Day 100

Yesterday was our 100th day on the trail!

Here's some things we have and haven't done in the past 100 days:

- We've walked an average of 16.09 miles every day

- We've walked from Georgia to Vermont

- We've walked almost 700 miles more than the average American walks in a year

- We haven't shaved

- I haven't put on any deodorant (Michael put some under his left arm once)

- We've only had Chick-fil-A three times and Waffle House once!

We're stoked that we're in Vermont! We had sunshine today for possibly the last time for a while. Vermont's really muddy and the past few days of rain have caused it to be really slippery. Many parts of the trail have been flooded, but I've managed to keep the new kicks dry. We also did a couple 1000 foot climbs today so it wasn't an easy 23 like our past 20 mile days have been, but we're still doing it. 

600 miles to go

Overcast day but at lest it didn't rain. This was our last full day in MA and it has been great. 

Today we climbed Mt.Greylock which was a 2500 ft  climb, our biggest since southern Virginia. It just means that we are getting back into the mountains, which is exciting because it means the scenery will be more beautiful. There was a cool monument on the mountain since it was the highest point in Massachusetts. 

Now we are at Wilbur Clearing Shelter with Ayce, Chino, and The Brothers (2 brothers from Statesboro, GA). We caught Ayce today which was cool, we haven't sen him since right after Duncannon, PA. 

Last Few Miles Together

We stayed at Upper Goose Pond Cabin last night. We met a new thru-hiker for the first time in a while. He started early February but he has to get off for at least 3 weeks to get surgery on his foot. We also stayed with Tender Foot who is section hiking the trail for the third time, and she's 72! The caretaker at the cabin fixed us pancakes this morning for breakfast before we began our 20.6 mile day to Dalton, MA. 

Unfortunately it rained the whole day and is supposed to rain tomorrow, but I guess we were prepared. Michael left his rain jacket at Coffee Pot's house (currently being mailed up the trail), but lucky for him, the caretaker let him borrow his. It was cold enough and flat enough today that without rain gear, hypothermia could've been an issue. 

Well today was a sad day. My shoes carried me their last few miles and they had a rough day. They got soaking wet, they caused me to slip into the mud ankle deep, and they went an unexpected three miles farther. I didn't know UPS would be sending my shoes, so instead of walking 100 yards to the post office, I had to walk three miles to the UPS store. I jogged almost the whole way (man, that's something I haven't done in a while). Fortunately, a UPS driver gave me a ride back, but unfortunately, it wasn't in his UPS truck. Thank you shoes for carrying me over 1,560 miles through the snow, rain, mud, and Pennsylvania rocks. What a journey. 

We're spending the night out of the rain at the Shamrock Inn with Chino. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon will clear up some when we climb Mt. Greylock and catch up to Ayce. 

MA is Niiiice

This has been some beautiful hiking. We made it down today 15.5 miles and got picked up by Scrubs, who Chino hiked with in '05. He took us back to his place and we got the essentials, shower, laundry, food, and resupply. He is a great guy.

Also we passed by the site of Shays Rebellion which was pretty cool.

The Final Four

What a day. We awoke this morning to some nice cool and clear weather thinking we would have a typical trail lunch in Salisbury. Well we were wrong. 

We had steak and sushi! My uncle Dave drove out to meet us for lunch and refused to let us just have a deli sandwich. Thank you so much Uncle Dave! It was definitely the best lunch we've had on the trail, and it was great to see you!

After lunch and resupplying a little, we got back on the trail to hike about 13 more miles. It was a really pretty hike and we finished Connecticut! We're down to the final four: Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine! And we also passed the 1,500 mile mark today! It feels like it was just last week we were in the Grayson Highlands at the 500 mile mark. Now, less than 700 miles to go!

Another Day...some more rain

We hiked 22.6 miles today from Kent to Belters campsite. It rained a good bit this morning, but fortunately the hot temps have cooled down some. 

It was crazy slippery going down this steep, rocky section. We also had to walk an extra mile to go around an impassable river.

Goodbye NY, Hello CT

We crossed another state off today and made it to Kent, Connecticut. We are staying the night with one of Matt Marcus's friends who is also named Matt. He has been such a great host and we have already showered, done laundry, had pizza, and recorded our trail raps in his studio tonight.
Yesterday was pretty hot, but one cool thing that happened is that a motorcylcist saw us and offered some trail magic...to take us skydiving! Unfortunately it was not free and we also had to keep going so we declined.  These past two days have been very pretty.

We did a 16.8 and then 21.5. I had to get to town before the outfitter closed so I got up at 5:00, a personal best and made it into town by 1:30.