Sunday, May 31, 2009
On our way to katahdin
As we were eating the infamous trek walked in. I was delighted to see he seemed like a nice chipper old man, until he completely ignored all of us. He was an ass. As we were leaving, we were getting pictures with Gil and dawn and asked if trek would like to get in. He said no, and then dawn said he doesn't like his picture taken, and he responded - from 5 feet away - there are plenty of pictures of me, I'm just doing my laundry now.
Whatever, we couldn't care less about him. So we left the hostel and started up for the trail. Gil told us about a side road he took to follow train tracks for a while and that it was really nice, so we did that to get back to the trail. It was gorgeous when we left and when we were on the tracks, but after we got back on the trail, it started raining on and off. When it wasn't raining, the bugs were out in full force.
Before our shelter, we had to ford a river that had a rope hanging over it because it was fairly deep and moving pretty quickly. That was fun, and once we got to the shelter, we set up camp and relaxed. It has been raining on and off, and a lot of thunder. There was one crack of thunder that actually scared the daylights out of Andy and I. Not to long after, we heard a large tree fall not too far away.
Today, two trail saying came to mind - hike your own hike and, its not about the miles, its about the smiles. We realized to stay out of other peoples hikes as everyone has a different experience, and no one can comment on another hikers trip unless they are there with them.
We talked to Nikki, andys friend who is picking us up at katahdin, and set everything up. We are excited to lop the head off this dragon!
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Saturday, May 30, 2009
Almost there
We are in a hostel with a south bounder. Its an interesting feeling seeing someone who has just started as we are just about to finish. He is a cool guy and we gave him some information of people who helped us along the way.
The last week begins tomorrow.
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Friday, May 29, 2009
We are mentally strained to the point of insanity. Its like we are in prison locked up with the key dangling in front of us. We are on the brink of going crazy that it actually begins to physically hurt.
Right now we are doing anything we can do to finish as quickly as possible. We are in Maine now and we are going as quick and hard as possible to get this finished.
The hundred mile wilderness is the last hump. That is a hundred miles of dense forest away from any sort of town. Once we complete that we will be 10 miles from the end, but we still have a few days to get to that. Service is spotty out here, but I will do my best to update you guys. Hopefully we be done soon. We can't stand too much longer of this!
The only thing harder than being out here alone, is being Andy and knowing his new girlfriend Danielle is waiting. What a crazy trip.
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
What a day
We got down to the road, and a park ranger helped us to town. We are doing our laundry and sleeping in a warm dry room tonight.
Last night was an eventful night. We had a long talk as we were both feeling tired mentally. We both decided that while we need to enjoy this trip, its time for it to end. so, we are going to put our heads down, tighten our boots, and hit the trail as hard as we can. We are going to wake up earlier, go to bed later, and truck as many miles as we can until we finish. We are going to try to finish around the 15th rather than the 20th now, which means about 4 more miles a day. So, I may not post often for the next few days until we are in Maine as I will be too tired.
We will see you in Maine.
Ps congrats on Andy and Danielles rekindled relationship - another outcome of last night.
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Mt lafayette
The climb was tough, and there were some scary steep parts, but on a whole it went well. Before the first of three peaks we went over today, we met and older couple named mr and Mrs going home. They have hiked the trail 2.5 times and are planning to do it again for Mr going homes 80th birthday! They were very nice and we talked to them for a little before starting up to the summit.
When we got to the first summit, we were just under two miles to Lafayette, and for those two miles we were on an exposed ridge line - it was awesome. We could see what we were going to climb before hand, and it was just a nice change of scenery.
We finally got to Lafayette and there was a little corner in what looks to be an old foundation and we decided to camp there. Technically its not legal, but its ok - were thru hikers! We walked down a steep side path to fill up on water after talking to a group of people out for the day. After we came back up, a guy walked over to us and asked if we wanted some carrot cake, so obviously we jumped at the offer. It was marks 50th birthday, and he was spending it on this gorgeous mountain. We talked to them for a while and another guy named Jeff gave us power bars and the rest chipped in with carrots and m&ms! So it was a good day. We also met a woman who was running a loop that is part of a local search and rescue team, and hopefully we won't need to see her soon!
This is by far the best campsite we have had. To our right we see Washington and where we will be going, and to our left we can see mooseilauke and where we came from and behind us is a raven nest.
As gorgeous as this is, we are feeling the length of this trip. We grow tired, but hopeful to finish well.
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So it begins!
Hiked total: 1798.0
To katahdin: 373.3
Today we got a late start, but we had a good sleep and it was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny. Allie Matt and Victor left half hour before us to summit moosilauke but we caught up with them soon.
The accent was a 3500 foot accent in four miles. It got fairly steep at some parts, but for the most part it was pretty consistent. Andy was ahead of me, so we both hiked that section alone, I was only ten minutes behind at the end though. A few hundred feet before the summit, there was a very flat section, and I got really excited since I could see the top. It was memorial day, so there were tons of people on the trail, and I blew right passed them all! I met up with Andy at the top and boy was it windy! It was amazing. I had my poles in front of me going up hill so I wouldn't be blown over, it was insane! It was so exciting and beautiful though.
After half hour at the summit, we started our decent. We stopped at the shelter for a little to leave a note to the three we spent the night with, and met some new guys. We hung out with them for a while, and then started what's supposed to be the steepest 1.4 miles on the trail - that was interesting. There were logs bolted into the stone and metal bars as hand railing because it was so steep. It took us a full hour to go down it.
Once we were off, we went into town to resupply and get some food. Unfortunately, money is tight now, and we couldn't stuff our face at the diner like usual. So, we each got a chicken, macaroni/potato salad, bread, and juice to have for lunch. After re supplying for basically the rest of new Hampshire, we started to get back to the trail.
It took forever to get a hitch. We were right in front of this tourist place, and we saw our first bear! Unfortunately, it was in a pen for bear shows, but we did see one! Just as we were about to give up on a hitch for the night, a crazy guy picked us up. He was awesome. He was wolfman for the tourist place and looked the part! He dropped us off and we started to search for the trail. We couldn't find it. We walked all over looking, but had no idea as to where it was! About an hour goes by and its getting dark, and I pull up a map on my phone to see the trail being called the cascade brook trail. So we follow the signs to that, angrily telling the woods its the APPALACHIAN trail and to get it right on the signs.
We set up camp for the night and will resume tomorrow. Unfortunately, after tomorrow, there will be three days of heavy rain. We will be going over the presidentials. Who knows what that will be like - may be snow and ice at that altitude. We look forward to continuing the whites, but are wary of the weather.
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Monday, May 25, 2009
Welcome to the whites
Hiked total: 1780.9
To katahdin: 397.4
This morning we woke up and packed up. We slept in again, as we have enjoyed doing lately, and slowly made our way to the trail.
The hike was a little crazy as it started raining like crazy and did so until noon. We were fairly wet and a little chilly. It was a fairly uneventful hike though. We needed to get some food, but didn't want resupply for a full 4 days because we didn't want to carry a full load over moosilauke. So we got one ride from a guy in a pick up truck to the main road. After walking a little while, a guy in a direct tv truck passed us then turned around and came to pick us up and being us into town.
While in town, we ate and got a days worth of food and went to get back on the trail. A guy offered to drive us to the trail. So we took his ride, and went to the trail.
When we got to the trail, we hiked a mile to the shelter. We set up and then went to a giant river near by where we were going to swim. However, it was freezing, and lots of mosquitoes, so we just filled up our water and left.
When we got back to the shelter, there were three people our age there; allie, Matt, and victor. They were out for a few days before they start summer jobs. It was funny because they were day students at a boarding school nmh used to play against, and they knew people from around andys area. So we hung out with them and victor and Andy played guitar and we had a good night.
Now we have just entered the whites, and tomorrow we have a very big climb. We are excited, but also bummed because my camera batteries died and the charger which I was supposed to get in Boston never made it there. So we have a disposable camera. Into the real mountaineering stuff tomorrow!
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Sleeping in
Hiked total:1759.9
To katahdin: 413.4
Today we slept for a total of 13 hours. I guess we are still catching up on sleep. We decided to go to the shelter today and only hike 12 miles and sleep in an old fire tower. So, after breakfast and being at that shelter for nearly 20 hours, we left. The hike was actually fairly hard, and we were extremely tired at the end of it.
We saw a lot of pretty sights along the way, and a lot of views of what's to come in the whites. It was really windy and a little cold though. We were able to see the firetower from a few miles away which was really cool, but we could also see how far it was.
When we finally got to the fire tower, we climbed up to see that 4 windows were broken and it was extremely busy - people were climbing up it a lot. So we decided not to sleep up there, especially since it was supposed to rain. However, the sight was gorgeous. There were 360 degree views of all mountains. shelter we are in now is actually an old rangers cabin, so its pretty nice. We enjoy having a 4th wall and a door very much, and wish every shelter could be like that. There is a guy here named thunder, and he gave us some extra food.
So all is well on the trail, except the lack of service. Tomorrow we will be at the base of the whites!
via BB
On the trail again
Hiked total: 1747.5
To katahdin: 430.8
Crows. Stupid stupid crows. They woke us up at 6 with their cawing. One actually pooped on my tent. I hate crows.
Last night we camped right off a road in town and when we woke up we realized we were a little closer to the road than we thought last night. We also had a revelation last night sitting in town. When someone went by and asked us about our hike we realized we are sick of telling the story, but get pissed if people don't ask. After this statement, we came to the very enlightning revelation that that is how women feel. We now know what its like to be a woman. After we fell back asleep this morning, I woke up to a guy standing on the road looking down on us. I explained we were thru hiking and everything was cool. Actually, funny enough, after the guy asked what we were doing, Andy, while still sleeping, responded with a grunted 'thru hiking'. He didn't remember it after he really woke up.
So we packed up and left for the post office to get replacement pads that were shipped to us. On the way there, a very AT looking woman drove by and yelled out the window 'the trail is good, and it is the way!' That was very amusing. After that we went to lou's which was a very nice diner - just our kind of place. After we walked in and set our packs down, an excited waitress seated us. She said she liked having hikers so made sure she got us. She brought us free donuts and muffins which were delicious. She was very nice, and enjoyed her company greatly.
After we left we headed for the trail to begin the last leg of our trip. It was a gorgeous -albeit a little hot - day. The bugs were a little too intense, and we are not looking forward to the bug season which is almost upon us. After granting Danielle her wish of having her picture on the trail, we hiked only 11 miles to our shelter. We are going to average around 15 for the rest of the trip, but today we decided to just do 11 to get back into the swing of things. We had some good talks along the trail, and we were talking about after the trail and Andy came to the conclusion that he is moving to nyc and finding a job there. Before, it was one of the top three cities where he will end up, but now, for various reasons, he has picked the wonderful new York city.
So here we are, in a shelter again! The dusty camels have returned.
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
And then we're....
We left danielles around 430 to take a bus back, and we both decided that we couldn't stay away from the trail any longer; it was getting a little too comfortable away from it!
We have 440 miles left on the trail, and we have a lot of work ahead of us as we are about to enter the whites. Previously, when we talked about what's going to happen along the trail we said:
"we have a couple weeks until we get to Philly, and then after that we will have 10 days until new York, and then we have 3 weeks until Boston for graduation, AND THEN WE ARE done!" well ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived to the 'and then we are' part of that time line. The last leg of the trip has arrived.
So, thank you for your patience and waiting for us to return to the site. There won't be a day missing until this trip has ended.
via BB
Saturday, May 16, 2009
sorry everyone
Anyway, just a short recap of whats been going on. The day after we left the Hazeltons, we started our hitch into Boston. It took a total of four hitches to get in, but only 4 hours -- which is only an hour longer than it would have if we were to get a straight shot, and shorter than it would have if we were to take the bus!
After breakfast, we went to the on ramp and set up two signs, one saying AT Hikers, and the other saying 2 Boston 4 Graduation. We set up the signs on our poles and sat on the guard rail to wait. As we were sitting down, a pick-up truck pulled off to the side and told us to jump in. We put our packs in the back, and got in the front. There were two guys there, and one of them was going to the hospital at Dartmouth to get checked out. They were nice guys, and they gave us a ride about 10 miles away from concord (nearly halfway.) So they dropped us off, and we went to go to the south bound on ramp only to find that it was a nearly 3 miles away. Unfortunately, we had to walk, but it's not like we don't do that anyway, so we started out and wrote on the back of one sign to 89 South to see if we could get a ride the three miles. About a mile and a half into it, we went through a town and a pick up that was pulling out of a parking lot stopped in front of us. We weren't sure if he saw the signs or where we were going so we went to go talk to him, but he just pointed to the back of the pickup and we hopped in. And off he went, to where? We had no idea. We were relieved at first after he got onto 89 south, and it was an interesting experience driving on the highway in the back of a pickup truck, but cool none-the-less. We thought our first ride put us in a tight spot by putting us 3 miles away from the south onramp, but this guy really put us in a tight spot. We needed to get from 89 to 93, and that is what he did. However, he was still going to the end of 89 and didnt drive up 93 at all, so he dropped us off in the middle of the highway at the on ramp to 93 from 89. This was a tough place to get a hitch, because everyone is turning off one highway and getting on to another, so everyone is speeding up and theres no room to pull over. We actually got lucky and only waited about 15 minutes before someone pulled over. He was nice enough to pull over just enough to let cars pass, but it was still a tight spot, so we jumped in as quickly as possible and headed off. His name was Gil and he was from around there and was very nice enough to drive us as far as he could which was about 25% of the way.
After gil dropped us off, we went and set up near the onramp once more. we were actually there for the longest time, we tried moving and going to different spots and finally after a while, we got one. Tom picked us up and drove us as far as he could before he had to pick up his girlfriend in salem, ma. Luckily, she called him and said she would be late, so he offered to drive us in all the way to downtown Boston -- which he did.
So we ended up in Boston, walked around, saw some people, showered and got situated. We will resume our hike early this week, but when, we are not sure. So theres the update! And I will update it again once we jump back on the trail!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Oh the magic of the trail
We made our way towards hanover today and got a little lost along the way. Once we were done with our hike, we went to find the road we were going to hitch to Boston on and camp there. However, we got very turned around and had no clue as to where in Vermont or new Hampshire we had strayed.
We ended up on some dirt road no one would think to drive on and was worried. Ironically, at that point, a car drove by. This older couple stopped and was following some directions from mapquest and didn't really know where they were either. However, they were going to the road we needed to be at, so gave us a ride.
After we got to talking, they said they lived right next to the road and offered is a shower and a place to stay. Not only that, but they treated us to dinner! They are very kind to say the least. Now we will rest up and hope to get to Boston before the evening tomorrow!
via BB
Back in the woods
It was a very smooth relaxing day overall. We saw LOTS of moose poop, but no moose. It was a very enjoyable day! After the hike, we started walking into town, and a guy gave us a ride in. He was nice and said he was hoping he might do the trail as well.
After we got into town, we ate some food and relaxed in the sun until Odie came. He got there around 6 and drove us to the trail. Our packs had a lot of extra weight because we filled all our bottles up and had a bunch of canned food for the night. Odie gave us a few beers and we lugged our packs up a difficult mile climb to the shelter.
We set up camp and spent the night in the woods like old times! It was great meeting Odie, he helped out a lot!
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Sunday, May 10, 2009
Last night with Odie
Our plans for getting to Boston for Andys graduation has changed just a wee bit from our original plan of getting to Hanover and taking a greyhound. We are still planning to get to, or around, Hanover, N.H., however, we will be hitch hiking. We are going to give ourselves some extra time to get there and we had planned to hitch in on Thursday. While planning this, we took a look at the weather and saw it is supposed to rain on Thursday, so we decided to start hitching in on Wednesday. I don't see it taking more than a day as its only 140 miles to Boston from Hanover, but we will see what happens. We decided that taking a bus from Hanover was too easy, and not a good enough story. We will be taking a little extra time off by starting earlier, but its ok. We have decided that after we get back to the trail, we have no schedule, and no deadlines. We are going to enjoy the last two states and take it as it comes. We will be coming back to the Whites which is going to be very exciting.
So the adventure continues -- in the woods once more!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Another day at Odies
After the outfitter, we went to Orvis where Odie wandered around looking for a casting competition to win (he's a big fly-fisherman), but those are tomorrow, so we went back to the house. Odie took a nap, and I uploaded lots of new pictures onto the site. By the way, the way the new set up works is as follows:
For all the Georgia pictures, you click on the slideshow on the bottom. Unfortunately, those are all on a separate Flickr account so I cant combined those with my Picasa account easily right now. So click on those to see early pictures.
For North Carolina to New Jersey, you click on picture of Andy and I sitting on the rock. That will bring you to that photo album on picasa.
For New York to Maine (once we get there that is) you click on the picture with the guitar and that will bring you to that album.
If you rather just watch a slide show, the slide show above the album links goes through all of my pictures. If you click on that, it will open up that image in the appropriate album.
After we rested up a little, we decided to go see Star Trek. So we went to the movies and saw the 6:30 showing. On our way there, there was a massive hurricane force storm that lasted about 30 minutes. It was POURING and hailing like mad. We took a video and some pictures which I will put up tomorrow (I've done enough picture work for the day.) Anyway, the movie was actually really good, we all enjoyed it a lot. They managed to make Star Trek really cool. We then got some food at the grocery store to make at the house, came back, and sat around and ate.
We WILL be slackpacking tomorrow, so will end up here again tomorrow night.
House Hopping
hiked total: 1622.6
we woke up this morning to a stupid child pretending to be a cop and saying we had to step out of the tent. Needless to say, we are not idiots and didnt, but they woke us up 10 minutes before my alarm went off, so I wasn't happy.
We got packed and went back to the diner for breakfast. We ate, and then began our hike. It was a nice day, the weather was warm and sunny for the most part. It's nice being in Vermont because we have big mountains around us again. It will make for smaller mile days, but at least its pretty -- and different.
When we got to the spot where we were going to stop, we pulled out the tent and used it as a sheet to lay on while we waited for Odie to come and pick us up. He is a thru-hiker from 2005 and has been putting up hikers at his place since. We got his name from Rob, so really, we have just been house hopping for the past week. It's been a lot of fun. After relaxing and basking in the sun, Odie made it to that spot and we had some beers, played some frisbee, and the headed back to his place to relax. We actually went out to a bar around 11:30, but we were both so tired we had to get back and go to sleep. So we went to bed, and will figure out what we are doing tomorrow.... tomorrow.
Vermont, we have arrived
Hiked total: 1600.5
To katahdin: 577.8
We left robs house today after eating breakfast and packing up. He came and picked us up and brought us to north Adams where he dropped us off yesterday. Instead of going south, however, we went north.
It was a nice day, and we walked through some cool farm lands. Towards the start of the day we entered into Vermont, our 12th state. By the end of the day, we also broke 1600 miles, which is equally as exciting.
We got into town and stopped at a diner to eat, and then left to find a place to camp. We ended up on this little path behind the high school, and next to a river. We set up camp and celebrated with the gifts Andrew gave us, which included a box of Monte cristo mini cigars.
It was a fun day, but we are excited to get to our next house tomorrow!
via BB
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Oh how this trip has changed
Anyway, we woke up and rob took us to the trail north of here and we left our packs here and walked back. We have spent so much time at peoples houses, I'm starting to forget we are on a trail! And 'southern hospitality' has nothing on the north. Rob has been great and has helped us out a lot
The hike was standard and not too interesting. It was cool and cloudy, but no rain just yet.
We got back to robs and went out to eat. We came back and watched some TV and relaxed. Tomorrow we will head out and spend one night on the trail and then rob set it up so we are going to stay at another guys house over the weekend and slack pack then too!
We are finished with mass tomorrow! Vermont here we come.
Ps Nikki, where did you get number four? Don't be silly.
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Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Onwards
Before we left, I responded to a text Dennis sent me a few days ago telling them we would be in Dalton tonight. They actually just left Dalton, but told us there was a guy here that had the same set up as the mayor in NY. So, we met up with him and are inside once more! That's really nice because its raining. What's even nicer is tomorrow we are going to slack pack it back here. But wait, it gets better. Rob (the guy who is letting us stay with him) has a set up with a guy in Vermont who does the same thing. SO, we are going to be able to slack pack a total of 120 miles! I'm not even sure if we will be outside again before we leave to Boston. Next Friday we will just get into NH and take a bus from Hanover to Boston for andys graduation.
We are sad to leave the Humes, but happy to be back on our journey. Plus we know it won't be the last time we see them!
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heh
Sunday, May 3, 2009
More trail magic!
yet another school i raced
Friday, May 1, 2009
What's up with our feet?
Hiked total:1472.9
To katahdin: 705.4
So this morning we left our hiding place... Er, campsite... And went to eat breakfast. We filled up and headed towards the trail. We walked right passed the entrance to Kent which was funny too. We soon got into the woods, and knowing what goes down in the woods near a boarding school, I walked quickly, and started our hike. There were lots of ups and downs and rocky areas. It was actually a decently technical day. We had some climbs and hard descents. We stayed flat for a few miles along the housitonic river but that was it.
After a few miles, we ran into two who were section hiking from new Hampshire. They were very nice and even said they would drive is to Boston for andys graduation. However, we looked at the book, and we will just be rolling into NH when we need to leave.
Not too long after we left them, we met a guy named Rich. He had a giant back pack and two smaller ones. We thought he was carrying stuff for someone else, but it was all his. The shelter wasn't far and we wanted to break, so we each took a bag and helped him to the shelter. He gave us a beer that we drank, and then left oddly tipsy (I guess that's what happens after hiking 8 miles.)
As soon as the beer wore off we were in normal hiking mode. The problem is, OUR FEET. We have no idea why, but our feet aren't carrying us well anymore. We feel fine physically, but our feet are just aching too early into the day and too intensely by the end.
Now we are in a shelter with a sectioner named half day, and even though he warned us, I think he should be called sir snores-a lot.
Tomorrow we are meeting my barber in a town the trail goes through! Funny how the world works. I do miss the little things in the city though.
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I love NY
At this point we were where we wanted to be so we were looking for a place to camp, and along the road a corrections officer named Glen picked us up. He brought us within 7 miles of Kent. He said he would bring us all the way after he went home and got changed, and left us at a pizza place until he returned. The guy there actually gave us a giant cookie after he heard we were on the trail.
Glen came and brought us to Kent which was awesome and very unexpected. We got our resupply and then filled up our bellies. We didn't know where to camp, so we tried our luck on a big lawn between the post office and the town hall. Unfortunately, a couple goes later we got kicked out. So instead of packing everything up, I walked down main street holding my set up tent. Needless to say we got some funny looks when people saw a bright orange tent floating around. We went to the church and set up camp in a circle of trees. Its funny to be in Kent because my old buddy went to school here and I rowed against them in high school.
So we go onwards! rainy and gross today, but what else is new?
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