Day 11: Gore to Marthasville

This was Monday and my first full day back in the trail.

After spending the night at Birk's Gasthaus, our favorite B&B in Hermann, Theresa shuttled me back out to the trail at Gore. As I said in the previous post, I walked "in reverse" from Gore back to McKittrick the day before. This time, I was headed in the other direction -- to Marthasville.




This section of the trail is fairly remote. There are long stretches where you are away from Highway 94 and the scenery just river, trail and bluff. I kind of like it. The weather conditions were much the same as the day before, hot and humid. The photo above shows the typical lay of the land from Gore to the Treloar area. It is looking back upstream toward an island in the channel. I must have an affinity toward rivers. For the whole hike, I was always happiest when I could walk next to the water.


As I wrote before, it was pretty hot in the early stages of the walk. As I neared Treloar, however, the sky started to get cloudy and I was beginning to hear rumbles of thunder. OK, so kids, I have heard all the warnings about lightning and how it is best to find cover, so don't do this at home, but I just kept walking. My theory, however flawed, was that I was not the tallest object on or near the trail. so I was relatively safe. And if I was wrong, well, it would all be over pretty quickly. I know ... not the Boy Scout way. But I made it to the trailhead where Theresa met me with lunch. mmmm-mmmmm that Subway sandwich was tasty!


At the trailhead, I met a couple who were headed west on bicycles. They were looking to fill up their water bottles. No luck. They weren't in bad shape and turned down my offer to top them off out of my supply in the truck. Unfortunately, many of these little towns just aren't open for business on Mondays, so if the trailheads don't have water or there isn't a machine available, you are often out of luck. I did see that the town bar had a soda machine outside, so that would do in a pinch. As I wrote last fall and I still believe, EVERY trailhead should have water available. If the state has to run some water lines, so be it.


After eating and scratching what I assume to be the town dog, I bid Treloar goodbye and continued east. After about and hour and a half, I was in Peers. There is not much to Peers, but it does have a great general store and the owners rent a room above the shop to trail-users. I didn't take advantage of the room this time, but I hope to in the future.


Next up was my stopping point for the day, Marthasville. One of the places that I heard so much about was Choo-Choos Frozen Custard. Unfortunately, they have gone out of business. It looked like it was a pretty cool place, so that is a shame. Marthasville, however, still seems to have lots of life in it. There were people coming and going, and they have a really nice ballpark next to the trailhead. Its good, after seeing so many of these little towns that are fading away, to see a little place that is still hanging in there.
I met Theresa at the trailhead and we headed back to Hermann for another night at Birk's. Man is it nice having a ride at the end of a long hiking day!
Stay tuned!

Day 10 (sorta): McKittrick to Gore

The first day back on the trail and all went well.

For those who read this blog in September of 2006 when I walked the 163 miles from Clinton to McKittrick, you will remember that I had to bail with badly blistered feet. I think that most of my problems last year were the result of carrying far too much weight in my backpack. This year I had a plan.

My wife, Theresa, agreed to drive our truck and meet me along the trail each day, so I didn't need to carry nearly the load that I struggled with last year, all I really needed was what I would use that day on the trail. And while I was walking, she was hitting the shops and, more importantly, the wineries along the way. So now we have at least six bottles of wine to drink. Why didn't I think of this last year?

So on Sunday, July 8, we headed for McKittrick to pick up where I left off last fall. I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about starting this all over again. There is just something about going back to the scene of where it all fell apart before and taking off again. I was anxious to get started, but also was a little daunted.

I wanted to knock out a short 7-miler to tune up for the longer days ahead, so, I decided to do this little stretch on Sunday and tackle the longer routes throughout the week. Since Gore is barely on the map and basically is a dirt road that crosses the trail, I decided that it would be easier to head out from there and find my ride back at McKittrick. Also, we would then be closer to our stop for the next two nights -- Herman. OK, so I wouldn't be going west-to-east, but I was still covering the same stretch of trail.

The walk is pretty uneventful. You begin along a stretch the trail that has a creek following alongside, then work your way out into the classic bottom lands landscape: corn on one side, soybeans on the other. Of course, since it was early July in Missouri, it was 90-something degrees and very humid. If you plan on hiking OR riding the trail, I can't stress enough that you take LOTS OF WATER. I may be a little obsessive about this, but I would much rather have too much than not enough. In fact, it is just plain fool-hardy to be out in this type of weather without lots of moisture.

One of the highlights of the day was "finishing off" another county. It may not seem like much, but when you cross into a "new county" it gives you a sense of accomplishment. Going into Warren County from Montgomery County made, I believe, the eighth county that I have walked in on this adventure. "Big Whoop" you say? Well, come on down to either end of the trail and start walking. I promise that after you get a few county lines behind you, you feel like its a big deal. ;-)

As I was nearing the end of this admittedly short day on the trail, I felt some of the old confidence start to come back. I wasn't overly tired, my feet felt fine, and I was starting to already feel nostalgic for the trail that I would soon finish off.

I still haven't totally resolved to my own satisfaction what I will do after I finish the trail. Stay tuned for the next day's hike!

Here we go again

Well, its just about time to continue the Gregwalk and what better time to do it than in July? Do I have some sick fascination humidity and mosquitoes?

Anyway, I start this weekend at McKittrick and head east. I am hoping to get to Machens before the week is out. The last leg should be interesting, since the trail from St. Charles to Machens doesn't officially exist yet. If I lose the trail, I guess I will just stop when I hit the Mississippi. ;-)

When I am done, I will post the updates on here in pretty much the same form as I did last September.

Wish me luck and pray for cool weather. HAH!