We are back on the trail…!? What a welcome back it has been. It is amazing how quickly you get out of trail shape. My legs grew tired as well as my back and shoulders much more quickly, almost like I was starting all over again. Our trip was (as always) filled with interesting moments. From a wardrobe malfunction on the airplane to a packed out greyhound with a broken A/C, yet we still arrived back to the trail in one piece and in high spirits. We spent the night in the infamous Doyle Hotel, which is a must stay for AT thru-hikers. From the stories we heard we expected the building to be in much worse condition…it was for all intensive purposes, in pretty good shape. It was a cool old building (103 years old). After a nice night we got back to hiking, and despite the rumors we heard while gone, the rocks in PA were still right in the middle of the trail, in all of their jagged glory. So in conjunction with the rocks, the arrival of gnats and our bodies getting back into shape our return to the trail has been everything we dreamed…and more. Our first night on the trail we met another hiker! Stilts was his name, he started the same day as we did! Yet it took exactly 3 months for us to meet each other. We got to hike with him for a week, and only a week. He stopped here in Harper’s Ferry and will finish the rest of the trail next summer (he didn’t decided to stop, this was his plan). He was a fun guy. I’m a little too emotional to talk about it right now though, he just got picked up….
Quick points:
- We have hiked half way!!!!!!!!! Yeah that’s right, as of a few days ago we crossed over the half-way point (1,088 miles). There was no marker to signify this monumental moment, but we did take pictures at the old half-way point (it used to be at 1,069 miles).
- Half-gallon Challenge. It is a tradition amongst thru hikers to eat a half gallon of ice cream at Pine Grove Furnace state park, which is 2 miles from half-way. It was no easy accomplishment. It took me 33 minutes and forty seconds to consume my half gallon of Hershey’s chocolate ice cream! It was delicious. Clemson (Walt) took his sweet time and finished in just over an hour. Stilts wasn’t able to partake in the challenge due to a pre-existing medical condition (he is lactose intolerant)
- A hurricane! We experience our first hurricane while on the trail. I don’t mean to scare anyone, there was no wind or anything from the storm, we just get all the rain from the storm. To avoid hiking in the rain all day, we sat in a shelter all day long and watched it rain. We did hike though; we just didn’t start hiking until 5:30 pm, and hiked till about midnight. Night hiking is a nice change, much cooler. It is also a little scary at times.
- The Maryland Challenge. This challenge is very similar to the 4 state challenge. The 4 state challenge is 2 miles longer and carries you into VA, which would be the 4th state in one day. We stopped in Harper’s Ferry for it is a famed stopping point for hikers. Home of the ATC. So we started hiking in PA at 7:30P.M., say a beautiful sunset from Pen Mar state park. Hiked until 3:30AM, took a 3 hour nap, woke up and finished our 42 mile trek in a total of 23 hours. We were beat. I hiked in my Crocs due to the new boot blues.
And that is all that has gone down in the first week back. I am on a 45 minute time limit and have someone breathing over my shoulder hoping I will get off early. I wish I could have given the last week more justice. Until the next time,
Matt Davis
Sweet Tea SoBo ‘08
It is nice to start typing and not have the clock ticking down! Well we are presently still in New York, but we are actually hiking in New Jersey now! The trail has been a great trial the last few weeks. It has been humid out here, spending the whole day in our sweat drenched clothes has began to take a toll on our bodies. We have both been fighting chaffing. It is a nasty terrible thing that is very difficult to combat when everyday we just put ourselves back into the situation that causes it. Really it is a gift though. We have slowed down a bit because of this very personal problem and are enjoying the hike a little more. New York was a pretty good state. We actually took a train from the trail into New York City! We walked through Harlem to stay with a friend, at night! It was pretty neat to see city life. The next day we just couldn’t muster our bodies to walk all over the city to see all the sites. We went to ground zero, then to Battery Park. After sitting down and enjoying the view of the Statue of Liberty and the comfort of sitting in the shade we decided to hit Times Square. I don’t know if it was that Times Square was just too much civilization or if it was the noise or just the fact that we just wanted to relax; but it was while in Times Square that we decided to go watch a movie instead of seeing all that the city had to offer. After the movie we went to Central Park and we just spend a few hours sitting and enjoying the trees and whatnot. Which is kinda funny, as we have spent the last two months in the trees I don’t think I have enjoyed the trees as much as I did while sitting in Central Park. Scarcity makes you enjoy things that much more I guess. After a lovely dinner with a family friend of Walt’s we took the train out of the city and hiked into the wee hours of the morning. During this late night hike we passed the largest oak tree on the trail. It was HUGE! Over 20’ in diameter. Water has been pretty scarce, but there have been plenty of nice people in New York, it seems like every other road someone leaves gallons of water for us hikers to have. To streamline the rest of this blog posting I am going to use a few bullets, you know spice things up a little big.
- We ordered a pizza and had it delivered to the shelter one night. That same shelter has a padded seat in the privy. Oh the life of luxury!
- We took a zero. In Tuxedo, NY we spent the day with a some trail angels. John and Susan. They took us in, fed us, got us medicine for our chaffing, and put us to work! The best zero we have had so far!
-We are spending the night with the mayor! The newspaper came to interview him and some of the hikers tonight, we got quoted, got our pictures taken and then we had a great conversation with the mayor. It is great when God gives you moments of encouragement! He says he gets more from the hikers than he gives us…I may disagree. The feeling of being at home is priceless I have discovered.
Sorry for the seriousness of this blog. The conversation with the mayor and a few other hikers got very philosophical. The trail has been tough on us of late, but the last few days we have caught a new wind. Perhaps it is that we now only have 2 weeks until we come home for a short break. I hope it is that we have passed that moment of decision and are now in what one of the north bounders referred to as “peace with the world” stage. The stages being “In pain” “hiking machine” “tired, ready to get this thing over with” and “this is almost over, I need to enjoy it. At peace with the world” I am hoping that we are entering the last stage early. It is good to hear from all yall back at home. I have heard that it is really hot back there in GA, I am glad I don’t have to hike down there right now! I don’t think we are going to hit our Harpers Ferry goal that we set. But we are listening to our bodies and stopping to visit the Deli’s and ice cream shops that New York and New Jersey are offering. You know life is good when you eat a peach, a pound of grapes, 10 donuts, 2 cups of coffee and a milkshake in a two hour time period; hike a few miles and find that you weigh less than you did last week. I am down 15lbs still. Well it is dinner time now got to go
(Matt)
843.1 miles done, 1333.1 to go
I am sorry about the interrupted post the other day. I am going to start over. After leaving Hanover, we immediately entered the state of Vermont. We stopped and had a new state celebration, which has become one of my favorite trail traditions! (The celebration is just a couple of pictures and usually a high five). Once we finished the celebration we continued the hike, but within 15 minutes we passed up a town fair. Which we could not pass up, it just wouldn’t be American to skip a town fair. So after the hour-long fair distraction we began hiking again, as the sun was going down. Due to the fair distraction we missed where the trail turned, so we had to ask directions to get back to the trail. As we continued along the trail, the evening was setting in more and more. Luckily we found some trail magic! The trail magic being a cooler of watermelon, with a note that told us to enjoy the watermelon, and that we could inquire at the house about a place to stay. We (Clemson, Turtle and myself) asked and were granted a lovely place to stay. The family we stayed with was very nice. Their son was also there and he hike the trail last year, so we spent the evening learning from his experience, we also watched the fireworks from the fair! We didn’t leave their house until after 11 the next morning. They were just too welcoming! In our state of contentment, we decided to only hike 3 more miles for that day. So in two days we had only made it less than 5 miles into the state of Vermont. But our laggard pace was quickly replaced with an onslaught of high mileage days. The next day we hiked over twenty miles! We stopped and ate at a deli that the trail went right by! I also stopped at a farm that sold ice cream and explored the barn and hung out with some of the barnyard animals. It was refreshing to spend a few minutes on a farm again. I caught up to Clemson right before 6, and we hiked a mile into another town in order to get a deli sandwich to pack out for dinner at the shelter. The deli sandwich in the woods was a delicious treat! At the end of the day I think we had hiked 24 miles! After a day like that you would think we would take an easy day…but not us! We pressed on another 20 miles. Well we actually cut the last 4 miles of the day, and caught a ride into town. Pretty cool story here. We heard tell of a public swimming pool half a mile from the trail, so Clemson and I hike to the pool. We swam for about an hour and ended up getting a ride to where we had planned to stop for the day. We then caught another hitch into the town of Rutland from a very interesting person. A girl that was from the Atlanta area! She was following the Indigo girls around and going to their concerts. I sat in the back of the car holding her guitar and cuddling with her dog. One of my favorite hitches so far. In the town of Rutland, VT we stayed with a religious group that is part of the 12 Tribes. For the next three nights we swept and mopped to earn our nights stay and food! We slack packed 50 miles in two days. Got hooked on Matte, a wonderful energizing herb from South America. VT has been hard to get rides to and from the trail. We got down a little bit trying to get back on the trail from Manchester Center, so we stopped at Ben and Jerries to raise our moral. There we talked to several people about our trip and a nice couple gave us a lift to the trail. It felt good to finally get a ride. I gave them some UGA mints as a token of my appreciation.
We are now in Bennington, VT. The last few days have been big mile days as well, but VERY boring! We hike all day, in a tunnel of trees. It is nice to be away from things but it does get old, we get no views. No excitement, just an endless green tunnel…step after step.
The people: I will only tell you of one person on this update. He was the most interesting, entertaining person of the trip thus far. His trail name is a little graphic but I will censor somewhat. Mr. F-ing Gentle Spirit. What a guy! He verbally assaulted me when I came into camp, playing music on my phone. Saying the he had come to the woods to get away from technology! He ranted for several minutes, then he spilled the beans. Clemson had put him up to it. He is actually carrying a computer and tries to blog every night. He was also carrying a guitar, and a harmonica! Turns out he is a professional jazz musician. Ohh he told many stories of his life, which was very colorful and I can’t really go into all here online. But when you see me, ask about Mr. F-ing Gentle Spirit. We stayed up till midnight enjoying his antics.
I apologize if this entry is lacking the normal drama. Once again I am on a 30 minute time limit L I am not good at writing on a time line so I am sorry to the masses. Speaking of Mass, We will be in MA tomorrow. In 29 days we are planning on being in Harpers Ferry, WV. We must average 20.3 miles a day to make it there. Pray that our bodies stay healthy, our packs light and our spirits high during this last month push before our big break! We miss everyone back home; we look forward to being back someday. Hopefully we will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel shortly.
P.S. I enjoyed some sweet tea at a McDonalds in Manchester Center, VT. It was a dream! 8:35 AM GMT | Read comments(0)July 18A whole new state
Well we are now in Vermont, and what a state she is! It is great, the first two days into the state we made less than 5 miles…total. We left out of Hanover, crossed the state line into Vermont. You know the usual. Not a mile into the state we walk right next to a town fair. So naturally we had to stop, walk around and eat a little ice cream. That caused us to lose valuable amounts of daylight. So as we continued hiking, just as the sun was beginning to go down, as we were about to get back in the woods we found some trail magic! A cooler full of watermelon, ….I am getting kicked off the computer. I will finish this story later.
Sweet Tea, SoBo ‘08
We only had 30 minutes on the computer, and I spent to much time checking email. More to follow, I promise.
Hello to all out there in cyber space. Sorry for the cliché opening to this, but once in every bloggers life one must give into the call.
We have been some busy hikers since we last found the internet. We have had the best views of our trip and the most enjoyable hiking. As I think I mentioned before we have made it out of Maine. She threw everything at us. Mountains, bogs, swamps, bugs, rain, lighting; yet we marched on through her vast expanse. The last few days of Maine had some highs and lows (literally). We hiked through what is claimed to be the hardest mile of the trail; the infamous Mahoosuc Notch! We went through it with Spoon and Cubby. We had a blast. It was slow going, going up and over boulders; and then back down them. I at times refused to remove my pack, so I found myself in few precarious situations as I attempted to climb ever higher over piles of rocks. It took us over an hour and a half to go through the mile long section. We even managed to have a small snowball fight with the snow still in the notch. I was the only one throwing. Before going through the notch I was blessed with my last spectacular view while in ME. The night before going though the notch, I climbed .8 miles back up to the west peak of Baldpate Mountain to watch the sunset. The view was absolutely amazing. I had a great time reading my bible and watching the sunset. God is great! As I was sitting on the mountain, I was startled to see a wall of fog approaching from behind me. It was a very eerie feeling seeing the wall of fog move in and engulf me. I hope to share the pictures I took of this evening with everyone soon! And what a view to go out on, the next two days were cloudy and rainy as we departed Maine…
New Hampshire!
What a grand state and a grand feeling to begin hiking in a new state. As we crossed the state line between New Hampshire and Maine, the sun began to shine! Our first morning in New Hampshire was breathtaking. The Gentian Pound shelter has had the greatest view of all the shelters we have stayed at. I woke up a little before 5 in the morning to the sun rising over mountains! I actually got up and got my camera out. The peaks of the larger mountains were islands in the fog! The valley was fogged in but the light over the mountain peaks was gorgeous! I too hope to share these pictures with everyone soon. The following day we arrived in Gorham, NH. What a town! It has a Wal-mart. I went a little crazy and got a lot more food. The ten pounds or pack weight I lost in Andover I have now regained. We stayed at a great RV park outside of town. The owners were very hospitable. We spent two evenings sitting around a campfire with the owners and the summer vacationers. We were driven around by a young fellow by the name of Bruce. Bruce is from LA and comes up and spends the summers in the RV park. He drives hikers around for the cost of gas. We had Bruce pegged at around 58 years old. We found out around the campfire that he was 74!
Back to hiking,
So we left Gorham and began our attack on the White Mountains. Within the first 5 miles I was attacked! As I was descending one of the Wildcat Mountains, I slipped and broke one of my trekking poles. So I had to hike for the last 10 days with just one pole. The company was very helpful and they sent me a replacement pole at no charge!
The Great American Hot Dog Race:
I am about to recount a story of perhaps wreckless stupidity, for those lacking patience all turns out well. After our first night in the Whites we had to descend down to Pinkham Notch from the Wildcats. At some point about 3 miles from the bottom, our great hiking friend Turtle and I decided that we should race to the welcome center at the bottom. The last one to the bottom was to foot the bill for a round of hot dogs. Thus the Great American Hot Dog race began. Minutes into the race I was on a rock face that had wooden steps attached. Turtle took this opportunity to pass me, he sat down and slid down the rock face! As we continued down the mountain, we literally ran every chance we had. I did win! Turtle was in the lead, but took a wrong turn. I yelled at him that he was going the wrong way, he claims to have down one of those cartoon slid stops and returned to the proper trail. But I was well on my way to victory at that point. We passed many people. I told all of them to delay Turtle in any way they could. It was a fun day!
The Huts:
In the Whites they have these gorgeous huts that people pay to stay at. They hike to them and they are given a bunk and dinner and breakfast. As AT thru-hikers we were able to work for stay and become human garbage disposals. We would wait around until after dinner, then we were “forced” to eat the leftovers from the meal. The food was awesome. In return we were asked to do some work. It usually entailed sweeping; a few times we had to sift compost. We did work for stay 4 times. It was a very interesting experience. Many of the weekend hikers treated us like celebrities. We answered many questions and enjoyed sharing our adventures thus far.
Shirtless Summiting:
On July 4th Turtle, Clemson and I decided to begin a new craze that is soon to sweep the nation. Shirtless Summiting. We decided to Summit Mt. Washington (6,288’) while wearing no shirts. This decision might have ultimately been a mistake, because at the end of the day all three of us were sporting some pretty awesome pack burns. Yep, you guessed it we got sun burnt! We have some great pictures though. July 4th on Mt. Washington was awesome. We had clear views, 80+ mile visibility. What a wonderful place to celebrate our nation’s freedom. While on the topic of summiting, the day before we came up and over Mt. Madison, which was very windy! Winds of 60 mph were literally blowing us around. Once we reached the top it began to rain. Rain in 60 mph winds HURTS! But we made it to the hut, I was soaking wet and freezing, some of the people staying there offered me their blankets. Apparently I couldn’t really stop shivering, but I toughed it out!
The Rest of the trail:
We have begun to push some bigger days; the trail has gotten slightly easier. The footing has been better and the climbs not so steep. We look forward to hiking longer days. The reality of the trail has started to hit us. The idea of being gone for as long as we will be has made us slightly homesick. Me and Walt both miss our families, girlfriends (Hey Julie ;) ), friends and dogs. The thing that makes the trail so tough is enduring the separation, going days without speaking to those we care about and not knowing what is going on at home and missing out on the good things like the 4th of July (I was having a tough day on the 4th, I had just received a voicemail a few days before from an old neighbor telling me how delicious his Carway Ribs were and I dearly wanted a taste on the 4th) I apologize for the length of this post. We have had an amazing few weeks and have not had the chance to share our experiences. I can’t wait to share pictures and hope that they are able to capture just a piece of how truly amazing these mountains are.
The People:
We have started running into Northbounders en masse. Some that stick out in my mind are:
Fester: We stayed the night with him at Madison Hut. Very Friendly and genuine. Some people you just take a liking to, and Fester is one of those people
The Patriot: This guy was working on Baldpate Mountain building trail for a month. He decorated his shelter with an American Flag, and instead of going into town for his days off he stayed in the woods and hiked, really trying to soak in the beauty of the place. Clemson gave him his name, which he loved!
Chet: Chet opened up his house as a hostel. He is 7 years recovering from a backpacking stove accident. He spent 8 and half months in a comma after his accident. He has an incredible outlook on life and is an inspiration. The day of his accident he was supposed to begin his AT thru hike.
Bill: Bill gave us our first taste of intentional trail magic. He had a sign on the trail. Free Water and a cut-off box cover of ice-cream bars. He let us have water at his house and gave us ice cream, which has never tasted so good. He is keeping a log book of all that stop in. A very nice older man, who loves birds! He was very entertained by our story of being attacked by the hawk/falcon
Waldo: This guy went to UGA, and turns out he is dating a girl that Walt and I knew from high school. Pretty crazy. He was excited to meet some GA boys. (the guy he was hiking with was also from UGA and enjoyed seeing some people from GA.
Until the next internet stop, keep us in your prayers. Let us know if we can pray for any of you. We look forward to the next step and what it may bring.
Every step a step closer to home
Matt Davis 10:09 AM GMT | Read comments(2)June 301 down 13 to go!We are out of Maine! One state under our belt! We got through the hardest mile of the trail…and we are still living and hiking! Things have been pretty much the same for us since the last post. We wake up, hike straight up a mountain, and then fall straight down the mountain. We tend to do that about 3 or 4 times a day. We had a few brief town visits, usually we pop in for a meal, and then get back on the trail. I picked up another abandoned tent today! I think I mentioned that I also got one last week. Last week it hurt, I carried the abandoned tent about 20 miles, over two days. Today I only carried the tent about 4 miles. They aren't really backpacking tents, so they are pretty heavy. But it looks tacky having a bunch of trash on the trail, so I don't mind packing it out.
Points of interest:
-Me and Walt are trail celebrities! We ran into a guy that goes by Ol' Graceful. He is from Marietta, finishing his section hike this time around. He read the newspaper article on us and was hoping he would run into us! It was good to talk to someone from back home. We talked for about half an hour on the side of a mountain.
-We dropped weight! I dropped about 10 pounds from my pack weight. If feels good….no it feels great! About half the weight was in clothes that I really didn't need, and the other half in food that I didn't really need.
-We left Maine
-We entered New Hampshire
That concludes the post for this go around. We are getting charged for the internet so I have to keep it short. Met some pretty cool north bounders this past week or so but I will have to fill you in on them next time.
Until the next time, May the Lord keep our bodies healthy, our thoughts focused on Him and our packs light!
Sweet Tea SoBo '08
The adventure has begun!
We finished the first 114 miles; 100 of which is referred to the 100 mile wilderness, no towns (or roads) for 100 miles. We were able to hike Katahdin on our first day. It was a nice surprise to find out that it was open. The views were awesome; hopefully we can upload pictures later. I don’t think they will do the views any justice. Breathtaking! After Katahdin is where the adventure began to turn bloody and itchy. The bugs were horrific! For 6 of our first 7 days it was like our bodies were a buffet table for the local black flies and mosquitoes. I have more bug bites on my body now than all of my previous bug bites combined! It got so bad on the 8th day that Walt and I each had a mild panic attack. We were out of bug spray, hiking as fast as we could yet were still being devoured by these ungodly and thankless bugs. In order to combat the bugs we both donned our rain gear, in 80 degree heat and continued to hike. It got so hot. About every ten minutes we had to stop and pour the sweat out that accumulated at our elbows. It was about two hours into this day that Walt and I looked at each other; miserably, and decided to run for our lives. That day we hiked about 19 miles, which meant that we did two days worth of hiking in one. This day included a climb to the top of Whitecap Mountain (elevation- 3650). From the top we were able to get phone calls out to our folks and our girls which was a huge morale boost, as we were really tuckered out. We had started the day at an elevation of 880 feet. After the phone calls we began hiking again, we had three more summits to climb over before our day would be over. Before we reached the next summit, a thunderstorm rolled in. That was quite an experience, being on the top of a mountain, hiking while it was thundering and lightning. After huddling together between two peaks until the worst of it was over we once again began running for our lives, but this time even faster. We had planned on stopping at a campsite before the 3rd summit, but when we got to the campsite it was about flooded out. On top of that the area was an open area at a high elevation during a thunderstorm; which made us a little uncomfortable. So we pressed one, only 1.8 miles to the next shelter. It got dark; we had to finish our hike with our headlamps, in the rain. It was all worth it when we strolled into the shelter and saw our friends that we had been hiking with up until our zero day. They were shocked beyond belief to see us! The next day was a booger also. We hiked 17 miles, which included climbing up, and then back down 4 mountains. Then to finish the day we hiked most of the way up another mountain. When I say mountain, I don’t mean like mountains in GA. These mountains are legit, and there are no switchbacks. The trail goes straight up one side, and straight down the other. It is taking a toll on our bodies, specifically our knees. Walt is a little worse off than me. He is now only using one leg to ascend; which means that he is a little big slower on the uphill. A guy named spoon, whom we started hiking with on day 3 joined us on this tedious day. Spoon has joined with us to become the third amigo. He is from Tennessee, and overall a good guy and a great hiker.
Well that concludes my concise report on the first 100 miles….oh wait a few more things. We have new names. A tradition on the trail is to go by a trail names. Walt has the new name Sinatra (which he earned by singing while hiking). I am going by the name ole school, due mostly to my external from backpack. Here is a list of people (by their trail names) that we have met and hiked with.
Spoon- he is named this because he left his spoon the first day, and has been carving one out of wood
4-star- A bar tender from Chicago. He has a great attitude and sense of humor. Got his name because he is carrying enough in his pack to outfit a 4-star hotel
Poppy- A 71 year old man from Arkansas. No idea where he got that name? Poppy is hiking with his 16 year old grandson who guys by Marshall Matt ( I think, I can’t remember)
Turtle and Bear- Two brothers from the Atlanta area as well. Bear is only hiking a few months; Turtle is going all the way
The Canadian- This guy is from Canada, he is stopping here in Monson. He is about to leave to be a missionary in Nepal
The Housewife- Engaged to The Canadian. She cooks every morning, and takes care of everybody. She is only hiking for a month or so.
Quasimodo- Hiking with The Canadian and The Housewife. She is planning on going all the way. She got her name cause her eye is swollen shut from bug bites.
Cubby- A high school graduate from Ohio. He got his trail name early in life from the Boy Scouts. He is also an Eagle Scout.
Spanky- He is a 50 year old guy, on his second thru hike. Great Christian man, he has been a blessing, despite his snoring at night. Spanky was the name of his first dog.
All those folks are hiking southbound.
We have crossed paths with 4 Northbound hikers.
Trek- whom we passed on Katahdin he just finished his 6th thru hike in the same number of years.
Brer Rabbit, Dozer and Vegas.
Well that about wraps things up. Sorry for all of y’all who read this and are now disappointed. The wilderness was great for me spiritually as well. Read the book of Matthew and prayed a lot. Please pray for us. If any of y’all have any prayer requests email them to me or Walt and we can pray for you while we hike.
That is all from this thru hiker for the time being,
Ole School (AKA Matt Davis)
P.S. Mrs. Brogdon please don’t grade my blog update! The internet for us closes in 33 minutes and I don’t have time to proof read. This is just a rough draft.