The Conclusion of our AT Journey

About 3 weeks ago, we summited our final mountain on the Appalachian Trail. Climbing Mt. Katahdin was the end to the hardest undertaking we have ever taken on. Sure, walking 15-20 miles everyday is physically strenuous but having the mental stamina to beat ourselves up repeatedly tested our will. As our friend Chatty Kathy put it, thru-hikers are simply some of the most stubborn people on the planet.

The Final Push

I have fallen in love once again. Sorry Rob. Maine has whisked my heart away.

The leaves are a sight to be seen with brilliant reds, oranges, yellows and purples taking over the landscape. We encounter lakes everyday that reflect the beauties surrounding. Everything is so rugged and pristine. We have never been this far from civilization thus far on the trip. Oh, and there's moose! I could not imagine a more perfect state for the AT to finish in.

Just Keep Walking, It Gets Better

A long, long time ago, 185 days to be exact, Rob and I were perched atop Springer Mountain about to embark on the unknown. We were chatting with an ATC Ridgerunner who had thru-hiked last year and I asked him what his number one piece of advice was. He responded, "Just keep walking, it gets better". This piece of advice has stuck with me throughout the whole trip thus far. There isn't much context behind; not a whole lot of meaning. It is simple and straight forward. Each time I have found myself tired, bored, unhappy, or homesick I would tell myself "Just keep walking, it gets better". It always has. But, with the relative ease of the trail compared to the section we just entered, does this statement remain true?

The Magical Appalachian Trail

Welcome to New England. A place where pine trees dominate the forest, the air is slightly cooler and brisk, the hills are once again mountains, streams are charmingly called brooks, and the people are pleasant. They have cool accents again, too. This is where we are. It's beautiful. And magical.

The Legend of the Beer Stein

If I came across a little depressed in the previous blog, that's because I was. We had read once that when a vagabond loses something they use while traveling, it's a big deal because every item you have with you is extremely valuable. Double that with the fact that the item had captured memories on a trip of a lifetime and it is a very sentimental loss. Triple that with pounding feet because of these damn rocks and, well, it's like walking onto a flaming bag of poo on your front porch in middle of the might. Stupid Pennsylvania. Or so I thought...

Cool pics from the IPod

Our temporary fix for not having a camera. Hope you enjoy.

Pennsylvania Loved Us...

But now hates us. I'll come back to that later.

First things first... THANK YOU UNCLE RON FOR THE TREATS!!! There wasn't a thing in your present that we didn't devour. The jerky/sticks, banana chips, Carnation breakfasts, granola bars, milk and anything else I may have left out were unbelievably delicious. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

When Rob and I came back to the trail, we noticed that there were a few things we had to acclimate back to:

Funny Story

To start this off, here's a little background. We frequently stop along side the trail for bathroom breaks. One watches one way, one the other to save us (Candice)from having to wander too far into the woods to tinkle. This time as we were doing so, Rob stated that we needed to hurry to the shelter because he was having chafing issues in his nether regions. We'll spare you the details of that discussion. We had heard a couple of weeks prior that some hikers use Chapstick down there when Vaseline isn't available. Candice frequently uses Chapstick (for her lips) so Rob was joking that he was going to steal hers in middle of the night and put it back without telling her. During this conversation, we had tidied up and started to round the curve right ahead of us. Immediately, we saw two day hikers sitting on a log. They were looking at us with a deer-in-headlights kind of look and didn't even respond to a hello. Whoops... they heard every bit of our raunchy conversation. Lesson of the day: Even though you may feel isolated, there ARE other people in the woods.

A Few Fun Facts

 It's been awhile. Truth is... we're lazy. I'll just stick to the excuse of "We're out in the woods. It's difficult to keep up on things."

Rob and I have hit a few milestones recently. We're very excited about our progression on the trip and are trying to savor every moment out on the trail. After all, the woods are our new home and there is nothing quite like them. I don't know when in society that the "real world" saying has changed to mean living in civilization with man-made things, having jobs, keeping up on Facebook & other social medias, cars, TV, indoor plumbing and temperature-controlled rooms. If you want to see the "real world", find nature. It doesn't get any more real and raw than that. I'm starting to rant on a COMPLETELY different topic. Different post, different day. I said fun facts, right? Whoops. Here you go...

Our Most Valuable Gear

I know you've been wondering about this. Here is a list of the gear we have found to be extremely valuable out on the trail...

Wet Wipes - Have you ever had to take a crap in the woods while it is raining out? Well, if the wipes are supposed to be wet already, it works much better than the T.P. counterpart.