The Ministry of Happiness

Appalachian Trail Happiness: On the Road Again

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail Happiness: On the Road Again

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness ~ John Muir

So in the morning I board a train for Harpers Ferry and then Thursday morning I start the end of my Appalachian Trail adventure. I’ll be walking from Harpers Ferry to Kent Connecticut, where I ended my southern hike a few weeks ago. I have a little over 300 miles to go to wrap up the 1200 miles I want to accomplish.

I expect that I’ll do around 12 miles a day, not a blistering pace on some of the flattest part of the trail, but it will be enough to allow me to finish up by the end of September. Looking forward to getting back to it. Hard to explain what life is like being on the trail, but it’s good and simple and there’s a connection you develop to being out there.

Sometimes we relax a lot

Sometimes we relax

Kingfisher celebrating in Hot Springs.

Meeting Hanley, the first Twitter friend I met on the trail

Rev Kane with fellow hiker and vet Mau.

Rev Kane with some of his trail family

The AARP gang with our host Lumpy on the left at Standing Bear

Awesome, Backtrack, Rev Kan, and the Kingfisher

It’s also bittersweet, I have friends completing there thru-hikes almost daily now in Maine. I’m so happy for them, a tad bit jealous, but proud of what they have accomplished. Proud of what I’ve done as well, but it’s hard not to compare yourself to folks you started with way back in March on rainy cold days in the Georgia hills.

Lots of happy days since then my friends ~ Rev Kane

Posted in Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness | Tagged appalachian trail, backcountry, backpacking, happiness, harpers ferry, hiking, Katahdin, maine | Leave a comment

Appalachian Trail Happiness: Mt. Washington

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail Happiness: Mt. Washington

How glorious a meeting the sun gives the mountains ~ John Muir

So not having the opportunity or enough functional knee strength to do Mt. Washington, I decided to ride up it in a tourist van. I was granted with a relatively sunny day on the mountain something to be very grateful for on the mountain. Once on top I immediately when looking for hiking trash and found these three characters who immediately chastised me for riding up the mountain.

Jackoby, Dirt Pile and Rube

It was impressive to see how many trails crossed at the summit and there were a fair number of day hikers who had done the summit.

And of course the road crossing of the Appalachian Trail

A really cool way to summit the mountain is to come up on one of the cog trains.

And finally from this very happy day, a lot of really pretty pictures ~ Rev Kane

Posted in Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness | Tagged appalachian trail, backpacking, climbing, happiness, hiker trash, hiking, mt. washington, new hampshire, white mountains | Leave a comment

Happiness is Mountain Biking: 24 Hours of Great Glen

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Michael Kane

Happiness is Mountain Biking: 24 Hours of Great Glen

So as I was visiting Mt. Washington, I stumbled into the final installment of the 24 Hours of Great Glen mountain bike race. So I cranked out the camera and here you go:

Beautiful day of racing and a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

Posted in Random Happiness | Tagged 24 hours of great glen, bike racing, great glen, happiness, mountain bike, mt. washington, new hampshire, photography, racing | Leave a comment

Appalachian Trail Happiness: Maine

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail Happiness: Maine

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. ~ Robert Frost

If you’ve been following along you know that I injured my knee and won’t be able to fully complete my thru-hike. I will finish up 300 miles or so I skipped between Harpers Ferry and CT, easier miles. But I did want to hike in every state so recently I did day hikes in NH and in Maine. I recently posted about my NH hike, and this is one of a couple of posts about my time in Maine. I decided to do a hike out of Grafton Notch State Park, a little up and back hike to Table Top.

The AT comes down off this mountain, about a 4000 foot descent, this is part of what makes Maine so tough.

Before hitting the trail I made a quick stop a Screw Auger State Park, really cool little area in the park.

There was even some 90 year old graffiti chiseled into the rock.

My standard selfie on the trail.

The hike up to Table Top was about 700 feet over a mile but the trail really wasn’t all that tough. Who knows, maybe I still have some legs left after all, the views from on top of Table Top were magnificent.

I took a little lunch break on top and took a little bit of a vertigo selfie.

A great hike my friends and my last day hike before returning to the trail full-time for a month. Have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

Posted in Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness | Tagged appalachian trail, backpacking, grafton notch, happiness, hiking, maine, screw auger, table top | Leave a comment

Appalachian Trail Happiness: New Hampshire

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail Happiness: New Hampshire

Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread ~ Edward Abbey

So if you’ve been following along you know my hopes for a complete thru-hike have buckled like my bad knees. However my plan includes at least doing one hike in each state on the trail and the two states I had left in the north were Maine and New Hampshire. I recently did day hikes in each and this post is about my days in New Hampshire. I’ll hit the trail next week an finish my hike by hiking Harper’s Ferry to Connecticut. When wrapped up I’ll have over 1200 miles and will have hiked in every state and done the highest peak in 11 out of 14 states including the highest peak on the trail. Not bad for an old, fat man 🙂

First, the drive in turned out to be a bit more exciting than I had hoped because of a random stop in Bethlehem, NH. A cute little town I hit as I entered the state.

What made the stop so special was a lunch stop at the Cold Mountain Cafe, where I had a really fabulous lunch, the soup, thai noodle salad and pasta dish were amazing. For the first time in my life I took a picture of my food, the thai salad was absolutely amazing and beautiful.

I stayed outside of Hanover, NH and did a hike from Hanover up through Etna. It wasn’t a big hike, nor was there much climbing at all. Basically, just a really pleasant walk in the woods with some great sights and views. Also passed another cemetery adjacent to the trail, it’s been fascinating how many cemeteries are located along the trail. Felt great to be back on the trail and to be hiking again, all in all a really wonderful day. Walking always makes it a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

Posted in Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness | Tagged appalachian trail, backpacking, bethlehem, day hike, food, happiness, hiking, new hampshire, summer | 1 Comment

Happiness is a day at the track

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Michael Kane

Happiness is a day at the track

A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries ~ Will Rogers

I grew up near Saratoga and I try to make it back for the races as often as I can. I like horse racing, the horses are incredible, I like to wager, the track is beautiful and the atmosphere festive. I have friends who are dead set against horse racing because of the impact on horse’s lives, can’t argue that they don’t have a case but I do enjoy the sport.

Hell in Saratoga there are even horses on the street:

Last week I went up to photograph morning workouts, the track is a little eerie that early in the morning but also oddly beautiful.

The required Krissel Angle shot

In the morning though the horses working out are the main attraction

Last but not least the grounds and the fountains are gorgeous, a very happy morning sitting around in the cool air watching the horses train and soaking in the sights.

Finally my favorite shot of the day.

Hope you’re having a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

Posted in Random Happiness | Tagged happiness, horse racing, horses, photography, saratoga | Leave a comment

Appalachian Trail Happiness: MA, CT & A Big Decision

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail Happiness: MA, CT & A Big Decision

So, we have choice, and sometimes it seems very hard, but the best way to heal physically or emotionally is to keep positive. ~ Petra Nemcova

So my plan was to head south from where I had wrapped up in Massachusetts for a week or so, then celebrate my friends birthday in New York City before heading up to Bennington and heading north on the trial. The trip started as planned, with one small hitch, one of my new knee braces had started to cut into the back of my knee. I thought it was just a glitch as I had tested them on the trail for a week in Vermont.

Unfortunately, there had not been any long climbs and as I was starting some climby days in Mass, the braces on both legs starting cutting into my knees. Things came to a head the day I did Mt. Everett and Bear Mt. A combination of my cuts, the pressure on my knees sans heavy braces, massive humidity (I drank 194 ounces of water that day), heat rashes and bugs kind of broke me. Having been off the trail for three weeks had also done a hell of a number on my fitness level.

The really heavy realization set in that given my circumstances, I would not be able to complete the bigger stuff in NH and ME, my knees, without better bracing won’t handle it. The realization hit hard, but I was prepared for it, the writing had been on the wall for some time. It was still hard.

I was pushing south partially in hopes of meeting up with other hikers I know and in fact that was happening like it had when I was slacking south. I had two especially good meetings, first a Twitter friend:

Then a friend of a friend and her really cool little dog.

The trip south through MA and CT was beautiful, particularly Sages Ravine on the border

and Brassie Brook Shelter

Brassie Brook Shelter

There were lots of hump back whale rocks.

And lots of sheer rock faces, a couple of which were particularly gnarly.

And some really great views.

And as always, some really cool mushrooms

My new plans are to finish out about 400 miles between Harpers Ferry and the NY border, this will give me about 1200 miles total. This week I’m heading north to day hike in NH and ME before returning to the trail full-time next week. This will also give me miles in every state on the trail. I’m doing well and having happy days my friends, I hope you are as well ~ Rev Kane

Posted in Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness | Tagged adventure, appalachian trail, backpacking, happiness, hiking | Leave a comment

Appalachian Trail Happiness: Brassie Brook Shelter

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail Happiness: Brassie Brook Shelter

Brassie Brook Shelter

When the uniqueness of a place sings to us like a melody, then we will know, at last, what it means to be at home. ~ Paul Gruchow

Sometimes on the trail you just hit a place that really works for you. One of these places for me recently was Brassie Brook Shelter in Connecticut. I had been back on the trail for about three days and that particular day had been a good one. I hit the shelter fairly early around 1:30 in the afternoon and decided to eat lunch and then figure out if I still wanted to continue on for the day. The odd thing is that two shelters, Brassie Brook and Riga are only a tenth of a mile apart. Riga had a bigger shelter but Brassie Brook had more camping space so I opted for the latter. Good choice! The shelter area was a hemlock forest, a recent straight line wind had cut a path through the camping area so there was one area of big downed and broken trees.

Coming over the hill that led down to the shelter there was a small cave off behind the shelter in the rocks. The shelter was tiny with a little picnic table out front and there was a nice little view that included a stream off to the side.

I sat down at the table and ate lunch and took in the beauty and the quiet of the spot. The stream had little waterfall sections that both made it easy to fill bottles and to allow me to do a little clean up. The quiet was broken by the bark of a big dog across the stream, I figured it must be at Riga Shelter. A few minutes later the dog came over the hill to the shelter, a powerful pit bull pulling his owner down the hill. Not the best with aggressive dogs I put a hand on a trekking pole and prepared to dread the next few minutes. Then I saw his tail wagging like crazy.

The dog turned out to be a former military service do and he was both drooly and incredibly friendly. He also chewed everything in site, he destroyed a brand new tennis ball in about 3 minutes, he bit through a quarter inch stick and gnawed off a branch nub that was a good inch in diameter. His owner was equally interesting, a recent veteran who was dealing with some issues and I dropped into counseling mode and we had a really great talk for an hour or so. It was a good meeting in a wonderful spot.

I decided to spend the rest of the day at the shelter and the stream and hang my hammock in the Hemlock forest. It was a really amazing spot and I had a great day and a wonderful night’s sleep. Just won of many really special days on the trail. Hope you’re having an amazing day today my friends ~ Rev Kane

Other Pieces You Might Enjoy

Appalachian Trail Happiness & The Three Questions

Appalachian Trail Happiness: Trail Community

Posted in Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness | Tagged appalachian trail, backpacking, beauty, brassie brook, forest, happiness, hiking, nature | 3 Comments

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Prettiest Place on the Trail

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Prettiest Place on the Trail

Living is not enough…one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower ~ Hans Christian Anderson

This post is likely to start a bit of a lively debate as there are many amazing places along the Appalachian Trail (AT). Also the time of day, the season and the weather on a given day have a lot to say about how a particular place looks. A disclaimer as well, as of this writing I’ve only seen about a third of the trail (approx. 750 miles) so I’ve got a lot more to see to make any kind of definite statement here. I’m also happy to take your suggestions and pictures on this subject, as always, love to hear from you all.

The view above is just a random hillside in southern Massachusetts near Mt. Everett. Along the trail from Georgia to Vermont we got many big views, these include Blood Mountain in GA, Clingman’s Dome on the clearest day I’ve ever seen in the smokies, Mt. Albert, Rocky Top, Mcafee’s Knob, Mary’s Rock, Jug End and too many others to name. This list of course misses all of the little unnamed spots we hit at the right time on the right time in the right weather that just stun us in the moment.

Rev Kane on Rocky Top

I will say that one of those perfect moment spots for me was Mt. Unaka. It was a special morning, we’d screamed challenges at the hill the night before at the end of a long day. The climb was steep and hard but the payoff was a summit reminiscent of Middle Earth. Making the summit and finding this magical place I just sat down and let it embrace me, one of the truly special moments for me on the trail.

The summit of Mt. Unaka

There have been amazing sunsets and sunrises while on the trail and the best one I didn’t even try to photograph. I woke up in my hammock one morning and thought the shelter nearby was on fire. When my sleep filled eyes adjusted I realized that it was the sky, not the shelter on fire. The sky was burning, pink and orange more brightly than anything I’ve ever seen. It was a spectacular show of color that I almost couldn’t believe was real. I thought about going for my camera that was packed up under the hammock and then I gave in to the reality that I didn’t want to miss a second of the amazing show being put on by nature so I just laid in the hammock and marveled at the show. Below is a horribly poor substitute for some of the sunrises I have seen on the trail.

Dawn at 5000 feet

You get a lot of trail talk about amazing places you’re about to come upon. One of the most talked about is Max Patch, a huge bald with three-hundred and sixty degree views. Personally I didn’t find Max Patch all of that exciting and even less so once we missed the first blaze on the base of it and got lost for twenty minutes.

However once I got near the MA/CT border I started hearing about Sages Ravine. Partially because it was brutally hot and humid and you could get in the water there. In this case the spot matched up to it’s billing. The Ravine is another magical spot, deep in shade on a hot summer day, a small river with short little waterfalls running into cold pools where you could sit down in the water and cool off, fabulous.

I failed to photograph my favorite spot as I went through, a little fall splits around a natural rock bench so that you can sit there with water spraying you on either side with your feet in the river. Sages Ravine will be forever burned into my brain and one of my best AT location memories.

I’m sure I have some more amazing places to see as I head into my next 400 mile leg through MD, NJ, PA and NY. Below are just some random photos of pretty places I’ve encountered along the trail, enjoy and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane