After a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, two pancakes and coffee, I left the Weary Feet Hostel at 8:30 this morning. I have been really pleased with how quickly I have gotten my “trail legs” on this hike. On my first day out I hiked eight miles in six hours, taking my time to avoid injuries. Today, I hiked just over nine miles in the first three hours and I covered seventeen miles in total today in six and one half hours, and my legs still felt strong when I finished. 

For the first time on this hike I did not meet one single hiker on the trail. No one going southbound, no one going northbound. And, it was another stunningly beautiful day. I just don’t get it.

I felt as though I was the “Deer Whisperer” during the morning hike. About one hour after I started out I saw a young white tail deer cross the trail in front of me. I could tell that it did not see me and I pulled out my phone from my back pocket and just stood still. A few moments later the deer reappeared about forty yards right in front of me. I began to video the deer as it slowly started to approach me. It probably came as close as twenty yards from me before quickly scampering into the woods. When I looked at the video footage all that I had captured were my feet.  Some wildlife photographer I would be! About twenty minutes later I saw three adult deer but just as soon as they spotted me they ran away.  And shortly after that two more young deer came out of the woods right in front of of me. As I reached for my camera, one ran away but the other one just stood and stared at me long enough for me to get a shot of it. I was a little worried about the future for this young deer, though, as I could see its rib cage, which is probably not a good sign with winter not too far away. I stopped for a quick break at a nice shelter and there were a couple of pretty spots along the trail today.

Tomorrow will be my last hike on this trip as I make my way back to New Hampshire beginning Sunday… but let me give some context to this. When I came off the AT in 2023, after 500 miles, I was so disappointed in myself that I did not complete the thru-hike that I had set out to accomplish. I felt like I let my family down also as they had gone to such great lengths to support me. The day I came off the trail I was sure I would never step foot on it again and I really wasn’t interested in rehashing any of my experiences. After two plus years of giving a lot of thought to what went wrong I decided that, for my own peace of mind, I needed to go back on the trail to see if there was a different, more positive experience that I might be able to come to terms with. 

While thinking about why I failed in my first attempt, I came to realize that I was never “great” at a lot of things that I had tried, but greatly enjoyed. Football, baseball, sprinter, pole vaulter, marathon runner, ultra-marathon runner, hang glider, sky diver, golfer – all of these I had tried, and enjoyed, but never truly excelled at. So, why should I expect to be a great trail hiker? With that thought in mind I decided to come back on the trail and try to make it work under my terms. So, after two good solid weeks of hiking the AT, mostly alone, I can say that I have found the sweet spot for me, two weeks, and that is why I will wrap up my hike tomorrow. I have also come to realize that I am a very strong hiker. I do not say this in a bragging fashion but I know that I can out hike most people half my age. However, I also found out, the hard way, that to thru-hike the AT it is more important to have the right mental temperament than it is is to be physically strong. And I do not have this, or at least not to the extent necessary to complete the entire trail. I get too frustrated and aggravated by all of the down time and the monotony that goes along with a six month hike. I would say successful thru-hikers should be about 35% physically capable and the balance is all about having the right mental temperament. So, when I finish my hike tomorrow I will do so with a smile on my face, and the satisfaction of knowing the trail did not get the last laugh. 

Tonight I am staying at Woods Hole hostel which may be the most unusual hostel I have stayed at, ever, on the AT. Upon arrival it felt like I had followed Alice down the rabbit hole. It is just a bizarre place, but in a nice, friendly  kind of way. The original facility has been around since sometime in the 1800s. Everything had a very natural, earthy feel to it. The current owner is a guy named “Jaws” and you can see a picture of the two of us below. There are three or four other people here tonight and we are having a communal dinner at 6:00 pm, which will be preceded by everyone gathering in a circle, introducing themselves, and sharing one thing with the group that they are thankful for. A great idea, in my opinion, and I look forward to experiencing the dinner! Pics of the place are below. 

Before closing out today’s blog, I have a story from yesterday that is just too good to omit. After having dinner last night at the Weary Feet Hostel, Purple Haze, one of the owners, told the five of us staying there one of the most bizarre stories I have heard on the trail. She was working on a thru-hike in 2023. While coming back from the privy (outhouse) one evening she saw a bear nearby. Knowing that she should not run, she began to walk quickly back to the shelter. Sensing that the bear was near her, she turned around and it was literally right in her face and it was a huge black bear. By then, others at the shelter saw what was happening and were trying to shout and throw things at the bear. Just as Purple Haze tried to lunge into the shelter the bear bit her in the butt, and then turned and ran away. She had to go to the hospital and get a rabies shot, and had to give her pants to a Forest Service worker so that they could capture the bear’s DNA. The bear was later found and killed. And, just when I thought this story could get no better, Purple Haze proudly pulled out her phone to show us pictures of her bitten butt, and then she proceeded to pull down the back corner of her sweat pants and showed us a tattoo, on her butt, of a bear’s face with the teeth marks in the exact place she was bitten. I can’t imagine ever topping this story!!!