If you been reading, you know that this election has bothered me. I’m not one to sit in a funk, if I can avoid it. I distracted myself from by reading On the Beaten Path. It is the story of the author’s hike from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail. I loved this book. I’ve never “thru-hiked” But I have put in almost 300 miles on the AT. I’ve also met a lot of thru-hikers out there. The book was wonderful. It not only described the trials of walking over 2000 miles, it delved into the psyche of these people who decide to abandon everything for 6 months and hike the trail. If you have ever been curious about the AT and thru-hiking, give it a read.

Reading the book, of course, got me to thinking of many times out on the trail. Especially the thru-hikers I have met. Back in June, I met so many northbounders and I can’t help but wonder how many of them finished. They would have to be done by now if they were going to be able to finish.

If you know of the status of any the following thru-hikers let me know. They answered to the trail names:

Chuggs
Skywalker
TBott
Goose
Saffron
Puck Finn
Nine Monkeys
Buck Wilde
Mountain Squid

They knew me by the trail name of Hawkeye (and my companion Short-Term).

There were many more than that, but my mind is too cluttered to recall all of the names. I hope that they were successful in reaching Katahdin, in Maine. I hope that someday I get a chance to make the same trip. Until then I’ll just keep hiking the AT a weekend at a time.