I was out doing a section hike March 25 & 26 and found out from G.R.U.M.P. (2005 GA-WV, now sectioning to CT) that there is a NOBO by the name of Bookworm who is already nearing CT.
Then in the nearest AT trail register (Palisades Parkway, Harriman State Park) Bookworm wrote #1 NOBO next to his name.
Has anyone run into him on the trail?
DoubleRev
Haven’t run into Bookworm, but I’m glad to hear that G.R.U.M.P. is still making headway. I know he had some snow issues earlier this year that affected his hike.
Who thinks Bookworm is pushing the pace to take at least three months of zero days in Dalton?
Mr. Fusion
Hey Mr. Fusion, G.R.U.M.P. mentioned that he kept in touch with you. Yep, he hit a bad storm on March 16th, with a family’s help though he managed to get to a hotel and ride out the snow and ice…
DoubleRev
I haven’t heard of Bookworm specifically, but the owner of the outfitter in Troutville told me last Friday (3/23) that 4 or 5 nobo’s had already stopped in at his shop. As far as I know, Hobbit is the furthest north of the thru-hikers who are on TJ.com. Is there another source to keep up with the early birds?
Mango
Makes a person wonder if Book Worm may be a Rosie Ruiz of Boston Marathon fame a few years ago. Not saying it is so, just wondering at the possibility.
Moon Man
Why does it matter? Earl was the first. Everybody else is just wannabes. Why spend time acting like these hikers are rock stars. In a way, they are. No job and they stink.
Lazarus
Very funny Laz. I share your view that we are overdoing all the hububaloo with who is first, fastest, who can do the most yo yos etc…
Can we please leave the rat race off the trail?!
Still, I wish I were out there now.:bawling
:cheers
Jalan
Bookworm started in October '06. I met him in Virginia in late Nov./early Dec. Snapshot and I hadn’t seen any other hikers in ages–and neither had Bookworm. He was getting a lot of reading done, and leaving books in the shelters with his reviews written inside.
Five-Leafed Clover
I go by the “hike your own hike” philosophy. Still if someone wants to “hike their own hike” by being the #1 Nobo, that’s their prerogative. I don’t think that its wrong for a person to want to trail run, speed hike, establish records, etc. Just recognize that they are hiking ‘their’ way. Some people like baseball stats, some watch games, some do both, others neither (like me). So cheers to Bookworm and to everyone else who wants to do their own hike in their way. I care enough to support them and not enough to feel threatened by their actions.
“Teach us to care, and not to care” from Ash Wednesday, by T.S. Eliot
DoubleRev
I absolutely agree with DoubleRev. Some people are out there to commune with nature or fellowship with people. Others thru-hike for the physical and psychological challenge. And, actually, isn’t that just another way to commune with nature? The human body is one of the earth’s greatest creations, and its a beauty to feel it in a state of hiking perfection.
To be honest, I don’t miss much the rocks and the trees, or even the amazing views. I enjoyed my fellow thru-hikers, but I also just enjoy people generally, on or off the trail. There are two things that I will always miss from the trail, that I will never be able to adequately duplicate in “real life”: (1) the feeling of being a hiking machine (blowing past nancy day-hikers who are struggling up a mountain) and (2) the absolute bliss of coming into town after several days out and taking a shower, drinking a pop or iced mocha, eating pizza, and using a proper ****ter. Damn that was nice.
Burner
A comment in defense of knowing who’s first. I thru-hiked in 2006, and when my wife told me on the phone that Bone-Pac had summitted, I was energized. Even though I had never met him, I had read his shelter register entries and felt like I was part of the same club. His summitting inspired me to keep going - one of us made it, so can others!
Mango
I was fortunate to share a few beers with G.H.O.S.T at the Doyle last weekend. I saw his name in the registers as my buddy and I headed north from Pen Mar and it was cool to meet up with him. If we wouldn’t have flip-flopped our last two days on the trail, we never would have caught him.
Hard to belive that we’re running into NOBO thru’s in PA in March…
Stalking Tortoise
It’s a small world when its two feet wide, and thousands of miles long. Hello Mr. Fusion! See you in Damascus for the Daze? I last saw GRUMP at Bear Den Hostel in 2005 in a room full of snorers…I snuck off to sleep on a couch under the watchfull eyes of Earl Shaffer. Keep it forward! Peace. Fn’G.
Fishn’GaMe