L Dog is a retired Navy combat photographer. In 2005, he and Mary sold their house in DC, packed their seabags, and sailed their old sloop from the Chesapeake to their new home in Michigan. (Read about it here.)In Spring of 2012 he started hiking the Appalachian Trail northbound from Springer Mountain, GA, camera in-hand, nurturing a fantasy that he'll get a photo book published... Still hasn't happened.
A knee injury sent him home from Rock Gap, NC. But he got back on the trail that same July, heading southbound from Katahdin, GA. That time a bad hernia cut his trip short!
At that point, with 644 miles under his feet, he decided he'd finish the trail in long sections. And so, in the spring of 2013 he got back on the trail at Rock Gap, and hiked 674 miles to the James River Footbridge in VA. In '14, he returned to the footbridge, and hiked north to Harper's Ferry where a tibial stress fracture cut his hike short!
#&%$!
In 2015 he got back on the trail at VT11, where he got off in fall of 2012, and hiked to Harper's Ferry to complete the trail ...
This blog chronicles his trip - From the early concept, planning and outfitting, through the trip itself. He provided infrequent updates through the use of that newfangled smartphone technology.
Now he's bucking the trend to jump on the PCT, and planning an End-to-End of Vermont's Long Trail. To get infrequent updates as they happen, subscribe to this blog by entering your email address in the space provided in the right-hand column.
Disclosures ... Yes, there still a few "affiliate" links to Amazon and REI for products mentioned. Those links are mostly dead and never did provide any appreciable income - at no cost to you! He's systematically killing those cause they cause more trouble than they're worth. No one has given him anything in exchange for any comments here since 2012 when he enjoyed a brief relationship with Emergen-C.