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

1/2 way through PA

Hello Loves!

Abbey and I are writing to you from The Doyle Hotel, in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, on a brief stop to use internet and have a VERY large order of fries and a woodchuck.  Since we got back on from Delaware Water Gap, after our incredibly restful trip with Abbey's Family in New Jersey, we've been very strong.  We've been averaging 18-22 miles per day and hit our 1,000 mile mark this week!  We're 47 miles from The Doyle to the Mid-Point of the trail.  We've had great weather, with the exception of a 17 hour rain yesterday starting at 1AM, which was lovely to walk in (Preston will be posting more about his 'experience' of this including his first opportunity to sleep in a completely soaking wet sleeping bag...).

Fall is here for sure, with nights dropping down to 40 degrees, and low 60's-70's throughout the day.  The leaves are starting to change, and some trees have already started dropping their leaves. 

Pennsylvania:  We saw our first Black Bear in Pennsylvania.  The first 6 days of hiking we saw either Rattlesnakes or Copperheads on the trail each day.  We also found a 8 ft Rat Snake in a tree (Anaconda was playing in my mind...).  We caught up with some old trail friends from Maine and have been leap frogging with them ever since. 

It looks like we may have the opportunity to jump off in Harper's Ferry and go into D.C. to visit some friends and family for a couple days which we're looking forward to. 

There is so much more to tell you all, but it's nearly 5PM here and we still have over 4 miles to go for the evening.  We love you and miss you, and look forward to sharing more about this journey with you.

-Preston & Abbey

Some updated mail drops:

MD 18, Harper's Ferry, WV 25425
September 26th

MD 19 Front Royal, VA 22630
September 29th-30th

MD 20, Waynesboro, VA 22980
October 5th

MD 21 Big Island, VA 24526
October 10th

Updated Estimated Mail Drop's

Hello :)

Here is the new estimated Mail Drop Dates.  As always, if you sent us something, let us know so we can make sure we get it!  These dates should be fairly accurate, especially if the weather stays as magnificent as it looks like it will.  We're all rested up and ready to hike.  Looking forward to Pennsylvania, our Half-Way Point and getting through some of the hardest of the Mid-Atlantic in the next 150 miles.

MD15 Port Clinton, PA 19549
EDA - Sept 14th

MD16 Boiling Springs, PA 17007
EDA - Sept 21st

***MD17 Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214***
EDA - Sept 24 or 25th

With Joy and Love,

Preston & Abbey

Jersey and a Break

Shower, Laundry, Climate-Controlled Sleeping, Non-Dehydrated Food.

It's not a thru-hiker dream (well actually, that's exactly what it is) but this dream is our reality this week!

We are so fortunate to be staying with Abbey's family this week in New Jersey.  Our trail Angels, Aunt Jane & Uncle Tony, and Cousin Bob (who picked us up just before a wicked storm came in) have helped make some much needed rest and relaxation become our experience for a little bit.

We have had a wonderful time since our last post, taking it fairly leisurely through New Jersey so we could time our arrival with the family, and have Really had a great time hiking.  New Jersey has been one of our favorite states by far, and for many good reasons.  We started New Jersey with a downpour, as we mentioned before, which proved to be essential for the balance of the environment.  We were re-introduced to Spring Water, which we've missed greatly (ALL of the Springs and most of the Streams were dry in New York).  Having become accustomed to Spring water for 60+ days, and then relying on tap water spigots for the last 15-20 days, we had forgotten just how good Ice-Cold Spring Water really is, both to the taste buds and to the soul.  It's nice to receive from Nature vs. a water spigot...  

On that note, a few people have asked us about water treatment, here's what we use: Katadyn Micropur Hiker (you can read about it there).  One of the benefits of filtering besides not getting nasty bacteria like Giardia, is it assures we spend 5-10 minutes a day, just sitting with a spring or stream listening to nature and taking a little break.

Back to New Jersey...We left the hostel in Vernon and immediately got to hike with some more cows.  This time we had to walk through a heard.  I'm assuming hikers have fed these cows because the Mama Cows would corral their babies, and push them towards us and the other hikers we saw, encouraging them to approach us.  We were having fun hanging out with them until a Bull got a little jealous of us talking to his ladies and he had no hesitation is letting us know it was time to move on.

We found a sweet little campsite that first night and called it early.  The next morning we awoke super early, much earlier than needed, but we had a feeling we needed to get moving.  It was lower 40's, much colder than we expected and everything was wet outside.  We walked about 15 minutes and then realized we were approaching a mile long Boardwalk.  And in perfect time.  The sun began to rise over the trees and lifted some fog as rays of sun bursted through the Marshy Flower Fields, while deer pranced silhouetted. (Pictures are currently downloading...)  Long story short, one of our favorite miles of the trail.

New Jersey had a few climbs, and some increasingly rocky terrain as we approached Pennsylvania, but we thoroughly enjoyed the scenic views, the terrain, the fire towers, the people on the trail, the atmosphere and attitude towards hikers in the State and a lovely relaxed 12-14 mile pace.

We also walked some super easy mostly flat terrain occasionally in the Delaware Water Gap area, though we had foggy weather a couple times where we couldn't see anything.  

Crossed the Delaware River via a pedestrian bridge on I-80 and received an enormous amount of honking and waving from cars driving the opposite way, and crossed into our 8th state, Pennsylvania in the process.  It was beginning to rain just as we arrived at 'Church of the Mountain Hiker Hostel' in Delaware Water Gap, PA.  Another sweet little hiker hostel that's been hosting hikers and holding weekly pot luck dinners for the hikers since the 1970's.

Had some wonderful food from a lady named Gayle at a little restaurant named Zen Safari, which specializes in cultural food, "if you serve people food, they should be able to feel your love in it" and we DID!

Ab's cousin Bob, picked us up and took us to Jane & Tony's, and thus began our relaxation that we're delving in right this moment.

So, that's all that.  As always our pictures are on Facebook, if you want to see what we're doing and where we've been, and they will be updated this week to catch us up with Mass, Conn, NY & NJ. 

900 miles behind us, we Love you All :) P & A

Well Hello, Mid-Atlantic States

Thanks, first off, for reading this!

We are currently in New Jersey!  This afternoon/evening/tomorrow morning are staying at a Hiker Hostel @ St Thomas Episcopal Church in Vernon, NJ.  It's a sweet little set-up they have for hikers with laundry, shower and kitchen, and it's....DRY!  As I write this (Preston) I'm in my moderately damp rain gear while my hiking clothes are in the wash.  Abbey and I made it all the way through New York without any rain at all (which is not a good thing when you rely on rain for streams and springs...) until the last very 2 miles.  Then it dumped.  We were lucky enough that the rain stopped when we got to the state line to take our picture before unleashing another round of rain that lasted on and off until we were back on the trail this morning.

Let's see, a recap.

New York was a Smörgåsbord of terrain. One moment we'd be in some of the most beautiful pastoral landscapes with rolling hills and cows, yes, cows on the trail, and the next we'd be on a rock scramble with the reminder that we are actually Climbing Mountains.  Then of course, throw in a train Station to NYC on the trail and some crazy highway crossings and then perfectly groomed trails and boardwalks, and you've got New York.

Some interesting things that happened in New York:
-We slept 30 feet next to said train tracks to NYC and laughed the first 1/2 dozen times it blew it's horn and blew our rainfly around
-We dealt with cow pies as an obstacle
-We hiked through a Zoo, while following the white blazes
-Crossed the Hudson via the Bear Mountain Bridge
-Had many encounters with Peregrine Falcons flying within 10 ft of us
-Had to carry 6+ liters of water at a time as there were no water sources for 12 miles...
-Got to have lunch at a gas station while following White Blazes
-Saw our first Rattlesnake (about a 4 ft long one)
-Walked out of the woods only to be encountered by a day-hiker saying: "Is now a good time to open up that Watermelon?" and then giving us more than 2/3rds of it.
- We got a taste of Jif Chocolate Silk, yes it's soooo good that it deserves to be on this list.  We can't wait to actually get our hands on a couple jars.
-We resisted the urge to actually go INTO NYC, though we tried and failed a couple times...long story.

So now we're officially through our 1st Mid-Atlantic State, and into our second.  NJ should be a 4 day endeavor or so, and then into PA, a uniquely challenging state.

We're 835 miles done.
In our 7th State, 1/2 the states!
Getting closer to that 1/2 way point of 1,091.4

As always, thanks for your love and support.

-P & A

Follow us on Google Maps

Here's how you can follow us through our GPS Spot Device!

http://tinyurl.com/p-a-appalachiantrail

We update it everynight (as long as we can!)

Mass/Conn

Hello!

We scooted our way through Massachusetts, a little slower than played but lavishly enjoyed the landscape, the people, and the unique opportunities that presented themselves along the way!

Since our last post, we had several days of RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, and even MORE rain.  To make it more interesting, several of those experiences included ground shaking thunder and LOTS of lightning.  ***MOM'S STOP READING NOW***

Seriously Mom's.

Okay so now that the parentals are gone...LIVING OUTSIDE can actually be quite frightening.  Whether in a shelter, in a tent, or hiking through the forest, lightning and thunder mixed with downpours really complicate everything, especially in your mind.  The brain is like, "GET INSIDE".  And you're like, "ok, um, good idea, but uh, where do we go?"  So that's been something we've gotten more 'used to', but it's still a little scary. 

We had literally 10 miles of the hardest rain either of us had ever seen in our lives, but we just kept hiking.  That day we ended with 21.5 miles and arrived in Dalton, MA.  We had heard about a hostel that was kinda partyish and not our style but we had our minds on one thing "D-R-Y".  We then figured out we had passed it a mile back and frustrated, walked further to a place we heard that a guy lets you tent on his lawn (like legit heard, not just on the trail, it was in our guide book...).  So we get there and nobody's there, we wait 45 minutes and are about to leave when he pulls up.  As I was building the courage to ask if we could tent on his porch vs the lawn (yeah still pouring down rain after 15 hours...) he says, "I have a place you guys can shower, Bring in any laundry that you want I'll be happy to do it for you, and I have a dry warm room with a double bed that's yours for the evening inside".  Pretty much the best thing you can hear, or even dream up, the only thing that could have topped that is if he whipped up a batch of vegan chocolate chip cookies and delivered them to our bedroom...

So we stayed there.  Next day we hiked about 11 miles in the warm sun!  We stopped at the "Cookie Lady's" house for lemonade and some blueberry picking.  $2 a lb for organic blueberries!  We ended up tenting on the property which was amazing, orchards and farms and barns and chickens and an airstrip with an airplane...  And we picked and picked and picked blueberries.  I mowed an hour "work-for-stay" which was quite enjoyable, moreso than ever before. 

 The next day we hiked 11 miles to Upper Goose Pond, a free Bunkhouse/Cabin on a small lake/pond.  It was nice to sleep on a mattress (like the 4'' who-knows-what-they're-made-of kind) and not have to worry about weather or hanging a bear bag.  Coffee in the morning and a lovely little paddle around the pond in a canoe!

The next two days had beautiful landscapes of farms, rolling hills, rocky-topped mountains with gorgeous 360 views, and walks along rivers like the Housatonic sandwiched between water and cornfields.  A highlight for me (P) was watching our buddy Kite Runner, fly his kite above a cornfield, it really set the mood for the day.

We crossed into Connecticut this morning and will be moving into NY early next week, maybe Monday or so.  For those keeping up with Maildrops, we're over 1/3rd done, in Salisbury.

Some Stats 700 miles done
1500 miles left
5 States hiked in
9 State lines left

Anyway, we love you all.

Have fun!

-P & A

Hello from Bennington, Vermont!

We've had a very 'interesting' week of hiking.  Some parts of Vermont are actually "flat", at least as flat as one can realistically expect hiking the Appalachian MOUNTAIN Range...  We're still developing our Big Hill muscles in our legs and knees, completely different muscles than we used climbing straight up and straight down mountains in New Hampshire and Maine, we have finally found....drumroll please.....Switchbacks!

Beautiful views of rolling hills, pastures and farmland.  We got a Hitch into Bennington, by a hiker, who was super friendly.  We told him we wanted to go to the 'Rec Center' which allows hikers to use shower facilities.  He informed us that the Rec Center was under renovation but he'd take us some place better. 

Ends up, he took us to 'The Vortex', no joke it's what they call it.  It's a former Hostel, that no longer is in operation due to one of the owners having health challenges.  It's basically someone's home, more or less, with extra facilities.  The guy that dropped us off said that she lets hikers leave their packs in her garage.  Not only did she let us do that, she let us borrow some beach bikes, shower in her home, and then offered to let us spend the night.  A really unique lady, dreadlocks down to almost her knees, who's a jazz drummer, and a big fan of skeletons, voodoo, and who knows what else...Oh and she's selling her house and she and her husband are going to live in their converted school bus for now on, for real.  Apparently we're not the only free spirits currently in Vermont! 

We originally weren't planning on spending the night, but due to some complications with the U.S. Postal Service, we decided to stay.  Our Mail Drop had apparently opened in transit and arrived to us half empty.  So we got to do some shopping. 

This morning we wandered into a coffee shop, sat down, met some other people that are hiking the Long Trail, and ended up talking to them for over 6 hours.  So now we're here at the library, which has blocked Facebook because: "The library is a temple for learning, not social media".  And we're socially using internet media still to connect to you, our loves :) 

We're really embracing our new pace of live, learning to be flexible when we have no other options, and just going with the flow of life instead of trying to canoe upstream without a paddle.  Certain fears have vanished, as we know we're always provided for! We love and miss you all.  Take care!  Next time you hear from us we'll be in Mass or Conn.

-P & A (Spartan & DreamCatcher)

Hello everybody!  It's been forever since we've updated this, we apologize! We've had some logistical issues with getting ahold of ample internet time, and by the time we get done with the 'business' stuff, we get kicked off.  So in the 10 minutes remaining at this library, here we go!

We made it Deet free in Maine!  Absolutely beautiful, magical, Maine.   Maine was also extremely wet, muddy, boggy, EXTREMELY full of mosquitos and black flies, but also full of Moose, Loons, and a ton of other beautiful wildlife and ponds, lakes, streams, etc.  We slept near or next to water almost every night.

New Hampshire....Oh, New Hampshire.  New Hampshire was full of Dramatic Landscapes.  Lots of Hard Climbs, mostly straight up and down Mountains, I think we saw 3 switchbacks through the entire state.  Also the White Mountains.  We had some crazy weather.  On Mt. Washington, we had 5 foot visibility, 70 MPH gusts with 40-60 mph constant winds, oh and freezing rain and sleet!  It was quite an experience to hike in that, felt like survival mode for sure, because you really could die in that type of weather.  We also had some of the most beautifully serene moments watching the sunrise over Mt. Madison, and 10 miles of exposed ridgewalking at a time.  Not quite as 'hard' as we had expected, because the terrain was a lot better than Maine, but some super challenging climbs that left us and our knees/feet begging for easier times...

Now we're in Vermont, we're in love.  Both us together, and us with the state.  We saw pasture for the first time our first day in VT.  We've also been doing our biggest mileage in VT so far.  Oh and we pretty much have unlimited access to blackberries and raspberries as long as we don't mind picking them ourselves.  We literally had to bushwhack through a Raspberry Bramble the other day where it had grown over the trail.  We stop constantly to eat berries, which is bad for our pace, but fantastic for our bellies.  The beautiful views of pastures and rolling hills are breathtaking.  We've pretty much decided to move here.  Oh and Maple Syrup, did we mention that?  We're Technically on the 'Long Trail' now, the AT and the LT share the same trail for the next 150 miles, kinda neat, we'll have done over 50% of the LT when we're done with the state.

Logistically everything is going well.  We're healthy, stronger by the day, safe all the time, and happy to be sharing this experience together.  We've had plenty of food and water, our shelter: The Big Agnes Copper Spur 2 is pretty much the best thing ever, and the communities have embraced hiking.  We've done a lot of things we thought we couldn't do, and are inspired to do more big things in the future (we met 2 sisters that biked from Washington State to Maine, we met them in NH, 4 days from their finish, that was quite fun to share similar experiences with one another).

Some people have asked how they can contact us while we're hiking,  here is the email that we just sent to our family.  Take care, we love you all, thank you for your support.

P & A

Hello All!

We got the next section of our guide in the mail (we chopped the original up into pieces to reduce weight but that kinda backfired with planning....haha oh well)  and here are the next 9 Mail Drops and the Approximate dates AS OF NOW that we think we'll be there.  As always, we LOVE letters from you all. 

Remember, anything you send us would need to get there before the dates listed, so take note of that.  We're hoping to start up our 'jet packs' and start flying through, we'll see though.  We're working on some extended (2-5 days) rest periods when we're going through NJ and when we're near DC.  Otherwise, our job is hiking, and we plan to do it well!  We hope to have to update this and tell you we're getting somewhere sooner.  If in doubt, just send it to one town ahead of where you think we'll be to make sure we get it.

Everything is going great, Vermont is a little harder than anticipated, but we're getting back into the right mindset.  We're over 20% done, and going to be crossing our 500 mile mark tomorrow.  Ones with ** are pending right now, we have to check that we actually are sending it to the right city as there are two close by, we'll let you know if those are not accurate.

As a reminder the format is as follows:

Preston & Abbey Stohs
c/o General Delivery
City, State,  Zip

*Please hold for thru-hikers, EDA _______*  (EDA--is the estimated date of our arrival, listed below)

MD9 Bennington, VA 05201
EDA - Aug 6th

MD10 Tyringham, MA 01264
EDA - Aug 11th

MD11 Salisbury, CT 06068
EDA - Aug 14th

MD12 Stormville, NY 12582
EDA - Aug 18th

***MD13 Greenwood Lake, NY 10925***
EDA - Aug 21st

MD14 Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327
EDA - Aug 26th

MD15 Port Clinton, PA 19549
EDA - Sept 1st

MD16 Boiling Springs, PA 17007
EDA - Sept 7th

***MD17 Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214***
EDA - Sept 10th

That's what we got.  Hope you are all well, happy, and healthy.  We think about you all the time.

Love,

Preston & Abbey

Hey Everybody!  Internet is a little iffy here and may be for the rest of our Journey.  Internet is one thing, computers with Java, Flash, http5, pdf capabilities is another.... 

Next town we'll be in is Stratton, ME 04982  Maybe by Next Saturday the 30th.

After that it'll be Andover, ME 04216 hopefully by the 5th of July where Annie & Kevin will be joining us for the White Mountains (Including the Crazy and Wonderful Mahoosuc Notch).

Then Gorham, NH 03581 around the 10th of July.

Bartlett, NH 03812 on the 14th or 15th.

Read below on how to send letters :)  We will write back!

Love you all.  -P & A

Hiking time!

Hello! The day is finally here, it's hiking time! We are currently on the road to the airport, taking advantage of technology one last time... Below is how you can be in communication with us. We'll be sharing a phone, but will only turn it on when we are in trail towns, and if there is service... This is a list of our mail drops, how to utilize the US Postal Services' "general delivery", and when and where we'll be. The most important thing to know is that we don't know exactly when we'll be where we think we'll be. When using General Delivery, this is the format you would use: Preston & Abbey Stohs C/O General Delivery City, state zip "Please hold for thru-hikers, EDA(expected arrival date of us)______" ***dont forget the note about thru-hiker*** For phone, call and leave a message or text and we'll get back to you when we can. 913-710-4985 Facebook is always good too! If you a sending a letter, make sure you get it to us before we pass that post office! :) We will be getting a big list of where we'll be but here are the first three post offices we'll be going to. 1. Monsoon, ME 04464. We will be here by June 21st 2. Stratton, ME 04982. We will be here by June 28th 3. Andover, ME 04216. We will be here by July 5th. Hope to see letters from you all :) Love, P & A