Jazz on the AT

Back on trail this year! Enjoying a 10 day stretch south through Pennsylvania with the kids on spring break. You can find all kinds of adventure and people as the trail makes it way through the communities of the Appalachians. In Delaware Water Gap, this means some outstanding jazz at the Deer Head Inn. Prove me wrong fellow hikers, if you can, but I think this is the only live music venue directly on the trail. And what kind of music would have this distinction? Jazz of course!
Friday night at the Monson General Store in Maine and the General Store in Damascus, are other great music stops on the AT. Experiencing the "Trail" beyond the "trail" has been a great experience.

On again, off again...

"The Trail will still be there," is the wise assurance that I received from many as I start a new decidedly off-trail adventure. As I shared earlier, the plan for this month was to hike until June and see what fate might bring. Would it mean finishing a thruhike in 2011? Would it mean leaving the AT as a happy memory? What gates would God open as the fog of my own plans for the future faded into the clarity of the immediate moment?
As fate would have it last week, I had a beautiful day full of butterflies (literally!) and pleasant hiking. After a week of trudging, there was a glimmer of hope that, yes, trail legs do eventually return even after months of neglect. That evening, I got a call which led me here, off the trail, waiting for my plane to leave Dulles Airport, waiting for the ground stop to lift at LaGuardia Airport.
The next few months will be exciting and every bit as much work as backpacking the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains. I'm not sure when the next post will be, but I do know that there is more to come as I continue hiking my hike! Thanks to everyone for your support, interest, encouragement and love!

Saying hello to the old trail!

Not sure what these butterflies found so fascinating but 4 others flew away as I closed in for the picture. Lots of fascinating stuff if you take time to notice. Back on the AT for the past week to log some more miles. Special thanks to our cousins here in Roanoke for all their help this week!

Never Say Never

I'm headed back to Virginia next week. I'll pick up the trail outside Roanoke where I finished in the South before flipping last year. Let's see how it goes for a few weeks. Who knows where it will lead...

Updates to follow!

Finally! The AT video flipbook is now available.

A Quick Trip on the Appalachian Trail (AT) from Jason Slibeck on Vimeo.

Every hour on the hour while I was on the AT, I took 3 pictures. Then, I meshed them together into a video flipbook. This is a photomotion video of my journey with some scenic interludes. I hope it inspires you to live your dream too.

The Road Goes Ever On...

But it's not always a trail! This is the last picture I took on the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut last month and a picture from the Great Wall of China a few weeks later.

After enjoying a short break in New York City, I headed off on another big trip but as part of a family of four this time around. Our trip took us to Shanghai, China for final weeks of the 2010 World Expo and included stops in Beijing and Xi'an as well. China was amazing but it was a very urban adventure that contrasted well with my AT experience. For those dedicated hikers out there, once you finish the Triple Crown in the United States (Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Pacific Crest Trail), the Great Wall of China stretches 5,500 miles and is waiting to be conquered... Good luck!

I am working on a video slide show of my whole AT experience, so stay tuned for one last post. Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement along the way!

All Aboard!

Highgear and I are at the Appalachian Trail train station outside Pawling, NY with only 7 miles to go into CT. From here, you can take a train from the trail directly into New York City. Talk about a change in scenery for the average thruhiker! It's an experience not to be missed on the trail.