The middle of nowhere – The walk

I’m sure I read and researched the Appalachian Trail long before I set foot on it. I remember different sources claiming that AT hikers are never too far from the «civilized world.»

In contrast, my wife has been watching a TV show/series, where the contestants are literally dropped off IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, and must survive on their own, feeding on whatever they can find. The last man or woman standing, so to speak, wins $500,000 in clams. That’s not the AT, far from it!

Yes, you feel like you are “in nature” while hiking the AT, but many times you are not. While camping last night, I could hear someone using a leaf blower, jeez! Tonight, the shelter is 100 meters from a private residence. I’ve had a cheeseburger and fries for lunch the last two days, as the trail was very close to the purveyors of those cheeseburgers.

The AT also crosses many roads/highways. I guess that’s inevitable, since we are a nation built for the automobile. It may not have been that way when the trail was completed in 1937, but it is now. Some of the road junctions are rural dirt/gravel roads, which few cars traverse on any given day. Others are very scary, and you take your life into your own hands (feet, actually), as you try to “run” to safety while carrying a heavy backpack.

Let me tell you the story of one such incident. A couple of days ago, my hiking partner Mainer and I were reading notes about our planned section of the AT for that day. Mainer noticed that the FarOut app mentioned a «dangerous» road crossing…yeah, yeah, I’ve read that before. Well, this particular road, NY17, with 4 lanes of traffic and a blind uphill curve on one side, was really dangerous. But the AT was on the other side, so there was nothing to do but run like you’d stolen something. On top of that, a friendly gentleman was handing out sports drinks and brownies on the other side!

So we pulled up (pun intended) down to our boxers, listened to the traffic approaching on the blind side, said a prayer, and ran. In reality, we ran, because no vehicle was approaching, or so we thought… when out of nowhere, a fairly large truck appeared… we quickened our pace. At the same time, the sports drink and brownie guy was yelling “RUN!” What I heard was “Run-Forrest-Run”! I didn’t run like Forrest though, since I was carrying my backpack, but I think Tom Hanks would still have approved.

Long story short, we made it to the other side. When the dust settled, the brownie boy said “when someone shouts run, you RUN”! I informed him that we were indeed giving it our all, in case he hadn’t noticed, which was obvious.

In the end, we lived to walk another day, and the brownies were delicious!

Sorry, no photos included in this story. I was too busy trying not to be a roadside pizza!

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