Jul 20, 2017
Jan Leitschuh, at the time more comfortable on a horse
than hiking through the woods, found herself contemplating a
thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail following the death of her
mother in 2001. To prepare, Jan hiked over 500 miles, including the
entire length of the Long Trail. In 2003, she was ready to go. She
had already done a trail journal from the Long Trail so it seemed
natural to keep that idea alive on the AT. Her journal was
all the more remarkable because this was nearly 15 years ago,
before the iPhone. Jan used a device called Pocketmail. Reading the
journal now gives us a great representation of what it was like to
hike the AT at that time. The link above takes you directly to the
AT story, though you may find yourself reading her Long Trail
journal as well. 
Jan also produced a book
about her Long Trail journey. You can link to that
here. You can reach out to Jan via Facebook. I've
added a little section about my own return to the Appalachian Trail
in the first week of July. We had a blast and I produced this
silly little
film just for the fun of it. I clearly have waaaaay too much
time on my hands. In the picture below we are, from left to right,
Lefty Righty, Skeezix, Golden, Sherpa, Skates, Mighty Blue, and
Turd Ferguson. 
Attie continues her quest
and is now in Vermont. Her renewed enthusiasm for the trail has
been a delight to me. Once again, thanks to those of you who
have supported my Last 10,000 Feet Challenge by pledging
money to the Family
Partnership Center here on the Florida Gulf Coast. It is so
much appreciated. If you'd like to support, just send me an
email to steve@mightyblueontheat.com
with a figure for how much you'd like to pledge and I'll only be
coming back to you for the pledge if (when) I complete my John Muir
Trail adventure in August. Returning once more to Jan,
today, along with her regular hiking activities, Jan has taken
a role in a farm to table co-operative
in the Sandhills of North Carolina. It is an interesting website
that may be of interest to some of you if you're in the area.
