August 25, 2003
Hey friends,
So the hiking is over! I am currently in Bangor, Maine, waiting to catch a bus back to Toronto. It'll be a 22 hour ride, yech.
I started hiking again in New Hampshire, about a month ago. New Hampshire kicked my butt and slowed us down! Those mountains are rugged, and crowded. Clover and I realized fairly quickly that we wouldn't be able to hike the rest of the AT before August 25th, our end date. So we decided to cut out some of the trail in Maine and skip up to the final 100+ miles of trail. Clover will be coming back down to finnish that section in September, I have no idea when I'll be back, but I do hope to finnish at some point.
We started hiking again in what's known as the "100 mile wilderness". This section is by no means wilderness, at least when compared to what can be found in Canada. A lot of hikers had suggestions for what it should really be called: "The 100 mile crowdedness" (there were loads of day hikers who could access the area from logging roads); "the 100 mile logging forest", or "the 100-mile Tourist Trap for New England Yuppies Trying to Prove how Rugged They Are". In any case, it was still the wildest section of the trail and my favorite one too. It helped that the weather was perfect every single day too. Sunny days, cool nights and quiet lakes to swim in every day.
At the end of the wilderness is a paved road and a tiny general store, before entering Baxter State Park, where the trail ends. We camped at a public campground there and got treated to some sweet trail magic. Our neighbours at the campground came over to see if we wanted any lobsters! The guy was a lobster fisherman and they had 3 extra cooked lobsters and a stick of butter. Woo wee! Sumac and Undetermined, our canadian trail friends showed up right then and it just so happens that Undetermined doesn't eat lobster. So Clover, Sumac and I all feasted.
The next day we hiked to the base of Mt. Katahdin, the trails last mountain. Katahdin means "greatest mountain" in the local First Nations language, and it was considered a holy mountain by them. It's a pretty spectacular mountain, as it stands out on its own and it's higher than anything else around it (I can't remember exactly how tall it is, over 5000 feet, so tall for the East). We had a super last night on the trail and a great hike up the mountain with friends on Saturday. It felt great to be in a spot I'd thought about so often along the trail.
I have all sorts of thoughts about finishing and going home and what I've gained from this hike, but they're all a big jumble in my head right now. So I'll wait till I'm home before writing about that. For now, I'm excited to be heading back to Canada, and eventually to my new home in Vancouver. It feels good to put energy into things other than hiking. And I had the best sleep in a real bed last night, so good.
Hope y'all are doing well. Can't wait to see you!
Peace, Snort
July 25, 2003
Hey friends,
So it's been an awfully long time since I last wrote one of these group emails. Some 500 miles ago I believe. But as usual, you'll get the "what's happened in the past week" update. It's been an eventful one, to say the least.
James came over for a visit. We had a big, exciting, happy reunion in Dalton, Massachusetts on the 13th of July (he almost knocked me to the ground, unaware of the momentum his large backpack added to himself). As soon as James showed up, we suddenly found ourselves in the bar. Clover had a particularly eventful night, which ended up with the tent needing a bit of laundering in the morning. But we still managed to hike 14 miles after noon the next day.
We crossed into Vermont shortly after, only 3 more states to go, and the best 3 according to all the past through-hikers we've spoken with. Vermont is known to be a very liberal state. They're the second state (after Hawaii) to allow same-sex marriages, organic produce is common in the supermarkets and rumor has it that marijuana is the states #1 cash crop. Sound familiar? The mountains and the sunsets and the lakes here are beautiful.
Unfortunately, last Saturday night, just after hiking out of the town of Manchester, VT, I started feeling pretty crappy. We hiked back into town the next morning so I could be tested for Lyme's disease. Spent the night in town, then back up to the trail. We hiked a mile before I needed to sleep. My fever came back and got worse and worse till we all realized I had to get out of the woods. We walked back to the road, got a ride into town, and then got a ride in an ambulance to the town of Bennington, Vermont. Just to make things a little more exciting, at about the same time, a small tornado was passing through the town of Bennington while we were driving towards it!!
I spent two days in the hospital. I have to admit, it was really really nice. I loved sitting around all day and resting. And I got this bed that had a button on it I could push every time I wanted to sit up. (It was actually quite painful for me to sit up.) And the food was amazingly good (I think I'll take the salmon with russet potatoes and asparagus please...), they even fed Lucky and Clover too.
So, the final diagnosis was: (and this is an educated guess according to the doctor),
Viral myopericarditis with EKG changes and meningismus, most likely enteroviral etiology. (spell check doesn't like many of those words!) contact dermatitis, right buttock.
The first one means my heart was sore and there's something not quite right with it, meningismus means I had a sore neck and headache to boot. The second one means I have a new butt rash (may as well tell you before James broadcasts it on the website).
So now I'm waiting around in Manchester to get the go-ahead from the doctors. I had another EKG done on Friday (a test where they stick a lot of sticky things on me and hook them up to machine and print out a graph of what the different parts of my heart are doing. The EKG was still a little off, so I've got another one on Monday. Basically I'm not allowed to go hiking till my EKG is normal. Clover has gone on ahead and I will meet her in whatever town she's in when I'm ready to go. That is, if I'm ready to go. There is still a possibility that I won't be doing any more hiking. I haven't really thought about this too much yet though. I let my emotions deal with it if and when it actually happens. I'd be really sad to have to miss the 3 best states and the end of this beautiful hike.
Trail magic continues though. I am writing this to you from the home of Dr. Most and his awesome family. He's the doctor checking my EKGs in Manchester. He and his family have generously welcomed me into their home. I've been having a great time setting up the tent with the kids, playing in their tree house, reading cool kids books. Thank you Jim, Anne, Katie, Sarah and Will!! Oooh, and I got to ride around town on a bike today - so much fun : )
Well, that's plenty of reading material for y'all for now.
Send me some healing vibes please, and I'll take hugs too,
Peace, lots of peace,
Verena
June 15, 2003
Hey y'all,
Clover and walked over the Shanendoah River and into the extremely cute, historical town of Harper's Ferry this morning. Harper's Ferry is known as the "psycological half-way" point of the trail. The actual half way point is coming up soon in Pennsysvania. It feels great to be here, I had a huge grin on my face as we walked over the Shanendoah.
I tried writing an outline for my group email last night. I find I get to town and get to a computer and I feel so frazzled and rushed. There just so much going on in town, so many distractions that draw me in. Anyway, I realized I hadn't written you all since Damascus, which was just as I got into Virginia. We left Virginia yesterday, after hiking 535 miles through it, and crossed into West Virginia. (I've been singing "almost heaven, west virginia, blue ridge mountains, Shanendoah river...." LOTS!) There's no way I can pack all of Virginia into one email, so you'll all have to come see my slide show when I get home.
Speaking of which, I got accepted into UBC and Lakehead and I've decided to stay in Vancouver!
Ok, back on track...The hiking has been amazing. We've had quite a bit of rain, but our spirits are still high. The shelters that are spread all along the AT are so nice in this rainy weather. And when the shelters get sparse, we've discovered that the woman's bathroom in one of the Shanendoah's campground restrooms does quite well as a bedroom. (The men's side made a good cooking area!)
Shanendoah National Park has more than just great bathrooms though. We saw so much wildlife there. Lots of deer and their fawns, 6 or 7 black bears and one cute cub, a copperhead snake and loads of birds. Clover and I were traveling with Librarian. He carries a lot of books, mostly bird and plant guides, so we've been learning loads of stuff. We've been eating wood nettles, sassafras, indian cucumber and wild ginger. We ran into one of the park's biologists and grilled him with bird and plant questions. He figured we were pretty keen and invited us to watch some peregrin falcons being released into the wild. Very cool.
This trail is truly a magical place. I've been amazed time and time again at the generosity and hospitality I've come across down here. Two days ago we ran into "trail magic" twice. One ex-through hiker hiked into a shelter with a bunch of hamburgers and snickers bars. Then a little further on we crossed a road and another ex-through hiker had juice, bannanas and cookies waiting for us. Walking through town today, a trail angel named "Blue moon" pulled up and offered us a ride to the restaurant, then gave us his phone number in case we need any more rides in town. We've stayed at free hostels and had people in towns go out of their way to get us to the trail head.
My senses feel like they are opening up more and more as I discover new bird calls and new flowers to smell. It's hard to shut them down to filter out all that town has to offer, which may be why it's so overwhelming in town.
We're off to go find a place to stay for the night.
Lots of peace and hugs to y'all,
Snort
Hey y'all,
It's been awhile since I've sent out a trail update so I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. There's just so much to write about, so many new adventures and good times everyday.
I'm currently in the town of Damascus, Virginia. We were travelling along the Tennessee, North Carolina border for quite a while and I crossed into Virginia on May 1st, just 4 miles before Damascus. Ooooh, actually, you can now check out a map of the trail and where we're at on a website Superstar-James put together: http://www.geog.ubc.ca/~jfloyer/appalachian. Thanks James ! So we'll be in Virginia for quite awhile now. About a quarter of the trail runs through this State.
All along the way we've been hearing about how flat Virginia is. The terrain levelled off just before Damascus, so five of us decided to hike 33 miles in a day (just over 50kms). (Anne was smart and did it in two days.) The whole thing took me about 13 hours. The first 23 miles were great, I was quite enjoying moving fast, but the last 10 miles were exhausting, even though they were mostly downhill. I'm pretty sure I won't be doing that again. For those last ten miles I stopped enjoying what was around me and I was totally focused on just getting to town and resting. I've seen a bumper sticker around here that says "It's all about the smiles, not about the miles" - so true.
There's a nasty hiker-bug going around and I got it yesterday, which is why we're still in Damascus. I woke up yesterday morning to Bag throwing up into his cooking pot, because he couldn't make it to the bathroom. (Bag got his name from bringing a body bag instead of a bivi sac or tent on the trail. He used it for a couple of nights till he realized body bags don't breathe too well.) The bug hit me a couple of hours later and I found myself spewing my chocolate milk onto the lawn of the hiker-hostel in town. I had an audience of 7 highschool boys and one woman for the show. So I spent the rest of yesterday sleeping and trying to keep hydrated. The nice thing about this bug is that it doesn't last long and it leaves quickly. Anne made me a bowl of Chicken soup last night when I finally got my appetite back and within half an hour my fever was gone and I had enough energy to visit with some friends at the bar down the street.
Part of the reason I haven't sent out a trail update in awhile is because of some sad news I received in Erwin, about a week ago. Two friends of mine, Guy Edwards and Johnkim Millar died in a storm, attempting to climb the Devil's Thumb in Alaska. For those of you who didn't know them, they were an amazing pair. So full of joy and a desire to live life to the fullest. It was hard being so far from all of my friends while processing this news. There was a memorial service held in Lighthouse Park last Sunday.
I spent a lot of that day hiking on my own and thinking of John and Guy. It was one of the most beautiful days I've had on the trail yet. The weather was sunny and cool, and the trail went over 3 balds, mountain tops which are clear of trees. Balds are a bit of a mystery, as people don't really know how they were formed. Theories include fire, grazing, weather patterns and aliens. In any case, they offer beautiful 360 degree views and have an alpine feel to them. It was such a beautiful day and I felt so much joy in my heart being out there. It felt like John and Guy were out there with me.
That's about it for now. Don't forget to check out the website, there should be some trail photos showing up on it fairly soon.
Peace y'all,
Verena Snort
Hellooo friends!
I'm in the wonderful town of Hot Springs, North Carolina. The trail has been beautiful and magical, I don't know where to start... and I've only got 20min. to do it in.
We've come 270 miles and I'm loving the trail more and more every day. We came through the Great Smoky Mountains and got some truly soggy weather. A couple of days of snow and slush and freezing rain. It was sure nice to get to a shelter after a day of walking through a couple of feet of snow, and the 25+ thru-hikers crammed into the shelters made it nice and cozy. Two days after all the snow, Anne and I found ourselves cooling off in a beautiful creek. It's nice to have the hot, sunny weather back.
Hot Springs is my favorite town so far. We stayed at Elmer's hostel last night. A huge old victorian home full of beautiful people, an awesome library and a music room (unfortunately no fiddle). Ate home-cooked organic meals (YUMMY) - rumoured to be one of the best meals you'll get on the trail.
Last night about 35 thru-hikers hit the one bar in town and we got treated to some AWESOME music. A bunch of locals sitting around with their fiddles, banjos, guitars and a dolcimer. They were mostly playing old traditional celtic-ish folk tunes. Great dancing. Some of the musicians were such classic hill-billies. Overalls, plaid shirt, straw hat and a banjo.
It's my birthday today and a couple of hikers made a card and got it signed by everyone. So sweet. So far 28 is my favorite age to be! Life is so good : ).
Walking into spring is such a magical treat everyday. The valleys are so, so greeeen now and each time I walk down into them I get blasted with the sweet, intoxicating smell of new flowers. Orchids, irises, spring beauty, asters, bleeding hearts.... so many new flowers.
Oh ya, there was another Sprout on the trail, so I've been re-named to Snort (cause I occasionally let a few out when I get laughing real hard, which is often down here).
Sorry if this email's a little scattered, it's hard to write in a hurry and towns seem to scatter me anyways.
Life is beautiful, hope you're all loving it.
Lots of peace and spring sweetness to you all,
Verena - Snort
Here's an updated version of my itinerary, we're hoping to make it all the way before August 25th. Once again, it's rough, you might want to assume we may get somewhere a few days ahead of schedule.
Address to Verena Blasy and/or Anne Marchildon
Write in corner of package/letter:
"Please hold for A.T. hiker"
Pick-Up Point ETA**
March 21 2003
Hello Friends,
So I'm enjoying the rain and some good friends in Toronto for a few days. I got out here on Tuesday night and Anne and I have been busy getting ready for the trail since then. We hop on a bus on Sunday and 23 and 1/2 hours later we'll be in Marietta, Georgia. (Anne just let me know that there are tornadoes in south-western Georgia, hmm... tornadoes, a war, this should be a good adventure). We'll start hiking from Amicalola State Park on the 25th-ish.
I'll backtrack a bit for those of you who are getting this and wondering what the heck I'm talking about. My friend Anne and I are planning on hiking most or all of the Appalachian Trail which runs from Georgia to Maine along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains in the US.
Last November I found myself at a slideshow put on by a guy named Derek who's been walking for peace for about 16 years now, you can check out the peacewalker's website to find out more about him and the organization at www.peacewalker.com. I liked the idea of walking for peace right off the bat and I've been toying with it since I met Derek and the other peacewalkers. Given the events of the past few days I've decided to make this my own peacewalk. So far it is simply an intention to walk in peace and to reflect on peace as I walk.
That's it for now,
Peace and Sunshine,
Verena
March 31 2003
Hi guys!
So Anne and I are in Hiawassee Georgia today. We moseyed into town yesterday
afternoon and stayed at an AWESOME hiker hostel / organic blueberry farm.
We got a hot shower, dried out our wet gear and they did our laundry for
us. Talk about service. Plus we got an all you can eat breakfast of blueberry
pancakes and sausages. What a deal. We were pretty happy to get in there
and warm up next to the wood stove seen as we got snowed on the night before!
Turns out Georgia is colder than Vancouver, even down in town today. It's
not all true though, we started our hike in shorts and t-shirts.
Trail life is great. We've been walking 11 or 12 miles a day (so we're already a few days ahead of that itinerary). There are LOADS of other hikers out there too, a surprising number of them are retired men too! There's often 15 to 20 hikers camped around a shelter in the evenings, and all of us are in bed by 8pm. It's nice to be away from all the media right now. There is almost no talk of the war on the trail and it's kind of nice. There's enough time to catch up on news in town.
Spring is just arriving and we get treated to a new flower every couple of days. The trees are still leaf-less, so on cold days it feels a lot like fall. Rumor has it the temperature is heading back up this week again. Yee haw!
The folks down here in Georgia are super friendly and have cool suthern accents and like to say "y'all" a lot. I'm working on my accent so I fit in, but I'm becoming more and more aware of how often I say "eh".
Hikers' all have trail names down here. I'm sticking with my old stand-bye Outdoor School nickname of Sprout, as I don't feel like I need to collect yet another name. (Plus it prevents me from acquiring a name such as "snot-rocket" from other hikers. (Snot rocket is apparantly quite skilled at blowing her nose without the use of her bandanna.))
So that's about it for now,
Peace and Sunshine,
Sprout