John Stough, alias Plugger John

This man, as sane physically as serene in spirit, courageously started hiking the International Appalachian Trail in May.  He started in Houlton, Maine, and his goal is to reach Cap Gaspe (in the Gaspe Coast).  Meeting him on June 19 was a pleasant experience as he was walking his first paces in the Matane Wildlife Reserve.  He made an agreable impression on us.  He started his ascencion of the Chic-chocs with a uncommensurable peace of mind.  Challenges and obstacles seem to be as serene a part of his journey as the rest of it and each day brings new discoveries for him, as he seriously started hiking only four years ago.  A memorable encounter, a remarkable man.  In short: an unmissable story!

Picture: John Stough, at the entrance of the Matane Wildlife Reserve (2009-06-19).

July 7th 2009

On July 7th, John Stouhg sent a email.  Here it is.

Hello again,
Now at the internet cafe at Mont-Louis for a quick note before pushing on.
The  Matane section certainly has more fauna than people. Encounters with:
Moose 7, Hikers 2, Beavers-in-the-middle-of-the=trail 1.  The 15 km section between Lac Beaulieu and Le Petit Sault is very time consuming.
A fast experienced hiker as well as Tank took 9 hours to finish, an average hiker 12 hours, and a slow hiker like me in the rain 14 hours.  Anyone going north from the summit of Mt. Nicole Albert to Le Petit Sault should be sure to have 4 to 6 hours of daylight.  In case of darkness, the trail is hazardous and there is no place to pull off for an emergency camp site.

The Gaspesie section alone is worth the trip.  Even a pragmatist like me was impressed with the views and enjoyed a seat-of-the-pants tobaggon slide across the snow on Mont Albert. Met Tank on June 30 as he zoomed past me.  Must be almost in Newfoundland by now. 
Am looking forward to the final sunny coastal home stretch and should be at Cap Gaspe by June 25 and then back to  Maine to summit Katahdin on June 30.  This will probably be the last update from the trail.  Will send a written report with a few observations and suggestions toward increasing the number of hikers when I get  back to Boston.

Until then Bonne Chance and Bonne Route to all!
Plugger John

July 21rst 2009

John Stough, alias Plugger John, should reach Cap Gaspé anytime today.  We are waiting for fresh news coming from Land's End.

July 22nd 2009

John Stough reaches Cap Gaspe.

July 26th  2009

John Stough is back in Maine and climbs up Mount Katahdin.  Back in May, he had to postpone the ascent because of the snow.  John Stough officialy completes his thru-hike of the International Appalachian Trail.

Congratulations!

Ray Hicks, alias 93 Octane

Last year, Ray crossed the whole IAT, stating from Mount Katahdin in Maine.  This year, he came back with two friends to finish the Gaspe Coast section and finished in 10 days the crossing of the IAT in Nova Scotia.  He is now heading towards new summits.  To be continued...

Simon Bourk and Adam Desrosiers (06-23 to 07-22: Quebec section)

Simon Bourk
Live the crossing of the Appalaches from Gaspe Coast down until Georgia in United States with a man who is passionned by the outdoors and challenge.  Follow him during eight months filled with adventure, new places and new encounters, while he will be walking over 4574 kilometres across two Canadian provinces and twelve states.   All relevant information is on his Internet site and his blog (in French only) which are often up-dated.  Some updates will be posted in English.

Picture: Adam Desrosiers and Simon Bourk at the Petit-Sault campgrond in the Matane Wild Life Reserve(2009-07-16)

Simon Bourk's Blog and Internet Site:  

• unelonguemarche.ca (very detailed blog about his journey, in French)
• tributriathlon.ca (triathlon association founded by Simon Bourk)

Episodes on the blog:

1. Introduction
2. Compte à rebours
3. Première semaine de marche - 130 km
4. 14e jour - 290 km
5. Jour 24, Amqui - 508 km
6. Jour 30, Matapédia, 650 km
7. Jour 40, Saint Quentin, 750 km
8. Super journée 41
9. Jour 45, Perth Andover - 876 km
10. Jour 52, Houlton (Maine) - 1000 km
11. Jour 60, Millinocket, 1130 km
12. Jour 68, Greenville, 1290 km
13. Jour 74, Straton, 1400 km
14. Jour 78, Andover, 1510 km
15. Jour 85, 1600 km , Gorham
16. Jour 94, 1728 km, Glencliff
17. Jour 105, 1872 km, Rutland (Vermont)
18. Jour 120, 2130 km, Tyringham
19. Jour 130, 2351 km, Fort Montgomery, NY
20. Jour 137, 2527 km, Delaware water Gap, PA.
21. Jour 144, 2688 km, Pine Grove
22. Jour 154, 2890 km, Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.
23. Jour 164, 3047 km, Front Royal Va.
24. Neige, pluie et blizzard
25. Jour 173, 3219 km, Wayesboro – Va.
26. Jour 181, 3400 km, Buchanan
27. Intermède - les cavernes Luray
28. Jour 207, Pearisburg VA, 3583 km

Adam Desrosiers was hiking along with Simon Bourk in the Quebec portion of the IAT.

On July 16 juillet, he wrote (translation):

[...]  We are in Amqui.  I would like to reach Matapedia so that my overall time is 30 days.  I think that it is very doable at this point.  I would be really happy to finish the Quebec portion of the IAT before that Simon leaves for his long hike.

 

Thanks again for everything!

___________
Adam

Mikael Swirp and Tara Templin

Not much can be said in the moment about them or their hike.  The IAT-QC is receiving little information.  More information may come later on.

Some dates

• Start in Matapedia on July 9th.
• Were in Amqui on July 17th.
• Should have been in the Matane Wild Life Reserve on July 19th.
• On August 1rst, they had completed most of the Gaspesie National Park.
• They expect to reach Cap Gaspe on August 14th.

Régis Crousset

Régis Crousset is from Saint-Ulric, Quebec.  He started hiking in early June but had to quit shortly after.

Antoine Provost and Louis Martin Pilote

These two young men, aged 17 and 18, will begin soon a journey that will lead them from John Post, at the entrance of the Matane Wild Life Reserve, to Mont-Saint-Pierre in the Upper Gaspe.  Their goal is to hike during twenty days without any help.  They took their motivation into the desire to see the beauty of the trail, of the mountains, and of the landscapes.  They will give a report when they are back.  To be continued...

Thomas Cruson, alias Tank

Except for the buying of an accommodation passport and for some comments refering to him that were made by John Stough, the IAT-QC did not receive any information from Thomas Cruson until he was back home.  Little did we about his doings until he wrote to the heads of three IAT chapters (Maine, Nova Scotia, and Newfound Land) on August 31rst.

According to Richard Anderson, head of the Maine IAT chapter, "Tank" makes 90 thru-hikers from Katahdin to Cap Gaspe and 15 [thru-hikers from] Katahdin to Crow Head [Newfound Land]. He is the first one to include Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

He finished hiking the IAT through Maine, New Brunswick, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfound Land on August 23rd.

Ron Woodworth

Ron Woodworth is from Howell, Michigan.

On August 18th Ron wrote that he was off the trail for personnal reason and was wrinting some lines about his hike.(09-09-22)

[...]I had a great time, lonely at times compounded by not knowing French but met some very nice people along the way.  In fact not one negative about the Quebec people.  The views, so many great pictures.  The wildlife, the only animal I did not see was a bear, and that is ok with me :)

On July 30th, he should start hiking from Cap Gaspe and he plans on reaching Matapedia on August 28th.  To be continued...

Walter Schwannen and Émilie Curnier

Walter Schwannen and Émilie Curnier are from Montreal, Quebec.  They have not started yet, but they should any time soon! (09-08-07)

Michelle Goulet and Brigitte Desjardins

Michelle and Brigitte are from Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Ursula Struder

Ursula Struder is from Wabern, Swiss.  She is now hiking in the Matapedia Valley section and she is heading towards the Matane Wild Life Reserve. (09-08-07).

Previous Adventures

Here are the previous adventures of some thru-hikers of the International Appalachian Trail.

• www.sentiergaspesie.com (French)
• Nomade Nimblewill
• Anne et James Scrott Small, Maine, USA

Boy Scouts of America - Troop 1776 - Neshanic, NJ

A year ago, scout Tim Cropley had come up with the idea of doing a Venture trek to the IAT/SIA after reading a story about the IAT in Backpacker Magazine.

He approached the Troop leadership with a proposal for a trek.  The trek was approved and he and his fellow crew members began to plan out all the details of their journey.

The Trek began with a car ride from Hillsborough NJ to the New Brunswick, NJ train station, from there a train to New York City's Penn Station.

Next was a 10+ hour train to Montreal, Canada with an overnight stay in the city. The next day began an 18 hour train ride out to Gaspe Canada via Rail Canada.

The views of the Canadian countryside were outstanding. Once we arrived in Gaspe, we took a taxi ride to the trailhead where we would be starting.

We began at the 81 Kilometer point. This was up along a ridge overlooking the St. Lawrence Seaway. http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_1.jpg

2 km after starting we came to a beautiful view with a historic lighthouse (Pointe-a-la-Renommee). http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_2.JPG

The trail goes through a small park here and then travels 4 km along the shore to the Village of Anse-a-Valleau. http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_3.JPG

The next 26 km goes through some back country which is owned by logging companies. The trail is less traveled and in places, nature is trying to take it back.
http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_4.jpg.

Beavers had flooded many streams and in one location, the trail was rerouted to actually cross along the top of a Beaver Dam.
http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_5.JPG

We then reached Forillion National Park for the final stages of the trek, The trails and scenery were absolutely beautiful. As we approached the end the trail runs along the Gaspe Bay shoreline and the views just kept getting better.
http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_6.JPG  http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_7.JPG  http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_8.jpg

We got some nice pictures of a moose who was resting in the woods off the trail.  http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_9.jpg

We finally arrived at Cap Gaspe and the famous light house there. http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_10.JPG http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_11.JPG

There was a nice set of plaques at the end of the trail as well http://home.comcast.net/~acropley/pwpimages/IMG_12.JPG  we then hiked back along the trail to reach a campground in the Park (Petite Gaspe). From there we took a taxi back to town and then the train back home.

It was a beautiful and natural section of trail and a journey we will all remember for the rest of our days.