12/29/10
Sweet Victory!
8/11/10
Only 398 miles left!
After a loud night of sleep but one of the best yet in a frat house at Dartmouth I reluctantly hike out of Hanover, NH.
The next day's Challenge was smarts Mtn., wasn't really smart. I then weathered a storm on top of Mt. Cube and hike into Glencliff, NH today! The storm that pasted by while I was on Mt. Cube was pretty scary but well worth the dinner show and the peacefulness upon waking the next morning. While I have been here at the "Hikers Welcome" hostel I have met the all star cast of the Appalachian Trail, some of whom I had met previously but never all in one place: Baltimore Jack, Mallow, Lion King, and a few more folks of infamies trail lore!
Tomorrow officially begins the start of the White Mtns., starting off with Mt. Moseolock! I am looking forward to the huts in the Whites and hoping that I will be able to do a lot of work for stay to stay in what would otherwise cost $90 to stay!
The next day's Challenge was smarts Mtn., wasn't really smart. I then weathered a storm on top of Mt. Cube and hike into Glencliff, NH today! The storm that pasted by while I was on Mt. Cube was pretty scary but well worth the dinner show and the peacefulness upon waking the next morning. While I have been here at the "Hikers Welcome" hostel I have met the all star cast of the Appalachian Trail, some of whom I had met previously but never all in one place: Baltimore Jack, Mallow, Lion King, and a few more folks of infamies trail lore!
Tomorrow officially begins the start of the White Mtns., starting off with Mt. Moseolock! I am looking forward to the huts in the Whites and hoping that I will be able to do a lot of work for stay to stay in what would otherwise cost $90 to stay!
8/8/10
New Hampshire!
I made it to Hanover around noon today and eat may way through town! Free pizza and Ben and Jerry's!
headed for the White Mtns.
I had a great time in Vermont! and have been loving the Ben and Jerry's!
headed for the White Mtns.
I had a great time in Vermont! and have been loving the Ben and Jerry's!
8/1/10
Vermont!
Wow!
So its been a few hundred miles since I was able to last post, but its been an amazing last few!
I have stopped counting up miles and am instead counting down miles, which means that I have 535 miles left to go! I am currently in the Green Mountains of Vermont and will be in New Hampshire by the week's end. Since my last post I have stayed with some truly awesome people who have given selflessly to the trail!
I am currently at the Green Mountain House which has been by far teh best hostel on the trail. They have a full kitchen in which to prepare food and a fridge packed with Ben & Jerry's and Cokes!
I recently stayed with Tom LaVartie in Dalton, MA and he gave us showers, did our laundry, gave us a free place to stay, let us watch TV in his home and slack packed (drove us north and let us hike back to his home without a full pack, then he drives back north the next day) us all for free!
And the Mayors house! Think fraternity house here. The previous mayor of Unionville, NY started a tradition of letting hikes stay in his basement while in town and now he has expanded to giving showers, doing laundry, making breakfast and dinner! It definitely about the hospitality and atmosphere and less about the accommodations!
I am certainly glad to be out of the rock of PA, the bugs of New Jersey and New York, and happy with a few "good" trail miles. Now the new challenge of the trail, here in Vermont, is mud. After heavy rain the night before last the trail went from being trail to be a swamp! I guess i should invest in a sled and mud slide down some of the hills!
I am looking forward everyday now to the White Mtns. the last big hurdle before the finish of my trip! My people are saying that 80 percent of the miles are complete but we still have 75 percent of the work to do! This had been a rather scary outlook on the possibilities of the Whites, but as a Kyndra pointed out 45 percent of all percentages are made up anyways!
So its been a few hundred miles since I was able to last post, but its been an amazing last few!
I have stopped counting up miles and am instead counting down miles, which means that I have 535 miles left to go! I am currently in the Green Mountains of Vermont and will be in New Hampshire by the week's end. Since my last post I have stayed with some truly awesome people who have given selflessly to the trail!
I am currently at the Green Mountain House which has been by far teh best hostel on the trail. They have a full kitchen in which to prepare food and a fridge packed with Ben & Jerry's and Cokes!
I recently stayed with Tom LaVartie in Dalton, MA and he gave us showers, did our laundry, gave us a free place to stay, let us watch TV in his home and slack packed (drove us north and let us hike back to his home without a full pack, then he drives back north the next day) us all for free!
And the Mayors house! Think fraternity house here. The previous mayor of Unionville, NY started a tradition of letting hikes stay in his basement while in town and now he has expanded to giving showers, doing laundry, making breakfast and dinner! It definitely about the hospitality and atmosphere and less about the accommodations!
I am certainly glad to be out of the rock of PA, the bugs of New Jersey and New York, and happy with a few "good" trail miles. Now the new challenge of the trail, here in Vermont, is mud. After heavy rain the night before last the trail went from being trail to be a swamp! I guess i should invest in a sled and mud slide down some of the hills!
I am looking forward everyday now to the White Mtns. the last big hurdle before the finish of my trip! My people are saying that 80 percent of the miles are complete but we still have 75 percent of the work to do! This had been a rather scary outlook on the possibilities of the Whites, but as a Kyndra pointed out 45 percent of all percentages are made up anyways!
6/27/10
Seven States!
1,112 Miles !!!!!!!
Which means less miles to go than I have already hiked!
Only1,067 to go!
So the last 250 miles have been lots of fun. The Shenandoahs really spoiled me. The AT goes through a camp ground, gas station (called waysides) or Lodge area almost every day. It really was awesome for some change from regular trail food but it kept my food bag heavy and lightened my wallet. The Park was the single best place to see wildlife! Deer seemed not afraid and grazed freely as I watched, Bear were numerous and I had to try not to see them on a daily basis and the trail was so incredibly maintained that I made 20 miles every day except for the first!
With all the awesomeness of the Shenandoahs I am really glad to be out of them. With a the constant rumble of motorcycles, endless road crossings, and better views from the road than the trail, the Shenandoahs were really less fun than they should have been.
After the Shenandoahs came some real treats. I hike 20 plus days for two days out and stayed at the Bears Den Hostel, a real treat for any hiker. Clean sheets, laundry, shower, great people, a whole pizza, Ben and Jerry's, and a dry place to sleep it was close to heaven on Earth. Then only 8 miles the next day to another hostel operated by the PATC ( Potomac Appalachian Trail Club) with free spaghetti, homemade bread, more brownies than 15 thru-hikers could eat, and yet another dry place to sleep, life couldn't get much better.
The next day's hike would land me at the symbolic halfway point at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) in Harpers Ferry, WV. This really was a huge mile stone. Every hiker who comes through the ATC gets their picture taken and the hiker number recorded along with their start date. Its a great way to check and see the faces of all the people who are ahead of you and who have been writing in the shelter registers, a really great way to put a face with a name.
After Harpers Ferry was also a very spoiling hike passing through three state parks showers and swimming options were got to be almost common place! A swim in a chlorinated pool = a shower, laundry and an awesoem cool down place to a thru-hiker!
After a few day rest here in Boiling Springs and a visit from Kaci its off for the next 1,067 miles and only triple digits to look forward to!
Don't forget to check out pictures on facebook
Which means less miles to go than I have already hiked!
Only1,067 to go!
So the last 250 miles have been lots of fun. The Shenandoahs really spoiled me. The AT goes through a camp ground, gas station (called waysides) or Lodge area almost every day. It really was awesome for some change from regular trail food but it kept my food bag heavy and lightened my wallet. The Park was the single best place to see wildlife! Deer seemed not afraid and grazed freely as I watched, Bear were numerous and I had to try not to see them on a daily basis and the trail was so incredibly maintained that I made 20 miles every day except for the first!
With all the awesomeness of the Shenandoahs I am really glad to be out of them. With a the constant rumble of motorcycles, endless road crossings, and better views from the road than the trail, the Shenandoahs were really less fun than they should have been.
The next day's hike would land me at the symbolic halfway point at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) in Harpers Ferry, WV. This really was a huge mile stone. Every hiker who comes through the ATC gets their picture taken and the hiker number recorded along with their start date. Its a great way to check and see the faces of all the people who are ahead of you and who have been writing in the shelter registers, a really great way to put a face with a name.
After Harpers Ferry was also a very spoiling hike passing through three state parks showers and swimming options were got to be almost common place! A swim in a chlorinated pool = a shower, laundry and an awesoem cool down place to a thru-hiker!
After a few day rest here in Boiling Springs and a visit from Kaci its off for the next 1,067 miles and only triple digits to look forward to!
Don't forget to check out pictures on facebook
6/8/10
850 Miles! - Oh how it feels so good!
Only steps away from the Shenandoah national park and it feels so awesome! Without much rain and near perfect temperatures hiking has been going very well the last few miles! Wildlife has been abundant in the last week which brings up the next topic!
Wildlife Count:
3 Turtles - one very large snapping turtle smushed on the side of the road
6 Deer - a few which I have been able to watch for five minuets or longer
3 Turkeys - they fly away pretty fast, so you have to be pretty quite to see them!
3 bears - one that wanted food, one that was scared and one that wanted to know why i was looking at him!
Countless Squrals and birds
3 black snakes- they could care less that you are trying to walk down the trail
lots of cool orange lizards - not quite as cool a the Geico lizard
tons of chipmunks - apparently also known as mini bears
a few hiking dogs
and the random horses and cows in farmers fields!
The dynamic Triad is going to be apart for a while as Sticks took a day of with his father in Buena Vista, VA and Hedge Hog will be hiing with a friend from home at a much slower pace for a week or so. But I am confident that we will be annoying each other again soon enough!
I had the pleasure of meeting a section hiker from the Florida Keys. He was a very wise man who's message was of simple living. I only was around him for an evening but in that evening he shared many stories of living on a sail boat, travels to Cuba, and living in such a way that thing he owned did not own him! I was saddened to find out that he passed away in his sleep only a day after I met him, which always remindeds us how life a gift that we should treasure every day. In the short time that I knew him he told me that this trail (the Appalachian trail) was his Rolex, once again meaning that the simple things in life were what he truly cherished. I am truly a better person for meeting him and hope that his family will know of the positiveness he brought to the trail.
I would like to think my Grandmother Sunday School Class at Bethlehem Baptist Church for their continued support and prayers along with everyone else who has had encouraging words and inquires about my progress! And I can't forget the care packages that are also coming my way from Kyndra and the entire Adventure Treks Family, Grandmother and the upcoming package that I am looking forward to from Nanny, and the weekly packages that Kaci so awesomely plans for, packs, and sends without fail! I am also very much looking forward to some medicated cream that I hear is a miracle drug that is being sent from Clarksville, GA with love from Jackie Durham.
I am also on my third pair of shoes after the last pair lasted me 600 miles! and with any luck a new backpack will arrive today compliments of Granite Gear Warranty department !
I guess that is all for now and next time I post maybe I will be in the 1,000 mile club!
Wildlife Count:
3 Turtles - one very large snapping turtle smushed on the side of the road
6 Deer - a few which I have been able to watch for five minuets or longer
3 Turkeys - they fly away pretty fast, so you have to be pretty quite to see them!
3 bears - one that wanted food, one that was scared and one that wanted to know why i was looking at him!
Countless Squrals and birds
3 black snakes- they could care less that you are trying to walk down the trail
lots of cool orange lizards - not quite as cool a the Geico lizard
tons of chipmunks - apparently also known as mini bears
a few hiking dogs
and the random horses and cows in farmers fields!
The dynamic Triad is going to be apart for a while as Sticks took a day of with his father in Buena Vista, VA and Hedge Hog will be hiing with a friend from home at a much slower pace for a week or so. But I am confident that we will be annoying each other again soon enough!
I had the pleasure of meeting a section hiker from the Florida Keys. He was a very wise man who's message was of simple living. I only was around him for an evening but in that evening he shared many stories of living on a sail boat, travels to Cuba, and living in such a way that thing he owned did not own him! I was saddened to find out that he passed away in his sleep only a day after I met him, which always remindeds us how life a gift that we should treasure every day. In the short time that I knew him he told me that this trail (the Appalachian trail) was his Rolex, once again meaning that the simple things in life were what he truly cherished. I am truly a better person for meeting him and hope that his family will know of the positiveness he brought to the trail.
I would like to think my Grandmother Sunday School Class at Bethlehem Baptist Church for their continued support and prayers along with everyone else who has had encouraging words and inquires about my progress! And I can't forget the care packages that are also coming my way from Kyndra and the entire Adventure Treks Family, Grandmother and the upcoming package that I am looking forward to from Nanny, and the weekly packages that Kaci so awesomely plans for, packs, and sends without fail! I am also very much looking forward to some medicated cream that I hear is a miracle drug that is being sent from Clarksville, GA with love from Jackie Durham.
I am also on my third pair of shoes after the last pair lasted me 600 miles! and with any luck a new backpack will arrive today compliments of Granite Gear Warranty department !
I guess that is all for now and next time I post maybe I will be in the 1,000 mile club!
5/30/10
Daleville, VA
Wow the last week has been the toughest yet! The climb to Mcafee's Knob, The Dragon Tooth, and Tinker Cliffs were all extremely difficult! Each of these hard climbs were followed by many more smaller climbs that went up a big hill just to go right back down and the right up the following hill, combined with rocky ridge tops the break here in Daleville has been much needed. Our hiking pace is averaging about 15 mil es a day now which is very exciting and we can even push ourselves to 25 miles per day when we need to reach a town or shelter! In other exciting news we are only a few miles short of 1/3 of the way! and when you look on maps we can really see progress!
Hedge Hog's Mom and Stepfather came for a visit and treated us to all you can eat (AYCE) breakfast this morning!
Two weeks till the Shenandoahs!
Hedge Hog's Mom and Stepfather came for a visit and treated us to all you can eat (AYCE) breakfast this morning!
Two weeks till the Shenandoahs!
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