Tuesday, August 19, 2014

By the numbers

I went through my journals this morning and compiled a list. Some of these numbers may be off by a little (for instance, I lost track of how many round Treebeard, Margarita, and I bought for each other in Port Clinton), but the following gives a pretty good idea of how my hike went, in purely quantitative terms.

Pizzas consumed: 10
Beers consumed: 30
Burgers consumed: 15
Showers: 30
(tiny) loads of laundry: 10
Glasses of wine: 2
Nights I shared whiskey with other hikers: 5
Ice cream cones: 8
Ice cream sundaes: 7
Other ice cream (in gallons): 1.875
Sets of pole tips: 4
Pairs of shoes: 6
Pairs of camp shoes: 3 (one was given to a camper who had inexplicably lost her shoes; someone gave me a replacement pair, and I replaced those with something lighter that fit me better once i had the chance)
Pairs of socks: 3 (one was damaged while drying in front of a fire in the Smokies; one pair made it all the way from Springer to Katahdin)
Ticks found on my body: 7
Tick bites: 1
Mosquito bites: innumerable
Nights spent in hostels: 10 (one of those nights was in my tent on the hostel's back yard)
Zeros: 8
Neros (less than ten miles): 4
Catholes dug: 5
Catholes used: 4
Damsels rescued: 1
Books read: 5
Ponds I swam: 4
Rivers forded: I forgot to count those, but there were a lot more than I was supposed to have
Times I gave directions to shorter-term hikers: 6
Pack weight: 28-35 pounds
Passenger weight: 6 pounds
Calories consumed per day (estimated): 5,000
Nights spent alone: 8
People who came to see me start: 4
People who came to visit along the trail: 15
People who came to hike with me: 2
People who sent mail (and packages): 4
People who came to see me finish: 12
Generations of my family represented on the final day of my hike: 3
Generations of my family represented at dinner that night: 4 (my nephew was too young for Katahdin)
People who donated: 38
What they donated: $1,403
Disturbing mail: 2 (both were very well-wrought jokes)
Disturbing people: 3
People I met who I thought may pose a danger to me: 0
People I met who I thought may pose a danger to themselves: at least 6
Average speed (including zeros and neros): 18.06 miles/day
Days over 30 miles: 6 (I think)
Days that were really close to 30 miles: about the same
States: 14
Miles in the Hundred Mile Wilderness: 99.4
Trail Miles: 2,185.3
Days: 121
Bucket list items completed: 2 (same item, 2 lists)