Don't let the bastards get you down

After Karl gets off the trail today, he will have only eight more days left in his adventure. And he's not slowing down. The record is out of reach, but Karl is moving along the trail at a fast pace, as fast as he can, right through to the finish. He hasn't quit, he's not going to quit, and he still has some hard miles left to run.

Cheers to Andrew Thompson

Tonight at 8:39 p.m. marks 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes since Karl started his quest for the Appalachian Trail speed record on Mt. Katahdin – the exact amount of time it took Andrew Thompson to finish his fastest-ever hike of the AT in 2005.

As you all know, Andrew Thompson's record will stand. It is a strong record, a solid achievement, a venerable mark. Andy deserves a huge hats off for the bar he has set.

We hope that tonight at 8:39 p.m., Andy will be popping the cork on some bubbly, or at least having a beer with some friends. We hope that he'll be feeling good and celebrating the fact that the record he set three years ago will remain on the books as the fastest supported thru-hike of the AT.

Hell, you all should raise a glass too.

Lord knows that 8:39 tonight, Billy and Karl and I will be toasting the man whose record is the inspiration for all of this.

Cheers, Andy Thompson.

DATA

I see that the data chart went back to Day One. We're on it...

Without JJ, you'd have no pictures.

I couldn't upload images earlier because my USB cord wasn't working. It was frustrating. I told JJ that I was having trouble with it and he actually offered to drive into Abingdon, 9 miles down the road, completely out of his way, to see if he could find me a replacement. He did. Then he came back into town and found Billy in the RV, and the two of them drove out to find me. I was on a run out towards our next crew stop for Karl. Billy went on to be there for Karl and JJ drove me back into Damascus, to Mojoe's, so that I could upload all the images and videos from yesterday and today.

Lance what?

This morning among the excuses, before he even got out of bed, Karl said:

“They have rest days in the Tour de France!”

Notch = Gap

We've got Notches on the AT and Gaps on the AT. (Pinkham's Notch, Sugar Run Gap.) They're the same thing. But they're different. They're both that little break in the ridgeline, the up-high low of the mountains' jags, the saddle-y part of a saddle. But Notches are in the North and Gaps are in the South.

We're well into the Gaps now.

500,000 feet of vert

The AT is more than 500,000 feet of vertical climbing. That's approximately 100 miles. Up.

On average, every day is two miles of vert. Up.

Airplanes cruise at 30,000 feet. That's 5 1/2 miles. Up.

So relatively speaking, by the time they're done, Karl and the other AT thru-hikers are in space.

Round Beard Tally

160.

He looked pensive when I asked him. He was really thinking about it.

"I’m not seeing as many people now. I'm out there alone most of the time," he said. "The Northbounders are all up north and the few Southbounders I’ve seen seem all to be in shelters as I pass by. Saw one guy yesterday, it was 5:30 or 6 in the morning. He was awake, but in the shelter. As I went by, he called out: Hey, man! What are you doin? I waved and said: Gettin’ an early start!"
 

Where's Karl?

We don't know either.

By best estimates, we've left approximately 27 "where are you guys?" messages on both Sarah and Billy's cell phones. Though we're pretty confident they haven't fallen off the planet, we haven't been able to connect with them at all. We do know that they'll post something as soon as they can, though. Thanks for your patience.

Small World

A note from ground control:

Besides seeing Sarah's great post and hearing that things are going well out there today, this just made my morning. It's an email from John Wallace of Seattle, WA who won the "Guess Karl's Hours" contest last week.

"I probably won't send a message when each prize arrives but I broke in the shoes a little today and will hit the trails this weekend.  We are supposed to have some awesome weather in the Pacific NW and I'm going to take advantage of it!

And to show that the world is an incredibly connected and smaller place than expected, the little picture of David Horton that Karl pinned to his hat was designed by me for Horton's Mountain Masochist race a couple years ago. I helped Horton the last week he was on the PCT and ended up going out to his race a couple years in a row. Strange how things are interconnected!

Not sure if Karl would get a kick out of that but he was wearing my gear on that day and now I'll be wearing some of his!"

John Wallace
Seattle WA