THE BIG APPLE(ACHIAN) TRAIL DETOUR

at 707 (32%~) miles complete, we got off the trail and headed up to the big apple. route: hitch-hiked from an obscure trail. to a small town. got dropped off. hitch-hiked again to a train station (said train was missed by 5 minutes). waited two hours for a train. got on a train and rode 2 hours into NYC! 

today, we took a ferry to the statue of liberty and ellis island. 

we are waiting on our local new yorker friend james (single and looking) to turn back into 'bearboots' and come back on the trail with us

incredible view from the ferry. it is so HUGE!

now back to the trail: we are officially into our 5th state (connecticut). we should be in new york (trail wise) by this weekend! 

OH MY GOODNESS. i almost forgot! we met THE Warren Doyle on the trail. he's a somewhat famous  infamous figure on the AT.

http://www.backpacker.com/august-2011-warren-down-appalachian-trail/destinations/15824

hope y'all are having a great week! we would love to hear from you!

return to Maine and other adventures

ryan and lizzie, our friends from Nashville got married in Maine and we got to go! Sam, the brides brother, just happened to be working close by (in car miles) and picked us up! we stayed in a huge beach house in York, Maine and even got to wear normal clothes (borrowed of course)! and be around normal people! sam and his wife Danielle were amazing and we were so grateful to be able to attend this beautiful coastal wedding!

what else, what else? oh man, I was hiking by myself one day so tony could pick up our package from our generous aunt Betsy and I saw a creature literally barreling towards me on the trail. it was a HUMUNGOUS porcupine!! it didn't see me at first so I dove into the bushes beside the trail to go around him. he saw me and stared me down until i was successfully on the trail on the other side of him. man. I was not in the mood to have quills whacked into my leg by a mad porcupine.

AND I have a crazy rash from a fuzzy caterpillar. don't trust those things.

we have gotten 2 rides in a row
from toyota priuses.

we have done 660 miles. lots of people have been skipping parts of the trail by riding in cars/buses what have you but so far we have been on the straight and narrow.

it rained on us all morning and now we are at a comfort inn. (a real hotel!!!!!!!)

by the way we are in Massachusetts!

life in pictures

my favorites...

 pictured above is my original rain jacket which was promptly lost

 my new, cuter rain jacket+our tent in 4 inches of rain. at 0600am.

 our last real beauty of a mountain+katniss braid+sideways sign view 

   a perfect example of the mountains we traversed in Maine and NH

a real life trail to walk on. (i tripped and fell this day......??)

why i have lost 0 lbs on the trail.that and good ole mountain dew

         we are now at 538 miles. still only the beginning...

" i'm from the small town of athens, alabama so i just can't grasp the magnitude of what y'all two are doing"---Juanita Brock

I love America

Today, we passed the 500 mile mark. FIVE HUNDRED miles we have been walking out here. It's not just walking though. It has truly been a journey so far. An adventure to say the least. Tony always says," if we stopped today, we will still have had a huge adventure."

And it is SO true! Just in the last 2 days, we have hiked our longest day yet (21.5miles), we met a wonderful couple (emmy and josh) that gave us their info so we could look them up when we got to NC, we stayed 2 nights with sara and jesse and their dog Sally, we ate taco bell for the first time in 8 weeks, a family gave us their number so we could call their 60 year old parents for a ride to Maine for a wedding, a lady wished me "good karma" for the rest if our trip, we met marks beautiful fiancé heather jo, and the list just keeps growing.

Our faith in humanity is restored. People are good and people are so kind and so generous. I'm not blind. I know there are bad people and I know bad things could happen. But right now. Today. I love America. And I love the people in it.

So we are in Rutland/Pittsford, Vermont. Today, we had the luxury of slack packing 17 miles over Mt. Killington (which was gorgeous). Any day without packs feels like a dream! And the trail is actually a trail, not just some rock formations with steels bars coming out of them!

Hopefully soon we will be in Massachusetts! We are shooting to catch the Patriots/Titans game on TV somewhere!

Side note: Congratulations to my friend Michelle on the birth of her sweet twin babies! All these twins are making me nervous.