It's been almost a year now...

[Werdigo]

Ah, it's kind of hard, emotionally, to see March 11 approach. That's when I started in 2013... I pulled out in Erwin TN (342 mi) on April 22. It was a great 6 weeks, despite the snow and ice (thanks to my wife for overnighting my Microspikes to Fontana) and a few ~13F nights. (Photos in my trailjournals entries)

I stopped mostly, I think, because I got to rethinking the additional value added by another 5 months on the trail, compared to the value potentially added by other uses of that time. I'm retired and have several other fascinating hobbies, and at my age am a little sensitive about how much time I have left! There was a little nagging problem with my right knee --- but I'd been prescribed a knee brace in Gatlinburg and was doing OK with it, so I can't really blame my stopping on that.

As it turned out, though, I would have had to pull out anyway. A week after I got home, my wife had a major operation the effects of which required her to retire also. She had been having some trouble all along, but minimized it in our telephone conversations to avoid interfering with my hike. It's been a tough year in that regard but she's still here and that's what counts!

I really wonder about some of the fellow aspiring Class of '13 thru-hikers I met. Not many seem to post on trailjournals. I know Salsa/Twix finished, and Wild Rain was within 200 miles of Katahdin at her last post, and Triple Step pulled out in Virginia with knee trouble. Anyone know anything about Slow but Sure and Because of Her (wife/husband team), Blackhawk Bob, Two Sticks (Herb), Moonshiner, Chicago and Private Snowball, Candypants, Rooster (and dog Bangarang), Tallulah (a ~23-yr-old from Maine), Mozyin, Phoenix (a young man)... I'm not including some I know to have been section hikers, and am surely forgetting someone important...

My journal and photos are on http://trailjournals.com/werdigo .

Best wishes to the Class of '14!

--Werdigo

[rafe]

I know the feeling Wertigo. The trail is still there if you're ever in the mood for it again. If you're ever in Harpers Ferry you can visit ATC HQ and go through the 2013 picture book and maybe find some of these folks, at least the ones that made it that far.

[Werdigo]

Guess there's no way to edit a post... I just saw the following thread, the 2000-mile list, and found a few of my compatriots there. Great to see about a dozen familiar trail names!

[AngelEyez]

is Candypants your talking about have bluish colored hair the yes she made it