It was very entertaining to watch as you learned on trail! For me the learning is a constant process, it amazes me how little we need to carry or worry about in life. The best lesson I learned on trail is that I can apply the same principles off trail, life’s load sure got lighter too❤!
Funny to hear how you kept trying to convince yourself you weren’t worrying about miles and we were all seeing through it lol. Happy you realize you need to eat healthy and listen to your body.Nice video. 😊❤
Stick! We're looking forward to seeing your continued journey! What you did do right is take us along with you, sharing the "roses AND thorns" of each day... not sugar coating your adventure. We all appreciate your transparency and humility. What you did do wrong (as you've already shared) is wait too long to replace your shoes. Not sure you'll ever get another pair of Topo Traverse in a 14 so ya probably wanna think about another model!! So glad to meet you and wish you all the best as you continue your thru hike and life ❤
Gear adjustments and gear replacements are, in my experience, an endless process. After 12 years and many hikes I am still learning and still "dialing in" various items, refining my skills, and researching new items.
Stick, it's always wonderful to see you again. I'm looking forward to your continued journey. You are in my prayers. As always, embrace the journey and happy trails. 🙏🌄
Good to see you, Stick. If you got any of your gear through REI, you have 1 year from purchase to return it. Drifter and I hope to cross paths with you in Maine.
Trying to hike the trail and work during the summer is a lot. Not everyone can just not be working. Take care and good luck getting back to finish your hiking journey.
Love the review of your hike. Nobody has a perfect hike. It’s impossible to do it all right on something as mentally and physically difficult as hiking a trail for 6 months. You did great and will do great when you go back
You have learned a ton, Stick. Not just about each detail but also about the planning process, ability to shift gears and the emotional aspects. Kudos for making this and sharing it. You omitted one thing, though... waiting far too long to acquire new 👟👟 and the consequences for your 🦶🦶. 😊
Good to see you looking strong. It's interesting to see how much review and analysis of your own actions/thinking during the hike, that you've done since then. The introspection and analysis is a good thing to do, to some extent, but not forever. In my old age (just turned 67) I've learned that beyond a certain point, there is nothing to be gained by thinking about it any more. Try to write (literally or figuratively) a final version of your best analysis at some point, let the ink dry on it, and then just become able to reread it, without spinning it around in your head and trying to analyze/rewrite further. I'd say that it would be OK to revisit it with fresh perspective and added life-experience wisdom in 10 or 20 years, if you wish. The less you spin it around in your head between now and then, the more accurate the raw data about your experience will be, to draw new conclusions from. Personally, I usually only put a high level of "figuring out what really happened, and why" analysis into things super important to me, or super stressful, or both. Somehow, relationships and breakups have always been the most common topic for things I spin around in my head, replaying/rethinking. For my last major breakup, in 2018 at age 60, 2 months after the breakup, I took a solo road trip for a month, primarily to finish thinking about it. I vowed that by the end of the trip, whatever my final thoughts about it were at the end of the trip, they would be the final version and time to let the ink dry on it. It was a tremendously fun trip in other ways, exploring the country and doing fun things. But accomplishing that goal successfully, of forming my final thoughts about the relationship and breakup, was in a way, the crown jewel of that trip. Mission accomplished. My life advice about relationships, is to recognize that (barring death) the number of relationships and the number of breakups, will always be equal, or only different by one. And that you never can be sure whether the difference is 0 or 1 at any future time, even if you think you can be sure. So, design your life to be happy in either case, at any particular point in time. As Billy Joel put it, "Either way, you wake up with yourself" (barring death). So, avoid death as long as you can, learn to be happy alone, learn to be happy coupled, and accept that you can control the results of being solo, but you can't control the results of being coupled. Choosing a partner well, helps, but does not guarantee any particular result. Don't ever feel crushed if a result is not what you wanted.
I’m so glad to see you posting a new video. You always find a way to send positive vibes to your followers. Thank you for your positivity, we all need that in our lives. Looking forward to you getting back on trail . CARPE DIEM.
My first backpack trip was to Isle Royale, Michigan. I’m 5’, a female and was 50 years old at the time. My pack alone weighed 5 pounds. I carried 12 military MRE’s because a friend said that was what I needed. I carried out nearly 10 pounds of garbage. Needless to say, I’ve learned a lot.
Thanks for sharing these lessons learned Stick! I am a section hiker in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and some of your tips are good points. Definitely looking forward to seeing you pick up where you left off in Crawford Notch. 😃👍
Lessons learned...great reflections during your time away from the trail. Nutrition is paramount-but every hiker yields to junk food and have many body & mind dysfunctions and injuries. As you get back to trail-pace with peace!
I've been wondering about you. Thanks for the video and bringing us up to date on your job, summer, and plans for return to the trail. You are doing good, in life and hiking. Kanati
Another thought... being in your camp teaching role in recent weeks may have helped you to teach and advise yourself in a sense. Also... I'd call you an experienced long distance backpacker now, qualified to advise and encourage less experienced hikers. Which is something you've been doing right along in your vlogging... I'm rambling 🥴. Happy that you'll be back on the beautiful AT soon!
I miss New England but TN has its good points. Watching you struggle with the speed and/or miles was sad. I figured you would look back and see it. Bright side is you get to correct it before the end. I’m an over packer with food too. That’s hard to correct. You’re a great person and great things will continue to happen for you!
Sometimes we have to keep speaking the truth our mind knows until it settles into our hearts ... preach to ourselves 😊 Sounds like camp has been a good respite. Can't wait to join you back on the trail!
I wish there were a few stores around the country that let you rent gear for up to 30 days. Tents, trekking poles, shoes/boots, sleeping pads, food storage, backpacks, cook systems. Maybe all the hikers can get together and bring/send all gear they tried and didn’t like and is now collecting dust in attics, garages, closets!! Doing a shakedown hike for a day or few days helps, but a hiker needs to do about 10 of them before thru hiking because all first gear never works! Tip for food: shop after you eat and get a smaller bear canister. 2-3 days is all you need on AT because towns are only a few days away.
Stick, (this is, "Ricochet AT 2024), I am going to have to re-start my thru-hike next Spring. Made it from the approach trail to Fontana Dam and finished the tear of what little meniscus I had left in my right knee. Just had total right knee replaced, are rehabbing it, and will be back out there starting again from the approach trail. Looking forward to your finale this year. Maybe look into the Paria tents, great reviews, love mine, not that expensive and has almost 88" in length with lots of interior room. Good luck brother.
Things happen for a reason. Maybe your initial goal to finish in June would have caused you serious injury and health problems which may have prevented you to summit Katahdin and gotten you off trail completely. The time you have spent at summer camp has been a much needed break for recovery and adjustment to return to trail and continuing your journey. You have been able to make gear changes, decided to carry less food weight and adapted a more realistic mileage per day. All of which you did not have time to do before getting off trail for summer camp. I look forward to following along the rest of your journey. Embrace the Journey and Happy Trails Stick the Eagle 🦅
I would encourage folks to test their gear before leaving, especially their bedding and tent. We purchased bedding that looked good on paper, but once we were out for a sleepover before the trip, we kept rolling off the bedding, slipping, and sliding. The tent was determined to be too big for our needs, and we could have gone smaller. Likewise, test your stoves and other equipment. We ended up with a different tent, and bedding. The stoves we selected worked well. Cut back on the clothing also. On a different note, do you still keep in touch with friends you made on the trail eg Nick and Fizzle Did they make it?
I’m looking forward to your journey moving forward. I think I mentioned during your time on the trail some of those things 🤔 But I realize what advice is. So no more. You’re your own man and that’s the way it should be. I do miss the tramily though. It would be interesting to know what has happened to them as I don’t think they are vlogging.
Did you end up gaining back the weight you lost on trail? That was really smart to take those extra days waiting on weather -- it certainly improved your Franconia Ridge experience! You might want to use the Tiger Wall tent on some of the platforms in the rest of NH so at least you can feel you got some use out of it, heh. What a lovely sunset that was!
You could lighten your backpack by not carrying a tent since you stay in shelters and hostels The next trip will have more warm clothing that will be in pack on warm days
You did what you had to do with what you had to do it with. It's not like there's many choices for nutrition on a long trail, or people would have come up with it already, besides the instant potatoes, knorr, raman, and tortillas, and alike, what else is there? Unless you're fortunate enough like Captain Jack on his sobo, carrying freeze-dried lobster and venison stew from Dr Freeze, which he didn't have on his nobo.lol Or you're going to get off trail every other meal for a big sandwich, salad, or pizza. Don't be hard on yourself. Some hikers hardly had anything the further north they got, and they were worried about carrying more weight. I dont know how they did it. I think CJ lived on cheese the last miles. Lol. And everyone seems to lose weight, even the backpackers that have done every long trail. I think you did great. I think it's just a given that you'll lose weight regardless. As long as you can recover and feel good after a rest and something to eat. Everyone is going to have the shoulda, woulda, coulda moments after you've rested and had a big meal. I've read that high emotions will also zap your energy on the trail and make you more tired. And you were stressing about mileage every day. So I'm sure that didn't help. But we're only human. Things bother us when we feel we're not meeting our goals, and that's stressful. After you slowed down on planning your hiking goals for the day, I think you stressed less about that, but by then, you needed new shoes, which couldn't be found, gear failures, and had pains and your feet were in agony and you were getting more emotional so even less energy. I'm glad you got off trail when you did to recuperate and enjoy camp. But now, we can't wait to see you back on trail. New shoes, new tent, fresh start to the end of your journey. Wow, beautiful evening sky. So if videos are a week plus, behind. You're probably getting back on trail real quick. You got this🎉 🤜🤛✌️🫶
You have grown a lot during the summer, in size and introspection....I think you were brave to confront some of your failures....and most are easily fixable...you filmed a lot and got an A for effort...just remember you don't need to talk so much....the views tell it all...what came thru was your love of the outdoors...
S.T. E. How about using a bear bag instead of the bear can for carrying food. I've read some good reviews on using them in grizzly bears country on the PCT. PS: I live on the Mass sea coast and diito on the car noise, overbuilding and tourists. Looking forward to your nexts posts.
I think you needed to take more zeros and let your body rest. You didn’t used good judgment about continuing to hike when your shoes were shot and your feet were killing you. That made no sense to me when you knew you were getting off trail soon anyway. Good luck on finishing. I’ll be watching.
I dont understand night hiking unless you have no choice at that moment. You have no views of the scenery and there is a greater chance of tripping on rocks and roots
He had a deadline for this hike from the start and had to go home and work at a scout camp. He can do it and he will do it, stop making rude assumptions. It’s his life if you don’t like watching his videos- don’t, and go take a hike of your own
I think what you've learned will affect how you pack for your return to trail... so, how about a "pack review" before heading back out... specifically to show what changes you'll be making... looking forward to seeing you get back on... Happy Trails, Stick! 🥾🌲🎒⛺️👟🏞💚🗻
