My Next Big Idea

Hello friends and family!

I would like to take a minute and share with you my future plans of adventure, outreach, and conservation stewardship. The AT had its ups and downs (you had to ride through the lows in order to experience the highs) and I felt like I grew immensely as a person and a traveller. Along with honing backpacking and people skills, I also developed my philosophy regarding the natural world and my place within. My experience on the Trail and my interactions with the people I found myself hiking with has helped in some way inspire my next adventure. My project is called Cycling for Conservation and I invite you all to subscribe to my new blog and website, www.cycling4conservation.org, for updates on the progress of the project, and, when the time comes, updates on my travels around the country my bicycle.

I will spend an entire year on a touring bicycle connecting with people from all over the country. The route will take me from ocean to ocean and from north to south and back again. We will be circumnavigating the lower 48 while engaging 12 communities in conservation service in their own backyard. I am currently working on a partnership between Cycling for Conservation and The Nature Conservancy so that we could use their preserves for our planned projects. I am interested in projects are simple yet much needed like nest box construction, invasive species management, habitat restoration/clean up, or trail building/maintenance.

Don’t worry! I won’t be traveling alone, my friend, John Adams, whom I met through Philmont will be my riding partner and has helped cultivate C4C, as we have come to call our project. All the details of our project as well as neat links to other conservation web sites are on the blog, www.cycling4conservation.org. Please visit the site and let me know what you think, your opinions and support are of the utmost importance to me.

Thanks for reading,

Marc

…the story continues (or restarts, rather)

Hey all!

Happy (belated) holidays and (belated) New Year!! Better late than never, right?

So, with getting back, spending the holidays with my families, looking for jobs, then working three part time jobs, battling hydraulic fracturing, searching for jobs for this summer and trying to relax has unfortunately left very little time to reminisce about my adventures and share them with you in this blog. Fortunately, I’ve finally devoted some time to look back through my journal and relive experiences and feelings. So where should I start? I guess because the fall trip kind of turned into a hit-or-miss updating system, I guess I’ll start at our first resupply way back in September on the  20th, four months ago. It was Fort Montgomery, New York.

And so this is how it was…

September 20, 2011

“Woke in a comfy bed (!!!) Ibex got up and walks across the street to pick up breakfast. To my delight she hands me an egg & cheese croissant while she takes a bite of her egg & cheese bagel. Yum! We wait for the post office to open, then go there to send back lip balm, our hats and my old boots (my friend, Andy, had just sent new ones to Fort Montgomery from Philmont. Thanks Andy!) We then proceed to resupply at what the guidebook said was a long-term resupply.

Fit for a long term resupply (4-5 days), this establishment was not. We walked into the corner gas station convenience store expecting some fresh food, a selection of meal options. Despite the slim pickings of overpriced GORP and triscuits, we did surprisingly well. We spent $40 at the “Food Mart” and bought $6 box of triscuits, $3 PB, some snack food including peanuts, GORP, sunflower seeds. Not great food, but food nonetheless for two days till we could try and resupply in Greenwood Lake or with our new friend we met on the trail, Tender Toes.

Because we had to do all this this morning (had to wait for PO to open) and the motel owner refused to give us a ride to the Trail (like he picked us up the previous day) past 9 am, Ibex & I  walk the 2 mi on the main road to get back to the trail. Back were we left yesterday, we walk through the Trailside Zoo & Museum.

One of the most talked about things of New York, the Trailside Zoo & Museum is exactly what it sounds like – a linear zoo with museum buildings placed near the begining (or end?) of the path that the AT follows. I learned about Natives, who had begun living in the area more than 9,000 years ago! The museums also highlighted the areas rich colonial, geologic and mining history as well as native botany, ornithology and herpetology (the study of reptiles & amphibians). I entered an altered state as frantically absorbed the new information. I read everything I could in every one of the buildings and each sign, a behavior instilled in me when I was very young-thanks a lot, Dad!”

-insert tangent here-

The philosophy behind reading everything is that you completely engross yourself in the story and look at everything, read everything; soak every bit of information you can. In this way new knowledge brings enjoyment in the moment and in the best case scenario long term concept retention. Even if you don’t remember all of it all, you’ve learned something that day and you can consider it your “first exposure” to the material. The idea is that you will be more apt the next time you come in contact with the information. haha Dad, I bet you haven’t thought about our museum behavior this much in a while!

Anyways…

“Then there was the zoo part. Most of their animals were either injured or bred in captivity with almost no chance of being reintroduced to the wild. Part of me was interested in seeing these creatures up close, but most of me was saddened to see these species out of context.

The climb up Bear Mountain was incredible!! At first Ibex was really dreading it (I was too), but I was excited to reach the top – one of the steepest elevation changes we had yet encountered. She led me up Bear Mountain as we both admired the impeccably crafted granite staircase that we traveled up. It was the most amazing staircase ever built, in my opinion. At three feet wide, each stone weighed close to 1,000 lbs, placed by grip hoists and pulley systems by over 800 volunteers for an accumulated total of 30,000 man hours of work!!! The stone staircase and perfect retaining walls continue 2/3 of the way up the 1,000 ft climb. The final 1/3 is a work-in-progress, scheduled for summer of 2012. I took a ton of pictures, but it probably won’t to this impressive feat justice…

Just the two of us on the top, we eat a snack and leave our new trail friend, Tender Toes a voicemail, like two goobers. We went on and on explaining what was up, trying to figure out when we could possibly meet up at his house. We didn’t know the next time we’d get reception, so we over-explained all possibilities – the message must have been five minutes long!!

We then descended Bear Mt, this time without the help of a seemingly magical staircase. It was very, very, very steep – much harder without the stairs. Up and over some little hills, then we hiked straight up West Mountain. Two huge mountains (remember we only had been on the Trail for a week or so at this time) was very tough on our legs. We contemplated stopping a few times due to the awesome views we’d been passing, but we pressed on in hopes of water.

Our plan is to fill up on water after we went up and over West Mt. But as we approached the first view spot, our available light was dimming fast. As we look out to the east, we smile and exchange glances as we see Bear and the lookout tower (which you can see in the photo) that we’d been at the top of only two hours ago. Behind Bear stands Anthony’s Nose, which we hiked over yesterday. Looking back and seeing exactly where you’ve been and accomplished is a rewarding thing to do and is something, I think, that is overlooked by many. We stood and saw two mountains and the one at our feet. In those mountains we saw the sweat, the challenge, the accomplishment. The reward comes when you realize that only yourself and your two feet have brought you to where you stand, carrying all that you need to be happy on your back. It’s the simplicity of life that makes me smile. Needless to say, this is this one feelings that draw me back to the mountains again and again.

Optimistic that the weather that has been partly cloudy today will clear by morning and hoping we’ll wake up to an awesome sunrise, decide that we just won’t cook in order to preserve our water. We pitch the Hubba Hubba, hang our bear line and eat some GORP with less than 1/2 L in our collective water bottles. No water tonight, but it is practically guaranteed tomorrow morning after taking an easy stroll downhill to the stream.”

coming home

Well, I have finished this leg of my journey and am writing this on a comfy couch in the Conrad household. The past two weeks of hiking has tested me in ways I couldn’t have imagined before. Having slowed down somewhat while hiking with the Pirate Crew for a month and taking some unforeseen zero days (days where I didn’t hike; due to the blizzard at the end of October and waiting on packages in the mail), I really had to book it to make it to Wood’s Hole. Wood’s Hole, if you remember, is where Brit & I ended our hike last May, so now I’ve done everything south of Kent, CT.

When one is hiking, the primary concern is usually the weather. Unpredictable and unforgiving, weather can make or break one’s spirits, especially when hiking solo. This past week has thrown bricks my way. It was beautiful at the beginning of last week, but that was short lived. The skies turned sour on Tuesday (11/15) and stayed that way through Thursday (11/17). Clouds covered up not only the views but also my motivation to hike the required 85 miles to get to Wood’s Hole on Saturday (11/19). But it was the way it had to be after I got stuck in Daleville, VA on Monday (11/14) waiting on my last food mail drop and only hiked 6 miles when I planned on hiking 17. So when the rain started coming down Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday morning, I waited until 10 am till I realized that if I didn’t start hiking in the rain I’d make myself do three 25 mile days – the very thing I was trying to avoid my last week. So hike I did. Wet and cold at the start, I quickly got comfortable for I was expending a ton of energy hiking up and down mountains. Everything that is, except for my feet…

cloudy day going over Tinker Cliffs, 90 miles north of Wood's Hole

signage

McAfee Knob, the most photographed spot on the Trail

28* F, 30 mph sustained winds. COLD.

Soggy, pruned and sore both feet started rubbing against the inside of my rain-filled boots and created blisters on the tops of my toe and the back of my heel. With these pains I hiked the last 60 miles of my trip. Then after everything I had was soaked, the mercury plummeted. Lows on top of the mountains were in the mid-20s, the wind never stopped blowing and the skies stayed cloudy for another day. But my point of telling you this is not to complain electronically when I couldn’t talk to anyone last week, it is to let you in on some of the nitty gritty parts of the challenge of hiking because I’ll probably gloss over those details when you ask me, “How was your trip?” The clouds cleared early Friday night and became beautiful and sunny my last two days of hiking. Great views and big smiles the last 42 miles (20 & 22 miles).

All that aside, I had the time of my life getting to experience the trail both as a solo hiker and as part of the Pirate Crew.

Me, after my last day of hiking. 22 miles later with day old bandages on my feet, I couldn't be happier.

"I've reached Wood's Hole! 1,450 miles done with the Trail!"

Just because this leg of my journey on the AT is over, it does not mean that this blog will go inactive. I am looking forward to reviewing the pictures I’ve taken and sharing them and the stories that go along with them as I find time. 🙂

Snow in the Shenandoahs

Yesterday (10/29/11) was a day for the record books. Keeps, T’SMYG’SS and I hiked into the Bird’s Nest #3 Shelter the previous day with just enough time to collect a ton of firewood just as the snow began falling in Shenandoah National Park. Sitting at 3000 ft above sea level and 30*F the snow didn’t stop all night… or the next morning. We stayed relatively warm with all the wood we collected and organized we even collected some the next morning to warm up the next morning. I say we stayed warm, but I meant “I” stayed warm. I have a bag rated to 20* F but Keeps and T’SMYG’SS both have 45* bags. Needless to say they have been freezing for the past 3 nights.

Our friends, Bone and Sanka were ahead of us, staying at the Skyland Resort located on Skyland Drive, the scenic parkway that winds 105 miles through the park. Well, it snowed so much that the park rangers closed the the entire parkway- trapping our friends and all the other guests at the resort. The resort offered them a free night, so us three venture 7 miles in the blizzard to get to a warm, dry bed with coffee and candy. The snow was still falling during our entire trek. We walked through a foot and a half of snow with drifts of snow up to two and a half.

When we got to the resort we turned on the phone we found voicemails and texts explaining that the resort was closed and that the entire mountain was evacuated via ranger convoy 45 minutes before we arrived. Wow. So we were on an evacuated mountain without our friends, without a warm place to stay, the snow is still coming down and to top it off the manager of the place told us he couldn’t put us up even in a dry basement for the night because they didn’t have power. It was a liability he says b We don’t even need power! All we need is a place to stay warm and dry our soaking wet feet that are now turning into blocks of ice.

We are directed to the main office where we warm up by a fire and drink hot coco thanks to a dude that worked there. But the woman behind the counter still says we have to either hike back the way we came or 5 more miles to the next shelter that could, by the way, be full of snow.

Next, we try to figure a way to get down the mountain, because no one is allowed to drive and like I mentioned, the last ranger convoy left 45 minutes ago. Our only option was an old fire road that was 3 miles to a road that would lead us to a main road and the topography looks like it goes straight down. Not the best looking one, but it’s our only one. The other factor was that we only had an hour’s worth of daylight left, which would mean we would be hiking down a steep, snow covered dirt road in the dark. Hmmm, why don’t we just stay here by the nice warm fire for just a little longer?

A little while later two park rangers came in and Keeps explained our situation to them. Thankfully, they were headed down the mountain. Crisis averted. They were even nice enough to drop us off at the cheapest motel in Luray, VA.

A shout out to Kool Breeze and Tortoiseshell. Miss you guys!!

end of October update

Hello everyone! Since my last update a whirlwind of things have happened. I finished the trail in PA, hiked through the 40 or so miles of trail in MD and the 4ish miles of WV. I’ve been in VA for the last 6 days. Right now I’m hiking in the Shenandoah National Park with an awesome group of people. I’m hiking with two brothers from upstate NY (Keeps & T’SMYG’SS) and a couple who recently graduated from Virginia Tech (Bone & Sanka). Sanka is also hiking with her dog, Sherpa, who is a German Shepard mixed with a bit of coyote. There was another member, 3 Hats, but she finished her flip flop last weekend in Harper’s Ferry, WV. They call themselves the Pirate Crew because they all met up in the Green Mountains in Vermont and hiked through the state when the forest was closed due to the hurricane in late August. Haha they’re awesome

Last weekend Brit came visited me in Harper’s Ferry 🙂 With her she brought all my new one person gear that I’ve been thinking about for about a month now. I traded my Hubba Hubba 2-person tent for a Warbonnet hammock and tarp, my 2-person cook pot for a one person solo cook pot, and my mummy cut sleeping pad for a full rectangular one for better underside insulation for the hammock. I’ve used the cook set daily and the hammock/tarp combo 4 times this week. Everything works very nicely – exactly what I had imagined. I even stayed warm despite 30* F temps and a steady wind of ~15 mph all night!

My pack now feels a little lighter thanks to the financial support of my awesome family! You guys are the best 🙂 I can’t wait to see you all for Turkey Day!!

a twenty miler

The 20-mile day. Coveted by most as a sign of a real thru-hiker. Many strive for it daily only to come up short. I’ve met a few people the past few days that say they’ve done close to 10 twenty mile days. Crazy big miles. They (and the past few wet days) have inspired me to do just that. This morning I actually set my alarm (crazy, I know – an alarm in the woods?!) for 6 am. I got up and hiked into the dawn.

And I hiked past the dawn, into the morning, past the afternoon and into the early evening. I hiked, usually stopping every 2 hours or so to break, snacking along the way. So what happens when you achieve the 20 mile day? Is there a party in your honor? Is there cake or ice cream?

Nope. No party. I don’t think that anyone else on Earth knows of your accomplishment, but that’s not why you do it. You stumble into camp happy there’s a little bit of day-light to dry your tent – you haven’t had your tent out for 2 days since you packed it up soaking wet. After the tent, you move on to throwing your bear line. You’re in New Jersey, bear country USA. Lucky for you, there is a perfect branch nearby. You quickly move on to blowing up your sleeping pad so you can finally lie down.

Laying down is short-lived. Hunger takes over and tells you to make dinner. The last Old Bay cous cous that Brit put together is what you make. After cooking, eating and then cleaning, you treat yourself to anything sweet in your bag. Skittles & Reese’s Cups.

Now you finish putting together the semi-dry tent, finish snacking (can you ever be satisfied?), bush teeth and hang bear bag. You crawl into your tent, check out what you covered today and plan to cover tomorrow, and do some journaling. No big celebration, not one person saying ‘congrats’. Just you, the chirping of crickets, and the soft pitter-patter of rain falling once again on your (almost) dry tent. So why put yourself through it?

The same reason why anyone is out here hiking – themselves. A personal sense of accomplishment, something only you yourself could ever fully understand.

Although there wasn’t a party for me I know one thing: I’ll sleep good tonight.

how i got pizza & ice cream

September 27

“I pack up and again leave by 8. Today, like yesterday I start without a destination. I hike from water source to water source. Worst mosquitoes. EVER. Huge swarms all over – they chase me up and down mountains.

Wawayanda Mountian has a breathtaking view. (sorry no pics, they’ll have to wait) Low clouds have came in, enveloping the great valley below in impenetrable clouds. Would have stayed longer, but mosquito presence out ruled that one.

Next I walk through the hell of it all – the Pochuck Swamp – the largest wetland of New Jersey. The flatter terrain made out-hiking the swarms of mosquitoes possible, but the sun baked me in 100% humidity.

Up and over Pochuck Mt mosquitoes litterally wouldn’t let me rest for more than 5 seconds. So I hike. And I hike. With no end in sight, I felt trapped in a hell-hole. Today made me question the sanity of what I’m doing because in part, they made me insane. As long as I was moving, the irritation was present, but minimal. And so I just kept hiking. Decending Pochuck Mt was particualarly irritating. Due to the steep, rocky terrain, I was unable to hike fast enough to ellude my attackers. Climbing down Pochuck, as you can imagine, got more dangerous the longer I was exposed. I was flustered in the swarm of blood-sucking bitches, but got down.

A destination was finally made clear. I had to get out of the drones of mosquitoes and what better place to escape than in a town – they spray for those things, right? Five more miles till Unionville, NY. I kept that, beer and ice cream on my mind as the mosquitoes wouldn’t let me stop.

Due to the humidity and the buckets I’ve sweat, today I’m dehydrated.

I try to count the number of mosquito bites I’ve acquired today, but I lose count after 100. My legs feel like jelly as I check to see how far I’ve gone. Without planning to, but forced to by mobbing attackers, I’ve hiked 17 miles.

To hydrate myself, I purchase 1/2 gallon of apple cider and chug. I eat pizza at an authentic Italian pizzeria. Super great garlic rolls- really heavy on minced garlic & butter. So great. I get a pint of ice cream for dessert and finish the whole thing.”

bear bag blunder

September 26

“Hanging bear line after long day (15 mi) Obtain perfect branch on first try. I tie up my food (an unbelievable 8 day’s worth) and begin to pull. This is just after I stood up from tying my bag, so I black out. I hear a very loud and close “CRRAACK!!” I stumble backwards, still blinded my lack of blood. My vision returns to me and a 4 inch diameter, 20 ft long beam is on the ground at my feet. I return to the shelter to look for another “good” tree branch and discover, for my convenience, there is a bear-proof box in which I can store my food for the night. I go to bed laughing.”

next mail drop local

I heard from somebody that they wanted to send me something on the trail. The next maildrop I’ll be receiving is in Mount Holly Springs, PA. If you’re interested, just address the package as:

General Delivery for Marc Nutter

ATTN: Please hold for AT Hiker ETA: 10/17

Mount Holly Springs, PA 17065

And to make sure it gets there in time for me to pick up, please send 6 days in advance. Remember, I’m carrying everything you send me, so make it eatable!

a quick update

Hey all!! I don’t have much time and I’m unable to upload pics, so I’ll make it quick. My time on the trail has been full of ups and downs. When Brit left the trail a week and a half ago,  i had one of my biggest downs thus far. Without a companion, i made some errors in navigational, campsite set-up, overloading my pack, pulling a tree limb on top of me when hanging my food, slipping more than usual among other things.

Anywho, the weather has finally turned for me. The skies have been full of rain for the last week in Sept. Full of rain, humidity and swarms of mosquitoes that you can only get away from in your sleep. It was uncomfortable to sleep in the humidity, to say the least. Sweat poured from my skin even as I just lie there. As soon as October came, the temperature dropped out of nowhere, which is fine by me. Now, instead of sweating every moment of every day, I am warm and snuggly at night and bitterly cold starting out in the morning.

I’ve wrote a few excerpts from my journal and have scheduled them to publish over the next few days. Sorry there aren’t any photos – I have lost the means to and the library doesn’t have a connector.

I hope all of you are doing well. Despite tired legs I am very happy. I’m looking forward to ordering a hammock and ditching the 2-person tent as soon as I can.

I am currently in Palmerton, PA staying at the old Jailhouse tonight and washing my clothes for the first time since September 22! In fact I gotta go do that right now, people are looking at me funny!