Georgia Appalachian Trail Trip - 2015

99% Humidity. Close to 80 miles in five days. Lost about 10 pounds. It was a brutal hike of the Georgia AT. The type of hike that you wish was over, then - two days later - you wish you were back out there, sweating and suffering once again.

If I could do it over, I would have done less miles, increased our overall days, and would have either tried to achieve this in May/Early June or October. Backpacking in Georgia in August is plain insane. But, we did it. And it took me a couple weeks to heal.

In any event, my good buddy and hiking partner Shuan put together this video for your viewing enjoyment. It's about six minutes long, but it's worth a look-see - especially if you're considering this hike. Enjoy.



Also, if you're really interested, check out my Flickr Account to view more hiking pics.

Run to the ... woods!

So, every year for about as many years as I can remember, I head out with a group of guys on a hiking/backpacking excursion.

This year, there were a couple options tossed into the fray:

- Knobstone Ridge Trail in Indiana (56 miles)
- Back to the Adirondacks for three days of day-hikes and cabin drinking at night (? miles)
- Appalachian Trail - NC Border to Mount Springer, Georgia (80 miles)


Welp, everyone voted for option 3. I gulped. Truth be told, I always have a little anxiety before these trips. I mean, yes, they're fun adventurous trips that are filled with new sights and new sounds every single day. But, for some reason this year's trip has me more anxious than normal.

First off, these trips require a lot of stamina, a lot of dedication, a lot of muscles, a lot of confidence and mental fortitude.

This ain't your normal trip to the beach. If it was easy, everyone would do it. KnowwhatI'msayin?

I think one of the reasons for my worry is the distance.

My first Appalachian Trail in Virginia way back in the early 2000's consisted of 36 miles in 3 days, and 3 nights for an average of about 12 miles per day. Not too shabby.

Last year, we upped the ante to 60 miles in 4 days in the Smoky Mountains for an average of about 15 miles per day.

To complete this year's quest, we'll need to average 15+ miles a day. We must do this to get out by Friday/Early Saturday.

Another worry, we're not getting any younger. Look by no means do I consider myself a geriatric. But, the median average for the guys is 42.8 years old - with the youngest dude a nimble 37.

Typically, after we tackle our first taste of elevation, the ages go out the window, the anxiety wears off, and the survival instincts start to kick in . And boy, do we have a doozy this time around. We're going up, straight up about 2,000 feet in four miles.

That should get the heart pumping. No worries, indeed.

While I'm here, I have to tip my hat to these four gents who are taking bonafide vacation days away from their family, away from their jobs, to join me on this 5-day excursion.

It takes a different type of cat to want to do this type of thing. It's a big commitment, but there are going to be a ton of memories and a ton of photos to share from this awesome adventure.

What's that you hear? Is that the cry of the West for next year? You better, you better, you bet. But, I digress. Let's first focus on the task at hand. See you on the mountain!

Smoky Mountains - 2014 Hike

Four friends and myself traveled down to the Smoky Mountains at the Tennessee/North Carolina border on a 4-day, 60-mile hike via the Hazel Creek/Lakeshore/Forney Ridge Trail.

My buddy, and fellow hiker (or is it hikee?) Shaun Culbertson took this video of our escapades. The video reminds me of 'Easy Rider in the Smokies'. Cheers Shaun, and cheers to the rest of the studs who joined me on this awesome trip.

For more Eimer Debris hiking stories, check out:

• Mount Washington
• The Day After Vacation
• Del Water Gap
• Adirondacks, Here I Come!
• Adirondacks Day #1
• Adirondacks Day #2
• Adirondacks Day #3

Mount Washington Trip - Videos

As I'm getting revved up for this year's hiking trip to the Smoky Mountains in July, I forgot about these two little gems that my buddy Shaun filmed on our hiking trip to the White Mountains circa 2012.

As an annual summer tradition I get a group of three to five guys and we drive to key hiking destinations in North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, New Jersey, etc. However, this particular trip was a gift I gave myself for my 40th birthday. We flew into Boston (via Airtran) and rented a car to drive our hiking destinations in New Hampshire.

And, as luck would have it, two of my adventurous buddies, Shaun and Drew, were kind enough to come along.

This video documents our trip from Crawford Notch to Mount Washington:

And this video documents our hike of the Franconia Ridge:

Big 4-0? Ain't Nuthin But a G' Thang (sort of)

Back in 2005, my wife-to-be announced that she was pregnant with our daughter.

During the 10 seconds following her not-so-shocking announcement, I didn't think about the wonder of life that was growing inside her belly. Nor did I think about getting a normal job or even visiting Amazon.com to purchase the most-recent publication of  What to Expect When You're Expecting.

Nope. Instead, I played the 'Add 20' game.

I immediately added 20 years to my life in order to see how old I was going to be when my children would be out of the house.

I know. I know. This may sound terrible and a bit selfish. Many will say that I'm 'totally missing the point of having a kid completely', which I'll 100% agree.

But I digress. The 'Add 20' game had me at about 55 years old. Not too shabby. It's old enough to be able to start stock-piling money for my eventual retirement at age 90. And it's young enough to start scratching things off of my bucket list.

Which leads me to my birthday. On July 6, I was fortunate enough to reach the young age of 40.

I'm nut sure what the hub-bub is all about. Turning 40 is really, truly no big deal. Well, a little I guess.

Minus some slight lower back pain, some doctors would say that I'm better shape than I was at 21. And I'll tend to agree. I've cut down on my drinking. I exercise almost every single day. I drink V8, homemade fruit smoothies and wheat grass every other day. I watch my sodium, I eat more vegetables and fruits. And, surprisingly, I'm slowly but surely retiring a number of fast food joints from my list-including my most recent retirement, Chick-Fil-A.

Back in the day (circa 1920) 40 was a point in your life that you simply shrugged off and continued working until you basically dropped at the ripe, old age of 57 years old (if you were fortunate enough to be a white male).

Now, in 2012, this ceremonial birthday serves as a crossroad, a halfway point of one's life. A time to ruminate about everything that you've achieved. Graduation from Ohio State, two marathons, marriage, two healthy kids, a self-published novella of mediocre short horror stories and a cartoon published in Hustler come to mind.

It's also a time to put the remainder of this crazy thing called life in perspective and think about where you want to be as you travel down this old, dusty (and bumpy) road...

...and to play the 'Plus 20' game yet again. But this time for real.

I've written in the past about the number of vacations that I, probably, have left in my lifetime. Well, in addition to the 'Plus 60' clock and the 'Vacation' clock, I've also added the 'Countdown to 60' clock.

Deep in the caverns of my mind and soul, which I probably won't share with the world right now until they come to fruition, I've laid out a number of personal challenges to myself. Things that I would like to see come to fruition before I turn 60 (or Plus 20, as I like to say this year).

These challenges are personal goals and dreams. Some are modest (To be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey for some sort of achievement). Some are selfish (To be interviewed by Howard Stern for some sort of achievement). Some of these goals are for the good of my family (pay off our house, pay for my kid's college). And some of these ideas have to do with seeing a little bit more of the world before my knees go out, my liver goes kaput and I'm stuck in some god-for-saken rest home staring out the window wondering where the hell my life went.

You know, those type of goals.

However, as it turns out, one of those 'Plus 20' goals will come to fruition in two days.

As I've recently wrote about in various posts, I'm an avid hiker. Having scrambled most of the Applachian Trail in Virginia as well as some parts of Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey - I've always wanted to visit one of the wildest, craziest parts of the Appalachian Trail...The White Mountains. It's a place I've always yearned to venture, but never had the funds to achieve.

Tuesday, Aug. 7, I will fly out to New Hampshire to hike Mount Washington via the Appalachian Trail on a three-day trek from Crawford Notch to Pinkham Notch. Also, we (myself and a couple of my fellow kick-ass hiker buddies) will also hit the Franconia Notch Trail - a 8.5 loop that is supposed to also kick ass. We'll see.

This trip will mark one of the many exciting things that I have planned for myself and my family over the next 20 years, which includes traveling, writing, running, publishing, drawing and fixing up my home.

Ironically, 'Work more hours' isn't on this list. However, 'Innovative ways to make more money' is.

You know, some people say that 'Age is a State of Mind'. After turning 40, I totally agree.

I mean, I still feel like that snot-nosed kid who bought his first 12-pack of Natural Light at a 7-Eleven in Wheeling when he was 17 years old. And hell yeah it was with a fake ID that I made myself.

Hmmm? Yet another achievement to ruminate upon during this exciting year.

Taking a Walk In The Woods with Redford.

When it comes to non-fiction books about hiking, hands-down my favorite book is Bill Bryson's A Walk In The Woods.

The book is a non-fiction, humorous account of Bryson and his chubby, alcoholic friend tackling the 2,100 mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from from Georgia to Maine. Bryson highlights his hardships in an amusing, yet moving, way.

That said, today I came across a post on Slashfilm.com that announced Robert Redford will playing the role of Bill Bryson in the new movie adaptation of the book with Barry Levinson set to direct.

As the post states, Redford and Paul Newman were looking for a project to do together before they croaked. They both mentioned this movie as a possibility. Although it would be nice to see the duo from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid back in the theater, I have my reservations and think that they should look for a younger person to play Bryson's sidekick.

As far as Levinson is concerned, I'm a fan of his work including Diner, The Natural, Avalon, Bugsy, Wag the Dog and Bandits. He also produced the hit TV series Homicide: Life on the Streets. But, he's been known to make a couple stinkers as well including Toys and Sphere among others.

All in all, I think he's a great dialogue guy when it comes to direction and writing for males. That's why I think he's a good choice for this particular film.

On a personal note, a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail is considered a monumental achievement that's highly regarded in the hiking community. It's basically an investment of 3-8 months of your life, depending on how fast you can hike and how much you're carrying on your back.

Some hikers love the book. Other's hate it. All I can say is the book definitely motivated me to hike bits and pieces of the trail, with hopes of an eventual through-hike in my 50's or 60's.

If you haven't read A Walk in the Woods, I strongly recommend you pick it up and read it. You won't be sorry.

Now all we need is for someone to produce and direct The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, the Appalachian Trail-inspired horror novel from Stephen King.