Going To LASH It

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 sources say to do if you suspect you have it. But, I'm getting better everyday with rest and drinking lots of electrolytes. I'm keeping an eye on it and it looks like I'm mending well. 

All of this has led me to make a big decision. I've decided to turn this into a section hike instead of a thru-hike. A thru-hike is one where you complete the entire trail in a one calendar year period. The order of the miles is not relevant. You simply have to do them all in one year's time. A section hike, on the other hand, is where you take more than one year. I made my first attempt in 2019 and my second one in 2023. Before now, I have hiked all of New England down to Kent with the exception of a 50-mile stretch in southern Vermont. I did that portion but did it as part of the over-lapping Long Trail. Those miles don't count for the AT, but at least I know them. After that, there's only the 420 mile gap down south that I need to do. 

What I'm doing is called a LASH - long-ass section hike. Or, as Sherry likes to call it, a lazy-ass section hike. Either way, I'm approaching 2100 total miles on the AT (I did the stretch from Katahdin to Gorham, NH twice).  I have finished Georgia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine - eleven states total. I still have to finish North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. 

We're in Pelham, NH right now so Sherry can visit with family and friends for a couple weeks and I can have a chance to recover. When she's ready to leave we'll head to western Massachusetts and I can finish Vermont. Then, we'll head south. These 470 remaining miles will take six to seven weeks and we're hoping to get home by late-September (with a swing through Kansas City on the way).

Sherry was concerned that I would have difficulty with the idea of not doing a thru-hike but I really don't. I'm very comfortable with the whole thing. We have made tremendous sacrifices to do this and we're both ready to go home. I can't see the reason to wanting to hike hundreds of miles of trail that I've already hiked simply to be able to say I did the whole thing in one year. Okay, I took more than one year, but I still did the whole thing. Plus, I don't want to put my health at risk for mere bragging rights. 

By the way, since I started this effort seven seasons ago, I've hiked 3700 miles total on long trails. Finishing the two gaps will put me over 4100 miles total. There's plenty of people who have done far more that that (plenty of people who have done more than that in one year), but I'm pretty satisfied with what I've managed to do. And, I turn 68 in about six weeks. This doesn't mean I'll be done with hiking, or even hiking the AT. But, I don't see myself spending four to six months on the trail like this again. I'll have done what I set out to do - hiked the Appalachian Trail. After that it'll be onwards and upwards to new adventures.

Just outside Kent. Closed a big gap. 

The Housatonic River near Kent, CT. Scenic, but there were lots of warnings to not drink the water, even filtered. Too much pollution.

The Metro North train stop on the AT. It stops here only on weekends and holidays.