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SOBO vs. NOBO

Chief and I are continuing our Appalachian Trail hike in Maine, heading SOBO (southbound) back to Pennsylvania.  The first three months of the hike, we walked NOBO from Georgia to central Pennsylvania, and then flipped up to Maine. So far we have completed 1,385 miles and have 804 miles yet to hike. God willing we should complete this adventure by mid-October, a total of six months.

The splendor of Maine’s landscape has helped to alleviate the intense misery of the trail in this state.  Often described as the toughest portion of the Appalachian Trail, we have scaled large boulders, slid down wet rocks, forded rocky rivers, sunk in muddy bogs, and battled gusty mountain-top winds and cool temperatures.  Last night we got caught in a rain storm on top of Bigelow Mountain. As the wind and rain ripped through the trees we cleared a spot to pitch the tent and escape the chilly elements. Flipping was the best decision we have made, in lieu of continuing NOBO and getting to Maine in October to deal with frigid temps, ice, and possibly snow.  We can’t wait to get Maine under our belts and move on.

Another advantage to flipping our hike and now heading SOBO has been the opportunity to meet NOBOs as they get close to finishing their hike. The first NOBO we met was a hiker named Slammer.  He had just reached the summit of Mount Katahdin, successfully completing a 2,189 mile thru-hike.  Not far into the 100-Mile Wilderness, we met Werewolf and (yes, another) Toad. These gentlemen only had ten miles to complete their thru-hike.  On average we pass about five or six thru-hikers per day and speak briefly to each. These hikers began their trek in Georgia in February or March (way before our April 13th start).  The men are usually heavily bearded and the women are thin yet muscular.  Many say their bodies are beaten down, but all are extremely excited about finishing!

We have also met many section hikers. These are folks who hike sections of the A.T. over a period of years. One of the most interesting was a 77-year old woman who has been hiking the trail for over 20 years. I will call her Granny because she reminds me of the Granny in the Bugs Bunny cartoons. Granny is a tiny soft-spoken lady with a thick southern accent. Her husband passed away a couple of years ago and encouraged her to finish the trail.  Granny is hiking portions of Maine and has a couple of sections left to complete this fall.  We also met a trio of ladies from Pennsylvania – Linda, 8-mile Ma and Trail Dancer – who have section-hiked together for ten years.   We received helpful hiking advice from 11-year old Baby Blue, a precocious young lady who was hiking with her father.  The most interesting trail names came from a middle-aged couple from Massachusetts. Her name was Frito and his name was Beyoncé.  He was tall but there were no similarities to the pop singer beyond that.

Tomorrow marks Day 123 and we head out re-supplied from the tiny town of Stratton, Maine to climb Crocker Mountain, and continue this trek…

SOBO, Chief and Toad

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The Beast of the East

In the far northeast, amid pristine water falls and tranquil lakes lies a Beast.  Dense pine forests create a wilderness that hides the Beast and no hiker knows just how awful it is until it is too late.  The Beast appears without warning and escaping its grasp is nearly impossible.

On a lovely sunny day, Chief and I hiked south from Mount Katahdin into the 100 Mile Wilderness of Maine.  The sun glistening off the lakes and the sound of rushing water from the streams that fed them kept stealing my attention from the trail.  The scent of fresh pine and the song of the birds enveloped us.  How lovely it all was.  But the incredible beauty of the landscape overshadowed a gnawing feeling in my gut that something wasn’t quite right.

The deeper into the wilderness we trekked the darker the woods became.    Suddenly beast-like tentacles of tree roots rose up from the ground and wrapped themselves around our legs tripping our every step.  We were too far into the wilderness to turn back and too far from the other end to yet escape.  The Beast began to show its ugly razor-sharp rock teeth as we walked over them. The teeth became larger and sharper as we tried to run away, chomping at our boots and legs leaving massive gashes.  Higher and higher the teeth grew as we ran and climbed to escape.

The Beast then hurled drone-like mosquitos and terrifying insects at us that bit and stung our bodies leaving large painful welts.  It next turned once tranquil streams into raging rivers with fierce currents.  As we attempted to cross the waterways, the currents knocked us down onto slippery rocks, nearly swallowing our bodies into a watery grave.  Gasping for air and clinging to a support rope, we made it to the other side.  If only it were over, but no…

The Beast then threw thunder and lightning at us atop Barren Mountain as we attempted to hide in the pines.  The sound was deafening as tympani drums and giant cymbals crashed above our heads.  Golf ball sized hail then pelted us, stinging our bodies with every contact.  Suddenly a bear soldier jumped from the bushes and sprinted toward Chief.  They fought tooth and nail before Chief prevailed in a thumb-war.

Catching him off-guard, Chief stepped in a trap that the Beast had set.  That one wrong move hurled Chief high into the air and down on his shoulder.  He fought with his hiking sticks but the Beast broke them both, leaving a bloody gash on Chief’s hand.  I quickly got him on his feet to run away but then fell into one of the Beast’s mud bogs.  At first the black goo sucked in only my arm.  Then, like quicksand, the goo started to take me totally under.  I screamed for Chief to help and he pulled me to safety just before I was totally submerged.

For seven days we battled the Beast as we hiked to escape the wilderness.  We could see a clearing in the distance but in one last attempt the Beast caught my foot and pulled me facedown onto the ground.  Chief asked if I wanted to rest as he gently cleaned the blood and mud from my face.  “NO!” I cried, “Get me out of here!”  So we ran with our last ounce of strength toward the clearing.  Exhausted, bruised and beaten down, we are finally…

Safely Harbored, Chief and Toad

P.S.  While all of these events actually occurred, some of the details may have been embellished for the reader’s enjoyment. 😊

Don’t forget to read yesterday’s post “Katahdin, Can Do!”

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Katahdin, Can Do!

This post comes to you from Maine and we are happy to have internet access on this day.  We welcome our new friends to this website, those of you we have met since we landed in Bangor to continue hiking the Appalachian Trail.

From Bangor, Chief and I took a bus north to Medway and then were picked up and shuttled to the town of Millinocket.  We were happy to learn that Walkie Talkie Nightingale, a young lady we had met and with whom we had hiked in Virginia, was also flipping to Maine to hike the remainder of the A.T. SOBO (southbound).  Walkie arrived in Millinocket a day later and the three of us were scheduled to climb Mount Katahdin on July 28th.

Katahdin is the highest elevation in Maine at 5,270′ and is the northern terminus of the A.T.  We were dropped at the ranger station at Baxter State Park at 8:00 a.m. to register (just in case we didn’t return they would have our correct names for the obituary).  The hike to the summit was just over five miles and I foolishly thought, “This can’t take long, right?”

What started as a pleasant hike along peaceful streams and through the beautiful pine woods, quickly became more labored with climbing large granite boulders hand over hand.  Higher and higher we climbed, eventually over the treeline with other mountains coming into view. Many of the rocks were so high or far apart that metal rungs had been inserted to assist.  It was evident that this climb would be the most challenging portion of the A.T. that we had experienced so far. Walkie Talkie had some wilderness training so she and Chief were helpful in suggesting climbing positions and techniques.  Sometimes they had to give me a boost to get over the large sharp rocks.  The climb was incredibly arduous and time-consuming, taking nearly five and a half hours just to reach the summit.

At the top of the formidable mountain is an infamous sign by which hikers want a photo.  We took the symbolic photos and then Chief and I placed rocks on a large mountain top cairn. We witnessed a reunion of four men who had thru-hiked the A.T. twenty years earlier.  We also met other folks who had come up a side trail that is  just over two miles and less strenuous access to the summit.  Of course I am thinking we should just go down that way, but noooo, Chief said we had to go back the official Appalachian Trail.  Already exhausted, our descent took another five hours.

With Mount Katahdin under our belts, Walkie Talkie, Chief and I camped at the Stream Campground, dropping into our sleeping bags, too tired to think about the next day’s hike into Maine’s 100 Mile Wilderness and totally unaware of what was yet to come…

Stay Tuned, Chief and Toad

 

 

 

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Log-Rolling 101 or Careful Steps

As I write this post, Chief and I are actually enjoying a zeek (zero week) at the beach with our family.  This was a planned vacation that we have taken for many years — first with our own daughters when they were young, and now with their spouses and children.  To get here, Chief and I stopped hiking the Appalachian Trail in central Pennsylvania at Route 501, obtained a hiker shuttle to a car rental agency, drove to Virginia to pick up our car, and then drove our car to South Carolina.  We are staying at a lovely condo overlooking the beach.  Thanks to our friend, Pat, for the use of her home-away-from-home.  It is large enough for our entire family and we are enjoying it immensely.

Before we left the trail, Chief had started to learn about log-rolling.  This log-rolling is not in the political vote-trading sense, rather the act of standing on a log in water and rotating it rapidly.  We were hiking on a section of the Appalachian Trail that required crossing a small stream.  There were large rocks for stepping across the stream but Chief’s foot slipped so he tried catching himself by stepping on a log in the water.  The problem was that the log was not secured at either end of the bank so it just rotated.  His loss of balance landed the Chief in the stream getting him and his backpack rather wet.  Once we realized he was unhurt, it was pretty funny.  The moral of this story is that no hiker should try log-rolling on the trail or follow too closely behind Chief because you risk getting wet.

On a side note, ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek broke the record for the fastest Appalachian Trail supported hike on July 12, 2015 with a time of 46 days, 8 hours, 7 minutes.  He bested the previous record held by Jennifer Pharr Davis by three hours.  Scott averaged 47.2 miles per day from Georgia to Maine (total 2,189 miles).  Although we didn’t see him, Scott ran the A.T. in southern Virginia about the same time we went through that area.  Congratulations to Scott!

Over the past three months, Chief and I have hiked 1,193 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Bethel, Pennsylvania.  We have completed six states (Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland) and are halfway through PA.  There are 996 miles yet to hike.  As we previously mentioned, we have decided to flip our thru-hike — flying to Maine after our zeek  — and then hiking the remainder of the A.T. southbound (through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey) and finish at Route 501, PA.  Our goal is to complete the Appalachian Trail by October 13th, which will be a total of six months on this adventure.

Our next post will come to you from Maine as we prepare to climb 5,270′ Mount Katahdin, the highest point in Maine and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.   A recent devotion on the Jesus Calling app read, “Keep walking with Me along the path I have chosen for you… Together we will forge a pathway up the high mountain.  The journey is arduous at times, and you are weak.  Someday you will dance light-footed on the high peaks; but for now your walk is often plodding and heavy.  All I require of you is to take the next step, clinging to My hand for strength and direction… Stay on the path I have selected for you.  It is truly the path of Life.”

Faith in Christ and a higher purpose keep us moving step by step on this A.T. journey.  Before we again hit the trail, we are…

Enjoying The Beach, Chief and Toad

 

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Too Much of a Good Thing?

Welcome to our new friends and followers, especially those we have met while hiking in Pennsylvania.   We also want to thank Mark Caudill of the Mansfield News Journal for a recent article about our Appalachian Trail hike.  Views on this website reached over 1,000 on the day the article was printed!

To bring you up-to-date, Chief and I returned to the Appalachian Trail in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia on July 5.  That marked Day 84 of our adventure and we were well rested after four zero days.  Let’s pause for some hiker lingo…

Zero day – no miles hiked;
Nero – nearly no miles hiked (typically less than 10 miles);
Zeek – a zero week.

As we were hiking out of Harpers Ferry, we met a hiker named Splitter.  He said he got his name after five days of splitting wood at Neels Gap, Georgia.  Splitter was a middle-aged comic and jokingly said he had rolled a lot of joints while on the trail–mostly his ankles.  We can relate to that.  The A.T. in West Virginia only encompasses six miles so we were in Maryland within a couple hours.  About midday, we hiked into Gathland State Park where Trail Angel Vickie greeted us with cold soda and fresh fruit.   Trail magic is always a welcomed treat even though it was our first day back on the trail.  We spent some time talking with Vickie and met another hiker, Maestro, a middle school and high school orchestra teacher from Charlotte, North Carolina.  This is Maestro’s fifth year of section hiking the A.T. during the summer.  The three of us would spend the next nine days hiking together, completing 41 miles of incredibly rocky trail in Maryland and on into the middle of Pennsylvania.  Although Maestro is a much stronger hiker, he stayed at our pace and led the way most of the time.

During the past few days, we had several opportunities for stops near the A.T. that sold ICE CREAM.  If hikers are known for one thing it is a voracious appetite, and ice cream is one of the best things to eat!  Pine Grove Furnace State Park in PA has a small general store that promotes a half-gallon Hershey’s ice cream club.  To join the club, a NOBO (northbound) hiker eats an entire half-gallon of ice cream to mark the halfway point on the trail to Maine.  This challenge is well publicized in hiker circles. When we arrived at the park, a thru-hiker named T.M.I. was slowly working to finish a container of ice cream.  A petite gal about age 30, T.M.I. looked a bit sick as she just gazed vacantly at the melted chocolate liquid in the bottom of her container.  “Are you feeling alright, T.M.I.,” I asked.  She said nothing but the look of nausea in her eyes spoke volumes.  Maestro, Chief and I ordered sandwiches for lunch and then we chose to split a half-gallon of butter pecan ice cream to celebrate our hike.  Chief gladly took the brunt of this dairy challenge but it never slowed him down a bit!  Just down the road stood the Appalachian Trail Museum, which we toured before we resumed hiking that afternoon.  As we were leaving, T.M.I. had successfully joined the ice cream half-gallon club but she wasn’t hitting the trail very quickly.

The next day Maestro, Chief and I crossed a road that led to Green Mountain Store and Deli.  Not willing to pass up an opportunity to eat, we walked the short distance and ordered deli sandwiches for lunch.  Chief purchased an entire bag of ice for his Coke but I stole some of the ice to sooth my swollen feet.  The store also sold Hershey’s ice cream so I chose a milkshake made with raspberry ice cream.  It was amazing!  Maestro looked on his phone and saw thunderstorm warnings so we sat on the store’s front porch for a while.  Not long after, terrible wind and rain ripped through the area.  The lights at the store flickered and we were so thankful for a dry spot instead of being out on the trail.  As we were preparing to leave after the storm passed, we saw T.M.I. walking up the road.  She was soaking wet from getting caught in the storm and we again felt bad for her.

On Day 89, we found several large trees had blown down across the trail from the previous day’s storm.  At times it made the hike difficult as we climbed through limbs and briars.  At other times, the trail through Pennsylvania paralleled corn and soybean fields and passed several farms.  I felt a pang of homesickness as this terrain reminded me of Ohio.  Our trio hiked into Boiling Springs, a tiny town in central Pennsylvania and had a wonderful lunch at Caffe 101.  As with our previous stops, the meal was completed with homemade 4-berry pie and vanilla ice cream.  Our stay that night was at the infamous Doyle Hotel in Duncannon, PA.  Now I have to clarify that the Doyle Hotel was built in 1905 and is one of the original Anheuser-Busch hotels.  It has amazing woodwork and architectural features; however, it has primarily served A.T. hikers for the past several years.  Having said that, the rooms are a bit rough and the decor looks as though it was last updated during the Nixon administration.  It happened to be Chief’s and my 35th wedding anniversary so he asked for their best room.  The “honeymoon suite” differed from other rooms in that it had a ceiling fan and a recliner that appeared to last belong to Archie Bunker.  I will say the bed was semi-comfortable and the sheets were clean.  At $35 per night, it was appropriately priced.  A real positive was that the food at the hotel was tasty and substantial.  Maestro, T.M.I., Chief and I walked to 3Bs for dessert — you guessed it — ice cream with homemade blueberry topping!

It was a hot July week of hiking 124 miles and we have no regrets for consuming a gazillion calories of ice cream.  There is no such thing as too much ice cream!

Enjoying God’s Good Gifts, Chief and Toad

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A Ticket To Ride

Our Ohio friends are quite familiar with Cedar Point Amusement Park and the amazing roller coaster rides at that park.  Chief and I, along with fellow hiker Tiger Mike, recently experienced the dreaded “Roller Coaster” on the Appalachian Trail in northern Virginia.  This was not a thrill ride completed in seconds, rather a grueling eight-hour hike that covered more than thirteen miles of rocky ascents and descents.  The highest climb was a challenging 2,000 feet and then immediately descended.  Over and over we put one foot in front of the other as we navigated the steep hills and tricky rock-studded terrain.   The Roller Coaster left us gasping for air at the top of each hill and nursing sore knees and feet at the bottom.  It was undoubtedly one of the toughest days of hiking we had experienced in the last 78 days.  About halfway through the Roller Coaster, we crossed a county road and were unexpectedly greeted with trail magic.  A former thru-hiker, No Pants, was there to share cold soda, fresh fruit, chips, and Little Debbie snacks with passing hikers.  No Pants also interviewed us for a documentary that he is producing about A.T. hikers.  Chief, Tiger Mike, and I agreed that the trail magic was the only thing that got us through the rigorous Roller Coaster.  That day the three of us hiked a total of 21 miles in order to get to the shelter by dusk and position ourselves for a short hike into Harpers Ferry, West Virginia the following day.

On a side note, this is a point on the A.T. where some of the younger hikers take on the “4 State Challenge”.  Over a 24-hour period, a hiker attempts to travel a 43-mile section of the Appalachian Trail across the borders of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Just to be clear, we are NOT pursuing this ride!

On Day 79, Chief and I awoke early, packed our gear and hit the trail with Tiger Mike by 6:30 a.m.  We were all experiencing swollen feet and fatigued muscles but nevertheless were mentally invigorated by our accomplishment over the Roller Coaster the previous day. We had only eight miles to hike to Harpers Ferry, the “spiritual halfway point” on the A.T.  Harpers Ferry (Mile 1,022) is the home of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy that registers and tracks thru-hikers.   Our hike took less than four hours when we descended a hill and were met with the stunning site of the Shenandoah River.  We were joined by one of Tiger Mike’s friends, Home Fry, who hiked the remainder of the way with us.  Since the date was June 30th, many thru-hikers arrived at the Conservancy as this seemed to be a goal date for thru-hikers to reach this halfway point.  The Conservancy is housed in a small historic stone building and the front was lined with backpacks and weary hikers when we arrived before noon.  Chief and I had the ceremonial photo taken in front of the building and then took advantage of the cold soda and ice tea available for hikers.  Chief, Tiger Mike, Home Fry and I met up with Log, her dog Yoyo, and Old School, and then walked the short distance to the historical downtown for a celebratory meal.  We were surprised to see No Pants in town and he joined the group for lunch.  As Chief and I enjoyed a delicious hamburger and crab cake, Yoyo slept peacefully under our chairs.  Our time at lunch was enjoyable and relaxing as the group reminisced about our Appalachian Trail journey thus far and the many hikers we’d met over our first thousand trail miles.   When we returned to the Conservancy, we found fellow hiker, Juice, who had made his halfway point.  The afternoon was even more joyous when our daughter and granddaughter arrived to pick us up for a few days of rest and relaxation.

In a bittersweet turn, our time with these hiker-friends has ended as Chief and I will fall behind the others by taking four zero days to visit with our daughter’s family over the July 4th weekend.  We will return to Harpers Ferry on July 5 to hike NOBO (northbound) for ten more days.  We have decided to then flip-flop our Appalachian Trail hike so that we don’t get into bad weather in Maine in October and not be able to finish our hike.  We have purchased tickets to fly to Bangor, Maine the end of July and then hike SOBO (southbound) for the remainder of the trail.  We will still cover all 2,189 miles, just in two different directions.  In Maine, we will first summit Mount Katahdin and then hike SOBO until we get to the point where we stopped hiking NOBO.  Our chances of avoiding bad weather will be greatly increased, although the higher elevation mountains in New England can still have cold temperatures and snow even in summer.  We also have the added benefit of potentially passing NOBO hikers with whom we’ve lost contact.

As we write this post, Chief and I are enjoying a much needed rest and realizing we already need our third pair of hiking shoes.  This journey has been exhausting yet exhilarating, grueling yet rewarding.  Thanks go out to YOU – our family, friends, and followers for your support, encouragement and prayers.  God’s grace and your support keep us moving forward.  Please remember the “Hike for John” – the fundraising efforts for the Gurney family.

We can’t wait to see what the next 1,100 miles will bring.

Halfway On This Wild Ride, Chief and Toad

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For-bear-ance On The Trail

In a prior post, we shared about the nasty rattlesnake that spooked me as we hiked the Appalachian Trail. Well, Chief had his own encounter with a rattlesnake the other day.  Early in the day, we had found Walkie Talkie sitting on a rock at the bottom of a hill.  Walkie said she hadn’t felt well and was struggling to hike in the Virginia heat.  We encouraged her to get back up and told her we expected to see her at the top of the mountain.  A few minutes later, Walkie came up hiking behind us and successfully climbed that mountain. We shared a frozen Gatorade with her and she continued hiking with us.  Suddenly, we heard the sound of a rattlesnake and Chief stopped on the trail.  He didn’t see the snake at first until Walkie told him it was right beside his left foot.  One more step could have been Chief’s mistake.  We backed away as the rattlesnake seemed to guard the trail, moving toward us and coiling into a strike position.  The situation required patience as we waited on the snake to slither away.  Walkie had no problem with passing the snake, a move that I questioned and pondered how I would explain to her parents how we allowed such negligence had she gotten bit.  Nevertheless, the rattlesnake moved into the bushes enough for us to finally pass on the trail.

On Days 71 – 75, we had the privilege of hiking through the beautiful Shenandoah National Park.  With anticipation, we walked the A.T. that was nicely manicured and with shorter ascents than we had previously experienced.  For hikers, the Shenandoah is known for three things – bears, Skyline Drive, and waysides (restaurants).  During our 96-mile hike, the Appalachian Trail crossed the Skyline Drive 28 times.  We decided that our future hopefully will include a car trip on Skyline Drive since we have now experienced the stunning Shenandoah Valley views from high on top the mountains.  Hiking the Shenandoah has a definite benefit of several wayside restaurants or campground stores near the A. T.  Nearly every day in the park, we enjoyed a cold drink, sandwich, or ice cream.  For a hiker this is a real treat.  One question we are often asked about our A.T. adventure is if we have seen any bears.  We hadn’t. Since the Shenandoah is known for a large bear population, we were hopeful of seeing a bear from a safe distance.  On Day 74, we actually saw SIX black bears!  Early in the morning, Chief and I were hiking with a Massachusetts police officer, Tiger Mike, when I spotted a black bear about 15 yards to our right.  We then noticed two cute cubs in front of mama as they were running away.  We never felt threatened, and the bears went on their way – no harm, no fear.  That experience wasn’t mirrored the same evening when another hiker, Scout, called out that there was a bear on the trail.  Chief, Tiger Mike, and I were not far behind and when we caught up we saw two cubs climbing a tree right beside the trail.  Mama bear was at the foot of the tree pounding the ground and not letting anyone pass the trail.  For an hour we waited for the cubs to come down from the tree and for mama to “open” the trail.  It was getting dark and we still had a good two miles to the shelter.  Every time Chief and Tiger Mike walked up the trail, mama bear would make aggressive moves toward them.  No cop training had prepared either of them for this type of hostage situation.  They finally decided we would have to hike off-trail, way out around the bears in order to pass.  The bushwhacking proved challenging as we navigated thorny bushes, large rocks, and fallen trees, but we finally found the trail further north and safely made it to shelter at dusk.

On a side note, Scott Jurek is currently traversing the Appalachian Trail in an attempt to set a speed record of 42 days (Georgia to Maine).  Scott is covering an average of 50 miles per day in a supported hike.  You can follow Scott’s progress online. We unfortunately didn’t have the opportunity to meet Scott because he passed our trail point when we were off the trail one day, but we wish him the best in this endeavor.

We are excited to be close to completing the Appalachian Trail in Virginia.  Twenty-mile days have gotten us to mile 969 and we are closer to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia than anticipated.  Considered the spiritual halfway point, Harpers Ferry is at mile 1,023 and is very near on our horizon.  We then expect a short break over the July 4th weekend, celebrating our own independence from the trail – then back to hike July 5 with patience and forbearance.

Almost Halfway, Chief and Toad

 

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Cool Water

Welcome to our new friends from Oregon, Maryland, and the Virginia cycling club.  We continue to meet new folks as we hike the Appalachian Trail and share our story of the Hike For John.

In the last post, we shared about our weight loss and the food-calorie dilemma.  This post deals with a very important aspect of our hike – water.  Just to be clear, there are no spigots along the A.T.  Finding, obtaining, and purifying water is a priority every day on the trail.  Because water is heavy, hikers must choose how much water to carry, taking into consideration the temperature, mileage and elevations to be hiked.  A few hikers each year end up being treated for dehydration, something we want to avoid.

Finding water on the trail is a priority!  The A.T. Companion manual lists streams, springs and other water sources along the trail and the approximate mile marker.  We have also downloaded Guthooks trail app that shows exact locations and descriptions of water sources.  Some springs are piped which makes it easy for Chief to obtain water.  One hiker told me that I trained Chief well to always get the water.  But he is so good at it that I let him continue to excel at this task.  Some water sources have merely a trickle and Chief will use a leaf held by a rock to get a flow in order to fill the “dirty water” bag.  Once in the bag, the water is filtered through a Platypus system into a liter bottle.  That’s sufficient for most people to then drink, but since Chief is extra cautious  he uses a secondary ultraviolet SteriPEN to sterilize the filtered water.

Each day, we need enough purified drinking water for the Camelbak bladder in our backpacks.  There is a hose attached to the bladder so that we can drink water as we hike without having to stop (yea?).  Additional water is needed to heat for our freeze-dried dinner meals, clean dishes and brush teeth.  Because one liter of water weighs about 2.2 lbs., it is important not to carry more liquid than is needed until reaching the next water source.  Only ONCE did we run out of water about six miles short of a source.  It was a 90 degree day and tough terrain – a horrible lesson learned!

Recently, we felt like we were living large by adding a little flavor to some of our drinking water, such as cold brew tea, lemonade and Gatorade.  Chief needs some calories anyhow so it’s a good excuse to try a little variety! Besides, we have hiked 861 miles and that’s cause for celebration!

As we prepare for Day 70 to hike into the Shenandoah National Park, the water sources become less frequent.  We are now hiking 16-20 miles per day so proper hydration is critical.  That will require careful planning on our part – or Chief’s part – so he can continue to excel and we can be…

Well watered, Chief and Toad

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The Ultimate Weight Loss Program

You, too, can eat ALL you want and still lose up to 30 pounds!  That’s right!  This is the most effective weight loss opportunity ever!  Just one catch – you must be willing to walk 800 miles to benefit…

One interesting side effect of our Appalachian Trail hike has been significant body weight loss.  Chief has lost over 30 pounds and I am down fifteen pounds since our hike began two months ago.  Truth be told, we started with some fat reserves but the reserves have quickly fallen off and we are now challenged with getting enough nutrients and calories.  The average hiker can burn 4,000 to 6,000 calories per day by walking 15-20 miles and carrying a full backpack.  If the terrain is challenging with lots of ascents the calories burned can be even greater.

Since a lighter pack weight is important most hikers try to carry food that is high in protein and calories but isn’t too heavy with which to hike.  Having just enough, but not too much food is the balancing game we all play.  Our meals typically consist of a Clif protein bar for breakfast; tuna, cheese or peanut butter with crackers and an apple or dehydrated fruit for lunch; and a freeze-dried meal for dinner.  We also consume a Snickers candy bar in the afternoon to try to stave off tummy rumblings. The freeze-dried meals are lightweight and tasty and only need two cups of hot water added to prepare.  Our favorites so far are beef stew, sausage gravy and biscuits, and mashed potatoes with grilled chicken.  We have also discovered a way to get some fruit with a kick – blueberries covered with Dove dark chocolate is a new favorite snack.  Chief has started freezing a bottle of Gatorade when we are in town and taking it with us the first day back on the trail.  Anything cold on a humid June day is a real treat.  Even our water is usually lukewarm unless we are fortunate enough to find a cool mountain spring.

Going into town to eat at a restaurant or convenience store is a central focus to hikers. We spend our days walking and often thinking about food.  Keep in mind that the Appalachian Trail rarely passes through a town.  Getting into town requires finding a road then hitching a ride or successfully obtaining a shuttle to town and back to the trail.  Before a recent trip to visit our daughter, Chief and I text to her a list of foods we were craving.  That list included strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, steak, KFC, potato salad, Barq’s root beer, and ice cream.  She happily complied and filled our every food request!  Consuming as many calories as the stomach can hold is our main nutrition objective at this point.  We know that once we get back to the trail, those calories will be quickly burned.  Our secondary concern is that we don’t continue to eat in that manner once we are finished hiking ten hours per day!

On a side note, we continue to make our way NOBO (northbound) through the state of Virginia, which holds the most miles of any of the 14 A.T. states.  Virginia contains 550 miles of the A.T.’s total of 2,189 so it is taking us about five weeks to traverse this state.  We expect to be in West Virginia by July 2nd, and complete that state’s six miles in a mere three hours.

We have some new hiking friends to tell you about.  Log is thirty-something from Oklahoma and is working on a second (yes, SECOND) thru-hike with her dog, Yoyo.  Log and Yoyo completed a successful thru-hike of the A.T. in 2012.  Rocket and Timber are two young ladies from New York.  We pass each other on the trail usually once or twice each day.  Juice is an electrical engineer from Alabama that we have seen off and on for weeks.  He is ex-military and a strong hiker so he may be far ahead of us at this point.  We passed an older hiker this week who started the trail in February and is trying to hike 10-14 miles per day.  He isn’t fast but he is determined.  What we have learned is that every person needs to “hike your own hike” and that looks different for every individual.

So what we’ve experienced so far is that hiking the Appalachian Trail is grueling work, it’s rewarding, it builds strength, stamina, and perseverance, is an adventure, and it’s the ultimate weight loss program!

A Little Leaner But No Meaner,  Chief and Toad

 

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Rattlesnakes, Dragons and Snares! Oh My!

We are sharing two posts today so please read both this story and the post about Virginia’s History.

As a protective measure, Chief usually walks ahead of me while we hike the Appalachian Trail.  He says he watches for animals and any other trail danger, but on Day 56 Chief unknowingly walked right past a hazard.   It didn’t make a movement or a sound as I hiked merrily along with a carefree spirit.  When I approached, the rattling sound was unmistakable and I knew immediately it was an Eastern rattlesnake.  I froze in my tracks, heart pounding, and visually took a quick scan to the left side of the trail to see where the rattlesnake was located.  My fear was heightened when I saw the rattlesnake was positioned less than two feet from my left leg and its head was poised in a strike position.  In a split second the following thoughts went through my mind:  This isn’t good.  Chief hasn’t heard the snake.  He’s moving on.  How do I get his attention?  That snake is a big sucker.  3 feet or longer.  It’s darker colored and fatter than I expected a rattler to be.  The rattling sound is SO loud.  I could very likely get bit and die.  Lord, I need some help here…  I mentally jerked back and very slowly took one step to the right.  The rattlesnake didn’t move except for that loud tail.  I took a second step to the right, then a third.  I  then yelled to Chief that there was a rattlesnake.  He came running back up the trail telling me to keep moving slowly.  I made a wide circle and came in behind him on the trail.  He then saw the rattlesnake and exclaimed, “Wow that’s a big one!  I need to get a picture of that!”  Meanwhile I am on the verge of a mini stroke and trying to breathe again, only to watch Chief get closer to the rattlesnake I thought might kill me!  I can only say that I am grateful for all the prayers from family, friends and blog followers for our protection.

On Day 58, Chief and I hiked one of the most challenging areas on the Appalachian Trail.  Dragons Tooth is a particularly dangerous outcrop of rocks and boulders that required more rock climbing skills than we’ve had to use in hiking 695 miles to this point.  The high point resembles a dragon’s tooth and was named by Tom Campbell who was active during the 1930s-1950s on the A.T.  After receiving advance warning of this hiking challenge, we contacted 4 Pines Hostel about picking up our backpacks early that morning so that we could slackpack this section.  That decision turned out to be a lifesaver as we spent a portion of the day climbing up and down some very high and steep rock faces.  Doing so with a pack would have been nearly impossible for us.

There were other snares that we have experienced recently on the A.T.  Chief was hiking through one very rocky area of the trail when his trekking pole got stuck and snapped in half.  That action caused him to lose balance under the weight of a 40-pound backpack and he fell backwards onto the rocks.  No such luck that he would come down on his backpack, rather he hit his tailbone.  Having survived that incident, the next day we were hiking on the top of Bushy Mountain when the sky turned dark and it began to thunder and lightning.  We were traversing some steep rock faces and tried to get through before it rained.  The downpour came so quickly and forcefully and the wind was so strong that we put on our raincoats and hunkered down for fifteen minutes to keep from being blown down the rocky side.  Storms seem to be a reoccurring theme with us while on mountain summits!  This storm was thankfully short-lived and we continued hiking, dripping wet, but otherwise unscathed.

Although there are obvious dangers on the Appalachian Trail, God is always our protector and the source of our strength.  By His grace, we have hiked 725 miles in the past two months, which is about 1/3 of the A.T.’s total miles.  Our adventure has brought us all the way to Daleville, Virginia and we are taking a couple days off the trail to visit our daughter’s family in the northern part of the state.  We sincerely thank you for your continued encouragement and prayers!  On Saturday we continue hiking northbound in Virginia.  We remain…

Securely in God’s Grip, Chief and Toad