Hiking Maine

A few weeks after Bill is done hiking in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, he went back home. Two weeks later, him and Katz are getting ready to hike the Maine portion of the AT. (like the state of Maine). Katz remembers carrying a big backpack was like hell for him. He doesn't want to relive that. Katz has a good idea (or so he thinks) to hike with a paper boy's pouch. It would hold pretty much everything they need and would be a lot lighter. Katz showed off this idea, and Bill turned it down. He thought of every excuse to not wear it. Some were total lies to! So they agreed that they will pack light.


They started the hike in Caratunk. This was a longer distance than just what they wanted to hike. They chose how far they wanted to hike, but they had 2 weeks to do it, so they made the walk longer. Right away, Katz starts to fall behind. About 5 miles in, Bill goes back to look for him. An hour later, he finds him. Most of the stuff was thrown out of his pack. Even water.

Maine has very thick forests. They are just about to enter the thickest stuff. Everything is big there. The trees, grass, and the animals. Bill runs into a full grown moose while trying to get some water. They are standing about 10 yards away from each other. They don't know what to do. Bill is amazed of how close he was.

Bill and Katz learned on their trip while talking to people, that Maine is very rainy in the summer. This upsets Katz very much. The rain is pissing him off a lot. He didn't think he could go any further. The next town they stop in, Katz asks for 5 bucks to get a pop. Then a few hours later, he asks for 5 more dollars. He is using the money to buy beer. A few years ago, Katz was a major alcoholic. He quit before he started the hike. But now he has no hope and nothing to look forward to. He is drinking and gets real mad at Bill for not buying him more. But the next day, they never talked about it. They went on just like nothing happened. 

A while into their trip, Bill stopped and waited for Katz to catch up like normal. But this time, he didn't show up. Bill walked back a ways, but he was not there either. Bill started to worry. He was thinking of all the bad things that might have happened to Katz. That night, it was very bad. He did not sleep at all. Just stayed awake wondering what Katz was doing right now. They did find each other later on the next day. Bill walked back toward where they started and found him sitting on a rock. 

The guys decide that they have done enough hiking of the AT. They went home. But they realized that they did walk 870 miles. That is still a long way. They didn't do all 2,200 miles of it, but they still did it. They were very proud of themselves for accomplishing what they did. They hiked the Appalachian Trail. 

THE END!!!!!

A Walk in the Woods

pg. 220-252

"Hypothermia is a gradual and insidious sort of trauma. It overtakes you literally by degrees as your body temperature falls and your natural responses grow sluggish and disordered." (Bry220). Bill had heard so may stories of the wilderness. Some good, and others bad. Some of the stories made him kind of nervous to go out in  the wilderness alone. He knew what to do in case of an emergency, but he just wanted to be safe. But he went out by himself anyway.

Like Michigan, the weather in the White Mountains (where Bill is hiking now), can change drastically in a few hours. Bill and this other guy were walking together and all of a sudden, the wind started to blow, and it started to get very cold. The guy he was hiking with wondered if they should turn back. But Bill persisted and said it was only a good half hour to the end of today. So they went on. The conditions turned hellish. Winds gusting up to 50 mph. Raining, and very cold. Bill was thinking a few times to jump off the side of the ridge they were walking on and say, "see you on the other side old buddy." But he never did that. 

A walk in the woods

pg. 190-220

The Appellation Trail is a very beautiful sight from the top of one of the peaks . People compared it to the Rhine and even the Alps over a century ago. It is very beautiful place.

In this chapter of the book, Bill states a good point. There have been many different ice ages in the last 2 million years. The last ice age carved the Great Lakes and everything around it. That is when there wasn't much water to fuel it. But now that the Great Lakes are full and with the many lakes of Canada, if we ever have another ice age (very probable we do), what will happen to the civilians? Will we bomb it with TNT, or blast it with nuclear warheads? What would the human race do? That is a good question.

While on this part of the AT, Bill swears he saw a mountain lion cross his path. It is very unexpected. A mountain lion has not been seen in the northeastern United States since 1903.

Bill is now hiking the top portion of the AT. He is in New England. Everything about the trail in New England is better than it was in Pennsylvania. The trails are nicer, the maps are a ton better, and it is just overall prettier to look at. Bill meets this guy named Chicken John. John doesn't know why everybody calls him that. His real name is Bernard. He has been walking for 5 months and has barely made it three-quarters of the way to Katahdin. (Which is not very far). He walks about 15 miles a day, but he gets lost a lot. They talked a while, then Bill pointed him the right way. Bill never did see him again.

Bill had to walk 8 more miles to get to a town where his wife was going to meet him for dinner. This was a very very hot day. Bill had walked 7 miles and he finally realized his conditions. He was drenched in sweat. His stench was so great that he could turn heads. His beard was full. He was a mountain man again. He liked this very much.

A walk in the woods

pg. 160-190
Bill and Katz's first part of their hike is almost over. Bills family met him at a hotel in the nearest town. They wore clean clothes and were clean again. It felt great to them. Katz was put on a plane and flew back home. Bill could not sit still. He had to keep walking everywhere he went. "You don't hike the Appalachian Trail and then go home and cut the grass." He wanted to walk the Harpers Ferry. Which was the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conference.

Bill Drove up to Pennsylvania to check out the AT there. He has heard it was bad. It really was when he got there too. But the AT side trails were very good. They went around lakes and beautiful nature spots. He was hiking this part of the trail, just because he could, and he was thinking that he actually missed Katz for once. It was different without him there. While on this part of the AT, Bill has a run in with a big mature white tail deer.  It didn't do anything though. Just stopped and looked, and wandered on its way. Bill was kind of nervous. It looked real intimidating and thought it might attack.

The whole time that Bill is walking, he is thinking to himself that if he really wanted to, he could quit at any time. He had nobody with him. But he enjoyed walking so much that he continued on.

Bill Tried to hike Pennsylvania with a car, but it didn't really work out. He drove 350 miles to get there, spent four days there, and barely walked 11 strait through miles. It was the last time he would hike with a car.

A walk in the woods

pg. 128-161

The book itself is starting to get disappointing. There is a picture of a bear on the front cover, but so far it has just been the experience of their trek through the Appellation Trail. It is interesting to read what they did and what they thought of it, but don't put a bear on the cover if there isn't going to be one in the story. I am still waiting for that time when they encounter bears.

This part of the book, there is a lot of facts. They are figure that they are walking as far as an average American walks in a week in 20 minutes. That seems kind of shocking, but when you think about it, it really isn't. The average American uses their car when ever possible it seems. Bill knows people who drive to work only 600 yards away from their house! That is ridiculous. Bill and Katz were the complete opposite from that. They loved to walk everywhere.

Bill and Katz decide to take a break from hiking and go into the nearest town for a few days. Katz went to the laundry mat and Bill went shopping for things they would need . At the laundry mat, Katz meets this big girl (200+) and asks her out to dinner. It ends up that that lady already has a husband. About 500 pounds he looked like from Katz's point of view. The man chased Katz all around the city until him and Bill made it back to the trail.

Bill is noticing all of the wildlife that lives in the Appellation Trail. There are salemanders, squirrels, birds, spiders, and everything you can imagine. But the acid rain that periodically falls is getting into the streams and is killing some of the wildlife.

One night, Bill is in his tent, and he hears some shuffling outside. Almost immediately, Bill thinks, BEAR! He has a knife with him, but it is outside his tent in his bag. He carefully brings it in. It is only a 4 inch knife that would only work as a butter knife. At least it was something. Bill calls to Katz to see what he has. He only has a pair of nail clippers. So they are screwed if the "bear" wants them for dinner. Bill shines his light out of the tent and sees two sets of glowing yellow eyes. He is scared for his life while his buddy Katz in the tent next to him falls asleep almost instantly. In the morning, there is no damage to the camp and every body is fine.

The guys start walking again seeing many people along the way. Nice people, rude people, and very stupid people who they think will not survive the rest of the trail. The AT in the warmest months will hold on average 16,500 people a day. But that isn't that much on account of how long it is. That would only be like 7.5 people per mile on the AT. It does not seem busy at all.


 

Walking in the Woods

Katz and Bill are trying to walk on average 16 miles a day. But that is not really working out for them. They have a few things go wrong for them on the trip. One thing is that it gets very cold. About -16 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature makes them walk much much slower. They are not getting a good nights rest and are paying for it while they hike. Then a few days after the cold, it starts to snow. It snows and snows and seems it will never stop. They get lost a few times, slowing them down a lot. The snow gets so deep that they cannot walk anymore. They stop at an AT shelter for the night. There are two others there already. A father and a son just doing a little bit of the trail. They spend the night there sitting by the warm fire and dry off all of their clothes. In the morning, they wake up to many feet of snow on the ground. There is almost 4 feet of it in some places Bill reckons. They decide to stay inside for a day. The next day, they have to leave if they ever want to finish the trail. So they head off again. But they only go 9 miles before they have to stop again because of the snow. This time, they stop at a motel-like shelter with a store and everything. When they walk in, they see recognizable faces everywhere of people they have seen on the trail already. They get settled in for the night and try to sleep in the disgusting room they are in. In the room, there are 4 bunk beds. All of which stink terribly. They wake up and see even more snow. Bill and Katz and everybody else that was already in there is stuck there for 5 days. The workers of the shelter take everybody into the closest town. Katz buys a 24 pack of cream soda. He is planning on staying there a while. Bill has other plans though. The next morning, Bill decides it is time to get out of this place and start the hike again. Katz is very angry at him for this decision. But alas, they are walking again.

The temperature is rising and the snow turns into melt water. It starts to rain, and rains a lot. The guys are slipping all over the place. They are covered in mud. They are like mud people waddling through the forests. Helping each other up, then falling themselves. It rains and rains like it will never stop. They are soaked to the bone. Everything they have with them is drenched in water. It is not fun at all.

In real life, be prepared for anything. In the book, they were prepared, but not fully. Some people say you can never be fully prepared for something. The guys bring rain jackets. They work, but they make them all sweaty and gunky. But they handle it like men and trek on.

Now we are walking

Bill and Katz finally get to the starting point of the Appellation Trail. There is a cabin there that they stay in the night before they head off. Immediately Katz goes to his room for the rest of the night. Bill is organizing his pack for a final time to check if he has everything there. He then looks at the weather for the next few days. It is calling for heavy snow storms and very cold weather. This is not what they are looking for to start the hike. Bill goes to bed to sleep good one last night.


In the morning, Katz wakes up Bill with a cup of coffee in his hand. Katz is ready to go. Bill likes this and gets ready himself. Bill grabs a cup of coffee and prepares to head off. When they walk out the door, Katz leans over to Bill and says, "maybe we should wait until tomorrow to go." Bill gets very upset and is disappointed. But anyway, they head off. Katz and Bill are making good time for about a mile. Then Katz starts to drift slowly backward from Bill. Bill does not worry about it and keeps going at his own pace. Every now and again, Bill stops and waits for Katz. During the night, they find a spot to camp, and sleep there. In the mornings, they pack up, eat a snickers bar, and they are on their way for the day. They are planning on doing 8.5 miles in the morning and 10 miles in the afternoon. One day, Bill hears Katz chucking a fit behind him and swearing a lot. Katz is getting really pissed at how heavy his pack is. He starts to throw many things down the side of the cliff they are on. Some things were important, like food, and others not so much, like coffee filters. 


Along they way, they meet up with this crazy lady who is hiking by herself. She has ADD and is very rude. She calls the guys fat and really out of shape. She helps herself to the last little debbe cake that Katz has. He doesn't talk to her for a long time after that. She stays with Bill and Katz for a few days, dissing them the whole way. Finally, the guys make a plan to ditch her. They start walking really fast, faster than their new "friend". They get to a road that goes through the trail, and they hitch hike into the closest town. They have a nice meal and head back for the night to start again tomorrow. Bill starts to get remorseful that they ditched their friend. He thinks about her being all alone. But Katz doesn't care. She ate his last little debbie cake. They find out soon that she dropped out because she got bad blisters on her feet from trying to walk 20 miles in one day. (which is hard to do on this trail).


Whenever you go out on a hike, it is a good thing to use the buddy system. It is good that Katz is with Bill on this hike. But the girl they met up with, was by herself. That is not good. If something happened to her, nobody would know. She would be gone forever. She was doing the right thing by trying to walk with people, but Bill and Katz ditched her. And ultimately felt remorseful, which was good.