Bill Trekking the Appalachian Trail

Recently a very good friend of ours,  Bill Bunting who is from the state of Georgia embarked on a huge adventure.  He kicked off his adventure in Georgia to hike the Appalachian Trail - Georgia to Maine.

 Old Hiker boots grow well on the Trail.
Image by Bill

Fun Facts

• The Trail is roughly 2,180 miles long, passing through 14 states.

• Thousands of volunteers contribute roughly 220,000 hours to the A.T. every year.
• More than 250 three-sided shelters exist along the Trail.
• Virginia is home to the most miles of the Trail (about 550), while West Virginia is home to the least (about 4).
• Maryland and West Virginia are the easiest states to hike; New Hampshire and Maine are the hardest.
• The total elevation gain of hiking the entire A.T. is equivalent to climbing Mt. Everest 16 times.
• The A.T. is home to an impressive diversity of plants and animals. Some animals you may see include black bears, moose, porcupines, snakes, woodpeckers, and salamanders. Some plants you may encounter include jack-in-the-pulpit, skunk cabbage, and flame azalea.

 Selfie by Bill Hiking on the Trail

Hikers

• About 2 to 3 million visitors walk a portion of the A.T. each year.
• The A.T. has hundreds of access points and is within a few hours drive of millions of Americans, making it a popular destination for day-hikers.

• “Thru-hikers” walk the entire Trail in a continuous journey. “Section-hikers” piece the entire Trail together over years. “Flip-floppers” thru-hike the entire Trail in discontinuous sections to avoid crowds, extremes in weather, or start on easier terrain.
• 1 in 4 who attempt a thru-hike successfully completes the journey
• Most thru-hikers walk north, starting in Georgia in spring and finishing in Maine in fall, taking an average of 6 months.
• Foods high in calories and low in water weight, such as Snickers bars and Ramen Noodles, are popular with backpackers, who can burn up to 6,000 calories a day.
• Hikers usually adopt “trail names” while hiking the Trail. They are often descriptive or humorous. Examples are “Eternal Optimist,” “Thunder Chicken,” and “Crumb-snatcher".
  
  Read more here at the official web page for the APPALACHIAN TRAIL ..

Swallow Creek Wildlife Management Area .. Image by Bill.

Trail Maps can be sort HERE and a map is a must have.  You would not do this walk without a map of where you are and considering you walk through fourteen states, you kit would be half maps because there are so many of them.

This is Bill and I while he was adventuring down under.  This
was his last evening with us all here.

 On the trail.. it is customary to choose a "Trail Name".  Bill chose BILBO... as in Bilbo baggins I would presume.   One has to only hope there are no Gollum's on this beautiful trail to take him down like the last time.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

GOOD BYE BILL, Australia is shedding some tears for you!

It is officially raining, actually it has been pouring and hailing a terrible lot.  Quite a  few of my friends cars are hail damaged.

See Australia reallly knows how to turn on the tears for real... especially when we are saying see you later to a special friend and brother.

 

This is  me and Bill at the Train Station at Wingham as he left there to head to Sydney to the Airport for the USA.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Catching the Train again for me!

 Today I got on the train very early just before 7am in Urunga and travelled down to Wingham Station where my friend Kathy met me and we drove out to their property at Killawarra.  Such a beautiful area to live.

The reason for my trip this time was not to head to an action but to actively participate in saying good bye to Bill Bunting who is going back to the USA on the train tomorrow morning at about 2am.

 

 

I have gathered a couple of minutes to write about the days events because it was very meaningful to us all.
When I arrived Nathan, Ian and Bill were attaching guttering to the house and it was wonderful to see the boys all working together.  The children were all there as well and everyone was having fun.  There was a good chance there would be a lot of rain on the way and there had already been the Typhoon in the Philippines and the tanks were very low.

When this job was finished we settled into party mode and Lei came over and Bruce as well. 

Lei's Image

Bruce has some serious car problems when he arrived but he was amongst friends and it was soon sorted, and serious goodbyes began as we all sat around together laughing and sharing wine and beer with friends. 

Good Bye Bill,  it was so awesome to meet you in person and to share your inner most thoughts about the planet and love and family.  You are definitely a brother from another mother and on another level and we were all destined to meet and we had to just weather the fire first and we all passed the test with flying colours.

Lei's Image at Kathy and Ian's house.

Thank You for teaching me what you have.  We will always miss you until you come back again.  God Speed my Friend and Brother.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography .