A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

tyler bedick

Hiking away with a book (contest winner!)

With the hiking series of stories in the books, it’s time for the winner of the contest.

Though I had hoped to get many entries for this signed book of Skywalker’s trip on the Appalachian, only three people entered. Two tweeted the contest, too, so that’s five entries. Add two more who gave a Facebook page like (thanks, you two!) and we have a total of seven entries.

That’s disappointing.

Still, for those three people, the odds got that much better to win this book. First, if you haven’t read the book, it’s a fantastic story of — as Skywalker told me through Twitter — on what not to do on the Appalachian Trail. He makes fun of himself and tells about the trip in a humorous and colorful way.

I highly recommend the book to those of you who either didn’t win this contest or are just reading about it now.

Anyway, with so few entries, it didn’t take me to pop the four into Random.org’s randomizer to get a winner.

And the winner is…

Lauren!

Congrats, Lauren. Contact me with your address and I’ll get the book out to you sometime next week!

The winner via random.org.

The hiking series

I hope people enjoyed the hiking series. Though I would have liked to have had a few other hikers (I contacted several, but didn’t hear back from all of them), I am happy with how the series worked out.

There were some really cool stories and I liked getting back into that style of writing. I hope to do a few more things like this with the blog down the line. I have some ideas I’m working on, so we’ll see how it goes.

The links below are for all of the stories in the series. Go check ’em out if you haven’t already!

Series Schedule:

The future of contests at A ‘lil HooHaa

I’m not sure if I’ll be running contests much anymore. Though I like the idea, it hasn’t done what the hope is — drive some traffic to the blog so people read it. Even through social media “advertising,” I don’t get many extra hits. And many who enter the contest only enter and move on. Even though tweeting it (if one has a Twitter account) is a quick and easy way to get a second entry. Same with liking the page on Facebook.

I’ll reconsider as I go on, but it doesn’t seem like the contests do too well, so I’m going to save myself the shipping costs (most things I’ve given away, I already have or have been donated).  If I do another series or two of stories and somebody gives me something to give away, I’ll try again. But for now, I’m not going to have any standalone contests anymore. Which, to be honest, is too bad because I had some cool things (things I have gathered personally over the last year or two like t-shirts, geocoins etc.) that I was going to give away. I’ll re-visit it down the line, but for now it doesn’t seem like a feature I’ll keep doing.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

On the Appalachian Trail with Ghost

"Ghost" at the completion of his thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. (photo courtesy of Tyler Bedick)

One major hike down, two to go for West Virginia resident Tyler Bedick.

The triple crown of United States hiking is when someone hikes the tree major long-distance trails in the country — the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail.

Bedick, a 23-year-old chemist at Mylan Pharmaceuticals, conquered the Appalachian Trail this year, covering the 2,180-plus mile trail in 139 days, so about 4 1/2 months. He said he plans to eventually hike the other two to complete the triple crown.

He also seemed to personify the hiker’s edict in hiking his own hike.

In fact, that’s how he gained his trail name “Ghost.”

Bedick said when he was early in North Carolina, the name was given to him because of how he hiked.

“It was because I hiked quickly and also quietly and would often accidentally sneak up on slower hikers and scare them when asking to pass,” he said.

Hitting the trail

Bedick’s interest in the Appalachian Trail seems to have grown from backpacking experience he had during his time in the Boy Scouts. From there, he said, he began planning his own trips with friends.

Walking down the trail. (Photo courtesy Tyler Bedick)

Another inspiration came from reading Bill Bryson’s book, “A Walk in the Woods.” That, Bedick said, could have spurred the idea of hiking the AT.

“The concept of being in the woods and covering such a long distance on foot really appealed to me,” he said.

Alas, he didn’t have a lot of long-distance hiking experience.

He said the longest hiking trips he had taken were 7-10 days. Some of his trips included New Mexico, the Great Smoky Mountains and the Laurel Highlands Trail, a 70-mile jaunt in Pennsylvania.

With the interest for the bigger hikes, Bedick set out for the Appalachian Trail.

“Feeling confident in your backcountry skills and also being generally physically fit prepared me for it well,” he said. “I saw lots of people out the first week who had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Because of my experience from scouting and my trips when I was younger, I feel that I was probably more prepared than a significant number of the starters.”

The trail isn’t all cakes and candy, however. There are good things and bad things about thru-hiking, Bedick said.

On the positive side, one gets to meet some amazing people. Also, he noted, it’s a good time to think about your life, gain a better sense of self-sufficiency and see some incredible things in nature. The negatives include being away from family and friends for a long time.

He also said it can be mentally and physically draining, especially toward the end.

The Appalachian Trail Experience

Bedick’s average day was quite simple, he said.

“Wake up, eat, walk, eat, walk and stop at a shelter or wherever when its nearing dark,” he said. “Eat and go to bed. Repeat the next day.

“It can become extremely monotonous for some people,” he continued. “Others enjoy the ‘job’ of walking the trail.”

The views on the Appalachian Trail can be amazing. (Photo courtesy Tyler Bedick)

As with the trail — there are highs and lows.

One of the best moments Bedick had was hiking through the White Mountains in New Hampshire. He said it was a great trail with amazing views.

“The experience of doing work for stay at the huts was fantastic as well,” Bedick said. “The Whites were extremely challenging, but also very, very rewarding.”

As for lows?

“I cant think of any particularly horrible moments, but I found myself extremely exhausted and worn out by the time I made it to Maine,” he said. “The deer flies and horse flies were horrendous and the lack of trail maintenance was very draining.”

But as great as the White Mountains were, he said he’d love to be able to re-do that section.

“I would re-do the White Mountains because when I passed through there I had broken my camera and couldn’t take any photos,” he said. “My photos from the trail were great but I missed so many fantastic photo opportunities there.”

There were also fun times, of course. Being out in the woods for that long has to work up your sense of humor. And though some of the things were a “you had to be there” sort of moment, Bedick had his share of laughs, he said.

He was hiking in Maine with a guy with the trail name “Teddy,” as in “Teddy Bear.” The two were both mentally and physically drained.

“I think just from having hiked more than 2,000 miles for four months straight, we were possibly getting a little delusional,” he said.

As mentioned before, Bedick said the deer flies were awful and two or three were circling both of their heads for about six hours straight. That, of course, was making the duo go a bit nutty.

So where did the conversation turn? About the black flies, of course.

At this point, being a bit delusional as Bedick noted, the two started figuring the flies were their personal trainers to motivate them to continue walking and then about how they don’t have the money to afford three trainers at once.

“We were adding our own ‘insults’ that the flies were yelling at us,” he said. “We were basically trail crazy at this point and were laughing hysterically.”

Looking back

As Bedick remembers his jaunt from Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, he said he was happy with the way he hiked.

Ghost reaches the Tennessee/Virginia border. (Photo courtesy Tyler Bedick)

“I really feel happy with the pace that I hiked and the stops that I made along the way,” he said. “I am happy with the locations I chose to pass and the locations I stopped at. I also hiked with several groups, off and on, and am happy with the friendships I made along the way.”

The look back also helped unfold the best day on the trail. He said it was either going over Mount Washington and the Presidential Range in the White Mountains on an amazingly beautiful day. Or, he said, in Virginia when he went over Dragon’s Tooth, McAffee Knob and Tinker Cliffs.

He also learned a bit about himself on this journey.

“The main thing I learned was that I don’t have to settle in to the ‘conventional’ lifestyle in whatever order,” he said.

Instead, he stopped grad school and got a decent paying job with plans to save up for future adventures such as the PCT and CDT.

“I also hope to climb some significant mountains in the future,” he said, adding that Mount Denali and some other West Coast mountains are on his radar.

As to the future hikers of the Appalachian Trail?

“Hike the trail how you want to hike it,” Bedick said. “Do not cater the way you hike it to anyone else. I saw so many people out there hiking the trail in different ways and so many ways would work. Hike whatever way works for you.”

Tidbits

Here are some quick-hitting tidbits from Nadeau’s thru-hike.

  • How many pair of shoes did you go through? He started with a pair of Salomon Quest 4D GTX boots and used those until Pearisburg, Va.; He then switched to Lafuma Trail Runners until New York and there he got a pair of Solomon trail runners, which lasted until Gorham, NH. He then switched back to his boots until the end. So one pair of boots and two trail runners.
  • What happened in days following the hike? He ate at some of his favorite food places, reunited with friends, visited some bars and found a job.
  • Best trail town? Hanover, NH. “It really felt like a clean town and there were some amazing amenities there,” he said. “Two solid outfitters; a senior center, which had an amazing shower and great laundry services for pretty cheap; lots of good places to eat and good coffee places as well. I also got to relax and watch a movie. Camping was allowed on the outskirts of the town near a soccer field for free.”
  • Worst trail town? Bland, Va., and Glasgow, Va. “I’m not sure that either of them are ‘true’ trail towns,” he said. “Bland, in particular, offered a hiker shuttle into town to resupply at a gas station that was touted as a grocery store.” The price of the shuttle? $15.
  • Would he do the Appalachian Trail again? “It’s unlikely,” he said. “I think I would only do it again if I were to hike it with a girlfriend, or wife. Or with my kids, assuming I have any.”

Series Schedule:

***

Reminder! Contest going on! I am holding a contest this week for an autographed copy of Bill Walker’s book “Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail”. It runs from October16- to 12:01 a.m. Oct. 28. You can see all the details on the contest page. Enter for your chance to win!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Thru-hiking through the eyes of others

The Appalachian Trail is a long and winding road.

For those of you who don’t know what the Appalachian Trail is, allow me to give you a quick background.

The trail — officially known as the Appalachian National Scenic Trail — is a marked hiking trail that runs from Georgia to Maine. The starting and ending points depend on where you start (northbound or southbound), but the points are Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.

The trail is about 2,180 miles long (give or take a few with any trail changes) and it covers 14 states (Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine).

According to Wikipedia, the trail is maintained by some 30 trail clubs and other partnerships. It’s managed by the National Park Service and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, a non-profit organization.

Much of the trail is through the great wilderness of the East Coast, going up and over mountains and through amazing scenery. The trail also goes through towns, follows a few roads and crosses a few rivers.

Though it’s likely the most famous of the long-distance hiking trails in the United States, it is also part of the “Triple Crown” with the Pacific Crest Trail (West Coast) and the Continental Divide Trail (goes from Mexico to Canada through more Midwestern-area states).

Thru-hiking, to many, is a lifestyle. It’s not easy, either. Don’t think of thru-hiking as a walk in the woods. It’s much more than that. Not everyone can hike 2,180 miles. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy estimates that just 1 in every 4 who attempt the AT thru-hike will complete it.

It takes a lot of planning, endurance, patience and time to tackle one of these trails. Someone hiking the AT could take upward of six months to do it.

The speed record for the AT, which was set this year by Jennifer Pharr Davis (trail name: Odyssa) is 46 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes. She beat the previous record of 47 days, 13 hours, 31 minutes, which was set by Andrew Thompson in 2005.

Now, take into account, too, that Pharr Davis was doing a lot of power days in excess of 30, 40 and 50 miles per day. One day, she did 60 miles.

Hiking!

But for us mere mortals, those types of days aren’t the easiest things to accomplish. No, the reality is that many people start out doing 10-mile days (or about) and work their way up. 20-mile days are good, strong days.

The journey is what it’s about to many.

So, in this series, I am going to bring you the tales of four people. Three who have completed the trail and one who had to pull off from the trail.

Each story is different.

Take Bill Walker, a nearly seven-foot tall hiker who has completed the AT, the PCT and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. He’s gone from the crazy world of Wall Street to realizing what life is about and hiking is a major part of it for him.

Take Emily Harper, a 19-year-old from Lancaster, Pa., who hiked the trail solo this past summer. Think of being a young female, alone, on a trail like this. It’s a different perspective to see if from those eyes.

Then there’s Chris Nadeau, who hiked 815 miles of the trail before deciding he had to attend to things going on in his personal life. It’s a different view of the trail from someone who still has plans to thru-hike the AT, but for now is among the 75 percent who start the trail and don’t finish.

You’ll also meet Tyler Bedick, a chemist from Morgantown, WV, who completed the trail this year in 139 days.

Each of these people has a story with their hiking. From personal sacrifice to the difficulties and triumphs on the trail.

Their story will be told as part of this series.

Over the next two weeks, I’ll bring you these stories to the best of my ability. The dates below show the dates each will run.

I hope you enjoy the series and it’s my hope that this won’t be my last in-depth series of stories or journalistic-style posts (I have others in the works).

Enjoy and I welcome any feedback!

The schedule of the series is as follows (links will be provided for the days that have already passed):

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!