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Thursday, June 30, 2011
Some pictures!
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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