Legs and Borders

"The footpath they build had no historical basis. It didn't follow any Indian trails or colonial post roads. It didn't even seek out the best views, highest hills or most notable landmarks. In the end, it went nowhere near Mount Mitchell, though it did take in Mount Washington and then carried on another 350 miles to Mount Katahdin in Maine. (Avery, who had grown up in Maine and done his formative hiking there, was most insistent on this.) Essentially, it went where access could be gained, mostly high up on the hills, over lonely ridges and forgotten hollows that no one had ever used or coveted, or sometimes even named. It fell short of the actual southern end of the Appalachian Mountain chain by 150 miles and of the northern end by nearer 700. The work camps and chalets, the schools and study centres, were never built." Bill Bryson "A Walk in the Woods" Day spent eating, chatting and watching movies, a lot of familiar faces joined in...

"I didn't have a shower since Pennsylvania" Snail A nero day followed by a zero! In the morning I've fairly quickly got through the remaining 7 miles of the trail to the road and got a hitchhike to Gorham where I was planning to stay for the next two days. White Mountain's really kicked my butt, tendons in my legs were hurting even while I was going through fairly easy terrain and I needed some time to rest. I've managed to get a quick hitchhike to town, I ate a footlong Subway and went to check in at the Barn Hostel even though it was just noon. I've got greeted by Biscuit and MacGyver an older section hiking couple I've met at the Madison Spring Hut, they've been taking some time off trail as Biscuit's knees were not doing good, she already had one of them replaced in the past because of hiking. I've advised them to hike Carter's Dome I've just finished (they got a shuttle to Gorham from an earlier mile) so...

"Minimize the uphill, maximize the slack pack" California It was supposed to be super rainy today and at this point I saved up enough time to have a first actual day off since starting the AT in April. I was still ready to hike out in the morning but after seeing the weather forecast I started to have doubts, next section was quite technical and people were not recommending hiking it in the rain. I've asked Vanessa if she had spaces left for tonight and she confirmed. Her place was also very affordable at 40$ per night. Accomodations ahead were getting increasingly more expensive with only motels and inns to choose from. DeeDee called for a trip to White Hart Hotel for breakfast before the rain was supposed to start, Vanessa gave us her 25$ gift card to spend there as well. At the hotel we got joined by Indy who spend the night just outside the town at a campsite, he said the weather wasn't too bad and his tent was actually dry in the morning. After breakfast I went t...

Since I was running on schedule and the weather was supposed to be bad today I decided to take a day off. It was just a regular eat, sleep and walk around town kind of day. I decided to buy five days of resupply at the Fresh Choice for the next leg of TA, skip the upcoming town and go straight to Riverton. I went with cold soaked porridge for breakfast, peanut butter and nutella wraps (I stole the idea from Atsushi) premade and packed in separate ziplock bags for lunch and noodles with chicken and peas for dinner. Snack selection were nut bars, trailmix and Whittaker's chocolates. I threw few boiled eggs, dried apple slices and Oreos to the mix. I had a coffee at the gas station (they always have best and cheapest coffee), then had an amazing venison and plum sauce pie at the Miles Better Pies and bought new pair of undies as my old ones got too big (or I got too thin) and they were sliding off my arse as I wal...

Weather wasn't disastrous in the morning and I could have continued on but I felt quite flat after yesterday's marathon and since we just went past the middle point of South Island I decided to have a day off. And a lazy one it was.  I had a cold soaked porridge oats for breakfast but I put in too much water and it was quite soupy but trial had to be done as I was planning to make them on trail from now on. They tasted good. Then I went to town centre for a coffee with Alex from Germany and Sam from Canada, they both stayed at the campsite since yesterday and decided to have a zero day like me, everyone else was gone. We met Paul and his friend David from Austria in town and we all went to AJ's Coffee for a morning brew. Paul wildcamped 10 kilometres before Twizel last night and was planning to stay at the backpackers in a private room tonight. It cost 160$, way above my budget but he liked privacy and was happy to pay it. ...

Two rest days spend in Wellington over Christmas and Boxing Day, I've tried to use the time somewhat efficiently. On Christmas Day in the morning I called my relatives with wishes, it was still Christmas Eve in Europe. Then I left the hostel and went to check the path to the ferry. Employee at the backpackers told me that I will have to take a taxi there because of the roadworks in the area. It turned out to be partially true, building works were going on but the bypass for walkers has been made to access the ferry. After that I've climbed Victoria Hill on the coast of Wellington, it had an observation point and was teeming with tourists. I took few snaps of the city and found a bench in the quiet spot on the remote side of the hill where I've cracked open a bottle of wine and chilled for a bit. One hour later I made my way back to the hostel along the coast. Here I've watched Home Alone with other ...

Today was my first actual day off on the trail. After discussing the options with Tank Top, Fomo and Lucky we all decided to spend another day at Swede's house which he and his wife graciously allowed us to. It was a pretty steady and uneventful day, everyone was either sleeping, eating or just sitting around browsing internwebs. I've watched 'Return to Space' with Elon Musk about his SpaceX program on Netflix it was quite interesting. About 4pm we decided to head off to town in a car Swede borrowed us, we went to Mod Pizza, a Subway style pizzeria where you could build your own pizza from scratch and after that went to the cinema to see 'Thor: Love and Thunder' which thanks to Taika Waititi direction and performances by Natalie Portman, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale as a villain had a certain appeal to it. We went back to Swede's house after the movie where we got offered a rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream. Swede told us about his life as a police offi...