Videos

Full Appalachian Trail Video Playlist – linked here

Back in Wisconsin

… but a part of me will always be present in the mountains of Appalachia

Over the past few weeks, I have been re-reading my journal and revisiting the photos and video footage I captured while hiking. All of which, have given me the first sense of clarity and honest reflection since the hike was completed. So many treasures were found along the AT. The AT yielded a sense of community and camaraderie that very few will ever experience: trail angels who offered refuge and support out of sheer kindness and compassion, experiencing Trail Days and the hospitality of numerous small “trail towns,” sleeping in a jail cell in Palmerton, sharing a meal and a beverage with the mayor of NJ, completing work for stays in NH and Maine, the list goes on and on …

Additionally, the trail was filled with some of the most inspiring, good-natured, and determined people that I have ever met.  Everyone was in it together – supportive, compassionate, and helpful – with one hiker lifting the other one up when he/she was feeling down.  It was amazing to witness such selflessness.  For many, the trail also provided the opportunity for personal growth.  The human spirit is truly enlivened by bonding with good people and nature, the thought of remaining  deeply present is filtered through the mind, and the body is continually challenged through relentless physical exertion.  All of these and more stretched the limitations that we once thought existed and bolstered the idea that anything is possible.

Out of the 1425 people who started a thru-hike on Springer last year, only 307 made it to Katahdin (21.5%).

John’s Photos (Virginia to Maine)

Hey Everyone, I unloaded the majority of my photos today. You can find them by going to my Picasa Web Album page. The link is displayed below.

Enjoy =)

http://picasaweb.google.com/jtsuhar

En Route to Wisconsin

Since summiting Joe and I ventured down to Orono, Maine with some fellow hikers, then to Cranberry Island (Acadia) before we were picked up by Alexandra Slayton for our journey home. We stayed with Alex’s mom near Boston two nights ago, and with my Aunt Debbie last night here in Ohio. Grandma and Grandpa Thomas made it over for dinner last night, along with my Uncle Russ, Aunt Diane, Uncle Greg, Aunt Debbie, Jeff, and Jessie. Today we will head down to Alliance, Ohio to meet up with my younger brother Zak before heading over to Amy’s, Harry’s, and Ella’s home for the evening. Alex, Joe, and I should be on Wisconsin soil sometime on Thursday

Thank you so much Aunt Debbie for the wonderful meals and the cozy beds (Joe, Alex and I don’t want to leave)!

Appalachian Trail Thru Hike 2009 Complete

Joe and I summited Mount Katahdin, Baxter State Park, Maine on Saturday September 12th!

AT Thru Hike 2009, now officially complete!

… the joys only forbidden places can offer

Greetings from Maine!

We are currently enjoying lunch at Northern Outdoors, near Caratunk, Maine!

30 miles to Monson for our last resupply, then 5 days through the 100 mile wilderness, then the final climb, then the road trip home with Alexandra!

=)

Final updates will come after Joe and I return home.

Love and miss you all very much.

White Mountains

Sending My Best to Laura and Her Family

My cousin Laura was induced last night. Hopefully all will go well and we will have a new member of the family sometime soon.

Everyone please keep Laura and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Here are some photos of Laura.

Imagery from the White Mountains

Greetings from Hanover, New Hampshire

On the night of August 13th Joe and I set up at “Maine Junction” where the Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail part ways. The following morning we woke up and hiked about 8 miles when Joe’s knee stared bothering him. He tweaked it on the ascent of Killington, we decided to stop hiking for the day and let Joe get some rest, so on Friday August 14th, our 119th day on the trail, we set up at the Stony Brook Shelter and enjoyed an afternoon and evening full of reading and relaxing. We also chatted with two Southbound hikers (hikers who stared in Maine and will finish in Georgia) who were from Beaver Damn, Wisconsin. What a small world. On Saturday August 15th, Joe awoke ready to hike. We did about 20 miles and set up at Cloudland Farms for the night. (Going back to our stay in, Burlington … while Joe and I were walking along the lakefront, a fellow hiker came running down the street behind us … once he caught up to us, he greeted us with a, “Hey, you guys are hikers!” … “We sure are,” we responded. We then did introductions and met Gritty, a fellow AT thru hiker. He was ahead of schedule and decided to hike the Long Trail in Vermont, in addition to the AT, to allow more time for the fall colors to come through while hiking in Maine. Gritty was from the area and had some friends which a place overlooking the lakefront. He invited Joe and I back to the porch for some wine and cheese. We accepted his invitation and spent the evening with him and his friends before meeting up with Tris.) Anyways, Gritty told us about his parents farm, so when we approached Cloudland road on the evening of Saturday the 15th, we went .2 miles off the trail to the West and met up with Gritty’s family on their farm. After finishing a delicious dinner consisting of Garlic Bratwarsts, Organic Vermont Maple Soda & Raspberry Rhubarb soda, and Fresh Mint ice cream, we retreated back to the horse stables which is where we were sleeping for the night. Heading off the trail was well worth it!

On Sunday August 16th, our 121st day on the trail, Joe and I hiked 17 miles into the town of Hanover, NH (Home of Dartmouth University). We were now done with Vermont, and would only have one more state crossing (the NH, ME crossing) before finishing our thru hike of the AT. Wow we’ve come so far! It’s gone by so fast for me. About 450 miles left, 20-30 days, depending on our pace. New Hampshire and Maine, the last two states. But for now, here we are walking along the perimeter of the Dartmouth campus, where university buildings skirted the courtyard, and students flooded the sidewalks. When we crossed a student, I stopped her and politely asked where “Greek Row” was, the street were all the fraternities and sororities were located. After a lengthy conversation, she finally pointed us in the right direction. We walked on for a half mile, up to a building with a large blue door. I hollered up to the girls sitting on the second story porch and asked them if they had room for two hikers for the night. Much to our surprise they did, and despite our funky hiker smell, they welcomed us with open arms. Joe and I showered quickly and then set up our therma rests and sleeping bags in the basement. We conversed with the brothers and sisters of the co-ed frat/sorority for a while and then headed out for dinner.

Ramunto’s Brick and Brew pizza offered a free slice of cheese pizza to thru hikers, so this was an obvious first stop for us. We devoured our free slice and then ended up splitting a large philly cheese steak / spicy buffalo blue cheese pizza. Delicious! After our meal I asked the owner what they do with the leftovers at the end of each night. When I heard they toss them in the trash,I asked if it would be alright if we came back to see that none of the food went to waste.

“Absolutely, come back 15 minutes before closing time,” he said. I smiled and headed back to our home for the night with Joe. So after the 10 PM Sunday ice cream event the house hosted, Joe and I headed back to Ramuntos and picked up 4 boxes of left over pizza. Some of the boxes contained 2 to 3 pies. We were in heaven. We carried the pies back to the house, consumed as much as we could for the night, shared some with the brothers and sisters and saved some for breakfast and lunch today. So here we our in the Hanover library, with only 2 states to go, and roughly 450 miles. The home stretch is going to be beautiful. If the brothers and sisters don’t mind our smell, maybe we will stay another night here at Dartmouth.

A fitting quote from the book I’m currently reading …

“It smells terrible in here.”

“Well, what do you expect?  The human body when confined, produces certain odors which we tend to forget in this age of deodorants and other perversions.  Actually, I find the atmosphere of this room rather comforting.  Schiller needed the scent of apples rotting in his desk in order to write.  I ,too, have my needs.  You may remember that Mark Twain preferred to lie supinely in bed while composing those rather dated and boring efforts which contemporary scholars try to prove meaningful.  Veneration of Mark Twain is one of the roots of our current intellectual stalemate.”

- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Vermont

I’ll keep it short, Vermont was really awesome.

Hiking with Knetz, drier trails, incredible views, the northern woods of birch and pine, the uninterrupted beauty, the lakes, rock jumping, our sidetrip to Burlington to visit Tris. It all rolled together to be an incredible combination and a refreshing change in scenery.

Vermont reminded me a lot of Northern Wisconsin/Minnesota, but with mountains. The mountains are getting bigger again and so are the climbs. The people are very friendly here in Vermont.

It’s a hard state to leave, but I’m thoroughly looking forward to hitting the Whites. With less than 500 miles left to hike, John and I are both really pumped to hike through New Hampshire and Maine.

Hiking with Knetz

Shortly upon coming back on the trail from hiking with my sisters and the sidetrip to see Stephanie and Keith, we got a visit from our friend Matt Koenitzer. With a solid 25 minutes of planning, Matt drove out from Minneapolis to meet us on top of Greylock Mountain. It stands at 3,491 and affords wonderful views in all directions. It seemed to be a great place to meet up.

John and I cranked out 18 miles in the morning to reach the summit by early afternoon. Matt was on his way so we waited as we ate lunch. There was fog and rain and wind, so we ate inside the lodge. John found a hitch all the way into Boston so he wisely chose to take that instead of waiting. Shortly after, Matt came in from the outside. I was talking with Feather Foot who Matt would become good friends with over the next couple of days.

We gave each other a hug, it was strange to see Knetz pop in from the rain up on top of Greylock. I was very happy to see him. We caught up a little and decided to get moving. Matt set off to pack and get a shuttle. I hiked down the backside of Greylock. It was an adventure. Steep and muddy, I found myself sliding down for two or three feet at a time. It was slow and I was worried that I would be late for Matt, but right as I got to the Stop n Shop where we were meeting, Matt pulled up with his ride. We got a few things from the grocery store and set off on the hike.

We only hiked a couple miles that night and set up before it got dark. The next day was muddy and slow. It was a day filled with hopping from rock to root to rock to board to root to rock. It definitely wasn’t the most amazing hike ever, but the trail would improve.

The next day, we passed the Vermont border. We got some swimming/soaking in at Roaring Branch and again when we hit camp for the night. Bill and Bill were there who also became favorites of Matt’s. It was a son and father who have been hiking together since Georgia. We went down to relax in the river and went to bed content that we had been able to wash ourselves off.

The following day, we reached the top of Harmon Hill. This was berry foraging central. The raspberries were all over the place and Matt and I took full advantage for a good twenty minutes. After tearing ourselves from the raspberries, we had a wicked descent down to our hitching road. We hitched in to Bennington, which took about 40 minutes, but Knetz’s charm eventually got us a lift into town. We resupplied at a meat market, ate a big lunch at a brew pub, and I took care of getting a shoe warranty at the outfitter in town. We got a really quick hitch out of town and hiked straight up for a couple miles with heavy packs. We fried up pork chops that night for dinner and hiked on a few more miles to set up camp.

The next morning, we made backcountry corned beef hash. Scalloped potatoes and corned beef. It was a heavy breakfast that started a great day of hiking. We hit a few 3,000 foot peaks and were afforded a couple of views. That night we made a roaring fire and roasted hot dogs.

The next day was a beautiful day of hiking. We hit Stratton Mountain which blew us away. It gave us 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains. We ate lunch up there with Sailor J who also become one of Matt’s favorites. We hiked down and set up camp at Stratton Pond. It was one of the best backcountry swimming holes I’ve ever encountered. We gathered wood, went for a swim, ate dinner, and got the fire going. We also got a chance to sample snowberries which looked and tasted like tic tacs. We had good company at the fire with two brothers that were out on their first every backpacking trip and were as excited about beavers and hiking as little schoolboys. Soon after the fire was started, we saw John stagger into camp.

The final day, we caught a sweet lookout at Prospect Rock. We finished off the hike and had fun in town. It was surprising how well everything turned out for Matt’s trip. He got to experience a lot of diversity in the trail and got to see some good views. He also had no rain. That seemed impossible, but it didn’t rain. I’m really glad that Knetz got to come out and hike with us, I think he’s also glad. It was good to mix it up for a few days with the Fun Force as Matt calls himself. He also got a trail name of Merman as he couldn’t stay out of the water. Thanks for the good times, Knetz.