Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Walking the Line

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

As I’ve mentioned previously I have undertaken planning to do a thru-hike next year on the Appalachian Trail (AT). My hope is that I will walk all 2,200 miles of the AT from Springer Mountain, GA to Mt. Katahdin Maine starting in late February or early March, 2015. This is my trail journal where I hope to take you from my decision to do this, through my preparation and then notes from the trail and hopefully all the way to Maine. All of this in my journey and process to live happy days my friends. ~ Rev Kane

As I wrote in my last post AT Happiness: This was NOT the plan, I cut short my trip across the country to help out my family as mom has been ill. I’m happy to say she’s on the mend and is doing well enough that I felt comfortable in slipping away for a couple of days to put my feet on the AT for the first time in 2015. I chose a section outside of Pawling, NY and planned to do a couple of 8-10 mile days on the Connecticut and New York border.

I had chosen Danbury, CT as my base of operations and the day I chose to drive down and get started coincided with an ice storm that closed parts of the NY State Thruway, I-95 and I-84 the storm has even been nicknamed IceZilla!

So I didn’t roll into Danbury til almost 5PM after driving through an amazing rainstorm that led to some flooding in the area. Of course winter in the Northeast means that temperatures tanked overnight and all that lovely water froze in place.

My hope today was that I would drive up to the Nature Conservancy’s Pawling Nature Reserve, park and hike out to the AT and hike west to the Route 22 and Metro North’s Appalachian Train station and back. I did the 40 minute drive up to the nature reserve over some lovely back roads only to find that the parking area, a spot for about 4 cars, was basically a skating rink, just like the parking area at the train stop.

So, as we mentioned in the last post the best attitude applied to the adventure that is hiking the AT is to adapt the marine’s motto, adapt, improvise and overcome. So I drove up route 22 to the train stop and a small parking area on route 22 and within two minutes a tow truck pulled in to see if I needed help. This didn’t bode well for leaving my car in the parking area, full of gear, with CA plates for several hours. I quickly imagined coming back to find it ticketed by the state police or having been towed of by an overly zealous tow truck driver.

So I improvised and decided to take a short hike on the trail and snap a few pictures. Not the hike I’d had in mind today but if felt really good to see my first white blazes of 2015 and finally do some hiking on the trail. I really enjoyed my time on the trail today, even more so for the fact I was hiking through and above a giant swamp. You see, when I come by this place again on my thru-hike it will be late spring or early summer and this swamp will likely be hot, muggy and swarming with mosquitos. It will almost certainly not be one of my favorite spots on the trail, but today it was cold, ice-covered and peaceful and it very much felt like a favorite place, right down to the Adirondack chairs on the elevated walkway.

I’m going to end today’s post with a quote from my current celebrity crush, the talented and beautiful Rosamund Pike, seriously, have you seen Gone Girl? Have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

I look my best when I’m totally free, on holiday, walking on the beach. ~ Rosamund Pike

OTHER PIECES YOU MIGHT LIKE, CHECK EM OUT…

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Beginnings

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Three Important Questions

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Second Test Hike