Penny Per Mile

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to Penny Per Mile! It blows me away by how much people were willing to give. We were hoping that $1,000 would be donated over the course of the 4.5 months we were gone. Well I guess we had a pretty low goal because according to our survey, $2,179 were donated to Penny Per Mile!

Total donated: $2,179
Donated to REBUILD: $1,381
Donated to END IT: $798

Thanks again everyone! We really appreciate it, and I know the two ministries really appreciate it as well.

a BIG thank you

It has been a week since we finished, and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped us along the way. Our experience would not have been the same without you. To everyone who sent us a package, took us into their homes, gave us rides, fed us, or helped us out in any way, we owe it all to you. There are far to many people to write it all out here, but we felt so loved and supported the whole way and it really made a big difference.

Matt and Mike Took a Hike

March 2, 2013 to July 13, 2013

We walked 2,185.9 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. 

We can see the end

We are sitting in Abol Bridge right now, 15 miles from the finish. We have been chilling here since noon.

We conquered the 100 mile wilderness! It was the easiest stretch for a while. And we bumped our miles down so we have been having a great time. We got a fishing rod in Monson and have been getting some fishing in on these beautiful Maine lakes. 

Life is hard on the trail. 

Our Trail Names

Well I guess as our hike is about to come to an end, we should let you know what our trail names are and how we got them. We apologize for not letting you know sooner, but earlier on when some people were asking about them, we didn't really have them yet, and we've also forgotten to write about them. 

So here they are:

Michael's trail name is dirty mike. One of the initial groups we were hiking in was called Dirty Mike and the Boys Plus Two Girls so Michael kind of adopted that name. The main reason for his name though is because he hikes without toilet paper. He only uses that luxury in towns, otherwise he just forages for his TP. He likes to use grass, moss, sticks, snow (when available), and smooth stones. He is a very dirty man.

Matt's trail name is Coups (pronounced like coops). He received that name because he has been carrying Chickfila coupons since the start. Ironically, the first Chickfila we stopped at (and one of the only ones), he forgot to use them so they haven't been as useful as he initially thought. They did end up saving him $10 at one point though. Gotta have those coups. 

One more mountain

We are sitting on White Cap Mountain, which is our last big climb until Katahdin. It feels so good, we are just going to coast to the finish line from here. We have made it over 2100 miles so far and are enjoying the 100 mile wilderness. Tomorrow we are going into White House Landing. These past few days we have been taking huge breaks and taking our sweet time. We do about an hour of hiking, then an hour of breaking. 

We're in the Wilderness

We walked, got great views, and have less than 100 miles to go. 

Crazy Views

We had an awesome 4th of July! We hiked 20.7 miles from Pierce Pond shelter to Moxie Bald. It was hot, sunny, and buggy, but we'll take that over rain any day. We took a lot of breaks and chilled in a river for a little too. We also crossed the Kinebec River which is too wide and deep to ford, so we took the canoe fairy system. 

Late in the day, we decided that it would be clear enough night to cowboy camp (sleep under the stars) on top of Moxie Bald, and man was it a great decision. We could see storm clouds to the south and later to the north, but it looked fine above us, and the Ayce weather report was nice too. We ate dinner and watched the sunset, and when it got dark we watched fireworks! We were hoping to see some from the bald, and throughout the night we could see about 15 different shows 360 degrees around us! They were all really small and below us, but it was still really cool. There was a couple really good shows to the north so we mainly watched those. 

Also, before it got dark, we got to see the best view on the whole trail, Mt. Katahdin! It was so far in the distance that you could only see its profile, but after 4 months and 2 days on the trail, it was crazy to be able to see the end. 

As the fireworks were settling down, we decided to spread out on the summit and go to bed. It was pretty windy, but after a few hours we were still awake. The wind was so noisy we couldn't sleep well, but it didn't really matter. The clouds cleared around us, and we could hundreds of thousands of stars! It was so incredible that we didn't even want to close our eyes. I saw satellites, 6 shooting stars, and even the Milky Way! Then in the morning we saw the moon and the sun rise. It was one of the worst nights of sleep we've gotten on the trail, but it was totally worth it. 

Today we did 20 miles into Monson, our last town. We resupplied and had some BBQ. We're staying at Shaw's tonight where we'll have an all you can eat breakfast before heading into the 100 mile wilderness.

Only 115 miles to go!

2000 milers

We have had a couple nice days lately. The rain finally broke and now it is in the 90's! The good thing about that is that there are ponds everywhere in Maine and we can swim in them now that is I'd hot enough. 

Other big news is that we hit 2000 miles! We are officially members of the 2000 mile club. That was very exciting. 

There is not much service in Maine so we might not have many more posts. But last night we were at Pearce Pond Shelter. So this morning we stopped by Harrison's, this guy who lives nearby and he made us pancakes, eggs, and sausage. It was so good. Now we are sitting on Pleasant Pond Mountain and hoping to get to Monson tomorrow. 

Strutting in Stratton

Here is another picture of our sunset last night from the ski chalet.

Today we did a somewhat easy 10 miles into Stratton, ME and got here by noon. We have been relaxing since at the hostel here. We got some good food and are excited to shower and laundry because it has been a while for both, and I mean a while. We are 3 miles shy of 2000, so we are excited for tomorrow!

Maine Really IS Beautiful

We woke up this morning and it wasn't really raining so we headed out hoping the rain would hold as long as possible. We climbed Saddleback Mountain, and as we climbed, clouds started to surround us. We were so bummed. 

But then, as we started to get off Saddleback, the clouds started to thin. 

We had heard how beautiful Maine was, but due to our recent weather, I couldn't see it myself. It turns out, they were right!

We hiked 19.9 miles today and we're staying in an abandoned ski chalet on top of Sugarloaf Mountain. It's got some awesome views too!

Also, we don't always get incredible food. We really do cook cheap pasta sides. 

Walkin in the rain

If you wanna walk to Maine you gotta walk in the rain. Well we already made it to Maine and it is still raining. The trail is basically a mud lake. But we are doing it! We made it to Rangley today and got in to resupply and eat. I was running low in food the past couple days, so by the time I got to town my food bag was completely empty. That made these lobster rolls so satisfying. 

Gotta love those Maine lobsters. 

We have been running into a bunch of southbound hikers which has been fun talking to them. 

We got a sweet hitch into town. A lady had to go to a wedding in an hour, but she still gave us a ride! As we were hitching, Ayce said, "I'm feeling this one," and sure enough, that lady picked us up. It was awesome!

 Also we have had to ford a few rivers. We are heading back to the trail tonight.

Welcome to Maine

We've walked from Georgia to Maine! 

Two nights ago we stayed at Gentian Pond Shelter. Then yesterday morning we left at 6:45 to make our way over to Maine. After the 5 miles to Maine, we walked about 6 more miles to Mahoosuc Notch, the most time consuming 1.2 miles on the AT. The 11 miles we did before it though, had to have been the hardest and most stretch we've done on the AT. It's been raining every afternoon for the past few days which made the rocks and roots that cover the trail super slippery. Many times we would had to walk either up or down a slanted rock face. About 300 yards before the Maine border, my shoes completely lost there grip and I went airborne but fortunately landed on my backpack. I thought I wasn't gonna make it. 

We all made it to Mahoosuc Notch though to take on the longest mile of the AT. Michael, Ayce, Chino, and I all did it together so it ended up taking us 2 and a half hours with about a 10 minute break. It was so much fun! We had to navigate our way over and under boulders. Sometimes we would have to take off our packs to fit through cracks. To make more interesting, the rocks were really slick, and it rained some. At one point, it started to pour, but thankfully the trail took us underneath a big boulder, so we just waited it out for ten minutes. Another cool thing about the notch was that in some lower places, it was probably 20 degrees cooler and there was ice! It felt great. 

Many times we had to use our arms and hands to get us through the notch. That was a nice change. 

We ended up only doing 12.3 miles yesterday, but it was fun and we survived. 

We've now walked over 1,900 miles and have less than 280 miles to go to make it to Katahdin!

This morning we woke up to rain, but it soon stopped and after a few hours the sun came out! We climbed Speck and Baldpate Mountains and it has been beautiful. We are going to try and get 23 miles in today to make up for yesterday and take advantage of this good weather. 

Last Day in the Whites

We did a short day over the five Wildcat peaks today. Fortunately the rain held off. It was partly cloudy and really windy. We saw some cool views of Mt. Washington and the Presidentials, but the clouds never really lifted above them. 

We headed over to the Carter Notch Hut where we got ate lunch, got some 2 day old bread, and one of the crew members played the banjo for us. 

We met about 7 southbounders today. It's kind of weird to see other thru-hikers going the wrong direction. Also, my other trekking pole broke today. It got wedged in the ground and snapped. I guess the 1,500 miles put on it have weakened it. Hopefully I can get them fixed in Gorham tomorrow. 

Ayce went on to Gorham tonight to watch the Bruins, but Michael and I are here with Chino and a southbounder at Imp Shelter. 

Up in the clouds

Yesterday we woke up at the hut and decided to stick around for breakfast and chores in hopes that the clouds would lift. Well by 9 it was the same so we just left and started climbing Mt Washington, the tallest mountain in New England and the only one over 6000 feet. We got to the top and there were big winds and zero visibility. 

There is a visitors center at the top because it is such a popular mountain, which was so weird because all sorts of people could drive up or take a train up and were just sitting at the top of this huge mountain that we just climbed. We heard comments like "Look the actually hiked up here!" The way down was very rocky, wet, and steep. We all took a couple spills, but Matt had a bad one and it broke one of his hiking poles unfortunately.  We had to come over Mt. Madison and were on an exposed ridge when a thunderstorm rolled in. So we booked it as fast as we could over the rock scrambles to try to get below tree line but we didn't exactly make it in time. The rest of the day we got poured on too. 

But luckily we were able to get a bunk and get dry here at Pinkam Notch and today we are going to keep hiking in the rain!

Great Service

Last night we weren't able to work for stay at the Zealand Hut so we stealth camped about a quarter of a mile farther down the trail. Unfortunately three section hikers lied and said they were thru-hikers so they could work for stay. They said they were doing a big section. They started in Glencliff (we left there Wednesday morning). It was frustrating that they took our opportunity to stay in the hut especially since we did 10 more miles than them, but it's alright. It all worked out. 

Today's been great! We got to Crawford Notch at ten this morning where one of Ayce's friends, Paul, met us. He brought a bunch of things for us to eat and drink including ice cream! He then drove Ayce, Michael, and Chino to a store to resupply while I stayed back and watched everyone's stuff. I did my best to stay mosquito free. Thanks so much Paul for all your help! That was some incredible trail magic!

We then started the hard part of the day. We climbed up Mt. Webster and then started to go through some of the Presidentials. We were at Mizpah Hut and there was a chance of rain and thunderstorms, but we decided to push to Lakes of the Clouds Hut. It was clearing up a little and luckily it pretty much held off. We saw some pretty sweet views, and we were able to get work for stay tonight! We basically sat around and waited for all the guests to eat; then we ate as much turkey and mashed potatoes as we wanted! Then the crew told us they had no work for us. So now we got free food and a warm, dry place to sleep!

Hopefully tomorrow morning will be clear for Mt. Washington!

P.S. Andrew says hi and TA.