Tales From The Travels

I have now gone over 1000 miles on this hike - 1053 total. That's a lot of miles and I feel pretty good about the accomplishment. At the same time, that isn't even half way and I've been on the trail for over four months. I also finished New York and reached Kent, CT. That is an important milestone. This is the southern most point I achieved in my last SOBO attempt in 2023.  Unfortunately, I'm also getting increasingly sick. I'm showing increasing signs of rhabdo - rhabdomyolysis , a serious condition where your muscles break down from over exertion and can lead to kidney failure. The symptoms have been building for some weeks without my realizing what they were. They've now become pretty painful and I getting off the trail for a while to recover. The worst part has been the fatigue. I can't even take the dog for a walk without getting tired. Do I have rhabdo? Who knows? The only way for sure is to go into the doctor and get tested and that is what all sour...

I finished off my third pair of boots last weekend. I wanted to go a few days more to get to my own halfway point but they weren't going to make it. They did well. I got about 500 miles from on this hike and naybe another 500 on previous hikes. I started my fourth pair yesterday and did over 18 miles. I was quite happy with them. Unlike the previous three, this pair is brand new so I can get a good measure of just how far I can go with this brand. I started using them on July 6th at my mile 1027. The trail is hard on boots. The newbies Think I can get 1100 miles out of these?

Lulu and Overland have been my hiking companions since I did the Colorado Trail in 2021, posing for pictures and hamming it up along the way. They have been with me as I crossed over the Rockies on that trail, the Ozark Highlands Trail (2022), Ireland and Europe (2024), and most of the Appalachian Trail (2023 and 2025), and even several training hikes. Unfortunately, they have now struck out on their own. When I got back to the RV the other day I discovered there was a hole in my pocket and they had made their escape, along with my compass. I guess I should have gotten suspicious when they started asking me about how the use the compass. But, the real sign I missed is how they stopped calling me Uncle Chris and started calling me Uncle Stinky, and then just "Stinky". Should've been a warning. Well, they're seasoned hikers now and should be fine. And, they have my compass. Happy trails, ladies. It was a lot of fun. *Sniff *Sniff *Tear in the eyes  Stopping for a snack ...

My sister Rebekah suggested I adopt the line from the new Jurassic Park movie - I refuse to die in the jungle. The timing was perfect. These last 17 days have been rough. Four days of rain while climbing over piles of rocks last week followed by oppressive heat, and more rocks this week. Can't wait to see what happens next week. In my last post I told about the worst rocky stretch I'd ever seen. That record only lasted one day. The rocks I climbed over the next day were worse, were in the rain, and had a casualty. A woman fell on them and broke her ankle the day before I did them.  The first group is called Knife Edge and it's fitting. You have to crawl over a long stretch where they fall off to either side. The rain made them slippery to make it even more fun. When I got there these two 30-ish women were deciding what to do. I passed by and went on my way, frequently on all fours. The two women followed along behind me, going the same way I did. When we reached the end the...