Less than 500

Oh, the places you'll go!

 The people you'll meet.

The things you'll smell,

The things that you eat!

The look of your feet!

The uphills,

the down hills,

you're covered in Deet ,

that stops the mosquitoes that bite in the heat.

 

With thanks to McGuyver for the first line.

We past a sign a few days ago th that got us all excited, it read: Katahdin 500 miles.

500 miles.

Today, we had a 2005 foot climb to start the day off, with a great deal of rain to go with it.

After a while we stopped trying to avoid the puddles, because our feet were already totally wet, and it was more energy to avoid them.

When we reached the top, we found that the wind was taking advantage of us sweating and getting wet, by trying to give us hypothermia.

THIS IS JUNE 28! IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE COLD!

I'm not joking when I say that we almost got hypothermia, it was that cold up on the mountain.

We've caught up with several of our trail Friends recently, which has helped keep us a little more motivated.

Current Mile: 1704.2

Miles left: 485.0

Please leave a comment below!

God bless! 

~Link and Folklore: The Arkansas twins.

Lost, then found.

After Folklore and I finally figured out what happened to our stove that was being replaced, we were at last able to put out some good miles for change.

What happened to the stove was that it arrived in Salisbury Via FedEx, like it was supposed to, and was signed for... Then it disappeared.
The outfitter doesn't have it. It's fallen off the edge of world.
We've assumed that either FedEx didn't actually drop it off, or that it was stolen.
And now since MSR can't send us a new one again for free, they're selling us one for $20 instead of $60.

Apart from that, we've now got 1600+  miles behind us, and the Whites are just 150 miles away.

During a accidental wrong turn in the trail, I found a Boomerang!
Now all I need is to find a place to throw it.

We're in Manchester Center, VT.
Mile 1651.1
538.1 miles ahead

...And for some reason I can't upload any pictures...
Sorry, Mom.

Chasing the P.O.

This is Our fourth zero in the past two weeks, and although we probably needed it, We're ready to take off again.

Our first was when we were waiting for our replacement stove that was supposed to be In Salisbury, CT. We found that it wasn't there, and after zeroing, had to be bump it ahead a week to Williamstown MA.
During this wait, we came down with Norovirus and gained a total of 2 miles over three days.
Then we did 35 miles in two days to Dalton, MA where we stayed with a trail angel that lets hikers stay in his backyard, and he shuttled us to the Post office ahead to pick up our package.
When we got to Williamstown we found that the package wasn't there and that we would have to wait over Sunday just to see if it would be there.

A big thank you to Tom, he's let us camp in his backyard the past three nights and he did a "slackpack" for us, where we carry only a day pack for the whole hike.
We went over the Greylock mountain from Williamstown southbound back into Dalton some 23 miles.
Thus making our first +1500 climb since the Priest back in VA. rather easy, and trailwise we're in Williamstown.
During our southbond pilgrimage to Dalton, we ran across quite a few friends that had been either just ahead, or just behind us for a while.

Our energy has returned, and the Vermont and the Whites are just ahead!

Sick day.

Norovirus = Hiker's bane.
Symptoms would be Vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, and overall just feeling like you will never have the will to eat again.

This is just a quick update, Daniel and I got sick on trail and needed to take a zero.
Our current mile should be 1532.7 but we had to hike 2.1 miles southbound to make it to the closest road.

I came down with it first, and I'll spare you the graphic description of what happened during the night we were in the shelter.
It was one of the most miserable nights I've had on trail.

Daniel got sick later that afternoon, thankfully he didn't have to walk two miles of trail and 1.5 of road to get to a hotel.

 

Also a quick thank you to everyone back at The Wooden Spoon for the Birthday card!

And Grandma Rose for hers.

We're feeling 76% normal now, and will be getting back on trail today.
Our current mile is 1532.7 (-2.1)
656.8 miles between us and Katahdin.

Thank you for reading my blog!
Leave me a comment down below if you have any questions, I think I set it up to where people without a Google account can leave comments now.

Additional pictures here!
http://graveljourney.shutterfly.com

An odd encounter.

This is an unusual occurrence that happened on the NY-CT state line.

After we had had pizza and Coffee soda one day, at a pizzeria a little ways off trail, Daniel and I pressed a few more miles on to the next shelter, hoping to find our friend Werewolf, only to find that he had gone on to the next shelter some eight miles farther.
Our disappointment dissolved when I was able to give away as few Pasta sides to a fellow hiker, we pressed on, keeping a keen eye out for any good camping.
And after about a mile we found a passable spot, and wasting very little time, we set up and ate dinner.
Our hope was to get an extra early start the following morning by getting to bed early.

We were just about to retire for the night when a couple of teenagers came smashing through the woods.
They saw us and hesitated a moment, they seemed a little surprised to find us there.
"Oh, hello!" I greeted.
"We aren't trespassing are we?"
"Uh... Hey..." One of them answered awkwardly.

It was clear that these two were not hikers, they had no packs, and didn't seem to be there to see the trail.
They crashed through the woods on the other side of the hill from us, and we thought, at first, that they were cutting down a tree.
I went up the hill to see what they were doing as they came back up to the trail.
I gave them a friendly nod (I was brushing my teeth), and they just stared.
They kept shooting us nervous looks as they left, and something didn't seem right.
I turned back to Daniel as walked down the hill, and he had an odd expression on his face.
"What is it?" I asked.
"They just flipped us off..." Daniel answered.
Apparently, when they thought we weren't looking, they gave us a cowardly double handed salute.
"Knaves." I said aloud.
A little unsettled by this, we were in debate about leaving the area, thinking that they might return and vandalize us in someway, and decided to call home for their thoughts on it.
And as they advised us to move on, we packed up and night hiked the next two miles to Nuclear lake.

As to whether or not they would have bothered us again, I think that we made the right move and just moved on, and avoided any needless fights, rather than trusting that they were just cowardly plebeians.

We are in Kent, CT. Right now, approximately 1450 miles.
Nine states down, five more to go!

An update that is most likely out of date.

New York > New Jersey

During our adventures through New Jersey we saw a few curious sights, such as, an old man swearing at a mini van for stopping in a parking lot to let an older couple out, thus forcing him to move three steps over.
And I thought to myself as I witnessed this "I'm sure those extra three steps meant everything to you!"

Overall NJ had a bad, dirty, unpleasant vibe.
New York has made up for that, and then some!

We have had more Trailangels through this state than any other.

Our first experience with them was water caches placed by a local trail club.
Then as we ate some ice cream at a creamery, a lady and her family took us to their place for the night!
And just a day or two ago a man cooked us up some hot dogs, and gave us some Gatorade.
All of this within a week.

And almost just to prove my point about hikers being the most whiney people on earth, we complained about it raining on us this morning!

Current mile: 1433.9
Miles left: 755.3