One week later

Being back has been an adjustment. Not an easy one either. I've been gimping around, trying to stay off the foot as much as possible, but I'm also antsy all the time. I have this feeling that I can't sit around, that I've got things to do. I don't really know what they are yet- but I'm working on figuring it out. 

It's been great to see my friends and family again. I was able to celebrate my birthday with them, which was really good. I have to answer the same questions a lot- are you going back? How does the foot feel? How was it? 

I can't go back, at least not any time soon, I just don't have the money for it. Between the medical cost getting the foot checked, the trip home and having to fix my car when I got back (needed a new battery and belt), my resources are pretty tapped. 

I also don't know if I want to go back. I don't know if I have it in me. The experience was amazing-but it was also incredibly hard. It was 90% terrible and 10% awe-inspiring. I've never been more tired and hurting than I was doing that day after day. It was for the best cause and I don't regret doing it. I learned a lot about myself that I didn't know. I experienced one of my dreams- I tried. I take satisfaction from that. I did something few could or would. 

The foot is getting better slowly. It still hurts to put weight on, but it's better than it was. I'm looking for a job, boo. I've got a number of irons in the fire for Extra Life as usual. 

Thank you to all those that were following along and cheering for me. Your kind words meant the world to me. I'm not done with the adventures yet- I hope that you'll stay with me. 

Remember- it's about the journey. 

Jamison

XL

Day 32- the end?

Today was what could be the end of my adventure. I woke up early and tested my foot, which immediately erupted in pain no better than yesterday. I cursed to myself and laid there thinking. Around 7:30 Coin woke up and I told him I needed to go to Urgent Care to get it checked out. He agreed. I managed to catch a ride with Matt, the owner of the hotel we're staying at (he has been nothing but helpful and I am eternally grateful). 

I got dropped off at a local clinic and about 4 hours later, after examination and x-rays, I had my diagnosis. I had a stress fracture in my left foot. No more walking for me, especially not every day all day. I need to be off my feet for 2-4 weeks. I was crushed. 

I put up a post on Facebook and was astounded by the positivity of the responses that I received. I was disappointed, disheartened and devastated at the wall I had run into. The nature of the responses I got and the private messages I was sent made me realize that although this adventure may be over, that I have dared to do something that most wouldn't. Dreams change, they evolve-they often don't end the way you expect them to. I will carry on with my efforts for Extra Life. I will get healthy again. Coin is going to continue on the trail, so maybe I'll get to see join him again further down the line. I'm glad that he's going on without me. I'll be rooting for him. I'll be home tomorrow night, and that will be strange. 

Thank you to Stephanie, Kaitlyn, Lacey, Chuck and everyone else that shared their wisdom and positivity when I needed it most. 

On to other things now- 

-XL

Day 31- Homesick

Today is a zero day, and we're at a place called Anton's by the Lake in Greenwood, NY. I've spent most of the day thinking about home and my friends. How much I'd like to just be there, drinking a beer with Rob or hanging around the game store. It's been over a month since I was home. I've walked almost 250 miles, nearly a quarter of the way home. I have trouble sleeping at night, my brain won't turn off some times no matter how tired I am. 

It's natural for these feelings to pop up and I'll get through them. My fear isn't that I'll want to give up but rather that I'll have to. I've had a pain in my left foot for the past 3 days and it's still hanging around. We walked less than a half mile into town for food and the pain was pretty bad, but it may have been just the normal morning get warmed up pains.  We'll see how the next few days go and if it's not any better it may mean a trip to a doctor. My inner pessimist is going strong as usual. 

I don't have a lot else to say today. Just that my thoughts are with my family and friends. 

-XL

Day 30- the outside world

Before I get to my update, I want to express the outrage and heartbreak brought about by the terror attack on the nightclub in Orlando. My heart goes out to those victims, their families and the LGBT community. Our world is a darker place today. I will say it simply- IT IS NOT OKAY TO HATE SOMEONE BECAUSE THEY ARE DIFFERENT. 

Coming off the trail today, that was what greeted me. I welcome the disconnection I have most of the time out here. I still have internet a good portion of the time but I try to limit how often I'm on. When I open Facebook and I have to see friends are reporting that they are safe in Orlando, it really shows how screwed up our country is. 

Back to today - we did about 6.5 miles today, ending up at a place called Heaven Hills Farm, where we had lunch and a bunch of fresh fruit, which was a treat. A shuttle from our hotel picked us up and we're clean, freshly laundered and relaxing now. 

Hockey game tonight, day off tomorrow. We'll walk into town, grab some supplies.  I have a pain in the top of my left foot that I'm hoping is just a little tendinitis, so a day off will be good. 

The trek today across more swamp!

-XL

Day 29- Nothing new

Another day. Not a magical day like yesterday. We got up early, and did a little over 12 miles, finishing with a monster hill before we got to the shelter. My legs were shaking when we got to the top, and I took a siesta in my tent before making dinner. Today's hike was mostly through very boggy areas. 

There's a turtle there somewhere. 

We're flirting with the border of NY right now, but we've got a few more days of NJ before we're done. Tomorrow we're heading to a motel for a few reasons. We're disgusting sweaty monaters, our clothes are disgusting and sweaty and the NHL finals are on tomorrow night. Priorities right? The Penguins could win the Stanley Cup and that's fairly important to Coinflip. 

-XL

Day 28- Hooray for NJ

Today was a great day. We did short miles, only a little over 8. The weather was perfect again so it was pleasant hiking, not sweat dripping in my eyes or rain fogging my glasses. We saw some amazing vistas like this one-

The best part of the day was when we approached the High Point State Park HQ, we saw a sign attached to the AT sign saying "Hiker Pancake Breakfast". It seemed to good to be true, but sure enough as we walked over to the picnic table next to the building a couple asked us if we were hungry. 

Never one to look a gift meal in the face, we sat down and they proceeded to stuff us with banana pancakes, fresh made coffee and orange juice, as much as we could eat. The couple was a thru-hiker named Blue Bandana that had taken a few days off from the trail and his girlfriend. He wanted to do some trail magic before he hit the trail again. We spent about an hour with them and then he told us if we went in to the HQ and signed the guest book, they'd give us a free Pepsi! Double score. 

Notice there's no pancakes here. We ate them all. 

Being stuffed it was tough to hit the trail again, but we managed. We were only a few miles from the shelter, so we decided to make a side trip (in hiker lingo it's called "blue blazing") to the obelisk at the highest point in New Jersey. 

From afar

From close

We finished our hike around 4, set up camp and had some time to play some games. Now I'm waiting to eat my dinner (Spanish rice with a cheese stick melted in it) and then I'm going to crawl into my tent and read for a few hours. Damn good day. 

-XL

Day 27- NJ slightly redeems itself

It's hard to stay mad at NJ when there are days like today. We got dropped off from our hotel at a local grocery store and resupplied the best we could. It was a small store so we had to make do a bit. Food is tough on the trail, I'm sick of sweet stuff and junk food, but having limited room and resources ties your hands a lot. I eat a ton of tuna fish packets, it's like all I want to eat (probably my body craving protein) so most meals include that. Tuna and ramen, tuna and instant rice, tuna on a tortilla. Pretty exciting huh?

But I digress- resupplied. Check. Hike 2.5 miles from grocery store to trail head. Check. Stop on the way at local farm stand and eat fresh strawberries. Check. 

We finally started back on the trail around 10 am and hiked about 3 miles to the next shelter for lunch break. I'm getting my conditioning in, we did a 1300' ascent with no breaks. A few weeks ago I would have stopped probably a half dozen times. I'm feeling pretty good today. The weather was just about perfect, cool and windy, just the way I like it. 

After lunch, we did another 6 to end at our campsite. Along the way were some amazing views and I had to give Jersey some credit back. Yesterday was hard. Today was hard but so rewarding. I've had moments I've regretted attempting this journey. Today was not one of them. 

-XL

Day 26- Betrayal in NJ

The day started out so well-it was a little chilly this morning, about 50 degrees but I didn't mind. I like the lower temps, it's easier to hike in my opinion. We set off around 8 and made great time over some really nice trails. We made about 5 miles in about 2.5 hours, a good pace for us. 

Then it happened. New Jersey betrayed us. Rocks, big rocks like New Jersey was trying to show off to Pennsylvania. We basically had to scale a cliff face, which is problematic when you have a giant pack strapped to your back. But that wasn't the worst of it. 

About a half hour past the cliff face, the skies opened up and it started pouring. It was still only about 60 out so the rain was cold. Rocks, and rain slowed us down quite a bit. Our plan was to get to the next shelter and stop for lunch. It took us what seemed like forever, up and down over big piles of slippery wet rocks. Sweat seems to find its way directly into my eyeballs making what little sight I have useless. 

Eventually we made it to the shelter, but I'm not going to lie, I had serious doubts as to whether it even existed. We were greeted by one of the NOBOs we'd seen in MD, Slug. It was good to see him and he was really happy to see us. That lightened my spirits a bit and so did the chance to get out of some of my wet clothes to warm up. 

We spent about an hour there waiting for the rain to pass. Once it did, we headed out again to finish the 3.5 miles into Culver's Gap to resupply. We made it a few hours later. I had a chill I couldn't shake, despite the delicious hamburger and multiple Yuengling's I washed it down with.  We grabbed a room for the night and a long hot shower finally helped get rid of the chill. Tomorrow we resupply and head back to the trail. I'm glad to be inside tonight, as it's supposed to be down in the 40's tonight. 

-XL

Day 25- NJ continues to impress

Coin set out a little ahead of me this morning, so I had some time to myself on the trail. It's a different experience hiking solo. I popped my headphones in and got through some of the back catalog I have of podcasts I follow. I took my time and enjoyed the morning. NJ has had some great views so far. The trail's a bit rocky still but nothing like PA rocks which tended to be incredibly jagged. 

I did the 6ish miles to where we met back up, an AMC maintained lodge called the Mohican Center. We had some good food and recounted our mornings. During my morning hike I had run into Mambo whom we'd last seen a few weeks ago. It was good to catch up with her for a few. 

After lunch another 6 miles brought us to our campsite. We set up and are just relaxing, resting our feet after a long day. Tomorrow we've got another 12 to get into town to resupply, as I'm scraping the bottom of my food bag. 

Here are some of the views I saw today-

Day 24- Bye bye Rocksylvania

Coin and I had been wrestling with skipping the rest of Pennsylvania, mainly due to how terribly the rocks were already and how much worse they were going to get. My ankle was suffering pretty badly on them, and both our feet were torn up. After hearing horror stories from people that had been going since Georgia and how their feet faired, we decided to pull the trigger today. So we grabbed a shuttle and skipped about 90 miles of the rockiest terrain on the AT. 

I have about a hundred "bonus miles" that I hadnt really accounted for in my fundraising. I limited the number of miles on hikefor.com to 1100 and the trail from Harpers Ferry to Katahdin is about 1194, so that made the decision a bit easier. 

We got into Delaware Water Gap around 1pm from the shuttle, ate some lunch and an ice cream then back to the trail for a jaunty 1400' ascent to our current campsite. I wasn't sure what to expect in New Jersey (no offense NJers, I just don't immediately associate it with the outdoors) but the trail for the five miles we've been on it has been absolutely gorgeous. And our campsite is beautiful.

(Well beautiful except for all the hiker trash laying around).

The weather was nice for a change, low 80s with a great breeze. More of that tomorrow, which has done a lot to lift my spirits. I look forward to finishing out NJ and moving into New York. It's a few steps closer to home, which I miss. 

Thank you all for following along on this adventure. It hasn't been easy and I suspect that's not going to change any, but it keeps me going knowing that people are following along. Special thanks to those that are supporting me on Hikefor.com. Extra Life is a huge part of who I am now and I love you for helping me help the kids. #forthekids

-XL 

PS- my Mom asked for a picture update so she could see the hair situation. Here it is. 

Damn, that dude is hairy!

Day 23- Thunderstorms

As I posted yesterday, the rain was back and steady over night. I stayed in the shelter we were at while Coin pitched his tent. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of staying in the shelters but I'm less of a fan of dealing with a wet tent. 

I have trouble sleeping in the shelter surrounded by other people. I have to make sure I grab a spot near the wall and I pretty much listen to music all night long. I can't seem to relax and get any good sleep. It's a little better when the shelters have bunks like the one we're at today. Then I'm not paranoid about rolling into someone. 

Today was a short day as the weather is terrible. We came to what's called the 501 shelter in PA. It's a big bunkhouse that sleeps 12. There are bad thunderstorms over us right now. A bunch of thru hikers just came into the bunkhouse ahead of the worst of the storm. They're an interesting group -mostly young. You never know what they're going to be like. Some of them are super excited and excitable which is a little too much to take some times. This group seems so okay so far. We'll see how the rest of the night goes. 

Day 22- Welcome back rain

We got back on the trail this morning around 8:45 after doing a number on the hotel breakfast. It was another muggy day and I spent most of it with fogged glasses. Makes it tough to see the rocks but I'm developing some sort of trail sense so I've managed to avoid disaster. Most of today was good trails. But there was also this -

We did about 8 miles to the next shelter in line and got in around 3pm. Met an older section hiker named Butterscotch, who gave us some butterscotch candy (I know right?) andet back up with a couple flip-flioppers we had met a few days ago. We shared some stories of blisters and vitriol towards the rocks. 

About halfway through everyone cooking dinner, the skies opened up and it has been pouring for the last 20 minutes. I'm glad I was already done and I can sit back and soak in the misery from my compatriots. I'm a terrible person. 

Day 21- Escape from the rain

We woke up to rain and nearly 100% humidity. We packed up as quickly as we could, wet tents and all. My glasses fogged up immediately and we set out walking. Not being able to see very clearly made it slow going. We did a little over 4 miles and then grabbed a shuttle into Pine Grove, our resupply spot. Two of our fellow hikers, Bond and Snowball met up with us and split the shuttle with us. Bond is a fellow LASHer (long-ass section hiker) and Snowball is doing a 3 week section hike. Her travel visa (she's German) is up at the end of next week. 

We got dropped off at the Comfort Inn, a really nice hotel with an awesome hiker rate. A hot shower, a chance to do laundry, dry some stuff out, and being out of the rain was a good thing. We took a walk up to The Diner, had some good food and the hit the Dollar General to resupply. Now we're ready to hit the trail again in the morning (after we take advantage of the all you can eat breakfast). 

This is how hikers dry their tents. 

Ouch. 

Day 20- The eighteen

It's a little after 8pm and I'm laying in my tent-completely exhausted. I just ate some cold couscous mixed with tuna fish. It's all I could muster after getting to camp and setting up the tent and all that. 

Today was the hardest day yet, my feet are screaming at me and the rest of me is about the same state. But we did 18 miles today. 18. Fricking. Miles. Through rocky Pennsylvania which beats the hell out of your feet. Mine did great. Boots are broken in finally and no new blisters today. 

18 miles was the distance between the previous shelter and where we're at now. The next one in line is a little over 13, so tomorrow may be more of the same. It feels good to actually making some good mileage. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight. 

    This is where we ate lunch and dipped    

     our feet. 

-XL

Day 19- Snake Handler

We did another 7 or so miles today- hitting the last shelter in line before an 18 mile gap. So tomorrow will be a long day. We're going to push as far as we can and see how we do. My feet felt pretty good today, no new blisters to report. 

It was a nice hike, we had some great views like these-

It didn't get too crazy with the rocks. I did find one of the best rocks ever for lunch. It was nice and flat and it was shady so it was cool which felt nice given the temperature. 

Here's the rock (and me enjoying it)

We also passed a section hiker we had lunch with yesterday. He went by the name of Deep Woods and he was a super nice guy. Yesterday he gave us an apple and an ear of corn that he'd grilled and brought along. Today when we saw him we talked to him for a while and he told us about a few encounters he's had in the area with rattlesnakes. He also apparently carries a "snake bag" and captures these snakes and brings them home to show his family. I spent the rest of the day with my eyes peeled for snakes. Nothing yet. Coin is disappointed. 

-XL