Friday, October 7, 2011
We made it!!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Rangeley, ME
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Saturday, September 3, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Whites!
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Tuesday, August 16, 2011
New England Fun!
At the end of Mass we got some awesome trail magic from a guy who we got a hitch into town from. He took us to the outfitter, to eat, and took us to what he thought was a better trail up mt. greylock, which was where we were headed next. The trail put us at a shelter close to the top so gravity was able to go see the sunrise in the morning. Me and austin made it up shortly after thinking the whole mountain was covered in fog. Turns out the summit was above the fog so we got a beautiful view of the top of the clouds.
A few days later we were in Vermont! We followed the long trail for about 105 miles and met alot of LT hikers. We heard about a warming hut that was on top of on of the mountains we were climbing that was also a ski mountain in the winter. We planned to stay there cause a bad storm was rolling in. By the time we got to the top the fog was so thick we could only see about 40 feet in front of us at most. And the wind was starting to kick up pretty strong. But the warming hut was full of 30 highschool kids on a trip and there was no room for us. The storm was about to hit and the sun was about to go down so we ended up opening a storage shed and climbing in there for the night with our friend Boom. Turned out to be a great place to sleep.
Vermont has turned out to be a beautiful state if we can get through all the "vermud" as its called. The trial is just covered in really deep mud in some places. Yesterday didn't help at all because it rained all day the night before then all day yesterday and into the morning today. When austin and I woke up yesterday we decided we didn't feel like walking in the rain so we took a zero in our tent. It turned out to be a great idea! We had a great time laying around and reading all day. Then this morning we packed up and headed on in the rain. By 3:00 the sun came out and we stopped to dry out everything we had. We are going to head into Hanover New Hampshire tomorrow, which means we will be in our second to last state!
O and the picture is of us as we crossed the 500 miles left mark! And us at the Vermont Mass border.
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Friday, July 22, 2011
New York, New York
Sadly Gravity is no longer hiking with us for the time being. A few days ago he got sick and was really dragging. He decided it was best to get off and get checked out by a doctor. Normally we would have gotten off with him but we were on a time limit to meet up with phlegms parents. So we parted ways for now, he should be catching up with us at some point.
The day before we met with phlegms parents we had a big day planned and all day we were worried how we were going to get the 3 miles from the trail to the motel because we were already hiking 22 miles that day. Then 5 miles from the end of the day we stopped by a road and found a cooler filled with water left by a nice couple. Water by the roads have been pretty common because water is hard to come by in this area and its been really hot. This cooler had cards in it from the people who left it with their number in it inviting hikers to come stay with them. We decided to call and ask them if they could just drive us into town. When we called they said we would be happier staying with them and they came to pick us up. They had a wonderful house and they offered for us to take showers, do our laundry, and they made us dinner. They grilled us steak asparagus and eggplant and they made extra so we could all have our fill. Their names where john and Susan and they were some of the nicest people we have met. And they refused to take any money from hikers.
The next day we took a zero and spent the day with phlegms parents. They were wonderful! They brought us up some awesome food from NYC and we had a picnic. They also drove us around and helped us run all our town errands. Phlegm was very excited to see them.
But then the heat wave hit.... the temp went up into the high 90s with a heat index of 110. It made it very hard to hike. We struggled to do miles that would normally be easy. (But we did get to hike through a section of trail that went through a zoo.) So we decided to cut our days down to very short days to wait out the heat. Today we only did 8 miles and stopped early in a field next to a road. We were able to order pizza and we had a great time relaxing for most of the afternoon. We did however get a surprise when a guy in a pick-up came and did a bunch of doughnuts in the field kicking up a huge dust cloud and driving off. It wasn't 5 minutes before he came back and said he was sorry and didn't see us before. It was very odd.
The day before we met with phlegms parents we had a big day planned and all day we were worried how we were going to get the 3 miles from the trail to the motel because we were already hiking 22 miles that day. Then 5 miles from the end of the day we stopped by a road and found a cooler filled with water left by a nice couple. Water by the roads have been pretty common because water is hard to come by in this area and its been really hot. This cooler had cards in it from the people who left it with their number in it inviting hikers to come stay with them. We decided to call and ask them if they could just drive us into town. When we called they said we would be happier staying with them and they came to pick us up. They had a wonderful house and they offered for us to take showers, do our laundry, and they made us dinner. They grilled us steak asparagus and eggplant and they made extra so we could all have our fill. Their names where john and Susan and they were some of the nicest people we have met. And they refused to take any money from hikers.
The next day we took a zero and spent the day with phlegms parents. They were wonderful! They brought us up some awesome food from NYC and we had a picnic. They also drove us around and helped us run all our town errands. Phlegm was very excited to see them.
But then the heat wave hit.... the temp went up into the high 90s with a heat index of 110. It made it very hard to hike. We struggled to do miles that would normally be easy. (But we did get to hike through a section of trail that went through a zoo.) So we decided to cut our days down to very short days to wait out the heat. Today we only did 8 miles and stopped early in a field next to a road. We were able to order pizza and we had a great time relaxing for most of the afternoon. We did however get a surprise when a guy in a pick-up came and did a bunch of doughnuts in the field kicking up a huge dust cloud and driving off. It wasn't 5 minutes before he came back and said he was sorry and didn't see us before. It was very odd.
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Friday, July 15, 2011
We love New Jersey!
First day in NJ and I saw a bear! Austin didn't get to see it tho cause he was a bit ahead of me. But it has been beautiful so far! Wonderful views, nice lakes, pretty little ponds.
We camped at Mahican Outdoor Center lastnight and tonight we are at Bren Anderson Shelter. Making our way to meet up with parents :)
We camped at Mahican Outdoor Center lastnight and tonight we are at Bren Anderson Shelter. Making our way to meet up with parents :)
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Thursday, July 14, 2011
finally leaving pa!
But the past week we have really pushed huge miles and wore ourselves out. So we took a zero to recover and today we are hiking out of PA finally! The trail has been really rocky and really rough so everyone can't wait to get into new jersey! We hear there are lots of bears there so we will keep you posted!
Here is a funny pic for you to enjoy.
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Thursday, June 30, 2011
Some pictures!
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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Pizza for lunch!
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Monday, June 27, 2011
No more Virginia!
Well we finally made it through VA, WV, and now today through MD into PA! Only did 15.5 miles out of Harpers Ferry to Rocky Run Shelter and 16 yesterday to Ensign Nowell Shelter to some trail magic! Going between 16 and 18 today either to! Antietam Shelter or Tumbling Run Shelter. Then the next day to re supply. Probably be in Duncannon on the 2 of July hoping to get to chill with Night! That's it for today. Austin (me) will try to update a little more than Veronica has been, no promises though. Oh and also AWESOME time with the parents coming to visit! Well time to eat breakfast and get moving.
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Monday, June 13, 2011
Heading to the Shannies!
The last few days we have been really trying to push it hard it get to Waynesboro, which is the beginning of the Shenandoah national park. One guy in our group, english chatter, was getting picked up there on saturday so we were trying to make it there in time. Me and austin were also trying to make sure we were far enough to meet Kenzie who is flying in on Tuesday!
We were right on schedule to make it there on time but the heat made for some tough days. We had some pretty tough climbs which made the days harder. We pushed it really late our first night after aqua blazing cause we got a late start after it took so long to get a hitch out of town. We ended up having to set up camp right as it was getting dark down by a lake. Our spot was pretty but not a very goodnight sleep. Gravity pushed on ahead and went to the next shelter.
He was gone by the time we made it there the next morning and he left us a note saying he was going past the shelter we had planned to meet him that next day. But when we made it to the shelter that night he strolled in and surprised us. Turns out he changed his mind and went into town to get so treats and came back. So we had been ahead of him most of the day.
The next morning we got up late and hiked in to a bed and breakfast that offered a free lunch to hikers. The place was amazing!! It was so cute and the food was awesome so we worked out a deal with them. They dropped us off at the trail and we hiked 10 more miles then they picked us up and we stayed with them. Then the next morning they took us back to the trail and we hiked 25 miles with just day packs and they met us at the end of the day and gave us our big packs. The room we stayed in was amazing, complete with a/c and a tv. And shower and laundry was mandatory. Dinner and breakfast were huge and incredible! I think it was our biggest breakfast on the trail so far.
Slacking on friday was wonderful. We took a couple blue blazed routes that we heard good things about and we weren't let down. But of course it didn't rain until we got our full packs on and had to hike 2 more miles to the shelter.... then it poured! Conveniently stopping when we got to the shelter.
That shelter put us 5 miles outside of Waynesboro for the next day. It was an easy hike in the next morning. Chatter went in early and the rest of us hiked in together and met him at mcdonalds. Everyone there kept staring at us, like normal. We are quite amusing with our huge packs and large amounts of food.
Gravity has a friend that lives not far outside of Waynesboro who came and picked us all up (except chatter who had to go to a wedding) and took us back to her apartment for the weekend. She was so wonderful to us. We ended up spending a zero with her. We got to watch all the movies we have been talking about and wanting to see, got to eat tons of food, went swimming at her apartment, got to all sleep in real beds, and she even took us out and bought us all dinner. It was one of our best zeros yet. Thank you beth!
Today she drove me and austin back to the railhead and the other boys back to town. We had to split up which was really sad. The two other boys were meeting up with some other hiker friends to go aqua blazing in the shenandoahs. And me and austin pushed on on foot to meet my sister in elkton on Wednesday and hike. We only need to do 14 mile days to be there on time but we had such a nice day we ended up doing 20 no problem. The heat has finally died down and it was actually cool today for a change. It suppose to stay that way for the next few days too. But we have officially started the shenandoahs and so far we are fans. Can't wait to see the rest. And to get to see family!! Kenzie on Wednesday and Austins parents shortly after that! Its gonna be a fun couple of weeks, but we are missing our friends. Hopefully we can catch them soon!
We were right on schedule to make it there on time but the heat made for some tough days. We had some pretty tough climbs which made the days harder. We pushed it really late our first night after aqua blazing cause we got a late start after it took so long to get a hitch out of town. We ended up having to set up camp right as it was getting dark down by a lake. Our spot was pretty but not a very goodnight sleep. Gravity pushed on ahead and went to the next shelter.
He was gone by the time we made it there the next morning and he left us a note saying he was going past the shelter we had planned to meet him that next day. But when we made it to the shelter that night he strolled in and surprised us. Turns out he changed his mind and went into town to get so treats and came back. So we had been ahead of him most of the day.
The next morning we got up late and hiked in to a bed and breakfast that offered a free lunch to hikers. The place was amazing!! It was so cute and the food was awesome so we worked out a deal with them. They dropped us off at the trail and we hiked 10 more miles then they picked us up and we stayed with them. Then the next morning they took us back to the trail and we hiked 25 miles with just day packs and they met us at the end of the day and gave us our big packs. The room we stayed in was amazing, complete with a/c and a tv. And shower and laundry was mandatory. Dinner and breakfast were huge and incredible! I think it was our biggest breakfast on the trail so far.
Slacking on friday was wonderful. We took a couple blue blazed routes that we heard good things about and we weren't let down. But of course it didn't rain until we got our full packs on and had to hike 2 more miles to the shelter.... then it poured! Conveniently stopping when we got to the shelter.
That shelter put us 5 miles outside of Waynesboro for the next day. It was an easy hike in the next morning. Chatter went in early and the rest of us hiked in together and met him at mcdonalds. Everyone there kept staring at us, like normal. We are quite amusing with our huge packs and large amounts of food.
Gravity has a friend that lives not far outside of Waynesboro who came and picked us all up (except chatter who had to go to a wedding) and took us back to her apartment for the weekend. She was so wonderful to us. We ended up spending a zero with her. We got to watch all the movies we have been talking about and wanting to see, got to eat tons of food, went swimming at her apartment, got to all sleep in real beds, and she even took us out and bought us all dinner. It was one of our best zeros yet. Thank you beth!
Today she drove me and austin back to the railhead and the other boys back to town. We had to split up which was really sad. The two other boys were meeting up with some other hiker friends to go aqua blazing in the shenandoahs. And me and austin pushed on on foot to meet my sister in elkton on Wednesday and hike. We only need to do 14 mile days to be there on time but we had such a nice day we ended up doing 20 no problem. The heat has finally died down and it was actually cool today for a change. It suppose to stay that way for the next few days too. But we have officially started the shenandoahs and so far we are fans. Can't wait to see the rest. And to get to see family!! Kenzie on Wednesday and Austins parents shortly after that! Its gonna be a fun couple of weeks, but we are missing our friends. Hopefully we can catch them soon!
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Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Aqua Blaze!
From then on we had a blast. There were alot of class two rapids and one class three. They were all pretty exciting but the class three was the best. We all made it through without tipping except one of the guys with us named shotgun. He tried twice and tipped both times. All the pictures are of us going down the class three.
When we were done we all agreed that we could have done the 26 miles. The 16 were easy and we took our time going down the river. We are pretty sure that we are in alot better shape then we think we are. Even tho we spend all our time building our lower body, our core is really strong and you use that alot in kayaking. We are gonna try to do it again if it works out. Hopefully :)
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Monday, June 6, 2011
Quick recap
So I want to try to start posting more frequently but I am so far behind that I've been putting it off. So instead of skipping ahead im going to do a fast recap of everything.
So first day out from hardcore it was just the four of us again and we started at noon. By the time we hiked 3 miles it was raining pretty hard so we stopped short in a really nice shelter and tried to stay warm. I packed out a cheese danish and it made for a wonderful breakfast.
The next day we hiked a decently long day to get to the partnership shelter. It was pretty much right on the road and pizzahut delivered there. It was amazing!
The next day we had to go into town to resupply and we ended up getting a shuttle that cost 50 cents into town. The shuttle didn't go back to the trailhead till 3 so we got all you can eat chinese and hung out at the library on the internet. When we got back to the trail we just hiked 7 miles to the next shelter before dark.
The next day we hiked an 18 mile day but for some reason it took us forever to get their. We did spend a long time in a field drying out all our wet gear. But we still should have been able to make it sooner then we did. We didn't get into camp till around 8.
We hated getting in that late so we got up early and hiked. It was a hard day tho so it still took us a good amount of time. We hit a like bit of trail magic near the end of the day which was a spirit lifter (much needed). When we got to the shelter our friend english chatter was waiting for us. He had done hardcore with us but he was 10 miles ahead of us when we got back on and he had been doing slow days waiting for us to caught up. We all decided to make it official and inducted him as an official member of our group. So our group of four grew to a group of five.
The next morning was Austins birthday!!! It also happened to be gravity's birthday as well. We hiked 14 miles into Bland VA. And it definitely lived up to its name. But we were able to get DQ blizzards and pack out subway sandwiches. We decided to put the big birthday celebration off a few days until we could get into pearisburg.
The next day after bland we planned on doing a 24 mile day. So me and austin got up as early as we could and hiked hard for the morning. We were able to make it 17 miles before we stopped for lunch at a suspension bridge. The bridge made me think of my dad so I took a picture for him (see above). Despite our long break at the bridge we still made it to the shelter at a decent time feeling pretty good considering our hike.
Next day we hiked 17 miles into pearisburg. Austin and I were able to make it early enough to make it to the post office. It was a good thing we had reservations because the motel was fully booked. We got the last two rooms they had the perfect amount of beds for us. No one had to sleep on the floor like we had planned.
Pearisburg was a wonderful place to celebrate their birthdays. There was a great mexican food restaurant right across the street from our motel. And we had a big flat screen in our room (no one else did). Austin was in heaven. After taking a day off we stayed until 3:30 and then hiked out 7 miles to rice field shelter.
The next day we hiked out in the morning to do a 16 mile day. Right after we stopped for second breakfast it started to rain, so we packed up early and started hiking again. We stopped to take a break after doing 12 miles and the sun had come out. While we were hanging out in the shelter we saw a sign for a hiker feed the next day a mile and a half away. We also realized that we would be in Catawba on memorial day and we wouldn't be able to get our mail drops. So we needed to waste a day anyways. So we cut our day short and spent the next day at the hiker feed.
The hiker feed was an all day cook out at the captain's house. In order to get to his house you had to sit on a low hanging swing above the river and zip line across. It was awesome. Austin spent a good part of the day playing on it. They also had a bunch of contest for all the hikers. Our group won the water relay race and austin got second in the bear bag toss. In the evening they had a blue grass band come play. But we spent most of the night playing corn hole! Me and gravity played against these two guys until we finally beat them.
The next day we hiked 18 miles to laurel creek shelter which was beautiful cause it was hidden in among a bunch a blooming mountain laurels. There weren't many people there when we went to bed but a bunch of friends showed up at 11 after we had gone to bed.
The next day we got up early to hike a big 22.5 day but it was sooo hot. The heat index was over a 100 and we had a rough time. So we made it to a shelter for lunch and decided to wait out the hot part of the day. We took over a 3 hour lunch break just relaxing and reading in the shade. When we set out to do the last miles it was still really hot and we struggled going up the next big mountain. At the top was a memorial for the most decorated work war two vet (who happened to be from Texas) he died in a plane crash near the mountain. Since it was memorial day we thought it fitting to hike up and look at it. It was pretty cool. When we hiked down the mountain we made it to a road crossing near a creek with wonderful camping sites so we decided to stop there for the night cutting our day short by one mile.
The next day we hiked 8 miles into Catawba. The last section of it however was on a high rocky ridge called dragon's tooth. It was a really cool part of trail but also very difficult. It was pretty much a rock scramble all the way down. There were some portions we had to pretty much jump down. I had the most trouble cause of my short little legs. But it was still fun. When we made it to the road we went and stopped in at a hostel .3 off the trail. It was pretty much a 3 car garage with some couches and a few army cots to sleep on. It was way to hot to keep hiking so we stayed the night. We played alot of cards and had a great night.
The next day our gravity was worried that he might have gardia so we all took a zero to make sure he was ok. We were able to get a cheap shuttle into dalevile and get some food and hang out at the outfitter. Their was a Kroger right next door so me and chatter (also from cincinnati) made everyone try graeters icecream and we got the fixings for skyline chili dip and made it when we got back to the hostel. It was amazing!
The next day gravity was feeling much better so we hiked out. We hiked up mcafees nob by lunch time and took a 4 hour break because it was so wonderful up there. It was so beautiful (see picture number two) I had fun taking alot of photos while austin had fun climbing on the rocks. After our break we hiked another 5 miles to tinker cliffs. There we cooked dinner, played some cards, and watched the sunset. Then we hiked as fast as we could down another mile to the shelter. It was dark when we got there and no one was there so we ended up setting our tent up in the shelter so we wouldn't get attacked by bugs.
The next day we hiked 9 miles into dalevile. We planned on just resupplying and then hiking another 5 miles to the next shelter. But we were really hot and heard about a cheep hotel with a pool. So we made a reservation, but as we checked in found out the pool was closed.
The next day we hiked out and when we got to the next shelter found out it had a crazy water source. It was a cistern that collected ran water from the roof of the shelter. The water was yellow and smelled awful so we didn't drink it. But it was still cool. We also met 2 Amish women starting to hike the trail.
The next day we hiked 9 miles to an awesome swimming hole that we played around in for awhile. There we met a trail angel who told us there was a forest fire up the trail and they had that sectioned closed off and rerouted. We figured the reroute went on a near by road and none of us wanted to do that. We were joking that we wish we could just aqua blaze that part (aqua blaze= canoe the river near the trail). The trail angel said he knew of a place to do it and offered to take us into town. The canoe place even let us camp by the river for free.
Well that got me all caught up. Sorry it wasn't very detailed. But that's what we have been up to!
So first day out from hardcore it was just the four of us again and we started at noon. By the time we hiked 3 miles it was raining pretty hard so we stopped short in a really nice shelter and tried to stay warm. I packed out a cheese danish and it made for a wonderful breakfast.
The next day we hiked a decently long day to get to the partnership shelter. It was pretty much right on the road and pizzahut delivered there. It was amazing!
The next day we had to go into town to resupply and we ended up getting a shuttle that cost 50 cents into town. The shuttle didn't go back to the trailhead till 3 so we got all you can eat chinese and hung out at the library on the internet. When we got back to the trail we just hiked 7 miles to the next shelter before dark.
The next day we hiked an 18 mile day but for some reason it took us forever to get their. We did spend a long time in a field drying out all our wet gear. But we still should have been able to make it sooner then we did. We didn't get into camp till around 8.
We hated getting in that late so we got up early and hiked. It was a hard day tho so it still took us a good amount of time. We hit a like bit of trail magic near the end of the day which was a spirit lifter (much needed). When we got to the shelter our friend english chatter was waiting for us. He had done hardcore with us but he was 10 miles ahead of us when we got back on and he had been doing slow days waiting for us to caught up. We all decided to make it official and inducted him as an official member of our group. So our group of four grew to a group of five.
The next morning was Austins birthday!!! It also happened to be gravity's birthday as well. We hiked 14 miles into Bland VA. And it definitely lived up to its name. But we were able to get DQ blizzards and pack out subway sandwiches. We decided to put the big birthday celebration off a few days until we could get into pearisburg.
The next day after bland we planned on doing a 24 mile day. So me and austin got up as early as we could and hiked hard for the morning. We were able to make it 17 miles before we stopped for lunch at a suspension bridge. The bridge made me think of my dad so I took a picture for him (see above). Despite our long break at the bridge we still made it to the shelter at a decent time feeling pretty good considering our hike.
Next day we hiked 17 miles into pearisburg. Austin and I were able to make it early enough to make it to the post office. It was a good thing we had reservations because the motel was fully booked. We got the last two rooms they had the perfect amount of beds for us. No one had to sleep on the floor like we had planned.
Pearisburg was a wonderful place to celebrate their birthdays. There was a great mexican food restaurant right across the street from our motel. And we had a big flat screen in our room (no one else did). Austin was in heaven. After taking a day off we stayed until 3:30 and then hiked out 7 miles to rice field shelter.
The next day we hiked out in the morning to do a 16 mile day. Right after we stopped for second breakfast it started to rain, so we packed up early and started hiking again. We stopped to take a break after doing 12 miles and the sun had come out. While we were hanging out in the shelter we saw a sign for a hiker feed the next day a mile and a half away. We also realized that we would be in Catawba on memorial day and we wouldn't be able to get our mail drops. So we needed to waste a day anyways. So we cut our day short and spent the next day at the hiker feed.
The hiker feed was an all day cook out at the captain's house. In order to get to his house you had to sit on a low hanging swing above the river and zip line across. It was awesome. Austin spent a good part of the day playing on it. They also had a bunch of contest for all the hikers. Our group won the water relay race and austin got second in the bear bag toss. In the evening they had a blue grass band come play. But we spent most of the night playing corn hole! Me and gravity played against these two guys until we finally beat them.
The next day we hiked 18 miles to laurel creek shelter which was beautiful cause it was hidden in among a bunch a blooming mountain laurels. There weren't many people there when we went to bed but a bunch of friends showed up at 11 after we had gone to bed.
The next day we got up early to hike a big 22.5 day but it was sooo hot. The heat index was over a 100 and we had a rough time. So we made it to a shelter for lunch and decided to wait out the hot part of the day. We took over a 3 hour lunch break just relaxing and reading in the shade. When we set out to do the last miles it was still really hot and we struggled going up the next big mountain. At the top was a memorial for the most decorated work war two vet (who happened to be from Texas) he died in a plane crash near the mountain. Since it was memorial day we thought it fitting to hike up and look at it. It was pretty cool. When we hiked down the mountain we made it to a road crossing near a creek with wonderful camping sites so we decided to stop there for the night cutting our day short by one mile.
The next day we hiked 8 miles into Catawba. The last section of it however was on a high rocky ridge called dragon's tooth. It was a really cool part of trail but also very difficult. It was pretty much a rock scramble all the way down. There were some portions we had to pretty much jump down. I had the most trouble cause of my short little legs. But it was still fun. When we made it to the road we went and stopped in at a hostel .3 off the trail. It was pretty much a 3 car garage with some couches and a few army cots to sleep on. It was way to hot to keep hiking so we stayed the night. We played alot of cards and had a great night.
The next day our gravity was worried that he might have gardia so we all took a zero to make sure he was ok. We were able to get a cheap shuttle into dalevile and get some food and hang out at the outfitter. Their was a Kroger right next door so me and chatter (also from cincinnati) made everyone try graeters icecream and we got the fixings for skyline chili dip and made it when we got back to the hostel. It was amazing!
The next day gravity was feeling much better so we hiked out. We hiked up mcafees nob by lunch time and took a 4 hour break because it was so wonderful up there. It was so beautiful (see picture number two) I had fun taking alot of photos while austin had fun climbing on the rocks. After our break we hiked another 5 miles to tinker cliffs. There we cooked dinner, played some cards, and watched the sunset. Then we hiked as fast as we could down another mile to the shelter. It was dark when we got there and no one was there so we ended up setting our tent up in the shelter so we wouldn't get attacked by bugs.
The next day we hiked 9 miles into dalevile. We planned on just resupplying and then hiking another 5 miles to the next shelter. But we were really hot and heard about a cheep hotel with a pool. So we made a reservation, but as we checked in found out the pool was closed.
The next day we hiked out and when we got to the next shelter found out it had a crazy water source. It was a cistern that collected ran water from the roof of the shelter. The water was yellow and smelled awful so we didn't drink it. But it was still cool. We also met 2 Amish women starting to hike the trail.
The next day we hiked 9 miles to an awesome swimming hole that we played around in for awhile. There we met a trail angel who told us there was a forest fire up the trail and they had that sectioned closed off and rerouted. We figured the reroute went on a near by road and none of us wanted to do that. We were joking that we wish we could just aqua blaze that part (aqua blaze= canoe the river near the trail). The trail angel said he knew of a place to do it and offered to take us into town. The canoe place even let us camp by the river for free.
Well that got me all caught up. Sorry it wasn't very detailed. But that's what we have been up to!
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Sunday, June 5, 2011
Hardcore
So after trail days we signed up for something called hardcore trail crew. They picked us up bright and early Sunday morning and took us off to do trail work on the AT. There were two sections of trail that we had already hiked that they wanted to reroute to make it easier. Our whole group went and some of our other friends that we had been hiking with also signed up.
The first day they took us to a mountain called pond flats. They had the new section of trail broken up into ten sections for crews to do. Since we got there first they assigned us sections 1 and 2. Those sections happened to be at the top of the mountain. So we all grabbed two tools and walked 2 and a half to 3 miles to the top of the mountain to start working. We spent the rest of the day digging new trail. It was really hard work but we had a good time. Our sections were suppose to be the easiest so they gave the group of six of us two sections and they didn't give us a rock bar cause they said there were no rocks to dig out. Turns out they were wrong... a few inches under the duff it was nothing but rocks. Austin and gravity had fun seeing who could dig the rocks out the best. We said they were having a "man off." We did really good for what we had but we didn't finish our sections.
The second day we were going to go work on Rowan mountain however it was going to be below freeze, and there was more work to be done on pond flats so we went back and finished what we started. Since we were there to finish the trail we all got to paint a white blaze, which was so exciting.
Both nights we stayed at the hostel owned by bob peoples (who is the man in charge of hardcore). They fed us both night which was amazing. The second night was way better because it was an all you can eat spaghetti dinner. Another perk about doing hardcore was they made sure everyone had a ride back to were they stoled on the trail. So Wednesday morning he piled into the back of a covered pickup and we made it back to the trail by noon.
We were beat from two days of hard manual labor, and were sore in places that weren't used to getting worked out with hiking. But it was worth it. :)
The first day they took us to a mountain called pond flats. They had the new section of trail broken up into ten sections for crews to do. Since we got there first they assigned us sections 1 and 2. Those sections happened to be at the top of the mountain. So we all grabbed two tools and walked 2 and a half to 3 miles to the top of the mountain to start working. We spent the rest of the day digging new trail. It was really hard work but we had a good time. Our sections were suppose to be the easiest so they gave the group of six of us two sections and they didn't give us a rock bar cause they said there were no rocks to dig out. Turns out they were wrong... a few inches under the duff it was nothing but rocks. Austin and gravity had fun seeing who could dig the rocks out the best. We said they were having a "man off." We did really good for what we had but we didn't finish our sections.
The second day we were going to go work on Rowan mountain however it was going to be below freeze, and there was more work to be done on pond flats so we went back and finished what we started. Since we were there to finish the trail we all got to paint a white blaze, which was so exciting.
Both nights we stayed at the hostel owned by bob peoples (who is the man in charge of hardcore). They fed us both night which was amazing. The second night was way better because it was an all you can eat spaghetti dinner. Another perk about doing hardcore was they made sure everyone had a ride back to were they stoled on the trail. So Wednesday morning he piled into the back of a covered pickup and we made it back to the trail by noon.
We were beat from two days of hard manual labor, and were sore in places that weren't used to getting worked out with hiking. But it was worth it. :)
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Thursday, June 2, 2011
Lightning bolt mohawk!
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Trail Days!
What to say about trail days...
Trail days is pretty much a three day party that the town of Damascus through for all the hikers, past and present. Most hikers within 100 miles north or south of damascus come in for it, not to mention all the old through hikers and gear reps that come.
The activities started Thursday morning which is one reason we pushed so hard to get in Wednesday night. We woke up early and went and got in line for meal tickets the baptist church was giving out. You needed a ticket to be able to get the amazing dinner they cooked that night, and we happened to be the first in line. After we got our tickets we walked down the street and these older ladies sitting on a porch called to us and asked if we wanted coffee cookies and hats. Turns out they were a craft group with the church and had crocheted a ton of hats for all the hikers. By the next day all the hikers in town were sporting their new hats. Later that afternoon the held an eating contest and of course our group of guys were all over it. The way they did it was everyone who wanted to participate put their name in a hat and they drew 8 people for the hotdog part and 8 people for the sheet cake part. There were a ton of people to sign up but the third name to be called was Austin's. Then right after him both phlegm and gravity were called up along with another guy we have hiked on and off with named Milo. There was a table set up on a flatbed truck with a bunch of chairs on one side for them to sit. They were all big guys and had trouble sitting shoulder to shoulder. They each got 8 hotdogs and whoever finished the most in 3 minutes won. Right off the bat phlegm started to choke but quickly recovered. By the end of the 3 minutes he was crowned the winner after eating 5 and a half of the hotdogs, our friend Milo got second, a guy we didn't know got third, and austin and gravity tied for fourth eating 4 hotdogs. Phlegm won a 7 ounce hammock that we ended up hanging up in a tree for the rest of trail days (see pic) I arson got some great pictures of the eating contest but they aren't on my phone. The rest of Thursday we hung out around the church and used the internet cafe they had set up and took showers in the disaster relief shower trailer the church had set up behind it. And that night we ate the biggest most amazing home cooked meal ever!
On friday we got up and walked around a festival like area that they had set up in the park. One side was all the topical festival vendor tents with every kind of crafted item. Then in the middle was all the festival foods like funnel cake and roasted corn. But past that was all the vendors for the hikers. That weren't major brands of gear for the most part, but alot of smaller companies selling very creative and interesting things. We had a blast walking around. The major gear companies had tests set up just outside of town where they had sectioned off an area for the hikers to stay. However that wasn't to sell gear but repair any gear that had a problem with it. Austin got his treeing poles fixed and a hole in his kilt sown up.
Saturday a friend that we had made before the smokies that isn't hiking the trail, grey fox, came to hang out with us for the night. We met up with him at one of the diners and talked for a long time until the hiker parade started at 2. Our whole group had bought ridiculous clothes at the thrift store for a dollar to wear during the parade so we ran back to our tents to change and missed the beginning of the parade but jumped in when we could. Apparently a long time ago when the parade was going on some of the locals thought the hikers smelled so bad that they trough water at them and started a tradition that during the parade all the locals who turn out to watch us walk down the street bring water balloons or supersoakers and it just turns into the biggest cross town water fight. We had a blast catching balloons and throwing them back at the locals. We were soaked by the end but had tons of fun. Our friend grey fox was gonna stay at tent city that night and since we had to be there early the next morning anyways we packed up our tents and moved to tent city for the night. When we got there the gear tents were doing some give-aways and having some contests. Our friend gravity won a 4 man non-backpacking tent from the raffle. Pretty cool but very un practical for what we are doing and it turned out to be a little bit of a pain to send it home, cool none the less. Austin spent most of the time hanging around the Princeton tec tent because they were having a competition that he turned out to be very good at. Its kinda hard to explain so stay with me... there was a long mat laid on the ground about 10 or more feet long, the object was to see who could set a nalgene waterbottle the farthest on the mat without touching the mat. So what most guys would do is take two nalgenes and walk it out with their hands until they were in push-up positions with all their weight on the waterbottles (making sure their right hand was centered on their chest) then put all their weight on their right hand and stretch with their left and place the waterbottle with their finger tips as far as they could. Now the hardest part of this whole thing wasn't doing all that but having the strength to be able to push you whole body back up to standing with only the one bottle left. It was much like doing a diamond push-up but with your hand glancing on top of a waterbottle. But of course austin rocked this competition. (See pictures) he didn't have any trouble at all with the standing part at the end (which is where most failed) the only thing he had trouble with is the fact that there is a maximum for how far it is physically possible to stretch depending on how tall you are. Height isn't everything tho and austin was beating alot of guys talked then him and was in first place for a long time, until right at the end a guy who had austin beat by a good 4 inches came and passed him. But austin still won second place and ended up winning an awesome headlamp. O yea and I was the only girl that was able to complete the challenge. Most girls tried to do it the same as the guys but our center of gravity is different. So I balanced with the bottle at my stomach and was able to do it. No prize for me tho cause I was still a good 2 feet too short. The rest of the night was fun baning out with grey fox but we went to bed early cause we had to be up early for hard core trail crew! But that's another post for another night! And I promise im trying to caught up! So busy! But that was pretty much trail days :)
Trail days is pretty much a three day party that the town of Damascus through for all the hikers, past and present. Most hikers within 100 miles north or south of damascus come in for it, not to mention all the old through hikers and gear reps that come.
The activities started Thursday morning which is one reason we pushed so hard to get in Wednesday night. We woke up early and went and got in line for meal tickets the baptist church was giving out. You needed a ticket to be able to get the amazing dinner they cooked that night, and we happened to be the first in line. After we got our tickets we walked down the street and these older ladies sitting on a porch called to us and asked if we wanted coffee cookies and hats. Turns out they were a craft group with the church and had crocheted a ton of hats for all the hikers. By the next day all the hikers in town were sporting their new hats. Later that afternoon the held an eating contest and of course our group of guys were all over it. The way they did it was everyone who wanted to participate put their name in a hat and they drew 8 people for the hotdog part and 8 people for the sheet cake part. There were a ton of people to sign up but the third name to be called was Austin's. Then right after him both phlegm and gravity were called up along with another guy we have hiked on and off with named Milo. There was a table set up on a flatbed truck with a bunch of chairs on one side for them to sit. They were all big guys and had trouble sitting shoulder to shoulder. They each got 8 hotdogs and whoever finished the most in 3 minutes won. Right off the bat phlegm started to choke but quickly recovered. By the end of the 3 minutes he was crowned the winner after eating 5 and a half of the hotdogs, our friend Milo got second, a guy we didn't know got third, and austin and gravity tied for fourth eating 4 hotdogs. Phlegm won a 7 ounce hammock that we ended up hanging up in a tree for the rest of trail days (see pic) I arson got some great pictures of the eating contest but they aren't on my phone. The rest of Thursday we hung out around the church and used the internet cafe they had set up and took showers in the disaster relief shower trailer the church had set up behind it. And that night we ate the biggest most amazing home cooked meal ever!
On friday we got up and walked around a festival like area that they had set up in the park. One side was all the topical festival vendor tents with every kind of crafted item. Then in the middle was all the festival foods like funnel cake and roasted corn. But past that was all the vendors for the hikers. That weren't major brands of gear for the most part, but alot of smaller companies selling very creative and interesting things. We had a blast walking around. The major gear companies had tests set up just outside of town where they had sectioned off an area for the hikers to stay. However that wasn't to sell gear but repair any gear that had a problem with it. Austin got his treeing poles fixed and a hole in his kilt sown up.
Saturday a friend that we had made before the smokies that isn't hiking the trail, grey fox, came to hang out with us for the night. We met up with him at one of the diners and talked for a long time until the hiker parade started at 2. Our whole group had bought ridiculous clothes at the thrift store for a dollar to wear during the parade so we ran back to our tents to change and missed the beginning of the parade but jumped in when we could. Apparently a long time ago when the parade was going on some of the locals thought the hikers smelled so bad that they trough water at them and started a tradition that during the parade all the locals who turn out to watch us walk down the street bring water balloons or supersoakers and it just turns into the biggest cross town water fight. We had a blast catching balloons and throwing them back at the locals. We were soaked by the end but had tons of fun. Our friend grey fox was gonna stay at tent city that night and since we had to be there early the next morning anyways we packed up our tents and moved to tent city for the night. When we got there the gear tents were doing some give-aways and having some contests. Our friend gravity won a 4 man non-backpacking tent from the raffle. Pretty cool but very un practical for what we are doing and it turned out to be a little bit of a pain to send it home, cool none the less. Austin spent most of the time hanging around the Princeton tec tent because they were having a competition that he turned out to be very good at. Its kinda hard to explain so stay with me... there was a long mat laid on the ground about 10 or more feet long, the object was to see who could set a nalgene waterbottle the farthest on the mat without touching the mat. So what most guys would do is take two nalgenes and walk it out with their hands until they were in push-up positions with all their weight on the waterbottles (making sure their right hand was centered on their chest) then put all their weight on their right hand and stretch with their left and place the waterbottle with their finger tips as far as they could. Now the hardest part of this whole thing wasn't doing all that but having the strength to be able to push you whole body back up to standing with only the one bottle left. It was much like doing a diamond push-up but with your hand glancing on top of a waterbottle. But of course austin rocked this competition. (See pictures) he didn't have any trouble at all with the standing part at the end (which is where most failed) the only thing he had trouble with is the fact that there is a maximum for how far it is physically possible to stretch depending on how tall you are. Height isn't everything tho and austin was beating alot of guys talked then him and was in first place for a long time, until right at the end a guy who had austin beat by a good 4 inches came and passed him. But austin still won second place and ended up winning an awesome headlamp. O yea and I was the only girl that was able to complete the challenge. Most girls tried to do it the same as the guys but our center of gravity is different. So I balanced with the bottle at my stomach and was able to do it. No prize for me tho cause I was still a good 2 feet too short. The rest of the night was fun baning out with grey fox but we went to bed early cause we had to be up early for hard core trail crew! But that's another post for another night! And I promise im trying to caught up! So busy! But that was pretty much trail days :)
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Friday, May 20, 2011
Damascus Adventure!
So the last I posted we were just leaving the hostel with my new shoes. The shoes took a few days to finally start feeling good but I think I got a good feel for them now.
The hostel was about 50 miles outside of Damascus Virginia which is where trail days was being held. Trail days is pretty much a three day party that the town holds every year for the hikers. Everything in the town pretty much opened up for us and was wonderful. But more on that later, all you need to know is for days and weeks leading up to it hikers from about a 100 mile radius of damascus plan on how to be there for trail days. We wanted to get to damascus and pass it before trail days started so when it was over we could get a ride up to where we left off and it wouldn't be as crowded as hiking out of the city with everyone else. So we had 50 miles to get into town so naturally we did 10 miles, 21 miles, 19 miles, in three days. (O my friends have corrected me.. it was 10.4, 21.5 and 18.5.... I stand corrected) They were some big days but they were fairly uneventful. On one of the days tho me and austin were walking along fairly quickly when I suddenly came to a complete stop. Austin almost ran right into me and was really confused. The reason I stopped was because there was a 3 foot black snack stretched out down the trail. I had to back peddle little so I didn't step on it. Luckily we walked up on the tail end. I used my trekking pole and poked it in the tail and encouraged it to move.Austin chased it little more until it got far enough away. And then less then 10 minutes later I stepped right next to one on the trail and I didn't know it was there until it scurried away. It scared me and I jumped pretty high and austin just said "do I need to walk in front!" Other then that the only exciting thing was we did cross into Virginia! That means we are done with 3 states :) (see photo from other post) Too bad we wont cross our next state line for 700 miles. It is a third of the trial..
When we got into damascus we called a number in the guide book and asked if he had room for us to stay at what we thought was a hostel or motel like place. But after I talked to him on the phone I got the impression that it was more like a shack in his backyard, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. It turned out it was a finished guest house that was just a tiny room with a full bathroom. All it had was a full sized bed and a bunk-bed set. It was wonderful! It was the cutest place ever. It barely fit all of us and our gear but was perfect! They told us if we stayed the another night they would give us a great deal. So we stayed another day to figure out what we were going to do about trail days. On our zero we mainly just took care of errands and hung out at the outfitter. We also decided that it would be easier to skip ahead on the trail and hike southbound into damascus instead of hike out and try to hitch-hike back. So we paid 8 dollars each and they dropped us off 40 miles up trail and we planned on three days back into town which would put us there right in time.
The first day was beautiful! We hiked through this section called the Grayson highlands where there are wild ponies that roam. So we were walking along and we just came up on big groups of ponies. They were really friendly and loved to lick all the salt off of us so they would walk right up to us. I will try to post the video I took but no promises.
The second day we planned on hiking 18.5 miles and then the next day get up and do 8 more miles into damascus. I started to get a pretty bad shin splint right before lunch so I was walking quite a bit slower then normal but we still had plenty of time to make the shelter. We stopped at the last shelter before the one we were going to stay at for the night and started talking to some other hiker friends of ours. They gave us the idea to push on and go into town that night. We knew it was going to be too long of a hike to do that night but the AT met up with a bike trail 2 miles from where we were. Some guys that worked at the outfitter had told us about the bike trail and said we should give it a shot cause it was prettier the the AT. The mileage was adding little more miles then the actual AT but it was flat and not rocky. We heard that the outfitter in town would come met you on the trail and give you bikes to rent to ride in on the bike trail. So we got my phone out and had absolutely no signal. Austin and gravity decided to walk a mile back to the road to see if they could get a signal, but after walking all the way there and a half a mile down the road and back they still got no signal and came back. All the guys were still so pumped about getting into town that night that by the time we made it the next two miles and met up with the bike trail they had already cooked up another plan. By the time I got there they had already put their packs down and asked if I wasn't carrying any weight would I be able to make it. How could I turn down three excited determined faces? So they took everything out of my pack and split it between the three of them (austin taking the most of it) all I had left was my pack, some water and my polls. We hiked the rest of the miles in on the bike trail which was beautiful! We had to stop mid way for dinner then kept pushing on. We hiked probably 3 hours in the dark with just our headlamps and by that point I was using my polls more as crutches then polls. But the guys were great and austin and phlegm walked slow with me into town while gravity hurried on ahead to figure out were we could sleep for the night. We made it into town at around 11:30 and it was after midnight by the time we were all set up in our tents. The totally mirage for the day was 27 for me and phlegm and over 30 for gravity and austin with there extra walk to find service, plus all the guys were carrying alot more weight then they normally do with all of my stuff. It was probably harder then I should have pushed it but I knew we were going to have plenty of rest days to recover with trails days starting. It was and exciting if not difficult adventure. And since we made it into town Wednesday night we were able to get the meal tickets they passed out Thursday morning at 8:30. So everything worked out great.
Ill have to tell you about trail days in another post. Got to save phone battery! But I will say that my shin splints healed wonderfully during trail days! So no worries :)
The hostel was about 50 miles outside of Damascus Virginia which is where trail days was being held. Trail days is pretty much a three day party that the town holds every year for the hikers. Everything in the town pretty much opened up for us and was wonderful. But more on that later, all you need to know is for days and weeks leading up to it hikers from about a 100 mile radius of damascus plan on how to be there for trail days. We wanted to get to damascus and pass it before trail days started so when it was over we could get a ride up to where we left off and it wouldn't be as crowded as hiking out of the city with everyone else. So we had 50 miles to get into town so naturally we did 10 miles, 21 miles, 19 miles, in three days. (O my friends have corrected me.. it was 10.4, 21.5 and 18.5.... I stand corrected) They were some big days but they were fairly uneventful. On one of the days tho me and austin were walking along fairly quickly when I suddenly came to a complete stop. Austin almost ran right into me and was really confused. The reason I stopped was because there was a 3 foot black snack stretched out down the trail. I had to back peddle little so I didn't step on it. Luckily we walked up on the tail end. I used my trekking pole and poked it in the tail and encouraged it to move.Austin chased it little more until it got far enough away. And then less then 10 minutes later I stepped right next to one on the trail and I didn't know it was there until it scurried away. It scared me and I jumped pretty high and austin just said "do I need to walk in front!" Other then that the only exciting thing was we did cross into Virginia! That means we are done with 3 states :) (see photo from other post) Too bad we wont cross our next state line for 700 miles. It is a third of the trial..
When we got into damascus we called a number in the guide book and asked if he had room for us to stay at what we thought was a hostel or motel like place. But after I talked to him on the phone I got the impression that it was more like a shack in his backyard, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. It turned out it was a finished guest house that was just a tiny room with a full bathroom. All it had was a full sized bed and a bunk-bed set. It was wonderful! It was the cutest place ever. It barely fit all of us and our gear but was perfect! They told us if we stayed the another night they would give us a great deal. So we stayed another day to figure out what we were going to do about trail days. On our zero we mainly just took care of errands and hung out at the outfitter. We also decided that it would be easier to skip ahead on the trail and hike southbound into damascus instead of hike out and try to hitch-hike back. So we paid 8 dollars each and they dropped us off 40 miles up trail and we planned on three days back into town which would put us there right in time.
The first day was beautiful! We hiked through this section called the Grayson highlands where there are wild ponies that roam. So we were walking along and we just came up on big groups of ponies. They were really friendly and loved to lick all the salt off of us so they would walk right up to us. I will try to post the video I took but no promises.
The second day we planned on hiking 18.5 miles and then the next day get up and do 8 more miles into damascus. I started to get a pretty bad shin splint right before lunch so I was walking quite a bit slower then normal but we still had plenty of time to make the shelter. We stopped at the last shelter before the one we were going to stay at for the night and started talking to some other hiker friends of ours. They gave us the idea to push on and go into town that night. We knew it was going to be too long of a hike to do that night but the AT met up with a bike trail 2 miles from where we were. Some guys that worked at the outfitter had told us about the bike trail and said we should give it a shot cause it was prettier the the AT. The mileage was adding little more miles then the actual AT but it was flat and not rocky. We heard that the outfitter in town would come met you on the trail and give you bikes to rent to ride in on the bike trail. So we got my phone out and had absolutely no signal. Austin and gravity decided to walk a mile back to the road to see if they could get a signal, but after walking all the way there and a half a mile down the road and back they still got no signal and came back. All the guys were still so pumped about getting into town that night that by the time we made it the next two miles and met up with the bike trail they had already cooked up another plan. By the time I got there they had already put their packs down and asked if I wasn't carrying any weight would I be able to make it. How could I turn down three excited determined faces? So they took everything out of my pack and split it between the three of them (austin taking the most of it) all I had left was my pack, some water and my polls. We hiked the rest of the miles in on the bike trail which was beautiful! We had to stop mid way for dinner then kept pushing on. We hiked probably 3 hours in the dark with just our headlamps and by that point I was using my polls more as crutches then polls. But the guys were great and austin and phlegm walked slow with me into town while gravity hurried on ahead to figure out were we could sleep for the night. We made it into town at around 11:30 and it was after midnight by the time we were all set up in our tents. The totally mirage for the day was 27 for me and phlegm and over 30 for gravity and austin with there extra walk to find service, plus all the guys were carrying alot more weight then they normally do with all of my stuff. It was probably harder then I should have pushed it but I knew we were going to have plenty of rest days to recover with trails days starting. It was and exciting if not difficult adventure. And since we made it into town Wednesday night we were able to get the meal tickets they passed out Thursday morning at 8:30. So everything worked out great.
Ill have to tell you about trail days in another post. Got to save phone battery! But I will say that my shin splints healed wonderfully during trail days! So no worries :)
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Monday, May 9, 2011
Feet problems
The hostel was a wonderful place and we had a ton of fun with all the hikers that were there. It was a really small building with a tiny livingroom and kitchen area to hang out in but it was crawling with stinky hikers (picture the seen in fight club with all the "space monkeys" filling the house). Everyone bought and cooked food and shared with everyone, we played games and sang songs. It was an awesome night. There was a guy helping the owner named baltimore jack there who is very well known on the trail and after talking with him he gave me an AT necklace (awesome!) I told him ill bring it to katahdin. Ill post a picture of it at some point. The next day we headed out on our way to damascus VA!
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Monday, May 2, 2011
Catch up!
I've been really behind in my postings. Sorry! My book has gotten really good and there are only so many relaxing hours in the day. Anyways I believe I left off with us finally leaving hot springs. But I did forget to mention one last thing about hot springs... while we were there austin convinced all the guys we have been hiking with the save their hair into mohawks. So now everyone asks them what their deal is and where my mohawk is. Its a pretty funny way to distinguish our group.
So the climb out of hot springs was way worse then we expected and we all had a hard day. But the next morning we got up and hiked 4 miles into a gap and found a sign that said that if we walked 350 yards down the road there was a house where we could get waffles. That was a no brainer. It was a little weird just walking up to some random house but before we made it to the door a guy came out to great us and told us to leave our packs and shoes outside and come in. Two other hikers we knew were already there and the four of us sat down at the table. The wife was cooking waffles in the kitchen while she talked to us and the husband was showing us a drink menu and getting our orders. They had anything you could think of to drink! (Go figure I got a huge glass or cranberry juice and spilled it all over the table cloth..) She gave us each a huge plate sized waffle and when we were done with that she came out with plate number two. That consisted of a muffin, small quiche, and a meat medley (amazing). As soon as those plates were clear they brought out lunch. That was a bbq sandwich, coleslaw, greenbeans, baked beans, and a pickle. Then came dessert... they had a very long list of anything you could think of including apple pie and brownie Sundays. All I could put down after all that food was some icecream. We were all so stuffed that we ended up staying in their livingroom in food comas for an hour. When we finally left we planned on doing alot more miles but our bellies had trouble with the next few hills so we called it an early day and stayed at the next shelter.
The next few day were pretty normal. One of the nights we knew a big storm was coming but the shelters were spaced out weird so the did 16 miles and stayed at a campsite 4 miles from the next shelter (all uphill). One of our friends only has a tarp so he pushed on to be in the shelter and waited for us the next day to caught up. The storm was pretty intense but the way the gap was shaped shelters us alot from the wind. Turns out it was the same storm that caused a bunch of tornadoes in the area and killed a bunch of people in the area. But we rode it out in our tent and stayed completely dry. The next day we hiked the next 4 miles to meet up with our friend gravity who was waiting at the shelter. As we were taking our snack break they got to talking about the next town we were coming to, Erwin TN. It was around 17 miles to town from there. The plan was to go 10 more miles to the next shelter and into erwin the next day. But everyone wanted to go into town but no one really had the money to stay there. So austin offered to pay for a room for us all if we hiked the whole thing that day. It was a hard push but we made the 21 miles (our longest day yet). When we got there it was still 2 miles to our hotel from the trailhead. We started walking down the road with me in the back. As the first car was about to pass us gravity told me to stick my thumb out. Sure enough the truck stopped and picked us up and took us right there. Alot of the guys say its nice to have a girl to hike with cause you get hitches faster. Lol I don't know if that's true but it worked for us. The hotel was amazing and we were able to wash our socks in the sink and order pizza. The next day we met up with another hiker who was staying there and happened to have a rental car so he drove us around town to get our resupply. We were a little bummed cause everything we planned on doing there didn't pan out but we still had a wonderful time. We hiked out 4 miles the the curly maple shelter that night.
Yesterday we hiked out of curly maple and did an easy 14 mile day. In the middle of they day we came to a place called beauty spot. Its a big grassy bald on top of a mountain. It was so wonderful to eat lunch and relax in the grass that we made it a 2 hour lunch break and all relaxed and read in the sun after we ate. Go figure I got the worst sunburn I have gotten in awhile! I wasn't thinking and only put sunscreen on my face and Austins neck (which saved him from a burn). But I had taken off my knee braces and my black shirt was hot so I pulled it up as we laid in the grass. My knees and stomach are now lobster red. I couldn't were my knee braces today cause of it. And my pack tightens right over my burnt tummy. A couple other people that were up there got some sun too but I have it the worst.
And today was probably the hardest 16 miles we have done yet. The first 7 were easy but the last 9 were awful! We climbed roan mountain at the end of the day and it was by far the hardest climb we have had yet. We gained 2000 feet of elevation in about 3 and a half miles. If you have trouble picturing that, it is pretty much straight up. But we made it and it was a beautiful climb. We are now at the highest shelter on the AT (over 6,100 ft). It is an awesome pine forest though so we are camping out instead of sleeping in the shelter. It is much colder this high up!
Ill try to keep up with updating better. Sorry everyone! But thank you for reading. Reading your comments brightens our day :)
So the climb out of hot springs was way worse then we expected and we all had a hard day. But the next morning we got up and hiked 4 miles into a gap and found a sign that said that if we walked 350 yards down the road there was a house where we could get waffles. That was a no brainer. It was a little weird just walking up to some random house but before we made it to the door a guy came out to great us and told us to leave our packs and shoes outside and come in. Two other hikers we knew were already there and the four of us sat down at the table. The wife was cooking waffles in the kitchen while she talked to us and the husband was showing us a drink menu and getting our orders. They had anything you could think of to drink! (Go figure I got a huge glass or cranberry juice and spilled it all over the table cloth..) She gave us each a huge plate sized waffle and when we were done with that she came out with plate number two. That consisted of a muffin, small quiche, and a meat medley (amazing). As soon as those plates were clear they brought out lunch. That was a bbq sandwich, coleslaw, greenbeans, baked beans, and a pickle. Then came dessert... they had a very long list of anything you could think of including apple pie and brownie Sundays. All I could put down after all that food was some icecream. We were all so stuffed that we ended up staying in their livingroom in food comas for an hour. When we finally left we planned on doing alot more miles but our bellies had trouble with the next few hills so we called it an early day and stayed at the next shelter.
The next few day were pretty normal. One of the nights we knew a big storm was coming but the shelters were spaced out weird so the did 16 miles and stayed at a campsite 4 miles from the next shelter (all uphill). One of our friends only has a tarp so he pushed on to be in the shelter and waited for us the next day to caught up. The storm was pretty intense but the way the gap was shaped shelters us alot from the wind. Turns out it was the same storm that caused a bunch of tornadoes in the area and killed a bunch of people in the area. But we rode it out in our tent and stayed completely dry. The next day we hiked the next 4 miles to meet up with our friend gravity who was waiting at the shelter. As we were taking our snack break they got to talking about the next town we were coming to, Erwin TN. It was around 17 miles to town from there. The plan was to go 10 more miles to the next shelter and into erwin the next day. But everyone wanted to go into town but no one really had the money to stay there. So austin offered to pay for a room for us all if we hiked the whole thing that day. It was a hard push but we made the 21 miles (our longest day yet). When we got there it was still 2 miles to our hotel from the trailhead. We started walking down the road with me in the back. As the first car was about to pass us gravity told me to stick my thumb out. Sure enough the truck stopped and picked us up and took us right there. Alot of the guys say its nice to have a girl to hike with cause you get hitches faster. Lol I don't know if that's true but it worked for us. The hotel was amazing and we were able to wash our socks in the sink and order pizza. The next day we met up with another hiker who was staying there and happened to have a rental car so he drove us around town to get our resupply. We were a little bummed cause everything we planned on doing there didn't pan out but we still had a wonderful time. We hiked out 4 miles the the curly maple shelter that night.
Yesterday we hiked out of curly maple and did an easy 14 mile day. In the middle of they day we came to a place called beauty spot. Its a big grassy bald on top of a mountain. It was so wonderful to eat lunch and relax in the grass that we made it a 2 hour lunch break and all relaxed and read in the sun after we ate. Go figure I got the worst sunburn I have gotten in awhile! I wasn't thinking and only put sunscreen on my face and Austins neck (which saved him from a burn). But I had taken off my knee braces and my black shirt was hot so I pulled it up as we laid in the grass. My knees and stomach are now lobster red. I couldn't were my knee braces today cause of it. And my pack tightens right over my burnt tummy. A couple other people that were up there got some sun too but I have it the worst.
And today was probably the hardest 16 miles we have done yet. The first 7 were easy but the last 9 were awful! We climbed roan mountain at the end of the day and it was by far the hardest climb we have had yet. We gained 2000 feet of elevation in about 3 and a half miles. If you have trouble picturing that, it is pretty much straight up. But we made it and it was a beautiful climb. We are now at the highest shelter on the AT (over 6,100 ft). It is an awesome pine forest though so we are camping out instead of sleeping in the shelter. It is much colder this high up!
Ill try to keep up with updating better. Sorry everyone! But thank you for reading. Reading your comments brightens our day :)
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Friday, April 29, 2011
Pics.... sorry
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sorry!
So we have been out of internet service for awhile. So the last two posts are ones that I wrote but have been saving till I got service. Hope you enjoy!
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Sobo for a day!
(Title explanation: sobo means south bound hiker, nobo means north bound hiker)
So we went to the Standing bear hostel and planned on stopping for a quick snack, maybe lunch, and then keep moving. But it was so wonderful there we all fell in love. The other girl we are hiking with already decided she was gonna stay the night there but the rest of us were just gonna pass through. After hanging round for a little bit we found out that the next night they were throwing a huge party. They had 50 pounds of pork they were smoking for over 24 hours, along with tons of other food. That convinced two more in our group to stay. They were just going to take a zero and meet up with us at the next town. Most of us were dragging our feet when it came time to leave (all but austin) and no one really wanted to leave. But then I came up with the worlds best idea :)
I came up with the plan to have the hostel slack-pack us up the trail and make it back in time for dinner. So what I mean by slack-packing is we stayed the night at the hostel that night and in the morning we toke enough food and water to get us through the day but left all our other gear. Then we had them drive us 20 miles up the trail and we hiked south the rest of the day until we made it back to the hostel for the party. Then the next day they took us back to where we started the day before and went north. One of our friends however pulled a muscle in his leg so he skipped that day and took our pack into hot spring so we were able to slack-pack the next day too.
The top of Austin's pack detaches and so does his wasteband and it turns into a nice small day-pack. Everyone else just wore their empty packs but we were able to fit all our stuff in a tiny little waste pack that austin wore. Lucky me, I didn't have to carry anything :) we tried to switch off during the day but even the little pack made me hike slower so I lost pack privileges. Hiking without our packs was a blast tho! We were practically frolicking through the woods, it felt so good. We were able to hike the 20 miles soo much faster then our normal hiking speed, it didn't hurt that we were actually running down the hills. Everyone at the hostel was so impressed to see us so soon. They figured we be back around 6 or 7, we showed up at 3.
The party that night was amazing. Wonderful food! They even had a bluegrass band come and play. The next morning they dropped us off at the gap. Two of our friends asked them to take them straight to hot springs because they got hurt and weren't feeling up to the 14 mile hike that day. But the great thing was they took our packs into hot springs so we got to slack pack again!
In town we stayed at the oldest running hostel on the trial run by the original owner. The house was built in 1875 and was soo amazing. The man that run it was named elmer and he had two guys working for him. Every night and morning they cooked a huge gourmet vegetarian meal for everyone (for an extra charge) we only ate there for breakfast because the two nights we stayed there we had other plans for dinner. A friend we have made on the trail named, Chuck-town, had a bunch of his friends meet him in town. They got a cabin and invited all of us to come hang out or stay if we wanted. They made us a huge spaghetti dinner one night but we stayed the night in the hostel. The next day we were planning on leaving but most of us didn't feel well so we decided to stay an extra day and make it two zero days instead of one. We hung out at the outfitters cause austin was interested in getting a new pack. I wanted to ask the guy helping ask a question about my pack so I brought it in to show him. After looking at both of us with our packs he said in his opinion im the one that was in need for a new pack. So he fitted me for a new one and it was amazing how much better it felt! I didn't want to spend the money but my friend phlegm said is its going to make ever step for the next 1800 miles that much better then it was well worth it. And he was right. Later that afternoon Chuck-town picked us up and took us back to the cabin and they had a huge cook out with burgers, hotdogs, corn-on-the-cob and much more. We had a great time and hit the trail the next morning.
So we went to the Standing bear hostel and planned on stopping for a quick snack, maybe lunch, and then keep moving. But it was so wonderful there we all fell in love. The other girl we are hiking with already decided she was gonna stay the night there but the rest of us were just gonna pass through. After hanging round for a little bit we found out that the next night they were throwing a huge party. They had 50 pounds of pork they were smoking for over 24 hours, along with tons of other food. That convinced two more in our group to stay. They were just going to take a zero and meet up with us at the next town. Most of us were dragging our feet when it came time to leave (all but austin) and no one really wanted to leave. But then I came up with the worlds best idea :)
I came up with the plan to have the hostel slack-pack us up the trail and make it back in time for dinner. So what I mean by slack-packing is we stayed the night at the hostel that night and in the morning we toke enough food and water to get us through the day but left all our other gear. Then we had them drive us 20 miles up the trail and we hiked south the rest of the day until we made it back to the hostel for the party. Then the next day they took us back to where we started the day before and went north. One of our friends however pulled a muscle in his leg so he skipped that day and took our pack into hot spring so we were able to slack-pack the next day too.
The top of Austin's pack detaches and so does his wasteband and it turns into a nice small day-pack. Everyone else just wore their empty packs but we were able to fit all our stuff in a tiny little waste pack that austin wore. Lucky me, I didn't have to carry anything :) we tried to switch off during the day but even the little pack made me hike slower so I lost pack privileges. Hiking without our packs was a blast tho! We were practically frolicking through the woods, it felt so good. We were able to hike the 20 miles soo much faster then our normal hiking speed, it didn't hurt that we were actually running down the hills. Everyone at the hostel was so impressed to see us so soon. They figured we be back around 6 or 7, we showed up at 3.
The party that night was amazing. Wonderful food! They even had a bluegrass band come and play. The next morning they dropped us off at the gap. Two of our friends asked them to take them straight to hot springs because they got hurt and weren't feeling up to the 14 mile hike that day. But the great thing was they took our packs into hot springs so we got to slack pack again!
In town we stayed at the oldest running hostel on the trial run by the original owner. The house was built in 1875 and was soo amazing. The man that run it was named elmer and he had two guys working for him. Every night and morning they cooked a huge gourmet vegetarian meal for everyone (for an extra charge) we only ate there for breakfast because the two nights we stayed there we had other plans for dinner. A friend we have made on the trail named, Chuck-town, had a bunch of his friends meet him in town. They got a cabin and invited all of us to come hang out or stay if we wanted. They made us a huge spaghetti dinner one night but we stayed the night in the hostel. The next day we were planning on leaving but most of us didn't feel well so we decided to stay an extra day and make it two zero days instead of one. We hung out at the outfitters cause austin was interested in getting a new pack. I wanted to ask the guy helping ask a question about my pack so I brought it in to show him. After looking at both of us with our packs he said in his opinion im the one that was in need for a new pack. So he fitted me for a new one and it was amazing how much better it felt! I didn't want to spend the money but my friend phlegm said is its going to make ever step for the next 1800 miles that much better then it was well worth it. And he was right. Later that afternoon Chuck-town picked us up and took us back to the cabin and they had a huge cook out with burgers, hotdogs, corn-on-the-cob and much more. We had a great time and hit the trail the next morning.
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Farewell Smokies
Sunday we hiked back in from our night in town. We were planning on going 15 miles but after 10 hard miles we decided to call it a short day. Austin wasn't feeling the best so we cut the day short. The next day we planned on hiking 13 miles but when we all stopped for our midmorning snack (a must on the trail) we all got to talking and the boys decided it would be fun to try to push on past our original goal and make it a 20 mile day. Our biggest day up to that point was 14 and change and that was a hard day. I didn't want to at all at first but I was convinced to give it a shot. It was mostly downhill coming down out of the smokies, but it was a hard day. It turned out being a wonderful idea because the shelter we plane on going to was going to be full for the night and the one we ended up at had room to spare.
We got in late but still had daylight to cook and relax. Right at dusk one of the guys that was staying with us came over the hill and said there was a bear. The bear was across the ravine so we all went to go look. It took awhile to see it cause it was getting dark but we did see the shadow of a pretty big bear when smaller cubs. Once it started moving we all went and got in the shelter which conveniently had a bear cage on it. One guy wanted to sleep in his tent out of the sheeter but ended up moving into the shelter at about 10 after everyone had gone to bed and he woke up with the bears right outside his tent.
Today we only plan on going 10.5 total but there was a wonderful hostel off the trail called standing bear. We decided to stop there and buy some snack/lunch. But before me and austin made it out of the smokies we had to have one more bit of excitement. We were less then a tenth of a mile from the gap that ended the smokies when a black bear ran out of the woods and across the trail about 30 feet in front of us. As soon as austin saw it he started yelling "hey bear" to scare it off. It was a smaller bear, maybe 100 lbs, we were thinking a cub. So of course made us more nervous and we looked around for momma bear. We walked very slow and when we didn't see anything we hurried on through.
Now we are resting at standing bear farm eating our fill of food in the most beautiful relaxing place. (See pictures) we should be able to make it to our next town by the weekend!
We got in late but still had daylight to cook and relax. Right at dusk one of the guys that was staying with us came over the hill and said there was a bear. The bear was across the ravine so we all went to go look. It took awhile to see it cause it was getting dark but we did see the shadow of a pretty big bear when smaller cubs. Once it started moving we all went and got in the shelter which conveniently had a bear cage on it. One guy wanted to sleep in his tent out of the sheeter but ended up moving into the shelter at about 10 after everyone had gone to bed and he woke up with the bears right outside his tent.
Today we only plan on going 10.5 total but there was a wonderful hostel off the trail called standing bear. We decided to stop there and buy some snack/lunch. But before me and austin made it out of the smokies we had to have one more bit of excitement. We were less then a tenth of a mile from the gap that ended the smokies when a black bear ran out of the woods and across the trail about 30 feet in front of us. As soon as austin saw it he started yelling "hey bear" to scare it off. It was a smaller bear, maybe 100 lbs, we were thinking a cub. So of course made us more nervous and we looked around for momma bear. We walked very slow and when we didn't see anything we hurried on through.
Now we are resting at standing bear farm eating our fill of food in the most beautiful relaxing place. (See pictures) we should be able to make it to our next town by the weekend!
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Sunday, April 17, 2011
Clingman's and beastly burgers!!
Next day we waited around while everyone ekes got up and left in the rain. By the time we left it was still windy but the sun came out and it was beautiful!! We all agreed that was our prettiest hike yet. The smokies are just amazing. We also peeked the highest point on the trail, clingmans dome. The picture is of all of us on top of the tower (left to right- almost there, gravity, jana, phlegm, me, and austin) we heard the rain was coming again tonight and the shelter we were planning on staying at was going to be full, and we were running low on food and we were all starving (the main though hiker problem, can never carry enough food) so we got a ride into town when we made it into the pass and got a cheap room, more groceries, and the biggest burgers in the world! (See photos, one is austin the other is gravity)
But the rain came through lastnight and now we are figuring out how to get back out there this morning! More adventures to come :)
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Saturday, April 16, 2011
Beautiful Smokies!
The plan was to hike into the smokies two days ago, but we stayed at someone's apartment that one of our trail friends knows the night before. There were four of us total (me, austin, phlegm, and almost there) and we all got ready to go in the morning and drove the hour back to the trail. It had been raining all morning and the temperature had really dropped. When we got to the trail we all got out of the car and it wasn't a full minute before we all decided it was too miserable to hike. That's just not the welcome we want from the smokies. the guy who was driving us around (almost there's friend named grey fox who hiked the trail in 06) wanted to do some trail magic by picking some hikers we passed on the road and taking them into town. So the four of us decided to walk down to the visitor's center and knock off some trail for the day. Grey fox met up with us and we ended up walking all the way across the dam and to where the trial goes back up into the woods. It was a good mile and a half. When we walked back we were all so miserably cold and wet and so happy that that was all we were doing for the day.
The next day we hiked up into the smoky mountains. It was a beautiful day! The four of us had a great day. We hiked up into a pass and the whole ground was covered with tiny wild flowers. It looked like snow covering the ground. They have been with us off and on through today. Lastnight we met up with a couple of our friends we met awhile ago and we hiked with they today. So our group of four has turned into a group of six. One of the guys named gravity is hiking with a backpacking guitar. So we are currently laying in the grass field near the shelter we are staying at tonight listening to gravity sing and play while we watch the sunset. It doesn't get better then this.
Lastnight we stayed at Mollie's ridge shelter lastnight and tonight we are at Derek's nob shelter. It is suppose to storm tonight so we might only do a short day tomorrow. It is a good possibility we could see some snow. But right now we are just relaxing and loving life. :)
The next day we hiked up into the smoky mountains. It was a beautiful day! The four of us had a great day. We hiked up into a pass and the whole ground was covered with tiny wild flowers. It looked like snow covering the ground. They have been with us off and on through today. Lastnight we met up with a couple of our friends we met awhile ago and we hiked with they today. So our group of four has turned into a group of six. One of the guys named gravity is hiking with a backpacking guitar. So we are currently laying in the grass field near the shelter we are staying at tonight listening to gravity sing and play while we watch the sunset. It doesn't get better then this.
Lastnight we stayed at Mollie's ridge shelter lastnight and tonight we are at Derek's nob shelter. It is suppose to storm tonight so we might only do a short day tomorrow. It is a good possibility we could see some snow. But right now we are just relaxing and loving life. :)
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Monday, April 11, 2011
Adventure time :)
So we thought we were just gonna pop into town and resupply then hike out to the shelter tonight.... and we did that... but then one of our trail friends, who lives in North Carolina, said he had a friend that was gonna pick him up from the shelter and gonna stay at his house and invited us to come. So three of us went with him and went out for pizza and are crashing at his house. O the wonders of ac and a shower. :)
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Big days
Sorry I haven't been able to update everyone in awhile. We have had a few big days in a row. We stayed at the wesser shelter which is like 6 miles outside of the NOC. It is pretty much a gearstore a general store and a restaurant right on the trail. Apparently it is a big spot for whitewater rafting. We decided we wanted to make it there early so we booked it down there mountain. We made it in 2 hours, which is really fast! So we were able to stay there and hang out for awhile. We got the biggest hamburgers ever. It was soo amazing. After lunch we made the big climb out of the NOC. That was about 7 miles up a mountain to the next shelter. The first part of the day we did so fast but the second part took us twice as long. And of course when we got to the shelter our friends convinced us to go another 1.2 miles up to the very top and sleep on the bald. It was gorgeous!! But it was a big day.
The next day we did another 14 miles to cable gap shelter. Two big days in a row was alot for us but today we only hiked in 5.5 miles to the road. Then it was about 2 miles into the town to resupply. There were 6 of us walking down the road so we weren't hopeful to get a ride. Surprisingly a guy in a truck stopped and got all of us. Which was wonderful cause it was a looong way uphill. But everything is sooo expensive in Fontana for our resupply. We lucked out and had a maildrop here. But all of our friends paid over 80 bucks on food for the smokies.
Starting tomorrow we will be officially in the smoke mountains and we wont be able to get more food until we are out. We also have alot of rules about camping when we are in the smokies. But we are looking forward to some long hard and beautiful days ahead!
The next day we did another 14 miles to cable gap shelter. Two big days in a row was alot for us but today we only hiked in 5.5 miles to the road. Then it was about 2 miles into the town to resupply. There were 6 of us walking down the road so we weren't hopeful to get a ride. Surprisingly a guy in a truck stopped and got all of us. Which was wonderful cause it was a looong way uphill. But everything is sooo expensive in Fontana for our resupply. We lucked out and had a maildrop here. But all of our friends paid over 80 bucks on food for the smokies.
Starting tomorrow we will be officially in the smoke mountains and we wont be able to get more food until we are out. We also have alot of rules about camping when we are in the smokies. But we are looking forward to some long hard and beautiful days ahead!
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Friday, April 8, 2011
Wonderful people
Had a great time the past few days. The weather has actually been pretty. Its been a little hot and today was a little overcast but we didn't get rain luckily.
A few days ago when we went into town we called a hotel for the free shuttle the book said they offered. They told us they were on their way to come pick us up. It wasn't until we were checking in for a room that they told us it would be $20 for the shuttle. We didn't want to make a scene so we just paid it but we told everyone about it. The next morning we got the real free shuttle back to the trail and the guy driving was the owner of that hotel and 3 or 4 others. So after we got off I told him what happened and he was not pleased. He put the bus in park to get out and "figure this out" he took down my name and address and all the information we could tell him about the guy who charged us. He ended up just opening his wallet and giving us a 20. He knew that $20 wasn't alot to him but it was alot to us. He was a very nice man who really cared about hikers.
We have met some other really awesome people hiking the trail so far. Within the past 2 days we have had trail magic at 3 different places. Yesterday a guy and his 3 grandsons were giving out burgers, bbq, chips, snickers, drinks, muffins, fruit... you name it they had it. And we met them right before lunch. We didn't have to much longer (we thought) so we stayed there for almost 2 hours talking to the guy. Today we came to a spot on the trail were someone had left fruit and sweets for the hikers. And we past another guy handing out gateraid.
We have also made some good friends so far but two of them I wants to mention are Cargo and Chuck-town. I want everyone to go check out Chuck-towns webpage. Its on facebook just type in "blazin for boobies" He told us that his better half died of breast cancer last year and that's why he is hiking the trail. So go check out his site and see what he is all about. He is a great guy.
And probably the toughest guy on the trail has to be Cargo. Two weeks before he left for the trail he fell off a horse and tore his calf muscle. He has been hiking on crutches for the past few weeks. He did say it is healing and he is more hiking with crutches now whereas before he was definably on them. His trail name is cargo because he has rigged his crutches to have places to carry tons of stuff like his water. And I thought I was having a rough time hiking.
Well we are still happy and feeling better everyday. Thank you guys for leaving comments! We love reading them. Staying in lesser shelter tonight and heading to sassafras shelter tomorrow. Gonna be a long day!
Ps. Mom the shoe thing worked like a charm. Haven't had a problem since. Thank you!
A few days ago when we went into town we called a hotel for the free shuttle the book said they offered. They told us they were on their way to come pick us up. It wasn't until we were checking in for a room that they told us it would be $20 for the shuttle. We didn't want to make a scene so we just paid it but we told everyone about it. The next morning we got the real free shuttle back to the trail and the guy driving was the owner of that hotel and 3 or 4 others. So after we got off I told him what happened and he was not pleased. He put the bus in park to get out and "figure this out" he took down my name and address and all the information we could tell him about the guy who charged us. He ended up just opening his wallet and giving us a 20. He knew that $20 wasn't alot to him but it was alot to us. He was a very nice man who really cared about hikers.
We have met some other really awesome people hiking the trail so far. Within the past 2 days we have had trail magic at 3 different places. Yesterday a guy and his 3 grandsons were giving out burgers, bbq, chips, snickers, drinks, muffins, fruit... you name it they had it. And we met them right before lunch. We didn't have to much longer (we thought) so we stayed there for almost 2 hours talking to the guy. Today we came to a spot on the trail were someone had left fruit and sweets for the hikers. And we past another guy handing out gateraid.
We have also made some good friends so far but two of them I wants to mention are Cargo and Chuck-town. I want everyone to go check out Chuck-towns webpage. Its on facebook just type in "blazin for boobies" He told us that his better half died of breast cancer last year and that's why he is hiking the trail. So go check out his site and see what he is all about. He is a great guy.
And probably the toughest guy on the trail has to be Cargo. Two weeks before he left for the trail he fell off a horse and tore his calf muscle. He has been hiking on crutches for the past few weeks. He did say it is healing and he is more hiking with crutches now whereas before he was definably on them. His trail name is cargo because he has rigged his crutches to have places to carry tons of stuff like his water. And I thought I was having a rough time hiking.
Well we are still happy and feeling better everyday. Thank you guys for leaving comments! We love reading them. Staying in lesser shelter tonight and heading to sassafras shelter tomorrow. Gonna be a long day!
Ps. Mom the shoe thing worked like a charm. Haven't had a problem since. Thank you!
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Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Survived the storm
So today turned out pretty well. We did 12 miles the last two days, so today we took it easy and only did 6.8. Since we weren't going far we got a really late start to give it a chance to warm up. Everything is harder to do when its frozen outside. Our bearbag line was frozen to the tree... our food bags were coated in ice... The worst part about lastnight was the shelter we stayed in. We got all the way there and found out they had recently built a new shelter cause the old one was so bad. That would be great except the new shelter was totally full by the time we got there. So guess who stayed in the rundown old shelter.. It was the smallest shelter we have seen yet, a good chunk of the floor was missing, and a bunch of the boards for the walls were missing. We ended up fitting four of us and one dog in there. When the rain hit it was sooo hard! The wind blew in the rain pretty quick and we scrambled to get our tent our and spread the fly out over us. It worked decently well. There was a leak above the guy next to me and we found out in the morning that he spent a good part of the night standing in the corner to keep warm. By morning rain turned into ice and snow. Now we are at a much nicer shelter and a bunch of the guys are getting a fire together cause the wind is COLD on the top of the mt we peaked today. Hopefully tonight will be nicer :)
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Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Update
Just wanted everyone to know we made it through the storm. Just woke up to lots of ice and little snow. Fill you in later!
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Monday, April 4, 2011
Finally in NC!!!
Well hopefully we will be in town in the next few days and get our next mail drop. And for those of you keeping track at home, we have now hiked a total of 91.8 miles on the AT. Many more to go!
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Saturday, April 2, 2011
Sad news
So we had to come off the trail yesterday. My knee was hurting so bad that we had to come off and take a break. We spent a long time trying to decide if we should keep going cause neither one of us wanted to stop. But we figured it was better to take a one day break then get so hurt we had to stop all together. We actually ended up meeting up with all of our trail friends in town. We didn't even mean to! As we were checking into the motel that all came out of the room next door! They all hit the trail again today cause yesterday was their zero day (meaning they hiked zero miles) We took today as our zero day and one guy stayed behind with us cause his blisters and knees weren't ready for the trail today. We hated taking a day off so early but we figured we needed to do it now when we were hurting and still getting into shape. And after a day of ibuprofen and ice for my knee I think im feeling much better. We hit the trail again at 9:30. Pray for my knee!
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Thursday, March 31, 2011
Welcome to Helen.
Yesterday we decided to get up and out of camp as early as we could and try to hike into town as fast as possible. We had to go into town because we were getting our first mail drop there. We were about 9 and a half miles away from the road. We left at 8 and got there about 1. We made great time. We originally thought we were going to have to hitch-hike into the town but we made a reservation at a best western that said they would come pick us up. It took them and hour to finally come get us but it was better then hitching. While we waited we met a family that was day hiking and they ended up giving us and a few other through hikers all the food they had brought for themselves to eat. People around the trail are so nice.
We got everything done in town we needed and we are hitting the trail again today! We'll keep you posted!
We got everything done in town we needed and we are hitting the trail again today! We'll keep you posted!
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Monday, March 28, 2011
When bears attack!
By later afternoon most of our friends that we have met so far had made it to the shelter and we had a great evening. Everyone knew it was going to rain again that night. The shelter was really small so it only fit the 6 of us younger people. The other 5 or so people were all in a group together and hung hammocks over by the bear cables. We all hung our food and went to bed. It stormed really bad at night and in the morning we heard a big clang but didn't think anything of it cause the storm was so bad. Little while later one of the hammock folk came over and told us a huge black bear had been in our camp and taken some bags off the cables. He said it was the biggest bear he had seen. He called it "zoo sized". He also said that when it was done it ran off into the woods just past were we where sleeping.
We all hurried to go see who's bags were gone and go figure it was Austin's. We spent the whole morning cleaning up the trash and packing up. We didn't have anything to eat for breakfast cause the bear ate all our cold breakfast and a stove broke the night before so not hot stuff either. Good thing we were only 3 miles away from a resupply that has an outfitter in it! So we were able to buy everything we needed and keep going.
Sorry no picture on my phone of the bear mess. But I got plenty on my big camera! And I have a big hole in my food bag from where the bear tried to get mine too. But it still works for now. Hopefully stopping in town in the next few days for our mail drop!
Still happy and still having the time of our lives! (Just maybe a little cold)
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Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
First few days
Im going to have to make this brief because we have to get in bed. But out first few days have been great! The approach trail wasn't as bad as people had made it out to be and we felt good about it. First night on the mountain was a cold one and our tent and food bags were covered in ice in the morning. Second days was beautiful but we had a late start so we took it easy. Today we planed on heaving a big day (10ish miles) so we were gonna get up early. We woke up to rain.... we packed and headed out as fast as we could. Rain quickly turned into a thunder and lightning storm. We ended up pushing alot father then we planned so we could get a shuttle to a hostle and have a warm bed for the night. We walked 12 miles in the rain. It was a hard very cold day. More on that later tho I have to get some rest!
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
In Georgia!
Well we made it to Georgia with no problems. We had some worry about our packs getting damaged in the flight. We ended up putting them in huge trash bags to protect them. Austin's pack came back with alot of holes in his trash bag, so it was a good thing we did it.
When we got in we had to take a train from the airport all the way across atlanta to where we were getting picked up. The train ride was long but exciting.
A guy named survivor dave picked us up (and gave us fuel for free!). He was really nice and helped us with alot of details. He dropped us off at the lodge at the bottom of springer mt where we are staying tonight and tomorrow we start our long climb to the top! The actual trail doesn't start till we get to the top of the mountain and we hear its a long hard climb.
Wish us luck! Off to the buffet for one last big meal!
(Pic is us on the train)
When we got in we had to take a train from the airport all the way across atlanta to where we were getting picked up. The train ride was long but exciting.
A guy named survivor dave picked us up (and gave us fuel for free!). He was really nice and helped us with alot of details. He dropped us off at the lodge at the bottom of springer mt where we are staying tonight and tomorrow we start our long climb to the top! The actual trail doesn't start till we get to the top of the mountain and we hear its a long hard climb.
Wish us luck! Off to the buffet for one last big meal!
(Pic is us on the train)
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Thursday, March 17, 2011
Getting ready!!
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Cant turn back now!
Plane tickets have been bought! There is no going back now. We leave for Atlanta March 23. We are really excited. It feels like it right around the corner! Now we just have to hurry up and finish getting everything ready. The next two months are going to just fly by! We will be homeless and unemployed before you know it!
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