+023.jpg)
O.K, so since the mayor's house we experienced the rest of Jersey (which actually had some small, but scenic climbs) and went straight into New York for a couple days where we met up with Alden, Bret, and Neville! We got to stay at the luxurious Tuxedo Motel (there's actually a town named tuxedo, complete with it's own tuxedo police that we want to be a part of) and spent most of our zero day at Lake Tiatori. It was actually the first time this entire trip that we have gone swimming, very relaxing/ sad since our upper body strength has diminished quite a bit. After that we spent our last night with the folks at the Franciscan Monk Spiritual life softball field, and had them drop us off at Bear Mt. to restart our hike. It was quite a sight to see indigenous animals at the NY zoo the trail passes through, and more people than we have seen in one place in months! So far I think New Yorkers have the most entertaining reactions to where we have traveled from; everything from "Get-da [expletive] outta hear" to "why da hell you doin' that?!". One woman in Connecticut simply kissed Stewy's zombie foot and blessed it with the power of God for the rest of the trip (It's as odd as it sounds, you don't wanna kiss that foot man).
The rest of NY was quite nice, with some decent climbs and very well maintained trails, actually less road walking than PA if you can believe it. CT has surprised all of us with some very good climbs, and some of the first real views we have seen since Virginia really. Today we stopped in the very expensive town of Salisbury to grab some overpriced food for our last ressuply (aside from lunch in Dalton, Ma) to Mt. Greylock near North Adams, Ma where we plan to meet with Jeff's folks after a longer 28 mile day. So some of you may be seeing us as soon as this Friday when we drive back east for the weekend (I know, two days off, crazy stuff). We are finally stepping down our miles a bit since we are finally in a safe place for scheduling and I have to admit it has been nice being able to sit for more than ten minutes after eating before falling asleep.
Hope to see as many of you as possible when we head east! Your support for us has been one of the few constants (aside from hiking) this entire trip! Thank you so much.
PS: Thanks again to Stew's parents for the maps and food when we got to Bear Mt. and thank you Sam for the Biscotti
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Knock 'em Down
Hey everyone!
we made it through the Maryland Challenge just fine; 42 miles. The day started bright and early at 4am and we took a taxi from our hotel room back to the Patomac River to the border. We made good time thoughout the day while still taking our time to have breaks at 16.5, 28, and 36 miles into the day before the finish. On our last break we saw a single black bear in the state before hitting PenMar park, and getting hit by a thunderstorm for the last few hours before Pennsylvania (good way to end a long day). Surprisingly, it didn't seem like our hardest day, just long. After walking into the state of PA, we discovered it was getting dark and that 42 miles tires you out a bit, so we decided not to hike 5 more miles to the shelter and went back into the park where we slept on an empty ampitheator during the rest of the storm (another great hobo moment).
The first section of PA was realy nice; extremely well maintained and the shelters were some of the best we've seen on the trail. After the halfway point (temporary) sign at an old civil war jail ruin we all tried our luck at the Half gallon challenge in Pinegrove state park where you eat a half gallon of icecream to celebrate the halfway mark. Jeph got close (Moosetrack) but was stopped by a solid wall of chocolate. Stewy ate about half, but was eating very very well early in the day and didn't have the normal hunger he usually does (strawberry twirl) and I completed my cherry jubilee in 22 minutes (thinking about a gallon challenge at Katahdin).
The hiking after that was very flat with lots of field walking (beautiful) and road walking (lame-o). Still we made fiarly good time through the state waiting for the "bad" PA rocks to begin. It turns out the lore of the infamous rocks is mostly myth until the last 100 miles where the rocks get MUCH more consistant and pointy. It didn't help that we had our longest days in that section, with a few 30 mile days and a 35 mile day. The whole time in the state we caught 1.5 days of sun and the rest was rain and storms. The last storm slowed us down by a day and we had to stay in a cheap motel to dry our things since the night before we all pretty much slept completely waterlogged (I slept in my boots to keep my toes warm, funky). Some weekenders decided it would be to much to squeeze jeph and I into the 6 person shelter with the 3 of them (next time we will not be as cordial). After that though we had luck with an 8 person shelter when we fit 11 of us including a family into it to stay out of the rain. We missed most of the few views we would have seen because of the storms, but ran into lots of Rattlesnakes along the way (not many other animals because of the lax hunting laws in PA). Still out of PA in 10 days isn't bad.
At Delaware water gap we stayed in a church hostel and ate authentic philly cheesesteaks that were huge and delicious at the town's diner. We had our last 31 miles day for a while to start out NJ where it also rained the whole time. The rocks from PA did not stop there, and only yesterday decided to start letting up to normal levels. Also, most of the trails were flooded out by storms, and we spent most of our time wading through mud and tall grass becuase of the poorly maintained trails. Luckily we got word from a southbounder that a small section of trail was blowndown by a tornado that hit Unionville and we managed to avoid it by walking down the "old" AT which ran parrallel to the trail down a rural NJ road.
We're in NY for the next couple hours at the ex-mayor's house which I can only explain as one of the most refreshing experiences we have had out here. Hot shower, laundry (which we didn't get a chance to do), pasta, dessert, Budweizer, and breakfast in the morning were all we needed to feel human again after a long week and a half of trudging. There is a lot to say about the operation here and it is all hard to fit into words, but basically the old mayor decided to statt taking in hikers a few years ago to honor his wife that died some years ago. Apparently when we was mayor he recalled running into these strange quiet people that smelled and looked like hell, but seemed happier than ever and his wife said "wouldn't it be nice if we were broken down on the side of the road and someone stopped to help us out". Wouldn't it be nice? It is in honor of this notion that he decided to host over 1500 thru hikers the past two years into his home and take respite from the trail.
More to come later! We will be meeting alden and the guys at Bear Mt. in NY tommorow afternoon for our zero day.
PS-slackpacking is where you basically hike a section without your normal backpack, just the simple fod and water stuff.
we made it through the Maryland Challenge just fine; 42 miles. The day started bright and early at 4am and we took a taxi from our hotel room back to the Patomac River to the border. We made good time thoughout the day while still taking our time to have breaks at 16.5, 28, and 36 miles into the day before the finish. On our last break we saw a single black bear in the state before hitting PenMar park, and getting hit by a thunderstorm for the last few hours before Pennsylvania (good way to end a long day). Surprisingly, it didn't seem like our hardest day, just long. After walking into the state of PA, we discovered it was getting dark and that 42 miles tires you out a bit, so we decided not to hike 5 more miles to the shelter and went back into the park where we slept on an empty ampitheator during the rest of the storm (another great hobo moment).
The first section of PA was realy nice; extremely well maintained and the shelters were some of the best we've seen on the trail. After the halfway point (temporary) sign at an old civil war jail ruin we all tried our luck at the Half gallon challenge in Pinegrove state park where you eat a half gallon of icecream to celebrate the halfway mark. Jeph got close (Moosetrack) but was stopped by a solid wall of chocolate. Stewy ate about half, but was eating very very well early in the day and didn't have the normal hunger he usually does (strawberry twirl) and I completed my cherry jubilee in 22 minutes (thinking about a gallon challenge at Katahdin).
The hiking after that was very flat with lots of field walking (beautiful) and road walking (lame-o). Still we made fiarly good time through the state waiting for the "bad" PA rocks to begin. It turns out the lore of the infamous rocks is mostly myth until the last 100 miles where the rocks get MUCH more consistant and pointy. It didn't help that we had our longest days in that section, with a few 30 mile days and a 35 mile day. The whole time in the state we caught 1.5 days of sun and the rest was rain and storms. The last storm slowed us down by a day and we had to stay in a cheap motel to dry our things since the night before we all pretty much slept completely waterlogged (I slept in my boots to keep my toes warm, funky). Some weekenders decided it would be to much to squeeze jeph and I into the 6 person shelter with the 3 of them (next time we will not be as cordial). After that though we had luck with an 8 person shelter when we fit 11 of us including a family into it to stay out of the rain. We missed most of the few views we would have seen because of the storms, but ran into lots of Rattlesnakes along the way (not many other animals because of the lax hunting laws in PA). Still out of PA in 10 days isn't bad.
At Delaware water gap we stayed in a church hostel and ate authentic philly cheesesteaks that were huge and delicious at the town's diner. We had our last 31 miles day for a while to start out NJ where it also rained the whole time. The rocks from PA did not stop there, and only yesterday decided to start letting up to normal levels. Also, most of the trails were flooded out by storms, and we spent most of our time wading through mud and tall grass becuase of the poorly maintained trails. Luckily we got word from a southbounder that a small section of trail was blowndown by a tornado that hit Unionville and we managed to avoid it by walking down the "old" AT which ran parrallel to the trail down a rural NJ road.
We're in NY for the next couple hours at the ex-mayor's house which I can only explain as one of the most refreshing experiences we have had out here. Hot shower, laundry (which we didn't get a chance to do), pasta, dessert, Budweizer, and breakfast in the morning were all we needed to feel human again after a long week and a half of trudging. There is a lot to say about the operation here and it is all hard to fit into words, but basically the old mayor decided to statt taking in hikers a few years ago to honor his wife that died some years ago. Apparently when we was mayor he recalled running into these strange quiet people that smelled and looked like hell, but seemed happier than ever and his wife said "wouldn't it be nice if we were broken down on the side of the road and someone stopped to help us out". Wouldn't it be nice? It is in honor of this notion that he decided to host over 1500 thru hikers the past two years into his home and take respite from the trail.
More to come later! We will be meeting alden and the guys at Bear Mt. in NY tommorow afternoon for our zero day.
PS-slackpacking is where you basically hike a section without your normal backpack, just the simple fod and water stuff.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Zero Day in Harpers Ferry
So we're back in the ATC center in Harpers Ferry, WV about to get our photos taken for the class of 2009 thru- hikers' register. Last night we stayed at the Northgate Inn in Charlestown WV, and plan on staying there again tonight so that we can get some decent sleep for our hiker tommorow. It looks like the Maryland Challenge, or 4 state challenge (crossing through four states in a day) is going to be about 44-47 miles depending on whether we decide to push to the first shelter in PA, or just crash on the border. Either way I think we're going to be on trail at about 5am and getting in to camp maybe around 8pm (that's a total guess, I have no clue how long 44 miles takes to hike). Oh yeah, in the register we are the 694,695 and 695th thru-hikers to reach Harpers Ferry this year, although that includes section hikers and a few folks that we know yellow-blazed from Damascus where we last passed them (shame). Apparently we still have some hurdles to climb though since about 337 northbounders made it all the way yesterday. Still, I'm pretty psyched to have 50% odds against us at this point and not 80% against us when we started in Georgia. Surprisingly, the time has flown by, and the miles have gone even quicker.
The Shanandoahs were a very different experience for us since it included about 100 miles of trail with several wayside food kiosks, gas stations and day tourists. The trail also interesects with the road 23 times and follows alongside it for several miles. Actually aside from being satiated all time from the fresh wayside burgers, the Shanandoahs were not our favorite hiking. Most of the best views are actually roadside and not on the trail (which is normally 20 feet to one side of the road). However we did get to see 11 bear in the Shanandoahs and a crazy amount of very people friendly deer (or at least not people phobic). Actually one deer near camp our third night in was trying to pick a fight with stew, but realized it was probably a bad choice (we're often hungry). We also had our first 30 mile day in the range and we were actually able to celebrate with some nice cold beer hiked in from the Skyline drive parkway at the end of the day. Our last night in the Shanandoahs after the 30 mile day was possibly our oddest yet. When coming into camp for the evening we discovered we had a cute shelter cat (Mufasa) to drive away the mice. The cat looked well fed (probably from hikers) and clean, so we all thought it was great, until the cat died later that night next to stewy's head. We have not idea why, possibly a snake bite. Either way, it made for an odd breakfast the next day when I had to dispose of it, but we honored the cat by changing the shelter's name from Gravel Springs Hut to Mufasa Springs Hut. RIP mufasa.
Right after the Shanandoahs we met up with Stews parents Mr. and Mrs. Stewy at Front Royal where we were able to resupply mostly off of the extra food we brought with us to Stews relatives house in Georgia (Thanks for bringing it up to NC!)
Apparently, Virginia is not only for lovers, but also for TONS of black berries and raspberries. The last 150 miles of the state (especially the last 50) had enough berries to pick them on the fly while hiking. Snacks hav never been better.
Currently we are headed off to the outfitter for some new shoes for Stew since the ones he has right now are the bane of his existance and to try out my new superfeet insoles which hopefully I won't have to duct tape every day to keep from wearing through. Thanks for the package mom! Also, that spam is going to be the cats pajamas after a month of noodles.
The Shanandoahs were a very different experience for us since it included about 100 miles of trail with several wayside food kiosks, gas stations and day tourists. The trail also interesects with the road 23 times and follows alongside it for several miles. Actually aside from being satiated all time from the fresh wayside burgers, the Shanandoahs were not our favorite hiking. Most of the best views are actually roadside and not on the trail (which is normally 20 feet to one side of the road). However we did get to see 11 bear in the Shanandoahs and a crazy amount of very people friendly deer (or at least not people phobic). Actually one deer near camp our third night in was trying to pick a fight with stew, but realized it was probably a bad choice (we're often hungry). We also had our first 30 mile day in the range and we were actually able to celebrate with some nice cold beer hiked in from the Skyline drive parkway at the end of the day. Our last night in the Shanandoahs after the 30 mile day was possibly our oddest yet. When coming into camp for the evening we discovered we had a cute shelter cat (Mufasa) to drive away the mice. The cat looked well fed (probably from hikers) and clean, so we all thought it was great, until the cat died later that night next to stewy's head. We have not idea why, possibly a snake bite. Either way, it made for an odd breakfast the next day when I had to dispose of it, but we honored the cat by changing the shelter's name from Gravel Springs Hut to Mufasa Springs Hut. RIP mufasa.
Right after the Shanandoahs we met up with Stews parents Mr. and Mrs. Stewy at Front Royal where we were able to resupply mostly off of the extra food we brought with us to Stews relatives house in Georgia (Thanks for bringing it up to NC!)
Apparently, Virginia is not only for lovers, but also for TONS of black berries and raspberries. The last 150 miles of the state (especially the last 50) had enough berries to pick them on the fly while hiking. Snacks hav never been better.
Currently we are headed off to the outfitter for some new shoes for Stew since the ones he has right now are the bane of his existance and to try out my new superfeet insoles which hopefully I won't have to duct tape every day to keep from wearing through. Thanks for the package mom! Also, that spam is going to be the cats pajamas after a month of noodles.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Virginia...CHECK!
This is just a quick location update, but we went over the infamous viginia "rollercoaster" this morning (actually not really that bad at all, just viewless and annoying) and got into Harpers Ferry West Virginia a little before 2pm. Although we were not always hiking together today, all of us decided to run the last few miles after seeing the "Harpers Ferry National Park" sign. Now we're sitting cool in the ATC headquarters and probably off to some kind (any kind) of food! I will post up tommorow during our zero day about the rest of Virginia and what we've done in town.
PS: I wouldn't worry too much about low sodium (even though we sweat rediculously). Each one of those ramen packets has about a 1/3 daily value and 3 of those is usually a dinner. I'm pretty sure we get about 500% of the normal intake.
PS: I wouldn't worry too much about low sodium (even though we sweat rediculously). Each one of those ramen packets has about a 1/3 daily value and 3 of those is usually a dinner. I'm pretty sure we get about 500% of the normal intake.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Journey to Waynes World!
hey everyone!
Sorry I have not been able to post in a while. Most of the towns we have been through in the past couple weeks are lucky to even have a post office within hitching distance of the trail. We have had a lot of "gas station ressupplies" which is actually alright since we have discovered a tastey 50 cent hunny bun treat that packs a whopping 680 calories. Our lunches these days consist of mostly pastries, gold fish and GORP since they actually are more calorie rich than ther expensive clif bar brand counterpart.
Anyway, our walk through Virginia has been mostly sunny with some very warm days. We were told they were in the 90's, but it hard to tell when you just sweat all the time as a normal part of the day. We've been rained on three times this entire state, some of which we had to walk through some nasty thunderstorms, but that is still about 2.5 less weeks of rain that we experienced through GA, N.C, and T.N. I think Virgnia has easily been our most enjoyable hiking yet. Despite the rumors from old thru hikers though, Virginia is very much NOT flat. Especially over the last three days we have seen some climbs that could give the whie mountains a run for their money (two days ago we had hiked a range that was only slightly less vertical change than the N.H. presidential range in the same distance). Early on there was certainly a lot more field walking which was nice since we spent most of the time in N.C and Georgia walking through tunnels of endless rodadendrons. The Grayson highlands were absolutely beautiful and we spent most of the time goofing around with wild ferrel ponies and cows (caution ponies DO bite). After that we spent most of early central virginia in viewless ridgeline walks (but easy) and this past week the terrain has been much more difficult with some significant rock scrambles (our boots have certainly noticed that change).
Another change in our planning has come in the form of all you can eat diners, which are what we plan our town trips around now so that we can keep our calorie intake high (stew and I lost a bit more weight, Jeff is a couple pounds less than Hot Springs). Our mileage has significantly jumped up however, and most days this week we have been averaging 24-27 miles a day. At the foot of the Shanandoahs in Waynesboro, VA we hope to average about the same milage (maybe more since the terrain is easy) and hopefully be in Front Royal in 4 days and in Harpers Ferry in about 6 days total (the 1,000 mile mark). From there we go through 41 miles of Maryland and we're hoping to do the "Maryland Challenge" by pushing through the state all in one day, so that we cross through three states to P.A. The first town in P.A. is also called Waynesboro, so we will be dubbing this section the Journey to Waynes World: Northern Edition.
The virginia bears have been much more scarce but existant, and the deer here seem to not mind our presence at all. For some reason though, the squirells here are paranoid as hell and take off running even if your quite far away (still can't figure out why). We have run into a few more large snakes since Damascus, but not really any more Rattlers to speak of.
In health news, we are all doing a bit better than before. Stew's shins seem to be slowly returning to normal (he is hiking 25 miles a day) and Jeff and I are in good health. Really the only persistant problem seems to be the foot pain the comes from hiking all the time in very bloated feet. In short I'm very gald we have our flip flops for camp when the swelling is at its peak. However, this is something we came to expect and is very common with thru-hikers, especially ones that make it this far.
It's really great to hear from all of you and don't hesistate to give us updates on what is happening back at home. We all miss our friends and family very much. Our first planned zero day should be in Harpers Ferry, and then again some time after Pennsylvania (New York?). It's crazy to be finally seeing the end of this continent (of virginia) very soon. It still seems like we just arrived in Abingdon.
Last night I think we came our closest to hobo-dom when we camped out behind the YMCA in town in our poncho-tarp shanties (it felt pretty sweet). Since we got in we have managed to hit up a reluctant all you can eat chinese resturant (I'm not sure they knew what they were in for) and a small town AYCE pancake diner which was excellent. Also, I'm not sure how many pictures I'll be able to upload on this tiny library computer, but I'm going to try and post up as many as I can while we are in town.
By the way, what's with all the B-list celebrities dying off this month. It's so odd to be out on the trail for this whole time than hear a random boy scout leader tell us of Billy Mays' death and other people we forgot to keep tabs on. Despite Americas loss however, we must press on. See you guys in hopefully less than a week!
Sorry I have not been able to post in a while. Most of the towns we have been through in the past couple weeks are lucky to even have a post office within hitching distance of the trail. We have had a lot of "gas station ressupplies" which is actually alright since we have discovered a tastey 50 cent hunny bun treat that packs a whopping 680 calories. Our lunches these days consist of mostly pastries, gold fish and GORP since they actually are more calorie rich than ther expensive clif bar brand counterpart.
Anyway, our walk through Virginia has been mostly sunny with some very warm days. We were told they were in the 90's, but it hard to tell when you just sweat all the time as a normal part of the day. We've been rained on three times this entire state, some of which we had to walk through some nasty thunderstorms, but that is still about 2.5 less weeks of rain that we experienced through GA, N.C, and T.N. I think Virgnia has easily been our most enjoyable hiking yet. Despite the rumors from old thru hikers though, Virginia is very much NOT flat. Especially over the last three days we have seen some climbs that could give the whie mountains a run for their money (two days ago we had hiked a range that was only slightly less vertical change than the N.H. presidential range in the same distance). Early on there was certainly a lot more field walking which was nice since we spent most of the time in N.C and Georgia walking through tunnels of endless rodadendrons. The Grayson highlands were absolutely beautiful and we spent most of the time goofing around with wild ferrel ponies and cows (caution ponies DO bite). After that we spent most of early central virginia in viewless ridgeline walks (but easy) and this past week the terrain has been much more difficult with some significant rock scrambles (our boots have certainly noticed that change).
Another change in our planning has come in the form of all you can eat diners, which are what we plan our town trips around now so that we can keep our calorie intake high (stew and I lost a bit more weight, Jeff is a couple pounds less than Hot Springs). Our mileage has significantly jumped up however, and most days this week we have been averaging 24-27 miles a day. At the foot of the Shanandoahs in Waynesboro, VA we hope to average about the same milage (maybe more since the terrain is easy) and hopefully be in Front Royal in 4 days and in Harpers Ferry in about 6 days total (the 1,000 mile mark). From there we go through 41 miles of Maryland and we're hoping to do the "Maryland Challenge" by pushing through the state all in one day, so that we cross through three states to P.A. The first town in P.A. is also called Waynesboro, so we will be dubbing this section the Journey to Waynes World: Northern Edition.
The virginia bears have been much more scarce but existant, and the deer here seem to not mind our presence at all. For some reason though, the squirells here are paranoid as hell and take off running even if your quite far away (still can't figure out why). We have run into a few more large snakes since Damascus, but not really any more Rattlers to speak of.
In health news, we are all doing a bit better than before. Stew's shins seem to be slowly returning to normal (he is hiking 25 miles a day) and Jeff and I are in good health. Really the only persistant problem seems to be the foot pain the comes from hiking all the time in very bloated feet. In short I'm very gald we have our flip flops for camp when the swelling is at its peak. However, this is something we came to expect and is very common with thru-hikers, especially ones that make it this far.
It's really great to hear from all of you and don't hesistate to give us updates on what is happening back at home. We all miss our friends and family very much. Our first planned zero day should be in Harpers Ferry, and then again some time after Pennsylvania (New York?). It's crazy to be finally seeing the end of this continent (of virginia) very soon. It still seems like we just arrived in Abingdon.
Last night I think we came our closest to hobo-dom when we camped out behind the YMCA in town in our poncho-tarp shanties (it felt pretty sweet). Since we got in we have managed to hit up a reluctant all you can eat chinese resturant (I'm not sure they knew what they were in for) and a small town AYCE pancake diner which was excellent. Also, I'm not sure how many pictures I'll be able to upload on this tiny library computer, but I'm going to try and post up as many as I can while we are in town.
By the way, what's with all the B-list celebrities dying off this month. It's so odd to be out on the trail for this whole time than hear a random boy scout leader tell us of Billy Mays' death and other people we forgot to keep tabs on. Despite Americas loss however, we must press on. See you guys in hopefully less than a week!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Virginia!!!!!
Hey everyone!
We just got into Damascus, Va. today and strolled in with style with our first 26 mile day. Although the town is much smaller than we thought (Damascus is kind of "the mecca" for trail destinations behind harpers ferry of course), but it was a sight for sore eyes. Before we even got into town a man offered us a lift to wherever we needed to go, but ew already had a ride covered for once. We're now in Abbingdon, Va with Allyssa, lauren and Zhel and could not thank them enough for treating us to dinner, beds, showers, and a hot tub! I think this is one of the very few days we are actually going to sleep with full bellys (especially since we had two pizzas in town before being picked up). Our schedule is somewhat tentative right now, but we're probably going to take a "nero" nine mile day out of town to the next shelter or treat ourselves to a zero day near the border. In a couple days we should be climbing the two tallest peaks in the state and will be resupplying in Marion, Va and possibly Bland or Bastian (Bland doesn't sounds exciting).
In other news Stew got to see a Eastern Dimondback snake up close and personal when it was crossing the trail, but it didn't give us any trouble so we walked on passed it. Stew hopes to get new boots at the outfitters tommorow and hopefully this will help some of the repeated blister problems he's been having. I'm not sure what the next close thing is to looks forward to since we have not even started to look at this massive state as our next goal, but I guess Harpers Ferry will do for now. Also, for some reason the entirety of the south along the trail is not only usually dry, but lacking in Rootbeer floats. This I think is probably our newest short term goal (we've been searching since NC).
Its great to hear from so many people back at home and excellent to see our family members watching our progress and giving us so much encouragement. We can't thank everyone enough.
Lastly, to our trail friends from New jersey, you guys have an easy hike past Irwin for the most part. Pond flats is a bit long, but after that it turns to Gravy until the state line. Hope to see you all soon. I'm sure Jake is itching to up the miles anyway :)
Oh yeah, more pictures are up from the last bits of NC and TN. There should be a bunch from Stew's camera as well starting from Springer Mt.
We just got into Damascus, Va. today and strolled in with style with our first 26 mile day. Although the town is much smaller than we thought (Damascus is kind of "the mecca" for trail destinations behind harpers ferry of course), but it was a sight for sore eyes. Before we even got into town a man offered us a lift to wherever we needed to go, but ew already had a ride covered for once. We're now in Abbingdon, Va with Allyssa, lauren and Zhel and could not thank them enough for treating us to dinner, beds, showers, and a hot tub! I think this is one of the very few days we are actually going to sleep with full bellys (especially since we had two pizzas in town before being picked up). Our schedule is somewhat tentative right now, but we're probably going to take a "nero" nine mile day out of town to the next shelter or treat ourselves to a zero day near the border. In a couple days we should be climbing the two tallest peaks in the state and will be resupplying in Marion, Va and possibly Bland or Bastian (Bland doesn't sounds exciting).
In other news Stew got to see a Eastern Dimondback snake up close and personal when it was crossing the trail, but it didn't give us any trouble so we walked on passed it. Stew hopes to get new boots at the outfitters tommorow and hopefully this will help some of the repeated blister problems he's been having. I'm not sure what the next close thing is to looks forward to since we have not even started to look at this massive state as our next goal, but I guess Harpers Ferry will do for now. Also, for some reason the entirety of the south along the trail is not only usually dry, but lacking in Rootbeer floats. This I think is probably our newest short term goal (we've been searching since NC).
Its great to hear from so many people back at home and excellent to see our family members watching our progress and giving us so much encouragement. We can't thank everyone enough.
Lastly, to our trail friends from New jersey, you guys have an easy hike past Irwin for the most part. Pond flats is a bit long, but after that it turns to Gravy until the state line. Hope to see you all soon. I'm sure Jake is itching to up the miles anyway :)
Oh yeah, more pictures are up from the last bits of NC and TN. There should be a bunch from Stew's camera as well starting from Springer Mt.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
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