The First Long NCT Hike - 1994

Hunting up the picture I've used to advertise the Confidence Camp got me looking at some other old hike pictures. That trip was in 1996. The first long hike on the NCT was in 1994. Marie, her son David, and I hiked the 96 miles through the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. It was our first long backpacking trip and we made most of the rookie mistakes and lived to tell.

We had a blast, even though it rained almost every day, and we were almost constantly soaked. It was puppy Chips' first long hike too, and he loved it.



I was just learning how to use a 35mm SLR camera and most of the pictures from that trip are too dark, and they never did all get digitized. But I'll share a few. Here are Marie and Dave signing us into a trail register... probably our very first of who knows how many. I'm fairly confident of the "first" status because of the Finger Lakes Trail logo on the box. That means it was at the NY/PA state line.

Here Dave and I are resting on a rock with a plaque thanking the Allegheny National Forest by the Allegheny Outdoor Club. Interestingly enough, the trail here has been re-routed and the plaque has been moved although it's still on the trail, although not on this rock.

This is one of my personal favorites because it demonstrates how we spent almost every evening. I, in my hard-headed purist fashion, had declared that we would cook over a fire every night. I hadn't yet even bought a backpacking stove. The rain guaranteed that we had NO dry clothes after the third day. Every night we hung socks and underwear over the fire and roasted them. When pieces more directly over the flames got too hot, we'd move them farther out. A few things got singed, but we didn't actually burn up any briefs. It was worth it to at least start the next day in dry undies.

I can't find a color copy of this photo right now. It's not worth finding the slides and turning on the scanner. You'll have to settle for black and white. I felt on top of the world, and I sort of was! Chips was not about to let me get to a higher space than he was.

Now, you need to take a peek at two of these pictures to notice my hiking stick. This is the stick nicknamed "Chickenspit." It is now one of the curtain rods in my bedroom. See link at the end.

I hope you enjoyed, or at least tolerated, this trip down memory lane. I can hardly believe this was 32 years ago.

You can read lots more about it in North Country Cache, available from me.

I did minimal work today- several projects are in limbo until I get feedback from people. I started a new puzzle and read.

See The Project Done