So far the summer 2014 has been a doozy. Some of you reading this already know that during a single, fast-moving weekend in March my wife (Wendy) and I sold our empty nest and I resigned from my job. In the weeks that followed I worked on prep for the move, left a pile of memories (and broken dishes) at a going away party hosted by neighbours and cheered on Wendy as she landed in a training program in support of her next career advancement. When we closed on the house on April 29th, Wendy (and Charlie- our youngest- home from school for the summer) moved in temporarily with another gracious neighbour while I hit the road in our minivan, lazily aiming for Seattle to scope it out as our future home. My circuitous route led me through a dozen or so national parks where I unexpectedly reacquainted myself with hiking, backpacking and tenting.
Me and a waterfall
My mindset was a bit like this line from Jason Isbell,
“…take a year and make a break, there ain’t that much at stake, the answers could be relatively easy”
For the record, I loved Seattle (and Vancouver and really everywhere in the region), stayed with some great people there (thanks again to Wendy, Matthew and Sameer in Seattle and Sophie and Dave in Vancouver!) , spent quality time with my oldest son Oliver, and became convinced that the Pacific Northwest will make a great future home for us, though not an immediate one since we subsequently learned that Wendy’s next work location will be in the Midwest. So I concluded my stay and headed back home for a brief visit, stopping en route to visit dear friends in Missoula I hadn’t seen for way too long (thanks again Ed and Laurie!). After 10 days in Minnesota, I push-off again tomorrow (Saturday, 6/28) to spend the rest of the summer the way I spent the first bit- humping a backpack up and down mountain trails. Specifically, I’m headed east to hike on the Appalachian Trail.
I turned 50 in December and after nearly 30 years working sedentary jobs, I’m not exactly a poster child for rigorous back country treks. Therefore, I thought it’d be fun (in a schadenfreude-ish way) to keep a blog so that those who know me can enjoy a virtual ring side seat as I whine, break down and implode in a slow motion stumble across a few miles of the AT. I say ‘a few miles’ because the AT is pretty long (2200 miles or so) and less than 1 in 4 people who start at one end ever reach the other. I am planning to start my hike on July 1st from the northern trail head at Mount Katahdin, Maine. My only expectation is to enjoy myself, so this particular journey will either end when I stop having fun for a sustained period or when I hit the southern terminus of the trail at Springer Mountain, Georgia, whichever occurs first. The statistics say that the (very) safe money is on the former, probably within the first two weeks. If it goes further, more fun.
Chances are you’re looking at the site because I sent you an email encouraging you to do so. I hope you enjoy the occasional pictures I post from the mountains of the eastern US or anything else that captures my fancy, along with any thoughts I can muster while swatting away swarms of black flies and digging catholes. I’m not sure how often my phone will have sufficient battery and internet connectivity but I’ll do my best to update as I go. For as long as this lasts, it’d be great to hear from you too so feel free to heckle, comment, or observe from a safe distance. What I post may not be interesting, but it will be advertisement free. Thanks for checking in on me and I hope you have a great remainder to 2014!
Example of a max heap
PS: Apparently there is a tradition among some to adopt a trail name while hiking the AT. It sounded like fun so I chose Max Heap for mine. I chose it because it passes as a regular name, because it sounds Dickensian, and because it’s an interesting math/computing/data structure. Plus, I already owned the domain name (maxheap.net/at2015) so setting up this blog was hassle free. According to wikipedia, a binary heap is: “a heap data structure created using a binary tree…All nodes are either [greater than or equal to] or [less than or equal to] each of its children, according to a comparison predicate defined for the heap…Heaps with a mathematical “greater than or equal to” (≥) comparison predicate are called max-heaps; those with a mathematical “less than or equal to” (≤) comparison predicate are called min-heaps.”
Wish you safe and fun travels! I’m jealous of your freedom to roam to beautiful places. Take lots of photos, we will be following from the Cove.
Gregg
Right on Murph! Will defiinitely stay in touch.
Michael roared into Seattle for a month and left a huge wake of energy wherever he went. It will be interesting to see what space, time disruption he will cause on the AT.
Have fun Michael!
matthew
Thanks Matthew- I can’t wait to get back there again with Wendy. Have a great summer!
Yay! I am so excited that the blog is up and running again! We sure miss you, but are ecstatic that you have this wonderful opportunity ahead of you. You deserve this! We will keep your wife entertained, and Charlie’s time will be filled with his cabana boy duties. Looking forward to sharing this through your eyes! Xo
Someone needs to buy Chuckles a pair of those Richard Simmons shorts! Thanks for the note!
i’m very envious dad. i had the best time with you around while you were out here and i cant wait till we an catch up again. until then i’ll keep up with this blog and heckle you along your hike.
good luck old man!
You are the best, number one son. If your trip to Asia is postponed, take a few days and meet me somewhere on the trail. Better yet, just start 7/2 so you’re a day behind me…then you can find me along the trail when my old legs give out and drag me to the next place you can mix me a cocktail! You’ll win my vote for world’s most useful man…
Wow! What an adventure – your own WALK IN THE WOODS. Have fun and be safe “Max”. Now I have some spreadsheets to fill out…. 🙂
Thanks Sue! When I get tired I’ll daydream about your horses coming to carry me to a hotel with hot tub. Cheers!
So jealous. So happy for you. Will be living vicariously through your posts.
Mikey,
Hope you’re enjoying the Great Outdoors ! I’d like to see some pictures of your travels.
Take Care and have a JSB every once in a while.
p.s. I know Bears do, but do you ?
Happy Trails to You !
Jim
Jimmy: pour me one while I poop in the woods!
So happy to have you stop and visit us in Missoula! Good hiking mate….
“We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods
Joe: Thanks much for the encouragement! Walden is on my current reading list…downloaded from both Librivox (audio) as well as Guttenberg (text). Here are several of my favorite quotes so far:
“If I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior.”
“There are as many ways [to live] as there can be drawn radii from one centre.”
“Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion.”
Michael:
This is so cool. Great to see someone have the courage to go out and “live” their life. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures on the AT.
Tim Johnson (Carlson)
Tim: Long time no see! Thanks for chiming in and I hope you find time to keep checking the blog periodically. I just posted a bunch of new pics and am about to enter New Hampshire, so lots more to come.
Great pictures – we’re enjoying your journey.
Thanks! I’m guessing this is Auntie Dianne? Talk about journeys…how is Ecuador? Say hi to Bob!
Loving the blog and staying in touch. The bridge jump was an incredible leap of faith that a we really enjoyed. Keep the updates coming!
“it is not the moutain we conquer but ourselves” Sir Edmund Hillary
Thanks Trout. Hope things are well in the world we shared for so long…thanks for the picture via email too…you still look like that college guy! Keep Plagge and Beers on their toes for me!