Hiking Dude Blog

I've been told that hitching a ride into trail towns is a common thing on the Appalachian Trail, but it's new to me. I hitch hiked once about 30 years ago in Normandy, France while trekking through Europe. So far, my long hikes have had trail towns right on the trail or I've walked to them. I've gotten a couple rides, but not by standing by the road asking for one.
Looking at the A.T. maps, and reading what others have done, it sounds like hitching into towns works pretty well and often can save hours of off-trail walking. So, I expect I'll try it and see what happens.
To improve my odds of catching a ride, I printed this sign and slipped it into a plastic sleeve, then taped it shut. I'm pretty sure it's waterproof, and I hope an 8.5x11 sign is big enough to get someone's attention while adding only .75oz to my pack.

I'll hang it on my pack while I'm walking or hold it while standing and practicing my pathetic sad puppy eyes. I suppose some dreary rain or scorching heat might help me as well.

Feel free to click the pic and print out the PDF file for your own sign. Would love to hear if you use it successfully!

Hike On

After about 1500 miles, my inexpensive hiking poles are battered and bruised. The carbide tips have worn out, the plastic around the bottom is gone, and the aluminimum poles are now wearing away. It's time to get new poles, but I've really liked these and only the tips are done for, and I'm sure there's still more miles in them. I know, I should have tried to replace the tips when they first wore down, but I was in the middle of an 800-mile hike at the time so it was not an option.

Rather than buying replacement tips, since the pole shafts are now worn and irregular, I came up with a free solution that's working great.

1. I filed the soft aluminum tip of the pole so it is flat.
2. Scrounging through my 'junk jar', I found two hex head screws that fit into the hollow shafts. (these have the most head material so I figure they'll last longer and be easier to remove later)
3. I screwed the screws in and they bit into the soft aluminum, nice and tight.
4. Ta-Dah! Now, I have steel tips that are easy and free to replace when they wear down.

Hike On

I've arrived in Harpers Ferry after 26 hours on Amtrak. Warm, humid, and very noisy with insects chirping everywhere in the trees. Time to start hiking.

I walked 20769 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 9 miles today.
Check out my current location on the map. I crossed the shenandoah river right outside Harpers Ferry and then headed uphill for the only real climb of the day. After that, it was a fairly flat ridge walk top the shelter where I'm spending the night with a dad and son from GA walking home. They got here just before the downpour - I didn't. :-) The humidity makes drying stuff difficult. First day was great and I'm looking forward to sleep after only getting a little on the train. Hike On

Check out my current location on the map. Here's a nice view for lunch! I'm at Bears Den rock and hope to go 10 more miles this afternoon.

Oops - here's the pic.

I walked 54589 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 21 miles today.
Hey, less than 1000 miles to go! My two Georgia friends let me hike with them today, but they drove me hard. We completed the section called the Rollercoaster because it's up and down and ... I hope that means the trail is a bit easier going forward but I believe it is only Hard and Harder. Water at the end of the day was bad so we kept going to the next, then the next until we finally got to the shelter, Completely dry. The spring here is great so it was worth the wait.

The trail is wonderful today. Such a change from yesterday's rollercoaster, but I'm sure the smooth, relatively flat miles will be short lived. Here's my buddies from GA - vanilla thunder and a-town. I've been hiking alone today but have seen a bunch of day and weekend hikers.

I walked 43862 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 19 miles today.
Made it to the shelter with lots of nice warm daylight left. Really felt nice to have some time to relax and chat with some new friends. These are the Fredericksburg Four that are out on a weekend jaunt - really friendly folks. There's also a mom and daughter staying here, heading south as long as they can keep going. And another young lady ending her hike tomorrow morning. I walked alone all day but it's great to have folks around in the evening. The GA guys are here too. Bonus - there's aCOLD shower here and it felt nice to rinse off. I found I have a few small blisters but nothing bad.

I walked 45604 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 18 miles today.
Great day through the park today. Chatted with a scout and dad on the trail. At the shelter tonight, I met this gang from MD. The boy is a scout! Had a great evening and they even shared their meal with me so I feel ready for tomorrow. Oh, They also made a campfire!