I just wanted to give a short update on where I am and what not. Currently I am in Hamburg, PA, 970 miles from Kathadin. We plan on being in Duncannon, the "halfway" point of the AT on Saturday morning. When I get there, I will have a much more detailed post of our recent adventures!
Tail End
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Greetings from NYC?
While I suppose this might come as a shock, it is true. In the middle of my journey through the foothills of Appalachia, I have ventured into one of the largest cities in the world, New York City! While I have only been in the city for a few hours now, I can say for sure that I am in a somewhat of sensory overload. I came from a place where I only need walk in a straight line, everyone smells bad, there are only a few people I see each day, in other words, a place drastically different from NYC. I did find one thing somewhat similar, however. Jessica and I went to the top of the Empire State Building, and the views up there reminded me much of the views from mountains such as Washington and Kathadin (if you take away all of the buildings and replace them with wilderness).
It has been nice taking a break from the routine of the trail. After getting rained on for the better part of the afternoon on Monday, we got picked up by Wolfman and Stoker (who had gone into the city earlier to surprise their families) and taken to Stoker's house. There, we got to watch Monday Night Football, and sleep on soft cushions, after a feast of pies (that's Jersey for pizza). It was heavenly. The best part came, however, on Tuesday, when I went to pick Jessica up from the airport! It was incredible to see her, and it is so nice to be spending time with her now, even though she sometimes has a hard time looking at me due to my new physique, as I look like a different person than the one she dropped off at the airport 2 months ago!
We came out of the woods about 6 miles from the New Jersey border, which is great news, because the state of New York is a pretty crappy state to hike through on the AT. The trail is generally in ill repair, with trash strewn about, loose rock everywhere, and pointless ups and downs (PUDs in trail talk) abound throughout the state. In other words, we can't wait to get into New Jersey, a state that several NOBOs we talked to claimed as their favorite. As we get into Jersey, the hills go from rolling, to non-existent, at least until Maryland or Virginia, so the next few hundred miles should fly by, as we typically average 20 miles a day now.
I forgot to mention that we took a little detour in Peekskill, NY, an impromptu 0 day! This past Saturday we were sitting at a gas station on a road that the AT crosses, when someone said "We should get a hotel room and watch football all day," half joking. Well the idea stuck, and that's just what we did! We laid in bed from 1 until the next morning, with the exception of a dinner break, watching football. It was wonderful.
Oh, I guess I didn't write much about Connecticut, but that's ok, because there wasn't much interesting to say about it.
Well, I hope this blog update finds you all well. Thanks again for all of the support, I love you all.
Tail End
It has been nice taking a break from the routine of the trail. After getting rained on for the better part of the afternoon on Monday, we got picked up by Wolfman and Stoker (who had gone into the city earlier to surprise their families) and taken to Stoker's house. There, we got to watch Monday Night Football, and sleep on soft cushions, after a feast of pies (that's Jersey for pizza). It was heavenly. The best part came, however, on Tuesday, when I went to pick Jessica up from the airport! It was incredible to see her, and it is so nice to be spending time with her now, even though she sometimes has a hard time looking at me due to my new physique, as I look like a different person than the one she dropped off at the airport 2 months ago!
We came out of the woods about 6 miles from the New Jersey border, which is great news, because the state of New York is a pretty crappy state to hike through on the AT. The trail is generally in ill repair, with trash strewn about, loose rock everywhere, and pointless ups and downs (PUDs in trail talk) abound throughout the state. In other words, we can't wait to get into New Jersey, a state that several NOBOs we talked to claimed as their favorite. As we get into Jersey, the hills go from rolling, to non-existent, at least until Maryland or Virginia, so the next few hundred miles should fly by, as we typically average 20 miles a day now.
I forgot to mention that we took a little detour in Peekskill, NY, an impromptu 0 day! This past Saturday we were sitting at a gas station on a road that the AT crosses, when someone said "We should get a hotel room and watch football all day," half joking. Well the idea stuck, and that's just what we did! We laid in bed from 1 until the next morning, with the exception of a dinner break, watching football. It was wonderful.
Oh, I guess I didn't write much about Connecticut, but that's ok, because there wasn't much interesting to say about it.
Well, I hope this blog update finds you all well. Thanks again for all of the support, I love you all.
Tail End
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Greetings from Salisbury, Connecticut
Well, we crossed into Connecticut this morning! Massachusetts was a relatively easy state, and certainly did not last too long for us. Connecticut is also not a long state, and we should be through here in 2-3 days. The miles continue to come easy, and the states are just dropping quickly.
A little bit of bad news... The Navy has broken up. Full Value and Plug are somewhere behind us, and have been for a few weeks now. Reset, Dread, and I are still hiking together, with the addition of a few new faces. With a melding of 2 groups, we are now hiking 6 deep. Wolfman and Stoker are frat brothers who just graduated from Penn State. Churchill is a trauma nurse from Camden, New Jersey, which means we are also now hiking with a medical professional (figured that would make Mom and Jessica happy). While I do miss our lost friends, we have had plenty of fun with the new group, and it is always reassuring to know that I've got someone to hike with, because camp is far more interesting with friends.
While short, Massachusetts was a great place. Two nights in a row, we managed to sleep somewhere with a bed (the thing I miss the most out here)! The first night we crashed in Dalton, Mass. at a place called the Bird Cage. This is actually the home of a man named Rob Bird, a retiree who has been taking care of hikers for 10 years now. He picked us up at the trail head with a cooler full of cold soda, took us to his house, and then did our laundry for us while we showered. That night, he drove us to an AYCE buffet, (which was GREAT)as well as the grocery store to resupply. His generosity was truly appreciated, and it was a pleasure to keep company with him. The next day we hiked 21 miles to a place called Upper Full Goose Cabin. While I had simply assumed that this was like any other shelter on the AT, I quickly found that it was not. It was an actual cabin, with a caretaker, on a lake. We got to swim in the lake after a long day, then we got to sleep in bunks that had mattresses on them. And to top it all off, the caretaker made free pancakes in the morning! The next day we played on a rope swing for hours before hiking, and it was a great and relaxing feeling.
More good news, I'll get to see my lovely fiance in 9 days! Because the Jersey Boys live near NYC, and Reset and myself have never been, they insisted that we take some time and go into the city. Jessica will be flying up, and I'll get to spend those days with her. I am very excited.
Well, that's about all of the news I have for now. Thanks for the support and I'll update you all the next chance I get.
Tail End
A little bit of bad news... The Navy has broken up. Full Value and Plug are somewhere behind us, and have been for a few weeks now. Reset, Dread, and I are still hiking together, with the addition of a few new faces. With a melding of 2 groups, we are now hiking 6 deep. Wolfman and Stoker are frat brothers who just graduated from Penn State. Churchill is a trauma nurse from Camden, New Jersey, which means we are also now hiking with a medical professional (figured that would make Mom and Jessica happy). While I do miss our lost friends, we have had plenty of fun with the new group, and it is always reassuring to know that I've got someone to hike with, because camp is far more interesting with friends.
While short, Massachusetts was a great place. Two nights in a row, we managed to sleep somewhere with a bed (the thing I miss the most out here)! The first night we crashed in Dalton, Mass. at a place called the Bird Cage. This is actually the home of a man named Rob Bird, a retiree who has been taking care of hikers for 10 years now. He picked us up at the trail head with a cooler full of cold soda, took us to his house, and then did our laundry for us while we showered. That night, he drove us to an AYCE buffet, (which was GREAT)as well as the grocery store to resupply. His generosity was truly appreciated, and it was a pleasure to keep company with him. The next day we hiked 21 miles to a place called Upper Full Goose Cabin. While I had simply assumed that this was like any other shelter on the AT, I quickly found that it was not. It was an actual cabin, with a caretaker, on a lake. We got to swim in the lake after a long day, then we got to sleep in bunks that had mattresses on them. And to top it all off, the caretaker made free pancakes in the morning! The next day we played on a rope swing for hours before hiking, and it was a great and relaxing feeling.
More good news, I'll get to see my lovely fiance in 9 days! Because the Jersey Boys live near NYC, and Reset and myself have never been, they insisted that we take some time and go into the city. Jessica will be flying up, and I'll get to spend those days with her. I am very excited.
Well, that's about all of the news I have for now. Thanks for the support and I'll update you all the next chance I get.
Tail End
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