JIMarx.comHiking the Appalachian Trail
Halftime Report | July 9, 2008
Having
arrived in Harpers Ferry on July 4th;
I have
completed
nearly half
of the
Appalachian
Trail. I’m
now in
Jackson,
Michigan for
a bunch of
appointments
this week.
I will
return to
Maine on
July 16 to
begin the
second half
hike from
Maine back
to West
Virginia.
Before I get into the statistics of the first half, I have to tell you about another bear sighting. This one was close, and was an encounter. On Wednesday June 25 I got off to an early start anxious to get into Waynesboro, Virginia and start the Shenandoah National Park portion of the hike. About 30 minutes into the hike I was going uphill on a trail that turned to the left about 10 yards ahead. I was looking ahead at the turn when a large bear rounded the corner. He immediately looked up and saw me; we were looking at each other. Instantly he turned and disappeared back around the corner. This all happened in about two seconds and not enough time for me to get a picture. But it would have been a great picture with the bear in full view, just 10 yards in front of me, looking at me. The adrenaline was pumping and my heart was beating fast as I moved forward with camera ready; but never did see the bear again. It was an exciting encounter.
Here are a few stats on the first half of the hike:
Miles Hiked - 1008.5 miles
Days on Trail – 76 days
Bears Seen – 3
Ticks Pulled Out – 1
Snakes Seen – 1 Rattlesnake, 1 Copperhead, many Black Snakes
Pictures Taken – 1,700 sent home
Weight Lost – 50 pounds
Rocks Stepped On or Around or Over – Billions
One of the most interesting parts of hiking the Appalachian Trail is the people met along the way. There is an instant camaraderie among the hikers, each knowing what the other has gone through. When camping together or staying at a shelter together, it would appear everyone was a long time friend. The trail is like a community of people that all get along 2 feet wide and 2,000 miles long. I’ll try to give you an idea about who these people are that hike the Appalachian Trail. It sort of works like a slinky. You run into someone, then stretch out as they may hike more or less miles a day, or go into a town for re-supply, or take a zero day; and then you later come together again somewhere down the trail.
The very first person I met on the trail was Postcard at the top of Springer Mountain, the southern terminus and start of the trail in Georgia. Postcard is from Oklahoma. Immediately he noticed I had a very heavy pack. He told me about the outfitter at Neel Gap where I would be able to send some of the unnecessary stuff home. At Neel Gap, I shipped 20 pounds home, Postcard was also sending stuff home. The last time I saw Postcard was when I took an overnight trip into Helen, GA for supplies. I was hitchhiking back out to the trail the next morning when a white Honda pulled up. The sun was reflecting on the windows and I could not see in. I walked up to the car, the window rolled down, and Postcard with his big grin, asked if I needed a ride. I was stunned because my brain could not process that he was driving a car. I thought he would be a day or two ahead of me up the trial. Turned out he had a cousin in the area and got off the trail for the night, and was doing some re-supply himself driving her car. He dropped me off at the trail and I have not seen or heard of him since.
Another early hiker I met was Fatty from Florida. Fatty had hiked the trail last year, got up to New Jersey and had to quit. So he was starting over again. If it was me, I would have picked up where I left off in New Jersey. But he was a purist. He didn’t have hiking poles, and said he would not cut a branch for one. I told him that people were part of nature too, and it was OK to take what we needed; beavers take down whole trees. I saw him a few days later with a walking stick. Last I heard a month or more ago was that he was off the trail trying to heal a pulled muscle.
Hiking with Postcard and Fatty was guy called Jim from Wisconsin. He didn’t say much, just hiked along everyday. After I lost track of Postcard and Fatty, I still ran across Jim’s notes in shelter journals for a while. But it has been a while since I have seen anything written by him. It may be that he is off the trail or got behind me. Originally I was pretty slow, but as I developed and got better and lighter equipped, I caught up to people. My last week out, I was catching up to people who were through hikers that started in late March and early April. An AT rule of thumb is that if you don’t make it to Harpers Ferry by July 4th, it will be difficult to thru hike to Maine before the weather gets bad and they close Baxter State Park trails to Mt. Katahdin, the northern terminus of the trail.
My second night on the trail, I camped near a stream and met Tower from Alabama. He took off before me the next day and I never saw him again until Spy Rock a couple weeks ago. A bunch of hikers were up on Spy Rock together. Tower was there and asked if I was Izzy. We had both lost a lot of weight and grown beards and were not recognizable from what we looked liked two months earlier. He knew me because I was still carrying my camera around my neck in front of me. Everyone else on the trail has a small digital camera. I am carrying my Cannon EOS 30D which is about two pounds of camera. I spend the last two weeks running into Tower almost daily on the trail, at shelters, and campsites and re-supply towns. He got into Harpers Ferry the day before me.
One of the more interesting people I met is Charlie from Leeds, England. Charlie is carrying a 7 pound rock. I ran into him at the outfitter in Hot Springs, NC when he was weighing the rock. He carries it because everyone on the trail is obsessed with reducing weight from their packs, so he is just doing the opposite and carrying useless weight. He also has a cricket bat that he brought from England. Charlie has dark complexion and one of the few people who shaves on the trail. He says if he doesn’t shave people think he is a terrorist.
One day out of Standing Bear Hostel, I was getting ready to leave in the late afternoon from a shelter where I stopped just to get a break. It was raining all afternoon and still drizzling. I was already wet, so decided to head out and get some more miles in for the day. Three women came into the shelter all soaked. They had already hiked 20 miles. They were a mother and two daughters who called themselves collectively “The Three Canucks” from Canada. Individually they are Mama Bean, Jam, and Lily. I have spent the last month running into them a lot. They hike faster than me, but occasionally take a zero day and I catch-up. Their father/husband joined them for a couple days at Father’s Day weekend. They were also in Harpers Ferry when I arrived. They always have a positive attitude, no matter what, and are fun to be around. At the Priest Mountain Shelter, it is customary to write a confession in the shelter journal there. Jam confessed that she secretly hated Lily and wanted to push her off a cliff because Lily was always in such a good mood, no matter how tough the hiking was.
When I get to Maine and start hiking back south, I hope to see all of these people as we cross paths one more time. I expect it will be in Massachusetts or Vermont.
One of the things I learned is that no one can do this hike alone: it takes a support team. So, I have put together a global support team. I have 24 hours a day coverage. In Alaska, my son Ben has been my coach and inspiration. Many times when it got very difficult he would e-mail me or leave a phone message of encouragement at just the right time. From Viet Nam, my other son Nick manages my web site. In Wisconsin, my sister Kris is available for emergencies. A month ago, I needed a replacement filter for my water pump and she mailed it to me up the trail where I was able to pick it up. And if I need anything in Jackson, Michigan, a friend Andrea has offered to help out. She has an art background and is also good at selecting which pictures to post on the web-site. I refer to them as the “A.T.E.A.M. Appalachian Trail Expedition Assisting Marx". I wanted to get something with Izzy in there, but we all know there is no “I” in team.
I am now excited about getting back to Maine and the challenges there. They say that Georgia - North Carolina, and Maine - New Hampshire are the hardest portions of the trail. Maine has Mt. Katahdin with the highest continuous climb on the trail, and an area called the 100 mile wilderness where there are no towns requiring at least a week of supplies to be carried. New Hampshire has Mt. Washington. On these challenges, I'll keep you posted.
Happy Trails,
“Izzy” Jim
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