Tag: hiking
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Lessons of a broken spoon
One day after we left Damascus, I snapped my plastic spoon in my jar of peanut butter at lunch. It was a clean break at the base of the spoon, leaving me with a very tiny scoop and no handle. It would be four days before I had an opportunity to get another spoon. The…
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The Grayson Highlands: Hiking with the ponies
Last May, Church Mouse and I were planning on doing a 10-day backpacking trip. At the time, it would’ve been the longest trip either of us had been on. It was supposed to be a test of sorts, a can we actually do this hike. I wanted to do a section of the AT, but…
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Easter Sunday
We spent Easter Sunday in the woods. I’d hoped that we’d be close enough to town that we could celebrate Christ’s return to life in church, but with some bad weather, sick tramily members, and minor injuries, we took a couple slow days and were in the middle of nowhere. Good Friday we spent in…
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Things I’ve learned after one month of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail
It’s April 1, and Church Mouse and I have been on trail for 32 days. Currently, I’m sprawled out on my hotel bed watching the lightning strike outside. We hiked under a tornado warning into Erwin, Tennessee, yesterday. Our weekly zero is today: We hiked in stinking, sore, out of food, and very ready for…
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The shadow of deja vu
One of the grand adventures of hiking is that there are always new faces. Every time you come to a shelter or campsite, there is at least one new person, usually more. Of course, there are people you hike the same sleep as, people you see in shelters again and again, like Happy, Drive Thru…