Introducing Maps
April 17
2024
Hello again and welcome to another episode of the walking unwashed, as that is now what I truly am! I have just passed my first 100 mile marker and am now in my second state having crossed from Georgia to North Carolina a few days ago. As I sit and write this I am in Franklin, NC at the Gooder Grove Hostel run by a Robert Downey Jr. look-alike named Zen (a trail name - more on that later). I was lucky enough to get in yesterday morning and dodge most of a rainstorm, though not enough of it that my tarp didn't get pretty soaked - it's drying out on a clothesline right now. I must say it has been quite a learning curve dealing with my ultralight tarp/bivy set up but after a few nights of near collapse, I think I have more of a handle on it now. I now know to be much more judicious when selecting my campsite and that all the guylines on my tarp are not just for show…they are actually structurally important!
Not only have I been adjusting to setting up my new home away from home, but I have been adjusting to trying to sleep in it - specifically trying to sleep when there are so many other noises going on around me. I thought I was used to background noise having lived in NYC for almost 10 years but street noise does not hold a candle to this. It’s a cacophony out there! I thought I was going to find peace and solitude out in nature but quite the opposite. There are so many other creatures around me all the time even if I can’t see them. And the creatures of the human variety are quite plentiful as well. I am smack dab in the middle of the bubble so I have been feeling a little like I’m in the midst of a giant caravan of other hikers. We all seem to go the same amount of miles and stop at the same campsites every night as we all inch slowly toward our goal in Maine. Though it has felt a little crowded at times, I have been meeting some amazing people. There’s a small group of us that tend to sleep later than everyone else and we’ve been slowly turning closer and closer towards each other, sharing bits of our history and commiserating at lunch or when we finally reach camp. Perhaps they will end up being my trail family or ‘tramily’ as thru-hikers say. Only time will tell on that front.
But one thing I can say for certain is I have finally found my trail name. There is a long standing hiking tradition of finding a trail name along the way, which is yours for this and any future hikes you might do. I have officially been christened ‘Maps’ by this strange and lovely community and like any name, this one is full of meaning and stories. Maps was born out of my love for paper maps and the uniqueness of the fact that I carry them at all out here. Most folks just use their phones for navigation and the white blazes that mark the trail are so ubiquitous, it is actually quite tricky to get lost on the AT. As soon as I pulled one of my paper maps out, the name was almost a forgone conclusion. So to all of you (whoever you are) who might be reading this, I want to introduce you to someone who I had never met but who has also been in me all along: Maps has arrived and is ready for adventure!