What Smells?

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Hey Everyone! Since we last blogged we have been hiking along, out of Connecticut, through Massachusetts and Vermont, and into Hanover, New Hampshire. The cooler weather of the Northeast is a welcome change! Hiking is definitely getting more difficult with more mountains and obstacles in the way, but the more frequent scenic vistas are making for generally more enjoyable hiking days.

Our first day back to the trail following our Connecticut visit, we climbed over Bear Mountain, the highest mountain on the trail in Connecticut and Mount Everett, the 2nd highest mountain in Massachusetts. It was definitely a snap back to reality! The combination of a few days off, high temperatures, and a relatively long, strenuous hiking day got the best of us. When we reached the top of Bear Mountain, we were exhausted and completely drenched in sweat. We took a long break in the shade at the top of the mountain to cool off and make sure we made it down the other side into the beautiful Sages Ravine. That break paid off, and we cruised through the rest of the day making light work of Mount Everett. Unfortunately, we successfully transitioned from clean normal people into sweaty, smelly, dirty hikers in just a few hours. We did our best to clean up in a stream before bed, but our first night back in the tent was not fun!

Over the next week or so, we hiked our way over the hills of Massachusetts and into wet, soggy VerMUD..errr, I mean Vermont. During our travels, we successfully climbed some of the highest and coolest mountains in their respective states, many of them people would know more for their great skiing in the winter time -- Mt. Greylock in MA, Stratton Mountain in VT and Mt. Killington also in VT. Each mountain had its own uniquely cool thing at the top. The trail over Mt. Greylock (highest Mt. in MASS) passed a huge monument and a viewing platform where you could see well into the neighboring states. On top of Stratton Mountain there was a tall, rickety fire tower that we climbed and enjoyed amazing 360-degree views on an overcast and windy day. Mt. Killington made us work hard to get to the top, having to take a 0.2 mile side trail that was windy, rocky, slick and very steep. I actually ditched my trekking poles on the way up because it was easier to hike and use my hands to hang on. After all the work getting to the top it got hazier and hazier, with ridiculously strong winds. We caught a breathtaking 10 second view of the valley before the next cloudbank rolled in and we could see only white.

Since arriving in Vermont, the trail (and weather) has been wet and soggy. As we trudge along the trail, we frequently encounter huge mud puddles that we must navigate around or over by skipping across small rocks and logs. One misstep and Whammo! You are ankle deep in a stinky mud bath. We’ve actually made a game out of jumping over bigger and bigger puddles by pole vaulting across with our hiking sticks. I’m the big winner so far clearing an 8 foot long beast. Jeff attempted a ten footer, but came up about half foot short, slipped with legs flailing like a newborn deer on an ice pond, and fell on his rear end in the puddle. I caught it all on video, but Jeff started whining and confiscated the evidence immediately. At any rate, our shoes are really starting to stink! Yesterday, Jeff and I were sitting on a rock taking a break when we were suddenly taken by a rank odor. We checked everywhere before we figured out that it was us! Awful!

Speaking of “what smells,” we have started to see more and more evidence of Moose the further north we get in Vermont. Not only have we seen hoof prints down the trail, but huge piles of droppings as we go. On the day we climbed over Killington, Jeff & I were walking along chatting about random things and avoiding the mud as much as possible. OK, I have waterproof shoes, so I avoid the mud a little less than Jeff and trudge along as clumsily as I would any other day. This particular day I was doing pretty good when I stepped on an innocent looking rock, slipped and landed face-first in the mud. Immediately I was overwhelmed by the most disgusting odor and scrambled to my feet in shock that I had actually fallen. As Jeff tried not to laugh I grabbed my handkerchief and started wiping the mud off, absolutely disgusted at what I now smelled like. I mean, the mud looked like “mud,” but it smelled like a moose had been there if you know what I mean! Needless to say, we hiked straight to town for a shower and washing machine!

Well, we just crossed the New Hampshire border! The next couple weeks look to be quite challenging and beautiful as we enter the White Mountains. We’ll hike many of the presidential mountains and even summit Mount Washington! We’re really looking forward to the beauty of hiking above treeline, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for good weather along the way! Only two states to go!!!

~Styx & Bones

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Good Times & Pledge Donations (from the mind of Will VU!)

Hey everyone!

New Jersey & New York were absolutely brutal on us! Record high temperatures and unforgiving boulder-like terrain. We spent the better part of both our last days in NY walking tip-toed over huge rock formations -- the mountains were just ROCK! Anywho’s, we packed it in a little early to make it to CT for the weekend and were thankful to be greeted by good friends and good times there. I originally planned to post up pictures of how much fun we had on “vacation” last weekend, but just like last time, I downloaded all the pictures onto my desktop computer and came back out on the trail without them. Oops! A huge “thank you” goes out to all the great people who were nice enough to stop by Humphrey’s in Branford on Saturday to say hello and have a drink with us -- it was a pleasure seeing all of you! Also much thanks to our friends who let us crash at their place while we are homeless, for our friend with the sweet boat with whom we hung out on Sunday, and to the awesome chicks who met us for lunch on Monday -- it was great seeing all of you! We did learn while we were home that there are more people in CT who want to hike with us than we originally expected. For this reason, we have decided to skip the 50 miles in CT for now and move on to hike in MA. Once we are done with the full trail we will complete the CT portion on weekends when our friends can join us. If you would like to join us in a day hike after this is all over, just let us know.


In other equally awesome news, we just got our first pledge donation and all we had to do was hike 1,500 miles to get it! A friend from Germany, Will Vu, has successfully entertained himself (and me) by pledging money if we complete the following two acts on the trail:

1) Aly must take a photo during the hike with a Texas flag either in the background or foreground of the picture. He notes that he wants me to do this because he knows I will hate it. I find this request HILARIOUS and will not disappoint! Will knew me at a point in life where I actually owned a t-shirt that said “I’d rather go to hell than Texas.” Please, Texas people, don’t be offended! LOL! Will is from Texas along with most of my friends from when I was stationed in Germany, and I really liked to wear that t-shirt when I went to visit them at their respective houses. I bought the t-shirt in Korea when I met Aaron Milner, a huge fan of Texas, who thought it would be really funny to send me a Texas flag t-shirt, Texas shaped pillow and other Texas souvenirs. To get back at Aaron I bought him a bunch of awesome California stuff and made him a CD of all songs with the word California in it. OK, so my hate for Texas carried over to Germany and became quite entertaining to me. Now, three years later and after having lived in Texas for 9 or so months, Will is getting back at me in an even more awesome way! I cant wait to figure out how to accomplish this one.

2) Purposely spill a pot of chili. Strange request right? Well, if you knew me in Germany you might know the story of when I made a crockpot full of chili for a potluck at work. Being the genius that I am, I thought it would be a good idea to put the crockpot on the back seat of my Ford Focus. Everything was good as I drove to the base until I rounded one of the last of many corners approaching the main gate. As I turned I could hear the lid of the pot fall as the chili spilled out all over the back seat of my car. It was a total mess as I scrambled to reach back into the dark backseat of my car to try and put the lid back on the pot. My arm was soaked in chili, my car was soaked in chili. I showed up at the Group Commanders building with myself and my car covered in chili, and everyone just started laughing at me, specifically for setting the pot on the seat and not the floor. OK, well NOW I know! THANK YOU WILL for reminding me AGAIN of what an idiot I am!

My question is, can I spill the pot of chili on the Texas Flag and take a picture of that?

Anyways, that’s it folks! Hope to post some pictures of Massachusetts and Vermont in the next week! If you want to make a “pledge donation” like the ones above, just send us an email!

~Styx & Bones

Ready to donate? Visit http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ and click the “donate online” button! Easy!

Photos!

Forgot to say we've uploaded some new photos in the PA, NY, NJ album!  Some great views and awesome pics!

http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010/PennsylvaniaNewJerseyNewYork#

It’s gonna take more than rocks and bears to slow us down!

We are still alive and kicking and racing through the woods! We haven’t blogged in a bit because we have been literally RACING through the countryside on the way to Connecticut. It all started last week when Jeff told our buddy Dave that we’d be there by THIS Friday. Shortly thereafter we realized that to meet this goal we had to hike TWENTY EIGHT miles a day for eight days with no breaks! HA! Are we insane!? Certainly we must be! Amazingly right now we are on track to get to CT as promised, but there are a few days left to go. Today it was the hottest day in 10 years here as we crossed the New York border, so we’ll see how it goes the next few days! Other happenings since we last updated:

  

PENNSYLVANIA: We have heard since we started planning our hike that PA is where your shoes go to die. They say its covered in rocks and miserable and it pretty much was! Considering that I am a rock jumping genius I loved it for a while, but after a few miles or 10 you start to wear down on all the rock jumps. The most memorable thing about PA was the climb up out of Lehigh gap. It was a bare rock face where you just climb straight up rocks to the top where the trail continues. There were two really significant things about this part of the trail. The first was the blood spatters that started at the bottom of the trail. I don’t know if the person fell at the bottom and climbed up to the top or fell at the top and climbed down the hill (to a hospital hopefully), but there was a gross bloody trail the entire way to the top. The whole way we climbed I tried to avoid the mess and at the same time envisioned going around a corner and finding the person lying there. It was crazy! The second thing was an interesting guy we met before we started our hike up. He was sitting on a rock completely drenched in sweat. He saw us and asked us where the trail goes once we get up the mountain. Since we were at the bottom and had not climbed even one inch of the trail to the top, we said we had no idea. He told us that he had gotten to the top, saw a pine tree in the middle of the trail and didn’t know which way the trail went. Then, not knowing which way to go, he took a right, and had “bushwacked” his way through the woods, down, around and back to the beginning. Trying to contain my laughter and an appropriately timed “well I guess the trail ain’t to the right,” comment, we attempted to sympathize and headed on. You see, the AT is known as the most well-marked continuous footpath in the US. There have been times when we go the wrong direction, but it only lasts a few feet until we don’t see a next marker, backtrack and go the right direction. There is never, EVER, a reason for you to “bushwack” anywhere! ANYWHERE! LOL.

  

JERSEY: Seriously, who knew that Jersey was the bear capital of the trail??? WHO KNEW??? Apparently Jersey is the most densely populated area when it comes to bears on the whole trail. Our very first day on the trail there, we intended to walk around 25 miles and camp. Within a couple miles of starting the trail in Jersey, Jeff saw a HUGE bear that he said was “sitting there and staring right at you!” (you being me). Unfortunately I didn’t see the bear, which seems to be the trend for me. Jeff sees a bear, he tells me exactly where it is, and I look for it but never see it. All I do is hear it as it runs away! Later in the day we were warned by other hikers about at least 6 bears that they had witnessed on the trail. One guy had to wait an HOUR while a bear ate a lunch of twigs and berries right in the middle of the trail! With this new information, Jeff decided that we were not camping and made me hike 30 something miles to get to a town and check into a motel. You think hiking 30 miles is crazy until you see the bear, then it makes perfect sense! The next day we saw a guy who said he saw 11 bears the day before. At that point, I was relieved that we hit a motel, but I was also wondering what was wrong with me because I haven’t seen a single bear this whole time!!! Then today the magic happened! There was a mamma bear and a baby bear running away from us, across a road and up a hill. It was perfect and just the way I had hoped my first bear experience would be. I saw a bear and it was running in the opposite direction of me! Perfect!

  

NEW YORK: Just got here! There was a section of trail today that looked really flat and boring on our guide’s profile map but turned out to be miles and miles of us going up and over HUGE rock formations. It was exactly the opposite of what I would have thought it to be! Tomorrow’s hike looks really hard, so if I compare the map “profile” to that of today, we will probably never make it!

  

Wish us luck! Miss you all! Can’t wait to see our Connecticut friends and family this weekend!

  

~Styx & Bones

  

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