Author & Narrator

Yesterday was Spring Cleaning Day. No, I don’t mean actual cleaning. I wish that was what I meant. Actually, yesterday I finished selling off any gear I absolutely didn’t need to keep making music. Over the last seven years I’ve picked up a lot of gear in pawn shops, trades, and from family that haven’t been new, or fancy or particularly valuable, but weren’t entirely without worth. Things I wanted to hold onto ‘just-in-case’. But I have to leave all the in the past where it belongs. No point in going any further into explanation. (Side note on ‘the past’ - Re-read “The Long Walk” entry and couldn’t help but laugh, half of it sounds like the intended audience is fourteen years old. This is what happens when you listen to all seven Harry Potter books on audiobook 2-3 times in one year. Currently I’m listening to “Full Dark, No Stars” by Stephen King, who coincidently wrote another book, under the pseudonym Richard Bachman titled “The Long Walk” - which is about a National contest in which a group of young men start walking from Northern Maine headed South, and are basically killed by the military as they quit, in a ‘last-man-standing’ type deal. It’s not bad. Anyway…)

The good news is that now my bills are paid and, maybe more importantly, I even managed enough to order two of the most substantial pieces of gear that I still needed to get. I’m really excited about these two things, because aside from my shoes, my pack, and my emergency supplies, they’re the two most important things I’ll be taking. The equivalent to my house, and my bed. My tarp, and my hammock. 

A big myth about hammock camping is that it’s the lightest way to go, when it can actually be the heaviest. You need all of your regular sleeping gear (sleeping bag, sleeping pad, etc.) and you also need a hammock, tree straps, and a tarp. And there are still other things you can get as well, but let’s keep it simple. They make sub 2lb tents now, and sub 1lb tarp-tents, and sup 0.5lb ground cloths. That’s light! Uncomfortable in a lot of situations (most if you ask me) but very light. Normally your hammock, tarp, and straps weigh about 1lb each, not to mention all the chord you need to rig it all up, and stakes to stake your tarp.

I did my research, and found two guys who run their own custom backpacking companies. One, who is doing some really awesome and innovative stuff with light weight materials, and another who does simple modifications to hammocks to make them lighter and at the same time more functional, and some other creative solutions that would ultimately bring my entire set-up to be about 1.5lbs. 

My hammock is a modified Grand Trunk Nano 7 (10 oz w/additions), and my tarp is a four-season cuben fiber tarp (6.7 oz). 

When they come in (2-5 weeks from now) I’m going to post pictures. 

I’ll edit this for errors later. 

The first thing I ever wanted to be in life, according to my mom and several adorable pictures, was a firefighter. However grateful I may be to our firefighting friends, I think the idea of becoming one was easily beaten out by “International Secret Agent” for good reason. I was obviously more suited for that line of work. James Bond and I didn’t share the same first name by chance. No sir.

I lived in California for a extremely short period of time when I was fairly young, eleven or twelve I think. This period of time stands out in my memories for a few reasons. The first being that it was when I remember meeting my dad who had just started dating my mom, and the second being that it was the period of time when I fell in love with photography. 

One day we drove south to San Fransisco to see the city, and part of that visit included a trip to Alcatraz. I don’t remember if it was on the boat ride there, or the ride back, but I do remember holding a camera, and literally falling in love with taking pictures. Later, when it came time for me to choose a high school, the option of a ‘Magnet School’ was presented to me. In Baltimore County certain high schools had specialized programs for Arts, Sciences, Mathematics, and various Tech/Engineering Trades, called ‘Magnets’. My mom, in a testament to how supportive she is, bought me one of the best cameras on the market and did everything she could to help me get into Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts. Or as I happily recall it, “the place dreamers go to die.”

The art department at good ol’ PHS wanted to make a few things very clear to me. First, if I couldn’t draw, I would never, ever, ever; succeed, get into a good art college, or, quite possibly, live past 17. Second, most of any photographers job is going to be mostly paper work and desk work, and the chances of you making any kind of serious money in such a cut throat, competitive field are slim to none! I’ll choose to stop there and summarize simply, that they beat the idea of becoming a photographer out of me, and taught me most importantly that there is a difference between loving a thing, and doing it. Sadly, they ruined it for me to the extent that I stopped taking pictures all together. I might start up again one day, as a hobby, but I honestly don’t think about it much.

That is just one reason why I left high school at 16. Another, I can happily say, became the greatest part of my life for a long time. Music. Now before you go getting all judgmental on me, I tested out of high school, got my GED, and did so well on it that I received scholarship money for college, where I went for three semesters before deciding to stop wasting money and take a little bit of time to figure out a career path while I continued to make music my first priority. At risk of sounding cliche, I followed my dream, really and truly, and do not regret it. 

I remember going to my first ‘local show’, seeing a band called ‘Thin Dark Line’.  I had been singing my entire life, one of my only natural talents, and I had no idea that a singer could be in a ‘not-famous rock band’ and only sing. I thought that until you got famous, you had to play an instrument too. Don’t ask me why, I just had that in my head for some reason. But Thin Dark Line threw down. Their bassist, I remember this so clearly because it blew my mind at the time, was punching his bass strings at one point, so hard that his knuckles were all badly bleeding. They weren’t even that heavy of a band, but they were so into what they were doing, and so determined to entertain. I had to be a part of that some how. Luck would be my friend a week later, when Pat, Justin, and Corey sat down with me at lunch and asked if I would join their band. A year later I was in another band, we had a record label fly us out to LA for a week to meet with them, and a few months before we left for that trip, I left school.

A lot has happened since then, three records, sold out shows, being in magazines and on TV, touring around in a big white van and trailer, an MTV Award nomination, I can say looking back that everything I set out to accomplish, I achieved. Did I become vastly successful and famous? No. But I never wanted ‘fame’. The idea of it scares me to tell the truth. It’s a brutal, awful place, either taking your life, soul, or sanity (most of the time anyway). The only thing I would still want to do, is perform at festivals with masses of people, all year long, as my only job. But that, I’m afraid, is too off topic. 

To be more to the point, I have lived life, with the best of my abilities free from regret, enjoying my youth, and getting everything I can out of it. I’ve developed a mindset of following dreams, and I can’t seem to shake it. In some ways following an ambitions dream has come to act as a defining aspect of my life. It’s a bit of who I am. ‘A dreamer’. Sounds romantic, I know, but you get the point. Patapsco, try as it did, could take the dream from the dreamer, but could not stop him from dreaming up something new. Some less positive individuals may view that same quality, and I suppose, call me an ‘idealist’, which I also have been known to be. But I can say that life has also taught me that accepting your negative qualities helps you gain perspective on them, and to keep them in better check. 

So now that my previous band is no longer together, what now? I’ve been living for one thing for seven years. How do you walk away? 

Well, it’s simple really, you don’t. Not entirely. At least I don’t. I’m going to keep making music, in a less specific and concentrated way, but I’m also going to take time to try my hand in all the other things I’ve wanted to do in the last seven years, but couldn’t because of my obligations to my band(s). I want to fine-tune my new sound, whatever it may be, because it’s times like this in life, when the pieces fall apart, when you get the chance to put them back together in a new way. I’ve written some new songs, one I love, a few with some potential, but nothing that encompasses the sound I have in mind. 

So what now? I’ll tell you. I’m going to go on a real life adventure. A challenge of body and mind, risking death and disease, crossing fourteen states, on a 2,200 mile trail, which will take six months, and three seasons, cross mountains, rivers, vast forests and national parks. There will be rain storms, snow, intense heat, and endless black flies, mosquitoes, gnats, ticks, spiders, and all other kinds of bugs. Black bears, wolves, and rattlesnakes. I will take roughly 5,000,000 steps wearing a 35lbs backpack, and live completely outdoors. 

I can hear you now. “Whoa, that sounds cool, but why the hell would anyone want to do that?” And it is fair you ask that, because I left out a small piece of my story. A detail that may help explain. 

Previously I mentioned that despite singing my whole life, and loving it intensely, I didn’t know it was possible for me to actually be in a band at my age. Well, I’ve also loved something else my entire life, that being spending time in nature. A very simple thing to love, I consider myself lucky to be so excited by it’s greatness. Some hobbies can be very expensive, but an old Jansport backpack, a bic lighter, sleeping bag, canteen and Ramen noodles were all easily found around the house. I bought a survival knife, and a cook cup, and for years thats all I ever needed to go camping. The bottom line is that walking into the woods is free. If you can get an abundance of enjoyment from that, then I consider you lucky too. Every time we would go out (usually barefoot and shirtless), find a campsite, build a fire, make Ramen, and cowboy camp (sleeping with no tent or tarp cover, ‘under the stars’) it was a new adventure for me. Running across rocks over rivers at full speed, climbing up waterfalls, finding a swimming hole, rock climbing (without a rope, but usually not very high, maybe a ‘grin worthy’ 20ft) it was adventure after adventure. 

When I got older I continued to hike, and while it remained fun, as I got bigger and older, the woods got smaller and less mysterious. I still enjoyed it more than most things, but the sense of adventure was gone. I became a ‘barefooter’, and ‘hammock hanger’, two things to be considered unconventional by most, however are currently becoming more popular. And shortly after that, I was introduced to the concept of being a Thru-Hiker. Talk about the few, the proud, and the brave. Less than ten thousand people had completed the hike from Georgia to Maine in the trails known history. This was a real life adventure, something I didn’t think existed anymore, or feasible for most to even attempt. 

So I started training for my hike, following a new dream. I wanted to leave this year but financially I don’t think It will happen. I started a page to fund-raise for my hike, and if you’d like to help out please do! $1 or anything really, even if you just passed it along to someone you know who might want to help someone attempt something like this. 

www.gofundme.com/thelongwalk

I plan to bring a Martin Backpacker acoustic guitar during the warmer seasons, and Kodak Playsport HD 1080p waterproof camera, and a few harmonicas. I’d like to write an acoustic record while I’m on the trail. I know it’s sort of ‘been done’ to varying degrees, which is fine, I’m not trying to be the first, I’m just trying to combine the two activities I love most, making music and being in nature. This year I’m going to save up so I can afford all the best UltraLight gear. I understand that it’s not necessary to “buy the best” for a thru-hike, but I would rather work harder to save more, to afford the lightest, most durable gear. So I can be the most comfortable (I have Osgood Schlatters disease in both of my knees, so I have to keep my pack weight to a minimum) and so that I can have the most dependable gear. This year I want to do at least 300 miles of practice hikes, I’ve been looking into a few trails: The Long Trail in Vermont, The Superior Hiking Trail in Minnesota, The Wonderland Trail at Mt. Rainer in Washington, and the Maryland portion of the Appalachian Trail. 

I also plan to update a blog, be it this one, or a special one for my Thru-Hike, as much as possible during all my upcoming hikes and my Thru itself. But that is all for now. I have no idea why I wrote this lengthy post, but it’s most likely because this has all been on my mind.

Much love - James.

If you have a passion, be a fucking inspiration. Be the light in the dark for every person that’s been beaten down by a social system that rewards people for not following their dreams. You DO NOT need a $600/month car payment to be happy, you DO NOT need a $5,000/living expense to be happy. You need family, you need friends, you need love, you need to live your life and be true to yourself. That doesn’t mean you don’t need a job, or that life isn’t expensive, it just means that you need to keep yourself in check and really think about the difference between “want” and “need”. If you find yourself surrounded but a ton of shit you don’t really need, be genuinely grateful, because some people don’t even have the bare essentials. (And I’m not talking about in some third world country. In your town, right now, there are people desperate for help.) People spend so much time trying to fill their lives with non-essentials, they forget that they could be spending that time doing something real. So if there’s something you love doing, make sure it’s a positive addition to your life, and find a way to do more of it. If there are people you love being around, make sure they’re a positive addition to your life, and find a way to be together. You only get to live this life once, so try to minimize the potential for regret. Because it really is better to try and fail, than to never try at all. Because saying “I know I tried my best” does suck, but it’s a lot better than spending the rest of your life wondering “What if?” END RANT.

more:

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

http://zenhabits.net/key-question-how-much-is-enough/

http://guynameddave.com/100-thing-challenge/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvn9l1pJ3-A

• Hike the entire AT

• Buy this motorcycle