Gilligan on the AT Revisited: 19-Sep-1993

September 19, 2008

This is a 5-month long series of blog posts that are the entries in my journals written on most evenings as I hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1993. The journal entry appears first — indented — and then any additional commentary from my 15-years-removed perspective follows.

9/19/93 – Sun.

This entry will be as long as my cold hands will permit.

First of all, Buck apparently woke up in the middle of the night last night and realized that she needed to get off in Andover rather than walking all the way to Rangeley, so I am solo again as of today. Her company will be greatly missed. Ever since the Mt. Madison incident, she’d sort of lost her spunk and drive, which was part of the reason we were doing such low mileage. I, for my part, realized what I needed was to do a big mileage day to regain some confidence in my ability to get to Katahdin. So, in a way, it was good that Buck & I parted company this morning. Today was a gorgeous day — a bit chilly but not a cloud in the sky — and I did 22.8 miles. It’s good to know I still can.

I met a couple who were celebrating their one year wedding anniversary (today) with a four day hike. They were really neat folk and they told me to call them when I finish the trail and I can have a free hot shower at their house. They live somewhere near the Maine coast; their name: Lessard; Phone #: xxx-xxxx (area code unknown).

Tonight I’m staying with a flip-flopper from Pittsburgh named Prometheus who is a pretty cool guy but nothing to write home about.

It looks like October 6 might now be a reasonable ETA for Katahdin. That’s assuming the weather doesn’t get too bad. I can deal with the cold as long as it’s dry cold, but wet cold makes for slick walking, too.

My hands say it’s too cold to continue, so that’s gonna be it for the night.

Julie’s on my mind.

Posted in Appalachian Trail, Tim