Pearisburg to Atkins, VA

This entry is a long time coming. It's incredibly hard to write a concluding journal when you're not finished with the trail.

Buster and I left the trail just short of Atkins, VA on Friday Oct.20th. We left Pearisburg after the Gathering with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I had gotten good reports from the doctors about my knee pain and had new arch supports in my shoes. Buster had just hiked a 72 mile chunk of the trail on his own in 2 1/2 days- a record for him. So we busted out of the Gathering with Stretch all ready to hike to Georgia by Thanksgiving.

As those next days on the trail went by, my knee pain returned at the same pre-doctor visit levels and my new arch supports which I was so hopeful about lifted my feet higher in my shoes causing blisters. The best part about those days was hiking with Stretch again and meeting Goldbond and Kingfish, who had been behind us for the whole time. For a while there we were a SoBo pack!

We fell behind all these guys one day when we stopped at 10 miles (rain and blisters getting worse). The next day we planned to do 25 miles to the top of Chestnut Knob. It was a challenging day, up and down a lot, plus the staggered 3000 foot climb to the Knob. We found great trail magic from Coppertop on the highwater re-route (thanks, coppertop!).

Near the end of the day as we neared the last climb to the Knob the day took a dramatic swing downward. I needed to stop for a break because I was feeling dizzy. It was getting past the dinner hour and I was running short on energy. Buster left me there with a bar to eat and headed on down to the gap below the Knob to pump water to take up since the Chestnut Knob Shelter has no water. I got up to head down to the gap about 5 minutes later. It turned out that the gap was not as close as either of us thought, being still about 1.5 miles away. Because I had been walking for so long and didn't have the map or any sense of where the gap would be, I began to get really worried that I had passed it or that Buster was waiting for me a long time. I finally got to a dip where a dirt road crossed and there was a small trickle, but Buster wasn't in sight. I began panicing because the sun was setting and if this wasn't the gap, I still had a big hill ahead to get over before I got the gap. In my panic I bolted up the hill. I still don't know how I moved as fast as I did. I couldn't feel the blisters that were raw on the backs of my feet anymore and I wasn't hungry at all. I got nearly a mile up the hill (mountain/knob) stopping every 50 steps to yell for Buster. I felt completely helpless and lost. Buster had the shelter, the water pump and the stove and I had lost him! I still had in my head that the gap could be over this hill. But after I had come a mile straight up and was soon taller than any of the mountains in my view, I conceded to myself that I had in fact gone through the gap already and must be near the top of Chestnut Knob. I bolted down that mountain, running all the way to the bottom in between my yelling. I knew that Buster would turn around and go back to where he left me 2 miles back on the trail. When I made it back to the gap it was dusk and Buster was still not there. I called as loud as I could in every direction. And then way off up the opposite hill from the Knob came a reply and then again, closer. By dark we were reunited. It had been a really scary time for both us. When I had come through the gap the first time, not really knowing it was the gap, Buster had been just down the dirt road pumping water. He didn't know I had come by and went back up the hill looking for me. We camped in the gap in physical and emotional exhaustion.

That was a long story to recount, but it was probably the most frightening experience on the trail for me. In all the other scary parts (crossing Saddleback in cold and rain, crossing the swollen streams in Maine, the snakes, etc) we were together and had each other to help us get through.

The next day of hiking would be our last. The blisters on my feet were the most immediate problem, making it really hard to get anywhere. My knee pain and Buster's foot pain were longterm problems looming over us. We stopped at Knot Maul Shelter at 1 pm and had a long, long talk. It was clear that I couldn't go on with out letting my blisters heal. This would set us back 2 or 3 days bumping up our daily mileage needed to get to Springer by Thanksgiving to 19 or 20 a day.

With the shortening daylight, getting 20 miles done a day means going all day with few breaks, and maintaining a 2.5 mph pace. This was becoming really hard in the second half of the day with my knee pain. Each step felt like it was taking something out of me. Buster's foot pain was sporaticly dibilitating. He had the pain since sometime in PA, but it was getting worse daily.
The thought of leaving was heart-breaking. We had come so far and had overcome so much to call it quits now. The momentum in my mind was really strong, but my body was giving out. Somehow it didn't seem fair to the trail or to us as hikers to complete the rest of the trail in a rushed, painful sprint just to say we had finished it in one season. Taking care of our bodies had to come before our pride. So we left the trail from that shelter and hitched on Rt. 42 way back into Bland where my dad kindly came and picked us up.

Our friends and family have been really supportive of our decision. Thank you to all of you who have kept us going with your encouragement and interest. This 1600+ leg of the trip has been an incredible journey. But the journey will continue next year or maybe the year after when we have healed bodies. We talked about starting NoBo on Springer in the Spring for a change to finish up our last section. But we are SoBo at heart and SoBo we will stay!

So, until a point in the future when we can return to the mountain footpath, beautiful and joyous trails to all!

Buster and Bluebird

Daleville/Troutdale to Pearisburg, VA

Of all the months, October was the one made for hiking!

The leaves are golden and bright, the sky is so richly blue and the breeze is gentle. Buster and I are getting really excited about the Gathering, a long-distance hiker festival in Pipestem, WV (near Pearisburg), where there'll be workshops, music, dancing and BBQ. Hopefully we'll run into a few other southbounders there as well as all kinds of interesting hikers from all over.

I have been home still this week seeing various doctors about my knees. A physical therapist offered the best information attributing my pain to a shifted knee cap due to a knot in my quad muscle. In addition he found that my arches have collapsed, likely due to me compensating because of my hurting knees. All in all he said I can keep hiking (a big relief) and showed me how to tape my knee, gave me new Montrail insoles with a supportive, fitted arch and showed me how I can massage my leg muscles so the knots go away. It was a great visit.

Buster, on the other hand, has been doing a little hiking. Last weekend after our time off the two of us hiked a one-day section of trail that included the beautiful Tinker Cliffs and McAfee Knob. The next day I was picked up by my parents and Buster hiked 22 miles on his own starting at 4pm! He then did a 19 and a 30 to get into Pearisburg much earlier than anyone was expecting on Wed. night. He'll hang out there until tomorrow (Friday) when my parents are taking me to meet him and then dropping us off in Pipestem.

We'll be back on the trail on Sunday heading on to Atkins and then Damascus for our last two mail drops in Virginia!

bluebird and buster

Waynesboro, VA to Glasgow, VA

We are now at my(bluebird's) house in Martinsville taking a few earlier-than-expected days resting away from the trail. We have come 1400 miles this far.

We had planned to come to my house when we got to Daleville, which is slightly closer (only an hour, not an hour forty five) than Glasgow. But I've been having quite a bit of knee pain over the last few days (I think it was brought on this time by the cold weather) and coming down the last descent into the James River valley where Glasgow is I had a new pain in my right knee that was unbearable. We decided it was best at that point to come home and rest it. Coming home early was a hard decision in some ways because we can't really afford to be behind 4 days. But it was really important that I use these days to see a doctor and rest so that finishing the rest of the trip is even possible. So in that light, we have decided to re-enter the trail in a few days at Daleville and keep to our original schedule. We will hike the 60 miles between Daleville and Glasgow sometime after we make it to Georgia. Since the section is so close to my house it will be pretty convenient to hike it at another time.

Being in a house, especially one so familiar and comfortable, is really nice. We've watched movies and baked an apple pie among other things that are relaxing. we're going to watch apple butter being made on Saturday (a good country fall tradition). We plan on doing a few day hikes on Sunday and Monday so that we can get some miles done on the trail without our packs and still be able to come to a home at night.

I guess that's all the news for right now. Warm thoughts to all,

Bluebird and Buster

Shenandoah Picture

The Shenandoahs were a welcome change with their very gently graded trails, excellent maintenance, and beautiful views.

This is one on the southern end of the park that I thought was particularly breathtaking.

A snapshot from our disposable camera does not do it justice.

-Buster (Garrett)

PA/MD Border to Waynesboro, VA

We're in the South!

We've come a long way since our last entry at the PA/MD border. We did not do the 4-state challenge (hike in one day from PA to VA, 43 miles) but we did pull some large days getting into Harpers Ferry, WV. In Harpers Ferry my brother, Christopher, decided to leave the hike for a variety of reasons. While he was with us there were a number of milestones: our half-way point and the subsequent half-gallons of icecream each, the legendary Doyle Hotel in Duncannon PA, the ATC headquarters in Harpers Ferry where we each had our pictures taken. Buster and I were numbers 37 and 38 for southbound thru-hikers, a number that is pretty low for this time of the year.

In Harpers Ferry Buster got new shoes in the mail from Campmor and we had to buy a new tent because the Kelty we had been using had two poles that snapped. Kelty, unlike other more thru-hiker-friendly companies, was not willing to replace the poles for free even though they should have lasted the whole trip. After much conversation, we opted to go out on a limb and buy a Golite Hut II, a tent that is basically a tarp that you pitch using your trekking poles. It's total weight is 1 lb 7 oz. This was a pretty significant change for us but is a lot less bulky and heavy as a tent. We ran into Bonzo, a friendly local guy who does a lot of hiking. He offered us a piece of Tyvek that we use as a floor for the tent. He also drove us around to the library.

After Harpers Ferry we headed south into Virginia!

We had a great stay at Bears Den hostel and celebrated Buster's birthday with half a day off and an omlet breakfast courtesey a kind section hiker named Marcia, also staying at the hostel. On Buster's actual birthday we hiked a big 26 miles over the "roller-coaster" (a secton of no. VA where the trail goes over several steep climbs and descents over 10 miles) getting into Linden that evening. We were picked up in Linden by some old friends, Doug and Syd, who gave us a delicious hot meal, showers, a movie and a comfortable place to sleep.

Since our resupply in Linden we have hiked through the Shenandoah National Park in 5 days. We did our biggest day of 28 miles mid-way through and felt pretty good afterwards. Because of our bigger days we were able to catch up with a pack of southbounders in front of us including Stretch, someone we hiked with a lot in PA and NJ. It's pretty unusual to have a pack of 6 southbounders all together so we decided to have a party! We packed in a lot of goodies from the camp store to the next shelter and had a good old time.

We were greeted in Waynesboro by my dear friends Denise and Pat from Richmond. They are treating us like royalty with hotel rooms, errands, food food food (Buster ate 12 pancakes at the diner last night...), and great company.

Our next resupply is in Glasgow and then we'll be heading to my home in Martinsville for a zero day around Oct. 6th.

The weather is getting much cooler and the leaves are starting become bright. We are starting to get into the bigger mountains that the south has to offer. These will be the first real (big) mountians we've seen since Vermont. We're trying to average 15 miles a day to finish on Springer by the 20th of Nov. (or close to it).

take care everyone!

bluebird and buster

Delaware Water Gap to PA/MD Border

Heading out of PA:

Pennsylvania flew by as our fastest state yet (mileage per day). We had heard a lot of bad and good things about the state from northbounders. The rocky trail in the first 2/3 of the state was hard in places and very beautiful also.

The Montrail Hardrocks we had been wearing since Stratton, ME, held up really well. Buster's rubber sole started coming off on the inside of his shoe so he's ordered new ones that will come to Harpers Ferry. My shoes were great in the rocks. I have had to get new ones, though, because my feet have grown in width do to all the walking. I've switched to a men's Asolo shoe which is taking a while to break in.

We took one day off in Delaware Water Gap because of the threat of Ernesto. The heaviest rain ended up going west of us but we were glad to be out of the cold drizzle just the same.

We hiked with a fellow south-bounder, Stretch, for the first third of PA and really enjoyed his company. When we pulled into Port Clinton we met up with a Northbound section hiker (Cut-man) who was in the middle of his trip. After talking with him shortly we walked around town for a little while and upon Cut-man offering to buy lunch, we became very hungry. The Port Clinton Hotel has great food, but the service is pretty poor. Thank you Cut-man for the food, and the great company. Mid-way through the state we met my (bluebird's) parents and brother at Swatara Gap.

We all stayed in a couple cabins and my grandparents from DC also came out for the evening. The next day my brother, Christopher, hiked out with us to begin his journey with us to Georgia. For one week now we've been traveling as a trio, Buster, Bluebird and Brotherbird. It's taken a little adjustment to make the transition to having another person along, but on the whole it's working out well.

This week we've done over 115 miles. We have stopped over for one night at my aunt and uncle's house in Fairfield, PA for showers, great home-cooked meals and laundry. We're planning on being in Harpers Ferry Sunday night and in Linden, VA Wednesday morning just in time to go to a big all-you-can-eat buffet in Front Royal for Buster's birthday.

We've figured out that we need to average about 15 miles a day to reach Springer Mt. by Nov. 20. That seems very reasonable and we're getting excited to make the second half a good push.

At the traditional half-way point near Pine Grove Furnace Buster and I each attempted to complete the half-gallon challenge. This is where thru-hikers eat half a gallon their favorite ice-cream to celebrate making it halfway. I only made it 2/3 through mine, but Buster ate his whole thing! The only ill-effects being a bit of shivering by the time the whole thing was done.

Colder weather has definitely set in. Some nights it gets below 45 up in the mountains.

We've just updated the webshots photo album as well. All the new pictures are still in the same old album.

Stay well everyone!

bluebird and buster

Vernon, NJ to Delaware Water Gap, PA

We are harbored safe and dry for a day in Delaware Water Gap.

We hiked through a lot of cold and heavy rain in New Jersey but made it to PA just in time on Thursday for the local Presb. church's weekly potluck for hikers. It was like heaven!

We've hiked for the last week with our friend Stretch who caught up with us in Vernon after coming back from a wedding out west. It's nice to have the company. His girlfriend, Sarah, met him in DWG for labor day on Thursday as well. With the use of her car, all four of us were able to hike the next 16 miles to Wind Gap tag team style with just day packs. They hiked north and we hiked south driving their car to the PO in Wind Gap and then back to the church hostel where we were all staying in DWG. It was a great way to have an easy day but at the same time cover some distance and get a mail drop.

It was pretty incredible to come down off the mountain right at the road in Wind Gap and have a car waiting for us to drive! We're taking today off since 5 inches of rain are predicted for this area. Hopefully we'll be back out there tomorrow all ready to tackle the infamous rocks of PA. We'll be in Port Clinton, PA four days from tomorrow if all goes well.

Palwing, NY to Vernon, NJ

Hello everyone,

This entry is coming to you from the top of New Jersey from a church hostel after a very soggy weekend. Last week we finished the New York section of the trail with it's rocky ups and downs, interstates and dry creekbeds. We crossed the Hudson River on a gigantic suspension bridge right at the foot of Bear Mtn. On one side of us there was a 50 ft drop to the river and on the other side was 60mph traffic zooming by- it was a bit unsettling for us woods people. We crossed the train tracks that come from NYC where a train on the weekends stops right on the trail. We even saw the big city two times from a couple of mountains. It was a very hazy cluster of pins sticking out of the horizon. That was about as close as we cared to be to the city.

The AT goes right through a zoo at the base of Bear Mtn (NY's highest point on the trail) and also a swimming pool full of splashing kids. It was really different to be surrounded by inner city kids all of a sudden. The mountains around Bear Mtn. are called the roller coaster section of the trail (probably better labeled a kiddie roller coaster by those who have seen southern Maine) because of the constant steep ups and downs. New York and New Jersey have been a lot rockier than we were expecting which we guess will be a good warm up for the eastern PA section.

We are now in Vernon, NJ, at a hostel the Episcopal church runs in their basement. It's extremely comfortable and has all the right amenities (laundry, shower, internet, tv/movies, etc). We got here on Friday night soaked from a day's worth of heavy rain. This was the first rain we had walked in since on top of Mt. Washington (we were getting spoiled!). The trash bag liners we had put inside our packs worked really well to keep all our stuff dry, but we ourselves were still soaked, muddy and cold when we got the warm church. Vernon is a nice little town with some fast food, grocery store and churches.

On Friday night we were getting stuff at the Burger King counter when a familiar voice from behind said "well, Bluebird and Buster!" This was Paddy-O, a trail angel we had met on our third day out in the middle of Maine's rainy wilderness on a small logging road. At that time he had been waiting for a northbounder to come from the other direction who he was driving to Katahdin. He was excited to see us (and we were too since he was one of the first people we'd seen at all in 3 days!) and he offered us all kinds of food from his truck which he keeps stocked for hikers he meets along the trail. We passed his food by (and regretted it later) and after a nice conversation went on. After 2 months we remembered us and had gathered from some northbounders where we were on the trail. This time when he offered us food from his trail magic-filled truck we gladly accepted.

Today is Monday morning and we're still in Vernon. Garrett and I both felt a little discouraged/a little sick on Saturday and the pouring rain didn't help much so we decided to stay for another day. The next day, Sunday, Garrett decided to go to Urgent Care because he wasn't feeling well. The doctor prescribed him a medication that is supposed to make him feel sicker for a day to two days and then everything will be ok. So we're waiting out some more rain while he gets to feeling better. The church has been very kind to us and has assured us we can stay as long as we need to until he feels better. We may head out around noon today if possible.

The New Jersey terrain looks so beautifully flat! We are aiming to move pretty fast once we get going again so we can meet my parents and brother near Carlilse on the 8th of September at which point Christopher (my brother) will hike on to Georgia with us.

Best wishes to everyone who is starting new fall routines this week. We can feel the cool autumn breezes beginning to blow.

bluebird and buster

Dalton, MA to Pawling, NY

Well, it's been a while since we have added a journal; we are already in New York!

Dalton was a great trail town, with two incredible hosts, Tom Levardi and Rob Wolf. We stayed one night with Rob at "The Birdcage," and are grateful there are people like him along the trail. As soon as we arrived we were treated like his own family, he took us in off the street, washed our clothes and let us use his bathroom to shower. We then sat around for the afternoon and visited with him, and the other hikers. At dinner time, we piled into his van and went out to eat at the Old Country Buffet. We met one hiker who had stayed with Rob for over three weeks. Leaving Dalton was tough the next morning, but we had plans to try to hike 20 mile days until we reached Falls Village, CT.

The day we left Dalton, we were scheduled to meet Anna's cousin Sara and her husband Allen with newborn baby Rachel Mae, in Lee, MA; an 18 mile walk from Dalton. Thanks to the gentle Massachusetts terrain, and a "perfect hitch" into town, we cruised into Lee around 3:00 and did some post office mail drop business. Sadly, neither of our boxes arrived in Lee in time, so we asked that the Post Office forward them to Falls Village. We bought food at the Price Chopper in town to substitute the mail drop.

It was great to see Sara & Allen with baby Rachel and Allen's parents! We conversed outside the Post Office in a town gazaebo, and afterword went to have pizza at the Arizona Pizza Co.

Once we got back on the trail, we immediatly crossed the Massachusetts Turnpike, and headed up into the hills out of Lee, 1.8 miles to an AMC controlled cabin at Upper Goose Pond. For being controlled by the AMC we liked this place a whole lot. The care-taker (Wayne) was very friendly and helpful, and the cabin was beautiful. The only downside was that there were no bunks available when we rolled into camp at 8:00 PM.

Beyond Upper Goose Cabin, Massachusetts was pretty bland, though we got back into some mountains and had some of the best views of the state in the last 10 miles or so, having gone over the state's 2nd highest mountain just before we crossed the border into Connecticut. Immediately upon entering Connecticut we climbed their highest point, Bear Mountain at the end of our day.

One of Anna's best college friends, Mary, and her family came to hike from Salisbury to the CT/NY border. They met us in Salisbury where we stopped early our first day in Connecticut to shower at an informal hostel run by PCT hiker "Neighbor Jay".

Mary and her family were extremely gracious to us, filling us with dinner at the Arizona Pizza Co. and various other eateries during their time with us. They hiked with us for 5 days, and met their goal of reaching the NY border. We are very thankful that Mary and her family came to hike with us, and thoroughly enjoyed hiking and camping with them.

We've got to get going, the library is closing...New pictures are up on Web-Shots.
Thanks for reading, we'll update again soon.

Buster and Bluebird

Rutland, VT to Dalton, MA

We've just stopped into Dalton MA for the afternoon. We've heard from just about every northbounder we've passed that we should stop in Dalton and take the opportunity to meet one of two really nice men who let hikers stay in their houses for free. We are going to be staying with Rob at "The Birdcage."

We are SO happy to be in a new state! So far the trails have been beautiful in Mass. We hiked over Greylock, MA's highest peak, yesterday. We've been hiking 19-21 mile days through southern VT and into MA and have been feeling really great. VT was special to us for two reasons besides beautiful trails: free lodging at all places and we had to hike in no rain! (we stayed at the Twelve Tribes religious community in Rutland and with a nice guy named Chris in Bennington) We had to take a quick trip into Manchester VT one day to buy a replacement filter (ours had been used for 3 years and was getting too dirty to use). We just needed to run into town and back out. We waited for a while for a hitch on the road on what was the hottest day so far. Finally a little brand new Audi picked us up. the woman was so nice to us and even gave us a $50 dollar bill to buy lunch and dinner in town! We were shocked! So we ate well in that town and bought a new filter with that money!

Since we went to Sidney for a few days off we've been hiking with a new crowd, Easy Rider, Stretch and few others. We heard that only 70 southbound hikers started this year, a record low. I think we're somewhere in the middle of that group.

It was difficult for the first few days to get back into hiking after we came back from Garrett's house. Our morale was down and we were still feeling really tired (even more so than before we had left the trail). But after a 4-mile day and an afternoon off by a gorgous stream (Big Branch River, VT) where we swam and cooked dinner on the rocks, we were ready to start really hiking again. We hope to be in NY by this time next week.

The time is about to expire on my library computer, so I'll sign off. Hope everyone is well! We love to hear from you.

Buster and Bluebird

Glencliff, NH to Rutland, VT

The end of July finds us taking a short break from the trail in Sidney, New York at Garrett’s house.

We had good hiking from Hanover, NH through to the middle of VT (Rutland) where the Long Trail intersects with the AT (The LT is a trail that runs the vertical length of VT and the AT follows it for the its bottom half).

We had been talking about taking a break to go to Sidney when we reach the end of Vermont but decided to go a little early when we reached Rutland that had an Amtrak station. We took a train to Albany and then a taxi to the bus station and a bus to Oneonta, where Garrett’s mom works at Hartwick College. She then took us back to his house where we’ve been resting, eating a lot and reorganizing for 3 days. Garrett's parents have been cooking LOTS of delicious food for us. Last night we went out to Pine Lake and visited with Kathy and Andy (Garrett's friends from college) and that was really nice.

Hanover was exciting because it was our first town that is actually on the trail in that the trail took us right down the main street and by Dartmouth’s campus. We got free slices of cheese and cheese-less pizza at Brick and Brew (free for thru-hikers), had a fancy dinner at a Thai restaurant, saw the Prairie Home Companion movie, had some Ben and Jerry’s because we were almost in Vermont, visited EMS (Garrett got a much-needed rain jacket on sale and I got a new hiking shirt) and spent a good hour wandering down the aisles of the local grocery store (our favorite thing to do).

Hanover didn’t have any good hostels so we had to hike back out to the edge of the woods to set up our tent. We were planning on leaving the next day but it was raining hard. We found some north bounders who were also waiting out the rain (Master Plan, Nifty and Patches) and ended up staying another night on the porch of some kind people.

We love the trails in Vermont! They are all packed dirt or pine needles. Very few rocks and the mud has really dried up. We’re hoping to do our first 20 mile day as we move toward Bennington. So far we’ve been doing 15-18 mile days and feeling pretty good.

One of the interesting experiences of hiking the AT is staying at the various hostels that kind people set up in the trail towns. In Rutland we stayed the most interesting one yet. It was a Twelve Tribes community that ran a cafe and bakery with a hostel for hikers above. We bagged freshly-baked bread for our stay and they served us delicious dinner and breakfast and sat around visiting with all of us hikers. We finally met up with Carlos, Book and Chunky Monkey (people we'd met/ had been hiking with in Maine) at the hostel. This hostel is known on the trail as the "religious commune in Rutland" and has a great reputation for kind people, good beds (men and women sleep in seperate quarters) and good food. They reminded me of a hippie Amish community.

We also had another surprise in Rutland when we were walking down the street and Garrett ran into his neighbor Nelson from Pine Lake (the environmental campus of Hartwick where he lived during college). Nelson lives 30 miles south of Rutland and was up for the day. He drove us around on a few errands and then back to his house for a few hours.

We’ve posted all our pictures up to Hanover on Webshots. You can see them by going here: http://community.webshots.com/album/552369668gFwWrh
We’ve switched over to disposable cameras now because the digital got a little wet.

We're off in a few hours to catch a train back to Rutland. We'll be in Bennington by Friday the 4th and then it won't be but another day and we'll be in Mass.

We hope everyone is well! We've figured out that we're about a quarter through the hike. Sometimes it feels like we've been out here for years and then other times feels like we started last week.

peace,
buster and bluebird

Gorham to Glencliff, NH

We are now in Glencliff, NH, just on out of the White Mtns. It's been an eventful and tiring week and a half in the big rocky mountains and we are quite glad to be on this side.

It has taken us longer to get here than we had originally thought because after leaving Gorham, after 1.8 miles, we were camping at Rattle River Shelter and Anna fell, straining some muscles in her calf, and the next morning we headed back to the road and got a ride from "Bear" from The Cabin in Andover, ME. For the additional two days in Gorham, we stayed at The Barn, by far the best lodging for the price in Gorham, and were met by Anna's friend Tom, who had come to hike five days in the Whites with us.

So the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club).... they have quite a monopoly on the White Mountains, The huts are extremely luxurious camps which cater to the city folk who are willing to pay up to $80 per person for a bunk with breakfast and dinner prepared for them. The AMC takes two thru-hikers per night on work for stay terms, meaning they do 1 hour or work in exchange for being allowed to sleep in their quarters, most often in the dinning room, on a table or on the floor. We are grateful we were able to take these work for stay opportunities, however we were upset that in order to get some sleep at night, we would have to stay up until 11:00 when all the guests had gone to bed, only to be awoken just before 6:00 when the AMC Hut Croo's had to set the tables for breakfast. To their credit, the food was delicious, and the croo's were mostly very friendly. Anna knew one of the croo members at Lakes of the Clouds, the busies hut with 97 guests that night, because she had been an '05 grad of Bryn Mawr.

The first three presidential mountains, Madison, Adams, and Jefferson, were incredible and we had perfect weather to hike them. Once we got to Washington the weather had turned and clouded over, and as we waited two and a half hours at the top, it began to rain for our hike down to Lakes of the Clouds. Hiking the next day down out of the presidential range was foggy and we had few views of more than a mile, though the following day we went up to hike onto Franconia Ridge which was impresive and we have many great pictures to develop. The rocky steep climbs that charactize the White Mountains really began in mid-Maine just after Stratton. We've climbed over 10 mountains that had sections (up to 8 miles stretches) above treeline.

Yesterday we climbed our last, Mt. Moosilauke. When we were on top of the mountain, we saw a message written in sticks, "Hi Anna." Additionally, on the way up, people were telling us that there was a message waiting for Bluebird at the Hikers Welcome hostel. When we made it down the mountain, we were suprized by Anna's parents who had driven up on their vacation to meet us in Glencliff. They had hiked up Mt. Moosilauke to meet us, but we did not pass through until two hours after they had began to hike down. We had a nice time in town with them, went out to dinner, had ice cream, and toured the town by CAR.

We have decided to take a zero day as a reward for making it out of the White Mountains and onto easier terrain. Doing so, we're taking a day to watch movies and sit around, first was Saving Silverman, now Troy, who knows what's next. We're looking forward to getting into Hannover, NH, the home of Dartmuth College the home of the first outing club, the Dartmuth Outing Club, who maintains the trails from Mt. Moosilauke into Vermont. We'll probably not take a zero day there as originally expected because the area doesn't have any cheap hostels or other stay options. From there we should have smooth sailing through Vermont as many have told us is very well maintained easy trail.

Just as a side note, we found a digital scale at Hikers Welcome and have been able to weigh our packs.

Here are the results (with 4 days food and water)
Anna's pack: 25 lbs.
Garrett's pack: 19.5 lbs.

398.5 miles behind us, just a few more to go to hit 2,175 on Springer!

Stratton, ME to Gorham, NH

Gorham for the Fourth!

We got up early on the 4th and hiked 7 miles into town (after a confusing bit on the Mahoosuc Trail- be prepared for a detour if you take it!) getting in around 10:30. Way up on the mountain that morning we had looked down and seen the little town and the carnival set up in the commons. It was a wonderful incentive to hurry down the mountain. We checked into Hikers "Paradise" and showered and got down town for the parade and carnival. We do not recommend the hostel we stayed in and in fact found it rather hostile. The holiday was nice because we got to spend part of it hiking and part of it relaxing. Gorham is the biggest town we've come to so far and it has way too many choices for fast food. Garrett got the Burger King special of 2 whoppers for 3 bucks and I got the veggie burger... this was just a prelude to carnival food! we went out for a birthday dinner later on at a Chinese buffet which was nice.

Gorham is surrounded on 3 sides by the towering White Mountains, the most formidable range on the AT. For the next 2 weeks or so we'll be climbing straight up and straight down the Presidentials (including Mt. Washington, which I believe has the fastest recorded wind speed in the world). A good portion of the hiking will be above tree line on rocks so we're hoping for good weather!

On July 3rd we had our first day in 10 with no rain. The days haven't been rainy all day but thunderstorms would pull up at inconvenient times and make us hustle to the nearest shelter, or just get wet. We had beautiful weather for every summit of the southern Maine mountains except for Saddleback, which has a three mile stretch above treeline. There were driving winds and rain that day (possibly the scariest and hardest 3 miles of the trail so far) and a thick fog all around. But we safely made it down with no major slips or falls and warmed up after the cold, wet adventure.

Two days ago on our way out of Maine (!!) we passed through Mahoosuc Notch, called the "hardest mile on the AT." It's a deep ravine between two steep mountains full of car-size boulders. The AT makes its way over, under and around the rocks sometimes with white blazes going through holes and caves (where there was still ice!) where no "trail" is discernable. It took us about 2.5 hours to make our way through the mile with a quick stop for lunch.

We hiked through the notch with a guy named Joe Dirt (or Diarte') who normally does 20-25 mile days but had slowed down to spend the holiday in Gorham and wanted company for the notch. Halfway through the notch we came across a shattered tomato stake that Garrett immediately recognized as the walking stick of E.T., of two Mennonite brothers from Lancaster PA we had hiked with 2 weeks early through the wilderness. We knew this was hard terrain when even E.T.'s stake broke. It was left there like a symbol of the perils of the notch.

Crossing into NH was a big milestone. We've now walked 297 miles.

The new and lighter backpack has been working great for me and we both really like our trail runners. Garrett just bought a new cooking pot that is more like a mug and is much lighter (titanium). Trekking poles have been holding up fine. I'll send home my winter sleeping bag after we get through the Whites.

We've already found 3 ticks just since we got into NH (the section from Gorham to the NH line is heavily overgrown). We were told to use flea collars around our ankles to help keep the ticks off. Blisters are all healed/healing; getting our knees a bit stronger is the only challenge now.

We are still hiking with Hansel and have caught up with a few more southbounders who were in front of us. Just today we met the second person the whole trip to have come from behind us and pass on by. One of my friends from the dancing community, Tom, is coming to join us for several days in the Whites.

It will be about 100 miles before our next re-supply in Glencliff, and a hard 100 miles at that. We'll post again from there!

Bluebird and Buster

Caratunk to Stratton, ME

Half a day in rainy Stratton:

After our stay at the resort in Caratunk we crossed the Kennebec River on the canoe ferry. The ferryman was very kind and quite the story-teller. He's been ferrying hikers for 17 years across the only river that the ATC has deemed unfordable. We've now met about 10 northbounders who've come from Georgia. They say that southern Maine is pretty tough with a 4000+ peak nearly every day.

We got to meet both Trek and Bone Pac, the first two Northbounders. Trek stayed at the hostel with us in Monson. The next day we were setting up camp at the next shelter south and in comes this lean hiker who said he was looking for Trek and trying to beat him! He had already come 30 miles that day after fording the Kennebec (yes, he swam it) at 4:30 am. When we told him he was only a day behind Trek and that Trek planned to summit Katahdin on that Friday, Bone Pac zoomed off to Monson to round off a 37 mile day. We just learned through the grapevine that Bone Pac was able to pass Trek at the base of Katahdin and summit in first place on Thursday! Bone Pac was a really friendly guy, father of 2 in his late 30's. He said his main motivation for finishing so quickly was to get home to his family. Congratulations to Bone Pac!

We stayed in Caratunk an extra day at the resort because I (anna) had slipped on a rock a day before and perhaps fractured my tailbone. The day off helped a lot and carrying Garrett's lighter pack for a couple days helped too. (he kindly carried my heavy pack) We moved on from Caratunk toward Stratton passing through the Bigelow Range which was incredibly beautiful. We had gorgeous weather to hike the summits of Avery and West Peaks where we could make a very distant shadow of Katahdin about the size of an ant hill on the horizon. We also thought we caught a glimpse of Mt. Washington in the other direction. Nice to see where we'd come from and where we're going.

We had some what of a Christmas here in Strattton where there were 5 packages waiting for us and a number of letters. I got a free replacement of trekking poles from REI because mine tended to retract at inopportune times and eventually (yesterday, in fact) just snapped in half. Garrett and I both got our new Montrail Hardrock trail runners. We sent home our leather boots. Good ridence. I also got a new back pack in the mail which I had decided to order while in Caratunk. After having a lot of knee pain ascending and descending the mountains and the worsening affect my heavy pack had on my tailbone injury when I fell, I decided that a lighter pack with less volume was really what I needed. I decided to try out the Gregory Z-pack with Garrett's recommendation. It came today and I was able to fit all my things inside and dropped the pack weight alone from 7 pounds to 3 pounds. With a few other things dropped as well my pack weight is probably now down to 25-27 pounds. A big improvement! Hopefully this will help my body feel better and help us pick up our pace.

We are aiming to get to Gorham for the 4th of July even though we're about 3 days behind our schedule now. This means really picking up our pace to about 14 miles per day through the high mountains of southern Maine. My friend Tom is meeting us for a few days around the end of June.

Garrett was very happy to get a hot meal of spaghetti after talking about for days. We were surprised by some trail magic on the north side of the Bigelows when Sunset's (a northbounder) mom came to shelter and cooked for him and everyone else who happened to be there. There were 4 of us (the same four- buster, cotton, hansel and myself) and Sunset and 2 other "top 500" hikers from Tennessee and we all got spaghetti, fresh green salad and black walnut bread. It was delicious! thank you!

Now that we are headed for the higher mountains we should hopefully leave the deep mud and mosquitos and swift rivers behind. New adventures await. We'll keep you posted as we go!

buster and bluebird

Katahdin to Caratunk

We started out on the 6th of June, after staying at the "AT Hostel" in Millenocket the night before catching the MinuteMan Taxi early in the morning. He drove us right to Katahdin Stream Campground and with the help of a couple confused old ladies, we started our trip.

We had a gorgeous day to hike up Katahdin and down. There were no clouds in the sky so we could see for almost 80 miles in all directions. After Katahdin we hiked out of Baxter State Park and into the 100 mile Wilderness. It got its name for being the longest portion of the AT between re-supply points and being in the most remote and unhabitated.

Hikers are advised to pack 11 days of food to get through it. We packed only 6 days thinking we would hitch a ride into town at the one road crossing. Starting weights with the 6 days of food were: Anna at 34 pounds and Garrett at 22 lbs.

In a nut shell, the Wilderness was muddy (knee deep for miles sometimes), buggy (head nets and rain clothes and gloves were in order), and quiet (other than the few people who started South on the same day, we only saw one Northbound hiker). We had rain for 3 days which brought up the water levels pretty severly. The Maine Appalachian Trail Club never builds brides across their many streams but in a few cases will drop a log across the streams. (We heard this was for liability reasons. If someone fell off into the river MATC could be sued) So instead, the rivers must be forded by whatever means a hiker can find. The deepest water was just above our hips but the current in a couple places was extremely strong. I (anna) fell in once off a slippery rock, but other than that there were no accidents.

We've been hiking pretty consistantly with Jack - "Hansel" of Hansel and Grettle who was his little brother who hiked through the 100 mile wilderness and dropped trash accidentally - and Connor - "Cotton" because every piece of clothing he brought is cotton, rather than nylon or fleece which is more traditional for hikers. We've taken the names of Buster (Garrett) & Bluebird (Anna).

I've (Garrett) been amazed at the non-hiking in Maine. The day we spent in Monson, we went Kayaking, we've been able to spend some time on a couple of Maine's sandy beaches (which happen to be gravel). And right now we're in a white water resort enjoying 10$ campsites and free showers, internet & pool games!

We're a couple days behind schedule but we should be able to pick up the pace after Anna drops some weight from her pack, and we get used to the higher mile days.

Off to Stratton!
Bluebird and Buster

Daisies to Begin

The journey begins on Monday. Garrett and I will go off into the blue yonder.

I do not know how the journey will change me. I do not know what the trees will whisper as the breeze tosses their leaves. I do not know where the blue bird will fly, above and ahead and below. I do not know what flower blooms on the farside of that hill. These things I do not know. I leave now, with unadorned reverence for the unknown. I leave now, and go into the mountains.
akb

Daisies

It is possible, I suppose that sometime we will learn everything there is to learn: what the world is, for example, and what it means. I think this as I am crossing from one field to another, in summer, and the mockingbird is mocking me, as one who either knows enough already or knows enough to be perfectly content not knowing. Song being born of quest he knows this: he must turn silent were he suddenly assaulted with answers. Instead oh hear his wild, caustic, tender warbling ceaselessly unanswered. At my feet the white-petalled daisies display the small suns of their center piece, their - if you don't mind my saying so - their hearts. Of course I could be wrong, perhaps their hearts are pale and narrow and hidden in the roots. What do I know? But this: it is heaven itself to take what is given, to see what is plain; what the sun lights up willingly; for example - I think this as I reach down, not to pick but merely to touch - the suitability of the field for the daisies, and the daisies for the field.
Mary Oliver

-Anna

Mail Drop Mania

As preparations near to a close I wonder, what are the chances that I'm able to predict just how much food I will need in the early weeks of August for a stretch of Massechusets or Connecticut? I think this mail drop thing might be over-rated.

I've been swimming in mashed potato flakes, stuffing mix, cous cous, trail mix and bars upon bars of nutritional supplements and just plain tasty treats, how am I to know what the right mix will be in two months?

I envy those who enjoy planning ahead.
-Garrett

Garrett's decision to hike the Appalachian Trail

A while back, in November of 2002 actually, I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. I've known I would do it after I graduated college since my sophmore year when I went to Germany and lived in Berlin. I was pretty home sick, and started looking at an atlas of the US, looking for all the national monuments, and trying to think of what would be a good loop of the country to see the most of the country I could in a few weeks by car.

All the sudden I noticed a faint dotted red line running north to south between Georgia and Maine; I thought back to when I was a kid, I watched a PBS special on the Appalachian Trail, and people who hiked for months on end to travel on a single path. I knew this was what I wanted to do. I figured this would beat a giant road trip of the country anyday. It's to be a test of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual strength, and I don't know how it will turn out.

But I'm going to try, and I've recently met Anna through an Appalachian Trail hiker website, and I'm going to be attempting to complete the trail with her. Hopefully together we'll fair a better chance at this monumental trail.