We took our time through the 100 mile wilderness swimming in lakes and waterfalls, taking in the views of Katahdin, picking blueberries, and reflecting on the journey with fellow northbounders. The terrain was relatively kind with many beautiful stretches along rivers, bogs, and large glacial lakes. With so many water features, we feared the bugs would be horrendous, but they finally abated in the late summer. In the middle of the wilderness, we took a side trip to Whitehouse Landing, a hostel/restaurant oasis with our fellow NOBOs. We walked off the trail about a mile along a lake, sounded an airhorn, and a guy came across the lake in a boat to pick us up. Our companions were compelled by the one pound cheeseburger, we got a pizza and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. This guy has a good schick, and is certainly a shrewd businessman.
Finally we reached the goal we had been seeking....Katahdin "the greatest mountain" For so long the mountain has been an abstraction, but we were awestruck when we got an unobstructed view from Rainbow Ledges after a wicked electrical thunderstorm. At 5,267 ft it is not the tallest mountain on the trail, but certainly the most dramatic. It is jagged and stands alone with over 4,000 feet of elevation change. The climb was the most challenging of the trail requiring us to use our hands and scramble over huge boulders. We have seen so many pictures of victorious thru-hikers standing behind the sign at the peak. We wanted that. It was a great moment to see and touch the sign ourselves. We held hands for the last few steps, radiated joy, and shed a few tears. If we could do this togather, I am confident we can make a life togather. After basking in our moment over a beer, I proposed to Maribeth. Thats right, Dirty Blonde and Backbend are engaged!
Best day of my life,
Jared
Greetings from Monson, ME. We are near the end of this long road. Only 114 miles to hike through the 100 mile wilderness, Baxter State Park, and the Big K. The next time you hear from us, we will have completed our odyssey!
The rain and inclement weather did not stop after we left the White Mountains, neither did the challenging terrain. We expected the terrain to ease after Andover, ME but much to our chagrin we were still scrambling up rungs on the side of steep slabs and crawling down rock slides for the next 100 miles. We learned once again not to underestimate these mountains even if they are under 5000 feet in elevation. Finally the rain broke after 17 days straight days of spotty showers just in time to summit Saddleback Mountain. Above treeline, we got some amazing views of the burly ME landscape and what was to come. We have forded rivers, huff up steep mountains, battled the bugs, and trudged through mudpuddles all the way through ME. The constant harrassment by deerflys, blackflies and mosquitos drives us nearly to insanity by the end of the day (Maribeth has deemed our tent "the zone of peace"). Yet we perservere through these challenges and the accomplishment of completing the trail will be even more bitterweet. Many of our fellow Northbounders have gathered in Monson. We will surely be summitting with some of these comrades.
We will send some reflections on the trip as we finish next week,
Jared
Whew! We made it into Andover, ME last night. The past 150 miles have been tough...changing our perspective on the AT.
New Hampshire
We crossed the Connecticut River between VT and NH. Brother Pat lies (almost) due south on the river, so I smiled and waved hello as we crossed. The main goal was to meet Jared's family the following day, at the Lyme-Dorchester Road. You probably read the last post, so you all know that we met up and had a wonderful time. It was really hard to see them go. Watching movies, eating home-cooked meals, listening to music, and laughing and talking with family...we realized just how much we miss these things on the trail. But the visit had to come to an end, and they drove back to Boston to catch their flight back to MI. Jared and I continued hiking.
Kyle (J's brother) got a taste of the White Mountains when we climbed Mount Moosalauki on his last day out with us. The descent off this mountain into Kinsmen Notch is pretty legendary, even in AT circles...but the added elements of lightening bolts and rain made things all the more difficult. And then the difficult terrain (and rain) just didn't stop! Kyle departed with the rest of the family at Kinsmen Notch, and Jared and I were supposed to hike 7 miles further to the Eliza Brook shelter, but we were so tired that we stealth camped in the rain beside the trail. The next day we climbed the Kinsmens and got one of just a few views of the White Mtns. We looked over and saw the Franconia Ridge, the next day's big challenge, and reportedly the most beautiful section of the entire trail. The climb up the Kinsmens was brutal (hand over hand climbing, with wet slab rock), but the view on top was breathtaking: jagged waves of blue peaks fading into the distance, 360 degrees around us, with swirling clouds. I thought to myself, "Wow, so this is what the Whites will be like. This will be AWESOME."
The following day we climbed over the Franconia Ridge, a beautiful string of exposed (above treeline) mountains, with steep flumes on either side. It should've been an amazing day, but in many ways was one of the worst, most difficult of the entire trail. It should be said now that the White Mountains are also famous for having the worst weather in the country (perhaps the world, but I don't know if I buy that claim)...and the mountains definately started living up to their reputation. We awoke in the pouring rain, and as we climbed higher, turned into freezing rain. Luckily, we got our winter gear back in preparation for such a situation. We were freezing, soaked to the bone, and didn't see a single view on the AT's most beautiful section...and to climb so hard, for no visual reward was, well...heartbreaking. The rain made the steep descents painfully slow. And by now, my pants are so baggy that I kept tripping over the pant legs and into the rocks, the ground, and the trees...leaving me bruised and frustrated. We finally made it the 12+ (that's just 1 mile an hour!) miles to the Galehead Hut, one of the few huts run by the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club). The AMC hut system is loathed by some, because they charge the ambitious price of $90 a night (for just a simple bunkroom without heat), and is the only source of shelter for part of the Whites. What is a poor thru-hiker to do? Well, they compromise with us, by letting us do "work-for-stay". This option allows us to stay in the hut, safe and sound, and get fed really well...for perhaps an hour's worth of work. The huts can only accomodate 2-3 "work for stay" hikers, so the thru-hikers seem to jockey for position at the huts. I'm sure it's more of an issue during peak hiker season, but we're still pretty early in the game...so getting work-for-stay wasn't a problem. So we were able to dry off, get warm, and get fed...on the day we needed it the most.
A couple of days later we were getting ready to tackle another major feature of the Whites: the Presidential Range. This is the most exposed part of the trail, where the AT is above treeline for 12-14 miles. Our intention was to make it to the Lakes of the Clouds hut that night, but we had to hunker down because some bad thunderstorms blew in. We made it about halfway to our desired hut, but turned around and ran back to the Mizpah hut...making only 7 miles of progress that day. The next day we climbed Mt. Washington, the most famous mountain in the region! The weather compromised with us...no thunderstorms, but no views either. But it was all good, I came to enjoy the feeling of the swirling mist around us. We relaxed at the visitor's center for a half hour...made a phone call, wrote some postcards...but the rangers were talking of more thunderstorms to come, so we moved out of there pretty quickly. We continued the Presidential traverse without incident, making it to the Madison hut for the night.
The next day we climbed over Mt. Madison in a mini-hurricane, pummled by wind...and progressed .7 miles in one hour. But as we started descending toward Pinkham notch, suddenly the clouds lifted and revealed blue sky/sun, and the glory of the Presidentials. We sat down and had a granola bar up there, just taking in the view. I could've stayed up there forever..."so THAT's what we were hiking on??"...it was so beautiful, probably one of my most memorable moments of the trail.
And so the Whites continued...down into Pinkham Notch, up into the Wildcats, over the Carters, over Mt. Moriah, and down into the NH town of Gorham. We showered, ate, and rested...picked up a gourmet food package that our trail friends Christy and Ken sent to us, and continued on our way to Maine.
Maine
We crossed the NH-ME border on the second day out of Gorham! What a wonderful moment, our last state! The sign reads "Welcome to Maine, the way life should be". The trail in southern Maine, going through the Mahoosucs, is also famously difficult. The popular debate lately seems to be, "which did you find harder, the Whites or the Mahoosucs?" I still think the Whites kicked our asses a little more, just because of the weather...but the Mahoosucs are a force to be reckoned with also. The climbs are slow and steep, and you have to be really careful with your footing, especially in the rain. We went through the Mahoosuc Notch a couple of days ago, which has the reputation of being the hardest mile on the AT. It wasn't so bad though, just slow going...it was a mile of climbing over boulders, under boulders, around boulders, hopping to and from boulders...for about 2 hours. It's very cold down there too, like walking into a refrigerator, so you can find patches of snow undernieth the rocks. We saw a dead moose down there also. I guess the moose wandered into the rocks, broke its leg, and struggled for a few days before a local put it out of its misery.
So here we are in Andover! We estimate only 2.5 more weeks to go. It's pretty crazy to think that we're [probably] going to make it! We can count the number of days remaining on our fingers and toes. I think both Jared and I have some mixed feelings about this adventure coming to an end.
Hello from Lincoln, NH.
My parents and brother Kyle are visiting us for three days. We are living in the lap of luxury. We have been slackpacking (hiking without full packs) for the past few days with my brother. Yesterday, we finished our day of hiking early (despite spending an hour skipping rocks) and my Dad was waiting at the trail crossing. We drove back to our sweet hotel room on Loon Mountain and my Mom had whipped up a batch of strawberry salsa and pesto pasta just in time for our homecoming. Cold beer was in the fridge and a hot tub awaited us after our meal. Tomorrow we are climbing Mount Moosilaukie (~4800) will be above treeline for the first time on the trip. We are entering the White Mountains of New Hampshire famous for fickle weather and rugged granite mountains. Sadly, my family will be departing, but we are well fed and loved. Our batteries are charged for the adventure to come. Only 400 more miles and less than a month until we complete the long walk to Mt. Katahdin, Maine.
Peace and love,
Jared
Ok, I'm on a really crabby library computer, and every long post I try to write won't post! I'll try to write a really short message. We're in Rutland, VT (staying with the 12 Tribes "hippy-Christian" commune...but more on that...), and doing well! My feet were really hurting until mid-Mass, but new insoles seem to do the trick. The mountains are getting higher and higher...and we are mere DAYs away from stepping into the two hardest and most beautiful states: New Hampshire and Maine! I'm really looking forward to the spectacular scenery ahead, but a little intimidated as well. We are coordinating with Jared's family so they can meet up with us before we head into the White Mtns.
much love, maribeth (dirty blonde)
We have finally arrived in New England and some people have expressed interest in meeting us on the trail. We will be in Massachusetts in about two days (Saturday June 16th). I know its short notice, but there are busses between trail towns in the Berkshires if you need to get back to your car. We should be in the White Mountains in 10-14 days (the end of June/beginning of July). E-mail me at jaredwestbrook@yahoo.com if you are interested.
Our story through NJ and NY involves losing stuff, getting lost, and many side adventures to find food.
I have had a bad spell lately with leaving precious pieces of gear behind at places. In Pennsylvania, I left my Thru-Hikers Guide at a restaurant. Without this guide we are essentially blind because it lists all of the shelters, water sources, and resupply points. So we made due borrowing info from other hikers and eventually copying pages. Our gear woes compounded when I left the pot/stove at a hostel in the Delaware Water Gap. Because we did not have our guidebook, we did not have the number of the church where we left it, and we were hungry after a full day of hiking. Luckily, we were near YMCA camp Ken-Etiwa-Pec in NJ and the director (Chris) was uber-helpful and friendly. Chris fed us, allowed to use his computer/phone to stage the stove recovery operation, and rounded up the materials to fabricate a new stove/pot should we be unsuccessful in finding the stov
e. We called the church and arranged for someone to deliver the lost goods to us, but much to our chagrin the stove was gone! Could someone had stolen the stove? We had faith in the thru-hiker community so Maribeth decided to post a sign along the trail alerting any passing hikers that may know of the wherabouts of our stove to please walk down the nearby camp. We hung around the camp the next day weeding the property and fashioning a new alcohol stove out of a pop can and a pot out of a large tin can. We rejoiced later when thru-hiker "Retro" and crew showed up at the camp toting our stove. We celebrated over dinner and hung out in the director's cabin watching episodes of Reno 911. Needless to say I was in the shithouse. I vow to check and recheck all places before we depart so we do not lose anything else. As for our thru-hikers guide book, I called the owner of this restaurant in PA arranged for him to send us the book in Fort Montgomery, NY. We reunited with Wingfoot (the author and "god of the AT") at last!
As for the getting lost part, the trail is often poorly marked with many "trick" side trails leading to nowhere so we constantly found ourselves getting off trail through NJ/NY. The worst instance of getting lost occured when we purposely took a side trail down a ridge at the NJ/NY border to get a shower from a local "trail angel." There were directions to this angel's place on a register attached to a tree telling us to walk down the ridge on the stateline trail for about 1/2 hour to reach his house for a free hot shower and possibly a cooked meal if he was home. It was a humid 90 degree day and we were smelling pretty bad, so we decided to take the plunge. The trail was rocky, steep trail and it took longer than 1/2 hour to reach his place. We were having second thoughts on the way down, but we had already commited much time and effort. We reached his house around dusk and found that he was not home. We took our shower, handwashed clothes, and cooked dinner. By this time it was dark and he wasn't home yet, so we decided to stealth camp in his backyard behind the wood pile. We vowed to wake up early in the morning and escape without him knowing. Sure, if we were discovered he would probably have been alright with us camping in his backyard, but we knew from his message on the tree that he was an evangelical Christian and we weren't in the mood to be "saved." Around midnight a storm rolled in and lightning bolts were lighting up the sky. We thought that it was fortuitous that we were not camped up on the ridge. Our clothes were hanging up to dry outside and I went to fetch them before it started raining. As I was outside in my underwear, the guy pulled into his driveway and his headlights shined on me. Luckily he did not see me, but it scared us a little. We woke up early and quietly took down camp. The last step was to fill our water bottles from his shower. The noise of the water running woke him up and we were caught. He came out and greeted us at 6:30 in the morning. I do not think he knew that we camped there that night, but he was friendly and wanted to engage us in conversation. It turns out he had helped out a wanted criminal and thief in the guise of a thru-hiker in the previous year. A guy was fleeing Rhode Island on child molestation charges and was seeking redemption through Christianity and the trail. He stopped in at this guys place and he put him up for a few days (without knowledges of the criminal's checkered past). The criminal could not escape his past and went on to steal gear, food, and two cars while hiking the trail. The criminal kept in contact with the trail angel and ultimately this led to his arrest because the trail angel turned him in. The story was featured in Backpacker Magazine in the April 2007 issue. The trail angel had just recieved correspondence with the criminal and offered to let us read his letter. We declined, thinking it an invasion of privacy. The angel defended the criminal as a saved man and it turns out that the angel was also friends with David Berkowitz "Son of Sam" serial killer. He also defended Berkowitz as a saved Christian and offered us David's Jesus pamplet. He said Berkowitz probably killed only three people, not the six that he was charged with. We smiled, accepted the pamplet and realized it was time to leave. So we trudged back up the ridge, got turned around, walked back down the ridge and realized when we were nearly back at this guy's place. It took us two hours to get back to the trail. On the way back up we thought of cheesy metaphors to describe our horrific experience such as "we were lost, but now we are found."
Finally, we have taken many side trips off the trail to get food. Notably, we stopped at two places that offered homemade ice cream only a stone's throw from the trail. We met a couple in Maryland (they were section hiking) that offered to bring us food when we arrived in Connecticut. We took down their info, and reuniting with our guidebook allowed us to cash in on the offer. We hiked 50 miles in two days to make it to CT in time for them to meet us at the trailhead. They fed us quinoa salad and brought us back to their place for laundry/shower/beer and here we are again in the hands of kind people.
2/3rds done. New England here we come!
Jared (Backbend)
Hi everyone! It's Jared and Maribeth reporting in from Duncannon, PA. We've hit quite a few milestones this week: passing the 1,000 mile mark, conquering the never-ending state of Virginia, Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, Maryland, crossing the Mason-Dixon line (we're out of the South!), making the official AT halfway point, and passing the 1,100 mile mark. But let's back up a little bit....
leaving Virginia and entering Harper's Ferry, WV
After posting at the Bear's Den hostel, we hiked the following day (in a cold, pouring rain) to Harper's Ferry, WV. Like we mentioned before, it is considered the psychological halfway point for most hikers. The town is home of the ATC, or Appalachian Trail Conservancy. All thru-hikers check in at the ATC headquarters and get their picture taken (pic at left), and are recorded as "having made it this far". It's a great feeling. The town of Harper's Ferry is also very cool in and of itself. It is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, which made it a hotly contested prize during the civil war. I really wish we could've spent more time here to appreciate the history a little more.
We arrived at around 7pm, cold, wet and hungry. We had heard that a new hiker hostel had opened up right near the outfitter, but were dismayed to find it still under construction. The owner of the place, Karen, saw us milling around outside and took some pity on us. She allowed us to stay in one of the upstairs bunkrooms as long as we assured her over and over again that we wouldn't sue her for stepping on nails, or tripping over the lumber. Things worked out amazingly the next day also...a former thru-hiker, Bonzo, was hired to paint the hostel-to-be. He invited us back to his home, where we got a good night's rest, a shower, and did some laundry. Another wonderful random act of kindness on the AT.
Maryland
The next day we said goodbye to Bonzo and crossed the border into Maryland. The terrain is a lot milder than what we encountered in the previous states, as we are now in the "mid-Atlantic lowlands". The AT in Maryland takes you through several state parks, centered around the area's Civil War history. I'll admit that I've forgotton all of my 7th grade Civil War education, but we couldn't help but feel solemn and awestruck to walk across the old battlegrounds. I shutter to think what the scene looked like in the early 1860s. MD is a pretty short state in the scheme of things...only ~40 miles of trail cross through the state. In fact, some hikers attempt the "4 state challenge", touching down in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania all in one day (40+ miles). We're not those kind of hikers though, preferring to stop and smell the roses a little more. The border between Maryland and Pennsylvania marks the historic "Mason-Dixon" line. We smiled when we stepped over into more familiar territory.
Pennsylvania
Which brings us to our current challenge...making it through Pennsylvania. After only five minutes of being in the state, we ran into some locals dumping some trash near the trail, then seeing us, they hopped into their truck and roared off. Not a great first impression of the state. But my opinion of the state has warmed a bit after walking through the trail town of Boiling Springs, the Cumberland River valley, and now Duncannon. We also passed the "official" marker for the halfway point, just north of Pine Grove Furnace state park. The actual halfway point changes from year to year due to reroutes and trail additions (the AT is longer than ever before, now at 2,176 miles)...but we stopped to take pictures next to the outdated marker anyway. Pine Grove Furnace state park is home of the "half gallon challenge", encouraging the thru-hikers to eat a half gallon of ice cream as fast as possible. Bonzo warned us "if you do the challenge, take some extra toilet paper with you." So we decided not to participate.
PA is probably the most disliked by all thru-hikers. It doesn't have a difficult elevation profile or anything, but its notorious rocks make walking pretty trecherous. We haven't hit the bad stuff yet, but give us another week and I'm sure we'll be bitching about PA just like everybody else.
Tonight we're staying at The Doyle, a well-known hostel created by Anheuser-Busch. Cold beer on a hot day, in the company of good people...one of life's greatest pleasures. We'll probably write again from Port Clinton, PA.
much love,
Dirty Blonde (you know who)
Hi Everyone,
As of 5/17/07 we are at Bears Den Hostel ("a little castle in the woods") at mile marker 988.9. Mb and I mowed the grass at the place and we got the hiker special which includes bed, shower, laundry, pizza, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's free of charge. I am pleasantly full as I write this. Tomorrow is a milestone day. We will cross the 1000 mile mark, finish Virginia (the longest state on the trail @ 550 miles), and make in Harper's Ferry the psychological halfway point of the trail (the real halfway point is at mile 1087 at Pine Grove Funace State Park in Pennsylvania). Today we walked the infamous "roller coaster", relentlessly climbing up and down small ridges on rocky trail. We were getting soft after leaving Shenandoah National Park, where the terrain was a "magic carpet ride" along a semi-flat ridges and we could buy milkshakes and beer along the trail at one of the many waysides. Overall Shenandoah was a mediocre park. The views were hazy, we crossed Skyline drive once every two miles, and the forest was ravaged by a recent icestorm. Shenandoah is geared more for the automobile than the hiker. That said, we were easily able to walk more than 20 miles a day. After leaving the Shenadoah we treated ourselves to a desert and a drink in Front Royal, VA.
Whoever said "Virginia is flat" or "it's all downhill" was lying. Before entering Shenandoah we had 5 days worth of 2500+ ft climbs and descents, culminating in Priest/Three Ridges wilderness. On this day we did a two 800 ft climbs in the morning descended 3000 feet off of the Priest and then went right back up 3000 ft up the craggy Three Ridges Mountain. It was definately worth the extra effort at the end of the day to walk the 2.5 miles off the trail down the to Rusty's Hardtime Hollow, a legendary AT hostel. Rusty's is a shrine to the AT. He takes your picture on his polaroid camera and staples it to the ceiling with all of the the other thru-hikers from the past 20 years. There are signs all over his property laying down the rules and espousing his views on the AT. My favorite sign was "Please no water battles in the kitchen because of the lights." Rusty has a fun spirit. He challeged us to hit empty soda cans past a target for free ice cream and then dumped out the cans on the driveway and ran them over with his tractor with Creedence blaring in the background. He droves us back to the trailhead in a souped up pickup truck, and we were smiling for the whole day after.
We are sad to be missing Trail Days in Damascus, VA. We are sorry we missed many of our fellow thru-hikers who are hitching a ride south to attend. We decided not to go because we are just getting up to our desired average milage of 14.1 mpd to finish the trail in five months and we did not want to be pressured to hike really hard to make up the four days we would have taken off. So we plod forward into W. Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, the land of rocks. We've walked far but we're not even halfway there yet. So much more to see.
Onward!
Backbend
Hello all,
Mileage: ~770
We're taking a little pit stop in Glasgow, VA for the night to shower and give the ol' feet a rest. Our last entry from Pearisberg seems like forever ago. The weather has been wacky lately: we left Pearisberg in the rain, which gave way to a blistering heat wave, followed by a sudden cold snap (yesterday) with more rain. We had to pay careful attention as to where our water sources were during this heat wave....some were over 10 miles apart from one another!
We've been hiking with a great group of people for the past 1.5 weeks (Snackbreak, Iceman Dan, and Mo' lassis). Hopefully we can stick with this crew until Wayesboro, 5 days from now. The past week has given us some of the most memorable sights in all of VA: Dragon's Tooth, McAffee's Knob, and Tinker Cliffs...all with excellent views of the valley below. McAffee's Knob was especially cool because we planned on arriving there just before sunset. Jared hiked in a bottle of wine just for the occasion. We spent the night watching a spectacular sunset over the cliffs, laughing with new friends...and just to the northeast, we saw the city lights of Roanoke glowing. It was one of my favorite nights so far.
My feet started bothering me again last night, especially on the downhill. I'm going to try doing the same thing I did last time...hopefully that will help.
much love,
maribeth, dirty blonde
