The Social Network

At first I wanted to hike the AT "to be on my own." I craved some solitude so that I could clear my mind, however, you learn very quickly that the AT is a very social experience, which is alright by me.

In fact, I look foreword to the end of the day, after a long tromp, when I see the tin roof break through the trees and I smell smoke, a sign that there will be company tonight. I don't really talk to myself when I hike, though my mind is active, but when you see fellow hikers at the end of the day you understand why Maslow did not list "solitude" in his hierarchy of needs.

You get to reminisce about the day, the things you saw, the individuals you ran into, the terrain. You get to share your reasons for hiking the trail, where you come from, who is missing you, and what you plan to do after.

You get to learn from each other: between the gear, the camp routine and hiking philosophies.

A day has yet to pass that I don't see at least one other hiker. I only had to sleep in a lean-too by myself once. It was at the Leeman Brook Lean-too and I later learned that it was in this log bungalow that four vagabonds froze to death. It was pretty difficult to get to sleep that night because my mind was conducting a slide show of images of all of the terrible horror movies I'v seen.

That's the problem with scary movies, your mind is permanently scarred after seeing them. It would be great to have Will Smith bloop me with his blooper from MIB so that I could erase all of the bad images from my mind...then I would be completely fearless.

"I am soooo glad I didn't know this beforehand," I said to the Boys from Maine after they told me this. "There are probably many stories like that on the AT," said Adrian.

The exciting thing about lean-toos is that you never know who is going to bunk down with you. It's always a thrill to have a Nobo crawl in, because they are the wise people of the trail, at least for the beginning of a Sobo's journey.

When you have hiked 100 miles and they have hiked 2,000, there is a certain respect that a Sobo holds for a Nobo. "How does it feel to almost be done?" "What are you going to do afterwards?" "What was your favorite section?" Many of them say New Hampshire which is a let down because NH is so early on that we fear there is nothing else on the trail to keep us going. Not true. there is the Zoo in NY, the ponies of Virginia and the great smoky mountains.

This Nobo, 3 Stoves, strolled into camp and he had so many stories to share, it made for an entertaining night. "I should have had the name Bear Punch," he said after he told us that he went backpacking through the Whites to train for the trip. At one of the lean-toos a fox was pestering him, drawn in by his food. That night he slept in his bivy sack and heard sniffing about 6" from his face. Thinking it was the fox he gave it a good punch to the snout, however, it was a hard punch. He crawled out of his sack to see a black bear scampering away.

This story seems unbelievable, but they say when it comes to black bears you're supposed to act aggressive if they approach you.

This same guy said that a tree fell on him. I have yet to share this incident with my mom because I know she would absolutely freak, but it is too good of a story not to divulge. There are trees blocking the way throughout the AT and no matter how often it is maintained it is inevitable that there are going to be trees that keel over. 3 Stoves was hiking along with his earbuds in and heard the crack but thought it was his music. The next thing he knows he's trapped under a tree. He even snapped a picture of himself at this point which he passed around the lean-too for everyone to see. "I was able to wriggle out of my pack and get out from under the tree," he explained. "Then a day hiker came along and was able to help me lift the tree enough to get my pack out."

Talk about intense!

What's great about the AT is that everyone you meet shares the love for the trail and it makes it really easy to get to know someone. In the civilian world, sometimes there are walls that are put up which prevent an introduction, but on the trail there are no walls just canopies, and paths that lead to good communion.