Hiking S. Dakota and Wyoming with Craig (aka Hoosier) Clapper

1,813 miles accomplished. For the last few days I have been hiking with Samson. We do well together. We both like to get up around 5 a.m. and hike until around 5 p.m. We like to swim in rivers and lakes, take breaks often, and stealth camp near streams. Instead of pushing for big miles, we just hike until late afternoon and begin looking for a stream where we can stealth camp. The stream provides a bath, a water source, and thankfully, drowns out Samson's snoring. (Twice people have thought a bear was in the camp but it was Samson snoring!) Stealth camping gives privacy. We love it! Tonight we are in North Woodstock, eating a lot, resupplying, getting laundry done, buying some new gear,(I am in my 5th pair of shoes due to the record-setting rains and mud, which makes them rot)and will be hitting the trail in the morning. However, Samson and I will be hiking separately. I am jumping ahead 40 miles to Mount Washington. I will be doing those 40 miles in early August with friends from home. So, I will be headed north alone and should get the rest of New Hampshire and around 100 miles of Maine accomplished before coming back to meet them. After hiking with them, I will be returning home with them for three weeks for a family vacation and a four-day speaking engagement on Spiritual Lessons Learned on the Appalachian Trail. (Check it out at vacationwithpurpose.org, then go to the link Labor Day weekend.) After the conference I will be returning to where I got off in Maine to finish the trail in September. If anyone up in Maine reads this journal entry and knows how I may get back to Franconia Notch from around the Stratton, Maine area on Aug. 3, please let me know. I am sure I will meet other fine hikers who are up ahead, but there will never be another Samson. He is unique. I think we would both say that we were a gift from God to each other and that we are friends for life.

Craig A.k.A. Hoosier

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