This is part 36 of excerpts from the trail log which was located on a New York portion of the Appalachian trail. For the post which explains this series, click here. You can read all the previous hiking posts by clicking here.
Each new edition includes a quote from a hiker, along with this writer's insight into what the person might have meant. Your interpretation may be different!
Following is my selection of this week's thoughts of a hiker(s).
12-29-18
Back on the trail doing another section. Cool, cloudy, breezy. No other hikers so far today. Some great views. We expected Jimmy Page at the top of this climb, but, alas, no.
This quote is from a section hiker, someone who works on completing the 2,190 mile Appalachian Trail a section at a time. Section hikers might hike the trail a week or two during their annual vacation time. Or perhaps they will do one month of hiking in one year, a month another. However they do it, it's a years-long goal that takes determination and continued motivation.
I think that most section hikers would want to do the southern states during the colder months, and northern states during the warmer months. I don't know that for a fact, but the northern most part of the Appalachian Trail ends at Mount Katahdin in Maine. In the warmest months of the year (July-August), the low temperatures are usually in the 50s and the highs in the 70s. It's also the highest mountain in Maine, rising to 5,267 feet, so I'm sure it's windy with sudden weather changes. So summertime would be the best time to do the northern most part of the trail, not December.
In winter, when this hiker was out, he wasn't in Maine but in NY where the temperatures were in the 40s. Not too cold for hiking during the day, but a bit chilly at night. If he was section hiking northward, he would go from NY to Western CT and MA. Temperatures would get colder every day. So this hiker had to be strong, and determined.
But in addition to being strong and determined, as with most of the hikers who write in the hiking log, our hiker is interesting. Some totally random thought that had nothing to do with hiking, "We expected to see Jimmy Page at the top of this climb." Why? Because he felt like he was climbing a Stairway to Heaven? Or perhaps the area reminded him of Black Mountainside? Was he thinking of Misty Mountain Hop? Were his muscles Wearing and Tearing? We will never know exactly what his Jimmy Page comment referred to, but it does tell me he's probably right around my age (since I know who Jimmy Page is)!
And until the next post, happy trails to you!
Originally posted at thehousekat.com.
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