Author: user

Friends, I started my hike for a month on 8th August. But I had to terminate the hike immediately as per my cardiologist’s advice on 9th morning itself. Now, I will probably not go to the mountains this year. I noticed on the first day that my pulse rate was shooting up very high during climbing, which had never happened in the past. Then the pulse rate remained above 100 for several hours after I reached the camp site (My usual pulse rate at rest is 55-65). Luckily, I could talk to my cardiologist. He was not concerned about the shooting pulse rate. But the lingering high pulse rate drove his decision to stop the hike, the decision that I fully supported as a commitment to my family and to all of you. 

I met my fantabulous bugger friends and their spouses and kids on 7^th August evening. Nitin, Anjali and Priya were great hosts (funny, but the only other couple I know with same first names!). Even within that one-day hiking on next day, I already had amazing experiences. Half-a-mile long, inaccessible and tranquil Sunfish Pond was adorned by mighty boulders from all sides. For the first time in so many days, I saw an almost 270-degree view at Raccoon ridge with a shiny Delaware river on one side and rolling farms on the other side. Apparently, this is a popular site to watch Hawk migration, which will start in a couple of weeks. I was alone in the camp that evening. The sunset was amazing (probably top-three spectacle in my hiking duration on AT) and had an eerie early morning experience of not a single bird singing in the entire jungle. Completely beyond my imagination! In spite of my concern about the heart, that quiet, green imprint will be etched in my brain for a long time.

As of now, my pulse rate is back to normal. However, I have a long way ahead to regroup myself. My cardiologist will plan stress tests for me. Besides, I am going to retry to reduce my weight, find ways to reduce pain in the nerves below my ankles and of course, test out the impact of simulated hikes on my heart. So, I will stay put this year and re-evaluate my plans next year.

I am really sorry for taking you for a ride with multiple quits. But through all of my challenges, you have encouraged, supported and wished me good luck like true friends. That is as amazing as the trail magic that I found on the trail itself. Thanks a lot from the bottom of my heart to all of you, my angels!

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!

• 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.

• 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!

I had restarted my trail on 23^rd June from Duncanon, Pennsylvania. But after nine days and 60.5 miles through rocky northern Pennsylvania, I am terminating my attempt to complete AT thru hike within 365 days. Huge thanks to all of you for blessing me, rooting for me and wishing me for this task. I am safe because of your prayers.  

After my previous unconscious fall (refer to Update 6 please!), my doctor did not find anything wrong with me, in spite of multiple tests. So, I went back to the trail keeping in mind my hydration needs. However, in these nine days on the trail, my poor health legacies have caught up with me. I scratched my right forearm during one fall from a slippery boulder. Fall itself is not a big deal. It is a normal occurrence on the trail. However, since I take anticoagulation medication, the blood kept trickling from the wound for several hours. Two other wounds on both my shins have also swelled due to internal bleeding. I have several patches of bruises all over my body. On another occasion, my right foot slipped and in controlling my fall, my left metal knee bent excessively. Now, it is in severe pain. I had sensed imbalance and slight dizziness in the last two years when I turned my head quickly or bent forward (Due to high BP or heart medication? Who knows?) That sense of imbalance amplified on boulders and eventually crossed my imaginary safety boundary line.

It was time to slow down and honor the safety commitment that I had made to my family and all of you. I will continue to hike sections of AT in 15-30-days intervals over next 2-3 years and complete the AT.

Abandoning a well-planned goal is never easy! But I already feel accomplished, rejuvenated, liberated and enlightened even with these 326 miles (525 kms) of hiking.

My biases have been demolished: I had just landed at 501 Shelter after 9.5 miles of dragging my feel in 110F heat index. AND then I saw six topless male hikers at the shelter. Every square inch of their body was covered with colorful tattoos. Hard rock music was blasting from their speakers. They were all smoking pot furiously. I cringed! Imagine my background! Raised in middle-class India, my life had been a unidimensional straight line from point A to point B. No twists, no smoking, no drugs, no alcohol until age 24, no rock music, no wild parties, nothing! AND here I was among pot smokers, removing my shirt and exchanging high-fives. Maybe it is my long beard, maybe a bruised, smelly, hairy body or maybe a thru-hiker demeanor! Whatever it may be, but we could have a long chat about music, various types of drugs, how they met each other and our general hiking experiences. One of them mentioned that his father is a priest, and he is a rebel. AND THEN Rain Man spoke. He said, “You know, Dude, I have simply immersed myself in one religion every year. Twelve religions in twelve years. I would read religious books, pray in churches and temples, and meditate. These religions no more hurt me, man!”

Oh my God! In just one simple sentence, this white dude on drugs taught a nerdy brown man the ultimate lesson of demolishing the biases. Imagine me becoming a Muslim next year! Then an atheist, a Buddhist, a Jew, a catholic, a Mormon and so on. OH MY GOD! It is a simple solution! Have a bias about “something”? Just experience that “something”! I suddenly felt that I met the closest person to God!

My fear is bulldozed away: I remember the date. It was Feb 8. Two months before my thru hike! My cardiologist wanted to do an Echo stress test, in which the heart is observed during intense exercise on the treadmill. After analyzing the results, he appeared worried. “Nitin, there is no blockage. Heart on the treadmill and at rest have identical behavior. But your ejection fraction is 35%. Forget AT! You may need surgery to place a pacemaker!” In my mind, I was screaming “WHAT!” But in reality, I told him quietly that I do not feel weird in my daily training. So, he tested me with a more accurate MUGA scan, which estimated my ejection fraction at 45%. I came home. I was confused! What should I trust? I was scared. I was losing confidence. I did not want to go to AT. Then Anjali gave me profound advice. “It is true that सर सलामत तो पगडी पचास (If your head is safe, you can wear fifty hats!) But there are very few people who are privileged to dream big! Do not give up your privilege. Go on the trail and figure out every day if you can continue!” That day, Anjali was my ultimate bulldozer!

I had a long list of fears. Another “widowmaker” heart attack in the remote part of the trail, broken replaced metal knee, gout attack, frostbite of right hand that starts becoming numb below 60F, occasional freezing of left shoulder, severe pain of weak nerves below ankles, skull fracture on Pennsylvania boulders due to imbalance, my brown skin, Interaction with people in rural USA, sudden knowledge of impending emergence of cicadas, solo hiking, crime on the trail, stepping on poisonous rattlesnake or camouflaged copperheads, staring at bears, rats chewing my toes in shelters, bee stings, attack on my nervous system by tick bites…. This freaking list of fears was very, very, very long. And then there were demons on the trail itself! Will there be water at the next stream? Will lightning strike me? Will my tent fly away in the thunderstorm? What about the baby-like cooing of those 15 porcupines walking around my tent at 2 am? Should I just stay back in shelter until the rain goes away and avoid slippery rocks?

All these fears were bulldozed away. Period.

One unimaginable outcome of a fearless mind was the incredible and beautiful world that suddenly opened up to me! I watched that shiny and furry bear with bewildered eyes, I heard the rattling of a snake as intently as I hear old Bollywood songs, and walking on the trail itself became a life-time experience! Fearless mind also taught me to live in the moment! No anxieties of the future, no concerns of the past! 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, one breath, one step at a time! Literally! Suddenly this hard yoga practice of living in a moment is imbibed in me without me ever realizing it!

I felt the Superpower: It all started at a distant horizon! There was a rumbling in the sky. A darker shadow was casting on bright fresh ferns on forest beds. Pinecone needles on the trail were turning into a mystical deep brown path.  As if the dark blue sky farther away was reflecting from the forest into my mind. In a few minutes, the thunderstorm suddenly started with a bang. Loud cracking sound of a thunderbolt struck my ear drums. Downpour was intense. Wind was furious! Huge trees started swinging from one end to another. The jungle was filled with the sound of thousand squeaky doors from their huge trunks! I could not believe that all those million leaves could make such an ear-splitting and deafening sound.  The rain was piercing my exposed hands with zillion needles. Small branches started flying off. The trail became a gushing stream. It was scary! Very, very scary! It was exhilarating, intoxicating and overwhelming at the same time! The most beautiful avatar of this forest! It dawned upon me like a lightning flash! It was a Tandava nritya by Lord Shiva (Scary dance by the Indian God) and I was a spectator right in the middle of it!

I had seen many avatars of the forest over the last 45 days! I certainly was closer to the superpower! I am 110% sure!

I experienced मौन (Silence) and शांतता (Tranquility): I practiced silence for 22 hours a day and I experienced tranquility for more than 1,000 hours on the trail. I woke up to the chirping of birds, I was startled when squirrels ran on dry forest beds, quiet drizzle and my rhythmic breathing sang in unison and my mind froze when cicadas screamed from top of their voice. All were superior manifestations of the rare commodity called tranquility! And how do you experience it? You shut up and let all other senses become hyperactive. What a way to live! What an opportunity! I now feel that tranquility in every bone, every blood drop, every cell of my body!

Borrowing the Marathi words of Prajakta Padgaonkar (ref: “माझा मराठीचा बोल” special group on Facebook),

“मौनात जे सौन्दर्य आहे, ते उपजत असे सृजन आहे. मौन हे केवळ काहीतरी अलंकारिक, काही करून बघावे असे किंवा एखादं नव्या छंदाचे साधन नसून मौन हे पुष्कळ आदिम आणि मूलभूत असे आहे. शांतता, म्हणजे आवाजाचा अभाव नसून, सर्व आवाजाचा एक उच्चतम बिंदु आहे. हयात एक आंतरिक लय आहे, एक सृष्टीशी तादात्म्य आहे आणि सगळ्यात महत्वाचे म्हणजे त्यात निसर्गाचे माग आहेत. शांतता ही एखाद्या डोहासारखी भासते, त्यात पुष्कळ खोल असे काही असते त्याच बरोबर त्यात काही गूढ आणि स्वतः च्या आतले काही ढवळून काढण्याचे सामर्थ्य आहे.”

“Silence is beautiful. It has a natural creativity. It is not just another experiment or a hobby. It is a basic and profound aspect of life. Tranquility does not mean absence of sound. It is the ultimate sound. It has one internal rhythm. It is one with nature. It is mystic and has a power to churn our soul.”  

I have so many more stories. I learnt to have a mindset of “giving”, I met amazing people on the trail, I visited my family of college friends. There was humor! There was intense agony! There was a hard 37% gradient climb just to get water! There was heat! There was a wind chill of 3F! There was THE TRAIL! Stay tuned. This AT story is not yet finished!

(Credit: When I struggle to find exact English words for my thoughts, Jyotsna Diwadkar is my go-to friend.)

“Hot from the press” before I start describing the past week.

Roadblock 5: Friends, here is the bad news! In Cumberland valley in southern Pennsylvania on soft farmland, I suddenly fell unconscious on Monday, 7^th June at around 9 am after walking 5 miles on AT. I have no idea how I fell, but I do remember that I was feeling good immediately before and after this episode. Luckily, intersecting Ridge Road was within 0.2 miles. I walked slowly to the road, called 911 and went to the Carlisle hospital. They found nothing wrong with me. No concussion, no heart issues, no high or low BP, no reduced oxygen %, no pulse rate problems, no dehydration.  Nothing! Nada! Zippo! It is possible that previous two days of scorching heat at 90-94F may have played a role. Now I am back in Michigan AGAIN to do whatever evaluation my primary physician needs to do. I am safe with blessings from Mr Ganapati Bappa, my family and all of you. It was sad to put the journey on hold. Oh well! It is just another roadblock! We will get through it! After completing all tests, if everything is good, I will be back on the trail in the next 2-3 weeks.

Let us move on!

I had slowly cranked up my walking in the last week. I did 73.5 miles with approximately 12,000 ft of climb up with no zero days. I crossed a 200-mile marker (and was at 259.3 miles or 417 kms) and crossed the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania. Mostly the terrain had been moderate in southern Pennsylvania with some flavor of boulder fields, beautiful rock mazes and sharp drops. Unbelievable stories of thru hikers and trail angels continue to pile up. Animals, such as Juvenile bear (Yessss, another one!), small snake, deer, fawn, turtles, rabbits, zillion birds, trillion cicadas and camouflaging frogs continue to make my days “lucky”. I even watched a parade in a small-town America (Waynesboro, Pennsylvania) on Memorial Day!

Now that I am back in Michigan, I noticed some interesting differences between my typical routine on the trail and my world at Michigan.

• I have 15,000 alarms set for 5 am every day on the trail. The tunes available on my alarm clock or on my cellphone cannot even compare to the spectacular symphony I hear on the trail. Period!
• I sleep for 10 hours on the trail among beautiful spiders, rats, lots of bugs, huge bees, snoring strangers, and individual sleeping pads that make huge crimping sounds with each toss and turn. Constant dribbling of rain, rustling sound of leaves, huge buzzing of cicadas and loud cracklings of falling branches add to the cacophony. I can barely sleep for more than 7 hours in my quiet Michigan bedroom.
• In Michigan, we have 9 taps for potable water (in bathrooms and gardens). Usually, I walk a maximum 10 ft to get water from any point at my home. Never mind, we have one million water sprinklers in my lawn. In the shelter on the trail, I sometimes walk 2,500 ft and climb down 500 ft to get water. By the time I am back to the shelter, I have lost half a liter of water just through my sweat itself!
• Google says that the average US person consumes 384 lit of water per day. On the trail, I consume 6 liters of water, 5 lit for drinking and 1 lit for cooking (excluding my weekly one shower in the town). Wait a minute, do I not gargle and spit out water after brushing teeth? No friends, I do not. As a good Samaritan of “Leave No Trace” principles on the trail, I swallow the toothpaste, drink water after gargling and after rinsing brush in the water in the pot. I also wash my pot after every meal and drink that water as well.
• Google also says that per capital per day energy consumption in USA for homes and car driving is 500,000 BTU. If my nerdy calculations are correct, I only need 500 BTU per day for my battery pack and gas canister.
• Today I counted 14 doors at my home, excluding kitchen cabinets and closets. There are no doors on the shelters and even on many privies (no kidding!) .. and literally no thieves.
• My kitchen on the trail consists of one 700 ml pot, one small stove (18 gms), one lighter, one gas canister and one spork. I decided not to take an embarrassing inventory of the kitchenware at our home in Michigan.
• In Michigan, I exercise for max 30 min a day. On the trail, I walk 6-8 hours climbing some crazy rock mazes and pumping my heart beyond my expectations!
• There is no music, no social media, no TV, no movies, no serial, no news, no stress, no violence, no hatred, nothing on the trail! I am calm, stress-free, happy, enlightened, entertained, rejuvenated soul with simple and beautiful life. Time just flies on the trail.

Yeah! I live in a weird “other” world .. in Michigan! I cannot wait to go back to my AT!

Good news galore! It is now one whole week since I am back on the trail after recuperating from the injury! I have crossed the roller coaster and crossed the states of Virginia and West Virginia. Tomorrow I will cross Maryland into Pennsylvania and will have done my 200 miles! But wait a minute! It does not mean that I am flying. I walked only 51.5 miles and climbed approximately 10,000 ft in one week. After walking about 4-5 miles every day, the bottom of my left leg (including where the injury was) starts swelling and hurting a little! But the next day, my feet are fully recovered! I am keeping fingers crossed that daily rigor of walking does not exacerbate this swelling.

Yessssss, I finally saw a bear. It must have been pretty close to me on the densely forested trail. I suddenly heard a thumping sound and crackling of dry branches on the floor. I was startled, suddenly stopped in my tracks and there it was! Running as fast as it could away from me! (After seeing my beard, many of my college-mates had predicted this bear-running-away scenario anyway!) It vanished even before I could pull my cell phone out. Those of you who have been on birding or safari trips, may be familiar with such flashes of seeing incredible birds and animals for a couple of seconds! Those sights get etched on the brain for a long long time. This bear was huge (a male bear?), had a classical slightly shiny black hair all over his body and had a running style resembling that of a crippled horse. But it moved extremely fast. Note that I was trained to worry not about the bear but the cubs which could be on the other side of the trail. If I crossed the trail while bear is away from the cub, then bear would come back equally fast and make me pee in my pants (which nobody would have noticed any way because of multiple reasons, such as (a) I would be dead or (b) my pant is already drenched with rain, or (c) apart from bear there was nobody within miles in this jungle etc. ). In any case, I did not see any cub, all was well and I continued.

Finally, finally after, hearing lots of noise and seeing holes in the ground, I saw cicadas (For those who have missed this story in social media and on TV, these trillions of cicadas emerge from ground every 17 years for a couple of months on eastern part of USA). They were huge compared to what I expected. When I sat down on a fallen log for my usual rest, water, peanut/raisin snack and to massage my feet, two of them crawled on my hand and a few were crawling on the backpack. After seeing the NPR documentary from 2004, I had a romantic idea of these cicadas crawling on me in hoards, I would take a nice photo of myself and show off to all of you! But in this vast jungle, I guess, such ideas need to be curtailed.

I think I had mentioned earlier that I have a superstition that when I see such animals or bugs, trees dripping with rain, scary and unbelievable thunderstorms, I would have a beautiful week, and indeed, the week was beautiful.

When you experience so many random acts of “giving”, so many trail angels on the trail, how can a week, a year, and even life not be so beautiful? How can I forget a lady from Wisconsin suddenly knocking on our cabin door with warm pancakes? How can I forget somebody giving me maple syrup energy packets for sipping while I was dragging my feet? How can I forget suddenly finding an anonymous cooler next to the trail in Front Royal with very cold water that gave me a quick relief from the hot 90F weather? And how can I forget the 4-year old pigtail (her trail name)! While helping her mommy to bring food to the pavilion, came to me and told me “There is a trail magic nearby. Please do visit. My trail name is pigtail”. I thanked pigtail’s mom for teaching her child a secret of happiness so early in that child’s life!

Oh my god! What a trail magic that was thrown by two families. I just can not resist the idea of writing down the spread of the food for you. Here is the spread: scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, biscuits, at least four types of cookies, hot coffee, hot milk chocolate, hot milk, two types of cold beer, orange juice, hot dog, burgers, great fruit salad, various cold drinks, kit kat, snicker bar, chips, salad, and probably few things that I missed. And oh yes, they did offer ibuprofen (called as vitamin I on the trail). I think the most contagious bug on the trail is “generosity” and I hope that I get bitten by this bug throughout my life.

Trust me, I can not keep up with the stories, can not remember or even note down every day all the things happening! I saw the original Washington Monument built 60 years before the modern monument in DC mall across the Capitol, visited several other civil war sites in Maryland, battled my own demon successfully of hesitating to walk in the rain due to memories of a recent injury, shivered the whole night with cold because now I carry summer gear and temperature suddenly dipped to 42F, met two active military chaplain who struggled to provide help to a Sikh military man (I did not know that finding religious resources for all denominations and religions in the military was their job as a chaplain), met several people who have visited India, met a Caucasian 26-year old hostel caretaker learning Sanskrit because she wants to understand “real” yoga” (and not just stretching), had a sleepless night due to barking dog 2 feet away (poor thing was in misery due to hiking with his mom), met a doctor lady whose firefighter husband passed away on duty and she is trying to regain her compassion for patients by walking three months with his ashes on the trail, met a couple who smoked drugs half of the night in the shelter! Trust me, I have not told you even one third of the stories! I do not think I will ever travel with so many stories in such a short time!

I will try my best to keep up with all the things happening around me and provide the next update after about one more week. Let us continue to pray for people suffering with Covid across the world please!

Before I go, I really want to thank all of you for all your encouragement, wishes and blessings. I read each comment on website and social media, although I may not respond to each of those comments. I really appreciate your interest. Please, please forward my updates and blogs to your friends and relatives without any hesitation. Also please read other blogs on the web site www.dadhionthetrail.com

HUGE Thank you!

Roadblock 4: That is correct! I am injured and recuperating in Michigan at home. On Saturday May 1, while walking on a simple flat terrain, my left foot stumbled on the rock and in the process, my right foot got excessively stretched at the heel (where I had Plantar issues in the past!). I somehow reached a crossroad three miles away, and promptly retreated to Tejas’ home in DC! I attempted to walk on the trail on Monday (May 3) but could not proceed for more than 500 ft. Finally on Wednesday (May 5), I managed to walk for 5.5 miles, but did reinjure the heel again. After a visit to Podiatrist in DC and a quick cortisone injection, I am now healing back in Michigan for 15 days as per the doctor’s advice.

However frustrating this incidence may be, it is a part of the Appalachian Trail saga. A large number of hikers get injured, they back off from the trail, recuperate and then resume the trail. Oh well, I join that club now!

My hike after reinjury on Wednesday (May 5^th) was one of the toughest hikes I have done in a long time. I was navigating through the so-called 13-mile “Roller-Coaster” section of the trail. It was pouring hard that morning, every rock and root on the trail had become a playground slide, and my body was working extra-hard to compensate for the injured leg. But even then, some funny incidents happen! I suddenly came across parents with a 6-year-old child on the trail. Before any of them could complain about the rain, I gave this child a high-five and told her to pull the tongue out. After drinking three drops fallen on the tongue directly from the sky, I declared to her that it is a magic potion. It will make her happy just like surrounding trees and I promised this giggling child that she will start jumping within one hour. That same magic potion did not make me jump. But it did keep me safe without any fall.

Prior to the above drama, I had moved further north in Virginia from the Shenandoah National Park. Shenandoah trail was like an IT professional, with trimmed beard, designer glasses and business casual attire. Trail has many fancy, smooth crossroads, soft ground, gradual climbs and wildflowers that are properly lined up on the trail. Once one leaves Shenandoah though, the trail suddenly becomes like a thru hiker itself. Trees grow in all directions like a beard, rain-drenched ruggedness was like well-developed trail legs of the hikers and then there were blown-down trees and zero sophistication of any kind all over the trail. But the foliage was fresh green, you hear constant chirping of migratory birds and frequent streams ensured water supply for my sweaty body.

And in this rugged terrain, I got picked up by my first hosts.

I met Varun Chitnis on the AT special group on Facebook and had NEVER met him or his parents before this visit. Although he is half of my age, he has taste in literature and music that matched my liking, and our friendship clicked. I was hosted by his parents in a Virginia suburb. Oh My God, I cannot even start describing all the food that Prachi (Varun’s mom) had made for me for the evening. In a traditional Indian way, I literally could easily imagine her to be the “Annapurna” (The Goddess of Food). And then we all talked and talked and talked as if we knew each other for a long time. I got goosebumps when Varun sang a song of Tulaja Bhavani (A Goddess from the Western India) with his raw, open and edgy voice (That song is enclosed here). And then Shirish (Varun’s Dad) told me a story of his parents. They fought against the British in the Indian freedom struggle. Like many other freedom-fighters, they swore not to talk about their story, as they felt that they were just doing their duty.

That night was a sleepless night for me! I could count so many of my privileges, all because of the heroes like Shirish’ parents. Hikers had always talked about the Appalachian Trail as a “pilgrimage”. I had no idea that I would have a detour of my pilgrimage through Chitnis’ home.

दिव्यत्वाची जेथ प्रचिती, तेथे कर माझे जुळती!
यज्ञी ज्यांनी देऊनी निज शीर, घडिले मानवतेचे मंदिर
परी जयांच्या दहन भूमीवरी, नाही चिरा नाही पणती
तेथे कर माझे जुळती ! by बा.भ. बोरकर

(Where the flame of divinity glows, there I join my hands in prayers.
Those who sacrificed their head in creating a temple of humanity,
But at whose funeral sites, there is no candle and no headstones.
There, I join my hands in prayers! by Baa. Bha. Borkar)

It is really really hard to send updates when you are sooo tired all the time. All muscles are hurting. Really, really every one of them is hurting! Then at the shelter, I have to do chores, such as getting water from Alaska or India, cooking boring dehydrated food, inflating sleeping mat while trying to not get dizzy, changing clothes and drying the sweaty ones etc.

I know, I know you must be thinking why do this trail if I am going to complain. Sorry if it sounded like whining. It was not. Just continue reading below please!

In last 3-4 days, heaven had descended on earth. There was that foggy day just after rain, one surprise full moon night and one beautiful clear sky during the day. Even Tejas (my son) who was dropping me off at the trailhead told me to say “hi” to Ganapati Bappa and Vishnu (two Indian gods) when I started my walk on the trail. Even he had taken the heaven for granted on the trail! No wonder that the most beautiful things of the world are one with the nature.

I had a roadblock 3. Yesssss, bingo! It is called bull’s eye. Ticks got me before I got them. Fortunately Tejas was around. We immediately went to emergency room as soon as we noticed, and the doctor promptly provided medication for 21 days. Things are completely under control and now when I wander in heaven on earth, I can claim to be fully adorned with awesome jewelry.

Another memorable moment in my life was a St Joseph’s prayer by Leaky Boots for my success and safety. It ends by saying “Divine providence can provide, divine providence did provide and divine providence will provide.” Imagine a devout Catholic praying for a proud Hindu for his safety. Both of us cried after that prayer. It would be so awesome only if if every one of the 6.5 billion people walk on the trail and experience such a simple, basic, heartfelt and beautiful humanity!

On day 12 now, I have crossed 100 miles (105 miles exact), climbed +20,000 ft, crossed Shenendoah National park. Life can not be more beautiful and hard at the same time.

My updates are not like my polished blogs. Please accept my apologies !!!!!

Dear Friends,

Happy Earth Day. There are too many stories on the Appalachian Trail. Everybody is unique. Hawk is doing sixth AT and is carrying his mom’s ashes with him sixth time again. Rainbow stayed in Pune for three months. Phoenix broke ribs in one year, broke her hand next year and trying Thru hike again like a Phoenix. A couple called BAM (male) and Hero (female) discussed to be on AT on their first date six years ago and here they were within first year of their wedding, raising money for hikingforhunger.org. I can go on and on. The culture of helping others is so strong that it is actually overwhelming and a very nice emotional feeling.

When I started with a backpack on the fourth day, it was pouring at 43F. For me, this was an amazing blessing from the Mother Nature. I also believe in a superstition that when I see something spectacular in nature, I will have incredible year or week. That morning I saw 29 deer. What can I say!

Of course, then this brutal Mother Nature also told me to do my part after getting the blessings. Very sharp 500 ft. climb that morning was tough and beautiful.

It dropped to below 40F with wind-chill of 32 mph yesterday when I was walking. My hands were frozen. I started composing song for lyrics called “shi lagali Ahe” in Marathi, which mean I want to do ‘# 2’. All trees were swinging in agreement that I may not be as good as Taylor Swift or A R Rehman, but I do compose well. Couple of wildflowers whispered in my ears, though, that I need to do better with lyrics.

I had first of many expected falls. I am not supposed to walk straight on the trail when crossing those 18,433 blowdown trees every day. That is because I cannot bend my fully replaced left knee. I am supposed to turn sideways, step left foot across and then cross the right foot. My glasses fell on the ground. Otherwise no harm was done. Now these loosened glasses slide on the nose every 15 min. I adjust them with my middle finger. In this desolate place, it looks like I am showing a middle finger to the Mother Nature. Not true, not true at all! In fact, I am showing middle finger to myself for forgetting the limitation of my left knee.

I have done 53.7 miles in six days. I am climbing on an average 2,400 ft. every day as well. I am not supposed to push too hard according to Hawk, keeping the same rate for next two-three weeks based on Hawk’s advice. I am expected to be fitter then. Of course, everything hurts all the time while walking. However, by every morning, I am recovering well.

Finally, I strongly recommend new hikers to come to Shenandoah national park. It has the variety of possibilities from day hike to various long-distance loops, and easy access to roads and usual city life.

Gear is packed, food for three weeks is identified, medication is added in backpack, permethrin is applied on clothes for repelling bugs, Anjali and Deepa did Indian owalani (doing luminaries for best wishes), Anjali also gave me sweet yogurt for safe return with success, auspicious Indian coconut braking ceremony at the trail entrance has been done, I bowed to Mother Nature, so many of you conveyed your blessings from sooooo many of you, IT IS TIME TO GO! First day completed with 5.6 miles, Second day with 11.2 miles. One day at a time!

I am very grateful to Leaky Boots for joining me for first 8 crucial days on the trail. (Refer to my blog “Tramily” at www.dadhionthetrail.com for reference to Leaky Boots.)

Our first three days (April 16-18) are called slack packing days. We walk from point A to point B, then Tejas/Anjali pick us up and bring us back to the hotel. That is possible here in Shenendoah National Park because of the parallel road called Skyline Drive. Our backpacking starts on Monday.

First day was tough but surprisingly second day was nice. Fatigue is slowly setting in, which will not go away for 7 months.