The Last State

I feel like a broken record when I say that we got a late start out of town and our packs were way to heavy with food. Grad School and I decided that we were going to push to the shelter just over the Maine border. The terrain was not horrible but had many ups and downs which slowed us way down. We hit the border sign in the dark and made our way to Carlo Col Shelter (17 miles even).

On the 10th we hiked 16.5 miles to Baldpate Lean-To across some of the hardest terrain we have seen. The Mahoosuc Notch and Arm are well talked about as being very tough. The notch is a large bolder field were you have to climb, hop, and squeeze under huge rocks. This was fun for about 40 minutes and then became very strenuous. We made it through the 1.1 mile notch in about one hour and 40 minutes. The arm is a straight up 1600 feet in 1.4 miles not an easy task. However what killed me was the constant short steep ups and short steep downs for the 8 miles before the Mahoosucs.

The next day was a little bit easier but was no cake walk. We went over four more mountain with a fair amount of steep climbing. We ended the day 18 miles in at a campsite right next to South Arm Road. When Redwood got off the trail he kept the tent we were sharing and I took an old rain fly from Chet's place (as a make shift shelter). However we knew it was going to rain and Grad School is caring a 1.5 person tent so we squeezed in together. It made for a hot, humid, and very smelly night.

Starting on the 12th we wanted to put in some more big days to get to Caratuck, ME by the 16th and give us plenty of time to finish Maine. We ended up doing 21.6 miles to Little Swift River Pond Campsite to set up an in and out of Rangeley. This was the first day in Maine that did not kill me physically. The last several miles we could actually hike and move at a decent pace. This night I actually set up the "trap" and it kept me dry when it rained for 15 minutes in the middle of the night. However it did not keep the bugs out.

The next morning we got moving fairly early because we were heading to town (Rangeley, ME). With a quick hitch we made it to the post office, then hit a dinner, and then raided the grocery store. With another quick hitch we were back on the trail in just over 3 hours and climbing up Saddleback Mountain. Crossed over The Horn and then Saddleback Junior and then found a place to camp on a logging road part way up Lone Mountain. We covered 20.2 miles.

The next day seemed a bit unlike other parts of the AT because we climbed up the sides of several mountains but never went directly over the top. The hardest, steepest, and longest of them came at the end of the day to Horns Pond Lean-Tos where we spent the night. Total milage for the day was 22 miles. Another odd thing about this day and the past several days was the large number of kids groups out hiking the trail. I guess Maine on the AT is the place to be in the summer.

On Friday we needed to do as many miles as possible so on Saturday we could get to the post office in Caratuck before 11:30am. In the morning we still had 10 miles of mountains before the terrain flattened out like a pancake. After leaving early we were able to make it to the third shelter Pierce Pond Lean-To, 27.5 miles away. My feet were hurting but it felt good doing a huge day (my biggest I think) and still got in before any of the previous days.

This left a short 4 mile down hill walk to town. In that stretch, we had what is known as the most dangerous stream crossing on the trail. Upstream is a hydroelectric dam making the large fast moving Kennebec river's current even move unpredictable. The ATC has a person ferry hikers across by canoe. When we got to the post office I found out that my packages were not there. In most towns not a huge problem but Caratunk is not most towns. There is nothing but houses, the post office, and a restaurant/bar two miles away. I only had snacks left and need food to get to Monson, ME which is two days away. I was lucky because a section hiker was ending his trip and had leftovers that he gave me. Also the hiker box at the post office had enough to get me to Monson. We hitched to the restaurant/bar to get burgers and hitched back. That afternoon we climbed over Pleasant Pond Mountain to Bald Mountain Brook Lean-To finishing the day a 18.7 miles.

The 17th was our first of several lazy days to come. We left the shelter late (9:30am) climbed to the top of Moxie Bald Mountain and then the rest of the day was down hill. And I mean down hill. We planned to only go 13 miles to Horseshoe Canyon Lean-To and that's all we did. We got there around 4pm and relaxed the rest of the day. At some point over the last few day my feet have started hurting more then normal (blisters on the inside of both heels) and it was nice to be horizontal in a shelter by the middle of the afternoon.

The morning of the 19th we moved quickly over fairly easy terrain to make it to the post office in Monson. My boxes from Caratuck were to be forward to Monson and arrive on Tuesday morning, so we modified our plans to stay the night in town. Monson is a small town but is a haven for hikers both heading north and those coming south. When we leave here, it starts the 100 Mile Wilderness. It is a long stretch of untouched land with many lakes and ponds with little to no signs of human influences. For north bounders, this means the last resupply, laundry, hot shower, town food before finishing. So it is nice to soak it in before heading off in the morning.

LEGO

The Whites

Annmarie served us another good healthy breakfast and then Peter drove us back to the trail. On the way, we stopped and picked up "Grad School" and then dropped off all of our food at Chet's One Step at a Time Hostel. We did this because we were planning to hike from Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch and stay at the hostel. Our bags felt super light (around 20 pounds) and after taking a zero we were feeling fairly rested. The climb up Mt Wolf was not bad at all. After lunch we climbed our second 4000 footer, South Kinsman Mountain. On our way to the notch we stopped at Lonesome Lake Hut for some water. One of the caretakers gave us dinner because they only had two guest that night and they had leftovers. She was also bribing us to stay with fireworks, good music, and beer. We had to push on with our food still in Lincoln. By the time we hit the road it was late and on a holiday (4th of July) hitching was going to be nearly imposable so we called a shuttle. Back at the hostel we met many more thur-hikers. It included "Patches", "Backflip", "Mile High", and "High Life" all of which we have hear of through the trail registers.

The events of the next morning were not expected but did not come completely out of the blue. Redwood woke up really not feel all that great. Over the past few days he had been experiencing major shifts in energy, headaches, a fever one night, and several large red rashes on his upper body. He needed to be checked out by a doctor because he was in no condition to go on and climb mountains. After some discussion he went to the doctors while "Grad School" and I (LEGO) would hike on.. After some more days of rest and still not feeling better he made the difficult decision to head home. More then 1800 miles into the trail is a huge accomplishment but for a thur-hiker it is hard to let go of the dream of Katahdin. Luckily the trail will be hear when Redwood is ready and health to finish it.

We left late but decided to do a big day anyway. The climbs in the White Mountains are not to be taken lightly. We climb up to Little Haystack 2200 feet over three miles then followed the ridge above tree line over Lincoln, and Lafayette. Then we dipped back through the trees and climbed steeply up and steeply down Garfield. We stopped at Galehead Hut to cook dinner and then finished with a climb over South Twin Mointain before descending to Zealand Falls Hut. After hitting over five peak higher then 4000 feet and going 19.6 miles my feet and knees called it quits. We rolled in the Zealand late with our head lamps on and slept on the porch.

Then next morning we talked to the caretackers at Zealand Hut and they were cool with letting us sweep the floors to work off our stay. In the Whites usually two thur-hikers can work-for-stay and get dinner and braekfrst leftovers for a short 30 minute job. That day there were six of us. After sweeping the floor we hiked the easy terrain to Crawford Notch and then climbed the steep and endless climb up into the Presidental Range to Misspah Hut. We left the hut around 4pm in hopes to make it to Lake of the Clowds Hut before an evening storm was predicted to come. We made it about one mile (on top of Mt Perice/Clinton) before we could see the ridge trail and the very dark clouds to the east. At this point the wind was gusting around 40-50 mph and we were above tree line and would have stayed above tree line until the next hut. We quickly made a decision that neither of us liked but knew was the smart one and we turned around and head back for Mizpah Hut. After some begging we were allowed to be the forth and fifth hikers to do work for stay. Total milage ended up only being 14.1 miles.

On the 7th I had some choices but Grad School had to make it to Gorham NH by Saturday before noon to pick up a mail drop. So we pushed to Pinkham Notch and did 19.4 miles across the entire Presidential Range. In the morning there were still heavy clouds and wind from last nights storm giving us no views. After a short break at Lake of the Clouds Hut we summited Mt Washington (6288 feet). As we descanted the mountain the clouds started to lift giving us a good views of the second half of the range. This was the most spectacular part of the entire AT. We walk for hours above tree line giving us 360 degree views the whole time. Once again we made a stop at a hut (Madison) and then started the long decent off the range down into the notch. This was one of the most painful descant we have done so far. We ended up stealth camping close to the road.

On the 8th, we wanted to get close to Gorham, NH so we could get in and out of town. As we left the notch, we climbed very steeply up to the Wildcat Mountain. This was more like rock climbing but with a full pack on your back. A few miles later we had another steep down and up to get to Carter Dome. From there the rest of the day was not easy but it was easier in comparison. We went over a few more peck and started the long descent toward town. We made the decision sometime in the afternoon that we would push the 1.8 mile past the last shelter and go in to town and stay in a hostel. The day ended up being 21.5 miles and now I have less then 300 miles to Katahdin.

LEGO

NJ > NH

Sorry for the long delay and the long post but this should catch you up with where we are. Picking up from where we left off:

Carmen fed us once again but this time it was a delicious pancake breakfast before driving us back to the Delaware Water Gap, PA. It was nice to say "good bye and good ridens" to Pennsylvania for a second time. The next shelter was more then 25 miles away so we planned to make it a short day and stop at Mohican Outdoor Center at 10.3 miles. The nice thing about the MOC is that it sits on a lake (where we swam), has a large communal lodge (where we charged our phones and drank sodas) and they allow thru-hikers camp for free.

On the 8th, we hiked the 20.9 miles to Glen Anderson Shelter. The small pointy rocks from Pennsylvania have completely disappeared but New Jersey does still have rocks and they still hurt your feet. About 4 miles before the shelter we crossed a road with a bar about 500 feet off the trail. We grabbed a quick bite to eat with a few other hikers (Inchworm & Sprocket, Teen Bean & Green Mile, and Calf). This helped fuel us up the last climb of the day.

The next morning we left early (5:30am) because we knew the temperature and humidity where going to be through the roof. We made good time getting to the next shelter and ran into Cascade and this dog Sierra who we had not heard from in over a week. Hiking together and still making good time we made it to High Point State Park Headquarters by 10am. We left Cascade and Sierra (who were heading to the nearest town) as we moved closer to the High Point. Before getting there we left the trail with Calf for a sandy beach and water to cool us off from the 90 plus degree weather. Once cooled we walked up to the High Point (highest peak in NJ) and climbed the 191 step tower. We ended the day after 18.4 miles at a privately owned shelter that was off the trail. It was basically a small four walled building with electrical outlets and the owner brought us a fan and drove us to and from town. There were a large crowd of hikers which made for a good time.

There were four exciting things that happened on our way to Wawayanda Shelter 18.6 miles away. The first three were bears. That's right LEGO saw three bears in one day (Redwood missed the first one). For all of the encounters the bear heard us first and then ran away which then we heard as crashing thorugh the trees. The other exciting thing that we crossed was a boardwalk that was about a mile long over a swamp. It was pretty cool.

On the 11th there were poorly placed shelters at either 14.3 miles or 26.3 miles. We ended up making a big push to Fingerboard Shelter 26.3 miles away. In the morning it was lightly raining which ended up delaying our departure time. We ended up moving fairly slowly in the morning because a majority of the time was spent on exposed slippery rocks. By the time we stopped for late lunch we had left New Jersey and entered New York and had walked 14 miles. We started hiking with "Teen Bean" and "Green Mile" after lunch were there were several short steep climbs and descents once again slowing our progress. Right after turning on our head lamps we entered a rock feature called the lemon squeezer. Its a narrow passage between two huge rocks and in most cases removing your pack is required to fit through. It was followed by a short 7 foot straight vertical climb. The next several miles seemed to take forever as the fog rolled in. Everyone just wanted to get to the shelter and with the exception of LEGO, none of us were having fun. We made it to the shelter around 10:30 pm.

By no means was the terrain easy the next morning as we went up and down many rocky climbs. But the highlight came as we climbed Bear Mountain. Most of the trail up and over the mountain had been very nicely built with rock steps and gravel. After coming off the mountain we walked through a state park with a large number of people out for a picnic. Then we walk through a public zoo. By the bear cage was the lowest point on the entire AT at just 120 feet above sea level. Next we crossed the Hudson River and headed back into the hills. About a half mile from a place to camp was a deli and convenience store. After loading up on a meal, snacks, and beer we headed to Graymoor Spiritual Life Center where they welcome hikers to stay at a pavilion on their property. The total days mileage was 21.8 miles.

This time I mean it when I say nothing happened during the 18.6 miles to RPH Shelter. Weather was nice and the terrain was manageable. Once again, we could order pizza from the shelter and we did.

On the 14th, we left the shelter and about 3 miles later the gray sky open right up and dumped heavy ran on us for about an hour. Our choice of shelters were at 16.8 or 25.5 miles. We stopped with the intension of spending the night at Telephone Pioneers Shelter (16.8) but we learned that a Garden Center 2.9 miles further allows camping on the property. It was still fairly early so we pushed on. While cooking dinner at the center a trail maintainer named "Sasquatch" came over and talked to us for a long time. He mentioned to us that there is a deli .6 miles down the road. He left to go play with his dog and then came back immediately to let us use his car. That's right, he turned over his keys and gave LEGO some money to pick up him some cigarettes. People are inherently kind and giving and it is so appreciated by us thru-hikers. When we got back "Sasquatch" stayed around for another hour and chatted with us. Total mileage for the day was 19.7 miles.

On the 15th we left the garden center and hiked 11.3 miles plus another 1 mile off the trail to stay with the family of one of LEGO's friends. We crossed into Connecticut early in the day and officilaay entered New England. We arrived at the farm we would be staying at at around 1:30pm. It was an interesting place with a lot of animals and gardens. Duke, a freind of the family's immediately cooked us a delicious meal of home made pasta, black beans, turkey, and greens. The entire family was very friendly and the hospitality was great. We relaxed the rest of the day and took care of some chore like things. That night we went out to a bar/restaurant for food and open mic music. It was fun.

The next morning after a huge, delicious french toast breakfast we set out on a 24.2 mile hike to Pine Swamp Brook Shelter. The day was sunny and in the 80's. Other than that, the day was pretty uneventful. The terrain was up and dwon in the morning but not too difficult. There was a nice long flat stretch then some stepper climbs. All in all, not too bad a day.

On the 17th, it was raining in the morning so we didn't have much incentive to get an early start. Instead we slept in and didn't leave until around 10:00am. It was cooler today somewhere in the 60's and foggy. We walked up and down for a while before following a road. After a long climb and a very steep descent we stopped in Salisbury, CT to get some food. There our hiking buddy, "Grad School," left to meet his friend with plans to meet up with us later. The climb out of Salisbury was tough but not awful. We stopped for the night at Brassie Brook Shelter after 21 miles. It was the first time so far all trip that we were alone at a shelter. It was kind of nice.

The next morning as we were leaving, "Breeze," who we had met before walked into the shelter. Apparently, he had camped just about a mile away the night before. We ended up hiking with him pretty much all day. Not long into the day's hike we crossed into Massachusetts. Not long after we goot off the trail by mistake for a bit. It turned out that we followed a short section of the old trail that met back up with the new trail after a short distance. Just before lunch we met, "Irish Runner," a section hiker out for a few days. He was a pretty cool guy and he ended up hiking longer than he had planned so that he could hang out with us longer. We stopped for a break at US 7 and that where "Irish Runner" left us. Just before that we had to take off our shoes to cross a flooded section of trail. It's so great when the water goes even higher than the plank bridges. The final climb of the day was pretty tough but we finally made it to Tom Leonard Shelter after 23.2 miles. That night we didn't sleep very well though because something was chewing very loudly on the wood of the shelter all night. We would turn on our light and look around but we never found out what or where it was. "Breeze" even banged on the shelter wall to scare it off and got out to look for it but nothing stopped it. Two minutes after we were back in bed with the lights out the loud chewing would start again. Damn animal. Later someone told us that it was probably a porcupine. Whatever it was, it was loud!

The 19th was a tough day for both of us. The weather was very nice but we were both tired after 3 long days. Unfortuantely, we had another long day planned as we were going to meet some of LEGO's family's friends to stay with them for the evening. There were some very nice sections of trail but we were both very tired and the day dragged on and felt very long for both of us. Finally we crossed over I-90 which was cool because we had both driven under the AT on that highway many times. After another short 5 miles we made it to US 20 where we were picked up by Dan and Sue who took us back to there house. We both felt much better after showers, laundry, and a delicious dinnver of salad, baked potatoes, grilled chicken, and fruit salad, Blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert. It was fantastic.
It was very tough to get out of a real bed the next morning but knowing a real breakfast was waiting did help. After a quick resupply we hit the trail. Surprisingly we found a note from our friends Rick and Judy from Ithaca, NY waiting for us on the trail. Apparrently they had been there not to long before us. To our surprise, "Grad School," caught us after only a few hours making it a 27 mile day for him once we made our 16 miles to Kay Wood Shelter. Also to our surprise shortly after getting to the shelter our friend "Breeze" also caught us (or did not pass us).

On the 21st we went 16.9 miles because we went through two small towns. We stopped at Dalton for a breakfast and then stopped in Cheshire for ice cream and picked up some adult beverages to pack out. After leaving Cheshire we only had few miles to go but they were all up the side of Mt Graylock. Our friend "Grad School" picked up a drop box (food resupply that he packaged before leaving on the trip and a family member sends) at the post office in Dalton. Because he had mentioned to this mother that he had lost more weight she ended up sending 4 days of extra food. His pack weight jumped up to 70 or maybe even 80 pounds. He is a small guy like LEGO and at this high pack weight he is burning far more calories then the food has so he will undoubtedly will lose more weight. Also he normal moves at a good pace but that significantly slowed down for the rest of the day and more then likely a few days to come. When we arrived at the shelter there were two groups of Overland instructors out on a training trip. Overland is an organization that takes young adults on backpacking trips or on service trips. It sounds like a pretty cool program. We spent the hanging out with all of the instructors.

Moving as a group again we finished the climb up to the top of Mt Graylock on the morning of the 22nd. Shortly after arriving the gray sky opened up with some fairly heavy rain but luckily there is a large cabin with a visitor center to hide from the rain in. We studied the current weather map and made the decision to push on when there was a good break in the rain knowing that more was on it's way. Somewhere close to the border of Vermont we were hit again with the rain but this time we had no way to hide from it. After having everything soaked the next shelter (which was shorter then the original plan) became very appetizing to stop at. However it was full of hikers doing sections. So we ended up pushing 7 more miles in the rain to Congdon Shelter. By this time about 98% of the trail was covered with thick mud, pools of water, or simply was a creek making the hiking less then enjoyable. We walked up on a shelter that seemed to had a ton of people already hiding from the rain. There was 3 section hikers and 12 in a group from Overland out as a staff training trip. The larger group knew they could not push four thru-hikers out of the shelter (as part of their trip they were to camp in their tents and not use the shelter). We had to wait around about an hour in our wet clothing as they gathered all their gear to free up half of the shelter for us ("Breeze", "Grad School" and the two of us).

On the 23rd the plan was to go about 23 miles but the weather did not change and the trail continued to be nasty so we cut it short at 18.7 at Kid Gore Shelter. The one nice thing about this day was rolling up to a shelter that was completely empty. This made it two straight days of wet socks and shoes and fairly uncomfortable hiking conditions. We are not liking the Long Trail.

When we awoke the cold wind and mist was blowing right in to the shelter along with the sound of rain hitting the metal roof. No one wanted to get out of their warm sleeping bag and venture out in to the cold rain so we ended up leaving real late (11:00am). The plan was to head either to Spruce Peak Shelter 22.9 miles or go additional 2.8 miles and hitch into Manchester Center, VT. The trail conditions still had not changed meaning that our feet got completely soaked and stayed soaked for the entire day. By the time we hit the shelter it was 8pm and mostly dark. Both "Breeze" and "Grad School" along with LEGO had to convince and encourage Redwood to push on to the road. When we hit the road it was completely dark and it had started raining again. As you can imagine these are not ideal hitching conditions but to out surprise a younger women stopped only about ten minutes later. She took us in to town to a bed in breakfast type place with no breakfast. We made a fast run to McDonald's then took showers and went to bed.

After leaving the B&B at 11am we headed to a beagle place, EMS, Price Choppers, and then to the laundromat. It took about 35 minute of standing on the side of a busy road to catch a hitch back to the trail. About 20 minute after starting to hike the sky went from sunny to overcast and raining. We have no luck. We got to a shelter after 2 miles of hiking that had room for all four of us. It took some convincing by "Grad School", "Redwood", and "LEGO" to get "Breeze" to call it quits for the day (this was the shortest day he had ever done). It helped that we were dry and the forecast was for evening showers that came about 2 hours later.

On the 26th we all got up fairly early in order to do a big day of 27.7 miles. We made pretty good time in the morning but as the day went on everyone but "Breeze" started slowing down. Mostly this was do to heavier packs and the same muddy trail. "Grad School" and the two of us called it quits at 6pm and 22.6 miles at Greenwall Shelter. None of us wanted to hike in the dark and "Grad School" really hurt his knee after one of his many falls shortly before the shelter.

Not that much happened on the 27th. We had several smaller ups and downs in the morning some of which were fairly steep. The more exciting part of the day was reaching the top of Killington Mountain at over 4200 feet. It was really nice to have a 360 degree view of Vermont. This was a good taste of what is to come with the White Mountains. We hiked part way down the mountain to Churchill Scott Shelter at 23.3 miles.

Once again, not that much happened on the 28th. We woke up and made average time to a road for lunch. Everyone was feeling good and made even better time (3 mile per hour) till we hit the shelter at 21.8 miles. We eat dinner and then moved on to shorten the distance between us and Hanover, NH. We found a place to camp on top of Dana Hill making the total days mileage at 25.6 miles.

The morning of LEGO's birthday (29th) we had several small climbs making it a fairly bumpy start to the day. We made it to West Hartford, VT for lunch before and then moved quickly in order to get to Hanover before the post office closed at 5pm. The last 2.5 miles in to town was a road walk. Along the way there was a trail magic cooler that had a phone number of someone named Greg, offering a free place to stay, shower, and laundry. We spend some time in town looking for someone to take in three hikers (the two of us and "Grad School") but found no luck so we called Greg. He is an amazing guy. He picked us up after an all you can eat pizza dinner and $2 margaritas. He then let us drive his car to go pick up some beer and ice cream. All three of us had our own bed.

Greg ran us in to town in the morning before heading to work. For the next several hours we spent going around town getting breakfast, going to the post office, getting free coffee & pizza, taking the bus to EMS, and hitting a grocery store. By the early after noon all three of us had full stomachs and new (free) shoes. We started hiking and pushed on 16.7 miles to Trapper John Shelter. We rolled in after dark making it a late night.

The next day we went 19.1 miles going over two large climbs, Smarts Mountain and Mt Cube. One funny thing that happened was running in to a Dartmouth group. As we were passing them they quickly asked how far Ore Hill Shelter was. We looked slightly confused because they were pointing in the wrong direction. It turned out they started at a road and walked 1.5 miles up the wrong hill in the wrong direction. Oops. We made it to Ore Hill Shelter along with the Dartmouth group and there was also a group of four section hikers who came in after us.

On the 2nd of July, we planned a shorter day because of a huge climb up and over Mt Moosilauke a 4590 foot mountain. The climb only took about 2 hours and we had amazing views from the top. It is awesome to be up above tree line and have climbed over it with a full pack unlike the hundreds of day hikers we saw. The climb down was quiie rough in the fact we went down 1500 feet in 1.5 miles fallowing a waterfall off the side of the mountains. The only thing that kept us going was that we were being picked up by "Grad School's" grandfather to take us to Lincoln, NH. From there LEGO's brother-in-law's uncle and aunt (Peter and Annmarie) came and picked us up, took us to dinner, and then back to their place in Concord, NH.

We decided to take a day off at Peter and Annmarie's place to recuperate before hitting the White Mountains. Annmarie and Peter made sure the fridge was full and that we knew where everything was. They made us feel right at home. Once again sleeping in a bed is amazing and hard to get out of.

That gets you up to date for now.

LEGO & Redwood

Rocks

Blog

We left 501 shelter with the goal of getting to a road crossing 9.8 miles away before 11:30am to met up with my (LEGO's) two sisters, brother-in-law, niece and nephew. We saw them drive up as we walked into the pull-off. What great timing. They took us to a grocery store and to a combined A&W and Long John Silvers. It was so nice to see family members again even if only for a few hours. They dropped us back off and then we finished the day with another 5.9 miles to Eagles Nest Shelter. This was also the first day in five days that the temperature and humidity was reasonable and not out of control. At the shelter we met a very nice section hiker named John (didn't catch the last name) who had just recently learned about the trail and was out on his first overnight hike. It was really cool talking with him. Good luck on future hikes John, if you're reading this.

On the 3rd, we woke up to much cooler weather (maybe high 50s) which was a nice surprise. Early on in to the day we hiked through the small town of Port Clinton, PA which we were hoping would have denatured alcohol for our stove. They didn't but about a mile down a four lane highway was a Walmart so Redwood hanged tight with the packs while I (LEGO) walked the extra 1.8 miles there and back (Redwood is very thankful). Pennsylvania is known for it's rocks and today we started to see way. There were many short sections where you are walking across large boulders. So you can imagine after 23.8 miles to Eckville Shelter our feet were killing us.

The next day from the first minute to the last we were walking on rocks. It may not been the best idea to go 24.2 miles to George W. Outerbridge Shelter, but we did. The rocks came in many different forms but none felt great on the feet. Large boulder piles, small pointy rocks sticking out of the ground, medium sized loose stone on the trail, all of it was horrible. For a normal day, the terrain profile looked great but on rocks we move at half speed so this was a long and painful day.

Unfortunately the 5th was not much better than the pervious day. More rocks than we know what to do with. Because of poorly placed shelters we choose to go 16.7 to Leroy A. Smith Shelter rather than the 30.5 to the next one. We had the option to camp in between but water in PA is somewhat sparse and is mostly located at shelters so we often have little choice of where we stay. Have I mentioned that our feet really hurt and we hate these rocks and cannot wait to get to New Jersey (didn't think I'd ever say that in my life).

We had been warned that the trail continued to be rocky until the Delaware Water Gap and this made it very hard to leave the shelter this morning (June 6th). However knowing that we were heading to town was a big motivator especially since a friend of my (LEGO's) uncle and aunt's was going to pick us up and take us to his place for the night. The day actually started out okay. We made it about 13.8 miles in just over 5 hours which is an amazing accomplishment considering how many rocks there were--yet again. Somewhere along the way though, probably around 2 hours into the day, our feet starting hurting and haven't stopped completely even now 6 hours after we stopped hiking. To really make you understand how bad the rocks are and how much we hate them we'll say it again: we are so glad to get out of PA and into NJ. I bet it's actually quite pretty in PA but you can't enjoy any of the scenery because you have to look down at your feet all day to avoid the rocks (and by that I mean step on the least pointy looking ones because you can't avoid them all). And no matter what you do your feet will hurt anyway. We won't miss the rocks.

We stopped for lunch at that shelter then hiked the last 6.4 miles in the Delaware Water Gap. We only stopped there briefly (we're going back tomorrow) then walked across the I-80 bridge into NJ where we were picked up by Carmen at the visitor center. We stopped for a delicious Italian dinner and a food resupply then went back to Carmen's house in NJ to do laundry, shower, and spend the night before heading back to the trail tomorrow morning.

That's it for now.

LEGO & Redwood

Halfway Point

We must apologize for the length of time it has taken to get this update out. Neither of us has really blogged much before this so we aren't the best at being timely. Nevertheless, we hope it was worth the wait and we'll try to be faster next time.

For this post we thought we might talk for a while about our overall experience in Shenandoah National Park. Before leaving on this trip we had heard so many good things about the Shenandoah's and other hikers out here confirmed this. There are even rummurs that spread amoung the thru-hikers. Some of them include wonderful wildlife, lots of trail magic, tourists wanting your photograph, great veiws, blackberry milkshakes at every road crossing, and we were promised (by two people) that we would definitely see bears. Our experienced was nothing like this.

The weather does play a big part of how we feel but having five straight days of overcast foggy and rainy sky will effect ones spirt. The ironic thing was we had some sun the day we come into the park and then not again until we had walked about a mile out of the park. We had no trail magic, no road side milkshakes, no tourists, the fog covered every view, and most disappointing, NO BEARS. It was best summed up by a hiker when they said, "I came to the realization that Shenandoah is meant to be driven not hiked." Did we mention that the road can be heard from almost every mile of the trail.

The short list of things we liked about Shenandoah include the easy terrain and easy access for visitors. Our biggest highs were being picked up by my (LEGO's) uncle, aunt, and cousin and then two days later being visited by my sister and bother-in-law.

At the end of the Shenandoah's we lost our entire group we were hiking with because they needed to go into Front Royal, VA while we did not. However we hiked on with an older fellow named "One Gray Wolf" and we have since continued hiking together.

On the 20th, we started off with the roller coaster which are ten 400 foot climbs over 13 miles. They were not fun, they just physically and mentally drain you. Then we crossed over in to West Virginia for the first time and then even more excitingly we hit the 1,000 mile mark.

After being dropped of on skyline drive by my (LEGO's) extended family we covered these miles and stayed at these shelters for the past week:

1.2mi to Hightop Hut
12.4mi to Bearfence Mountain
22.4mi to Byrd Nest #3 Hut
17.5mi to Gravel Springs Hut
18.6mi to Jim & Molly Denton
18.4mi to Rod Hollow
21mi to David Lesser Memorial
8.7mi to Harpers Ferry, WV

The plan for leaving Harpers Ferry was to move on to the next shelter or if we are feeling good maybe the one after that. Surprisely we were feeling great and the second shelter was full so we end up going to the third shelter out of Harpers Ferry, Rock Run Shelter (24.7 miles total that day).

In Maryland the trail seemed to be much more gradual and wide enough for two. As billed we found it to be one of the easiest sections of the trail. We ended up spending about 2 days in Maryland and a bit of the morning of a third day. On May 23rd we crossed into Pennsylvania. We ended up hiking 19.8 miles this day. It was a very long, slow day. We ended up getting to the shelter that we wanted to stay at at about 6:30pm only to find it full. As a result we had to camp which wasn't ideal at the end of a long day.

The next day we only hiked 13 miles because we were going to meet LEGO's brother Greg. He got in late for us thru-hikers but everyone got out of bed for the pumpkin pie, cheese cake and beer. In the morning he cooked everyone breakfast burritos and fresh coffee. We headed out around 8am and after about 6 miles we made it to the halfway point of the trail at 1,090.5 miles. It felt pretty great to realize that after 10.5 weeks on the trail we were halfway done. After that we walked 3 more miles to Pine Grove Furnace State Park where we had planned to attempt the "half gallon challenge." The goal of the challenge is to eat an entire half gallon of ice cream. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the general store was closed so we didn't get to see if we could do it.

Greg met us at the park when we got there and drove us meet Jon's sister who drove us back to Ithaca, New York. We were heading home for my (Redwood) sister's graduation and for 2 days off the trail. After just passing the halfway point of the trail this was a good time to take a much needed break.

On May 28th we returned to Pine Grove Furnace State Park to continue our trek where we left off. We didn't arrive until 4:30pm so we only hiked 7.5 miles that day finishing just after 7pm at Tagg Run Shelter. Unfortunately, the group we had been hiking with is now completely broken and split up with some ahead of us and some behind. Or as Mammoth pit it: "the fellowship is broken." Hopefully, we can reunite sometime soon as we continue down the trail.

The next day we planned to hike 26.3 miles to get through the Cumberland Valley where you can't camp. This would have been our longest day but unfortunately, due to the heat and high humidity we weren't able to make it all the way. The terrain was pretty flat for a lot of the day but those of you who have exercised in high humidity know how it can sap every bit of energy out of you and that's exactly what happened to us. We were taking a break at an Appalachian Trail Conservancy storage area at about 7pm preparing to hike the last 4 miles to Darlington Shelter when the woman who was the caretaker for the buildings told us we could camp there if we were discrete about it. That's exactly what we did. She was very nice and also gave us sodas and her leftover salad from dinner. Staying there made our day as it would have been very difficult to hike another 4 miles that late on a very long, hot day. This day ended up being about 22 miles.

The next day we hiked 20 miles to Clark's Ferry Shelter passing through Duncannon, PA on the way. This day was also very hot and humid so we stopped in Duncannon for an hour or so to cool off. We each ended up eating 1.5 quarts of ice cream which made us both very full. It wasn't quite a half gallon but it wasn't too far off. After getting over feeling full and somewhat sick the ice cream fueled us up the final climb to the shelter.

On May 31st we started out planning to hike about 20 miles. We ended up walking the first 13 miles in about 4.5 hours despite the the continued heat and humidity. We stopped for lunch by a very nice stream and ended up spending 3 hours there. It was a perfect place to swim which was great on such a hot day. After swimming, relaxing, and cleaning some clothes we headed out at about 4pm. Instead of stopping at 20 miles like we had planned, we ended up going 24.7 miles to Rausch Shelter. The last several miles were really tough and seemed to take forever. It was a real challenge to keep walking. We finally made it, feet hurting badly, at 8:30pm. We ate dinner, hung our bear bag, and went right to sleep.

June 1st. Today we hiked 17.5 miles to 501 shelter. Most of the day was relatively uneventful except for a short thunderstorm that cooled us off briefly in the early afternoon only to be followed by more heat and humidity. When we got to the shelter we were greeted with leftover pizza that our trail friend "Hansel" and "Silver Fox" couldn't finish. Also already at the shelter was "Quiet Paul," a former thru-hiker who had served us a delicious trail magic breakfast back in North Carolina. He was out doing a south bound section hike. It was cool to see him again and he even treated us to dinner (you could order take out at this shelter because it's near a road). Two great meals from the same guy on two completely different sections of the trail. "Quiet Paul" is just a really nice, really great guy. Thanks again Paul, wherever you are. This great shelter also has a shower so we got take take showers and clean up as well. And to top everything off, two hikers that came in later just gave us there leftover pizza, chicken wings, and bread sticks. What a great day!

And that gets you up to date. Hopefully it won't be so long until the next update. Until then....

LEGO & Redwood

Shenandoah National Park

Nothing major happened on the 5th of May as we hiked the 18.6 miles out of Daleville to Bobblets Gap Shelter. The only thing worth mentioning is that we crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time and the shelter's privy looked and shelled very new.

May 6th. Today we hiked 18.4 miles to Cornelius Creek Shelter. This was a great day. We ended up scoring a four leaf clover in one day. A four leaf clover is a term we developed to describe getting trail magic four times. It started out when we crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway. There an elderly man was waiting outside of his VW bus and giving out coffee and breakfast biscuits. Next we came across a cooler near another road crossing with sodas and various other snacks. Later that evening at the shelter, the aunt and uncle of our friend "The Colonel" showed up with two buckets of KfC looking for him. The Colonel had left about an hour before that so the two of us and our two other friends, "Enzed" and "Mammoth" shared the two full buckets which ended up being half a chicken each. We were just thinking how nice a soda would go with this meal when, Larry, a nice man who was camping at the shelter, brought us each a Dr. Pepper and a Yuengling lager. It was the perfect end to our wonderful day. A day that probably won't be topped, at least in terms of trail magic.

Nothing major happened on the 7th of May as we hiked the 19.8 miles into Glasgow VA. The only thing worth mentioning is that Redwood (Dave) and Enzed got confused and ended up hiking past the road that leads to Glasgow. However, they ended up asking a couple who were day hiking how to get to town and the couple ended up driving them in even though it was out of there way.

Leaving Glasgow seemed to be harder then we thought. The trail was only 5.9 miles out of town but it was Sunday and Mothers Day. After standing in the middle of this two street town for about an hour a pickup truck took five of us back to the trail head. It was 10:30am by the time we started hiking. We ended up doing 20.1 miles to Brown Mountain Creek Shelter. A late start and big miles only means one thing, a late finish. The last hour seemed to take forever because it was starting to get really dark. By 7:30pm we finally made it. The only interesting thing that happened was that a day hiker gave us a container of BBQ chicken, bread, and sodas about 1 mile from the shelter. We are really loving these random acts of kindness, and having two dinners.

On the 9th, we planned a shorter day of 15.8 to Seeley-Woodworth Shelter because of the unequal spacing of the shelters. The only challenging part of the day was the 2,885 foot climb out of the shelter. About 45 minutes in to the climb I (LEGO) realized that I dropped my snack bag. Not wanting to loose all of my snacks for that day or the handy bag that I found in a hiker box, I went back. Without a pack on you can move much faster. By the time I found the bag I was most of the way back to the shelter. I turned around and raced back to my pack that I had left on the side of the trail. This 4 mile detour would normally not be a problem but I still had to climb 2,000 feet less the 2 miles. What was supposed to be a short day ended up being quite long for me.

Later that night we came to the realization that it made more sense to hike 20.7 instead of the 14.5 that was planned. It was not the extra horizontal miles that scared us but the vertical feet. After 7.5 miles the following morning we were standing on the top The Priest Moutain and looked acrossed a vally towards Three Ridge Mountain. The only thing between them was a 3103 foot descent and a 3,016 foot climb. We were fairly surprised when we made it to to Maupin Field Shelter that this day did not take that much longer then any other 20 mile day we had previously done.

Wednesday makes it seven full days without a shower. In the hot and humid temperatures we have recently experienced you cam imagine the grime that has built up. After we made it to Paul C. Wolfe Shelter (15.8 miles), a shelter with a large creek as the water source, you can probably guess what happened next. Yep, we got wet. The water was ice cold and numbing but felt really nice afterwards.

We planned the next couple of days based around a visit from LEGO's uncle, aunt & cousin and then sister & Brother-in-Law. Because of this we decided to push on past Waynesboro, VA causing us to leave our group that we have been hiking with for over 500 miles. After 5 miles into the day we entered the Shenandoah National Park. This is exciting because we have heard so many different things about this section of the trail. However, the first part looked and felt no different then the last 100 miles. But after about 15 miles in the terrain started becoming significantly easier. It still went up and down but it was not as steep or as long as usual. When we reached Blackrock Hut we had covered 25 miles in 10 hours (this includes an hour lunch break). It took many snacks for us to make it all the way there but the day felt fairly good for both of us. This was a pleasant surprise after our longest day so far.

On Friday the 13th, we decided to get off the trail. Not really, but my (LEGO) uncle, aunt, and cousin from Virginia Beach, VA wanted to come out and see us. We planned to meet up on Skyline Drive at 4:30 so we tried to hike as far as possible which would shorten the miles for Saturday. We hit Skyline Drive at the meeting place just minutes before they did. It's really nice to see family, stay in a hotel, clean our clothing, take a shower, and do our best at eating through a Chili's and a local Diner. After resupplying and spending more time with the family on Saturday we'll hit the trail for an amazingly long 1.6 miles where hopefully we'll meet back up with our group of friends.

LEGO & Redwood

700 Miles

Everyday since leaving Pearisburg VA has felt the same. I'll explain, the day starts with a mile or so before climbing up 500 to 1500 feet. At the top we walk along a ridge that usually contains many large rocks that are hard on your feet. After traversing 4 to 10 miles we head back down. Then another few humps before starting all over again. In the past five days we have climb over 9 ridges.

After leaving Pearisburg we headed 19.2 miles to Pine Swamp Branch Shelter. The cool thing about this day was that we saw 3 black bear cubs in the bushes at the top of a hill. We left quickly though and didn't see the mother which was a very good thing. On the May 1st we hiked 18.5 miles to Laurel Creek Shelter. From there we moved to Pickle Branch Shelter 22.5 miles down the trail. On the 3rd, we hiked 23 miles crossing 700 total miles and McAfee Knob (one of the most photographed spots) to Lamberts Meadow Shelter. And today we went a mere 9.3 miles into Daleville, VA where we resupplied once again and had Mexican for dinner. We are currently sharing a motel room with 6 people total.

LEGO & Redwood

Cruising in Virginia

Following an old trail hiking tradition we both took "trail names." LEGO for Jon and Redwood for Dave.

On April 21 we once again found it hard to leave a town but Damascus was especially difficult because we were there for two days. Just like every other town, we headed back into the mountains by going up 1000 ft in 2 miles. One cool thing from the day was that the AT followed the Virginia Creeper Trail for two short sections. The Creeper Trail is an old railroad bed that is one continuous slow climb as it follows a river. After 14.7 miles we called it quits and tented at Lost Mountain Shelter with 8 other thru-hikers and more then a half dozen weekenders.

On the morning of the 22nd, we woke up to "Cascade" playing his morning song "Eye of The Tiger" from the Rocky soundtrack. This got us in the mood to hike the 17 miles despite the low fog and high winds. The rain did come that day but it was fairly little and was on and off all day. The day started with a 1,400 ft climb to Whitetop Mointain. Next was a small dip and then up another 600 ft to the top of Mt Rogers (Virginia's highest point). After this point, most of the time we were hiking in grass fields with large rock protrusions in heavy fog. It was beautiful but disappointing because we knew there were views we were missing. Both of us were upset that when we entered the Garyson Highlands we did not see any of the wild ponies that live in the area. This was made worse when we found out that people before and after us had seen them. Wise Shelter was full with four other thru-hikers and four weekenders so we had to tent that night. After the weekenders finished their very luxurious meal, they offered it to all of us. Like true starving thru-hikers, we devoured the pork tenderloin and spiced oinon in just a few seconds.

In the morning, the very generous weekenders again offered us their breakfast scraps, breakfast burritos. After only a few miles of hiking all of yesterdays disappointments were made up for. Not only did we get to hike in beautiful fields with rocks and clear skies but we saw some ponies!!! The terrain for the rest of the day was very manigable. Since entering Virigina there has been ups and downs but with most gradual slopes and not nearly as high as in previous areas. In one of the gaps 7 miles later a section hiker was offering trail magic. There is almost nothing better then eatting a hamburger, two hotdogs, chips, several mini candy bars, half dozen cookies and a beer in about 15 minutes (This does not include what Dave ate). We hiked another 13 miles, making it exactly a 20 mile day when we reached Trimpi Shelter.

On Easter (March 24th), we woke up and were feeling especially good and flew the 10.6 miles to Partnership Shelter in just over 3 hours. Now Partnership is not your ordinary trail shelter. It has a shower and sink attached to the shelter. Also there is a visitor center within eye sight were you can have pizza delivered. So the night before we took pizza orders so the first people could make the call. It took 8 thru-hikers about 5 minutes to eat 4 large pizzas. Dave and I decided to wait for about a hour while we took showers and did some laundry. Surprisingly we still felt really good and made it to Chatfield Shelter in another 2.5 hours bringing the total trip mileage up to 525.2.

The next day we did the 4.5 miles to get into Atkins, VA in about one and a half hours. Once there we quickly resupplied at a gas station that is right on route 81. Then we moved across the street to a diner and grabbed a big breakfast. A few miles out of town we heard the rumble of thunder in the distance. We picked up our pace but we could not out run the storm on foot. For about 10 minutes it felt like we were in a wind tunnel with someone dumping buckets of water on us. Both Dave and I had to drag ourselves the last 2 miles of the 18.4 mile day to Knot Maul Shelter.

Leaving the shelter the next morning we had a few miles down before we hit the first major climb in several days. In 2 miles we went up 1,200 feet before hitting a grassy field and going up another 600 feet. From on top of Chestnut Knob we could see the 5 mile ridge we were to walk across. Dave was having a great second half of the day and beat everyone to Jenkins Shelter. Today's milage total was 19 miles.

Late last night several of the hikers decided to hike 11 miles hitch a ride into Bland, VA and then finish the day with another 13 miles to Jenny Knob Shelter. This would be our longest day. That's exactly what we did. As you may guess, the terrain is much more manageable in Virginia so doing larger miles just means hiking more hours. The first 11 where fairly uneventful. Hitching into town did take a little bit more time then normal but there where four of us and a dog. We knew it was going to rain but we were very lucky because it just started when we walked into the doors of the Dairy Queen. When we were at the DQ there was some hesitation of going back to the AT with the threats of high winds and thunderstorms bit once the rain had stopped we decided to not spend the night in town. After stuffing our faces at the DQ, we grabbed a few snacks from the adjoining gas station and then moved on to the Subway. We grabbed footlongs for dinner and then hitched back to the trail head. The first few miles were straight up to a ridge line. We traversed the ridge as quickly as possible as the wind picked up and black clouds moved in and out. Once again we were hit with a stroke of good luck because not one drop of rain fell until much later that night. Around midnight the lightning started and the whole sky was lit up like there was a strobe light. Heavy rains followed. Everyone in the shelter woke up and started taking pictures of the constant lightning flashes.

The sun was shining when we woke up on the 28th of March. The original plan was to hike to Wapiti Shelter, 14.2 miles away, then the hike the 6.4 miles in to Woods Hole Hostel the next day. After we were started hiking almost everyone independently thought we should just go all the way to the hostel that day. So that's what we did. The middle third was very easy because we followed a stream the entire way. The first and last thirds were still Virginia easy. My feet were not very happy because over the last two days I had developed four new blisters. We were making good time until what we thought was the last mile of the second 20 mile day in a row. When we go to the hostel we learned that there is an extra 1.6 miles that is not listed in any guide book. What horrible surprise!!! The hostel wasn't as nice as we thought it would be so we opted to pay for a cheaper campsite rather than beds in the bunkhouse.

On April 29th we hiked 10 miles into Pearisburg, VA, by far our shortest day since leaving Damascus. We shared a hotel room there with 4 other hikers making it a bit crowded with 6 total. We went to an all you can eat Chinese buffet for lunch then did laundry and resupplied. After a few other errands we went out for a great Mexican dinner and watched hockey.

First Zero

On the 12th, it was very hard to pull ourselves away from such a good place like Uncle Johnny's Hostel. Once we were moving the climb back into the mountains was not that bad. We made it to the first shelter fairly quickly but knew that we needed to move on. However this turned out to be a bad decision. As we climbed higher the temperatures dropped and the winds picked up. Before we knew it the rain started. This is were our luck of good weather from the last month ended. With the combination of being wet, the low temperatures, and the high winds made things very miserable. You could not ever walk fast enough to stay warm. Stopping to put on a rain coat did cut the wind but did little for warming up. At this point two fellow hikers (Cascade and Chainsaw) caught up to us and it did help mentally to know that we were not alone. To make things worse we had to climb another 1,200 ft and go another 4.3 miles before the Cherry Gap Shelter. At the top of the climb Cascade and I decided to started to jog to warm up. Dave's ankle was bothering him so he continued at a slower speed. The jogging did completely warm me up and we finished the last 3 miles in 45mins. To our surprise the 6 person shelter only had room for three more bumping the total up to 8. Cascade, me and Grandpa who we just passed on the trail. As quickly as posable I stripped off all of my wet clothing (which was everything) and put on all of my warm stuff. Dave rolled in about 50mins behind me however it was a great surprise when High Five and Enzed showed up about another 30mins later. I ended up giving my spot in the shelter to Enzed because there was no room for Dave and our tent needed to be set up anyway. Also she got her self dangerously cold and needed the warm shelter more then me. The day was truly one of our worst and it would be a huge understatement if I said it was difficult.

The next morning the sun popped out, of course. So we took all morning to have a fire and completely dried all of our clothing. We moved on to Cylde Smith Shelter just 9.2 miles down the trail. This was good for two reasons. First the next day we would have a large climb over Roan Mountain. Second Dave's ankle was still bothering him and my knee started to give me trouble.

So the original plan was to hike 14.3 miles to Overmountain Shelter (an old converted barn). The morning started with a couple hundred feet bumps before ascending 1,800 feet to the top of Roan Mountain. Despite being 6,285 feet high, Roan has no views so the only exciting part of reaching the top is the shelter there. The Roan High Knob Shelter is the highest on the entire AT and has four walls and a door (most shelters have only three walls). The next section of the trail was much more rewarding and enjoyable to hike because of a continuous bald that stretched over three little mountains. The views from there were much better. Later in the day we found a note from "Cascade" and "eNZed" telling us that there were going to Apple House Shelter which was almost 9 miles further than we had planned to go. After much debate we decided to push on as well because of the weather forecast (more rain). We finally arrived at the shelter around 7pm after 23 miles--our current longest day.

On the 15th we hiked a total of 18.9 miles for second straight long day and ended at Moreland Gap Shelter. The terrain was rolling with no big climbs. It was cloudy and pretty windy. The temperature was mid 50s. Nothing particularly exciting happened this day.

We woke up on April 16th to wind and rain. We made a mad dash to Kincora hostel only 6.1 miles away and spent the majority of the day there inside and dry. The hostel was run by Bob Peoples, one of the AT's biggest volunteers and a really nice guy. His hostel is run solely on donations (suggested donations is only 4 dollars per night) and provides free showers, laundry, and a shuttle into Elizabethton for dinner and resupply. We also received our first mail drop which included a bunch a goodies and a pair of sneakers for Jon.

The next day we left Kincora late because it's always hard to leave nice hostels. We started out moving pretty well. The trail followed a river for several miles before climbing steeply over Pond Flats Mountain. The climb wasn't really that bad until it got steep at the very end. We had lunch at Watauga Lake with some other hikers then continued on. From then on everything seemed to slow down and neither of us could move quickly even though the terrain wasn't particularly difficult. My ankle was hurting pretty bad and Jon got a new blister neither of which helped things. Somehow, despite being the last two to the shelter we managed to each get a spot in Vandeventer Shelter so we didn't have to set up our tent.

On the 18th we did another long day at 22.7 miles. The day was long but really pretty uneventful. None of the climbs were more than around 200 ft. My ankle was still hurting so it was a pretty slow day for me but Jon was drugged up on ibuprofen and was moving quickly. Once again we managed to get shelter spots despite being last in at about 7pm.


Anticipating reaching Damascus, VA we flew 10 miles in just 3 hours on the morning of the 19th. In the process we left TN for good and entered VA for the first time. Most of the rest of the day was spent relaxing and hanging out with other hikers. We went out for dinner and drinks in the evening and stayed at a somewhat sketchy hostel run by a church. There is really no caretaker so anyone can stay there so we didn't leave our stuff unattended.

Today (the 20th), we were a little more productive. It was our first day not hiking and we spent it doing laundry, resupplying, mailing home unused gear, and buying new boots for Dave. A good day off.

Next update in around 6 days give or take.

Jon & Dave

The Best Trail Magic Ever!!!

On April 7th after talking more with "Ewok" the south bound hiker who was finishing in Hot Springs we learned of some very valuable information: that there would be some excellent trail magic the next day at Allen Gap. He told us "don't eat breakfast" and that we would get it at the gap. So on April 8th we set out at about 8:30am and hiked the 4 miles to Allen Gap where we were greeted by a sign telling us to walk 350 yards down the state road and up a concrete driveway for a great 3 course meal. At the house two former thru-hikers, a very nice christian couple, treated us each to a Belgian waffle, a bowl of stew, a cup of hot cider, and our choice of 4 different desserts. It was amazing. They told us they moved to that location to help out thru-hikers and have served over 1,500 hikers over the past 7 years. After stuffing ourselves we had to hike another 11 miles, all uphill on a hot and humid day. Needless to say, it was tough but the extra calories helped. We finally made it to Jerry Cabin Shelter but it was the first time we thought that we might have missed it because it seemed to be a lot further than we thought it should be. That may have been simply because we were so tired.

At the shelter we met up with the group of people we had been hiking with for the last few days: "Cascade" (with his dog Sierra) "High Five," "Enzed" (from New Zealand), and "The Colonel." Were still hiking with them now.

April 9th was a lot like the day before: hot and humid. We hiked a pretty uneventful 14.7 miles. We did meet two fellow New Yorkers at the shelter at the end of the day but not much else really happened. The water source at Hogback Ridge Shelter is supposed to be 0.2 miles away but it really felt much more like 5 miles. It was a long walk at the end of the day.

April 10th started out as a great day. We planned to do 20.7 miles to get with 6 miles of Erwin, TN for a short hike the following day. After about 2 miles we came to Sam Gap where another former thru-hiker, "Quiet Paul," was serving massive plates of scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, and muffins. It was great! It's really amazing how much help people give to thru-hikers like us. Next we climbed about 8 miles up to Big-Bald which was a very beautiful big bald. We had lunch at the Big-Bald Shelter that was slightly under half way to our destination at 10.1 miles. The second 10+ miles was mostly downhill and a killer on our knees. We were exhausted but glad to be finished with this day. At 20.7 miles it is our longest so far.

Today was an easy 5.9 miles into Erwin, TN. It was mostly downhill but not bad at all. We checked into Uncle Johnny's Nolichucky Hostel where we shared a four person room with "Cascade" and "Enzed." We ate at an all you can eat pizza place with a delicious dessert pizza. We were both pretty stuffed. Later we resupplied at a Food Lion, and had a delicious, home cooked dinner with our friends.

We'll be in Damascus, VA in 6-8 days and about 120 miles. Next update should be around then. Until next time.