Douglas Douma

We hiked over Stratton Mt. today, the first of 3 large mountains in Vermont. The name of the state, Vermont, I think is French for “Green Mountain.” The hiking here is rated a 6/10 on the difficulty scale of the AT so I’ve heard. There was a 1700 ft climb. At the top is a

Bob: Welcome back to ESPN Trail, the only network providing 24/7 live coverage of hiking and only hiking. Our hiking head-cam today is on our featured hiker along the Appalachian Trail giving our home audience a first-person view of the action just as happens, LIVE! People are actually willing to watch golf and bowling so

I really like information. Being in the wilderness and out of the know on the Appalachian Trail is difficult for me. I certainly don’t want to know about world events or the news. But I love the Information Age for the ability to read about any topic on Wikipedia. I also love books but I

“I’m going to close the bathroom door because the faucet drips and the toilet runs,” said Pilgrim. Pilgrim, Don’s Brother, and yours truly (Banzai) are staying at the Villager motel in Williamstown; chosen for its availability more than its price. Despite the high price of the motel here in the Berkshires it’s not terribly nice

Hiking with Don’s Brother and Pilgrim is going swimmingly. These are the only hikers I’ve met that are more restaurant-happy than I am. Pilgrim, who is an emaciated 135 lbs needs to eat at every opportunity. We’re each in the mindset that success on the trail outweighs the financial costs. Thus we’re living it up

I’ve crossed path with Don’s Brother a few times along the trail. I again met up with him yesterday and decided to tag along on his AT plans. Don’s Brother, along with Pilgrim, are planning a hike of slack-packing, shuttles, and hotels. This sounds like a good idea to me. Slack-packing requires a shuttle ride

My beard was growing more sideways than acceptable so I decided to buy a comb. I haven’t owned a comb in years since I generally don’t care about my hair. The beard however was out of control. It tools a few painful passes of the comb but now I look more like an Akkadian king

I’ve hit a roadblock. It is equally physical and mental. On the physical side the trail seems to be moving slow. This may be the terrain itself through New York which seems to twist and turn at every possibility and go over many rock piles. Mentally, I’ve ran out of things to think about on

The mosquitoes have come out in full force. The rocks slowly give way to swamps as you leave Pennsylvania and hike into New Jersey. There doesn’t seem to be enough DEET in the world to combat the bugs. With the 90 degree temperatures our sweat removes any bug spray in about 20 minutes and demands

My friend Mark picked me up at the Doyle Hotel and Bar in Duncannon, PA. He gave me a hug, little-realizing it would be cleaner to dive into a dumpster. He didn’t smell my hiker odor immediately but once in the car was forced to roll down the windows. Even when it started to rain