Going Home

Friends, Family, and Wonderful Supportive Strangers we've met along the way,
Today, one adventure officially comes to an end, and a whole new world begins for Abbey and I.
Our Appalachian Trail Journey has come to a close, for now. I think everybody is aware of the crazy weather on the east coast, with a Nor'easter and a Hurricane... Unfortunately that turned into quite the Winter Wonderland for

us up in the Mountains. We hiked during the storm, right when it began and within a couple hours, snow had accumulated over knee deep, with below 20 degree weather in the higher elevations, and 40-60 mph winds. After hiking 15 miles we made it to a road and hitched into town to get a motel for the night to dry off. For 3 days it snowed where we were out in SW Virginia, near the TN/NC Border. After 3 days we waited two additional days where the weather was mostly sunny and fairly warm where we were, thinking that the snow would melt. Back out on the trail at the lower elevations we were elated to see that the trail was mostly dry with just a few patches of snow here and there. That quickly changed as we climbed to over 3,000 feet where we were met with hundreds of downed trees on the trail, Rhododendron thickets completely weighted down by the snow, and on the long summit ridgewalks, over Waist Deep snow. Also our pace was slowed dramatically, and we were only capable of hiking 12 miles in the time it would take us to do about 20-22 miles. To be honest, when we weren't concerned about our well-being (as our feet became numb and we were soon hiking with headlamps on, struggling greatly to find the trail) it was beautiful beyond words, one of the most quiet and still moments I've ever seen in the forest. We fortunately did make it to a shelter that evening.
Yet after a very long discussion, we decided that our time on the trail, for this trip, had come to an end. We've both received so much from the trail, more than we had ever hoped or imagined possible. And with our goals and desires about the experience we want to have while we're hiking, finishing in these conditions just wasn't feasible. We considered purchasing full out winter gear, like snowshoes and full length boots, which would be great, except hiking in snowshoes in waist high snow would put our pace to about 10-12 miles a day, meaning we'd Maybe be done by the end of December, pushing us later into the Winter and Winter Conditions. All-in-All, finishing would be a miserable struggle, one in which we would miss out on the beauty and wonder of the trail that we've become so accustomed to being present with. We're also accustomed to being incredibly uncomfortable and having rough days and weeks, but continuing in these circumstances would be dishonoring to all we've done. We are disappointed in the fact that we felt 'forced' off the trail, but completely at peace and happy with our decision.
So now, after 1,653.6 miles, after hiking through 11 states and nearly 80% of the trail, we said goodbye, hopped on a bus, and headed 'home'.
I am so grateful to all of you who have supported us along the way, in so many different ways. This truly has been a Journey of a Lifetime, as it will affect the way we live forever. I look forward to sharing with you all more about our experiences, more than just quick updates and photos, and if there is anyway I can support Any of you in following your dreams, I'm always here to help.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for sharing this journey.
-Preston & Abigail (Spartan & DreamCatcher) SOBO 2012 Mt Katahdin, Maine to Mt Rogers Recreation Area, Virginia

Weather Update

Well....we're still here in Marion.  We are going to make a decision tomorrow. As of now it looks like we may be spending tomorrow day and night as well, revamping our gear and taking a few precautionary measures (weather radio, plastic bags to keep feet dry inside shoes, extra batteries and fuel supplies, etc...) and then hopefully heading back out on the trail as long as the weather stays the same.  Here in town, at much lower elevations than we'll be after about 2 miles back on the trail, there is still several inches in the woods.  After talking to a couple fellow hikers, it seems we're all in the same predicament.  A few inches of snow isn't too big of a deal, but hiking in 3+ feet (mt rogers, grayson highlands...) isn't in the cards.  We'll keep you posted, but know we're hoping to forge on, all the way to Georgia :) Happy Halloween!

Virginia Snow Day(s)

Writing to you all from the Smyth-Bland  Regional Library in Marion, Virginia.  With the given weather, happy to report that we are dry, warm, and temporarily living inside.  We are going to hole up for a couple days and wait to see what this storm does.  The last 24 hours has dumped over 2-3 feet on the peaks of the very mountains we're headed too, and we're not really equipped nor do we desire to hike in the over-knee deep snow at this time... We are evaluating the weather and what steps we'll be taking if we head back to the trail.  That may sound a bit dramatic, "if we head back out", but the last 15 miles we hiked was truly a wake up call that has left us up in the air about what to do.  So we're waiting, we're letting our skin heal from the brutal cold snow and wet that we hiked in for 7 hours and making sure that we're better equipped to handle this type of situation again if and when the snow clears from the peaks.  But enough of that, we'll let you know what we're doing when the time comes (assuming we have internet access!). Onto updates from the trail.

Last time we wrote, we had just gotten out of Shenandoah National Park.  The Central-Southwest part of Virginia has been really enjoyable.  We've had some amazingly wonderful weather before that whole Hurricane meets Nor'easter thing...  This part of the trail also held a lot of symbolic things for Abbey and I.  Virginia accounts for 25% of the entire A.T. and also has a lot of majorly photographed areas.  McAfee Knob, Tinker Cliffs just to name a few.  Places that we've seen pictures of for over 2 years and only dreamt about actually getting to.  We had perfect weather on McAfee Knob with cloudy fog packed days before and after, we are blessed.  It was really quite emotional for us to be somewhere that we heard about 1600 miles ago from Northbound Thru-Hikers.  We've come to terms with the fact that we've come a really long way.

Virginia started with some of the easiest terrain we've seen on the entire trail with long but gently climbs and descents, then even easier walking through the National Park.  And we enjoyed being able to look around at all of the fall colors while walking instead of worrying about tripping every few feet.

Then those beautiful leaves started to fall on the trail at the same time that the trail turned into very Rocky, like Pennsylvania Rocks, maybe worse in some areas (really no difference, not sure why Pennsylvania gets such a bad Rep).  We had a beautiful week of warm weather but paid for it with leaves 5-6 inches deep on the trail hiding all of the ankle-rolling-rocks, holes from rocks dug out, holes from old trees, tree roots, etc...  Some very mentally tiring hiking.  But we as always, see beauty everyday. Slept in some absolutely gorgeous areas, often in Rhododendron Thickets near summits with sunrise overlooks, which we've gotten very accustomed to enjoying everyday.

At this moment we're 75% done, amazingly astonished on how long and how short this journey has been.  We're grateful for everything, even the hard times, sometimes we're more grateful for those than anything else.  For instance, we could have waited at a road yesterday morning after 4 miles of walking in the snow, but we decided to push on another 10 to the town so we could walk in on our own feet.  Makes the hardships worth it I guess.

This is/has been an amazing journey.  We're excited and anxious to see how the next few days go and what will end up happening.  Thanks to you all for being along for the ride and supporting us all the way!

-P&A (Spartan & DreamCatcher)

Here are the next few Mail Drops for us.  We love getting letters and goodies... :)  Love you all!

Mail Drop # 21
Big Island, VA 24526
10/15/2012

Mail Drop #22
Catawba, VA 24070
10/19/2012

Mail Drop #23
Pearisburg, VA 24134
10/22/2012

Mail Drop #24
Atkins, VA 24311
10/27/2012

Mail Drop #25
Damascus, VA 24236
10/31/2012

Virginia!

We are in Virginia!  And actually a little over 1/4 done with it.

This week we explored Shenandoah National Park.  A completely different experience than the other 10 national parks we've been too.  We've camped in all but one of them, but of course our presence there was completely different.  Shenandoah is a little over 100 miles long from end to end, with Skyline drive running often times parallel to the AT.  In the past, we would have been one of 'those people' in the cars, driving and stopping at all the viewpoints.  We usually car camp for a few days and have backpacked a few days in different parks before, but Walking In and Out was really unique.  We felt at times as if we were a 'Site to See' while we were there and have our answers to all the questions down pretty well.  Here's out side of the conversation, you can probably figure out the otherside (this literally is what it's like 99% of the time)

"in Maine"

"From Georgia"

"June 11"

"Hopefully by Thanksgiving"

"Yes, it's hard"

" only 1 bear, lots of poisonous snakes"

"25lbs for her, 30-35 lbs for me, I have a camera)

"in a really good tent"

...you get the picture.

So now we're in Waynesboro, VA for the night.  On our way through the rest of Central Virginia.

Weather was cold this week, hoping to warm up a little the next few days, we had rain/sleet/snow and below freezing temps at night and early morning, not a good combo.  But the weather looks good the next few days :)

Hope you all are well.  We're going to try and write back to all of you that wrote to us :)

Love and Hugs,

Preston & Abbey

P.S. One really cool thing that happened, we ran into a section hiker that we hiked with in Maine! (for those of you who remember the guy that put us up in a hotel for a night, that's the one!!!)

Harpers Ferry

Sitting in the Hikers Lounge at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's Headquarters in Harpers Ferry, WV.  Going to be spending the night with a Trail Angel who is the brother of a friend of the family who lives here! Feeling lucky, grateful, and blessed :)

If you've never checked out the ATC website, learn some history here.

We are off to explore (without having to wear packs!!!!!) the historic-frozen-in-time town of Harpers Ferry.  Tomorrow we'll be on our way into Virginia and then the Shenandoah's.

Hello, Virginia (almost)!

Hey Everybody!

Abbey and I are headed back onto the trail today.  We are currently over 1/2 way through maryland, which is only 40 miles.   We'll have 5 miles in West Virginia, and then we enter Virginia, the longest state on the Appalachian Trail accountable for nearly 1/4 of the total miles we'll do at 550.

We took a couple days off to visit friends and family in the D.C. area, which was nice after our 2 week push doing 250 miles.

Pennsylvania was very rocky, but nothing we hadn't seen before.  One of the interesting things about talking to hikers headed in the other direction from us, is they (and we) have no concept of what the others have seen/experienced.  We've been hearing for 2 months that Pennsylvania is 'where shoes go to die' 'Rocky, rocky, rocky, rocky hell'.  But it wasn't anything Southbounders haven't seen already in Maine and New Hampshire.  So we coasted more or less,  feet tired, but still able to make good miles.
Pennsylvania also had the Cumberland Valley, which is 17 miles of Valley walking, through woods and pastures, with cows and horses, and corn fields.

Maryland has been lovely so far, just as rocky in some parts as PA, but enjoyable and full of history as we walk through Civil War sites and battlefields.

D.C. was nearly overwhelming just to see that many people...  We spent some time in the Air & Space museum and now I (Preston) are pining for flying again!  Guess I'll have to do that when we get back :)

Anyway, we're looking forward to returning to the trail as Fall is fully here and blowing in some upper 30's Temps in the mornings, and seeing some fall colors as we go through Virginia.

Shenandoah National Park is on the horizon, in about a week or so, and the highlands and Wild Ponies are somewhere in the big state.

Oh and some big news, we crossed the 1/2 way point in Pennsylvania and now have less miles ahead of us than we've already done, and that feels fantastic.  That song by the Proclaimers, (500 Miles), is funny because they talk about walking 1,000 miles and we've done that, and are going to do it twice.  I loved singing that song as a little kid and we sing it on the trail.

Also, less snakes the last week, which is nice to not worry about stepping on a venomous snake every step you take.

We love you all and hope you're well, and warm.  As always, we love letters :)

-Preston & Abbey