I am on a 5:30 AM plane headed north to the next leg of my Appalachian Trail adventure. Many of you have asked to be included in my “daily” trail log, and it’s that time again. If you would like to be removed from this list for the next 12 days, just reply to me and I will pull your name off. Please do not “reply to all” during that response. I will be hiking all of the trail in New Jersey, New York and much of Connecticut during the next 12 days. It should be a cool (and wet)…
Fall Log #1
I am warm and drying out in Branchville, NJ where I am waiting for Cindy and her cousins to pass through en route Maine. It’s a good time to catch up on my trail logs. After 15 hours of planes, trains and buses, I arrived safely in Delaware Water Gap, PA at 8 PM on Wednesday. I saw both train stations in New York this trip. A short walk from the Stroudsburg PA bus station took me to the Presbyterian Church of the Mountain, a wonderful church that ministers to hikers with a lean to, 16 indoor bunks, a bathroom…
Fall Log #2
Cindy is 36 miles away driving on inky black New Jersey roads on a cold wet October night with her cousins… trying to reach me and connect as she drives to Maine for a fall vacation. The car has a nail in the tire. She’s in the middle of nowhere on a “PeeWee’s Big Adventure” kind of night. I am chilling at Gyp’s Tavern which was conveniently located adjacent the trail. The pizza was great. I am praying that Cindy’s tire holds together until she gets here. We will all spend the night in Branchville. It’s not every day that…
Fall Log #3
Greetings from the mountains! You have probably heard it said that “time is money.” Here on the Appalachian Trail, that saying is easily modified to “time is mileage.” My lack of trail logs these past three days is purely a function of the lack of time, and for that I apologize. I’ve been pushing hard to make some personal goals and hit a big one last night. I am writing from New York State, having completed the New Jersey section last night at sundown. I wanted to reach Prospect Rock, overlooking lower New Jersey with a view of New York…
Fall Log #4
In my my last post I was very focused on getting out of New Jersey and showing better progress in terms of my daily mileage. That’s the post where I opined that “time is mileage.” That was the “through hiker” coming out in me, frustrated by my pitifully slow pace. I also have a Henry David Thoreau side to me that deserves equal time. Perhaps better than “equal time” because the “get it done and get on with it” mentality can lead a guy focused only on mileage to completely miss the beauty and the message that God has…
Fall Log #5
I’ve been delinquent again in my writing as I pounded out the days north through New York. On post #3, the “mileage post,” I wrote to you from near Prospect Rock at the NJ/NY state line. A flag, erected on a slim tree trunk, flies in tribute to those lives lost on 9/11. It was an awesome place to view NYC at sunset, only 30-40 miles away. I camped that night in what I call a “bears den”, surrounded by dark caves at dusk. I have not ever been afraid in the woods at dark before but that evening I…
Fall Log #6
“The hills are alive… with the sound of music.” Those words from the famous movie and Julie Andrews put the exclamation point on a wonderful walking day headed toward the William Brien shelter. Leaving my “Walden Pond” campsite I followed the shores of Little Dam Lake for about a mile and then took a climb up Arden Mountain. At the bottom of the mountain the Palisades Parkway was an interesting challenge to cross at NYC rush hour. Only 34 miles outside the city, the parkway was loaded with cars screaming by. I didn’t have to run across but did have…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log 2015 – Preamble
On Mar 20, 2015, at 6:55 PM Friends and family, I leave tomorrow (Saturday) for my first of two Appalachian Trail adventures in 2015. I’m writing to let you know that I’ll be out of the office for ten days, and to offer… if you are interested… to keep you in the loop with my trail log as I progress up the trail. This spring I am headed to Hot Springs, NC. In 1975 my family hiked the 179 mile segment from Hot Springs, NC, to Damascus, VA, while I worked as a research diver in Central America, diving in…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log 2015 #1
On Mar 23, 2015, at 6:30 AM Good morning! I am ready to hit the trail for Day 2 after a glorious first day on the trail. I left Huntsville at 8 PM on Saturday and drove until 1 AM Sunday to reach the interstate exit prior to Hot Springs, NC. A short night in the Holiday Inn and my last bath for a while had me on the road early and at Trailside at 9:30. I am parked in the Public Parking at Hot Springs, NC, a tiny quaint trail town on the French Broad River. The day was…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log 2015 #2
On Mar 25, 2015, at 7:42 AM Good morning! With no cellular service for the past two days I am sending more than one update this morning. Monday started cold and clear after a night of rain. I rose before the sun and said goodbye to “Bo” and “Dude,” setting out for what I hoped would be a 19-mile day. It did not work out as planned. Early that morning, walking in a Rhododendron tunnel, I happened upon a man in the midst of his morning constitutional. His wife was as surprised at my arrival as I was. I stopped…