Author: Regina Reiter

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015. The trail section between Lincoln and Glenclif, NH is rich with significant memories! On my 2007 walk, it was in this 30 miles that I leaned in to my heart’s yearning for a partner. I longed for someone to share the physical difficulties of the trail and to celebrate meeting the challenges of traversing the White Mountains.

I enjoyed walking with “Hiker John”, finding his company comforting and fun. As the days went on, and communicating with my husband back at home seemed more and more difficult, I wanted a hug. read more

   I’m 350 miles along my way south of Mt. Katahdin and am celebrating a successful choice of clothing! For the first time yesterday morning I wore everything in my clothes bag except my extra socks. That was INSIDE the Lakes of the Clouds hut while we waited for breakfast. Outside, on the trail, I was warm and dry. I thought you might enjoy a peek at my “wardrobe”. A lightweight backpacker’s challenge is to balance weight with need. On this trip  in the northern 600 miles of the Appalachian Trail during August and September, I considered possible cold mornings and evenings, some rain, and cool days. I gambled on my coldest, rainiest conditions being in The Presidential range where we would summit Mt. Washington, known as having the worst weather in the US. read more

SEPTEMBER 8.
I awoke out of my haze of confusion about just what was weighing me down, arguing in my mind, blinding me to the beauty surrounding me, stabbing my knees with pain.  It was one of those Old Stories bubbling up to be felt and acknowledged – and transformed!  I had embarked on this two month journey on the Appalachian Trail to use walking in Nature to clarify my relationship with my hiking partner. Wasn’t THIS a pivotal moment in that intention?!!

The past twenty miles had been hard! In fact, this section is often viewed as the hardest of the entire Appalachian Trail.  Between Gorham and Pinkham Notch NH, the trail crept up and down the four peaks of Carter Mountain and the five peaks of Wildcat Mountain. Even though the trail started gently out of Gorham, it was equally paved with steep slopes of smooth rock faces and rugged rocky stair steps that seemed a few inches higher than my legs easily reached. read more

It could be in Disneyworld! Imagine this. You walk through a lush garden of waist high flowers, golden leaves, moss blanketed rocks. A white arrow painted on a big rock slab points to an opening, beckoning you to enter. You crawl through the dark hole, and before you lay a pathway of alluring rocks, draped in green moss. Branches take on fantasy animal shapes, webbed roots form puzzling gateways.

Up, down, through holes and caves, ledges and cracks, you twist, stretch, climb, and turn your body. You step across chasms between lichen-covered boulders, just far enough apart for a thrilling step, hearing water running in the depths below. Another arrow points the way, faded and a little vague. Is THAT the way, down into the dark? You look closer. Yes. There are more arrows down there! You lower yourself down the smooth slide and crawl under the great slab and out the other side, pushing yourself up through the slit into the light. read more

SEPTEMBER 1. While sitting on the bed at Pine Ellis Hostel in Andover, Maine, deciding what to share about the last 34 miles on the Appalachian Trail, my awesome hiking partner just packed my gear! Sweet! Here are some highlights of the past 4 days……..
****Bemis Mtn with its four peaks, plus Old Blue, Moody, and Hall Mtns thrown in for gymnastic mastery.
**** South, Sabbath Day, Long, Moxie, and Surplus Ponds for morning mists, thin sand beach, and a missing moose.
**** Bemis Stream plus Black and Sawyer Brooks for dry sock rock hops and welcome water sources.
**** A food sensitivity challenge to provide a stage for transforming a belief that I’m not worthy to be John’s hiking partner to affirming that I can love and accept my body as part of OUR hiking team.
****Endless sensory nourishment with rocks and plants and diverse forests, sky and sun and vistas.
**** 100+ northbound hikers offered plenty of chances to rwgard and support others in theirbown quests.
****A 24-hr stay at Pine Ellis Hostel, Naomi’s home turned hiker lodge where a homelike setting helps us relax and prepare for the next four-day section, complete with full meals, gear revision, a MASSAGE from a neighbor, and…..a new sleeping bag!! read more

AUGUST 29. Two days after our town stop in Stratton, Maine, John and I  both felt energetic and happy. I said,  “What about today’s crisis?! We don’t seem to have a crisis!” John agreed. He said, “Well, if we do, we know what to do, “Pull our toes, eat some food, and play Satori!”

I began this journey, a walk on the Appalachian Trail from Mt. Katahdin, Maine, to Mt. Greylock, Massachussets, with the idea of pilgrimage – walking for inner change. That purpose is clearly unfolding as I walk with John, the man I met on my 2007 “thruhike” from Maine to Georgia. read more

August 20. I smiled when I saw John on the other side of the West Branch of the Piscataquis River on the Appalachian Trail in Maine. He easily waded through the 18″ deep water and crossed the thirty foot width of the calm river to meet me on the south side. I paused my search for aquatic animals clinging to the undersides of rocks in the shallow river bank to greet him.
“Hi, Regina! What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m a stream monitor back at home in Atlanta, and I’m curious what lives in the water here!”
“That sounds fun! What are you finding?”
My smile spread to my heart at his question. This hiker whom I had met a couple of days before in Monson, Maine, was interested in sharing the fine points of Nature exploration. We stayed a little longer turning over rocks, oohing and aahhing at stonefly and mayfly larvae, put our hiking shoes back on, then walked south together on the trail.
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AUGUST 18 and 19. Although it’s wonderful out on the trail, even when it’s difficult, I need to go into a town every few days to get more food, take a shower, revise gear, and take care of internet tasks! It’s easy to consider that the trail and the town are two different worlds, separate and incompatible. The more I adopt a Hiking Lifestyle, however, the more the two worlds blend, becoming dependent on each other and equally important in sustaining me wholly. Here’s a taste of how a town stop works. read more

AUGUST 16. Climbing the mountains on the Appalachian Trail in Maine invites me to stay present to each moment. If I pay attention, I notice that each rock is unique, in color, shape, pattern, texture. Each step is a “pedestrian decision” as described in Don’t Die in the Mountains. I reflect on how walking this path is a dance of agility and focus. I don’t believe that treadmill walking would be good offtrail training for Appalachian Trail walking. Perhaps court sports like basketball or tennis could work. My favorite, of course would be trail walking! read more