Thursday, May 9, 2013
Who doesn't love tom hanks
Today we made it 22 or so miles to Bears Den hostel. We had a few morning showers but it ended up being a great sunny day. We hit a section called the "Roller Coaster" known for the steep and back to back ascents and descents, but it wasn't too bad. Tomorrow we will hit a big milestone and a great trail town... I'll leave you in suspense until the next post but it should be a good one! oh yeah and they have a tv here, we watched "The Terminal" and it was great. We have been having a good time traveling with ayce, Moose, Wide Load, Larryboy, Blue moon, and Juseppi. Also I saw two snakes and a turtle today, that was pretty cool.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
If you wanna hike to Maine you gotta walk in the rain
Steady rain all day (and yesterday for that matter) and that's the forecast for tomorrow. But all is good! We did 23.6 today and are sleeping with good company, Blue Moon and Larryboy. We made it out of Shenandoah National Park today! I'm glad that we will be getting away from Skyline Drive, it was not as much fun hiking near a road for the last week.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
A New Mode of Transportation
We had an awesome zero day in Annapolis! We woke up Saturday, had some banana bread Megan made us, then found our new mode of transportation for the trail: segways! We rented segways and Megan gave us a tour around Annapolis. They were so much fun! We went all over the city not even moving our legs and going 3 to 4 times the speed we usually do. If you've never ridden a segway, you need to. They're incredible.
Unfortunately, after an hour we had to give up the segways and walk about a quarter of a mile to lunch. We ate at Chick and Ruth's Delly where Michael and I got 6 pound milkshakes! Tons a people were taking pictures of us and looking through the window at us. I guess we've got pretty nice beards or something. Needless to say, we didn't finish the milkshakes. Michael got about two thirds of the way done but you know, your body can only take so much dairy, so he stopped before he lost it all.
Then we walked back to Megan's place, updated our progress on the blog, and watched a movie. Megan later took us to the grocery store to resupply and we stopped by the Kinney's place to relax by the Chesapeake, but unfortunately they weren't home.
When we got back home, Megan made us an awesome dinner! We had flank steak, asparagus, salad, fresh mangos, and rolls. After dinner, Megan informed us that she and her roommate had Netflix, so we had some ice while we watched a couple movies and office episodes before going to bed pretty late. In the morning, Megan made us some pancakes, eggs with spinach, and some fresh fruit before we had to get in the car and drive the three hours back to the trail.
It was a great break and great to see my sister! Congratulations to everyone who made it through finals week and graduated!
Unfortunately, after an hour we had to give up the segways and walk about a quarter of a mile to lunch. We ate at Chick and Ruth's Delly where Michael and I got 6 pound milkshakes! Tons a people were taking pictures of us and looking through the window at us. I guess we've got pretty nice beards or something. Needless to say, we didn't finish the milkshakes. Michael got about two thirds of the way done but you know, your body can only take so much dairy, so he stopped before he lost it all.
Then we walked back to Megan's place, updated our progress on the blog, and watched a movie. Megan later took us to the grocery store to resupply and we stopped by the Kinney's place to relax by the Chesapeake, but unfortunately they weren't home.
When we got back home, Megan made us an awesome dinner! We had flank steak, asparagus, salad, fresh mangos, and rolls. After dinner, Megan informed us that she and her roommate had Netflix, so we had some ice while we watched a couple movies and office episodes before going to bed pretty late. In the morning, Megan made us some pancakes, eggs with spinach, and some fresh fruit before we had to get in the car and drive the three hours back to the trail.
It was a great break and great to see my sister! Congratulations to everyone who made it through finals week and graduated!
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Bears in the Shenandoahs
We are in Annapolis! Matt's sister Megan came and picked us up at mile 913 in the Shenandoah national park. We did a 7 mile day, then a 26, then a 22 to the spot where she picked us up. We are going to zero with her and do some fun stuff around the city. So far, I've seen no bears, even though this national park is supposed to be crawling with them. One animal I have seen is ticks! I've pulled around 6 off of me the past couple days. Every time I pull one off, I try to hide it in Matt's hair because we are having a competition to see who can not get Lyme disease the best.
- Michael
Megan took us to Steak n Shake where my dad surprised us! He was nearby for the weekend so he came over to visit. It was great to see you Dad! Also, thanks to Phillip, Jacob, Claire, my dad, my sister, and my coupons I've been carrying since Springer, I was able to save about $10 at Chickfila the other day where we ate all three of our meals!
- Matt
- Michael
Megan took us to Steak n Shake where my dad surprised us! He was nearby for the weekend so he came over to visit. It was great to see you Dad! Also, thanks to Phillip, Jacob, Claire, my dad, my sister, and my coupons I've been carrying since Springer, I was able to save about $10 at Chickfila the other day where we ate all three of our meals!
- Matt
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Two Months on the Trail?
We are chilling on the computers at the learning tree in Waynesboro right now. We got here yesterday thanks to a 27.2 mile day. We pushed so that we could see Matt's Aunt and Uncle, who not only took us to get dinner and ice cream, but also got us a hotel room! For dinner we had a sweet Chinese buffet, this place is famous among hikers (among non-hikers, it is not so famous). I think we care much more about quantity than quality. Then, this morning we woke up and made it to Chickfila breakfast! It was the first Chickfila we have seen since the first week on the trail, so we pigged out hard, then waited around and bought lunch there too. We took care of some resupplying and are gonna head out and do about 7 miles today. Also, I guess today marks the end of our 2nd month on the trail. That feels weird, time has definitely flown by! We have had such a great time so far, I hope the next 2 months don't go by this fast. We have done 857 miles, including over 200 miles in the last 10 days. Which means we are almost 40 percent done!
Monday, April 29, 2013
Buena Vista
Yesterday we had planned to do about 25 miles. It was raining so that kind of put a damper on the day. When we stopped for lunch after about 12 miles, Michael asked me if I wanted to go into Buena Vista, VA to see a movie. His short shorts weren't keeping his hands warm and we were kind of low on food to make it to Waynesboro. Although I wanted to see a movie, I felt like I had been spending too much money in towns already and I knew Gaylyn wanted us to hike 5 extra miles every day. So I told Michael if he really wanted to then go ahead, but I was gonna go the 25 miles.
We both crossed the road that goes into Buena Vista and after going up some switchbacks and taking some water breaks, Michael was nowhere in sight, so I figured he had turned around to hitch into Buena Vista.
I continued hiking and the weather began to get worse. It became cold, foggy, and super windy. After about an hour and a half of climbing a mountain, I began to regret my decision to not go into Buena Vista (I mean, at the very least it would've been a good view). I soon passed a group of hikers going south. One of them told me there was a hot dog stand up ahead. I only thought, "haha very funny kid."
After about thirty more minutes of hiking through the cold, wind, and fog, I saw something in the distance. At first I thought it was a mirage, but then I started to think, " Oh wait...could it be? A hot dog stand?" It was more than a hot dog stand! It was a buena vista! It was Fresh Ground Leapfrog Café!
I went over to his setup, but he wasn't there. There was a sign that said he was resupplying and would be right back. So I waited thirty minutes freezing my butt off, but still he had not come. I contemplated pushing on the next 7.7 miles to the shelter, but there was no way I was gonna miss Fresh Ground. I decided I would wait 30 minutes more because I couldn't camp there since Michael had the tent and for all I knew, he was in the movie theater eatin' popcorn. I thought I had made the worse decision to not go into town. I was cold, low on food, and thought Fresh Ground would stay in town since the weather was bad.
My luck soon changed, Michael showed up about 45 minutes after I had gotten there. It turns out he had just been prairie doggin' it, so he was going a little slower. He too was regretting his decision though to not go into town. We decided to camp there though so that if Fresh Ground didn't come back, we would at least catch him the morning. Soon, another a hiker showed up, Prometheus, and then another. Then, 5 minutes later, we hear a car honk. Fresh Ground!!!
He saved the day! We helped him unload the groceries, set up some stuff, and then he gave us some hot dogs. We all sat in his car to get warm. Then all of us (minus the one hiker that left) all ate tacos by lantern light. It was awesome! We got to hangout with Fresh Ground, and then in the morning, he made us banana pancakes, potato slices, coffee and hot chocolate! It made a miserable day pretty incredible, and will definitely be one of my favorite memories on the trail.
In addition, since it took forever for me to type all this up while sitting on the Priest, the cloud I was in went away for a little, and I got to see the view!
God is good!
We both crossed the road that goes into Buena Vista and after going up some switchbacks and taking some water breaks, Michael was nowhere in sight, so I figured he had turned around to hitch into Buena Vista.
I continued hiking and the weather began to get worse. It became cold, foggy, and super windy. After about an hour and a half of climbing a mountain, I began to regret my decision to not go into Buena Vista (I mean, at the very least it would've been a good view). I soon passed a group of hikers going south. One of them told me there was a hot dog stand up ahead. I only thought, "haha very funny kid."
After about thirty more minutes of hiking through the cold, wind, and fog, I saw something in the distance. At first I thought it was a mirage, but then I started to think, " Oh wait...could it be? A hot dog stand?" It was more than a hot dog stand! It was a buena vista! It was Fresh Ground Leapfrog Café!
I went over to his setup, but he wasn't there. There was a sign that said he was resupplying and would be right back. So I waited thirty minutes freezing my butt off, but still he had not come. I contemplated pushing on the next 7.7 miles to the shelter, but there was no way I was gonna miss Fresh Ground. I decided I would wait 30 minutes more because I couldn't camp there since Michael had the tent and for all I knew, he was in the movie theater eatin' popcorn. I thought I had made the worse decision to not go into town. I was cold, low on food, and thought Fresh Ground would stay in town since the weather was bad.
My luck soon changed, Michael showed up about 45 minutes after I had gotten there. It turns out he had just been prairie doggin' it, so he was going a little slower. He too was regretting his decision though to not go into town. We decided to camp there though so that if Fresh Ground didn't come back, we would at least catch him the morning. Soon, another a hiker showed up, Prometheus, and then another. Then, 5 minutes later, we hear a car honk. Fresh Ground!!!
He saved the day! We helped him unload the groceries, set up some stuff, and then he gave us some hot dogs. We all sat in his car to get warm. Then all of us (minus the one hiker that left) all ate tacos by lantern light. It was awesome! We got to hangout with Fresh Ground, and then in the morning, he made us banana pancakes, potato slices, coffee and hot chocolate! It made a miserable day pretty incredible, and will definitely be one of my favorite memories on the trail.
In addition, since it took forever for me to type all this up while sitting on the Priest, the cloud I was in went away for a little, and I got to see the view!
God is good!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Big Day
This is from yesterday:
Well today was a pretty productive day. We left the shelter around 9 this morning to begin our descent into Glasgow where we needed to resupply. Shortly after I began hiking, a couple trail runners caught up to me. One of them, Gobbler, thru-hiked two years ago. He gave me some advice about the trail and then before we parted ways, he gave me two energy gels which was all he had on him. He then came running back a few moments later from his car with an apple and banana which he gave me. He knew how rarely we hikers get fresh fruit out here so he wanted to help me out as best he could. That made my day. Thanks so much Gobbler!
It's incredible how friendly and willing people are to help out here. Thanks everyone for your encouragement and I hear that many people following our blog want to know how they can help us out in some form or fashion. We'll let y'all know soon.
So after I passed Gobbler, we made it down to the James River., crosses the longest footbridge on the AT, and then got a hitch into town. We ate lunch at some Italian place, got subs to pack out, resupplied at a local grocery store, then got a hitch back to the trail. We then began out 10 mile climb back to the mountains around 4:30. When I got to the shelter (Punch Bowl Shelter) at 8, I was surprised to see so many tents out. Turns out there's a hiking club doing a weekend trip so Michael and I will not be in the shelter, which is great since it's supposed to rain tonight. Also, we're tenting right next to a pond so hopefully the frogs will settle down soon.
Lookin' forward to doing 25 miles tomorrow in the rain after today's 25.1 in the sun!
Well today was a pretty productive day. We left the shelter around 9 this morning to begin our descent into Glasgow where we needed to resupply. Shortly after I began hiking, a couple trail runners caught up to me. One of them, Gobbler, thru-hiked two years ago. He gave me some advice about the trail and then before we parted ways, he gave me two energy gels which was all he had on him. He then came running back a few moments later from his car with an apple and banana which he gave me. He knew how rarely we hikers get fresh fruit out here so he wanted to help me out as best he could. That made my day. Thanks so much Gobbler!
It's incredible how friendly and willing people are to help out here. Thanks everyone for your encouragement and I hear that many people following our blog want to know how they can help us out in some form or fashion. We'll let y'all know soon.
So after I passed Gobbler, we made it down to the James River., crosses the longest footbridge on the AT, and then got a hitch into town. We ate lunch at some Italian place, got subs to pack out, resupplied at a local grocery store, then got a hitch back to the trail. We then began out 10 mile climb back to the mountains around 4:30. When I got to the shelter (Punch Bowl Shelter) at 8, I was surprised to see so many tents out. Turns out there's a hiking club doing a weekend trip so Michael and I will not be in the shelter, which is great since it's supposed to rain tonight. Also, we're tenting right next to a pond so hopefully the frogs will settle down soon.
Lookin' forward to doing 25 miles tomorrow in the rain after today's 25.1 in the sun!
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