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

A (not so) lengthy blog.

As Mom ordered, a lengthy blog.

What life is like on the trail.
(Only 70% accurate)

Imagine waking up to the song of birds, right at the first light of dawn (5:25 am). You sit up and put away your bed with mechanical ease. You also wake to find that it rained during the night, and your tent is wet, all the same, you have to put it away.
You mix your normal breakfast drink and add the instant coffee to it. Oddly enough, it's one of the only foods you don't get totally sick of.
You finish packing your pack by 6:15 and head out for a 20 mile day.
The leaves above let loose the water they held kindly all the night, just so they could give you a morning shower, and the tall grass sees to it that your feet stay nice and wet.
Above, the caterpillar have started their descent on long silks to catch on you as you walk by, and the spiders, having left their webs, give you the same greeting.

The morning cool gives way to the heat of the noon day sun, and the humidity levels exceed 200%.
You've sweat 1 1/2 liters of water by 9:00 am, and you chafe more than you ever have, you try all you can to alleviate the pain, and yet almost nothing is achieved.

You come to the first water source of the day at 10:00 am, filter a liter of water in to your pouch, and down another.
The mosquitoes have devoured your arms and legs at this point of filtering water, while you struggle with opening a packet of drink mix, wishing that all of them would just go to a fiery underworld.

11:00 am rolls around and you've eaten half of your daily snacks and are trying to wait another hour for lunch.
Gnats suicidally attack your eyes.

By 2:30 pm you're half starved with 6 miles to go and the pointless up and downs become even more pointless.

You crash into your planned camp site at 5:00 pm to find that it's full, and decide to press on another 5 miles to the next water source.
Your guide book doesn't mark any camping so you hesitantly stay at a barely passable campsite just before the water.
In the morning you find that the water source has one of the best campsites on trail.

Now all of that sounds very negative, and you may be wondering why anybody would want to do a through hike?

A few answers.
Very few responsibilities.
No worries.
If you're around somebody that wants to argue, you can just leave the shelter.
You can eat more than you ever have, and you still lose weight.
You make close friends incredibly quickly.
It's very peaceful.
The views.
No true schedule.
The people you get to meet.
The oddities that you get see/be part of.
Travel.

Overall, this is a fun thing, but there are a lot of hardships that you have face.

Current mile: 1293.4 with 895 miles left.
We are in the town of Delaware water gap, PA.

Various pictures.

Do not read this title.

A simple update.

Mile 1257.5
Walnutport PA.
We will be night hiking tonight to avoid the heat of the day.
We went to town today and grabbed a bite to eat a McD's, where we both ate a bundle meal a piece.
That's 2 big macs, two 1/4 lb. burgers, 10 chicken nuggets, and 2 fries (some 2100 calories).... for each of us.
Then we went to K-mart to buy water, as the next water source is 12 miles away.

The trail has only gotten more fun as we have gone on, and we have gotten well into the groove of things.

Sorry for such a short post, but this is hard with my phone. We're sitting here by the trail letting our shoes dry out, as we let things cool off.

Halfway.

72 days.
7 states.
1094.6 miles walked.
15.2 miles a day average.
1/2 of the way

That is old information.
Daniel and I are past that already.

 

Our adventures are going well, our moral is holding strong, and we are suffering from T-rex syndrome, a case that most all of us hiker trash suffer from where you gain massive, strong legs, and lose your arms to disuse.

 

The skies have stopped their neglect on us, and the rain has returned. Throughout most of Virginia, we had very little rain, and many of the water sources started to dry up.
Although, this also means that the rain has returned and we have to walk through it.

 

You know you live a primitive life when, you go to a camp ground to access more modern amenities than what you had before.
Daniel and I have been hiking with two friends; Hawkeye, his dog Lucy, and Boyd. We decided that we would try to rent a cabin at the Deer run camp grounds in PA.
We come to the front desk and ask about any available cabins.
"Yes, we have two open." answered the lady.
"A primitive cabin, and a Luxury cabin. The primitive doesn't have a bathroom, and the luxury does."
Upon asking, we found that the Luxury does not cost any more than the primitive.
An analogy that Boyd gave summarized those options rather well:
"Would you like to walk to the top of the mountain, or just take the ski lift?" 

 

The hardest challenge that we face this time of the year is chafing.
Chafing all day, chafing without relief, chafing that cannot be explained, only experienced. Chafing on your arm pits, chafing around the areas that nobody talks about, chafing on your feet...
Thankfully the weather has cooled down due to the rain, but this problem will be prolonged until the later summer months.

 

Current mile: 1112.

Various pictures of our trip into DC.

~The Arkansas twins - Link and Folklore.