I’ve never been a big fan of the phrase “Nothing makes you feel more alive than…” However, I’m going to use it.

Nothing makes you feel more alive than being attacked by a swarm of yellow jackets because you just stirred up their nest while clumsily plodding down the boardwalk that supports their nest while listening to R.E.M’s Eponymous record. No, seriously. This happened to me yesterday. The moment I looked down thinking a horse fly was getting the better of me, I noticed that it was not in fact a horse fly, but rather 10 to 20 yellow jackets clinging to my shoes, socks and calves. Instantly, a rush of adrenaline burst through my spine and up to my scalp. I took off running down the 100 foot boardwalk screaming like a banshee, releasing a stream of obscenities that might make a Russian sailor blush. When the brief, but painful incident was over, i was left with 6 bites on various parts of my body. They’ve swelled up today and I can say I officially have cankles (google it). Ahhh, life is good.

But anyhow, yes it’s been quite a while since I’ve done an update. The big reason for this is that I’ve been pretty down in the dumps after returning to the trail from my NYC jaunt. I was quite aware that taking 12 days off to do fun stuff and see awesome people might have a negative effect on my trail psyche, but I had no idea to what extent. As I stepped off the northbound Metro North train at the Appalachian Trail station, the question that quickly entered my mind was “Is this really where I want to be?” For the first week back on the trail that answer was a pretty convincing NO. I mean, c’mon, I’d already spent 4 months sleeping on the ground, slogging through the rain, eating a combination of Lipton noodles and Tuna every night, and just generally forcing my body to do something humans probably aren’t designed to do. Did I really need to subject myself to 700 more miles to get the A.T. Experience? Probably not. For the first time ever, I seriously considered dropping out, going home, wrapping up this phase of my life and finally getting back to doing something productive.

The rub of it was that my folks were already planning on meeting me at the end, and my sister has already made arrangements to hike the last 50 miles with me. So I’m stuck with this thing now. Honestly, I’ve emerged from my trail funk and have finally started regaining steam. I’m almost in Vermont, and the last 600 miles are ahead of me. Totally doable, considering those states are said to be the most spectacular on the trail.

Given the fact that once I’m finished with this endeavor, most of the negative aspects will likely be whitewashed in the “those were good times” haze, I want to put down on record the larger things that make the trail a drag. All of the piddly stuff concerning food’s lack of variety, sore muscles and sleeping on the ground are hardly even worth mentioning. I think the single biggest issue I’m having with being out here is that it has indeed become a steady routine, a job of sorts. Sure, anyone reading this from the comfort of their office chair might be taking this opportunity to flip me the bird, but I’m serious. It’s not so much that it’s hard work, but I honestly feel like I’m not doing much with myself. And that feels just plain weird, given the fact that I’m a fairly antsy person. A hiking buddy and I were talking about how odd it is to be out here on an entirely selfish journey, consuming and blowing through money, while not really doing anything terribly productive or useful. I can say that I’m genuinely looking forward to stepping back into real work of some sort. Of course, the moment I sit down and begin some new professional gig, I’m sure I’ll be wishing that my only cares were still what I’m going to eat and where I’m going to sleep. But I suppose that’s just going to be how it is.

A cheap all-you-can-eat buffet is calling my name, so I must head off now to consume in upwards of 10,000 calories. Gotta pack that fat on for the lean times.

Oh, and I’ve been thinking about doing a series of posts that consist of character descriptions of various people I’ve met along the way. Since the “A Walk in the Woods” movie will undoubtedly come out before I can turn my A.T. Experiences into a movie highlighting all the crazy people, I figure I need to commit my memories of these folks to record. Let me know what you think of this.

Until next time…