Update 8: Back to AT in August ..

When I wrote “Update 7: Thru-Hike is terminated!”, some of you may have misunderstood that I am quitting AT permanently. Not true! I will try to complete AT in the next two years (instead of one year). First such one-month section hike starts on 8^th August.

Now back to stories, stories… and more trail stories in random order!

• There are piles of rocks and boulders for the entire 120 miles of the North Pennsylvania section of AT, also notoriously known as “Rocksylvania”. These boulders are like kindergarten children, undisciplined, unpredictable, and available in all shapes and sizes. But jagged rocks are the favorite of mother nature… and shoe companies. A corporate collaboration made in heaven! And some rocks sweat. I swear! The earth is cold, the rocks are cold, but the atmosphere is hot and humid. You step on these sweaty, wet, slippery rocks, and the next thing you know is that you are kissing them flat on the ground!

• I arrived at Peter Mountain Shelter with the heat index of 110F. Every leaf, fern, grass, tree-trunk, rocks, the whole world was spewing steam. I could feel it in my lungs. The sweat was dripping from my shorts to my calves. My eyes were burning with sweat. Every muscle in my body was hurting. In desperation, I had swallowed the last drop of water from my backpack. I was thirsty, I was pissed. At the shelter, the direction said “Spring: 0.2 miles, 300 steps.” I was confidently stupid. Stupidity #1: Ignore a warning of 300 steps. Stupidity #2: Do not check with thru hikers already in the shelter about water accessibility. I marched on. Going down 300 steps was quick! Gulping down 1.5-liter water at the stream itself was quick! Climbing back 300 steps was a slow, freaking nightmare. This was exactly 37-degree gradient on a terrible, horrible, wicked 2 ft rocky steps. I died several times. My pulse rate never recovered for six more hours. But then I was the proudest, best trail angel in a 500-mile radius when I gave away 1 lit water to another hiker!

• I was the only one who pitched my tent at marker 1170.6 in spite of the warning of porcupines near this camp. Yes, I must be a stupid sucker for crazy experiences. I heard a baby-like stereophonic cooing of several porcupines at 2 am and promptly went back to sleep. ONLY today while writing this update, when I was browsing through the notes on AT navigation app Guthook, I noticed the following note by another hiker: “If you are a light sleeper, beware. The porcupines kept me up most of the night having sex right next to my tent. gcs 6/29/21” I suddenly realize now the whole new meaning of “baby-like cooing”. It totally makes sense that a 62-year-old tired snoring fart completely ignores this pornographic odyssey. But how could these porcupines continue their business around my tent in spite of hearing my loud snoring? Some questions are better left unanswered.

• Me and Leaky Boots were hiding in a beautiful Skyland Resorts in Shenandoah National Park during extreme wind-chill of 3F way back in April.  The resort was offering free coffee to the residents in their lobby. This young, chirpy, high-energy lady gave me a cup of coffee with two sugar sachets. I looked at her and said, “Can I get 8 more sachets please?” She tried hard to hide her shock with her uncomfortable smile! I smiled back. Then I quietly told her, “I am a thru hiker.” Her eyes spoke the words, “Oh, I now understand your request!” Her radiant, helpful smile returned instantaneously. I eat food worth 2,000 cal while burning 4,000 cal on the trail, and lose half a pound every day. I will cajole, shamelessly beg, fetch, grab, make a charming request, do anything for any food, especially sugar!

• Let me continue my saga of stupidity. The Guthook app showed a rare red circle just 9 miles north of my porcupine infested camp. It said, “Overflooded beaver dam”. Did I know what beaver dam is? No. Did I google for clarification? No. Did I ask my fellow hikers about beaver dam? No. Ignorance is bliss only until you face the situation. This was a stinky, muddy hopeless marsh land of approximately 0.2-mile width. Some enthusiastic AT volunteer had dumped random 3–6-inch diameter logs in this marsh. Cunning mother nature had occasionally dispersed blown down huge trunks across these logs. Now, let us compare Dadhi (that is me!) with the best gymnast in history, Simone Biles. Weight 203 lbs. vs 104 lbs., age 62 years vs 24 years, backpack weight 27 lbs vs 0 lbs. Now consider these self-rotating and floating 0.2 miles of logs against firmly placed, 16 ft long stationary beam bars. Granted that Madam Biles can do some jumps and twists on this firmly placed beam bars well. But I crossed this so-called beaver dam without ever stepping into knee-deep mud! What do you think? Who is better, Simone Biles or me? Nevertheless, my above egotistical bravado of balancing prowess was not impressive at all to my daughter. Aarti later told me that Beaver is the MIT mascot because it is the best engineer in nature. Arghhhhh!

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• All shelters on AT have very basic wooden structures! Three side walls, a roof and a wooden platform. Most have moldering smelly privies, bear poles to hang food bags and so-called access to water. But even among these basic shelters, the dilapidated Bake Oven Knob shelter was excruciatingly remarkable! Chipped floor, lots of overgrown bushes just five feet away, rickety bench and untidy fire pit. Water source here was half a mile away in a jungle covered with poison ivy, requiring scraping the bottom of the puddle 10 times to fill 1 lit bottle. I was disappointed but still decided to stay in this shelter to hide from the forecasted afternoon thunderstorm. I started chatting with Beetle and Country Boy, who had just arrived at the shelter for late lunch. An unknown hiker suddenly showed up to the shelter from nowhere. He said, “Have you seen the snake?” Our eyes widened. We were all excited to see the snake. He said, “Look behind! Look at the corner of the roof!” WTF! My involuntary reaction was quick. I jumped from the edge of the shelter. After observing this curled up 8-ft reptile, Country Boy declared that this is a harmless rat snake. He comforted me, “Go ahead. Feel free to sleep in this shelter!” I enjoyed talking to this tall Florida man in all black attire with in-depth knowledge of various plants. But did I trust Country Boy for my life? No way! I moved quietly to the camp site one mile away.

• Schyulkill Haven is a nice little town near AT. It has an ATM, Amish food store, specialty beer shop and a dollar general store surrounded by beautiful farmland and rolling hills. Right in the middle of this farmland, they have a huge Lord Krishna Hindu temple called Vraj. Craig, who owns the hiker’s hostel in the town, told us that on occasions like Diwali, this town suddenly gets 4,000-5,000 extra visitors, parking their cars in rented farmland. Who builds such a huge temple with a man-made lake in the middle of nowhere? Completely unbelievable sight!

• For most people, parents and siblings are their first family. As they grow older, they have their own family of spouses and kids in the next phase. I was lucky. I had an intermediate phase of another family, a 250-300-people strong group of buggers from my engineering college in India called IIT-Bombay. It was my incredible opportunity, my honor, my calling and my passionate, secret desire to meet these buggers and their spouses, while I was on AT. I met Pathares, Guptes, Ghonges, Somalwar and Apte in the last few days. Readers of this blog may never understand this crazy, otherworldly, 100% weird bonding with the smartest people I know on earth. We may never meet for 40 years after college. But conversations start as if we had just met yesterday! If nothing else, this is a strong enough incentive to walk on AT for me.

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• After a non-stop yapping and food with Pathares, Miheer drove for 2 hours and dropped me off at Duncanon, Pennsylvania at the starting point of my walk. As per my request, Pathares had packed sandwiches for lunch and dinner. More importantly, they had not packed anything else as per my strong request to avoid extra backpack weight. But I started craving sweets at 4 pm in the comfortable Clarks Ferry Shelter. Right then, Tooth_N_Boots showed up in the shelter. She was taking a “quick (?)” run from Duncanon before her truck driving shift starting at 2 am. She is from Wisconsin, had completed 2,600-mile PCT in 2013 and loved chatting with fellow hikers in the shelters. We talked for one hour on everything from truck driving, PCT experiences and her long-distance relationship with her spouse (due to her truck driving schedule). Then she casually said, “Hey Dadhi, it’s time to go back to Duncanon for me. Take as many chocolates as you want.” I could not believe my eyes. Snickers, M&Ms and shortbread cookies were eagerly staring at me. Many hikers say that trail talks to them. But I had no idea that trail talks to them ABOUT OTHER HIKERS as well.

• Cell coverage is pretty good on AT. But there are those lengthy patches with no coverage. The absence of coverage sometimes creates a logistical nightmare. I reached my destination of Rausch Gap Shelter at marker 1178.4 by 11:30 am itself. It was rare for me to reach my destination that early.  And I took my first ever adhoc decision on AT to march on for the next 5 miles. I had one day of food left in my backpack. I also needed to desperately charge my battery pack. It was an amazing plan involving fresh hot pizza, chilled beer, soft pillow and hot shower. As soon as I reached the top of the mountains 3 miles prior to Route PA 443, I called the hotel. The lady on the other side declared that all hotels are sold out within 25 miles due to some Lacrosse competition and government conference. It was a shocker! I was very tired. Next campsite was further 5-6 miles away. Besides, how will I manage food? I was in uncharted waters. I called my bugger, Subodh. And this guy drove 1.5 hours to take me to his home. Just like that! No questions asked! His only mistake was that he forgot to bring perfume in the car. He totally underestimated how terrible I stank!

• AT is a perfect place to try new recipes. For example, here is a dinner recipe: (1) Take 400 ml of water from a water bottle. Completely ignore the fact that it has hydration salt in it with a strong watermelon flavor. (2) Add spicy cream of wheat readymade mix in the boiling water. (3) Once cooked within a couple of minutes, eat without ever wondering why it tastes fruity. (4) Next day, feel free to make milk chocolate using water from the same water bottle. A fellow hiker invariably would request for hot water for their coffee (since their gas canister is depleted). Always help others by offering your hot water. Watermelon flavored milk chocolate and coffee early in the morning is expected to enhance spiritual experience for both of you.

I will stop here! Stay tuned! Stories will continue!

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