It's a Crash! Bang! Trailjournals Thang!

“Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell your dog! Hard to believe, I know, but I'm back at work on my trailjournal from my 2004 Appalachian Trail thru-hike. I've requested a direct link, and soon you will be able to see new entries at www.trailjournals.com/crashbang. For now, just go to trailjournals and click on Crash! Bang! under 2004 AT hikers. New entries should be appearing sometime today.

In brief summary, I summited Katahdin 9/24, but was not finished with the trail, as I had skipped New York and New Jersey. After a few days off, I hit the trail again at the PA/NJ border, and hiked to the NY/CT border, finishing the last 1.2 mile on 10/10. If ya want more details than that, you'll have to write to me or check out my trailjournal.”

“new entries coming up sometime this evening”

“maybe”

“So CB, I got your e-mails, BUT are ya coming to my hike?? huh? huh? Ya gots till Friday to decide. :-)

AND... are you special or what? Your own DIRECT LINK at Trail Journals??!?! Here I thought it would be more like the MISSING LINK!”

“i'll be reading it. i like reading those journals (as long as they are written in an interesting manner).”

“Congratulations on completing your hike. Are we to assume that every thread you create from now on will include the phrase, "crash bang thang"?”

“Carsh Bang

When are you going to get your tushy on the ferry and meet me in Brooklyn for a beer?”

“"So CB, I got your e-mails, BUT are ya coming to my hike?? huh?"
i wish i could

"as long as they are written in an interesting manner).”
i wrote some of them standing on my head while reciting chaucer. is that an interesting enough manner?

"Are we to assume that every thread you create from now on will include the phrase, "crash bang thang"?”
only when im talkin bout myself, bro

When are you going to get your tushy on the ferry and meet me in Brooklyn for a beer?”

how about tomorrow? im leaving friday morn”

“i know it seems like i havent been working on my trailjournal, but i have. what ive been doing is working on a day-by-day outline of the trip, using wingfoot as a guide (imagine that, using my guidebook as a guide) and a memory-helper, before i started forgetting even more than ive already forgotten. i regret that i did not keep up writing my journal on a more daily basis so as to keep my musings and accounts more immediate and more detailed, instead of this months-after-the-fact re-hash. currently, i am 6 months behind, and have about 2 1/2 months worth of journaling left. hopefully ill be finished in the next few or several weeks.

yesterday, i finished writing my outline, and today i picked up journaling again where i left off several weeks ago. here is the first entry, from 6-24:

Destination: Pine Knob Shelter
Starting Location: Ed Garvey Shelter
Today's Miles: 16.60
Trip Miles: 1032.20

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From "Walking Tour Stop 7: War Correspondents Memorial Arch" in Gathland state park, near Burkittsville, Md: "This stone arch...was built in 1896 as a permanent memorial to newspaper correspondents, artists, and photographers of the Civil War...the Arch's unusual design was inspired by two Hagerstown structures: the former B&O Railroad passenger depot...and the Antietam Fire Co. Station No. 2...
Names of 157 men from the North and South, who documented the Civil War, are inscribed on tablets embedded in the east facade. Biblical and classical references to the skills of the war correspondents are incorporated into the design."

Today was a day with alot of historical and architectural significance. In addition to the War Correspondent's Memorial, on the trail today was a restoration of the original Washington Monument, and a beautiful old-fashioned stone-walled church.

Don't know when I'll get a shower again, so I took a nice hot one at the Dahlgren Backpack Campground. It's tempting to head into Boonsboro for a nice slice of pizza, but I really don't need to go into town since I just left Harper's Ferry yesterday, so I'll skip it.

Crossed over I-70 at the end of the day. It's funny to see a road from my home state of Indiana all the way out here. I guess I could scramble down and thumb a ride all the way back home, but I'm not the least bit tempted.

Got in to the shelter to find it deserted. Not surprised, the traffic from I-70 only 1/2 a mile away is not conducive to a wilderness experience. The trail to the water was kind of long and I wondered if I would ever find it. Well, have a long day tomorrow, I'm planning on getting up at 530 am and being on the trail around 6. Got to do 17.7 miles plus post-office and re-supply, which will require a hitch.

It's a Crash! Bang! Thang!
last edited: 12/31/04 8:42:14 AM”

“Finially!!!”

“so in this way its more of a trip report than a journal, but its better than nothing, and is enjoyable for me, one, because i get to re-live the experience, and two, i want to have a complete narrative of the trip.

if you want to read it in whole and see the accompanying pictures go to www.trailjournals.com/crashbang

if someone could tell me how to post pictures to a thread, i would be glad to post them here.”

“get a photo bucket account then you just cut and past the url for each picture to here and it will show up here.”

“no!

i want to post the pictures!”

“Careful, she'll send you a scorpion or something, j/k.”

“{img src="the complete url of the image"}

replace the curley brackets with greater than less than signs.
images wider than 450 px might break the thread.”

“photobucket, phucket. if someone could just show me the commands to post here”

“well, frick”

“HOORAY!”

“clockwise from top left: a restoration of the original washington monument, the war correspondents memorial, old-school church.

and not to bust yer hump, packy, but its lessthan greaterthan, not vice versa. thanksfor yourhelp : D”

“Crap, yeah I know.
I code HTML all day for years now and tend to forget to be real specific to folks who aren't as familiar and assume they know the placement and sequence.

Sawey”

“btw, does the page have to be strictly an image, cuz the first time i tried it i tried to use a page with some text and other junk, even with everything else right it wouldnt work”

“slacker ;-)”

“if i can write this thing in less time than it took me to hike it,ill be happy”

“

Destination: Pen-Mar Road, Pennsylvania
Starting Location: Pine Knob Shelter
Today's Miles: 17.70
Trip Miles: 1049.90

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Well, I ended up not being alone last night. Slowpoke came in well after dark just as I was falling to sleep. I was walking by 5:53 am this morning, the earliest ever! Hiked past Pogo Memorial Campsite, which Scorchfire, Treebeard, Mapleleaf, and a few others will remember from December of '03 as the campsite for "Colder than a Blair Witch's Teat". Boy, was that night cold. Yes, right now I am passing through country in which "The Blair Witch Project" was filmed, although I do not know if any of it was on the AT. I could've walked into Burkittsville yesterday if I had any reason to.
As I complete the last few miles of Maryland, she's starting to give me a taste of what Rocksylvania is going to be like. As I approach Pen-Mar park on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, the trail is getting rocky and rugged. Yippee and Jabberwock were at the park, and they ordered pizza delivery. Sad to say, but the amount of trash, especially broken glass, on the trail in and near the park was appalling.
Getting around Cascade, Md was a breeze! So many people were eager to help out with rides, one even asked before I stuck my thumb out. I made it into the post office to pick up some maps, and the clerk there was extremely friendly. She told me a story about a hiker who had attempted the 4 state challenge (Virginia/W. Virginia state line to Maryland/Pennsylvania state line, a distance of 43.1 miles, in 24 hrs or less). He had collapsed in the post office from exhaustion and not eating during the challenge. Someone had given him some food and water and he was off, because he wasn't quite to the finish.

I hitched a ride back to the park easily in the late afternoon, and ran into Enigma, who had just made it to the park. We hung out in the park for awhile, meeting some locals and watching a train go by, and when a rainstorm came we ducked under the pavilion. I finished off my leftover pizza from town and organized my food. Eventually, the rain let up and I headed up the trail to find a campsite. The Pennsylvania state line was just a quarter mile away, and I stopped and set up my tent in the woods just beyond the famous Mason-Dixon Line. Don't Mind and Don't Matter were nearby, along with their nephew Don't Bother. They had just finished their first 20-mile down and were happy with it.


It's a Crash! Bang! Thang!
last edited: 12/31/04 3:38:03 PM”

“

Woke up this morning with 14 Daddy Long-legs in my tarp-tent, all gathered at the back. Glad I'm not squeamish of them. I like Pennsylvania's sense of humor. The first shelter site I came to had two shelters, one marked "snoring", the other marked "non-snoring".

Came to the Antietam Shelter to find it had been taken over by a local family out to party, as this is the weekend and the shelter is right next to a small picnic ground. They were friendly and gave me a Mountain Dew, but I was glad I was not planning on camping there. This was probably the reason there were two other shelters a mile or two in either direction on the trail. I do not want to sound elitist, but I wish the sleeping shelters would be left alone for their intended use.

After a long break taking in a leisurly lunch at a nearby picnic table and sunning myself on the ballfield, I headed out for the night's destination. Again, there were two shelters at the shelter site, and some of the middle-aged to elderly ladies wanted to have it "boys and girls" shelters. I didn't see any point in that, especially if a lot of men showed up making the "boys" shelter crowded. But, they didn't, so it wasn't an issue.”

“Finally, more updates! You slacker. lol. This is the time of year when I start fantasizing about all the things I would be doing to get ready for my thru hike in April. Then April comes and reality hits. No thru hike for me this year. But I have been thinking about it for years.

So how is your Dad doing CB?”

“With that bit of markup, yes, just an image.

Inserting a page into an existing page is doable but most likely screw up the thread bigtime and would invoke the wrath of Matt. Best to not go there.”

“Friday, July 23, 2004
Destination: Ten Mile River Lean-to
Starting Location: Hoyt Rd
Today's Miles: 2.80
Trip Miles: 1281.80

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Hello New England! - Click picture to see full size
I would like to start this entry by expressing deep gratitude to Stu and Nora Septoff and Danine Hughes. If they had not welcomed me into their homes in my time of need, I would have been forced to return to Indiana until I could get my money situation straightened out. I am truly blessed to know such wonderful people. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you guys!
After some debate, I chose to jump ahead some on my trek so as not to fall behind schedule. I skipped a 161 mile section of the trail from DWG to Hoyt Rd (the NY/CT state line), or essentially, New Jersey and New York. I will come back and complete the section after summiting Katahdin, but for now, it is exciting to finally be in New England for the first time in my life, and back on the trail after a 12-day absence.

After leaving Manhattan by train, I arrived in the early afternoon to the town of Poughkeepsie, NY, then took a cab to Wingdale, NY. It was raining cats and dogs, so after re-supply, I holed up in the local library and passed time on the internet. Eventually, the rain let up enough to try to hitch a ride, and a short time later I was back on the trail.

It started raining harder shortly after hitting the trail, so I took shelter under a trail information board. I waited for awhile, and when I saw it was not going to let up any time soon, I walked on. About an hour later I arrived at the shelter. I was running very late due to the late start and the rain delay, and the next shelter was 8.4 miles away, so despite the fact that it was the middle of the afternoon, I decided I was home for the evening.

Eventually, Saltlick showed up, and I was very excited to see someone from the trail. He was surprised to see me, as there were rumors that I had dropped off. Talking further, I learned where other hikers were, and was pleasantly surprised to find I had actually gotten a little bit ahead in relation to where everyone else was. People that I was with or slightly ahead of me were now behind me, people that were significantly ahead of me were not as far ahead anymore. I had figured that I had lost ground on the pack, in general. Next into the shelter were Skippy and Poppins.

Eventually, it became apparent that the rain was done for the day, and it was still mildly warm and daylight, so I walked down to the confluence of Ten Mile River and the Housatonic River for a splash. I spent alot of time exploring all the rocks and nooks and crannies, just absorbing it all, happy to be back in the wilderness and clean air, the mountains, and the trees.

It's a Crash! Bang! Thang!”

“see the "you gotta see this" thread for another picture from the same day”

“You are most welcome! :)”

“Shing-a-ling, crash bang that thing !!!”

“It's a Crash! Bang! Thang!”

that is so annoying”

“I! concur! with! Scorch!”

“thats because youre lame”

“Lame?
How's the knee?”

“somewhat twingy
last edited: 1/08/05 10:14:42 AM”

“hey scorch




























wait for it










































YOUR MOMS HOT!”

“lol”

“Yo Momma”

“What! a! zinger! of! a! comeback! crash!”

“its! a! running! joke! between! me! and! scorchfire! you! flipping! ninny!

or

its a crash! bang! running-joke-between-me-and-scorchfire thang!















you wouldnt understand”

“I need to get a link for poops journal. One of these days I want to read it.

I don't really like the guy, but I respect his accomplishment.”

“have a nice day too, dickhead : P”

“So how about a link, poop head?”

“a! flipping! ninny!? I sure hope there was a sarcastic font attached.”

“Ok, I bookmarked it.

Maybe I will get real bored one day...”