Jack Finlay
@jackfinlay13
Hiking Record
Recent activity
Day 180 Sunday 8/29
I’m currently in Lee, Massachusetts at mile 1553. I’ve done 7 days of hiking since I started back up in Pawling, NY. Getting back into hiking was a rude awakening as I’d lost my Trail legs from 11 weeks ago. I did 12 miles the first day and felt exhausted. I did 16 the next day and my feet were beat at the end of the day. After about the fourth day back I felt better but my body is still adjusting to being back hiking. It’s a funny thing because I was in good shape in the summer, I’d been boxing and running but it’s just a different type of fitness I guess. My new favorite trail town is Salisbury, Connecticut. It was a really nice village with a great coffee shop. A woman came up to me as I was drinking my coffee outside and started chatting about the trail. She turned out to be a trail angel named Sweet G and gave me 10 dollars when she was leaving as trail magic. I resupplied for 3 days and got ramen for 2 dinners, rice for 1 dinner, tortillas and Nutella for lunch, and oatmeal for breakfast, and granola bars for snacks. I averaged 15 miles over 7 days to get to lee from Pawling. I hitched into lee earlier today and a man who thru hiked in 1981 picked me up, so it was cool comparing and contrasting the differences between now and then. He said there was a lot less people on the trail then and he couldn’t believe how light the packs are today. I’ve only seen 3 Nobos in the 7 days I’ve been back which I was surprised by so I’ve spent almost the whole week by myself. The solitude doesn’t bother me that much, I actually have learnt to enjoy it, it suits my personality I think. I do miss the buzz of having people around. When I’m not hiking I pass the time by reading, being on my phone, and doing camp chores, I just finished “The Second Half by Roy Keane”. It takes me about an hour to get going in the morning and an hour 15 to set up camp in the evening. After that I have usually have a couple of hours to myself before I go to sleep. I meet my twin sister, Alannah near the Ma/VT border in about 50 miles on Wednesday evening and she will hike with me for 7 days as she is sectioning Vermont’s Long Trail. My front camera is broken so that’s why I’m only posting selfie’s just in case you thought I was getting too fond of myself. I have yet to master the subtle art of the selfie.
Day 174- 8-23
I’m currently in a car on my way back to Pawling, New York at mile 1449 where I will resume my thru hike after 77 zero days. My summer on Cape Cod was a lot of fun and I managed to replenish my bank account working at a Hotel as a Bellman. There were 5 of us living together and all working at the same job. Some of the highlights were picking boxing back up again three times a week at a gym in Hyannis. I also went deep sea fishing for Striped Bass and Bluefish, the fish were biting that day and we caught about 20 and kept 14. I got to visit home on my off days where I took advantage of the free laundry, food, and playing with my dog. I am excited to be back on the trail and I have 53 days to finish it. I have until October 15th when Baxter state park closes, in which the Northern terminus, Mount Katahdin is located. I was very sporadic the last time updating, so this time I plan on posting at least once a week on mondays.
Day 95
Today I am in Harwich Port, Cape cod, Massachusetts where I am taking a two month break from the trail to work for the summer with friends as a Bellman at a hotel. I made it to day 95 and to the New York, Connecticut border around the 2/3 point. Pennsylvania was as anticipated in terms of the rocks and I was relieved to exit the state only to find out that New Jersey and the first half of New York were rocky as well. The first 75 miles of Pennsylvania were the easiest on the trail so far as they went through a lot of farmland the terrain was and smooth. The next 155 miles was the rocky section and I was expecting rocks the whole time but there were breaks where the trail made for very easy hiking. In New Jersey it rained three days in a row, the first day of rain all of my gear got soaked so I decided to do 60 miles in 32 hours hiking through the night. I like hiking at night as it’s very quiet and I usually never see anyone else. In New York there were Deli’s by the side of the trail which I took advantage of. At one point I could see the New York City skyline in the distance and at bear mountain I crossed over the Hudson River. I camped out behind one on my last night. I saw the largest tree on the AT in Pawling, Ny which was a 300 year old oak tree(pictured). I plan to be back on the trail early/mid august and to hike the last 1/3 with Happy Thoughts as she should catch up to me by then.
Day 75- 1/2 update
Today I am in Pennsylvania, home of Rocky, the Amish, the cheesesteak, and the misplaced redneck. Much More relevant to me, the AT in Pennsylvania is known for rocks, Rattlesnakes, and heat. I’m about to Cross the halfway point of the trail later today and I crossed the Mason Dixon line yesterday. In Harpers ferry West Virginia, the “psychological halfway point”, I stayed at an airbnb with my Dad, Sister, and Dad’s friend, Shawn. They joined me for five days in front royal at mile 972 and we slack packed the last for four days. This was a nice break for me and it was great to see them. Surprisingly, it was also tough because it took me out of trail life and back to being around family, fresh cooked meals, and the luxuries of accommodation. When they left, the first couple of days back on the trail were difficult. I’m finally out of Virginia after one month and three days. I enjoyed Virginia as it offered slightly easier hiking and I started doing bigger mile days as a result. However it was a challenging time in parts because the monontaunty of the journey started to play a role. It’s been two and a half months since I started. This is known as “the Virginia Blues” among thru hikers. More realistically it’s caused by the amount of time spent on the trail rather than the state of Virginia. Its challenging mentally because so much effort has been put into this and there’s still along ways to go. I’m trying to take it one day and one resupply stop at a time. The highlights of Virginia for me were the triple crown which includes Devils tooth, Mcafee’s Knob, and Tinker cliffs(devils tooth and Mcafee’s knob are pictured above, apologies for camera quality). My Dad and sister visiting and hiking with me was definitely a highlight as well. I also enjoyed the town of Damascus in Southern Virginia with Ryan and Happy Thoughts. I plan to meet Ryan in two days in Duncannon, PA for dinner and a beer. Happy Thoughts’s foot problem wasn’t tendinitis and ended up being a stress fracture on the top of her foot. She hiked on it for about 150 miles, which I’m still trying to wrap my head around of how that’s possible. The last few days she hiked, I remember her being in agony at the end of the day. She is doing a work for stay at a hostel while her foot heals, which should be another few weeks, she will then resume her hike. Harpers Ferry was my favourite town so far, I enjoyed learning about the history of the town and its charming lower town which still looks like it would in the 1800’s. In Maryland there were many civil war monuments which I found interesting reading and learning about the battles that took place there. Wild life sightings- First confirmed Rattlesnake(pictured), Tons of deer. No bears ):
Day 48- Sweet Virginia, 1/4 way mark
Tonight I am staying at woods hole hostel at mile 625.5, where I’m currently swaying in a hammock. This hostel is known as one of the best on the trail and I was excited to visit. The hostel is located on a farm and uses produce for breakfast and dinner from the farm. Dinner was a three course meal and included pumpkin soup Thai noodle stir fry and cake, as well as bread and pesto. It was delicious and it was great to have organic food for a change. The place is rustic while also very clean and relaxing. After Ryan and I left the station at mile 395, we had a spell of good weather. We averaged about 15 miles a day to Damascus, Virginia. The nice weather was a welcome change and we had a camp fire every night, I was glad that Ryan got to experience the camping aspect of the trail as well as the social and survival parts. The night before we got to Damascus Happy Thoughts caught up to us. She and her camera are the main reasons that I have so many photos this time and also improved quality. We entered into Virginia and got to Damascus the next day early afternoon and checked into the only hostel with availability, Crazy Larry’s. Larry lived up to his name although not in a particularly good way. Usually when someone calls themselves a name like “crazy” they are in on the joke, this didn’t seem to be the case with Larry. Within five minutes of talking to him we had been accused several times of trashing the place and warned about giving him a hard time of his marijuana usage. However, it was a good place to socialize and to be fair to the man, Larry brought us a jar of moonshine(hiker group photo pictured above). Ryan left the next day and headed back to Pennsylvania. I enjoyed introducing an old friend to my new way of life. Happy thoughts and I zeroed in Damascus and moved hostels to the broken fiddle which was a much more relaxing establishment. I told the owner that they should change their name to “rehab from Crazy Larry’s”. We hiked out the day after and did 64 miles in 3 and 1/2 days to Marion. We ended up zeroing at a motel in Marion as we were both tired and Happy Thoughts had an issue with her foot. We planned to do 90 miles to woods hole in five days but two days in Happy thoughts’s foot problem persisted and she had to be shuttled to the nearest hostel to take a few days off as I continued onto Woods Hole. Tomorrow I will resupply in pearisburg, Virginia and head north to my next resupply stop, Daleville. Wildlife sightings- I saw my first snake, what I believed to be a baby timber rattlesnake, then I saw two more nonvenomous snakes about a week later. I’ve seen a few deer since I entered Virginia, one is pictured above. I saw wild ponies(pictured above) in the Greyson highlands who were well accustomed to people. Sweet Virginia by The Rolling Stones is one of my favorite songs and I’ve listened to it a few times a day since entering the state. We crossed state lines at mile 465.