Day 18. The shelter with the inchworms

Back to the trail, took an easy day, did a little over 5 miles today. My feet were a little painful, but no new blisters, and the ones I had weren't too painful. 

The trail for the first few miles was all road through Duncannon, which was a bit different than we've experienced. Then we hit the woods and a steep ascent. Rocksylvania is living up to its name and we haven't even hit the worst of it yet. We're holding our pace slow and steady. 

We were off trail by about 1:30 and spent the afternoon relaxing. Did some "trail laundry" by filling one of my dry bags from the spring and adding some Dr Bronners and our sweaty clothes. Then I mashed them around and we hung them from a clothesline.

 A little afternoon siesta, then we played games at the picnic table in front of the shelter. Said picnic table was constantly being bombarded by inchworms dropping from the tree above and crawling on us. Mildly irritating but what can you do? The bugs haven't been bad so far, with the exception of horseflies buzzing around my head, which drives me a little bonkers. I'll get used to it or I'll go crazy. 

-XL

Day 17- The Doyle

When I woke up this morning, I could barely move my feet. Even the tiniest movement was painful. My forty year old body is taking its sweet time to adjust to what I'm doing. It feels like my blisters have blisters. 

Coin and I tend to talk more to the older hikers when we're around them. We are definitely in the minority in our age. Most hikers are either in the 18-25 or the 60+ category. As middle-aged men, we have more in common with the older ones. One of them that we met imparted this wisdom on us- "Take lots of zeros while you're getting going. Your body will adapt to the trail, but if you push too hard too fast, you'll end up washing out with an injury." Seems to be true so far, I can feel myself getting stronger and I've definitely lost more than a few pounds already. 

So in light of me being barely able to walk and us needing to resupply, we elected to spend another night at the Doyle. The Doyle has been a hiker haven for years and years and been around for over a century. The AT goes right past its front door in Duncannon. It offers a cheap room, and a shower to many a weary hiker. It's old and very shabby but the food at the bar is good, and the people that run it do so with love. Not the Taj Mahal by any stretch but hey- I didn't decide to walk 1160 miles for comfort. 

We hit the grocery store, restocked our food supply and sat on the balcony and played some "Lost Cities" a card game Coin introduced me to which is quite good. Tomorrow morning, we'll head back to the trail, weighed down with too much food and hopefully my feet will cooperate. 

-XL

Day 14 - Zero part deux

Second day of our "get Coin back on his feet" project. He's still coughing like crazy but claims he feels better. I hope so because we have a 14 mile hike to the closest shelter from where we're at currently. We go through a town about 8 miles in, so we can ripcord if we need to. 

We caught a ride back to the trail (well a place close to the trail) today with another friend of Coin's. We're staying at a place called the Allenberry Resort, which is actually a fairly swanky place (like rooms are upwards of $150 a night) but they have a "Hiker rate" which is only $40 for a double room! Pretty awesome, right? So we'll be here for one more night of rest and then back into the heat tomorrow. I'm kind of looking forward to getting back on the trail. It's less comfortable obviously but I want to rack up more miles. More miles mean more money for Extra Life! Great motivator!

-XL

Day 13- Zero

Today was a true zero day. For those of you who don't know the lingo, a zero is a day off trail, usually to rest or resupply. We got to Jeff's friend's place last night around 10pm, a late night for us hikers. We're used to being bed at around 8pm. We each grabbed a hot shower and then crashed. 

We slept in and pretty much laid around most of the day. We did take a few mile walk down to the Happy Valley Brewing Company. Drank some amazing beer, ate some pulled pork nachos and freshly pickled veggies. 

Not much else on the agenda for today. We may take a ride to Appalachian Outdoors in a bit. Jeff needs a few things and I need to look at some replacement shoes. My shoes are comfy as heck, but they have absolutely no tread on them, which is wreaking havoc in the mud. It's basically like having a set of skiis strapped to my feet. Rather than risk another injury, I think I'm going to swap out the shoes while I have a chance. 

We'll get to watch the Penguins in game 7 of the playoffs tonight, so that's a plus!

-XL

Day 12. On again. And off again.

Spent the night at the Pine Grove Furnace campground and we were a bit lazy this morning- I actually slept in til about 7:30am. It was finally a good night of sleep, which has been rare thus far. 

But all was not well with Team Coin Flip-XL. Coin woke with a mega sore throat and was pretty miserable. We decided to try for the next shelter, about 7.5 miles further down the trail. Today was hot, it was already over 80 (that's only going to get worse) but it wasn't too bad in the shade. 

It was a rough one on Coin. He was basically a walking zombie, but we made it here. Coin needs some time off trail to recover, so he decided to call in a tactical extraction from some friends in State College, PA. They'll be here to pick us up at around 8pm tonight. 

This will also give our muscles a little time to recover. The first few weeks are the hardest on your body, and believe me I can attest to that. I hurt in places I didn't even know I had. So on to another zero!

Saw this guy on our way through Pine Grove Furnace Park. No rattlesnakes yet. 

Day 10-11 C-c-combo!

I didn't have service last night so I couldn't get a post up. I still don't have service currently, but I'm writing it while everything is fresh in my head. 

Yesterday was a great day, another 10 miler that put us at a shelter with built-in bunks! No more rolling into someone in the middle of the night. I tell you, sleeping in shelters is kind of a crazy experience. There is usually a cacophony of different snores from all directions. Our last trip to town we invested in ear plugs. Well worth it. 

We got to the shelter early afternoon, the next one in line was another 6 miles and we didn't want to press it. We claimed our bunks and relaxed as more hikers arrived. There was a thunderstorm looming so a lot of them were torn whether to continue or just take a short day. The thunderstorm hit hard and it poured. I was glad to be nice and dry for a change. 

We ended up with nearly a full house, but three of the thru hikers really stood out to Coin and I. Topknot, Woods and Mambo were really great people to hang out with. I taught them a few games and we played until dark. They all seemed really to enjoy them. It was nice to share a little of my passion with different people. 

We got up with the sun this morning- around 5:30 and were on the trail by 6:45. Another fast 10 miles and we hit our destination of Pine Grove Furnace State Park. It's kind of the unofficial halfway point for thru-hikers. There's an AT museum here, which we got to check out. It's also home to the infamous "Half-Gallon Challenge". Hikers are challenged to eat a half gallon of ice cream from the general store. We met up with Topknot, Woods and Mambo and the five of us took the challenge. 

Left to right- Coin Flip, Topknot, Mambo & Woods. 

After a great degree of effort, and a lot of discomfort afterwards, all but Mambo finished the challenge. I'm still suffering the after effects. But hey I got this sweet prize-

The others all pressed on further down the trail. Coin and I set up camp here for the night, right next to an actual working bathroom WITH showers. I know you're totally jealous. We're going to do our laundry hiker trash style (in a utility sink) and head back to the general store for some actual food. 

Hiking ten miles a day does a lot for the waist line. I've already lost at least 2 inches off my waist. That will only increase as we go farther on a daily basis. 

-XL

Day 8. Or the day it rained all day.

We left the comfort of the Days Inn in Waynesboro at around 9am and we're back on the trail by 9:30am. We quickly crossed the Mason-Dixon Line and we're officially back in the North! It has been a rainy Saturday and the forecast promises more of the same tomorrow. But we made excellent time today, doing almost 9 miles before we stopped at the Tumbling Run shelter. Both shelters were pretty much full so we set up the tents underneath a pavilion so we wouldn't have to deal with wet tents in the morning. 

Taking the zero day yesterday made a huge difference on the ankle, it felt worlds better today. I was able to set a pretty good pace. Coin Flip is convinced that he's not going to be able to keep up with me soon, but I have my doubts. 

Tomorrow we have our sights set on Fayetteville, PA and a hostel there. It will be our first hostel stay. It's about 10 miles further along the trail so we'll see how the day goes. 

-XL

Long miles

Day 6 on the trail and we had a long day- we did our longest hike yet, clocking in at over 10 miles. My ankle is still a little sore and a lot of the terrain is incredibly rocky, so it was a tough one. But we made it. The reward at the end of the day was a night off trail at hotel in Wayneboro, PA. That's right, we finished with Maryland and have entered Pennsylvania!

So I'm laying on a nice comfy bed, freshly showered (possibly one of the best I've ever had). Jeff went next door to do a load of laundry and I'm here resting my ankle. 

Tomorrow morning we'll gorge ourselves on complimentary breakfast, hit up Walmart to resupply and the tackle 5 miles to the next shelter. It'll be nice to sleep in a comfy bed tonight. I've got to write a post for Appalachian Trials that will review the last 6 days and also reveal my trail name! See now you have to read it (after I put it up, there will be a link on my FB page). 

First day.

The first day was hard- harder than I expected. The initial hike through Harper's Ferry was gorgeous. The town has a ton of history and the AT runs right through the middle of it. Then it was a few miles of nice flat trail next to the Potomac. Jeff and his ride met me at the end of the easy part and we hiked in to the Ed Garvey shelter, about 4 miles. About 20 minutes in to that seftion, it started to rain. Pretty hard. The rest of the hike was slow and muddy. Eventually we got to the shelter and settled in for the evening. There were a ton of people coming in, but Jeff and I managed to get there early enough to grab 2 spots. 

We had the fun experience trying to hang our bear bags. Seems simple enough right? Throw a rock with a rope and then haul it up and tie it off. Nope. It's a pain in the ass. We'll get better at it. 

Then last night was largely sleepless. As exhausted as I was it was nearly impossible to sleep. Lots of tossing and turning. Today we're going to keep it short as we break ourselves in. I'm sore as hell but it feels good. 

Last days

It's finally here. The day of reckoning. My feet hit the trail in less than 24 hours. The gear is packed. The food is stowed. I've spent my last night in my own bed (well on my couch). No more binge-watching TV. No more running to the fridge for a snack. No more PS4. No more comic books, no more cruising in the warm weather, windows down. It all changes.

I'm on my way to Harper's Ferry, where my journey begins. I'm meeting Jeff there, and we set out north. I'm excited to start my journey, and surprised that it's already here. I think that I'm going to point my life in a new direction with this experience. I'm so happy that I'm using it to not only find myself but to raise money for Extra Life. Extra Life has been such a rewarding experience for me, letting me give something back. I feel like it has filled a void in my life that was bigger than I ever realized.

When I set out, true to my geek nature, I'll be carrying a replica of the One Ring from Lord of the Rings. Frodo's journey to Mt. Doom carrying the ring has always been one of my favorite stories, and I can't imagine a better way to honor the feelings that I got from the series, than to recreate it (well, without all the Ring Wraiths and orcs and such). So I'm attaching the Ring to my backpack. Maybe I'll stash it at the end, and hope some other hiker finds it and takes it on another epic journey.

My next post will be from the trail -

Remember, it's about the journey.

The Badger Sponsorship

In case any of you don't do the Facebook thing, I had some big news on Sunday. I was selected as one of the finalist for the Badger Sponsorship, which is a contest created by Zach Davis, the author of Appalachian Trials. The sponsorship has a ton of great prizes which would really help me succeed on my hike. There were 76 video entries, and my video was selected in the top 12 by a panel of experts. Pretty awesome, right?

So the next phase is the voting - And that's where I need your help. 50% of the final standings are dependent on the popular vote on Appalachian Trials, and the other half is voting by an expert panel. If you have the time, go to Appalachian Trials and watch my video. Then click on my name to vote for me, and make sure you confirm the email to make it count.

This is an excellent opportunity for me to get my name out there, and to promote Extra Life! Tell your friends and neighbors, I would certainly appreciate it.

Remember- it's about the journey.

What to write?

I was told by a friend of mine that I need a catch phrase to end my posts. Something like "See you on the trail" or "Keep on gaming". I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with something that captures the essence of my blog. I'll see what I come up with at the end of this post. If you hate it, speak up. If you don't, speak up.

I spent Sunday working on the video entry for the Badger Sponsorship, that I talked about my last post. Josh has a rough cut already and he's doing some editing to polish it up some, but already I'm impressed. He really did a great job helping me get to the root of what should be in the video. I had so many scattered ideas, that it probably would have been a hot mess if it had been left up to me. I'm grateful that I have friends that can help me with things like this. I'll post the final project when it goes up.

Spending most of the day talking about my trip really re-invigorated me. I hadn't really talked about the specifics with anyone in a while, so it brought all those details back to the surface. I'm so excited to go, I really look forward to the adventure of it all. I know its not going to be as simple as going for a walk, but part of what excites me is the challenge of it. I can't even imagine the sense of accomplishment I will have upon finishing.

Remember- it's about the journey.

P.S. If you haven't listened to the Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast, drop what you're doing and do it now. It's brilliant. 

Slacker.

I woke up this morning, and thought about it for a moment, and realized I hadn't posted anything since my post just before New Year's. Not that I've been sitting around and doing nothing, quite the opposite. Work has been busy, my personal life has been busy and that has been tying me up quite a bit.

Here's what I've been up to - mostly dealing with some final issues with my father's estate. My brother and I are selling the land he left to us, so I've been researching and prepping. I finally got it listed. I had to make a trip up there to go through some of the storage buildings to make sure there wasn't anything valuable in there. It's astounding how much just random stuff he had accumulated.

Another project I've started on is an entry to the Badger Sponsorship, a great program made by the founder of the site I write for Appalachian Trials. I have to create a 90 second video about why I'm hiking the AT and why I should win the sponsorship. It's tough to condense why I'm going to do down to 90 seconds or less and make it meaningful. Luckily, I have a friend that went to school for video production and is willing to help.

Finally, the action is heating up for the Chits and Bits Game Marathon! Donations are coming in all over the place and we're going to have a TON of great prizes to give away and we're just getting started. Many game companies are really stepping up to the plate. Tons of hard work on the part of my friend Rob has really paid off big time. I wish I could share the list with you all, but we want to wait and make a big announcement when things are closer.

So I'm still here, I hear the clock ticking away to my departure date. I can't wait to get started. The journey will be epic!

Looking back...What else did you expect?

This is my obligatory 2015 year in review post. It's been a year of change for me with some great times, and I'm going to take this opportunity to step back and take a look at them.

The year started off for me at one job, ended with me at another. Work has had its ups and down, as they say "It wouldn't be called work if it was fun". So true. But working lets me have the things that I like, board games, good times with friends, food and a place to live. So I suppose that's a good thing. I'm lucky to have a job that pays me reasonably.

The game marathon I host for Extra Life happened in April, and was an amazing success. It was the second year of the marathon, and a number of people helped me out in huge ways. I made many new friends, and we raised over $5500 for Extra Life and The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital. We have already started planning for the next one. It's very humbling to have an idea that was really spur of the moment pay off in such a big way for a great cause.

The reason behind this blog came about in May. Recapturing a lost dream has reinvigorated my soul and given me a lot of hope. Every day I think and plan and look forward to it. The hike will change my life, I'm betting for the better. It will reset my world view and when I'm done, it I can't even fathom the sense of accomplishment that I will get from it. It is refreshing to take a chance on yourself, even when the chance seems to be inconceivable to a lot of people. In the words of Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption, -"It comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying". 2015 is the year that I decided to get busy living.

The support I've been given by my friends and family have kept me going through some tough times. It's not easy some days, but I want to thank you all for being here, for following along with my random thoughts, my impressions, my whims. The greatest feeling of success and accomplishment for me is when people have a positive reaction to my writing. It has been my longest dream to be a "real" writer. Choosing to put my thoughts in written form is daunting task some days. But I'm always glad that I did.

Thank you and I hope you and yours have a happy and safe New Year. I look forward to taking you along on my journey in 2016.

Hiking Forward

I survived another Christmas, I hope that you all did as well. I spent the day with family (both real and "adopted"). Being around my family is always interesting, as inevitably the topic of "the long walk" inevitably comes up. I'm convinced that they all think that I'm certifiably crazy to walk away from my comfortable life and go live in the woods for six months. I get the same questions over and over - How long will it take? You're walking ALL the way? What will you eat? Are you going to have to poop outside? What happens when you run into a bear? I do my best to answer them and just smile. If I have to explain the imperative to them, they'll never really get it. It will be hard, it will be miserable, but I fully expect it to change my life. In some ways it already has. Committing to it has changed the way I look at the world.

Some more exciting news, I've been selected to be one of the 2016 hikers that is being promoted by HikeForward.com. It's a great site that will promote all my posts across the various social media sites that I will be using, widening the audience that I will get. I'm really excited about the opportunity. Scott, the guy behind Hiking Forward, has some great info on the site and his blog is a great read as well. Anything I can do to spread the word of my adventure will help to get some attention for Extra Life and the Children's Miracle Network. I hope that you will all stop by hikeforward.com and give Scott some traffic!