FAQ

Jenny wrote an email to me telling me that she is very curious about the trail, and that she had tons of questions but didn't want to overwhelm me. I asked her to write me all the questions she can think of, she did, and since I think most of you are curious about these questions and answers I thought I'd share them on here:

Q. What has it been like?
A. Really nice, quiet through out the day. Simple chores. One goal. Very warm and open people with the same purpose, which makes us bond ridiculously fast.

Q. What has the trail been like, has it been difficult or easy, flat or hilly, lakes, green, muddy?
A. I started in Harpers Ferry, WV. I didn't really see West Virginia except for Harpers Ferry and it is a beautiful little town that seems to have been stuck in the olden times. Next I went through Maryland, which is a lot of up and down and green. Currently I'm in Pennsylvania, which has been pretty rocky, but then again most of the day yesterday I walked on flat ground next to corn fields.

Q. What does it look like and what have you seen, flowers, trees, bears, fish...beautiful?
A. The trail is very green and it is true that most of the time it looks like a green tunnel. There is tons of flora along the way, pretty mushrooms, blueberries, blackberries.
The fauna has been pretty exciting, I saw a Bear's ass while it was running away from me. I saw a deer's butt while it lept 8 feet into the air to get away from me. I also saw a snake with a frog in it's mouth.
The trees have been shorter and different than the huge trees we have in Oregon.

Q. Have you met people along the way? What have they been like? Anyone nice?
A. Yes, I meet people every day. I like most of the people, but some are sweeter and click better with me, so I stick with them. It has been really interesting how I usually hike along during the day but have lunch and dinner with people. I also usually sleep in the shelters (three walled free structures) with the people that I meet.
At the moment I'm sitting at Gravity's aunt's house writing this email on their laptop. I never would have thought that anybody would invite me to their aunt's house after 4 days of knowing me. It's very exciting because it shows just how open people truly are when we all slow down.

Q. How's camping going?
A. I usually use the shelters because I'm too lazy to set up my tent. It's very simple but it keeps me dry and relatively safe. The shelters are sometimes amazing, where the wood is finished and it smells nice, and sometimes run down and really old.

Q. Has it been OK making your own food?
A. I have been receiving food from my family and friends. It has been really exciting to get different stuff from different people, so every night is something different. I like the food making process, even though I'm dead tired after my day of walking it is nice to just laugh and talk with the people at the shelters.
Everybody has been telling me that I will really start getting hungry soon. They say that you get the hiker hunger and nothing can tame it. I did see most of the thru-hikers eat 1/2 gallon of ice cream for the 1/2 gallon ice-cream challenge.

Q. What has it been like going to the towns in between?
A. It has been really nice going to town, you start looking forward to it, because it's different then what you are used to. You also meet other hikers there, and hikers stick together, you have built in friends to whatever town you go. I remember my second night stopping at a campground, all the thru-hikers sat together whereas all the other campers were separate. No thru-hiker really asks the other if they can sit there, they just do.
Also you look forward to FOOOOOOOOOOD. Because real food, fruit and vegetables are so much more appealing when you are hiking 18 miles a day.

I know there are more questions so post them in the comments and I'll try to answer them as they come.