3 months!

Wow this has gone by quickly, 95 days! If I continue to average 17 miles a day I will be done in roughly a month and a half. If anyone had told me before or a week into this trip that I would have quit my job and continued hiking I would have had a hard time believing them; but here I am 1400 miles away from Springer Mt, GA just north of New York City.

New York has been a fun state to hike. Sometimes the trail goes over sheer rock faces and we literally have to climb over them pack and all. I love it, it's more like bouldering than hiking. One day I came across a couple of snacks, one pulling the other over the rock face that was the trail. I waited for them to get out of the way, which gave me time to pick out my route to climb. After they moved I tossed my walking stick up and scrambled after it with my pack on, it felt great! We are also starting to get back into some real mountains again instead of the hills of northern VA, & PA, I am glad we are easing back into them before the Whites. I was hiking up one such mountain the other day when I was taken by the view. I came around a switchback to the top and there was the skyline of NYC, it was beautiful. I have been in the city before but never had the chance to see the skyline. I will NEVER forget it, or walking over the Hudson. The zoo at Bear Mt was something I'd been looking forward to, they had native animals all of which I'd seen on the trail. It was rather sad seeing them all in their small cages knowing they will never know the freedom of the Appalachian Trail. But at the same time they were all rescued or rehabilitated from injuries and it was fun to see them up close.

I remember my first day, good deeds talking about the zoo, and a bear bell chicken. The bear bell chicken is a rubber chicken with a bear bell and dog tags that say carry me to the next shelter, 2012 Springer to Katahdin. Well I finally caught that silly chicken and will be proudly toting him to the next shelter with me tomorrow! Pictures to come.

My 4 month mark will fall on the 4th of July. If everything goes the way I would like I will be taking the day off zeroing at a shelter. With a store close enough that has corn on the cob, hot dogs, chips, and of course beer for me to carry to the shelter and share with my fellow hikers. I will be close to Maine if not already there. Now that will be hard to believe.