Appalachian Trail

2010-12-26T22:56:00.000-08:00

visit the dusty camel!

www.thedustycamel.org

Any adivce and info

2010-10-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

To all those who have come across this blog in seek of advice on gear, logistics, or just want some questions answered about the Appalachian Trail (or any long distance pursuit) refer to our new website and contact us through that. We are more than happy to help any potential thru-hiker and its a good excuse to talk gear!

www.thedustycamel.org

happy hiking

For New Commers

2009-07-21T23:28:00.000-07:00

For anyone coming to this for their first times, our thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail ended on June 6th, 2009 after 4 months and 6 days of being out on the trail. We made it as the first ones to finish the trail north bound for 2009, and we had a wonderful experience. Starting from the most recent entries to the beginning of our trip is our journal entries. There are also all of our pictures on the side. For anyone who may have questions about planning a thru-hike feel free to e-mail me at anytime (my information is a few posts down)

Enjoy!

The Dusty Camels Reach Katahdin

2009-06-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks everybody, it's been a great adventure.

Made it to Katahdin

2009-06-05T14:58:00.000-07:00

I have hikED the Appalachian trail

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To All South Bounders!

2009-06-05T03:28:00.000-07:00

We are finishing up this morning, but for any south bounders that we have met along the way who has come across this site, here are some helpful numbers and names to have along the way. Any of them (including myself) will be more than happy to help you in anyway possible, so feel free to write these down and utilize them. They will slack-pack you, clean you, and give you a soft place to sleep for little to nothing.

Enjoy your thru-hike and make sure to call someone who understands before getting off if you think thats what you want to do!

Manchester, VT
Odie Green
(201) 290-9153

Dalton, MA
Rob Bird
(413) 446-4208

NYC
Ian Mangiardi (Me)
(917) 885-0205

Unionville, NY
Dick 'the Mayor' Ludwick
(845) 726-3956

PA/D.C.
Andy Laub ("Camel" of "The Dusty Camel")
andrewdlaub@yahoo.com

Atlanta, GA
Dave Dagresta (thru-hiker '09)
DavDag8@live.com

Final Post

2009-06-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this will be my final real post. Obviously tomorrow the picture of us atop Katahdin will go up, but this is what it all boils down to.

Andy and I started this trip as strangers, and are now brothers. We have gone through so much over the past 4 months and have realized a lot of things about each other, ourselves, and our lives. At the beginning of this trip, we were on it to hike the trail and have an adventure, and we quickly realized that is only a small fraction of why we were there. Several things brought us to the trail, but we have had time to reflect and understand what we have gotten out of this trip and why we both needed it. This year has been a big one for both of us, and we needed to take ourselves out of our comfort zone and really reflect on who we are, and who we want to be. Andy told me a fable about a rattlesnake the other day:

"A rattlesnake was frozen in the middle of a path one frosty morning as a little girl walked up to it. 'Please warm me up little girl so that I may go about my day, for I am frozen and cannot move' said the snake, 'I promise I won't bite you.' So the little girl warmed him up, and as soon as the snake was warm enough to move, it bit her. 'Why did you bite me?' asked the little girl, and the snake responded 'I am always a rattlesnake.'"

Basically, one of those silly fables that shows a person can't change who they are. We came to the conclusion that the rattlesnake never hiked the Appalachian Trail! We took ourselves out of our comfort zone to reflect on life, and have changed from it. The trail isn't about walking from Georgia to Maine, its about the bond we have created with one another and how we have changed from it. The adventure we had has changed us, and has created an unbreakable friendship. We have witnessed the metamorphosis that each of us has gone through, and will forever be better for it.

In the morning we will finish this adventure, and end a chapter of our book. To all the people who have helped us along the way, we thank you for your support. We will be putting a book together of our pictures and stories, and would greatly appreciate any letters or words that people who have followed this journal would like to cement in our memories.

If you would like to contribute, send any e-mails to irm215[at]nyu.edu, or if you would prefer to send a hard copy, e-mail me anyway and I will give you the address to send it to.

Thanks again to all, and good journeys,

The Dusty Camels

Christmas eve eve

2009-06-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

In two days we will summit katahdin. Today we left the shelter, and all went swimingly! We are in better spirits, and not only that, but Dave and Dennis made it up to us! We weren't expecting that, but are happy to see them and finish up with them.

So right now we are camped out with them after a long day. Nikki said she could come earlier, so we have huffed the past two days to finish this up. She will be here tomorrow night and we will summit on Friday and the forecasted weather is gorgeous! We are almost there, and man are we excited.
via BB

First sight

2009-06-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today we left our shelter to climb over the last large hump before katahdin. There were four peaks we had to go up and down, but on the last one, we had our first sight of the big finale. It was quite large to say the least.

Our morale is dwindling and does so throughout the day. However, we are only three days away from the finish, so spirits are a little better than last week!

We got to our shelter, and shared it with a woman from Maine who was doing the 100 mile wilderness. Other than the view of katahdin, it was another day on the trail. We are excited to finish but down that we are still on the trail at this point.

Hopefully we will do better tomorrow.
via BB

Nice day

2009-06-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up and left the shelter around 10. It was a decent hike, we had a few up hills, but only one really difficult one. We went through some bogs and over lots of small bridges because its so muddy. When we stopped for lunch, we were swarmed by black flies. So much so, that we actually sat there and ate with our head nets on. They are just like gnats that bite , they are incredibly annoying. Once we got going again, the terrain began to flatten out. And then we had a very wide river to ford! I suppose that was the exciting part of the day. We were knee deep in the water for about 150 feet. It was cold. But we are in Maine! And it was refreshing to give our feet a mini ice bath.

After the ford, we began a slight incline for about 6 miles to our shelter. Its pretty remote around here besides some logging roads, but its a cool dense forest with lots of rivers and brooks. Where we are now is an exciting shelter. Why's this? Well, we are at the base of the last real mountain before katahdin! Not only that, but from the summit of this mountain, we can actually see katahdin! This is incredibly exciting. We are almost there! We will take it easy for a few days and have the day off when Nikki gets here, and then on the 8th, we summit the big guy!

We are feeling better now that we are closer, but emotions are a little dulled at the moment after the past week. The excitement will overwhelm us soon enough!
via BB

On our way to katahdin

2009-05-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up early at Shaws hostel to a giant breakfast. It was very tasty! It was nice to have a large scrumptious meal before the last week of our trip.

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!

via BB

Almost there

2009-05-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well last night was hard, but we are almost there. We will be venturing into the hundred mile wilderness tomorrow and finish up this journey soon enough.

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.
via BB

2009-05-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

How to describe our feelings right now..

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.
via BB

What a day

2009-05-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well we woke up on top of a 5200 foot mountain to rain and the tent violently shaking from the wind. We started walking and made it a couple hours through the raw rain, drenched to the bone, and we decided to go into town as all our clothing was wet and we were freezing. the slippery rocks, my fall, and a rock to andys face helped facilitate that decision as well.

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.

via BB

Mt lafayette

2009-05-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

Well today there was lots of climbing. We woke up and made our way to the trail and luckily didn't have any problems finding it. We knew we had a 4000 foot climb today, so we were a bit apprehensive as to how it would pan out. The thing about the whites is you're never really on a ridge line, so you are going up and down on some really steep mountains; but, to say the least, it is gorgeous.

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.
via BB

So it begins!

2009-05-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hiked today: 15.1
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.
via BB

Welcome to the whites

2009-05-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hiked today: 21.0
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!
via BB

Sleeping in

2009-05-25T12:32:00.001-07:00

Hiked today 12.4
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

2009-05-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hiked today: 11.0
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.
via BB

And then we're....

2009-05-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well, as we speak Andy and I are on a bus back to hanover where we left the trail. Its been an exciting week, and we took a few days longer than expected, but it was worth it.

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

sorry everyone

2009-05-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

I know I know, it's been a while, and for that I apologize.

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!

Oh the magic of the trail

2009-05-12T18:10:00.001-07:00

Well it has been a great day. The weather was beautiful, the mountains were green, the sun was shining, and we enjoyed it all tremendously.

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

2009-05-12T05:58:00.001-07:00

Today was a great day. We hiked for about 20 miles and Odie met us with our bags at the end. It was a gorgeous day out, and we saw some really nice views. We actually walked up a ski slope to the summit of a mountain where a chair lift was.

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!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Last night with Odie

2009-05-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight is our last night with Odie, and sad we are. Today was a pretty smooth sailing day, nothing terribly interesting going on. The weather was a little wacky -- it was cold, and looked like it was going to rain, but still had blue skies and sun poking through. Luckily, it did not rain until later in the day, but we were back at the house by then.

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!

Another day at Odies

2009-05-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

we woke up quite late this morning -- or afternoon I should say -- so we did not hike. It was pretty relaxed today, after Odie got over his hangover, and Andy washed his away in the shower, we went and got some food. Andy and I hadn't had a real meal since yesterday morning, so we were very famished. After a giant breakfast, we stopped off at the outfitter to see if some replacement things came in (Andy's pad has a giant tumor in it) but they didn't come yet. I looked at boots while we were there. Even though Vasque replaced my boots with a different model, I could very quickly tell they weren't going to last. They are decent boots, but not for what I need, theres not enough support, and they just aren't comfortable for the amount of miles we are doing (the Vasque Clarion), and I am hoping that the reason my feet have been in so much pain lately is because of those boots. I got some really nice, comfortable, rigid boots. I didn't want to spend money on new boots, but I figure thats the most important thing I have on this trip, and the fact that I got two new pairs of boots for free justified it.

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

2009-05-09T08:46:00.001-07:00

hiked today: 22.1
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

2009-05-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hiked today: 18.4
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

Oh how this trip has changed

2009-05-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

I am too lazy to get all the mileage info as I have been for the past few days. But. We did around 22 today. And we are just under 1600 total.

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.
via BB

Onwards

2009-05-05T19:31:00.001-07:00

So we woke up today and Elisabeth made us breakfast. We talked and relaxed for a while, and then it was time to be off. Next stop was Dalton, MA. We made it here around 430. It wasn't too far away from Andrews, so it was nice.

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!
via BB

heh

2009-05-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well, we didn't leave. Andrew came by after we woke up to bring us to his house for breakfast and offered to let us stay another night. We were not quick to say no. So, we stayed another day hanging out with Andrew. His wife and son came back from Italy around 7, and we were able to meet the rest of his family. Actually, Andy and I cooked for everyone as a thank you for letting us stay. So, I made my lasagna! I will admit, I was a little nervous when Andy suggested it, but it turned out well, and everyone enjoyed it. It's too bad Aurelie and Marie where stuck at school and I couldn't repay them for the meal they made us.

So our day consisted of watching old movies, eating good food, going in the sauna, jumping in the pool, and repeating. After dinner, Elizabeth and John were pretty tired and went to bed, and Andrew brought us back to the Annex (our house) where we hung out for a while. He noticed from our pictures that we like cigars for celebrations, so we smoked some really great cigars, and was a little more classy than being in the woods by drinking a bottle of scotch along with the cigars. We listened to music, learned about Andrews family, talked, and just enjoyed the night. Unfortunately we will be leaving today, but you can only stay at a great place too long. So thanks to Andrew, Elizabeth, Aurelie, and John (for your smirk comment Marie you don't get a thank you)!

Alright, alright, well, I suppose you can get a thank you too Marie.

The more Andy and I experience kindness and meet wonderful people like we have been lately, the more we realize that the Appalachian Trail isn't really about the trail, its about the journey from the south to the north, and people like the Humes make it an incredible experience! So thanks you 5.

More trail magic!

2009-05-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hiked today: 20.5

We woke up late this morning and made our way to breakfast slowly. We actually took about an hour and a half to eat and eventually leave the restaurant. We decided to walk along route 41 which runs parallel to the trail until Great Barrington, MA. Since we are getting tired of the trail, and want our feet to rest for a little and get a break from the rocks, we thought it would be best. So onwards we walked. It was a little cloudy, but a bit warmer, so it evened out nicely. Andy and I were having a nice time looking at all the houses, not having to worry about tripping, and just have good conversations. Actually, we passed a THIRD school I've raced before -- Berkshire. We literally walked in front of their campus and saw a lot of students and parents coming and going from the school. After about 18 miles, we sat down to take a little break and rest our feet. A car was driving by and stopped after seeing us and asked if we wanted a ride. At first we said we were fine as we only had a few more miles into town, but he backed up and started talking to us. We told him we were going to camp in Great Barrington, and he offered up his house, so we gladly took the ride.

Andrew stopped to pick up his daughter from Berkshire for the evening, and passed us on his way and was happy we waved to him and on the way back he told his daughter he would offer to drive us somewhere -- and he did. He drove us to his house, where he has a guest house for us to stay in. It is beautiful here, gorgeous house, lots of land, and much better than the trail! His two daughters made us dinner as Andy and Andrew played on the guitars together (Andrew has a pretty nicely sized studio with huge speakers and lots of guitars.) We took showers, went into the sauna, took more showers, had some drinks and talked with everyone. We were incredibly happy to have met these three as they are all wonderful people! Tonight we will relax, and figure out what we are doing tomorrow... tomorrow. Right now, we are very happy hikers.

yet another school i raced

2009-05-03T18:34:00.001-07:00

hiked today: 15.6

today we had a very lovely hike along the trail and on the road via a detour that they had for the trail. It was warm and sunny, but also a bit breezy so we didn't get too hot. It was pretty strenuous, but we managed to make it without too many problems. Half way into the day, there was a detour on the road. It was pretty cool because they had actual orange blazes on the road working signs. we followed that for a while, and eventually made it to Salisbury. We used to raced Salisbury at NMH, so it was funny hitting another school I know.

When we got to Salisbury, we hung out on a lawn and laid out to relax. Ironically, my barber has a house up there, and my mom sees him on the way to school every morning. Andy left his wallet at my house, and John (my barber) was going up to his house, so took it up, and met us in town. So andy got his wallet back, and I got to see John again.

We got to walk through a lot of the town, and see a lot of gorgeous houses along the way, but eventually we needed to find a spot to camp. There was a bike trail around the back of town, and just off of that a large field. So, we set up camp there, and spent the night.

What's up with our feet?

2009-05-01T18:18:00.001-07:00

Hiked today: 17.0
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.
via BB

I love NY

2009-05-01T05:28:00.001-07:00

What a day! I have no idea how far we walked. We woke up in better spirits after a great nights sleep. We packed up and headed towards the trail away from our lake side campsite which was very nice to wake up to. Andys foot is having some issues (half of it is numb) so we decided to get to Kent, CT via roadway which would take the same amount of time. We actually started walking on the taconic parkway which was a tad scary and we quickly got off of. We then used my phone to follow smaller roads. Half the day in, a guy in a dump truck stopped for us. Hitch hiking is illegal in NY and we had no intention of getting a ride, but he offered to bring us part way so we took it happily. At the end of his ride, he offered is venison, we said we had nothing to cook it with and he offered is a stove and pans! He was very kind but it was just to much to carry.

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?
via BB

2009-04-29T17:29:00.001-07:00

Dear Nikki,

We do remember.

We love you,

Your hikers.
via BB

Sore feet

2009-04-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

Hiked today: 18.2
Hiked total: 1412.9
To katahdin: 765.4

We had great weather today, but we are still not in the swing of things. Our feet were hurting a lot today, so we stopped a little before our 20 mile mark and pitched the tent. We got an early start and got in at 3:15. While we are annoyed our feet could only carry us 18 miles, we do enjoy getting in early. At least the weather was good. It was in the 60's and sunny, and everything is finally turning green! We were growing tired of all the brown, decaying matter that littered the path. Unfortunately, with all this nice weather came BUGS. We got a mini rest 4 miles into the day where there was gas station and we got some Gatorade and candy, but after that we couldn't break because of the bugs. We tried once, but we were getting attacked, so quickly moved on.

We both came to the conclusion that we are burnt out and bored. We pushed so much in Virginia and PA, and now we are feeling it. And hiking all day everyday for nearly 3 months just gets boring. We don't think the flame will be blazing until we get up to the whites, where our excitement will spark. After that is Maine where we will be happy as well. We just have to push for the next 2.5 weeks until we get there. We have 2 more days in new York and then 5 days in Connecticut. We are looking forward to that, but its still exhausting to get through all this.

The trip continues, but I think as of this moment our minds are still on the real world.
via BB

Back to the trail

2009-04-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Day 66

Howdy all, sorry I've been mia for a while. I'm not really sure where I left off, but we are back on the trail after a nice long break in nyc. We both had lots of fun, and saw a bunch of people. We got picked up for the weekend and drove into the city and I got my new boots. Saw some people and relaxed. Then Andy and I had a little to drink. The rest of the time off we saw friends, relaxed, and ate. We both lost between 8-10 lbs when we checked at home, but as of yesterday it was all back which was amusing.

I got a new tent too! I loved my old one, but it wasn't freestanding, and since we do a lot of shelter camping, its hard to pitch the tent. This tent is awesome, another great tent from nemo (ill never get a tent from another company again).

We got dropped off today and hiked a little. However, it was 92 degrees out, and we were feeling the weekends festivities a little too much. We found a campsite and set up camp and took it easy in the sweltering heat. Tomorrow, the journey continues once more. This will be a 3 week stretch and then we will be breaking in Boston for andys graduation.
via BB

Slackpacking

2009-04-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

day 63

hiked today: 17.3
hiked total: 1352.4
to katahdin: 825.9

What a day, what a day. We woke up to a big delicious breakfast here at Dick's place. We were offered the chance to 'slackpack' out of here, and Andy and I jumped at the idea. Basically, Butch drove us up 17.3 miles and we would be southbounders for a day and head back to Unionville. We get to spend the night here, get some real food, and not camp in the rain (there was no shelter in our area tonight.) Thats a really good part of it, however, the best part of it is, we didn't need our packs! Besides some water and a bar or two, we left everything behind. Needless to say we were excited, and that means we flew. We actually ran a few of the miles! It was wonderful. It wasn't too sunny out, but it wasn't cold, so the weather was perfect. We went through some really cool parts of Jersey (never thought I would say that) and there was a boardwalk that was .6 miles long with a huge suspension bridge. Jersey is really wet/swampy, so there are lots of boardwalks, but nothing like this. We went through some wildlife preserve areas, saw some cool birds, a baby turtle, and a bunch of gofers.

We were flying the whole way, even when we weren't running. We got dropped off at 8:15 and finished the 17.3 miles by 12:45 and then got to the house by 12:55. We got back here, took showers (taking a shower after a hike, what a novel idea! I wish we had thought of it earlier) and got some food down at the deli. I'm happy to be back in NY and Andy and I will be heading home tomorrow for a few days. We will enjoy the evening, watch some tv, eat some good food, and not sleep in the rain.

Also Jordan said he's going to try to come up to NH in the whites with us which would be awesome! so we have a lot to look forward to in the up comming month.

Unionville

2009-04-22T04:09:00.000-07:00

Day 62

hiked today: 20.1
hiked total: 1335.1
to katahdin: 843.2

We woke up with the scouts and head out on the trail. It wasn't great weather, but at least it wasn't pouring. We didn't have a long day today, so it was smooth sailing. The hike itself was pretty standard (as it has been lately -- I am eager to get up north to VT and NH.) The real story begins at the end of our day.

We were planning on staying in Unionville, NY where we saw there was a bunk house for $3 right in a bar. We thought that could be some fun so went over there when we got into town. We asked to stay, and the bartender said what most people do is stay with the mayor. We thought that sounded interesting, so we left the bar, and went up to the mayors house. We walk up to be greeted by Butch who said we were a day early. We had no idea what he meant, but then we saw Dennis and Dave waiting for us there, and had told the guys that they thought we would be there tomorrow.

The mayor (Dick) calls the place the Outhouse. It's basically the best place in the world. He opens up his home to hikers, and has a bunk downstairs, and old mess sargent named Bill lives here with him and cooks every meal for us. Butch spends the days here and drives the hikers around. We get in, get handed a beer, and start the evening. We had a big dinner, and watched some TV, and Dick told us about Paul Potts and how inspirational he is to him. He also told us we were insane for doing what we are doing, but he is happy to open up his home. These guys are hysterical, sailor mouthing, great people. Tomorrow we are actually slackpacking 17 miles. What that means is we are leaving our packs here, getting driven up 17 miles (we wanted to do more, but thats where the road is) and then walk back here to spend the night.

Blah

2009-04-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Day 61

Hiked today: 20.9
Hiked total: 1315.0
To katahdin: 863.3

Well the morning started off alright, we packed up camp in the lodge place and had a big breakfast. Chris left out some dishes and bread for us as well which added to our left over pasta and the eggs, made for a big breakfast.

After we left it started to rain. It was so cold, however, it was frozen rain. We went through some pretty spots, but since they were on top of the ridge and in a clearing, the ice rain was getting shot into our faces and we had to quickly run past. The day was pretty much a blah day. Nothing to great, and nothing to terrible. The rain wasn't fun, but like Jordan said: "you can't change the weather, but you can adjust the sails." we made do with what we had and pushed through.

A few miles before our shelter, we did get to a deli, but it was closed and we just wanted to get warm and dry. When we arrived at the shelter, there were two tents pitched in it. We were bummed. Luckily, it was a small scout outing and the dad made the kids move out. We felt bad kicking them out, but we just wanted to be dry and warm. They are actually from a town right next to my high school, and they have used my boathouse there lots of times which was funny. Also, along the trail we met our first new Yorker! I was happy to see someone from home. He was out for a few day trip, but we are getting closer to home which is exciting.
via BB

7 states down, 7 to go

2009-04-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Day 60

Hiked today:
Hiked total:
To katahdin:

Well we woke up today to Jordan making us pancakes. We packed away our stuff and cleaned up our bed and joined him, Sandi, and their friend. After we had our fill of pancakes, Jordan made us some eggs from the chickens out back. Needless to say, we had a good morning.
Sandi drove us to the trail, and we were off. Those two are some of the nicest most genuine people we have met, and we are very thankful to have met them!

The weather was nice today and it hasn't rained yet - although its supposed to tonight. We were done with PA and now are in NJ! That means we have 7 states down, and 7 to go. It was cool out and we had some nice views of the Delaware river. We eventually made it to the Mohican Outdoor Center where camping is free for thru-hikers. Chris, the guy who works here, set us up and told us a place delivers up here, so we ordered up some food and enjoyed being inside away from the flies and bugs that have begun to surface. So we ate, practiced guitar, and now we are watching a movie! They have a projector and a small handful of people here in cabins watching with us. So we will finish this up and go to bed. There are some extra eggs and cheese here, so we have a good breakfast in store for tomorrow!
via BB

7 states down, 7 to go

2009-04-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

What a day

2009-04-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Day 59

Hiked today: 21.5
Hiked total: 1268.1
To katahdin: 910.2

So we left our shelter about 20 minutes earlier than usual. It was already warm out, so we were both in shorts - we knew it was going to be a hot day. About a mile past the shelter was lehigh gap where we cross the lehigh river, and begin a very big climb. That area used to be a zinc mining town, so this rock face was created by all the zinc smelting. We climbed about 1000 feet in a quarter mile. Needless to say we were climbing with our hands and had to put our poles away.

After that climb, the rest of the day was fairly smooth, but HOT. We were later told that thermometers read up to 84 in the sun, and we were under it all day with little shade. We both finished our water at the same time which was bad because we still had 5 miles left, and there were no water sources along the way. So we went as quickly as possible before we got too badly dehydrated. Right before Wind Gap, we met a bunch of maintainers. Talked to them for the last 5 minutes on the trail, and the walked briskly to the gas station near by where we each downed a Gatorade, and split a half gallon of lemonade.

We then went to eat some Chinese (thankfully not a buffet) and resupply our food. We were exhausted. We never even thought of being tired because of the heat and sun, its always been about the cold with us. So, we say down in the frozen food isle pawing through magazines to rest.

A few minutes go by, and we aren't budging. Then, a guy walks by with a basket full of food and asks if we are staying in the motel. We say we are just camping out back somewhere and that we do it often, but then he offers us his house. He says he's having some friends over and we can hang out with them, have some food and beer, and crash there. So, we jump to our feet and head out. Jordan brought us to his place he moved into recently with his girlfriend Sandy. Its a really cool old house on a farm where they have horses and goats. They let us do our laundry, shower, and introduced us to their friends. They had a huge bonfire going which was cool too, and at 1 or so, after Andy had been playing the guitar for a while, we were beat, and went to bed.

We will be done with PA today! And thanks to Jordan and Sandy for everything!
via BB

Short day

2009-04-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Day 58

Hiked today: 16.8
Hiked total: 1246.6
To katahdin: 931.7

We woke up today and left camp to beautiful weather. We hiked for a while, passed some day hikers, and went over lots of rocks. We stopped early to take lunch on this big rock and enjoyed the views.

We passed another snake, but it was big! A 4 foot king snake - all black. Andy ran. We kept going over the rocks and got to a shelter. We decided that we would stay here as Andys feet were hurting and we have both gotten tired of getting into camp late.

So we relaxed at camp, I got my first guitar lesson, and we have decided to take it easier and enjoy the miles instead of push through them. So we are going to bed soon and will take it easier (no 25 milers for a while)
via BB

The world famous dusty camels

2009-04-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

Day 57

Hiked today: 22.9
Hiked total: 1228.5
To katahdin: 948.5

Yesterday we hiked 23.7, I got the days confused.

We woke up to lots of fog. We thought it was supposed to be nice, so we were confused. We packed up and went to get breakfast. We walked all over this tiny town trying to find it to no avail. Finally we wave down a car and I asked him where it was. He said about a mile and put of town. So we start walking. As we are walking, two women drive up behind us and offer us a ride, as they were going to the diner too. So we gladly get in and drive there.

The diner was good, and we filled up. A nice couple was sitting next to them, and we talked with them for a while. Since we got confused as to where the diner was, we ended up getting to the trail late.

We started up a big up hill and went through LOTS of rocks. We hit pinnacle and pulpit rock which were two beauty spots, and we were lucky it was a nice day. The fog went away quickly and the warm sun was shining all day.

Andy saw his first snake today (a small garner) and made a very high pitched noise and zoomed ahead. I laughed.

Soon after, before we hit pinnacle, we hear 'the world famous dusty camels' from just over a hill. Andy says hi, and I assumed it was someone we had met, however he introduced himself to this gentleman. We thought maybe he had met Dennis and Dave and told him about us, but he said he knew about us from shelter logs. He is doing a flip flop type trip, and was behind us for a while, and asked his wife to search online, where they discovered this site. Footnote (the guy) told us she had been following our journey, and that he had been waiting to run into us. He offered is a big pack of granola, home-dried fruit, and two packs of shrimp. Normally, we wouldn't tale food from another thru-hiker, but he told us he had been carrying it FOR us, so we graciously accepted. He was very nice, he wrote a book about the blue ridge parkway, and is now doing one on the AT. Unfortunately, we forgot to get a picture with him, but we wanted too!

And to Mrs. Footnote: thanks for keeping track! And we hiked a lot of the blue ridge, but we could see the AT the whole time and it was the same amount of miles!

After we left we had a long stretch with no rocks, stopped for lunch, and continued on. On our last up hill and 5 miles of the day, I felt weird and was basically right behind Andy on the uphill (which is rare when its more than half a mile) after that, we hit a LOT of rocks, big and small, and andys feet and ankles were hurting, but mine were fine, and I shot ahead. For some reason, I was hoping and jumping and just trucking through all the rocks. I wanted to ride this energy spurt as long as possible and actually got to the shelter before it went away.

When we got to the shelter, it was later than we had hoped due to the late start, and two guys named detour and Jeff were here. Detour knows a lot about the trail as he finished section hiking it last year. So we talked, relaxed, and now we are going to bed.
via BB

Damn rocks

2009-04-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

Day 56

Hiked today: 22.9
Hiked total: 1228.5
To katahdin: 948.5

Phone was messing up so I couldn't post last night. It was a pretty bland day, we left 501 shelter and hiked in the rain and fog for a while. It scattered on and off and actually hailed for a while.

We got into port Clinton and got ome replacement pieces for my poles and then got some food at the hotel. There is a pavilion at the end of the town where
We were able to camp for the night, so we did that. Not too much going on, but we got food. We are trying not to resupply until new York, so we hit towns for food to prolonge our supply which has been working well. Even when we do eat dinner, its mountain house meals which andys mom so graciously treated us to!
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Back on the trail

2009-04-14T17:56:00.000-07:00

Day 55

Hiked today: 10.6
Hiked total: 1183.5
To katahdin: 994.8

Andy and I went to bed late because of all the stuff we had to do, which means we over slept and didn't get a full day in.

We had a big breakfast and packed up all our stuff and papa Laub drove us to the trail. We stopped off for lunch first which was nice and then got last minute things at the cabelas.

We got on the trail to rain and fog. It wasn't fun. It was only a ten mile day so it wasn't too bad. Lots of emotions getting back on the trail. However, we are in an awesome cabin shelter, the care taker lives in a house twenty feet away and came in to say hi. So we are now in bunk beds listening to the rain fall on the tin roof. We are happy to be out, but also a little sad to leave.

A big thanks to everyone who made this weekend great!
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Last rest night

2009-04-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it is our last night here at Andy's house, and I must say, it's been great -- for many reasons. The first night we just rested and cleaned up, enjoyed being in a house and out of the woods. We had some real food and a nap in the car before we got back to his place. After we got there, we drove around in his car, got some Steve's Steaks, and we both noticed that at night its really bright -- we aren't really used to any type of lights other than our small headlamps at night. We came back and slept.

The next morning (saturday,) we woke up and made a big breakfast. My mom was taking the train up because she couldn't wait a day to come and see me when my siblings and step-dad were coming up. We hung out during the day where, once again, we just relaxed and tried to stay off our swollen feet as much as possible. Andy's friends were playing at a bar near by, so we had planned to go out and finally have me meet a bunch of the people I hear about all the time. So at about 9:30, Ant came and picked us up to bring us there. I met a handful of people I have heard many stories about including, Ant, Dom, Joey, Jay, Josh, Neyer, Bridget, Tom, Adam, Brett, Tim, Rachel and Pete. I hung out with a girl named Andrea for most of the night, and Jay and Tom for a good portion of it. Anyway, we had a great time, Andy was up and dancing and even sang a little towards the very end of the night. I was just hanging out and having a good time with the people I had met that night. Andrea dropped her blackberry (which means we had a lot to talk about as I have a crackberry as well) and the ball came off. Some how, I found a tiny little ball on the floor of a dark bar, as well as another piece that came off. I have no idea how I spotted it. Not only that, but Jay lost the cap of his chapstick, and I somehow managed to find that as well, my trail name should be eagle eyes. We got back around 2:30 and passed out.

The next day was Easter and two of my siblings and my step-dad came up to have an early dinner with Andys Grandma, and Grandpa as well as his uncle. We ate and enjoyed seeing everyone and relaxed the rest of the day. I kept busy talking with Andrea (over blackberry of course) and we enjoyed the day. That evening, Andy and I met up with Sam. We spent about an hour chatting about the trip, and then she had to leave. We drove around a little and then went back to Andy's.

Today was more of our trail-prep day. Until now, we haven't really thought about the rest of the trail -- we only told stories of the part we have done. We had to get a bunch of things and resupply our food stocks. We went to EMS and met a woman named Liz who was cool and even knew about Nemo tents! Basically all day we were running around and are quite tired now. We stopped by Hastings house to see him and then Andy's Grams. Mama and Papa Laub were kind enough to drive us around on our errands and resupply our food, and Andy got a new sleeping bag which was well overdue. We also got backpacker guitars! Andy missed his guitar a lot, and I figured I could learn something in a couple months, and it would make the camp time much more fun.

In about 10 days we will be at my house in NYC and take another few days off -- which I am very excited for :). It's time to get back on the trail, and while I had a very fun time meeting people here, we definitely can't stay any more, we are getting too comfortable. So onwards we go. 1000 miles left!

The rest begins

2009-04-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Day 53

hiked today: 23.9 +1
hiked total: 1172.5
to katahdin: 1005.8

we woke up early today and got out on the trail by 7am. We wanted to get a good start so that we could get picked up by andy's parents at a decent hour. We packed up and sleepily said good bye to wags and made our way north. The first half of the day was a little sleepy, but we eventually perked up. For about 45 minutes there were four or five fighter jets circling us which took our minds off our aching feet and sore bodies. After making it halfway, we took a short break just to let our feet rest, but not long enough that we would sacrifice precious rest at Andy's. With that break and some food in us, we got our second winds (or first if you consider us sleep walking the first half) and continued on. We made decent time, and the terrain was fairly easy. Rocky at some points, and we had the longest uphill we have had in a while which is 2 miles and 1000 feet.

We crossed a road which said we were 2.2 miles from I-81 (where we were meeting his parents) and then realized that road we crossed wasn't actually in the book. We got frustrated and just walked on the road for the last mile. We crossed a little bridge that was pretty cool looking, it was from an old steel works company and was made for the Appalachian Trail. After we crossed that, we saw that where we were meeting Andy's parents was on the other side of the river. We saw a bridge not too far away and walked up to that only to find it was fenced off and closed with no way to get around the barrier. We had to walk the half-mile back to the bridge, and then another half mile up the right side of the river.

Andy's parents needed an address for the GPS to meet up with us, so we went up to this guy and asked him what his address was. He was very nice and hospitable, but very creepy. He was doing some farming in his back yard with is two younger, and equally awkward, boys. He told us we could sit out front on one of his picnic tables and we did so. A few minutes later he came out with some juice for us and chatted until Andy's parents came.

I was finally able to meet the Laubs after hearing so much and feeling like I know them already. They greeted us with big hellos and hugs and then we were off to get some food. Apparently, we stink. They made us open the windows, and I suppose Andy and I are just used to it at this point. We washed up in the diner bathroom a little and then ate some food. Afterwards, Andy and I passed out in the car for about 45mins-hour. We got back to his house, I met his brother and his dog and took a needed shower. It's nice knowing we have a few days just to relax and fix our feet.

After we took showers and got cleaned up, we went and took a drive around Andy's area and got some Philly cheese-steaks near by. Now we will sleep, relax, and enjoy the comforts of home. Although it is a little weird right now, I hope the weekend doesn't go by too quickly!

Not sure if I will post for the next few days, so see you on tuesday!

Christmas eve

2009-04-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

Day 53

Hiked today: 22.7
Hiked total: 1148.6
To katahdin: 1029.7

Today was another beautiful day. We hit the trail just before 9 and headed towards duncannon where we were going to for lunch. It was nice because it was exactly half way. The terrain was fairly easy except for one push up. Coming into the town was a different story. We went down the steepest part of the trail let and it was incredibly rocky. It was hard to go down and painful on our feet. We finally made it into town and ate lunch at the Doyle, which is a hiker hotel and restaurant. There was a giant sign that said welcome hikers, and its an iconuc point on the trail. They were written up in backpacker magazine for their barbecue, and I will say it was better than anything I had in the south.

As we were leaving, we ran into Dennis and Dave, who were in jeans and hitched over. Just funny that they are skipping the whole trail.

We went back to the trail and climbed up a very steep mountain. We rode the ridge for a while, but it was incredibly rocky as well. Our feet hurt once again.

We finally made it to this shelter and met a guy out here for the night named wags. We chatted with him and now we are in bed. Its a full moon tonight, and it was right on the horizon which made it big and orange which is cool.

When morning comes, we will be on our way to getting picked up by andys dad!
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Smooth sailing

2009-04-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

Day 52

Hiked today: 26.5
Hiked total: 1125.9
To katahdin: 1052.4

Today we lost Dennis and Dave. We woke up and all headed out together to do 12 miles into a town for lunch. Dennis fell behind and was about half hour behind us. We went over some interesting terrain and climbed some big rocks. I love how different the scenery is now. We went through lots of farm land and pastures, cow and horse pens, and wooded areas. The first 12 miles was a little tough as we went up and down a bunch of times, but nothing too bad. We got into the town and ate a great lunch at the tavern there.

After we left, we started the second 15 of the day. This is where things got interesting. First off, it was the flattest the trail has ever been, so it was fairly easy. Dennis fell way behind, and even Dave did. We knew they had been hitch hiking, and today showed just how much they have skipped. They weren't able to do the amount of miles we were asking of them. So, our foursome became just us two once more. The Dusty Camels have become a single unit again, and its bitter sweet. We liked Dave and wish he could have stayed, but they haven't experienced what we have, and we are happy to be true thru-hikers.

The next two days are smaller than the previous, and we are getting picked up on Friday. We are both very excited for our DESERVED rest. Gorgeous day today, and will be again tomorrow. Smooth sailing in PA, and we are loving it.
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Half way!

2009-04-07T18:17:00.000-07:00

Day 51

Hiked today: 24.5
Hiked total: 1099.4
To katahdin: 1078.9

We made it halfway! Unfortunately, it wasn't a great day. We woke up cold. The temp dropped again and we don't like it. We left the great shelter without Dennis and dave. We hiked all day and it was cold and it actually snowed! We thought we were done with that. Its funny because it snowed to represent all the snow in the first half.

Unfortunately, there was no sign to represent it. The only halfway sign we passed was from 2002 where the halfway point was 1069 (its now 1088)

Not only that, but the store where the half gallon ice cream challenge was, a major at stop, wasn't open yet! Oh well.

Anyway, we are going to Lickdale on Friday to get picked up by andys dad. Dennis and Dave have now joined our group and we will finish the trail together. Its a great feeling knowing we have less to do than we have already done, and that the weather won't be as bad. I look back at those cold weeks in shock and awe. I have no idea how we did it, but I know we are over half way finished with this journey!
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Great shelter!

2009-04-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

Day 50

Hiked today: 17.9
Hiked total: 1074.9
To katahdin: 1103.4

Well, we are back on the trail once more. We left our hotel lazily and started to the town where the rest of aunt debs food went to. It was a short day and we were happy because none of us were in a hiking mood due to all the beer from last night. We were sweating it out today for sure.

We had our most hitches today (3) to get to the post office, walmart, and back to the trail. First we squeezed into an old guys van, then a younger air force guys pickup, and finally a drunk mans old SUV. Fitting 4 guys in all these cars are tough, but we didn't mind because it just meant we didn't have to walk.

Once we got back to the trail, we hiked a couple miles up to this massive, gorgeous shelter. By far the nicest yet. A guy comes up nearly everyday to clean it and keep it in good condition. Unfortunately, this may be the last shelter that the PATC works on, and they have been, by far, the best trail club.

When we set up camp, we started to gather wood for a large fire in a pit out near a campsite. There were two weekend hikers out who generously shared their food and drink with us.

After we got tired and the fire died down, we decided to get into bed. Dave and Dennis may not be with us tomorrow, but we will most likely hike the rest of the trip with them after our breaks.

Normal mileage day tomorrow. Hopefully our bodies won't be too angry. Only 4 more days until we get to andys house!

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Resting our tootsies

2009-04-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

Day zero

We decided to spend an extra day here to rest our very sore feet.

We woke up and got some free food then went back to sleep for a while.

Dennis was still in the woods and we waited until 6 before we decided to search for him. We called him numerous times with no answer and we started getting worried.

The trail is a couple miles from here, so we tried to hitch. However, we are up north now and didn't have any luck. So we went to the police station to try and get a ride. They started to set up a search and rescue squad for him. We were worried, but not THAT worried. Luckily I got a text from him before anything major started and he was brought to the hotel by the cop.

We will head out tomorrow after another night of being off our feet.
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VA, WV, MD, PA

2009-04-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

Day 49

Hiked today: 43.4
Hiked total: 1056.7
To katahdin: 1121.3

Well, today we went through 4 states. Over 40 miles.

We finished at 10:30 after starting at 7:15 in the morning. Two half hour breaks throughout the day, and lots of walking.

Too tired to type more, but right now we are in a gas station trying not to cry.
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What a day

2009-04-04T02:55:00.000-07:00

Day 48

Hiked today: 18.0
Hiked total: 1011.1
To katahdin: 1167.2

We broke 1000, finished Virginia, and had lunch at a biker bar. More on that later.

We woke up late at 8:30 and had some breakfast. We lazied around until 11 when pyro and fitch left. Fitch hurt his knee so is walking slow, and pyro is doing the four state challenge with us tomorrow so we hiked with them to the boarder.

A few miles into the day we hit the invisible 1,000 mile marker! We were very happy to make four digits. We caught up with fitch and pyro not too long after and took a mini break. Pyro is more andys speed and fitch mine, so we traded hiking partners for half the day. We passed a shelter and his leg was hurting enough that he had to stop, so I went on ahead to meet back up with the others.

3 miles later I met up with Andy and pyro at a road and told them fitch would meet us later. So we walked a little on the road to a place to eat. We walked in and I swear it was like a movie. The first of us stopped, we all kind of bumped into one another, the music stops, everyone turns to look at us, and someone at the bar shouts "hey, those aren't bikers, they're hikers!"

We sat down and ate a late lunch/early dinner, and had some beer. Picture for me, if you will, the most cliche, dirty biker bar, and that's where we were. It was fun, and we celebrated our 1000. We expected to see this place down south, but not up here!

We jumped back on the trail for 4 miles and are now camped a few yards from the sign. We will truck it 43 miles tomorrow, and I may not write anything until the next morning. Good bye Virginia!
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Roller coaster

2009-04-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Day 47

Hiked today: 28.4
Hiked total: 993.1
To katahdin: 1185.2

We decided to take the day off and ride the roller coaster. The only problem is, we didn't take the day off, and it wasn't fun.

We woke up to fog which was no fun. We had a big breakfast and got on the trail. The first 10 miles was pretty easy add flew by.

There were a lot of people on the trail which was a surprise. Mostly section hikers, but some day hikers. A couple hours into the day we hear a woman shouting. A few minutes later we are staring at a big pitbull in the fog. We both stop as its growling at us and seems to be sizing us up -- not to mention the screaming owner behind it. She leashes it, pulls it tight, and says 'you're good.' We walk passed while its lunging for us and continue.

We pass a couple more hikers and the next 8 miles are getting harder. It was good terrain but rocky, and that means sore feet.

With 10 miles left, we start what is known as the roller coaster. In that mileage we go up and down 7 fairly steep summits. Not only that, but it was very rocky. Sore and tired. That's what we got out of it.

At 8 o'clock, we make it to the hostel. It was just dark, and the fog rolled in, but we made it.

This place is awesome. Ill go into more details in the morning, but there are two other north boundera here our age. Not really sure how we didn't know about them, but they are cool.

Sleeping in tomorrow.

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Goodbye skyline

2009-04-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

Day 46

Hiked today: 24.3
Hiked total: 964.8
To katahdin: 1213.5

Out of our gas station campsite we went. We jumped on the skyline and walked for 13 miles. It was a bit rainy, very foggy, and occasionally windy, but we had a good day. Since we were on the road, and normal people would never drive on the skyline when you can't see any of the views, I was able to walk beside Andy. This was good for conversation, which is the best time passer. The 13 miles flew by, and before we knew it we were at the end of SNP. My shin hurt a lot again today, but I'm starting to think its the extreme pressure change which makes it really hurt. So I took some medicine and was fine.

About a mile after we started the 11.4 miles on the trail, we hit the boundary line and didn't turn back. We stopped for lunch at a pretty cool shelter -- it had a porch! After that we jumped back on the trail. We didn't fill our waters today, and on the flat road it wasn't a big deal. However, halfway through our trail portion we started getting dehydrated. We pushed it to the shelter and got here around 5:45. The lunch shelter was cool, but this is amazing. Not only does it have a giant porch, it has an adirondack lounge chair, cooking pavilion, firewood cubby, and solar shower. The shower obviously didn't work because its not really hiking season yet, but it was still cool.

We went to the stream and to our dismay found it to be a trickling stream. Andys water pump died, and I sent mine back because we decided to just use purification drops to save weight and for ease. Normally there is a little well or a tube where the water is, but since this was a trickle, we had to scoop it out. This meant we had a little pulp in our water. I may get a mini sieve to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Today was good despite the rain. Tomorrow is a longer day then I wrote last night (29) but I think we will make it. This will make the day before the four state challenge a little shorter.
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Wrong way

2009-04-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

Day 45

Hiked today: 8.6 +3
Hiked total: 940.5
To katahdin: 1237.8

We slept very well last night. Unfortunately we got to bed around 1:30, but it was a restful 8 hours of sleep. We checked out and went up to a breakfast place called uncle bucks. We got double breakfasts and went to go pick up aunt debs new pack! We were very excited to get all her delicious creations once more.
After we figured out what to carry now and what to send ahead, we went to the store to pick up peanut butter. I wanted to go to the outfitters because my warm weather hiking socks got a whole in the back causing a large blister, but they were closed! For some weird reason, they aren't open Mondays and Tuesdays. Oh well, ill pick some up in a few days. Tonight is our last night in the SNP.

After we had lunch, we asked for a ride, and the women at the diner said the chamber of commerce might be able to help. So we went there and asked and the woman said a guy would and called him to tell him we were waiting, before telling us he charged. She said he only charged around 30 cents a mile and the trail is only 9 miles out of town so it was fine.

We got to the trail head and he said it was 20 bucks. I grudgingly paid him and we went up the trail on the side he pointed out. About 1.5 miles later we realize we went south. We had to walk back and then the right way. We decided to go on the road as it would be faster. There was a shelter 14 miles out, and we wanted to get there. However, because of the late start and the 3 mile mishap, we stopped here. We are currently camping in a breeze way at a wayside gas station. Its closed until April 9th, but looks like they are renovating, so hopefully we will be up before anyone gets here. The breeze way is more of a wind tunnel and is blowing the tarp we set up as protection like crazy.

The next few days are hard as we prepare for the four state challenge on Saturday where we hike through Virginia, west Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. So the miles will be 25, 23, 18, and then 43.

Thanks for the food aunt deb! We had the four cheese burger rice tonight and it was perfect.
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X-rays

2009-03-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Day 44

Hiked today: 25.7 +3
Hiked total: 931.9
To katahdin: 1246.4

Today started off well. It was a little cold, but clear and sunny. It was a gorgeous day and flat for a while.

About 5 miles into the hike, my shin started to kill. It had been hurting me for a while but not too bad. We started talking and Andy said it sounds like when he had stress fractures. I was worried my trip may be cut short. I didn't want to walk on it. Luckily, a ranger station wasn't far away. We hiked to a wayside where the station was and asked the rangers if they could drive is to the hospital. They kind of say there half smerking and said they could give us a number of a shuttle. They didn't help at all. We went to rest and eat and called the shuttle, he wanted 65 bucks! I said it wasn't worth it. After the rest it felt a little better and I delt with it for the rest of the day.

We finally got to the road which is 9 miles out of town and started to hitch. The further north we get, the harder its getting to hitch. We went nearly half way before we got a hitch from two teachers who were hiking from Michigan. They brought us to the hospital and I got x-rays taken. Luckily there is no fractures, they have me meds to get rid of the swelling and any pain.

We got a room and slept well after a very very long day of hiking.
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Sun!

2009-03-30T09:13:00.001-07:00

Day 43

Hiked today: 20.6
Hiked total: 906.3
To katahdin: 1272.5

We actually got to see views today! As we were eating breakfast, we saw a patch of blue in the middle of grey, and got excited. I started off in rain gear just incase but then stripped down about half hour later. The clouds parted, the blue revealed itself and soon enough the sun shined its rays on us. We were warm, happy, and dry. We took our wet clothes and hung them on our packs to dry. We had a short day today, so I walked a little slower than usual and just enjoyed the weather. We actually had some uphill today too, yesterday was all flat where as today we had a significant 1200 foot incline.

The hike was nice, but the best part was to come. About a mile and a half from a park campground, we called pizza hut. We convinced the driver to come out on the skyline to bring us pizza. We got two large pies and two medium pies with pineapple, ham and bacon on two and sausage, onions, and peppers on the other. In addition to that, we got bread sticks and a two liter of soda. We went to the picnic tables and ate. We actually couldn't eat it all which means we have breakfast in the morning! No Name said he might push to this shelter (he usually does 13 miles a day) but because the weather is so nice, I think he just tented at 13.

It was a good day. We needed the sun to boost our moral, and the pizza didn't hurt either! Tomorrow we will have a big day to get to our last resupply in Virginia. That's huge because not only is VA the longest state on the trail, but we will make halfway in about a week. VA is hard mentally because the goal of finishing is so long. It'll be nice when it won't take more than two weeks to finish a state.
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Marathon

2009-03-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

Day 43

Hiked today: 26.2
Hiked total: 885.7
To katahdin: 1292.6

Well an 8hr 45min marathon isn't a competitive time, but doing it on a daily basis, that times pretty good. Knox left a little before us and I had some issues getting my water filled, but we got on the trail at 9. We hiked for about 2 hours and caught up to Knox. He hiked with us for a little while, but our pace was a little fast so he stopped to break after an hour or so.

We hiked the beautiful national park only to see fog. I mean some serious fog. The picture on here is what we were looking at all day. It was pretty empty on the trails too, until about half hour after we left Knox, an older guy at a speedy pace passed us. Barely said hi and that was it. Odd but whatever. 5 minutes later, a very sweaty guy runs up to us and asks if we saw an Indian guy in sandals walk pass us. We said no and he said thanks, turned around, and ran off into the fog. This was trippy, we didn't have any idea what was going on, nor could we see anything around us. We eventually caught up to the guy who was with a small group of guys and we just walked passed.

We got to our lunch shelter and found a pitched tent, but no people. It was a very bizarre day. We ate lunch and left to do the second half of the day.

Fog, fog, and more fog. That's all there was today. We finally made it to the shelter which was right off the skyline and hoped we could order pizza. However, when we got here, there was no service to call, hence it being posted now.

When we got here, we met NoBo No Name! He is one of the two northbound through hikers ahead of us. He's a really nice guy from Ohio. He is actually at the start (which started in Dec) of a 2.5 year triple crown. That is when you hike the three major long distance trails in America. Not only that, but he is biking to each one. He will bike from Maine to Wyoming to do the continental divide trail then from new Mexico to Washington to do the pacific crest trail. So anyone who thinks our 4 month trip is long hasn't met him!

Tomorrow we will have a shorter 20 mile day. Its still raining. Hopefully it will clear soon. Monday is supposed to be nice, but as of now, that's it for the week.
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Marathon

2009-03-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Day 43

Hiked today: 26.2
Hiked total: 885.7
To katahdin: 1292.6

We got to our lunch shelter and found a pitched tent, but no people. It was a very bizarre day. We ate lunch and left to do the second half of the day.

Tomorrow we will have a shorter 20 mile day. Its still raining. Hopefully it will clear soon. Monday is supposed to be nice, but as of now, that's it for the week.
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Shenandoah national park

2009-03-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

Day 42

Hiked today: 7.0
Hiked total: 859.5
To katahdin: 1318.8

We woke up today outside of buena vista and started to make coffee to find that our gas tank was empty. We were on the reserve one too. So, instead of hiking for 3 days with no hot drinks or food, we decided to get a ride to the outfitters. The only problem with that is there wasn't any until waynesboro. So we had to get a ride into there.

We got there, got our music (thanks Dave) and package my mom sent (no thanks to you mom. They put priority tape on it and it was only paid for first class so I had to pay an extra 3.50! Thanks though.) we had the best breakfast yet at Weesies with blueberry pancakes the size of normal dinner plates. Went to the library to use the computer to check on the world, upload new pictures, check to see if there's any new cool gear at Nemo, and other general stuff. We then went to the outfitters which was a mile out of town. On the way, two guys pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride to the trail. He was nice enough to stop off and let us get more fuel and brought us to the trail.

We got on the trail and started off into the shenandoah national park. Very foggy and cloudy and not many views yet, I hope it clears up though. We got caught in a decently heavy rain the last half hour of the hike up and ran here. We met a guy named Knox who is doing the SNP on his spring break. He's a cool guy, next year he is going to a college to major in search and rescue. There's supposed to be rain tomorrow so we are going to push 26 to a shelter and not dilly-dally because there's nothing to see! I really hope as March leaves us, so does this copious amounts of dense fog.

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Long day

2009-03-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

Day 41

Hiked today: 31.7
Hiked total: 797.1
To katahdin: 1381.2

Well today was a long rainy miserable day. We got up and packed up the very wet gear and got in our very wet rain gear and got on the very wet road.

We eventually got to the main road and hitched into town where we are staying after eating some real food.

Good night
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Rain again

2009-03-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Day 40

Hiked today: 21.9
Hiked total: 765.4
To Katahdin: 1412.9

Well, it is raining once again. Its forecasted for a few days, but today was the coldest. Walking all day without sun, wet, and temps being in the low 40's, high 30's is not fun.

We went onto the parkway again and ran into a park lodge. We went inside and to our surprise the restaurant was opened. We got lots of food and then went out for the rest of the day.

Sometimes I feel we should change our trail names to The Foggers instead of The Dusty Camels due to all the fog we have seen on this trip. Well the thought of reaching the north and half way keeps us going.

We will be cruising for the next few days because we will be in PA in 11 days! Very exciting. Very tired.
via BB

Bald eagle

2009-03-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

Day 39

Hiked today: 20.0
Hiked total: 743.5
To katahdin: 1434.8

We got up, packed, and chuckled as the girls tried to do the same. It was funny watching them put away their crazy gear like a hatchet, bear bell, and giant shovel. Their stove wasn't working so they ate granola for breakfast. I told them to get the one I have in hopes they can have hot food for the next 6 days. We took a picture and went on our way.

It was another nice sunny day. It was a little chilly, but good none the less. The terrain was really easy as well. We crossed the blue ridge parkway and then saw a sign saying we would cross it numerous miles for almost 100 miles, so we started up the road. The miles match up almost exactly, but on the road you can cover a lot more ground quicker. Since the trail follows it literally within 10 yards, we didn't care. It was nice to walk next to each other and talk. We were able to actually look around and see all the scenic stops because we weren't looking at our feet the whole time. We saw copper hawks following us, AND we saw a bald eagle. That was awesome. We both love eagles and saw it as a good omen. Buds are peeking through, grass is greener, and we have even seen flowers!

Unfortunately, the rain is supposed to start tomorrow. However, we decided we are just going to get back on the road tomorrow and walk until the final intersection. Same miles exactly (70) but we will be able to save a day by pushing out extra on the road. We will be seeing the same stuff and get closer to home! We are planning to be in shennandoahs in 5 days and at the PA boarder in 12! That's big.

We will have to push through the rain, but its all good. I just hope we don't have the forecasted 5 days.
via BB

Back on the trail

2009-03-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

Day 38.5

Hiked today: 5.0
Hiked total: 723.6
To katahdin: 1454.7

Well we are on the trail again and my stomach is feeling better. Its nice to be back on the trail after a few days of being off.

We ate our free breakfast and left the motel we were at then went to the outfitter. It was a decent outfitter and Andy got a nice pair of boots.while we were eating lunch we met a south bounder named Freebird. They came around 1:30 and we left after eating lunch.

It was a short hike and the weather was great. Anything under 10 miles will be considered a half day in my counting from now on. We got up here and relaxed in the warm sun.

About 10 minutes after we got here a group of girls started up to the shelter. They are on spring break and hiking the AT for a week. They are all really nice, although a little crazy, and it was nice to hang out with people our age. So far they are the second set of hikers our age we have come across in nearly 7 weeks. Its weird being around 5 people after being practically alone with Andy.

Tomorrow will be our first real day again and we are looking forward to the nice weather again.

Oh and Andys dad said there was a manhunt for a guy on the west Virginia border which is basically right we are. Hopefully we won't run into him.
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Rest

2009-03-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

Day zero

Well although I was feeling better, we thought it would be best for me to be as close to 100% as I can be. So we waited. We got shuttled to a town closer to the trail and where my replacement boots are being sent (in the freezing cold weeks ago the rubber cracked.) so we will get my boots and Andy will get some new ones as his aren't supporting his very flat feet.

We will hike a few miles out tomorrow afternoon to a shelter about 5 miles out and continue once again! Its just unfortunate that I had to be sick in such nice weather.
via BB

Sick day 2

2009-03-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

Day 0

Well I am feeling better, but no where near 100%. I woke up not feeling nauseated which was good, but still very drained. Andy and I both took the opportunity to rest by sleeping all day today and yesterday. After waking up at 10:30 we took a 4 hour nap. After TV and such I finally left the room and went to eat dinner. I felt woozy but not terrible, although I couldn't finish my burger which tells me I'm still not well. After the .5 mile back I went straight to the bed. I'm not sure if we will be able to leave in the morning, but I'm hoping we can.
via BB

Sick.

2009-03-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Day zero

ironically, yesterday I said we wouldn't be taking anymore zero days. Unfortunately, at about 4am, I started throwing up. I didn't stop even when there was nothing left to vomit! It is and was terrible. It was cold out too which didn't help. Instead of getting back in the tent, I eventually just took my bag and wrapped myself up on the picnic table. We were going to stay at the shelter but I told Andy I rather pay for a room and try to get rid of this.

We were lucky that the road was only .3 miles away. We got to the road and for two minutes Andy had service on his phone. We called the motel and the woman came to pick us up.

I still feel terrible, but I have yet to vomit since I've been here. I got some sleep, and pepto. I hope it goes away so we can be off tomorrow. Although the motel owner said there is a bug going around and ill feel really bad for a week. I hope it was just the water.
via BB

Tired feet

2009-03-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

Day 38

Hiked today: 19.3
Hiked total: 645.2
To katahdin: 1533.1

In our little nook behind the store, we woke up. Neither of us felt like waking up this morning, and we slept for an extra half hour. We finally got everything together and walked over to Hardees where we got breakfast, brushed our teeth, and got changed. We left and walked the half mile to the trail head where we were to follow the ugliest section of the trail yet. For about three miles we walked around this big factory. No idea what kind, but it was ugly and smelly, and a train kept tooting its horn. We could hear the horn nearly half the day, it just got annoying.

Once we were on the ridge line it was a little better. The uphill was a little tough, but not too bad. The clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped. It misted heavily and the fog was thick, but luckily there was no real rain.

The ridge line was full of small pointy rocks that began to tear up our all ready beaten feet. We were both having shooting pains from our heels up through our leg. It was not fun. We also realized that we were basically staring at a painting - the 'view' we had of the fog was the same as every other bad day.

We decided that we would spend some extra days at our homes to rest and heal our feet. We also decided that instead of getting tied down by shelters and pulling an extra couple miles a day, we would just do 20 and camp at that spot. We realized that our feet aren't in great shape and that extra time in camp will be valuable. We will still stick to our 20 miles a day plan (other than today, we are at a shelter) and be out of VA in 2.5 weeks. No zero days until home unless there is a problem. I hope our feet make it!
via BB

Food lion

2009-03-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

Day 37

Hiked today: 22.4
Hiked total: 625.9
To katahdin: 1552.4

We woke to a cloudy sky and a misting drizzle. We were not pleased. It was supposed to be sunny and warm! Oh well. We packed up, ate breakfast, and went on. By the time we got to the first shelter, the sun began to shine and we were happy once more.

I was going through the register at the shelter, and there were two people who were shot by this crazy guy in may who had come back for a story in the paper. The crazy guy killed two, years ago and when he went to jail for shooting these guys, he died 3 days later. That was comforting, at least we didn't have to worry.

We went on and we both started getting tired. Our feet were sore, and our speed had decreased. We think the mileage in our book was messed up because it kept saying we were going much slower than we thought. However, at the end of the day we weren't that far off our eta, so the book was messing with our heads.

We finally got into town sore and hurting. We went into the Chinese buffet (number three) and ate. Ironically the lady said she was from nyc as well. We went next door to the grocery store and got our food for the next 5 days. Afterwards we decided to set up camp... Around back. Instead of hiking the half mile to the trail, back in the morning for breakfast, then back again, we thought it would be Better to camp nearby. So we did.

We found a little spot surrounded by beer cans and deer right behind the grocery store. We ate our ben and jerrys (number 4) and got ready to sleep. Then a cop rolled by. He took his big flashlight And called us out. With a pint (of ice cream) in my hand, and his on his gun, we confronted one another. I explained we were hikers and he said he just saw a light and wanted to check it out. He let us stay! He went on and now we are going to sleep. Tomorrows going to be a tough day, and the weather is supposed to be bad again.
via BB

Long day and big falls

2009-03-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

Day 36

Hiked today: 20.5 + 6
Hiked total: 603.5
To katahdin: 1574.8

Another good sleep. That's 4 in a row, we are getting spoiled! We woke up today, ate our left overs from last night and headed out. Unfortunately I made a mistake and sent our extra food to bastian instead of bland, which was 6 miles from our motel. We started to walk expecting to get a hitch, but none came. Between being in the morning rush to work hours, and being on a small road, today was our first unsuccessful hitch. So we walked. 6 miles. Before we even got to the trail.

We got to the PO and packed up our food and started walking back to the trail (about 2 miles) and luckily got a hitch right out of town. This guy drove us to the trail head and then at 11:30, we started our day.

It was a beautiful day. Finally, after 6 days of rain and darkness, it was sunny and warm. We were in shorts and tshirts all day. It was a little breezy, so we didn't get over heated. That is what saved this day from being a really bad day. Its also the most clear night we have had yet. The stars are gorgeous since there aren't any lights for miles.

We hiked over our 20 mile marker to get to a campsite that sounded cool. I was exhausted. Curse Andy and his track days. I'm a rower, I got for 5 minutes at a time and there aren't any up hills on the water! Oh well, anyway. We finally got to the campsite as the sun was setting. It was at a waterfall. Instead of camping near it on the ground, we decided to camp in it on a rock. Okay, maybe not IN the water, but on the rocks next to it that is part of the falls. We are pretty sure its not tidal, so we aren't too worried. I just hope I don't kick myself for saying that in the morning.

So the falls will either put us to sleep, or keep us up. All I know is I'm really tired and upset that 6 miles didn't count towards the trail! That's the trail I suppose, never know what to expect.

Pearisburg tomorrow, and we broke 600 miles!
via BB

Debbie downer

2009-03-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

Day 35

Hiked today: 21.7
Hiked total: 583.0
To katahdin: 1595.3

We had a great nights sleep in the four walled shelter, but that was about the only good thing about today.

We started off hiking in really thick fog. It was so thick in fact, that we were breathing heavily in order to get more oxygen which was difficult due to the moisture in the air. Not only was it foggy, but we were on a ridge for a good portion of the day, so what should have been a view was a dulled, dark, confining shade of white. It was a tough day. It took us longer to get to our lunch break than we had hoped and we quickly realized we wouldn't make it to the post office today to get the rest of Aunt Debs wonderful creations.

We ate lunch with this weird hiker. He thru-hiked a long time ago and was doing some sections for vacation. After that we left and then it started to rain. Again. This is our 6th straight day with rain. We were talking and came to the conclusion we were suffering from a seasonal depression type thing. We haven't seen the sun in 6 days and have a vitamin k deficiency or something because the only happy thing about today were our little Debbie outmeal pies and aunt debs bars.

We got to a road 5 miles out of town and decided to hitch. We walked for about 5 until we finally got a hitch. Not before getting lost though. Anyway a woman named Trail Dreamer picked us up. She had an ATC sticker on her car and her license plate said hiker on it. She was obviously an AT hiker. She drove us to town and now we are in a motel. Warm. And dry.

We will eat and tomorrow is supposed to be clear so hopefully we will have a nice day.
via BB

The Appalachian River

2009-03-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Day 34

Hiked today: 23.0
Hiked total: 561.3
To katahdin: 1617.7

We have officially passed the quarter marker. This morning about an hour and a half into the day we crossed the invisible line. We were happy, but not terribly excited because there is still 75% left. However, the middle states should be quick because the terrain is pretty nice. We are hoping to be out of VA in 20 days or so. We are planning to hit at least 20 miles a day from here until the whites. Weather allowing, we should be able to do it.

We left this morning after a big breakfast and warm goodbyes to a cold wet trail. Since Rambunny and Aqua are hikers, they know how the day goes, so we were on the trail at 8:30 which is easily the earliest we have left a town/hostel. Both Andy and I agree that Happy Hiker Hollow is our favorite hostel - rambunny and aqua were awesome.

So for the first half of the day it poured. I wasn't in a great mood because it was dark and gloomy and we had left a warm happy place. We didn't talk much on the trail today either. We got to the shelter after 14 miles and ate lunch. My poles got a replacement part sent but it was too big. Instead of asking for another part, I rigged it to stay on. Of course with all the rain the handles popped off. At the shelter I duct taped them with two feet of tape each - they aren't going anywhere.

After the shelter we had 9 miles left, and half of it was up hill. About half the trail today wasn't actually a trail, it was a river. Our feet got soaked since we had to walk through literally a foot of rushing water.

After we did a good portion of the up hill we got up to a bald, but it was so foggy we couldn't see anything. Andy actually was in a running mood and sprinted up ahead of me, so I didn't see him for a while. We met up again a little before the shelter and walked here. Its actually a really cool shelter. Its a stone building with a door, so we are protected from the wind completely.

We were sad to leave the hostel, but with our box of oreos and this building, it wasn't a terrible day.
via BB

Happy Hiker Hollow

2009-03-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

Day 32 and a zero day

Hiked yesterday: 26.2
hiked total: 538.3
to katahdin: 1640.0

We are taking a zero day in Atkins, VA. so I thought I would just combined two days since I didn't post yesterday.

We left our church pavilion shelter around 7:30 and went to Jerrys kitchen to eat breakfast. We got a ride from him to the trail head so we didn't have to walk, which was very nice. It was a crummy dark and wet day. I checked the weather before we left, and it was supposed to be raining on and off all day while being in the low 30's, which means that it will be icy rain up in the mountains where we were. Thin layers of ice covered roots, rocks, and fallen leaves, but we just watched our steps and didn't have any major accidents. It was chilly, but nothing we haven't been through before I suppose. The real bad part was just that it was dark and if the sky had moods, it would have been grumpy, which doesn't help us out at all on a big day. It was raining off and on pretty much all day, we were fairly wet by the end, but at least there were breaks in between the showers. To pass the time, I told Andy the full story of Harry Potter, and that turned out to pass a lot of time fairly quickly. Between me trying to remember everything, and Andy listening, the miles and hours just dropped. Actually, once I finished, I started telling him the story of Eragon. We did nearly a marathon yesterday, and we were pretty tired to say the least.

As soon as we hit the road, we were happy, and relieved. We crossed the street to call Rambunny at the hostel. Aqua, her husband, answered and I explained I had e-mailed Rambunny and we just got in, and he said she was working at the restaurant which was across the street. So we walked up there and unfortunately missed the restaurant hours by 20 minutes. But as Andy said, everything happens for a reason, and we quickly found out that reason. We knock on the window and an old lady says they are closed, and I try to ask for Rambunny. Obviously thats not her real name, and I doubt she goes by that at work, but thats all I knew, I swear the woman thought I was asking if they had bunny at the restaurant since she kind of chuckled and said no. However, I persisted and said I was staying at the hostel, and confused she walked off to get someone else. A second later, Rambunny opens the door and introduces herself. I told her I e-mailed her in the morning, but she didn't get a chance to check. Luckily, I e-mailed her a week or so ago asking if it was ok to send a package there so she knew we would be there eventually. She told us we could get some food at the gas station and she would pick us up there when she was done in a few minutes and we would go to her house. The pizza machine was broken, and we didn't want to stuff ourselves with junk food, so we asked if she could drive us somewhere else. She said she would, but just as we were leaving, her husband pulled up to get gas and told us there was plenty of food at the house.

We got to the house, and she filled up our plate with big pieces of chicken, a tub of mashed potatoes, creamed corn, biscuits, and lots of salad. We ate it all very quickly, and it was delicious. We were lucky we didn't buy anything because then we wouldn't have been able to eat all the home cooked food! Afterwards she gave us cake and showed us the room. It is more like a bed and breakfast than a hostel here, it's really nice. Andy and I have our own room too. There is a common room with a tv and movies as well as a computer downstairs. Rambunny has hiked the AT 3 times! Between her and Aqua, they have over 10,000 miles of AT experience. Needless to say, she knows her stuff.

Andy's replacement pack did get here, but we felt so comfortable and at home here, we decided to forgo the excuse of waiting for the pack and take a zero day anyway. Later we realized we would be getting into the town where we sent all the extra food to on Sunday which means we would have had to wait until Monday when the post office was open anyway, so it's really not a lost day.

So we are here relaxing. Andy is napping after a movie we watched. I think Rambunny said she was making ribs tonight so we are very excited. There are two section hikers here, but not too many hikers have gone through yet. This is actually their first North Bound season which means Andy and I are the 2nd and 3rd thru-hikers she's had this season, and within the first 10-15 she's had yet. We are excited to be one of the first dozen to be on the wall of heroes (a wall of pictures of people summiting katahdin.)

Time for more relaxation and rest. My feet were in dire need of a rest. Service is still spotty so we will see when I will get the next entry out. We will be in Bastian (where our food is) in 2 days, so if worst comes to worst, I'll try to use a computer there.

Breakfast with Ponies, flying with the birds, and dinner at Jerrys

2009-03-13T05:43:00.000-07:00

Day 31

Hiked today (well yesterday): 21.2
Hiked total: 512.2
to katahdin: 1666.1

Sorry for the late post, both Andy and I have had NO service in a few days. It's a miracle I got the tiny bit of service I did when I sent out the other two posts the other day.

Yesterday morning we woke up and got ready to leave and eat breakfast. As soon as we opened up the food bag, a family of ponies came running out of the woods. They just hung out with us all morning -- literally 3 feet away from us. The pictures are up, so you can see what they look like and how close they really were. We actually fed one and pet one, they were extremely docile and seemed to like us because we were around food. One was a female, and it looked like she had two babies with here which is why we weren't really worried about getting too close. If there was a male there, we probably wouldn't have fed them nor pet them. So after our camp creation (hot chocolate, coffee, and hazelnut creamer) with the ponies, we left camp. It was a little more clear out, but still cloudy. We decided to go the 21.2 miles into a little town called Troutdale in order to have dinner and get a place to stay.

After 11 miles of hiking, we took our lunch break. It was cloudy, sprinkling, and we didn't get a good night of sleep. Needless to say, we were in a crummy mood. We have done over 130 miles in the past 7 days, so we are a little fatigued. We contemplate what we want to do in terms of getting to Troutdale, and decide (because we are tired, and feeling bad) that we will get there as quickly as possible. So, we started pushing it. And I mean pushing it. We went the 10.2 miles in less than 3 hours with two decently sized up hill pushes. Along the way we met a couple section hikers and flip-flop hikers, Itchy, Neptune, and Juggernaut. Itchy was the first female AT hiker we have met yet. Since we were trying to get to Troutdale as quickly as possible, we didn't stop for more than 5 minutes to talk to the group, and just kept going.

Finally we got to the road. It was 2 miles away and we started walking in the wrong direction. We were very tired, and was trying to hitch a ride. A pick up comes up behind us and slams on the breaks and stops in about 10 feet sliding on the slick, sleet/rain covered road. Luckily he tells us we are going the wrong direction instead of us getting in the pickup with him, so we turn around and go the other way. Eventually a guy in a pick up comes and picks us up. He was a funny wild guy and was very nice. He drove us to Jerrys Kitchen and we eat. Jerry tells us the hostle is closed for another few days, but the woman says we should just go and talk to the Pastor who is giving GED classes. We thought she talked to him, so we went there expecting him to know who we were -- he did not. He said everything was locked up, but that there was a pavilion where we could camp out. So we set up the tent on two tables in a corner, put 4 stacks of chairs around one side of the table, and put the tarp over the front so we were completely surrounded. We didn't sleep that well again, and woke up a little tired. However, now we are at Jerrys having a big breakfast. We are going to try to push 26 miles in the rain/freezing rain to get to Atkins where there is a hostel we plan to stay at. We may take a zero day depending on when Andy's replacement pack is getting there. Either way, it'll be nice to relax a little inside so we can rest.

Not sure when we will have service again, so don't panic. I'll try to update whenever possible, but we can't call, text, e-mail, or get any type of service often so be patient. Lots of new pictures are up now though.

Oh, we also broke 500 miles!

Wild ponies

2009-03-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

Day 31

Hiked today: 22.4
Hiked total: 491.0
To katahdin: 1687.3

We were escorted for the last half mile to our campsite by wild ponies. We are now sleeping in a field of them. More on that later.

We woke up this morning and decided to go to the shelter just over 22 miles away. At first we weren't sure because there were two big uphills, but we decided to go for it. It drizzled a little so we got in our rain gear to be safe before we started on the hike.

We hiked the first 10 miles to a shelter for lunch in partial rain. We got there to find 3 kids just leaving. Its spring break so we have seen a lot of college students out on the trail. Just as they left, a group of older people came in - they were maintainers. They came to chop a tree up and id say the median age was 70. They were pretty much all retired. We would have helped, but we had over 12 miles to do, so we ate lunch and left.

The rest of the hike was pretty standard. The rain subsided for the most part and we passed a syrup farm (network of tapped trees) but the hike was good and the ascents weren't too terrible.

About a mile from our destination we started seeing hoove prints which is odd because no horses are allowed on the trail, and these were tiny. We shrugged it off because we have seen many tracks on the trail before, and never saw any animals. So we continue to walk and all of a sudden we hear a loud, very close, nay. We continued on. About a minute later Andy stops dead in his tracks and was staring down a male wild pony. He quickly gets off the trail to the side of a tree as I do, and pulls out the camera. He nays. We are dumbfounded as what to do in that situation. As we think of something, I turn around to see a female about 10 feet behind me on the trail. She walks right passed us, and they both continue on. We are in awe. We have yet to see much wildlife, and now we are trailing two wild ponies! We take a bunch of pictures while not getting too close and keep following along the trail. We then see about 5 more ahead. Some were really pretty, and they all just stood there and ate. We walked passed them, still following our escorts, and continue on. They then stop about 100 yards later and eat. They each go a couple feet on either side of the trail, and we walk right between them. It was a little frightening getting in between the two. We continue to our shelter, and start to hear people. We get there to find 10 people and 2 dogs. The shelter is full. We choose between hiking another 5 miles, or camping wherever we can. So we walk a little passed the shelter, out of a gate, and find a spot. We set up camp and went to fill our waters. This is the last time we will camp or summit anything over 5,000 feet until we get to the whites in new Hampshire, and we are happy. Its cold and windy up here.

So we go to get our water, we climb over a boulder which allows us to see about 15 wild ponies just eating infront of us. We realize these guys couldn't care less about us, so we walk right through them all. We fill up and get back to our tent. We then realize that if they moved over about 100 feet, they would be seen from our tent with nothing in between us.

We eat and get into the tent to warm up. After that we go to hang our food and I shine my light out to see a bunch of glowing eyes. They are 50 feet from our tent. With nothing in between. It'll be an interesting night. I think we will be ok though because we were within 5 feet of them and they didn't care.

We didn't forget about you Aunt Deb. This is the food review section!

We didn't eat any breakfasts yet because we had some bread left over. But this is what we've had and what we think:

Latte bars - these were awesome. They had great texture and taste. The pecans were a nice change from all the peanuts we have been eating. We ate them in the morning with our sandwich and coffee and it gave us a good boost and enough calories until lunch. No suggestions to improve.

Coconut bars - these were our favorite thus far. They tasted great, unlike any other bars we have had. It tops any store bought with ease. It was moist, creamy, and delicious. We liked that there were two in each bag as well. Our only suggestion might be to add a little more coconut.

Peanut balls - we liked these because they were very filling. They were drier than the bars which made for a nice mix. Not sure if its possible, but if there cold be honey in it, or maybe in the middle, they would be perfect.

Gorp - much different than what we have been having. Its much more diverse and we love the strawberries in it. No suggestions for that.

Jerky - personally I've never had better. I loved it! I liked that they were big pieces. You were right about the spiciness. It was just enough to give it good flavor, but didn't make us too thirsty. No suggestions.

Cheesy bacon spuds - we liked this, especially with the bacon bits. One bag is good for one person. However we should be able to make that on the trail which would be easier then having you send it.

Chili - we enjoyed having something very different for dinner. The meal was fully hydrated and very good. We would love this again but would like some extra tomato sauce as it was a little dry.

Thanksgiving feast - this is typically what we eat with a twist. We think it would be easy for us to adapt our recipe to yours on the trail.

We will try the breakfast out tomorrow as well as the other bar and meals. So far we think that if you were to send us your wonderful food again, we will just ask for the bars, pb balls, jerky, and rice/beef dinners. We found each bag of anything is a good portion for one. We will comment on the breakfasts tomorrow.

Thanks again! We will dream about the coconut bars and all your other tasty treats.

Time to sleep hearing the nays in hopes they don't get closer.

via BB

Some miles

2009-03-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Day 30 (cont.)

Hiked today: 5.6
Hiked total: 468.6
To katahdin: 1709.7

Well my bag finally came. I'm really happy the people at Gregory are so good and were able to send me a whole new pack. Not going to lie, ill miss my old one. I need to rub this one in some dirt or something. But all is well gear wise now! Andy is getting his replacement in a few days.

We got a few miles in, but not many. We would have liked to do more but didn't get to the trail until 5, so we couldn't go too far with a decent amount of light. We found a campsite next to a river and road, set up a fire (finally we got to use the starter the scouts gave us) and tried one of Aunt Debs dinners. It was very tasty and we are excited to try everything else, so thanks again!

We are happy it wasn't a full zero day, but a little sad it was only a .20 day.
via BB

It's christmas all over (minus the snow thank goodness.)

2009-03-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Day 30

Today will hopefully not be a zero day and I will be able to post mileage up later, but I thought since I was at a computer, I would update everyone, couldn't add any pictures right now unfortunately, but I will try to at our next stop.

Last night we set up the tent in the middle of the trail about 10 yards from one houses' backyard and another 10 from someones front yard. It was one thing at night, but when we woke up it was a little awkward... luckily we didn't see anyone.

We got into the town and dropped our packs at the outfitter, I got one box that was sent there and we went to eat breakfast. While at breakfast I opened it up, it was Andy's present and a watch I got from Alpine back at Neels Gap (got it for cheap.) I got Andy a jacket like mine because his down jacket weighs about 5 lbs, so I thought it would be a good investment. We ate, and then went back to the outfitters to pick up some fuel and anything else we may need. Unfortunately, as of now, my replacement pack hasn't gotten there yet. The shoulder strap is ripping and Gregory was kind enough to send me a brand new pack, and it should be here today. If not, then we will be forced to take a zero day. It's a beautiful day, so that wouldn't be cool, even if we only do 10 miles. Our feet are hurting a little, but not too badly.

So we headed towards the post office to pick up the rest of our packages. Two giant (and heavy) packages came for Andy from his Aunt Deb. We were worried she sent canned food and it would break our backs carrying it around. He got another package from his mom, and I got one from my mom as well. We opened our parents packages up first to find lots of snacks and bars. Andy got his Crocs, so now he can throw away his old man slippers he was using as camp shoes. Other than bars in mine, I got a letters and pictures from a bunch of kids in Nathans (my first grade brother) class. It was very cute, and thoughtful of them. I also got a page with little notes from a bunch of my old teachers at their school. I actually sent those back because I want to keep them but don't want them to get ruined or wet, so thank you all very much!

Now comes the two big packages. Andy opens them up to find a HUGE mount of home-made dehydrated, packaged, and ziplocked bags of food. Breakfast, lunch, dinners, bars, snacks, just a huge santa bag full of food. Andy's Aunt Deb made us each a little cozy to put our ziplocks in while they are cooking to keep our food hot as well. It was very thoughtful of her to include me in his package. We went through all the food from home-made jerky, to hamburger rice, to cheesy bacon spuds and figured out what we would need. Between our parents and Aunt Deb, we actually had to send a big package ahead of us because we would just be carrying way too much food for 5 days and our backs would be in pain. All-in-all, she saved us a TON of money and time trying to resupply. She probably fed us for about a 2 weeks! It will be a nice change from our regular meals, that is for certain.

Anyway, I hope my pack comes. We sent home some stuff to lighten our loads so hopefully our packs will be much lighter on our backs, even with all the food. We are very thankful for Aunt Deb and our parents for all the stuff they have sent. As for Nathans class, I hope you got the package I sent, I will double check with my mom later once my phone is charged (she sent my charger and now I can charge it without spending money on batteries.)

Thanks everyone!

Tired

2009-03-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

Day 29

Hiked today: 33.0
Hiked total: 463.0
To katahdin: 1715.3

Yes, its written right. 33 miles. We were told the last 25 miles are pretty easy into damascus and we were looking forward to it. Today our plan was to camp half way and make it into town tomorrow. However, we woke up today, and said let's just do it all. We were only 8 miles away from the easy part that many people do in a day, so what's an extra 8? We would take three breaks along the way, and eat all the food we had for tomorrow to keep us fueled. So that's what we did. It was much more flat than ever before, so we cruised. For the whole day we averaged 3 mph where we normally do 2.5. At one point we pased about 15 people in this weird group thing all spaced out in equal intervals from one another, and all very odd. At that point we both went into race mode and took each down one by one. We later figured out we were going more than 4 mph there. There was more up hill than expected, but nothing to terrible.

It got dark around 8, but we hiked on for about 2 hours. I'm glad I brought that powerful light with me as it lit up the entire path and its surroundings. We finally made it to the Virginia border line which means we are now officially done with 3 states! With our feet pounding, throbbing and aching, we finally made it. We put our packs down right before the town on the trail and was about to et up camp when I got the number for a pizza place. We called at 9:50 and they said they were opened for another 10 mins. So we placed our order. Then we realized it was a mile away. So what did we do? Dropped our packs on the side of the trail and RAN. After 33 miles and 11 hours of just hiking, we ran for a mile. We got there and ate the subpar pizza very quickly. It was across from a grocery store open until 12 so we went in and got chicken tenders, oreos, milk, and cake. We slowly walked back to the trail, set up the tent, gobbled up our food, and now we will pass out.

Tomorrow we will spend half the day in town then head out. This makes up for one forced zero day due to weather.

Time to sleep.

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Update soon

2009-03-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

We are doing big miles today. Won't be able to give full update until about 9 or 1
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The Dusty Camel

2009-03-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

Day 28

Hiked today: 17.5
Hiked total: 430.1
To katahdin: 1748.2

We woke up too early (I got confused with the time change) and napped for a little longer. When we finally woke, we packed up and ate a dozen eggs with some toast and a half gallon of juice. Talked with Bob a little more and went on our way.

The hike was really pretty and almost TOO hot - its amazing the difference a week makes. We walked along a river with a waterfall and later on along a lake. There was some hard up hill, and there wasn't too much downhill, but from here until damascus its pretty flat which is great. We passed some older hikers and they asked our trail names and then called us the Dusty Camel. We thought that was a perfect name for our dynamic duo - a dirty animal that just goes on and on.

When we got to the shelter, there were two guys here, Jeff and nick, who are doing some of the trail as part of their spring break. They started a fire and shred some of their whiskey which was nice. They go to school in Boone and are some good guys. It was nice to meet some guys our age for a change.

We are close to Virginia which means three states down. We are eager to get there and to get our packages. We have a lot coming between the two of us (and a present I got for Andys birthday) which is exciting. Until then we will be pulling some good miles.

Andy is on the phone talking to his extended family, so hi to all of them since I'm right next to the phone!

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Bob peoples

2009-03-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

Day 27

Hiked today: 15.6
Hiked total: 412.6
To katahdin: 1765.7

We went to sleep and woke up warm, which already made the day great. We had a small day, but full none the less. The terrain was fairly easy and it was warm and sunny. So much so, that our boots were able to dry out for the first time in 3 days. Even though they were dry, our feet were still partially wet by the time we got to Kincora - Bob Peoples hostel. When we got here, the wasn't home, but the door to the bunk room was open anyway. We quickly peeled off our socks and let our feet dry. We only took 6 hours of hiking to get here and leaving an hour early gave us some good relaxation time. By the time Bob got here it was 2, and he said he would take us in to town at 4 when he went to church. So we waited around, did our laundry, and talked.

When Bob was ready, we went into town. He dropped us off to the one place we said we would never brave again - the china buffet. Andy was a little better and didn't feel ill, while I think I got off easier than before solely because the food was a little better here. I still ate too much.

After letting my belly grumble for a little, we went to get a much needed resupply. We had zero food left. So we got all we needed and headed back with Bob.

After we got our 2 lb package of cookie dough rolled out and in the oven, we started talking a lot with Bob. He's actually from Boston, and lived in Vermont for most his life. He just left the board of directors of the AT, and him and a dozen others are in charge of maintaining 135 miles of the trail (this guy is in his 60's mind you.) he told us a lot about the trail, the people, and himself. We were very happy, and very full. Tomorrow we push on and in 2.5 days we will be in damascus which is only a couple days away from 500 miles - the psychological quarter way point.

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Eventful day

2009-03-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

Day 26

Hiked today: 18.0
Hiked total: 397.0
To katahdin: 1781.3

Last night was a scary night. At 12:34am we both woke to a loud crash. We had no clue what it was, but getting woken up by a crash scared me. Of course I start thinking of the worst possible scenario and my mind starts playing tricks on me and I can't sleep. The wind was so powerful that it kept knocking the rocks off the tarp which was making more loud bangs. At one point I feel the tent shake and my heart stops. Is this war barn haunted? Is there a mountain lion walking around? A bear? I think its all in my half awake consciousness. I couldn't sleep. The only way to sleep was to listen to music. Every hour when it ended a loind bang would come from outside and I would have to start it over. So I got little sleep. Finally it was time to get out and are what made all that noise; it was just the wind blowing rocks and stuff around. I felt foolish, but last time I was woken up by a loind crash my high school roomate was having a seizure!

Anyway, we get going on the right path out. We laugh to see it takes is 2 minutes to get to the trail opposed to yesterdays hour. It was pretty cool because we followed a ridge for a while and could see the trail ahead. On one side p the Rodge were dark scary looking clouds, and on the other, sun. We prepared for rain anyway, and luckily it didn't come.

Since we didn't fill up our waters last night, we had to wait to find a source on the trail. I'm dying of thirst about a mile into it when we finally hit a stream. Andy was fine with no water. Actually we decided to change his name from Tellico to Camel - due to the fact he can go an entire day off of one liter of water while p drink 4. We start filling up our waters at the stream through our drinking tubes. We can pump straight into our platypus without taking it out of our bags. Andy fills his up and I start pumping. After about a liter, I look up at Andy and ask why my backs wet. I didn't attach the hose to the bladder. I pumped nearly a liter of water into my pack. Luckily, most of my stuff is in water proof bags anyway. It still wasn't fun.

We have our waters filled up and continued. We were on the balds for a while and off in the distance we are a double rotar helicopter. We continue walking on, and soon we see it coming towards us. Then, it passes right over us! It goes over the hill and we start walking again. We then notice it touched down in the MIDDLE of the trail ahead. We basically run towards it and get to it. We took some pictures and then the door opens up and this army hit steps out telling us to be careful near it. We take some pictures with him and step aside to watch it take off. The wind was crazy! It was definitely the coolest thing yet. We thought they mights give us some MREs but to no avail. We keep going and the army chopper keeps practicing.

We get down the mountain and actually got lost. We ended up coming out on someones property with this big black pitbull barking at us. Luckily I had the GPS on my phone and we could get to the road we were going to cross. We asked this old couple where the nearest food was and they were nice enough to give us a ride to a diner a mile away. We stuff our faces and then decide to walk on the road to a gap on the trail instead of trying to find the trail again.

So we walked up the road and met some cool dogs - some not so cool as well. It was hot out which felt amazing. Andy wasn't even wearing a shirt. We get to the trail and hike the 1.6 miles in half an hour and get to the shelter, which is the nicest shelter we she been I yet. We met a south bound hiker at the shelter and talked with him for a while and then went in the tent. Overall a really good day.

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I despise snow

2009-03-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

Day 25

Hiked today: 14.8 (but really at least 18)
Hiked total: 379.0
To katahdin: 1799.3

After 4 packets of oatmeal and 2 pop tarts, Andy and I left CC. We very much enjoyed staying with her and Andy said if there was a guitar and a big dog, he may not have left! We got back to the trail and hiked on. It was snowy but not terrible at first. It was actually so nice out we were in our tshirts - a much welcomed change. The first 10 miles were pretty strenuous, we got up to 6,200 feet, but we were in high spirits. After roan Mt (the high point) we got to this really cool point where we could actually see the path for nearly a mile. It was a day hiker spot because the 'trail' was gravel, but it was a nice change in pace.

That is where things got frustrating. We hiked the path and went through some terrible slush/snow that was knee high and a pain to walk through on a 10 inch path. We hiked up for about half an hour and looked at roan to see we were about even with it - a problem being we don't break 6,000 feet again. So we hiked back down through the slush and finally found the trail which goes around the dark side of the mt, I.e. No sun to melt the snow. We were in the snow again, slipping and sliding and falling. The only good part of that section was we met our first thru-hiker since the 2nd day, Stallion. He is south bounding which means he is less than 400 miles from finishing. He started late Oct. And went through winter. He seemed nice, but we quickly split ways and continue on. at one point in the slush, Andy slipped and got really angry at the conditions - I let him steam ahead to brood.

We finally got to where our shelter was. We've heard a lot about it because its a barn used in the revolutionary war which was converted into a shelter. Its .3 miles off the trail but well worth it. So we went on, and on, and on. We missed the turn and went down the revolutionary war path. Eventually we got to the road which leads us to the shelter, but we were far from it. We did at least an extra mile and passed where we were SUPPOSED to meet the road.

So we got here, finally, and it is really cool. We are upstairs and basically contained in 4 walls. Its very open in terms of space between the wood, but its still nice.

Hopefully tomorrow will be less snowy. The terrain is supposed to be getting flatter until Damascus.

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Waiting for the snow to melt

2009-03-04T15:46:00.000-08:00

Day 0

well, Andy put out the idea of waiting a day in semi-warmer weather in hopes the snow will melt to below knee level, and I quickly agreed. So we are here with CC at the Greasy Creek Friendly and we are very happy. A true zero day. We didn't leave the place, and watched movies, ate lots, and relaxed. I actually got to cook real food! I haven't cooked in a while other than some grilling which I could use marinade for so it wasn't really cooking. I used some more of her veneson and made a meat sauce with some of her home grown bell peppers. Oh man it was a feast. It was delicious. Andy and I had huge bowls, and now full bellies. Well, to be honest, I've been eating all day. CC has been very helpful and kind to us, so it's making it hard to leave. She's actually trying to find a partner for the place, and if I had the money, I would be it.

Anyway, I ate another (#3 now) pint of Ben and Jerrys while Andy ate a jar of peanut butter and maple syrup -- a new combo CC turned him on to. We watched Lord of the Rings, sat around, and now we will probably get to bed soon and leave in the morning at our normal time. We are eagerly awaiting the warmth so we don't have to stop! We don't mind going into a town where we need to resupply and spend the night, but taking a whole zero day is hard to stomach because we want to be out there hiking... it's just too cold and wet which means everything is frozen solid.

On to Roan Mt. tomorrow, 6200 feet, which is the highest shelter we will stay at along the AT.

Holy frozen boots batman! it's cold out there.

2009-03-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

Day 24

hiked today: 7.3
hiked total: 364.2
to katahdin: 1814.1

well, we are inside again. And I will tell you why...

We woke up at our normal 6:30 freezing cold. We both decided (without leaving our mummy bags mind you) that we would wait another hour until the sun came out. So we half slept until 7:30. As soon as we got out of our freezer, a.k.a. our tent which was lined in ice, we checked the temperature on my little thermometer, and it was less than 0 degrees. This is at 7:30 with the sun out! I can't even imagine what it was last night. We had our emergency blanket over us (for those of you who don't know, its essentially a large thick piece of tin foil that keeps all the heat in by being impenetrable by moisture, i.e. our heat doesn't evaporate out of it) but since it keeps all the moisture in, our bags usually get wet. However, our bags weren't wet this morning -- they were frozen. It was a tough morning to get out of camp. Our socks from the previous day were, no exaggeration, rock solid. Theres a picture of Andy holding up his that I just put up to prove it!

Anyway, the honey was frozen, but we had double hotchocolates again to keep our insides warm. So far it was a cold day, but nothing too crazy, until, that is, we tried to put on our boots. It honestly took us half an hour to put on our boots, they were frozen! we worked them, rubbed them, flexed them, and we couldn't move the laces or put our feet in. I finally got my feet in, but Andy was still having trouble. We almost brought out the stove to put it under the boots. eventually after a lot of pushing, Andy got them on. Once we got our boots on, our feet instantly froze. I was on my last pair of socks seeing as my other hiking socks were frozen, and everything we had was frozen (i.e. wet.) We were worried that tonight setting up camp would be bad with a frozen tent, frozen sleeping bags, and frozen clothes. Not only was tonight a concern, but in the morning when we really had to get dry clothes. We looked in our book and noticed there was a hostel not too far away. We instantly said we have to go there to at the very least dry out our clothes and bags. My pack had an inch of ice around the straps. It was a cold morning. We trudged through over a foot of snow to get to the gap. We called up Greasy Creek Friendly and made sure they were open and if there was anyway they could pick us up from the trail. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to leave the place, so we had to walk along the road until we got a ride.

Once we got to the road, we walked for about 10 minutes and a pick up truck passed us without stopping. About 5 minutes later, he came back around and told us to jump in the back -- so we did. He brought us to the hostel which was very nice of him, and although cold from riding in the back, it was much fun and very generous.

So we got to the hostel -- or Friendly as CC likes to call it (a parody on hostile.) She is a very sweet woman who lives out here and runs the place. She has been very nice to us and helped us with anything we need. We are warm and happy right now, and she even cooked us venison burgers -- for FREE! She has a crazy neighbour who puts up closed signs so hikers don't stop by, and apparently when he knows there are hikers here, he makes lots of noise in the mornings to wake them up and upset them. A lot of people have complained about it, but it's not her fault. She is very nice, and I would suggest this place to any hikers coming through. We are warm, happy, and eating well. We may stay tomorrow night to wait and see if some snow melts. It is incredibly difficult to walk through knee high snow all day. 17 miles is a lot of miles, but nothing we can't do, and yesterday it took us 10 hours! That is way too long.

Anyway, we are happy right now and although we wish we could be pushing out the miles, we know that it would be dangerous. Yesterday was border-line dangerous... actually Andy just corrected me and said it WAS dangerous.

Andy says thank you for all the birthday wishes! Although it may not have been the most 'normal' birthday, it is definitely one of the most memorable.

Andy is 22!

2009-03-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

Day 23

Hiked today: 17.0
Hiked total: 356.9
To katahdin: 1821.4

And for his birthday he got the worst 17 miles yet.the feeling of waking up in the warm soft bed is the polar opposite as now. It snowed like everywhere else, and up in the mountains there was over a foot. Sometimes we were knee deep in it, and even at its lowest it never went below our ankles. The first 10 miles was a steady up hill which wasn't too terrible, but what was terrible was the trail. Imagine with me if you will, hundreds of trees lining the trail weighted down by the snow making an impenetrable barrier. This is what the first 8 miles was like. The snow was at its shallowist, but we had to stop every ten seconds to wck trees so they would fling upwards and hopefully make enough room for us to squeeze by without getting showered by snow.

After the 8 miles, the trees weren't as dense, but then the deep snow came. Do me a favor and go to the gym, turn the a\c on to 15 and jump on the stair master for 6 hours. That's what the last 9 miles was like. My joints below my hips hurt like no other. Neither of us drank anything so we wouldn't have to stop to use the bathroom. Not to mention everything was frozen. We also weren't thirsty nor hungry at all during the hike. Andy thinks we were in survival mode and our bodies were preparing for the worst.

We finally made it to the shelter after what was easily the hardest, both mentally and physically, day yet. We quickly set up the tent and started on food. It was (even more so now) so cold that we ate in the tent -- no animal would be out in this cold, not from the south at least. We ate our food and a 2 lb cheesecake we carried up for andys birthday 'party.' We had planned to put sticks in it and use them as candles but it is just too cold. Its already in single digits and may drop below zero up here. We are all bundled up and have our extra blanket over us, so hopefully we will stay warm. We are exhausted and will be sound asleep shortly.

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a food coma and one month

2009-03-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

Day zero

well as I stated last night, the weather is keeping us in today. So what do we do? Eat! We went to the China Kitchen which had a buffet and ate an inordinate amount of food. While I only ate half as much as Andy, together we had 10.5 plates of food... and no small plates. We felt ill. Seriously ill.

Not only that, but afterwards we had to go to the grocery store to buy something to eat for dinner tonight. Have you ever tried shopping for food when your stuffed to the point of nausea? yick. We hobbled are way around the grocery store and got what we needed and then was picked up by Johnny. Now, Andy is in a food coma and zipped up in his sleeping bag. I tried to nap, but I ate less and don't feel as ill, and there was also an annoying dripping noise keeping me from sleep. Oh well.

While on the topic of food, some may be interested in what we eat on a daily basis. I'll give you a general break down and how many calories we consume in a day. Typically we will burn about 7000 calories in a day, especially in the cold weather. All measurements are of course, approximate.

Breakfast: 840-1020 calories
-Coffee/hot chocolate mix: 100 Cal
-peanut butter (1.5oz), honey (1 tbsp), dried fruit (1/8 cup), and granola (1/8 cup) sandwich: Approx. 600 cal
-some sort of bar. We like Pemmican bars which have 420 calories per bar, but can't always find
those so have to use cliffbars which have about 240

Lunch: 1100 calories
-Candy bar (right now snickers): 280
- Health Bar (right now cliff): 240
- Cheese (2 slices) salami (4 slices) and honey sandwiches: 580

Dinner: 1510
-hot chocolate: 100
- stuffing mix, can of chicken, 1/4 cup of dried fruit: 1200
-oatmeal pies for dessert: 210

So we eat about 3500 calories a day. Even more if we can find those pemmican bars. They taste great, have a ton of calories, and we even usually put extra peanut butter on top.

After saying I wasn't napping, I fell asleep for an hour.

Also, its been exactly a month for me since I left home! For all of Andys friends/family, I started a few days earlier than Andy but got held up at a hostel because of -10 degree weather and blustery winds. It all worked out though.

oy vey

2009-02-28T20:01:00.001-08:00

so just an update:

Andy's dad commented on my last post saying the weather is supposed to be bad the next day or two which was confirmed by the hostel owner. He actually did so much as to call us and tell us that if we wanted to stay he would only make us pay $6 (instead of $15) for tomorrow. It's supposed to be a low of 16, snow all day, and have 20 mph winds tomorrow. The following day it will just be the cold. So we decided to wait it out a day and keep our stuff as dry as possible. The cold doesn't really scare us, as we have dealt with that, but the wet mixed with cold is what really eats at your soul. So far all our zero days have been due to weather and exhaustion due to weather, so we eagerly await warmer climates.

we may have pushed through if we weren't in a dry county every single town we stopped off at and could get something warming to end the day with! Hush mother... and yea yea yea, I can see your eyes rolling Ms. Balkind/Adler (my junior k teacher.)

pitter patter

2009-02-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

day 22

hiked today: 6.3
hiked total: 339.9
to katahdin: 1838.4

Pitter, patter. That is what we woke up to. The rain drops dripping on the tin roof made a 5:30 wake up easier than usual. The weather has been much warmer lately which means we have been going into deeper sleeps. I have two lighter bags (started off with one 30 degree bag but very quickly realized it was too cold and got another) and I just slept inside one last night. It wasn't raining terribly outside, and after yesterday, it was fine. We got packed and set up breakfast before we headed out to Erwin, TN. Our hot drinks actually stayed hot this morning much to our surprise. We were so unprepared for the steamy hotness, that andy burned his mouth badly enough that he can still feel it now.

We knew it was going to be a quick hike as most of it was downhill as is common before a town, so we headed out just before 7. We hiked to town in just about 2 hours and 15 mins -- thats how excited to get out of the rain we were. We got down to Uncle Johnny's Outfitter/Hostel where we checked in and grabbed a few supplies (fuel, candy, etc.) We contemplated a work for stay, but we haven't had a real break in a while, and even though we hiked this morning, we still consider today a restful day. So we decided to pay the $15 for the night, and brought our packs inside. It's a pretty nice hostel actually, our beds are right by the computer and about 10 feet from the fireplace. Johnny brought us into town with a guy named Lance who is staying here for a month. He's a really nice guy; we talked about food, beer, the trail, NYC, Philly, museums, etc. Once we resupplied our food, and got some stuff for tonight, we headed back to relax. Once we got back, we sat around and talked, watched a movie, took showers, and just enjoyed not hiking. We weighed ourselves today, and I have surprisingly lost no weight. I am still between 168-170, while Andy has dropped 10lbs and is at 176.

There is a grill here, so tonight we will cook up some steaks and veggies and go to bed. We probably won't do our normal 8am start, but thats alright. Unfortunately, again, as is common with leaving town, tomorrow we have a lot of up hill and, it is supposed to snow. HOWEVER, our next real stop is Damascus, VA which is home of Trail Days (the biggest AT shin-dig, party, flat out crazy fest) and just shy 50 miles of the 1/4 marker! So that is a big mark. Andy will be picking up some stuff that his parents sent to the post office there, and we will be taking a FULL zero day.

Time to grill some steaks and relax.

oh, I also got some girl scout cookies today! I love thin mints.

Rain rain and fog

2009-02-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Day 21

Hiked today: 17.6
Hiked total: 333.6
To katahdin: 1844.7

We woke to no rain. However, once we got out of the tent and started packing, it started to sprinkle. When we were eating breakfast, it started to rain. It stayed like that for about 8 miles. We were soaked. There was a lot of up hill today, and we started off by saying we wished we were there and in our tent already, but as my family friend Lan told me, "the more you experience, the more you accept on your own terms." so with that and a picture in my head of summitting katahdin, we trucked on.

It was very muddy and very windy in some spots, and once the rain stopped it wasn't a half bad day. We actually saw a white tailed deer! That makes for the 3rd wildlife spotting next to a ruffled neck grouse and a turkey. We see lots of bobcat tracks though.

Anyway, today was fairly smooth sailing. We have less than 7 miles into town, and then we will take a half day (more like 2/3rds day) in Erwin.
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Spelling

2009-02-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

By the way, for those of you who don't know, I do most of these post from my phone. Sometimes it does funky things and the word will either be very misspelled or just wrong. So just keep that in mind while reading, I seldom proof read.
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Donnas Country Kitchen

2009-02-26T17:43:00.000-08:00

Day 20

Hiked today:17.8
Hiked tota: 316.0
To katahdin: 1862.3

We broke 300 miles! That was good news. We woke up to downright balmy weather. We weren't shivering as we changed and our hot chocolate/coffee mix was warm for more than 5 minutes! It started sprinkling though so we got in our rain gear. About half hour into the hike we got to hot and it pretty much stopped raining. It was a pretty difficult day though -- lots of up hill. It started warming up which was great. The sun shone its warming glorious light on us for most of the hike (I've missed the sun incase you couldn't tell.) so much so that I was in shorts and a tshirt! It was very nice. Considering Andy has lost most feeling in his thumbs for the past week or so, I think its safe to say he qa happy too (although there's still no feeling in them.)

We got to our destination which was I-26 about 3:45. There was a diner 3 miles down it where we wanted to eat so started walking and throwing out our thumbs anytime someone went by. We walked about a mile and a nice guy named Bill picked us up. Ironically he owns some of the land we were bordering a few miles back. We drive a little ways and he tells us we are in TN not NC -- the diner is in NC. He was nice enough to go back and drive is the right way!

We finally get there after a close call of having a very bad day and order our food from a woman named Sonyah. I had 2 cheese burgers, slaw, baked potato, and a large salad, while Andy had a Philly steak, cheeseburger, cheese and bacon fries, slaw, and chicken fries. It was delicious. Our cook was Myra and we were very happy she was. They were nice enough to give us a ride back to the trail after the place closed (not before buying a pint of Ben and Jerrys though.) we said our good byes and started up the trail in the dark. We walked a little and found a flat place around the trail and pitched the tent, ate our pints, hung our food, and now we are relaxing within ear shot of the highway on one side and very squeeky trees on the other. Its windy and not supposed to be nice weather for the next few days. However, the weather forcast changes in a heartbeat down here.

Good night and thank goodness for good restaurants on the trail! Well near it.

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Sickly and tired

2009-02-26T07:19:00.000-08:00

Day 19

Hiked today:15.4
Hiked total: 298.2
To katahdin: 1880.1

We planned to wake up early today but when the alarm went off we both agreed to sleep until our normal time.

We got up, packed, and ate breakfast then headed out. We had planned to do a 21 mile day today but after about 4 miles it was apparent our bodies did not want to, not to mention there was a lot of uphill.

We passed food and a hostel that was half a mile off the trail before we had realized we weren't going to be able to do all 21 miles. Soon after that, we started feeling woozy, light headed, and as if we were dragging ourselves. My vision was a little blurred at times, and today was the first day this trip I was sore.

At lunch, we decided to go 6 miles less. We thought it was for the best and at our slower pace it would have been dark when we got there.

Not too long after we ate, we came across a fork in the trail. One said 'bad weather trail' and the other said 'exposed ridge trail.' We took the ridge, and I must say it was pretty cool. It was about 8 feet wide, and we could see off both sides. One side had the flattest terrain we have seen yet, while the other was mountainous. About this time is when we started feeling better. I guess we sweated out what ever was in us. I just hope we aren't getting sick. It was also apparent we weren't going to get the 21 miles because of all the climbing we had to do, so it ended up being ok.

We plan to push a little extra tomorrow and the day after and camp right outside of Erwin, TN and the next morning spend the day and night there to have a half zero day. It was either push it a couple days and rest for a full day, or spread it out and rest there for a half day. Basically days wise it works out to be the same.

Time for rummy and then bed.

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Ps

2009-02-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

There is a really annoying mouse at this shelter running around. Andy already broke (and fixed) his sleeping bag swatting little bodies off our tent.
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Hot Springs Diner

2009-02-24T15:00:00.001-08:00

Day 18

Hiked today: 11.0
Hiked total: 282.8
To katahdin: 1895.5

About 15 minutes after andys alarm went off from a surprisingly restful sleep. It was cold out (12) but we weren't cold in the tent. We packed up and headed towards the diner.

We went in and around the corner was a giant booth next to a large heater. We planted ourselves and our packs as close as we could - so much so, In fact, that the waitress said our stuff may burn. We started off with a few large cups of endless coffee and ordered our food. Andy got two biscuits with gravy, two eggs, hashbrowns and sausage while I got a steak biscuit, fried apples, scrambled eggs, grits, English muffin, and sausage.

Before we got our food, one of the waitresses brought over a book of letters children from a nearby school wrote to thru-hikers. The school adopted part of the trail, so the students basically maintain it. After writing a letter back we got our food. It was amazing. Less than $10 each, and by far the best breakfast on the trail. We sat there for a while to relax and then said our goodbyes. We wish we could start off everyday like today!

We left and went to the outfitter to pick up a blanket for some added warmth and to protect our bags from the condensation from our breathing at night and headed on. The first part was pretty hard, but really pretty.

We only hiked 11 miles because the next shelter is 8.5 miles away from here, and we got a late start. The next three days are going to be long days with our shortest being 18 miles.

The sun was shining and it was fairly warm, so all in all it was a good day.

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Interesting turn of events

2009-02-23T19:47:00.000-08:00

Day 0

So, in my previous post I told you how wonderful the inn was, and it still is. However we have a different view of it now.

Today was our rest and relaxation day and it started off that way very well. We woke up, and I took a shower in the most amazing shower. We go down stairs and Frank had made breakfast. He made scrambled eggs, blueberry pancakes, homefries, with a home made syrup, orange juice and lots of coffee. It was very yummy. We then went into town to get a few things at the outfitter, add pictures to here, and resupply our food. We got back to the inn to do our work to pay off our stay. He had us paint a bunch of stuff, redo some electrical stuff and clean up the kitchen. All this took nearly 5 hours. Alright, that's not terrible I suppose, however, that was only for last night. He said he would make us dinner, but we said we had planned to leave in the morning and couldn't work off tonight if we had to do another 5 hours tomorrow. We had hoped he would have said we have done more than enough, but it was very awkward. He said he had hoped we would stay for a few extra days and work. It would have been fine if we didn't spend our entire free day working. It just wasn't restful. So we started packing up saying we would just camp somewhere along the trail, again hoping he would offer something better, but he said ok. We had at least hoped he would still make us dinner, but he hardly paid any attention to us and kind of ignored us until we had left.
So we left. Kind of in a grumpy mood that he wouldn't at the very least feed us. We had a strange feeling towards him. We have been surrounded by so much kindness because we are hikers, but his was off. He was a nice person and let us work for stay, but for 5 hours of work a day. Anyway, we left to find a place to sleep. It was cold but at least its clear out. We went to the dollar general store and they were nice enough to let us use their microwave in the back so we got what ever we could. We each ate a mini pizza, burrito, half a smoked sausage, four chocolate cookie pies, and a quarter gallon of chocolate milk. That was the best we could come up with there. We would have left town and done a little night hiking had the diner not open at 6 meaning we can get coffee and a hot meal in the morning. So we went back south on the trail right before it gets into town at the parking lot and set up camp. After the difficult ordeal of setting up the bear bag, and turning off all the lights when we hear a car drive by, we tend to fall fast asleep, wake to have a warm breakfast, and trek on.
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