Social Networking on the Appalachian Trail

 Hello again, its T-Mello

While I gotcha cornered....I want to plug in an info-mercial....

I now have 1000 miles of Appalachian Trail remaining 

And I have received an overwhelming, exciting # of pledges for the
"Penny a Mile for the United Plant Savers"

Please consider JOINING my JOURNEY to SAVE THE PLANTS!

simply click the link below...

http://www.unitedplantsavers.org/content.php/216-help-tmellow?s=8e3a9b5b2a8950ef77c873c6cd17471d
so far I have walked 1,178 miles and raised 11dollars 78 cents to be received from each participant

i will make sure to determine the most up-to-date mileage of A.T. as this number changes every season

The official mileage is 2181 miles from Katahdin, ME to Springer Mountain, GA



OR

Benefits of Becoming a Member of UpS:

• Receive your Membership Package
• Receive annual Journal and biannual Bulletins
• Opportunities to participate in Spring and Fall Give-away seeds/plants for replanting purposes
• Receive a directory of nurseries, seed sources and farms that supply “at-risk” herbs
• Receive discounted registration for Planting the Future conferences
• Become eligible for Community Grants and other benefits.
• Post messages and participate in any one of the UpS forums

http://www.unitedplantsavers.org

 SO WHERE WERE WE?

oh yeah social networking...

 Aside from the Trail Registers at each shelter, there are other ways us hikers keep in touch....

Really there are quite a few technology junkies tout here on the trail. We stay in touch via Text messaging or Cellular telephone. As signal fades in and out along the mountain ridge, the cell phones are usually kept turned off until we reach a clearing in the trees or a road crossing. Although surprisingly the signal is sufficient from most shelters in the deep forest. 3G cell phones: stream internet radio, read digital trail maps in PDF, episodes of "Survivor Man,"  and provide mindless YouTube videos like "cake farts" and so forth. "Woooww dude it's a double rainbow! What does this mean?"

But the trail registers are a fun way to leave encouraging words for your friends behind you. Or to see when your friends ahead of you were at that location. For example, on October 2nd I reached Darlington Shelter <maintained by Mountain Club Of Maryland> and the Trail Register inside the mailbox provided me with this information...the following are SOBO's whom I've met and are now ahead of me:

September-23 Carnivore and Purple
9-24 Roarshack 9Lives and Framework
9-25 Phenix
9-26 Sponge and Splake
9-28 Stickbug
10-1 Pinch

The trail register at the Halfway Point near Pine Grove Furnace State Park, PA was a popular book to write in... my fellow SOBO's are pullin some ground!

8-31 Pilot
9-20 CheapBastard
9-22 Columbus
9-25 Right Click
9-26 Phenix
9-26 Carnivore and Purple
9-26 Framework

I phoned Zach the other day. He's with Achilles about 4 days behind. There's talk that he might get off and skip ahead to join us...
 

  LtoR Easy, Moose, T-Mello, Coach, and Tag pointing to the Pseudo High Point of Connecticut

<the peak of Bear Mtn Connecticut is the highest free-standing mountain in CT, but the actual HP along the CT/MASS border on the flank of a larger mountain >

A random trail register entry by Denim Chicken at Tagg Run Shelter:
10/?/2011 Denim makin haste towards Georgia! I watched 9Lives use up one of his lives last night, when he came off a rock ledge; his body entered the fetal position in mid air. When he landed he was twisted around with his face in the dirt and all he said was "I'm fine but I'm just gonna stay right here a while."

Tagg Run Shelter outside of Boiling Springs, PA was a party...
While talkin to brotha Marcus, a local family man and river runner, I learn Tagg Run sparks fond memories in Marcus' mind. Apparently many nites o' partynhardy were had up here. Well I guess Possum, Hops and I gotta carry on the torch.... Possum and I hike .5 down to the road and meet Smiles Not Miles aka Mama Danks <NOBO GAtoPA 1999>. Trail Angel Mama Danks hooked us up.... "Cheers, and Happy Halfway T-Mello" with bottles clinking in the dark forest. And would you guess the beer she hand selected happened to be Troegs "HopBack" Ale? Possum and I nite-hiked the .5 back up to Tagg Run to roust Hops. I said "Hey buddy wake up, you got some bottles 'O Hops to drink!"
 
  

Powder River and Bobwhite...Baltimore Represent!

Got a text message from Bobwhite yesterday October 10 when she crossed MasonDixon line into PENMAR park.

Hope to catch up for the glorious fall victory lap

Check out her Stories from a Quail Blog

Powder River and I on our Housatonic Aqua Blaze

The 3 BassTerds (LtoR Tag, Special Effect aka Bogart, Coach)

I have not seen them since Ralph Stanley's bluegrass hoedown at Watermelon Park Sept 27th. After 3 days of music we said goodbye and Powder River dropped the BassTerds <Coach, Tag,  Special Effect AKA Bogart> off in VA to hike north to Harpers Ferry for the marathon, Bogart took 8th place overall with no training other than shouldering a heavy pack at a swift walking pace for three months. I remember Coach saying "Well I'm in the best physical shape of my life now, so I might as well run a marathon." So Tag, Effect, Coach and Denim Chicken all finished the 26 miles in under 5 hours. They were the Town Heros! 

SOBO PRIDE.

While slack packing out of Scott Farm I met some new SOBO's (or new to me but not to them).... Daks and Spoons started their hike in Canada on the International A.T....... I met Possum and Hops outside of Duncannon and Brothers 3 and Captain caught up with me in the Cumberland Valley. Scott Farm Caretaker Mitch <NOBO '98> and I were digging up Burdock root  for a stir-fry dinner when we met Brothers3 from Connecticut. Bros3 and Captain tried to get me to join their "4-state-challenge" which involves crossing 3 state lines in twentyfour hours. 41 miles from PA through MD across the Potomac into Harpers Ferry, WV and then across the Shenandoah into VA. I wanted to take some time in my home state. 

The MD barefoot challenge would be insane by the way. I walked Maryland in TWO DAYS wearing shoes. I think I could walk Maryland in 4 days without shoes. But would have to build up a good callous over the summertime first. Maryland took me 23 miles to Boonsboro and Washington Mounument for glasses of wine with Mitch at South Mountain Inn. Day two took me 18 miles to Harpers Ferry,WV. At the end of day 2 I came running down the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath to finish the final 3 along Potomac in longstrides.