September 24th (Tape Delay Edition)

There are so many things I think about during the day while I'm walking that I want to post but then I get to the shelter, I'm exhausted, and have a ton of tasks to take care of before bed: unpack my backpack (known as the car bomb), find and purify water, cook dinner, look at tomorrow’s plan, and feign sleep for 5 hours or so.  So here's what I've been thinking about:

When you spend enough time hiking, you eventually end up being known by A trail name.  Mine is “tilt-a-whirl,” an amusement park ride that's equal parts fun and terror and spins barely in control.  Yup, that's me.  Some of the people I've met or hiked with?  My buddy Mountain Goat, Piper, Merry the Hobbit, Benzo, Remington, etc.

Each shelter has what's called a trail register.  Some people put their names and the date they passed through, some write enormously hysterical and creative entries.  Some of my favorites have been this thru hike joke: what’s the longest river in Vermont?  The Long Trail.  Much funnier if you've spent 8 of the last 19(?) days soaking wet.  The hysterical one I read the other night said that the Puffer shelter looked like someone took a big wooden dump from a plan and landed in the form if a shabby homeless shelter.  I've been leaving little pieces of my life story.  It seems fitting to be leaving pieces of the past behind.