This is going to have to be really quick, as we must leave town again. At the moment, we are residing in Monson, Me. We should be back in town again in 3 days so hopefully i can add some more details, but overall we had a good trip. Katadin was a great hike, we used day packs and spent over an hour up on the summit looking at the 360 degree view (pictures eventually will be loaded). The hundred mile wilderness was neither 100 miles nor wilderness. We spent a night in a beautiful hostel right in the middle of the wilderness and gave ourselves some time off. The wilderness was pretty muddy, filled with slick roots, but other then that, it wasn't overly difficult. What we have come to realize is that ever part of the trail is pretty much the same; a green tunnel through the vast forrest's of the eastern United States.
I have got to run, but hopefully i can add some more updates later on.
Best
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Off to Maine
Tomorrow morning we'll be taking off to Maine to begin our long walk home. As you may or may not know, we are flip-flopping on our hike in order to avoid a number of problems we feared we might face. We have already completed the entire trail from Springer Mountain Georgia to the Brink Road Shelter in New Jersey (which accounts of exactly 1308.3 miles). However, now that we are approaching September, the prospect of hiking through Maine in late October strikes fear into our hearts. This situation also puts us in the ideal situation of walking south as it gets colder, and of hiking through New England during the fall foliage season. Most significantly though, the chance to "walk home" is just something we couldn't pass up.
While Maine and New Hampshire pose great threats physically, the fact that we'll be walking home can hopefully drive us past any challenges we face.
I also will try to be a little more consistent in my posting, so keep coming back for updates and hopefully you'll be receiving them and i'll see you in exactly 870.0 miles!
While Maine and New Hampshire pose great threats physically, the fact that we'll be walking home can hopefully drive us past any challenges we face.
I also will try to be a little more consistent in my posting, so keep coming back for updates and hopefully you'll be receiving them and i'll see you in exactly 870.0 miles!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Day off in PA
Glass half full, it now spillith over. Nearly 1300 miles into the trip, we can feel the scales finally tipping in our favor (800 miles left). My last update was a couple hundred miles back, so there is obviously a lot to catch everybody up on. Hopefully, this entry will begin to do that (and a hopeful perspective future one can finish it off).
Ill start from where i am now, and work backwards. We've made it to the Poconos house, and right on schedule may i add. We arrived wednesday night, and will be leaving tomorrow (at least i will, full explanation coming). Josh's family was up visiting, but left for the Weissman's lake house thursday afternoon. This left us with a delicate situation in which we wanted to all see our families, without restricting the others from seeing theirs. The plan we finally settled on, was that Josh would go with his family to the lake while Jake would attempt a historic 40 mile hike from my Poconos house to his lake house (he made it). The plan concludes with me hiking with Belle (my sister) for two days. Her and I will hike short days tomorrow and sunday until she gets picked up by my parents. Both of us are looking forward to it, and i think it will be fun. Josh will be meeting up with me Sunday evening by hiking a long day to catch my progress from the 2 days with my sister. Should be a fun weekend!
Our recent days have seen us receive a loud of guests to hike with us. It bega with Jacob Price (Josh's brother). He did a great job, hiking about 100 miles and keeping up with the big boys. It was also really nice to have some new company with us, as he hiked for over a week and we got used to him. Next to join us was Adam, who spent two full days hiking some of the toughest terrain in PA. Then came Eli, who hiked a day with us. On the trail it is especially nice getting all these different personalities, because as you can imagine, we are quite used to our own.
Of course, you can always find the day-by-day updates of our trip on Jake's blog (linked to the right), but a short overview of the states and terrains we faced are as follows:
Pennsylvania-Rocky but moderately flat
Shenandoah- Flat and beautiful. Well carved trails, and lots of cute bears
Thats about it for regions. Two very long, pretty nice places to hike.
We also hit Harpers Ferry during the downtime of this blog. This was nice because it was our first chance to see our families (at least Josh and I). As we walked north toward Harpers Ferry, My dad, sister Eve, Adam, and girlfriend Tanya walked southbound to meet us on the trail. They did, and Tanya even carried my pack all the way to town (she is perfect!). We stayed in a nice hotel, and spent a day in the nice historic downtown which was relaxing.
Those are most of the major events of our time since i last posted. While i'm sure there are more stories to tell, this entry will end with one last story. One night Jake was so scared spiders would climb on him one night that he set up his tent inside a shelter, something considered grossly taboo, and undone among thru-hikers; but who can tell Jake what to do when spiders are around (answer: no one)
Ill start from where i am now, and work backwards. We've made it to the Poconos house, and right on schedule may i add. We arrived wednesday night, and will be leaving tomorrow (at least i will, full explanation coming). Josh's family was up visiting, but left for the Weissman's lake house thursday afternoon. This left us with a delicate situation in which we wanted to all see our families, without restricting the others from seeing theirs. The plan we finally settled on, was that Josh would go with his family to the lake while Jake would attempt a historic 40 mile hike from my Poconos house to his lake house (he made it). The plan concludes with me hiking with Belle (my sister) for two days. Her and I will hike short days tomorrow and sunday until she gets picked up by my parents. Both of us are looking forward to it, and i think it will be fun. Josh will be meeting up with me Sunday evening by hiking a long day to catch my progress from the 2 days with my sister. Should be a fun weekend!
Our recent days have seen us receive a loud of guests to hike with us. It bega with Jacob Price (Josh's brother). He did a great job, hiking about 100 miles and keeping up with the big boys. It was also really nice to have some new company with us, as he hiked for over a week and we got used to him. Next to join us was Adam, who spent two full days hiking some of the toughest terrain in PA. Then came Eli, who hiked a day with us. On the trail it is especially nice getting all these different personalities, because as you can imagine, we are quite used to our own.
Of course, you can always find the day-by-day updates of our trip on Jake's blog (linked to the right), but a short overview of the states and terrains we faced are as follows:
Pennsylvania-Rocky but moderately flat
Shenandoah- Flat and beautiful. Well carved trails, and lots of cute bears
Thats about it for regions. Two very long, pretty nice places to hike.
We also hit Harpers Ferry during the downtime of this blog. This was nice because it was our first chance to see our families (at least Josh and I). As we walked north toward Harpers Ferry, My dad, sister Eve, Adam, and girlfriend Tanya walked southbound to meet us on the trail. They did, and Tanya even carried my pack all the way to town (she is perfect!). We stayed in a nice hotel, and spent a day in the nice historic downtown which was relaxing.
Those are most of the major events of our time since i last posted. While i'm sure there are more stories to tell, this entry will end with one last story. One night Jake was so scared spiders would climb on him one night that he set up his tent inside a shelter, something considered grossly taboo, and undone among thru-hikers; but who can tell Jake what to do when spiders are around (answer: no one)
Friday, July 10, 2009
Pearisburg-6/10
We spent last night in a motel in the nice small city of Pearisburg, Va. Its been a while since I've written, so there will be much for me to say. Unfortunatly, we are pressed for time so I'm not sure that I will get to all of it.
Our biggest event in the past two weeks was the forth of July. We celebrated in style of course. Since we could not attend the Highland Park fireworks show in Donaldson Park, we did our best to reenact it. We each bought fireworks, and to top it off, we purchased a bottle of rum aswell. Both of those aquisitions went according to plan, as we supplemented them with music (my crank radio) and partied the night away. While our fireworks never left the ground (state law, they were actually more like sparklers), we definitly found our spirits raised by the good and relaxing times we were having (alcohol induced or not, i can't be sure).
That very night we had expected large/torrential rain storms, so headed by Jake, we hatched a plan to fight back. We were at a campsite, so we devised a rain tarp to cover our tents, so we could have a "common area" to be in if the rain ever came. The problem was, that the only store we passed, a gas station, had no tarps. We decided on buying 10 large trash bags, and using duck tape to do the job of transforming them into a tarp. Our tents were positioned all facing eachother, to for a triangle between us. Our "tarp" ended up staying up all night, problem was, we were barely rained upon. The next day called for 70% change of rain, but we again somehow skirted it, and walked through nice sunny weather the entire day.
A few nights later, we were staying in a shelter (3 walls and a floor) and were all ready for bed when catastophe (at least for Jake) hit. Laying down reading our books, Jake looks up at the ceiling to find a giant spider crawling directly above him. When we say giant, we mean nearly the size of your hand. Jake's freakout began with the low pitched "ooo no", but culminated in his upheaval from the shelter and subsiquint wimpers from over by the fire (which he rebuilt to epic proportions). Before Josh and I were allowed to kill the beast, all of Jakes things had to be moved from the vacinity, because "if we missed and it touched his sleeping bag, he could never use it again". Anyway, Josh wacked the bugger with a stick, and crisis was averted.
We also managed to have our best dinner on the trail. After visiting Bland (yes, thats the name of the town), we hiked a few miles out to our campsite. Knowing we would have this short hike beforehand, we had the foresight to decide on a nice dinner, regardless of weight, that we could make on the trail. We bought steaks. While marinating them in bbq sauce, siracha and spices, we built up a nice fire, then let it turn to embers. We then built a platform out of flattened sticks and cooked our steaks right on that. We flipped them with a steak fork we carved, and what can i say, that was some of the best steak I've ever had. Perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, and the perfect group of people to eat it with.
It is about time for me to be getting out of here; i mean, we are walking the appalacian trail, not blogging for a living. I hope this was enough of an update. While our next maildrop site is listed to the right, we do have potential for other stops before then, so hopefully i'll be able to write again before we arrive in Waynesboro. Hope everyone out in the real world is well, and I'll talk to you again soon.
Our biggest event in the past two weeks was the forth of July. We celebrated in style of course. Since we could not attend the Highland Park fireworks show in Donaldson Park, we did our best to reenact it. We each bought fireworks, and to top it off, we purchased a bottle of rum aswell. Both of those aquisitions went according to plan, as we supplemented them with music (my crank radio) and partied the night away. While our fireworks never left the ground (state law, they were actually more like sparklers), we definitly found our spirits raised by the good and relaxing times we were having (alcohol induced or not, i can't be sure).
That very night we had expected large/torrential rain storms, so headed by Jake, we hatched a plan to fight back. We were at a campsite, so we devised a rain tarp to cover our tents, so we could have a "common area" to be in if the rain ever came. The problem was, that the only store we passed, a gas station, had no tarps. We decided on buying 10 large trash bags, and using duck tape to do the job of transforming them into a tarp. Our tents were positioned all facing eachother, to for a triangle between us. Our "tarp" ended up staying up all night, problem was, we were barely rained upon. The next day called for 70% change of rain, but we again somehow skirted it, and walked through nice sunny weather the entire day.
A few nights later, we were staying in a shelter (3 walls and a floor) and were all ready for bed when catastophe (at least for Jake) hit. Laying down reading our books, Jake looks up at the ceiling to find a giant spider crawling directly above him. When we say giant, we mean nearly the size of your hand. Jake's freakout began with the low pitched "ooo no", but culminated in his upheaval from the shelter and subsiquint wimpers from over by the fire (which he rebuilt to epic proportions). Before Josh and I were allowed to kill the beast, all of Jakes things had to be moved from the vacinity, because "if we missed and it touched his sleeping bag, he could never use it again". Anyway, Josh wacked the bugger with a stick, and crisis was averted.
We also managed to have our best dinner on the trail. After visiting Bland (yes, thats the name of the town), we hiked a few miles out to our campsite. Knowing we would have this short hike beforehand, we had the foresight to decide on a nice dinner, regardless of weight, that we could make on the trail. We bought steaks. While marinating them in bbq sauce, siracha and spices, we built up a nice fire, then let it turn to embers. We then built a platform out of flattened sticks and cooked our steaks right on that. We flipped them with a steak fork we carved, and what can i say, that was some of the best steak I've ever had. Perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, and the perfect group of people to eat it with.
It is about time for me to be getting out of here; i mean, we are walking the appalacian trail, not blogging for a living. I hope this was enough of an update. While our next maildrop site is listed to the right, we do have potential for other stops before then, so hopefully i'll be able to write again before we arrive in Waynesboro. Hope everyone out in the real world is well, and I'll talk to you again soon.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Damascus - 6/29
We arrived in Damascus yesterday, and decided to take a zero day to allow our bodies to adjust to our forth state of the trip. That's right, we have arrived in Virginia. It is everything we expected and more. So far (about the 2 miles we've walked) it has been beautiful, flat, and friendly.
Our hiking since Erwin displayed us nothing spectacular, be we do feel we are finally hitting our pace. Since our infamous days in Erwin, our hikes have been much more relaxed, hiking 16-19 miles, but not feeling tied into getting to and ending point. We are really just enjoying the walk, and going for as long as we can. I would personally like to thank Jake for this, because he has really cooled off on the idea of finishing our trip in record time, and has embraced the cool, but confident pace we are now employing.
We saw a turtle and two snakes. I know people like the animal reports, but thats pretty much it. Our zero day in Damascus allowed us to go to the movie theater, and what else could we have seen but Transformers. We now like to joke that we saw a Fox, Megan (Josh would like me to point out that he and Jake helped to make this joke). The movie embraced the fact that it was unrealistic and pretty bad, which actually made it kind of good.
Damascus is a quaint little town on the southern border of Virginia. While our book claims it to be "the most hiker friendly town on the trail", we have found it to be the most biker habited place, anywhere. On its small little main street (saying it's three blocks long might be a stretch) there are at least 5 bike shops. Apparently we are located extremely close to the Virginia Creeper Trail (yes, we got a laugh out of the name), which is supposed to be a group of great bike paths, which are actually converted train tracks. There are also a large number of bed and breakfasts located in Damascus, and that is where we found ourselves staying.
Our first night we spent at the Double Tree bed and breakfast, which is run be a quirky but extremely nice and caring lady. She gave us her room on the third floor, which featured TV, internet, and our own bathroom. In the morning she also served us a healthy breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs. Tonight however we are staying in the B&B most recommended to us, the Lazy Fox. We are told that Miss Jenny (our host) makes the "Oh My G-d Breakfast", which, as it name hints, should be amazing. Needless to say, we are excited for breakfast.
Lastly, I want to thank my wonderful girlfriend Tanya for her amazing care package. You are the greatest girlfriend, and I love you.
Our hiking since Erwin displayed us nothing spectacular, be we do feel we are finally hitting our pace. Since our infamous days in Erwin, our hikes have been much more relaxed, hiking 16-19 miles, but not feeling tied into getting to and ending point. We are really just enjoying the walk, and going for as long as we can. I would personally like to thank Jake for this, because he has really cooled off on the idea of finishing our trip in record time, and has embraced the cool, but confident pace we are now employing.
We saw a turtle and two snakes. I know people like the animal reports, but thats pretty much it. Our zero day in Damascus allowed us to go to the movie theater, and what else could we have seen but Transformers. We now like to joke that we saw a Fox, Megan (Josh would like me to point out that he and Jake helped to make this joke). The movie embraced the fact that it was unrealistic and pretty bad, which actually made it kind of good.
Damascus is a quaint little town on the southern border of Virginia. While our book claims it to be "the most hiker friendly town on the trail", we have found it to be the most biker habited place, anywhere. On its small little main street (saying it's three blocks long might be a stretch) there are at least 5 bike shops. Apparently we are located extremely close to the Virginia Creeper Trail (yes, we got a laugh out of the name), which is supposed to be a group of great bike paths, which are actually converted train tracks. There are also a large number of bed and breakfasts located in Damascus, and that is where we found ourselves staying.
Our first night we spent at the Double Tree bed and breakfast, which is run be a quirky but extremely nice and caring lady. She gave us her room on the third floor, which featured TV, internet, and our own bathroom. In the morning she also served us a healthy breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs. Tonight however we are staying in the B&B most recommended to us, the Lazy Fox. We are told that Miss Jenny (our host) makes the "Oh My G-d Breakfast", which, as it name hints, should be amazing. Needless to say, we are excited for breakfast.
Lastly, I want to thank my wonderful girlfriend Tanya for her amazing care package. You are the greatest girlfriend, and I love you.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Josh's body
For how much longer will it exist? Today we found out the problem that has been plagueing recently. Allegidly, Josh has giardia, which should explain all of his ailments (vomitting, lack of sleep, etc.). Because of this prognosis, it seems we will be spending one additional day (tomorrow, 6/21) to make sure we return Josh to his optimal health before we begin hiking again. Since we know we'll be here ahead of time though we were able to plan out an activity tomorrow. We will be going white water rafting with our own private guide tomorrow morning. We are going to bring lunch, and beer, and should have a great time on the level 4 rapids. Tomorrow afternoon Jake promised me we could just sit around and relax (he doesn't like doing nothing), so we should have a very enjoyable day tomorrow. Thats what Josh's illness means for the three of us, but for all you reading this it means we are within range of contact (both internet and phone) for at least one more day. Feel free to ask questions and expect quick responses for the next day (lets just say, im at your disposal).
*For those of you more curious on what giardia is, enjoy...
*For those of you more curious on what giardia is, enjoy...
Friday, June 19, 2009
Friday June 19, Erwin TN (still)
We loved our time in Erwin TN so much that we decided to stay another day. Actually, Josh has been feeling a bit under the weather, so we decided that for the group as a whole, we would take a zero day rather then risking future progress in the trail.
Our day consisted of movies and the mall. We saw "Up", the disney movie. It was pretty cool, and in 3D (which meant they gave us the 3D glasses prior to the film). The movie was cute, but blew no one away.
Overall the day was just relaxing, and i think it helped to prepare us for the journey ahead. We have been informed that we are in for a pretty difficult stretch of mountains, so we will have to be at our best.
I should be able to write again in about a week, so hopefully this will tide you over until then.
Adios
Our day consisted of movies and the mall. We saw "Up", the disney movie. It was pretty cool, and in 3D (which meant they gave us the 3D glasses prior to the film). The movie was cute, but blew no one away.
Overall the day was just relaxing, and i think it helped to prepare us for the journey ahead. We have been informed that we are in for a pretty difficult stretch of mountains, so we will have to be at our best.
I should be able to write again in about a week, so hopefully this will tide you over until then.
Adios
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