Greetings all! My last post was made the morning before I hit the trail again after staying with my wife, daughter and son-in-law for 5 days in New Jersey. I returned to the trail late that day in Salisbury, CT and since then have traversed Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and am now posting from the public library in Palmerton, Pennsylvania. As its been two weeks of steady hiking, I’ve got a lot of pictures and a couple of videos to share and will let those tell most of the story, but here are a couple of quick notes:

Wildlife: Over the past two weeks I’ve had some interesting encounters with creatures (see some of the pictures below). As some of you may know, I was passing through the NY/NJ part of the trail right at the time a student from Rutgers became the first ever black bear mauling casualty in New Jersey. I was within 15-20 minutes hiking time of the spot and found it a bit unsettling, especially when I encountered two black bears in a tree 15 yards off the trail around the same time. Luckily, they bounded down out of the tree and ran away, leaving me with a great story to tell but nothing more (thankfully!). Another ‘factor’ in recent days has been the high profile search for a fugitive cop-killer hiding out in the woods near Delaware Water Gap, PA, which I just passed 2-3 days ago. Never a dull moment on the AT!

Terrain Variety: Whereas the trail in Maine and New Hampshire features a lot of similar terrain, as I move further south I’m seeing much more variety on the trail…you’ll see a number of pictures on that.

Whereas I spent the better parts of August and early September hiking with a group of others, the past two weeks I’ve been hiking alone as I gradually catch up to those folks after having been off the trail with family. Both styles of hiking (alone, with others) are fun and I’ve had a great time enjoying the solitude.

Milestones: Finally, for those interested I have a couple of big milestones approaching. I’m currently at 930 miles and therefore will hit the 1000 mile mark later this week! Furthermore, the mileage mid-point for the entire trail is 1092.5 (half of 2185), so its likely that as of my next post I will be over half-done with the AT!

Enjoy this installment of videos and pictures and keep those comments coming!

Michael (Maxheap)

Crossing into Vermont has been magical. For example, on August 28th we started the day by saying goodbye to trail angels Short-n-Sweet and Greybeard who hosted nearly a dozen hikers at their home the previous evening in Norwich, sharing with us the story of their son’s thru hike which inspired them to reach out and help hikers. We left their home before sunrise in order to hit our 20+ mile goal for the day. Our first break that morning was the home of the amazing Hart family, who have already provided support to 950 hikers this year alone. As we walked by they rang the bell on their porch and motioned us in for a huge homemade breakfast. The roadway immediately in front of their home runs about 30 feet above a whitewater river. Among hikers there is a tradition to dare each other to jump off the bridge. Egged on by my younger cohorts, I took the leap in my underwear, on a belly full of the Hart breakfast (see video below)! The jump was a gas and the water refreshingly cool. The video was filmed by one of my very good friends from the trail- Hero (from Mississippi)- who then jumped himself.

From there, we spent the day hiking through 20 miles of mountains, forests and meadows, reminding me very much of scenes from the Sound of Music. As we were emerging from the woods to a paved road, trying to decide whether to push another few miles, a truck rolled to a stop and the driver asked me if I had ever heard of ‘the Barn.’ The Barn is a word-of-mouth free hostel in Woodstock, Vermont, hosted for 22 years by Daniel Quinn (trailname: Bad Example). It turns out that the driver of that truck was none other than Dan himself and he invited us all to stay in the loft of his barn. While we pitched in with some light chores, dinner was being prepared for us by trail legend (and Jerry Garcia look-alike) Baltimore Jack. He has hiked the complete AT an amazing 9 times, including thru-hiking 7 consecutive years. It turns out that he and Dan are old friends and he was coincidentally staying with Dan while we were there. Baltimore made us an amazing spaghetti dinner with a huge salad, garlic bread with salami, and for dessert we had homemade pie from the ‘Pie Lady’ who sells home baked goodies and home grown produce next door.

Fast forward to August 30th where we did another 20+ mile day and were treated to ‘trail magic’ 4 times throughout the day, including a food and beverage booth set up on the side of the road by Jen, a bubbly young grad student from California who is out here doing PhD research on the psychology of thru-hikers. Jen’s booth was located at the point where Sobo (southbound) thru hikers pass their 500 mile mark, so it was a great milestone for us to celebrate!

And for me, the icing on the Vermont cake is the place from which I’m making this post. The Green Mountain House– in Manchester Center, Vermont- has a reputation among many hikers as ‘THE’ best hostel on the AT. Jeff the proprietor keeps the place immaculate and as a hiker himself, is very in-tune with hiker amenities. For $25, you get a clean bed, free laundry and showers, free beverages, a free pint of Ben and Jerry’s, free make-your-own breakfast and use of the spotless facilities which include the computer on which I’m posting this update, a great hiker lounge with huge color TV and well-appointed kitchen. No wonder that nearly every hiker I’ve passed going in the other direction has recommended Jeff’s place.

Today is 9/2 and I’ll hit the trail again early tomorrow morning, my daily hiking average now well into the 20 mile range. I’ll cross into Massachusetts in the next 2-3 days and from there the states will start piling up as the terrain levels out. The pictures below are from the past few days…I hope you enjoy!