When Jeff Daniels of Evergreen was a postal carrier, neither snow, nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night could keep him from the swift completion of his appointed rounds, and the passage of Hurricane Irene over the northeastern United States last week haven’t derailed his plans to “thru-hike” the world-famous Appalachian Trail.
On Monday afternoon, Daniels, 53, reported to The Courant from the Maine Roadhouse in Stratton, Maine, where he was 187 miles away from becoming the first Conecuh County resident to “thru-hike” the AT from start to finish.
Daniels, a retired postmaster, covered 63 miles of the trail since Monday of last week and has hiked 1,993 miles of the trail, which begins in Springer Mountain, Ga. and ends 2,181 miles away in Katahdin, Maine. As of Monday, he had 187 miles to go before finishing the hike.
Last Friday, Daniels began to hear reports from other hikers about the approach of Hurricane Irene, a large and powerful hurricane that caused extensive wind and flood damage along the east coast and as far north as Canada. As of Tuesday, the storm is believed to have been responsible for at least 44 deaths.
“I first began to hear about Irene by word of mouth from hikers headed south on the trail,” Daniels said. “There’s a pretty good grapevine network among hikers and most of them had heard about the storm after getting a good signal on their cell phones.”
After experiencing a round of bad weather ahead of the storm on Friday, Daniels made the call to seek shelter off the trail for a few days to ride out the storm.
“I was in the Saddle Back Mountains and began to experience sustained winds of 30 to 40 miles per hour,” he said. “It was pretty rough, and the wind was literally blowing me off the trail. I had to stick my hiking poles in the ground to keep from falling over. And this was the front ahead of the hurricane.”
Daniels sought shelter off the trail on Saturday and didn’t hike on Sunday or Monday.
“Once it was over, we had a few trees down, and we didn’t lose power, but most of the rivers here are still out of their banks,” he said.
Daniels planned to resume his trip on Tuesday morning and has a big week ahead of him.
“I’m expecting to enter the Bigelow Mountains in about a day and a half and then cross the Kennebec River in three days,” Daniels said. “The Kennebec is out of its banks now because of the hurricane, but hopefully by the time I get there, it’ll be back to normal levels.”
On Friday, Daniels expects to enter the “Hundred-Mile Wilderness,” which is generally considered to be the wildest section of the AT. It runs between Baxter State Park and Monson, Maine, and Daniels has special plans for when he arrives in Monson.
With a population of fewer than 700 residents, one of the highlights in Monson is a hostel for hikers called “Shaw’s,” which features Direct TV satellite television service.
“I’m definitely going to watch the Auburn game,” Daniels said. “If at all possible.”
Daniels began his trip on March 13 and hopes to finish his trip in mid-September. The trail, commonly referred to as the “AT,” is arguably the most famous hiking trail in the world. The trail passes through 14 states, including Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Daniels is still on track to finish his trip by Sept. 14, which will allow him to make his Sept. 16 flight from Bangor, Maine to Mobile.
(Daniels is keeping an online journal of his trip, and it can be read at www.trailjournals.com/moondoggie. Also, look for continuing updates about Daniels’ trip in future editions of The Courant.”)
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