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Astro on the AT 2019

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    • CoachLou wrote:

      I just walked up Webster to Mizpah..........I do not run........I take hourly 10 minute breaks.........it took me 6 hours.
      More like 9 hours for me, but I am really slow. That day I fell and slipped on a lot of wet rocks including down an 8 foot slab.
      Got rained and hailed on and even briefly lost a shoe in the mud. As I remember you do start out with a lot of uphill at the beginning.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Astro wrote:

      CoachLou wrote:

      I just walked up Webster to Mizpah..........I do not run........I take hourly 10 minute breaks.........it took me 6 hours.
      More like 9 hours for me, but I am really slow. That day I fell and slipped on a lot of wet rocks including down an 8 foot slab.Got rained and hailed on and even briefly lost a shoe in the mud. As I remember you do start out with a lot of uphill at the beginning.
      Also Coach may downplay his hiking speed, but he has a background as a rock climber, where as I grew up on the sandy coast of south Florida with no rocks or hills.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Since there was rain and thunderstorms the day I drove from Andover, ME to Inn at Long Trail in VT, I stopped at Calvin Coolidge Museum/Historical Site at Plymouth Notch. I was excited about it since he is one of two favorite US Presidents. A little disappointing since I knew a lot more about him than the "tour guide" did.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • When I left VT Friday morning I drove all day to get to my wife's family reunion in the southern hills of Ohio. So what did I do on Saturday morning but go on 2.5 mile hike on the Rim Trail with my oldest son and some of the relatives at Hocking Hills State Park. :)

      Please note the pictures on the internet are a whole lot better than anything I was able to get.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Astro wrote:

      When I left VT Friday morning I drove all day to get to my wife's family reunion in the southern hills of Ohio. So what did I do on Saturday morning but go on 2.5 mile hike on the Rim Trail with my oldest son and some of the relatives at Hocking Hills State Park. :)
      that's a nice park. probably been 15 years since i've been there, but we hiked there 3 years in a row. highly recommended for anyone in the area.
      2,000 miler
    • Astro wrote:

      When I left VT Friday morning I drove all day to get to my wife's family reunion in the southern hills of Ohio. So what did I do on Saturday morning but go on 2.5 mile hike on the Rim Trail with my oldest son and some of the relatives at Hocking Hills State Park. :)

      Please note the pictures on the internet are a whole lot better than anything I was able to get.
      First, THANK YOU to Astro for letting us all cyberhike again with you this summer! I love reading the stories and seeing all the pictures.

      Whenever I go to Virginia and then back home, we always go through the Hocking Hills area. I've not yet stopped to hike there but it sure is a beautiful drive.
    • Trillium wrote:

      First, THANK YOU to Astro for letting us all cyberhike again with you this summer! I love reading the stories and seeing all the pictures.
      Your Welcome, I glad you able to enjoy whati had to share. Be sure to tune in next summer for what should be the final installment. Only 167 miles to go. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Astro wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      Ok, if CC is one of two favorites, why, and who is the other?
      The great communicator, the one I voted for my first two elections. Has not been quite the same since.
      Ironic that of your two favorite presidents, one was known as 'The Great Communicator' and the other was known as 'Silent Cal'.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • IMScotty wrote:

      RE: Hawking Hills Park

      Astro, did you hike on the 'Grandma Gatewood' trail? I hear that it is a nice hike.
      No, but will need to look into it. I was just part of a group of at least 40. When we got to the option was the .5 flat or 2.5 rim trail. So my son and I took the latter.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • IMScotty wrote:

      Astro wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      Ok, if CC is one of two favorites, why, and who is the other?
      The great communicator, the one I voted for my first two elections. Has not been quite the same since.
      Ironic that of your two favorite presidents, one was known as 'The Great Communicator' and the other was known as 'Silent Cal'.
      That is because I believe you should always judge a politician by their actions instead of what they say (or even don't say). ;)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • IMScotty wrote:

      RE: Hawking Hills Park

      Astro, did you hike on the 'Grandma Gatewood' trail? I hear that it is a nice hike.
      that's what we hiked all 3 years -- 2 caves and a waterfall. the grandma gatewood trail is part of the buckeye trail -- the trail that makes a big circle inside the state of ohio (plus a little out and back section just for fun :) ). hard to believe the buckeye trail is 1,400 miles -- it takes the AT 14 states for 2,200 miles!
      2,000 miler
    • Lessons Learned form 2019
      • Getting in better shape and losing weight is key for me, need to make more progress for this coming year.
      • While Work For Stay (WFS) might be great for young thru hikers, paying for the AMC huts was a good investment for me in my current situation. Yes it is expensive, but it allowed me to carry a day pack and have two hot meals a day. Not cheap, but a less expensive than my surgery was the previous year.
      • Having a car allowed me to switch my itinerary in the Whites based upon the weather. So glad I did not try to do Madison in the rain. Interesting to run into the same people multiple times.
      • While I had rehabbed my knee, it was not at full strength. Looking back, when feeling pain in my knee, I wish I had gone back to the doctor sooner instead of waiting for a few months and halting my exercise routine.
      • While in Maine I would often eat an early supper/dinner at a shelter or campsite with water and would then head up a mountain and be able set up my tent later on at the top or the other side of a mountain.
      • Went slow, but enjoyed what I did. Could have tried to finish off the last 167 miles but did not want to take the risk of another injury. My wife warned me before I left "no more surgeries".
      • Looking forward to coming back lighter and stronger in 2020 to complete the last 167 miles. :thumbup:
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Assuming I successfully finish the last 167 miles of the AT in 2020, I was thinking of doing the Colorado Trail in 2021.

      Now instead I am planning to do a thru hike in 2021. I would try to knock out the first 100 or so miles in March (Spring Break). May even try to do a few miles in GA the first few weeks of January if the weather cooperates. Then the second week of May I would pick up in NC where I left off and try to finish by mid-September. Would have an additional four weeks buffer to mid-October before I have to go back to teaching, but really would like to avoid snow in the Whites and Maine.

      Thru hike would be very different than my section hikes. Even when hiking with a torn rotator cuff for six weeks that was one of my favorite summers as I enjoyed having trail legs. To save money I have tried to not stay in town very much, but this time I will plan to hit as many hostels and "cheap" motels that are close to the trail that I can. Hitting NH/ME with close to 1800 miles under my belt should hopefully make for a different experience. Of course one injury could end it, but I am not getting any younger, and I figure this will be my best shot. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Astro ().

    • Astro wrote:

      Lessons Learned form 2019
      • Having a car allowed me to switch my itinerary in the Whites based upon the weather. So glad I did not try to do Madison in the rain. Interesting to run into the same people multiple times.

      When I did the section from Sams Gap to Dennis Cove Rd., I made use of shuttles from two different hosts to slack pack back to a bed & shower and to skip a section that I later hiked in better weather. It was very interesting to run into people that had passed me NOBO on Day 2 as I was going SOBO on Day 3. Same thing on Day 6 but even stranger since I had bounced ~30 miles up the trail.

      Lessons learned are an important part of section hiking. It's easy to forget what worked and what didn't over many months off the trail. :thumbup:
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard
    • Using project management terminology a thru hike is like a traditional waterfall project, while section hiking is like Agile (Scrum) where you do multiple iterations with lots of opportunities to reflect and continuous improvement. Lessons learned are important for both, but with Agile/section hiking you can improve as you go instead of waiting until the end and the next big hike. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General