit pics. That was fine with me, cause it forced me to stay with them the rest of the trip, which I was happy to do since they are such good people!
One of the last places we took a peaceful break... :-(
Woo rivers.
Walking along a bog on a cold day.
Alright, so that is all the pictures before Katahdin AKA the BIG K.
Now, I will give you all a preface before I put some more pictures up. So, if you have been following this blog since the beginning, or you know me personally, you probably remember that my sister passed away about a year ago. From seeing what she had to go through, it really engrained into my brain that life can be very short, and that if you want to live life, DO IT NOW, because you never know what the future can bring.
After seeing my sister pass, this whole hiking the trail became much more of a reality. I knew I was going to do it sometime in my life, but seeing her health slowly deteriorate until she passed, I realized it was now my time to grab life by the horns. Therefore, I decided to quit my job in mid march, and I started the trail on April 14th.
One of the biggest things I learned about the trail is to not plan your miles for the day, and just go with the flow. You think you are going to know exactly when you are going to finish as soon as you start at Mount Springer, Georgia? You obviously don't know JACK. If you think you are going to average 20+ miles a day for the next 3 weeks, just wait until you have a day where it is absolutely pouring down rain, and you gotta walk on some tough terrain, and that plan will be useless. It is much better to take the trail on a day by day basis.
That being said, I realized that when I was about a week away from Katahdin that I would be close to summiting on the 1 year anniversary of my sisters death. So, I called my parents up a few days before and verified that she did pass away on September 25th. I thought to myself that "Wow, that would be pretty neat if I summitted on that day!" But as I learned through many experiences with my life, don't dream about certain scenarios to happen, because it seems that with my life, the more I dream about things, the more probable those plans would crumble and not work out.
So, Lazyboy, Snuggles, and I just kept on chugging along with our hike, and we ended up at the Birches campsite (which is just at the bottom of Mount Katahdin, 5 miles away from the peak) on September 24th. Lazyboy's parents drove up from Milwaukee to see them both summit, and they were nice enough to let me stay in their hotel room that night before we would (hopefully) summit the next day.
Now, I must bring up a few points. I wouldn't say I am the most religious person out there, I tend to find myself more on the scientific side of things. You are going to tell me that when I die, I go fly around in heaven and I can get everything I want and I have sweet angel wings that make me fly everywhere? Ok, I guess that is probable, but I am not really 100 % on board with that. Learning all about the different things in my life, I have just realized that life doesn't make too much sense. I mean, there are like a quadrillion stars in the universe, and in the whole scheme of things, the earth is less significant than a grain of sand on a beach. Sooo...someone already figured out what is going to happen to me after I die? Sorry buddy, but I think your belief is as good as mine.
Do we fly up into heaven and I get to see everyone that has passed away in angel form?
Do I get reincarnated into another animal, another human, another planet of some sort?
I have no clue really, but I see any possibility as logical. But, I don't believe that we just die and that is it. I DO believe there is something after this life, but I like to think that our human brains are just too dumb to realize what is going to happen after we pass.
One thing I strongly believe in is signs. I remember the first day that I read about someone hiking the entire Appalachian Trail was back in my senior year at Purdue University in April 2011. I was browsing the website Reddit when I saw an AMA post about someone who thru hiked the Appalachian Trail. For those who are not Reddit savy, an AMA post is where someone posts that they have done something (hike the trail), and other people will post questions, and the main person will respond to all of the questions. Since I was born and raised in Indiana, I never even heard of a 2000+ mile trail that spanned across the whole east coast, but boy did it sure captivate my attention. That same day, I decided to go take a cruise in my car for whatever reason. I remember along the car ride, all I could think about was the Appalachian Trail. Then, at one of the stop signs, I was stopped right behind a car that had an Appalachian Trail bumper sticker on it. I believe it said "I hiked the Appalachian Trail!" or something like that. I just thought that it was amazing that I just had learned about the trail 30 minutes ago on the internet, and then I saw another bumper sticker about the trail! That was so crazy, and "spiritual", I guess, for me that I knew that before I died, I was going to hike this entire trail.
So, now for a little side note. If you knew my sister at all, you know that she was a HUUUGE Beatles fan. For her 30th birthday (which was after we learned she had terminal cancer), 30 of her friends and family members decided to write either a short story that talked about her or just give her some words of encouragement. I don't remember exactly what I wrote, but I know that I included lyrics of a Beatles song to hopefully cheer her up. I took this excerpt from The Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun"
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
I thought it would help her out, because even though in really crappy times, the sun will still rise, and it can't help but cheer you up. This was also the same song that was played at my sisters funeral.
So, flash forward to September 24th, 2013. We were back in the hotel with Lazyboy's parents, when his father decided to pull out his new tablet and check the weather. The forecast called for pretty crappy weather the next day, looked like a strong possibility of rain in the morning that could continue into the afternoon as well. I started to get bummed out because it looked like we wouldn't be able to summit on my sisters 1 year anniversary. It definitely wasn't looking promising, because 8 hikers tried to summit the day before, and they had to climb back down once the hike got above tree level because of harsh winds and cold rain. But, I still just did not mull over it and just realized, "I am going to finish this no matter what day it lies on, and it will feel glorious!"
After Lazyboy's father looked at the weather, he started to show Lazyboy all of the cool features his tablet has to offer. He wanted to show off the media player/speakers to Lazyboy, so he decided to play a song. That song was "Here Comes the Sun". I couldn't believe it. I didn't say anything, nor did I show much emotion, but from that moment, I KNEW that I was going to summit on September 25th.
So, we wake up the next morning, and the sun was shining! Everything looked great, and we got the OK from the Park rangers to summit Mount Katahdin! I was super stoked. Now, if you remember, my camera crapped out 5 days before summiting, and I was on such an adrenaline rush that I didn't stick around with Lazyboy and Snuggles on the way up, so I have no pictures of the climb up. I think its fitting though, I have done a great job showing you all what to expect through pictures, but I like keeping that last climb/descent for myself. The weather wasn't perfect that day for sure, it was cloudy most of the day, but it was still just as glorious. Seeing all of the intense rock faces when you start to climb up was incredible. We had a few moments where the clouds broke, and we got a nice view of the trees in the distance starting to change colors, and even a waterfall that was off in the distance on the other mountain. Plus, at the very top of the mountain, there was ice! Most people waited for a nice, clear day to summit, but I always have thought I do things a little different than most. The day was cold, foggy, and icy, but I would have taken this day over any other clear day.
Ok, now time for the summit pictures!
So after the intense climb up, you get to the tablelands, which is about 1.5 miles of not so tough climbing to the summit. I heard from other hikers that the weather got real terrible at the top, so I waited for Snuggles and Lazyboy so I wouldn't have to freeze my butt off at the top waiting for them to take my pics.
So, HERE IT IS! This is my summit video that shows me finishing my 2,185.9 mile thru hike!
Yes, I did it! I AM A THRU HIKER!!!
Me enjoying a celebratory cigar and playing the instrument I so dearly love.
Savoring the moment.
Group pic with Snuggles and Lazyboy.
The ice made it that much more epic!
I love you Mount Katahdin!
Upon close inspection, this pic made me LOL hard. The cigar makes it look like I have a tooth missing. LOOK MAW AND PAW, I DUN FINISHED THE TRAIL!
Man these pictures still give me goosebumps.
This is me next to the cairn that has been blasted with ice.
So, that is it for the summit pics! As you can see, I was feeling super stoked at the summit. It was such a glorious time, and I got to share it with good people. I thought I might be bawling at the top, but that didn't happen.
I started to get real emotional on the way down when I got ahead of Snuggles and Lazyboy because I started to think about all that I have done. I mean, I was a dude who had absolutely 0 backpacking experience, and 0 gear just back in March. I quit my job, and in a months time I had all the necessary gear to get out and hike this trail. I started on April 14th, and I finished on September 25th. It was just such a surreal moment for me. I finished the first dream that was solely my decision. This adventure was such a surreal experience the whole time I was hiking it, and it was even more surreal finishing it. Finishing exactly one year after my sister passed was absolutely crazy too.
The part that hit me the hardest was thinking about what I was going to write in the final logbook back at the bottom of the mountain. It was wonderful seeing all of the people I knew that finished before me, and all of their entries. Most of them talked about what a crazy, wonderful ride it has been. I most certainly thought about doing that, but since I finished 1 year after my sisters death, I couldn't help but think that she was with me the entire time on this trail. That is why I decided to write to her for my last journal entry. I was just bawling down a good chunk of the mountain thinking about what I should say to her. Here it is.
I think here is a perfect place to end this blog post. I most certainly miss my sister every day, and just writing this blog has filled me with so many emotions that I am pretty much drained at this point.
I hope you all enjoyed watching my adventure unfold. It sure has been fun writing to you all! It has been really cool seeing the statistics of my blog posts, and seeing more and more people read it every time I write a new post. Thanks for that!
I still am not done with this blog, because I think coming back from the trail is just as crazy as being on it. It definitely has been a shock coming back to central Indiana, where there is, lets face it, absolutely nothing interesting geographically wise. A lot of thru hikers experience some sort of depression after the trail, and it looks like it is starting to creep into my life too. No longer do I wake up every morning, and exercise for 8 hours a day. No longer do I see wonderful views and the absolute beauty of nature. I now wake up and go, "well what do I do today?"
Now, my life is back where I have spent 98 % of my life already, and it is not so fun. I don't like feeling lazy, and so I can't help but feel like that now since I am currently jobless. It feels like I don't have a purpose to life right now, and that is really getting to me. The nervousness and fear that I felt at the start of my thru hike is miniscule compared to the nervousness and fear that I have now. It is a very daunting feeling that I must somehow acclimate back into society again. I am still debating on if I like sleeping in a bed more than I like sleeping in my tent.
Hmmm...I'm not sure, my Thermarest is pretty darn comfortable!
Will I join the rat race again and work 8-5, wear a polo shirt and khakis, and go to eat at Chipotle once every Wednesday with my not-so-interesting coworkers?
Will I find a part time job that allows me to pay the bills, get out of the parents house, and live life so that I can pursue my passions while not get in the red every month?
Will I become the next Baltimore Jack and re-hike the trail 9 times? Oh God, I hope not.
There are a lot of questions that need to be answered in my life, and I have a feeling this will not be so easy. I hope I am wrong, and I hope things just start to fall in place.
I will keep ya posted soon on how everything goes.
For now, I hope you enjoyed, and I only hope that I have at least inspired a few people to attempt a thru hike in the upcoming years! If you have read my blog and thought to yourself "man that would be so cool to do it", and you have an opportunity to do it, trust me, DO IT!!!!! If you would like to contact me with any questions about anything, feel free to email me at JoeMoeAT@gmail.com
My next blog post will probably be more about reintroduction into society, and also I will probably make some sweet thru hike videos and gear review videos. But for now, I am gonna go out and exercise!
Peace,
Lighthouse (Joey)
So, right after this picture was taken, my camera decided that it did not want to take pictures any more! Hurray!!! I think the software was messed up because the pictures would come out like the picture below.
.JPG)
Surprisingly, the video function on my camera still worked! Therefore, from this point on, I had to rely on Snuggles' and Lazyboy's camera to get all my summit pics. That was fine with me, cause it forced me to stay with them the rest of the trip, which I was happy to do since they are such good people!
Alright, so that is all the pictures before Katahdin AKA the BIG K.
Now, I will give you all a preface before I put some more pictures up. So, if you have been following this blog since the beginning, or you know me personally, you probably remember that my sister passed away about a year ago. From seeing what she had to go through, it really engrained into my brain that life can be very short, and that if you want to live life, DO IT NOW, because you never know what the future can bring.
After seeing my sister pass, this whole hiking the trail became much more of a reality. I knew I was going to do it sometime in my life, but seeing her health slowly deteriorate until she passed, I realized it was now my time to grab life by the horns. Therefore, I decided to quit my job in mid march, and I started the trail on April 14th.
One of the biggest things I learned about the trail is to not plan your miles for the day, and just go with the flow. You think you are going to know exactly when you are going to finish as soon as you start at Mount Springer, Georgia? You obviously don't know JACK. If you think you are going to average 20+ miles a day for the next 3 weeks, just wait until you have a day where it is absolutely pouring down rain, and you gotta walk on some tough terrain, and that plan will be useless. It is much better to take the trail on a day by day basis.
That being said, I realized that when I was about a week away from Katahdin that I would be close to summiting on the 1 year anniversary of my sisters death. So, I called my parents up a few days before and verified that she did pass away on September 25th. I thought to myself that "Wow, that would be pretty neat if I summitted on that day!" But as I learned through many experiences with my life, don't dream about certain scenarios to happen, because it seems that with my life, the more I dream about things, the more probable those plans would crumble and not work out.
So, Lazyboy, Snuggles, and I just kept on chugging along with our hike, and we ended up at the Birches campsite (which is just at the bottom of Mount Katahdin, 5 miles away from the peak) on September 24th. Lazyboy's parents drove up from Milwaukee to see them both summit, and they were nice enough to let me stay in their hotel room that night before we would (hopefully) summit the next day.
Now, I must bring up a few points. I wouldn't say I am the most religious person out there, I tend to find myself more on the scientific side of things. You are going to tell me that when I die, I go fly around in heaven and I can get everything I want and I have sweet angel wings that make me fly everywhere? Ok, I guess that is probable, but I am not really 100 % on board with that. Learning all about the different things in my life, I have just realized that life doesn't make too much sense. I mean, there are like a quadrillion stars in the universe, and in the whole scheme of things, the earth is less significant than a grain of sand on a beach. Sooo...someone already figured out what is going to happen to me after I die? Sorry buddy, but I think your belief is as good as mine.
Do we fly up into heaven and I get to see everyone that has passed away in angel form?
Do I get reincarnated into another animal, another human, another planet of some sort?
I have no clue really, but I see any possibility as logical. But, I don't believe that we just die and that is it. I DO believe there is something after this life, but I like to think that our human brains are just too dumb to realize what is going to happen after we pass.
One thing I strongly believe in is signs. I remember the first day that I read about someone hiking the entire Appalachian Trail was back in my senior year at Purdue University in April 2011. I was browsing the website Reddit when I saw an AMA post about someone who thru hiked the Appalachian Trail. For those who are not Reddit savy, an AMA post is where someone posts that they have done something (hike the trail), and other people will post questions, and the main person will respond to all of the questions. Since I was born and raised in Indiana, I never even heard of a 2000+ mile trail that spanned across the whole east coast, but boy did it sure captivate my attention. That same day, I decided to go take a cruise in my car for whatever reason. I remember along the car ride, all I could think about was the Appalachian Trail. Then, at one of the stop signs, I was stopped right behind a car that had an Appalachian Trail bumper sticker on it. I believe it said "I hiked the Appalachian Trail!" or something like that. I just thought that it was amazing that I just had learned about the trail 30 minutes ago on the internet, and then I saw another bumper sticker about the trail! That was so crazy, and "spiritual", I guess, for me that I knew that before I died, I was going to hike this entire trail.
So, now for a little side note. If you knew my sister at all, you know that she was a HUUUGE Beatles fan. For her 30th birthday (which was after we learned she had terminal cancer), 30 of her friends and family members decided to write either a short story that talked about her or just give her some words of encouragement. I don't remember exactly what I wrote, but I know that I included lyrics of a Beatles song to hopefully cheer her up. I took this excerpt from The Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun"
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
I thought it would help her out, because even though in really crappy times, the sun will still rise, and it can't help but cheer you up. This was also the same song that was played at my sisters funeral.
So, flash forward to September 24th, 2013. We were back in the hotel with Lazyboy's parents, when his father decided to pull out his new tablet and check the weather. The forecast called for pretty crappy weather the next day, looked like a strong possibility of rain in the morning that could continue into the afternoon as well. I started to get bummed out because it looked like we wouldn't be able to summit on my sisters 1 year anniversary. It definitely wasn't looking promising, because 8 hikers tried to summit the day before, and they had to climb back down once the hike got above tree level because of harsh winds and cold rain. But, I still just did not mull over it and just realized, "I am going to finish this no matter what day it lies on, and it will feel glorious!"
After Lazyboy's father looked at the weather, he started to show Lazyboy all of the cool features his tablet has to offer. He wanted to show off the media player/speakers to Lazyboy, so he decided to play a song. That song was "Here Comes the Sun". I couldn't believe it. I didn't say anything, nor did I show much emotion, but from that moment, I KNEW that I was going to summit on September 25th.
So, we wake up the next morning, and the sun was shining! Everything looked great, and we got the OK from the Park rangers to summit Mount Katahdin! I was super stoked. Now, if you remember, my camera crapped out 5 days before summiting, and I was on such an adrenaline rush that I didn't stick around with Lazyboy and Snuggles on the way up, so I have no pictures of the climb up. I think its fitting though, I have done a great job showing you all what to expect through pictures, but I like keeping that last climb/descent for myself. The weather wasn't perfect that day for sure, it was cloudy most of the day, but it was still just as glorious. Seeing all of the intense rock faces when you start to climb up was incredible. We had a few moments where the clouds broke, and we got a nice view of the trees in the distance starting to change colors, and even a waterfall that was off in the distance on the other mountain. Plus, at the very top of the mountain, there was ice! Most people waited for a nice, clear day to summit, but I always have thought I do things a little different than most. The day was cold, foggy, and icy, but I would have taken this day over any other clear day.
Ok, now time for the summit pictures!
So, HERE IT IS! This is my summit video that shows me finishing my 2,185.9 mile thru hike!
So, that is it for the summit pics! As you can see, I was feeling super stoked at the summit. It was such a glorious time, and I got to share it with good people. I thought I might be bawling at the top, but that didn't happen.
I started to get real emotional on the way down when I got ahead of Snuggles and Lazyboy because I started to think about all that I have done. I mean, I was a dude who had absolutely 0 backpacking experience, and 0 gear just back in March. I quit my job, and in a months time I had all the necessary gear to get out and hike this trail. I started on April 14th, and I finished on September 25th. It was just such a surreal moment for me. I finished the first dream that was solely my decision. This adventure was such a surreal experience the whole time I was hiking it, and it was even more surreal finishing it. Finishing exactly one year after my sister passed was absolutely crazy too.
The part that hit me the hardest was thinking about what I was going to write in the final logbook back at the bottom of the mountain. It was wonderful seeing all of the people I knew that finished before me, and all of their entries. Most of them talked about what a crazy, wonderful ride it has been. I most certainly thought about doing that, but since I finished 1 year after my sisters death, I couldn't help but think that she was with me the entire time on this trail. That is why I decided to write to her for my last journal entry. I was just bawling down a good chunk of the mountain thinking about what I should say to her. Here it is.
I think here is a perfect place to end this blog post. I most certainly miss my sister every day, and just writing this blog has filled me with so many emotions that I am pretty much drained at this point.
I hope you all enjoyed watching my adventure unfold. It sure has been fun writing to you all! It has been really cool seeing the statistics of my blog posts, and seeing more and more people read it every time I write a new post. Thanks for that!
I still am not done with this blog, because I think coming back from the trail is just as crazy as being on it. It definitely has been a shock coming back to central Indiana, where there is, lets face it, absolutely nothing interesting geographically wise. A lot of thru hikers experience some sort of depression after the trail, and it looks like it is starting to creep into my life too. No longer do I wake up every morning, and exercise for 8 hours a day. No longer do I see wonderful views and the absolute beauty of nature. I now wake up and go, "well what do I do today?"
Now, my life is back where I have spent 98 % of my life already, and it is not so fun. I don't like feeling lazy, and so I can't help but feel like that now since I am currently jobless. It feels like I don't have a purpose to life right now, and that is really getting to me. The nervousness and fear that I felt at the start of my thru hike is miniscule compared to the nervousness and fear that I have now. It is a very daunting feeling that I must somehow acclimate back into society again. I am still debating on if I like sleeping in a bed more than I like sleeping in my tent.
Will I join the rat race again and work 8-5, wear a polo shirt and khakis, and go to eat at Chipotle once every Wednesday with my not-so-interesting coworkers?
Will I find a part time job that allows me to pay the bills, get out of the parents house, and live life so that I can pursue my passions while not get in the red every month?
Will I become the next Baltimore Jack and re-hike the trail 9 times? Oh God, I hope not.
There are a lot of questions that need to be answered in my life, and I have a feeling this will not be so easy. I hope I am wrong, and I hope things just start to fall in place.
I will keep ya posted soon on how everything goes.
For now, I hope you enjoyed, and I only hope that I have at least inspired a few people to attempt a thru hike in the upcoming years! If you have read my blog and thought to yourself "man that would be so cool to do it", and you have an opportunity to do it, trust me, DO IT!!!!! If you would like to contact me with any questions about anything, feel free to email me at JoeMoeAT@gmail.com
My next blog post will probably be more about reintroduction into society, and also I will probably make some sweet thru hike videos and gear review videos. But for now, I am gonna go out and exercise!
Peace,
Lighthouse (Joey)
April 14, 2013 - September 25, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
The last state, MAINE!
So I apologize for not updating this blog right after my White Mountains blog. You see, I was in a public library, and was kicked off so that a teenager could use the computer to play computer games....DARN TEENAGERS!
Anyways, I am sitting at the public library in Monson, Maine. This place is like maybe a room that is 10 foot by 20 foot. So tiny, yet so awesome. I am liking all these little towns more and more.
So, as you have probably seen from my last blog post, the Whites are pretty darn ah-maze-ing. Well, surprise surprise, southern Maine is a lot like the Whites! Very tough terrain, but still really spectacular sites. I think one of the things that southern Maine has over the Whites of New Hampshire is that its not such a tourist trap. There are A LOT less people in Maine. I am really loving the remoteness of Maine. I mean, nobody lives here! I look at all the views on top of the mountains, and its hard for me to even find any houses or anything. Just NATURE. No car noises, no airplanes buzzing in the sky, just the wind! And moose. You can hear lots of moose in the distance doing their mating calls, "MOOOOO-OOOSEEE". Just kidding.
OK now it is time for me to make a very important point. So, the Whites and southern Maine are wonderful to hike in when it is nice and sunny out, but if you are hiking on a really wet and rainy day, they are HORRENDOUS. The last day in the Whites, and for about 3 days in the beginning of the Maine, we got rained on a lot and the trail was super wet. Like, SUPER wet. So, you have really wet conditions, and you are constantly hiking up and down a bunch of rock slabs. Wet rocks are the WORST to hike on.
I'm not sure that some of you comprehend how bad it sucks, so I have created a science experiment for you all at home to try out! Go find a pile of rocks at home, and walk on them when they are dry. Probably pretty tough to begin with, but I'm sure you will get the hang of it! Now, take a hose and just drench those rocks reallllll well. Now, try and walk on them again. You probably will bust your ass in the first few steps. BAM! PROOF THAT WET ROCKS SUCK. Therefore, my life was sucking for a few days in the really nice parts of the trail. AND, since it was raining, your tent is completely drenched when you pack it up, which easily adds another 2.5 lbs to your total weight. Plus the rain soaks your pack, and all your stuff in your pack. I would say that when your pack is wet, your pack can easily way 30 % heavier than it normally does. And, when you have a heavy pack like me (damn you guitar!) that makes a lot of difference.
OK, I will stop complaining by typing, and I will add some pictures AND complain!!
Yep, this is the type of stuff you gotta walk on. Tough enough when dry, but when WET!? Are you KIDDIN ME!? What everybody does is just try and walk along the side of the rocks where the moss is, and you use the trees to help support you up. Oh, and you think this is tough going up when wet?? Oh, just wait until you have to go DOWN!
Oh yeah, I'm loving life going over this stuff!
As you can see from the white blaze on the tree, yes this is the trail. But after a long downpour during the middle of the night, the trail becomes a mini creek that you gotta walk up.
Make sure you don't slip when you are walking along the wet wooden bogs, or else you will get SUCKED INTO THE MUD! At first I was like, "Ahhh CRAP!", but then I was just amazed at how far I sank into the mud! I heard other hikers did the same thing and it went all the way up to their waist. Cray crayyyy.
Clouds coming over to consume some MAINE MOUNTAINS!
Nice view from one of the shelters.
Do you see that little white sign at the bottom? That's where the trail is.
Looks like some MORE RAIN is coming....ugh.
Me staying classy at one of the many "ponds" that Maine has to offer. A pond in Maine is about the same as a normal lake in Indiana.
Nope, thats not a tan line on my foot, thats a dirt line! And, I got a boo boo going through the mahoosuc notch. :-(
Oh yeah, me likey this parking lot!
Umm....WHAT THE HELL IS THIS LANGUAGE WITH ALL THESE LITTLE SLASHES ABOVE THE LETTERS? LAST TIME I CHECKED, THIS WAS STILL AMURIKA! It's funny, I saw a border patrol car the other day in town, and I was just like "holy crap they have border patrol up north too!" I'm sure it is a lot more chill than down south, I am guessing these workers have to drive around and just tell Canadians to turn around and go back to Canada, and then they probably just apologize in their Canadian accent..."SORRY!"
No roads, no planes, no people. JUST ME AND MOTHER NATURE!
One of the coolest climbs to a top of a mountain so far. I'm so glad I hiked this section on a nice day!
This is me bathing in the beauty that Maine has to offer.
Here are 3 pics from the top of the mountain.
Hot rod show in Andover, Maine!
So, while I was resupplying at the general store in Andover, I chatted with a couple who eventually let me stay at their place. This is their place, it is a house that has been passed on for 8 generations and was built sometime in the 1800s. BEST TRAIL MAGIC EVER!
View of the front yard.
Super big old fire pit at their place.
Here is me standing in front of their massive front door. I also got to play them a couple of songs...it was super fun playing in such an old house. Thanks Peter and Susan for the unforgettable experience!
More views!
At one of the hostels, you can either stay in the bunkroom for $20, or stay in a camper for $15. HECK YES I'LL TAKE THE CAMPER!
Something tells me that some "unpure" actions have taken place in here.
Hiking is a great way to easily get into a meditative state on the trail. Here is an example of when I am thinking lots about stuff.
Lots o' lakes in Maine!
Yep, this will be one of my favorite pics of the trail. I could of sat here forever.
Did I mention you can drive right to this site?
I wanna drive here.
Cool pic of lake amongst the trees.
Here is the lake from water level.
Here is Lazyboy and I taking a canoe out on one of the random ponds on the trail. Sorry Lazyboy, no time to paddle, I gotta take pictures!
Walking into the town of Rangeley, Maine.
Cool sunset and clouds.
Mountains.
Mountains.
It's a little chilly with the wind!
Another one bites the dust!
Another Lord of the Rings style hike.
4023 feet? No problem!
This was a plaque commemorating all of the volunteers that made the A.T. possible. This plaque was placed where the last section of the trail was finished, completing a 2000+ mile long trail. NEAT!
Rocks.
Sometimes you gotta ford rivers, and sometimes you gotta walk over some wooden boards.
Small town in Stratton, ME.
I made it to 2000 miles!
I walked along that lake, and then up that mountain!
South horn was a short but tough climb.
It was also a CLOUD MAKING MACHINE! I would just stand there and it would be completely clear, and then clouds would just appear out of nowhere and consume me. Here is a pic of the clouds about to consume me.
View of clouds in the distance.
Avery peak in the distance.
This is where I start singing R-Kelly's classic "I Believe I Can Fly".
Done.
and DONE! No more big mountains until Mount Katahdin! I for one am excited to walk on some easy terrain!!!
I'm just making sure Snuggles and Lazybody stay on the trail to NOT HURT THE FRAGILE ALPINE VEGETATION!
I made it 2013 miles!
Road crossings can be confusing at times...."Hmmm, where does the trail go from here??"
Pond.
Oh, you all can have SUCH a great time in the shelter....
...WHILE I AM CHILLING IN MY TENT LOOKING AT THIS VIEW!
When crossing the Kennebec river, you gotta use the ferry. COOL!
Ferryman come take me across the river!
Welcome to Caratunk, ME, where the streets literally have no name!
This is the lodge at the Northern Outdoors in Caratunk. We decided to stay here and hang out in their hot tub for a long time, and WATCH SOME NFL ON SUNDAY MORNING YEAH 'MERICA!
Another massive lake.
YEAH FIRE FIRE!
So much green moss.
THE SUNLIGHT BURNS MY SKIN!
Moxie Bald Mtn, that last real awesome view before Mount Katahdin.
Yay.
You see that log-ish looking thing in the middle? Yeah, thats a BEAVER.
The view in the morning. YAY FOR SUNSHINE AND NO RAIN! BOUT DAMN TIME!
So, I am now in the flat part of Maine. You get to ford lots of rivers in the flat part of Maine. Here is the first one for me!
Second one!
PIECE OF CAKE.
I walked along this river for about 4 miles. It was wonderful, super easy terrain and you get to listen to the peaceful sounds of the river the entire time.
WELP, THAT'S ALL FOLKS! You will not see another update from me until I summit Katahdin! Just thinking about it is getting me so pumped!!! I am only about 7-8 days away! Wish me luck! I will definitely have another blog when I am done with the trail, so don't worry this isn't goodbye!
....GOODBYE!
Lighthouse
Anyways, I am sitting at the public library in Monson, Maine. This place is like maybe a room that is 10 foot by 20 foot. So tiny, yet so awesome. I am liking all these little towns more and more.
So, as you have probably seen from my last blog post, the Whites are pretty darn ah-maze-ing. Well, surprise surprise, southern Maine is a lot like the Whites! Very tough terrain, but still really spectacular sites. I think one of the things that southern Maine has over the Whites of New Hampshire is that its not such a tourist trap. There are A LOT less people in Maine. I am really loving the remoteness of Maine. I mean, nobody lives here! I look at all the views on top of the mountains, and its hard for me to even find any houses or anything. Just NATURE. No car noises, no airplanes buzzing in the sky, just the wind! And moose. You can hear lots of moose in the distance doing their mating calls, "MOOOOO-OOOSEEE". Just kidding.
OK now it is time for me to make a very important point. So, the Whites and southern Maine are wonderful to hike in when it is nice and sunny out, but if you are hiking on a really wet and rainy day, they are HORRENDOUS. The last day in the Whites, and for about 3 days in the beginning of the Maine, we got rained on a lot and the trail was super wet. Like, SUPER wet. So, you have really wet conditions, and you are constantly hiking up and down a bunch of rock slabs. Wet rocks are the WORST to hike on.
I'm not sure that some of you comprehend how bad it sucks, so I have created a science experiment for you all at home to try out! Go find a pile of rocks at home, and walk on them when they are dry. Probably pretty tough to begin with, but I'm sure you will get the hang of it! Now, take a hose and just drench those rocks reallllll well. Now, try and walk on them again. You probably will bust your ass in the first few steps. BAM! PROOF THAT WET ROCKS SUCK. Therefore, my life was sucking for a few days in the really nice parts of the trail. AND, since it was raining, your tent is completely drenched when you pack it up, which easily adds another 2.5 lbs to your total weight. Plus the rain soaks your pack, and all your stuff in your pack. I would say that when your pack is wet, your pack can easily way 30 % heavier than it normally does. And, when you have a heavy pack like me (damn you guitar!) that makes a lot of difference.
OK, I will stop complaining by typing, and I will add some pictures AND complain!!
CMON! ARE YOU KIDDIN ME!?!?
CMONNNNN!
ALRIGHT! THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS!
The lowest point for me on the trail so far was going through the Mahoosuc Notch. It is a mile long part of the trail that is just filled with huge boulders. It thankfully wasn't raining when I went through it, but everything was still realllll wet. I decided to take a video so YOU ALL CAN SEE ME AT MY LOWEST LOW!
By this stage in my blog, I hope you realize that I joke lots. Yeah, the notch sucked in the rain, but you know what sucks more? WORK!
Okay, I am done complaining about wet stuff now. The weather started to get a lot nicer and Things started to become a LOT better.
Do you see that little white sign at the bottom? That's where the trail is.
OHMAHGUAD BEAR!
WELP, THAT'S ALL FOLKS! You will not see another update from me until I summit Katahdin! Just thinking about it is getting me so pumped!!! I am only about 7-8 days away! Wish me luck! I will definitely have another blog when I am done with the trail, so don't worry this isn't goodbye!
....GOODBYE!
Lighthouse
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