Jeff & Aly's HikeStrong 2010 Blog

What a Year!

2011-03-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hi All --

Today marks the one year anniversary of when Jeff and I saw the weather report and decided to wait an extra day to start hiking the Appalachian Trail! It has definitely been an amazing year and we wanted to say thank you once again to everyone who supported us on our journey.

Its exciting to remember how it felt this time last year. We caught a couple of ridiculously cheap flights to Atlanta and jumped through a series of hoops to make it to the starting line in Amicalola Falls, GA. Starting the hike was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. I personally had never hiked more than a few miles; never with a pack and never with the intention of camping overnight. Heading out I was comforted by these two facts: 1) I'm stubborn & 2) I'm not a quitter. I was pretty sure those two traits would get me to the end, and with the help of a good hiking partner, excellent planning on Jeff's part, and a lot of kindness from friends & strangers, it did.

Since the hike we have returned to what most people consider a 'normal' life. With the help of great friends and former colleagues we were both able to quickly get jobs working for Unilever again, this time on the corporate side in Trumbull, CT. Today Jeff is a Senior Quality Leader, ensuring marketplace quality and reconciling customer complaints for various product lines. I'm a Logistics Operations Specialist and spend my working day coordinating the shipment of Ice Cream from factories to distributions centers all across the US. Mmmmmm.... Ice Cream...

Lately the adventure of a lifetime we started just one year ago seems like a far and distant dream. Coming back to 'real life' somehow minimized the experience to the point where it really does seem just like a blip on the radar of life, but at the same time there are reminders everywhere. When a song from one of our hiking playlists comes on the radio, one of us never fails to say "Ooooh! This is a hike song!" and then dance around remembering the trip. Other times as we are glazing over on the commute to work one of us will randomly say "remember that time we just left and went hiking?" Its easy to romanticize something so tough when its over, but there is no denying the freedom you feel when you just give up everything and do something awesome.

On a recent snowboard trip to Okemo, Jeff discovered another trail - the "American Discovery Trail." This one goes across America from somewhere near Washington DC and ends over in the San Francisco, CA area. When he mentioned it to me I was immediatly annoyed at the idea of hiking an even farther distance... straight through "scenic" middle America and over to CA. Or was I? This trail brought something new to the table... something different and exciting at the same time... something with two wheels and some handlebars.

So now the only question is... why not bicycle?

~Styx & Bones

Wait, did we really just walk from Georgia to MAINE?!

2010-08-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

Maine photos updated here: http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010/

Is this real life? Did we really just walk from Georgia to MAINE?!? I guess I have the bruises, scars, smelly clothes, useless shoes and mangled feet to prove it, but it just doesn’t feel real… I couldn’t have possibly walked the entire Appalachian Trail. I was warned we would feel this way once we got off the trail and came back to the “real world,” but I had no idea how surreal being back would be. We search for jobs, run errands, hang out with friends, and do everything normal people would do. It’s hard to believe a few short days ago we were celebrating hiking over 2,175 miles and raising exactly $11,466.13 to fight cancer. Thank you so much to everyone for your support, donations to LIVESTRONG and good karma! We definitely needed it and it helped us prevail on the trail!

Since we last blogged…

We saw a Moose! MAN that thing was big! It was just in the style I like to see bears… far away and walking the other way. The moose was a little less daunting than the bear, as it was in the water on the other side of a pond. Soon after we spotted it, the moose slowly lumbered off into the trees and up the opposing hill never to be seen again. Several times throughout the day and rest of the trip we would stop when we heard something in the distance, hoping it was another moose, but it always ended up being squirrels or birds or something else completely non-moose.

There are legends on the trail about people from Maine. Most of them we heard from our pal “Bad Dinner,” and others we propagated as we hiked on. These legends included things like “Maine could conquer Canada, but they don’t want to have to pay the taxes,” and “Icy hot is too weak for people from Maine. After hiking they just rub their muscles down with liquid hot magma.” These “Maineiacs,” as we liked to call them always seemed to carry the heaviest pack, walked the most miles a day and never carried trekking poles (they are too girly I guess). Their distinguishing characteristics included enormous hiker thighs, bushy fu-man-chu’s and a glare that could turn a man to stone. Thru-hikers from Maine were tough… and when we finally reached Maine we were taught a lesson why.

You see, when you get to Maine there is a nice pretty sign that tells you you’ve reached the border. After that sign you slip your way up a wet stone slope and then hike directly back down a boulder-filled rock face. There are no “foot bridges” in Maine on the Appalachian Trail. If you want to cross a stream you take your shoes off and walk through it. Once in a while a lumberjack will have chopped down a tree and you can walk across that, but fording rivers is what you do in Maine. There is only one place in Maine where you seem to get a break when it comes to stream crossings. On the Kennebec river there’s a nice guy named Dave who ferries you across the river in a canoe. They ask you not to ford this river because there are multiple dam’s on it that can quickly cause the water to rise without notice.

Maine also has a few other key attributes. We talked about Mahoosuc Notch in our last post, the “most fun or hardest one mile of the AT” which had us scrambling over boulders for over a mile. Sugarloaf and Bigelow were also killers. Then, just as you feel like you are getting to the very end of the trip, you get to the 100 mile wilderness. The sign as you enter it warns you that there are no places to get supplies or help for a hundred miles, and tells you to take 10 days of food as you enter. Once you make it out of the 100 mile wilderness, then you have to climb Mt. Katahdin. Mt. Katahdin is where the AT ends for us Northbounders, and the 5 mile ascent is what I consider the most difficult hike of the entire trail. Some would argue with me on that one, but I still say it is the hardest.

The trail up Katahdin starts out fairly low-key, quickly getting steep, climbs over boulders up to false summit, flattens out for a mile, and then finishes with another step climb to the top. The hike was agonizing as we tried to pick the best route up the rock slopes knowing full well when it was over we would have to scramble back down the same way. At one point we were sure we were near the top when other hikers passed us going down the mountain. One of them said to Jeff, “you’re almost to the top of the first peak, and then you’re gonna laugh.” What in the world did that mean!? I mentally prepared myself for the worst, climbed over the last big boulder, and then completely understood what the guy meant. When I got to the top of the first peak I could see over a mile of flatland leading to another peak, waaaaaaaay in the distance. The hike up the mountain literally felt like it lasted forever. We pushed on, climbed up the peak we had seen in the distance, and then saw the infamous “Katahdin” sign. Oh what a feeling! We took a few minutes to take in the beauty of everything we saw around us – 360-degree views of the valley, trees, cliffs, lakes and clouds – it was so surreal. Surprisingly there were a LOT of people on top of the mountain, and the weather was getting bad, so we snapped some triumphant photos and headed on our way back down the hill. Maine didn’t let up on us till the very end… raining on us as we tried not to slip off the rocks we had to scramble down. When we made it back to Baxter State Park, we put our shoes in a pile of things to burn later, and headed out of the park.

We really want to thank all of you for following along with us, and for all the great support from you all. A special thanks to all who have donated to LIVESTRONG in our name and enabled us to raise over $11K to fight cancer! If you would still like to donate, you can do so by going to www.hikestrong2010.com and clicking “donate online!”

Not sure what is next on the agenda… but I’m sure it will be awesome!

~Styx & Bones

The Best For Last!

2010-08-03T04:05:00.000-07:00

To see our full blog with pictures go to http://www.hikestrong2010.blogspot.com/.
New pics uploaded at http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010/ in the first two albums.

I’ve often wondered why more people don’t hike the AT south from Maine to Georgia. My rationale for supporting hiking south is because the weather is way more friendly if you start in the cool summer breezes of Maine and then work your way to Georgia after the heat wave of summer is gone. Having hiked this far now, I realize that people choose to do it from GA-ME like Jeff & I because of New Hampshire and Maine…period. Not only are they by far the most beautiful sections of trail, but they are also the hardest. I’m sure that you need the practice of hiking the first 1,800 miles to get ready for them. I honestly can’t imagine hiking the trail from ME to GA now because if it didn’t physically kill me, after seeing what I’ve seen here, the rest of the trail probably would have bored me to death!

Since we’ve last blogged…

Our first “Welcome to NH” was Mt. Moosilauke, a 4,800 foot beast that takes you directly up the mountain and down the even steeper and more slippery north face back down to 1,000 feet in under 4 miles. The actual “welcome” was in the form of a sign that read “This trail is extremely tough. If you lack experience, please use another trail.“ And they weren’t kidding! The north face was a treat with cascades right next to the trail for over a mile heading downhill. This part of the hike reminded me of a journal entry I had read in a shelter register back in New York (Jeff’s re-creation of it shown here), which talked about how the trail used to have a lot of “switchbacks” that would wind around mountains to help you go up them in a less steep manner, and now the trail just seems to go straight up and over the highest peaks it can find.

Going into the White Mountains we saw an inordinate amount of day hikers and French Canadians! It was actually pretty weird being around so many people during the day, and even weirder having to talk to them… lol. I remember very clearly coming down one stretch of the presidential range. The hike was pretty intense, with huge rock steps going down, down, down. We were tired of hiking at this point, so we started going faster and faster, but still stopping to enjoy some waterfalls on the way. At one point we saw three kids hiking and asked them how much further. One kid said 2 miles. We were stunned! The trail to the bottom was only 2.7 miles, and we had been hiking for a while, surely we had not only gone .7 miles! We decided they didn’t know what they were talking about and asked for a second opinion. The next people we came across was a mother and daughter who were taking a break by a footbridge. We asked how much further and the girl said it had taken them an hour and a half to get there, so we definitely had an hour left. We were disheartened, wanting so bad to be at the end. Eight minutes later we were at the bottom. We then vowed to never ask a day-hiker a question… ever!

The White Mountains of New Hampshire are officially one of my favorite places I have ever been -- definitely check out the pics. We climbed Mt. Washington, the second highest mountain on the trail, for my birthday and enjoyed the clearest, most beautiful views from the top. The 60-80 MPH winds were a little crazy, but its not called the “home of the worlds worst weather” for nothing! The sign as you approach the summit reads “STOP. The area ahead has the worst weather in America. Many have died there from exposure, even in the summer. Turn back now if the weather is bad.” Yikes… what are they trying to say here? Double-yikes to the teenager that soon walked past me with no shirt on. It was an amazing birthday.

After the presidentials our next mental milestone was reaching the border of Maine, and MAN we were glad to see it! I was so excited! I took a picture hugging the sign and Jeff picked it up and played it like a Rockstar jamming on a guitar -- it was awesome. After the border, the thing Jeff & I had been looking forward to most was “Mahoosuc Notch.” They call this one-mile stretch of trail either the most fun one mile or the hardest one mile of the entire Appalachian Trail. Jeff & I definitely call it the most fun -- so much fun we thought about doing it twice. We posted a lot of videos on our Facebook page and have a bunch of photos in our picasa album if you want to see for yourself. This area is a massive jumble of boulders and rocks that you have to scramble over, climb under and jump across to get to the other side. In one spot I had to use the roots of a tree like a rope to climb up a rock wall to the top! Jeff always seemed to make it look easier than me, but I still made it and had a ton of fun. My pack finally received some battle damage though, as I scraped a couple holes in the side as I squeezed myself between two boulders.

We only have a couple hundred miles left now! Its so crazy to know we’ve come this far and have raised over $10K to fight cancer! Thank you to everyone who has donated, and if you still want to donate you can do so by going to http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ and clicking the “donate online” button. Our phones are supposed to be turning into useless paperweights any day now, so you probably won’t hear from us until the end! If you need to find us, leave a voicemail or send an email and hopefully we'll get it! :0)

See ya in a couple weeks!
~Styx & Bones

What Smells?

2010-07-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

To see our full blog including photos go to http://www.hikestrong2010.blogspot.com/
New Pics Uploaded at: http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010/MassVermontNewHampshireMaine#

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

Donate now by going to http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ and clicking “Donate Online.”

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

2010-07-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

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

Donate to LIVESTRONG now at http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ by pushing the “donate online” button. Thank you for your support!

Milestone Achievements & Challenge Dominations!!!

2010-06-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

WOW! What a crazy past few days! After the roller coaster, ninja fly battles and skirting the border of West Virginia I wasn’t sure life could get any better. Then this week Jeff & I managed to get two tickets on the crazy train to Pennsylvania. Milestones & Challenges were the flavor of the week.

MILESTONE #1: We crossed into Harpers Ferry, WV and checked in at the Appalachian Trial Conservancy (ATC) as thru-hikers #443 and #444 for the year. The ATC is the “sentimental” half-way point for AT hikers, though it is about 75 miles shy of the actual mid-way point, and keeps track of all thru-hikers who come through the building. When you have completed the entire hike, you check in again from Maine, and they mail you a sweet certificate that says you hiked way farther than any sane person would have done (A 2,000-miler certificate).

CHALLENGE #1: There is a thing on the AT called the “Quad State Challenge.” Baltimore Jack, a man who’s hiked the AT 7 or 8 times says of the Quad State Challenge: “One starts on the WV/VA line, and finishes on the MD/PA line, i.e. around 40 miles in one day. It is usually done by testosterone-laden young hikers, who then brag about it afterward in hopes of impressing people, always neglecting to mention the day or two they had to take off afterwards in order to recover from their ‘challenge.’ Most hikers find this exercise pretty foolish.” Sounds like this was our kind of challenge! Except for us the mileage total would be 45 miles. We started hiking at 2:50am and finished just after 11pm, a total of a little over 21 hours. I really thought I would be more tired, more in pain and more cranky than I really was. Instead I was just really excited at what a feat we had accomplished! I mean, we hiked FORTY FIVE MILES in one day! AND, we didn’t take the next day off! We had a shorter hike, but we actually felt pretty dang good. The past few miles were agonizing knowing we were so close to the end, but we kept plugging along. When we got within 600 yards of the end there were bushes full of fireflies. Of all the things we’ve seen on the trail I will never love or be more mesmerized by any one thing than by the fireflies, and this time there were hundreds of them. I kept staring at the magical fireflies as we continued to hike our final steps. Then in true form, one of those buggers dive-bombed my ear. I flicked it off and realized minutes later that it had landed right on my chest and had been blinking like one of those light-up buttons they sell on the streets at County Fairs… and Songtan, ROK. Very cool! But then, in true AT fashion, as I am enthralled by the beauty of fireflies, a black snake slithered out of the darkness onto the trail just ahead of me. I almost stepped on the thing! Luckily Jeff wasn’t too far ahead and came back to remove the snake with his trekking pole. I HATE snakes! Now over the mason-Dixon line, we can start pronouncing it APPA-LAY-CHUN, instead of APP-A-LATCH-UN. Why the difference anyways???

MILESTONE #2: HALFWAY THERE! That’s right! I said it! We officially crossed over the REAL halfway point of the AT today! If I didn’t have what felt like a charley horse in my right leg I would have jumped up in the air and clicked my heels together! Instead I gave the good ’ol “thumbs up” in my halfway picture, and Jeff did an awesome handstand. Now its all downhill from here! HA! I wish! But at least it feels like we are “counting down” instead of counting up now. Less than 1,087 miles to go!

CHALLENGE #2: What’s better to celebrate crossing the halfway point of the Appalachian Trail than another crazy hiker challenge. This one is held in Pennsylvania’s Pine Grove State park where, for over 20 years, thru-hikers have followed a tradition of eating half a gallon of ice cream to celebrate the milestone. The rules of the challenge are really simple: when you reach the park, go to the general store, buy a half gallon of your favorite ice cream, and consume it in one sitting. Pretty much everything I had read about the challenge amounted to self-torture: stomach pains, being unable to finish and yes, vomiting. Why would we want to take on such a challenge, knowing its history and that a great number of people don’t finish it? Because we are competitive, and we were hungry, that’s why! We checked in with the general store owner around 7:15pm. Jeff asked the guy if it would count if we shared a half gallon, and the guy all but laughed in our faces. Jeff explained that he was worried about me not being able to finish. I laughed a little on the inside and wondered if Jeff knew me at all. The facts are simple, Ice Cream is my favorite “food,” and I was trained early on by the military to eat massive amounts of food FAST. We sat down in front of the store and dove into our ice cream -- Jeff had Fudge Ripple and I was with my old standby Rocky Road. An older lady walking her poodle saw us and said “Oh my! You’re not going to eat all of that are you???” My answer “yep, we sure are.” As we ate I laughed at the journal entries written by others who had attempted the challenge… what a bunch of whiners! 24 minutes later Jeff had polished his off and I followed a full 4 minutes after that! I was pretty sad he beat me by so much, but then I looked at the times registered in this year’s ledger of competitors and realized in the span of four pages only 1 person had a better time than Jeff, and 4 had a better time than me. Man, we are awesome at challenges! LOL! I was so hopped up on sugar and excited afterwards that I called my mom like I had won the lottery… LIKE I HAD WON THE LOTTERY! What we did win was almost as good as the lottery… a small wooden spoon, like the ones you get in those little ice creams in middle school, with the words “Member of the Half Gallon Club” written on it.

Can’t get any better than that!

MILESTONE #3: We have raised almost half of our goal for this hike to fight cancer with over $8,700 donated! Thank you to all who have given to LIVESTRONG in our names! If you are financially able, please go to www.hikestrong2010.com and click the “donate now” button to support us on our quest to raise funds for this great charity. We have some super-awesome postcards we are waiting to send you to say thanks!!!

~Styx & Bones

Naked Hikers, Roller Coasters & Flies!

2010-06-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that right… naked hikers. June 21st marks the first day of summer and a “unofficial tradition” with thru-hikers, or those hikers who attempt to complete the entire Appalachian Trail in one season like Jeff & I. Its called “naked hiker day,” where most say you should bond with nature by hiking a mile naked. We ran into a few hikers who said they participated in this event, but saw no proof during our hike for the day. We took some “joke” type pictures to post on our blog, but never intended to actually participate. Then, as I’m walking peacefully through the forest, I come around a corner and all I see is Jeff’s rear end heading down the trail! Luckily no one caught him, but it was definitely hilarious and another memorable moment from our trip here.

Hiking today we came upon a sign that read: “Hiker Notice, WARNING! You are about to enter The Roller Coaster built and maintained by the “Trailboss” and his merry crew of volunteers. Have a great ride and we will see you at the Blackburn Trail Center (if you survive).

Uhhh… sounds like a great time! NOT! The “The Roller Coaster” is a 13.5 mile section of the trail in Virginia with tightly packed ups and downs over a whole bunch of mountains the trail seems to make no attempt to go around. Almost halfway through our roller coaster ride, I began to hear a woman screaming in the distance. I asked Jeff if he heard it to make sure I wasn’t going crazy, and after he confirmed I began to wonder why this lady was screaming. Was she hurt? Was a banjo-playing deliverance crazy chasing her? A few hundred yards more down the trail we found the source of the screams. It was two girls, Powerpack and Deetz, who we have been hiking with for months. They were cracking themselves up and enjoying their “roller coaster” ride by clicking their trekking poles together to mimic the roller coaster sound going uphill, and throwing their hands in the air and screaming on the way downhill. These chicks are awesome, because it seems like they have enjoyed every minute of their trip and crack us up every time we see them.

For our roller coaster experience, the trail very simply goes up and down over the top of all these mountains for THIRTEEN MILES. With the 96+ degree weather, it was a killer. Jeff said it best though as we took a break at Sam Moore Shelter. He said “its not the roller coaster that breaks you, it’s the horse flies dive bombing your face that does it.” Man, is he RIGHT! In this part of Virginia it has been all out war, with the deer and horse flies on one side, and all of mankind on the other. I feel like the flies are playing some kind of game with us. Its like they circle our heads, seeing how many times they can get us to smack ourselves, before they fly away for a few seconds only to return faster and more daring the next time. The last two days especially have been all out battle. If I was scoring points for how many I killed, and they were scoring points for how many times I’ve injured myself in battle, we would probably be tied. Yesterday as I was flailing my arms around trying to swat a persistent fly, I stabbed myself in the leg with my own trekking pole. Yes, I have a bruise now. Today I hit myself in the face with it.

3 miles shy of 1,000!!! Almost in West Virginia! You’ll hear from us next after we attempt the “Quad State Challenge,” where we try and go over 40 miles from the border of Virginia, through West Virginia, through Maryland and into Pennsylvania all in one day. Wish us luck!

~Styx & Bones

3D's: Dollar Store, Donations & "Deliverance"

2010-06-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

New pics uploaded at http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010/VirginiaATHike#

Sitting in a Laundromat in Front Royal, VA trying to wash the stink out of our gear and clothing, Jeff holds up his phone and smiles as a tune plays. “Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River, Life is old there…. Blah, blah, blah… country roads, take me home, to the place I belongggggg…” Ahhhh, John Denver. We laughed because we’d just finished the Blue Ridge Mountains and were presently washing the stink of the Shenandoah River out of our clothes. Life is good. Now for the blog, lets talk about the 3D’s.

Dollar Stores:

It only took us a few weeks to realize that we could fully re-supply ourselves for the trail at any type of Dollar Store. We have, however, more recently learned that not all dollar stores are created equally. At first we were partial to Dollar General, but soon realized that things there didn’t just cost a dollar… they were simply in whole dollar amounts. Northern Virginia has made present more Dollar Tree’s and 99 Cent Stores, which are awesome because everything are those prices. Both stores remind me of Northern California, but I never quite appreciated them as much as I do now. Yesterday the entirety of what the two of us ate in one day cost us exactly $3.50. Awesome.

Donations:

For the most part we’ve tried to keep this blog to just blogging, but now nearing the halfway point it is good to remember that we are doing it for a cause. We’d both like to sincerely thank those of you who are following our blog, and those of you who have gotten involved by donating to our charity LIVESTRONG. Whether you have had Cancer or not, I am 100% sure that you know someone who has, and that makes us all “affected” by it -- thank you to those of you who have shared your stories with us -- it gives us inspiration to push on. When we set out on this journey we hoped to raise what we could for Lance Armstrong’s Foundation, LIVESTRONG, but never imagined we would have raised over $7,500. Thank you so much for the support and encouragement. If you are financially able to donate, and any little bit counts, we would deeply appreciate you doing so by going to our website http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ and clicking the “donate online” or “donate by mail” buttons. Plus, when you donate you instantly get postcards from us on the trail! :0)

Deliverance:

Yes, like the 1972 movie, Deliverance is a film about four guys going on a canoe trip in deep backwoods America and getting harassed by all the inbred, creepy locals. Well, Jeff never told me about Deliverance and convinced me that a multi-day backwoods canoe trip was just the thing to break up the monotony of the trail. After hearing about “Aqua-Blazing” from several hikers, we decided to substitute about 100 miles of trail for several days of canoeing down the Shenandoah River, effectively missing the section of the AT that goes through Shenandoah National Park. The trip was awesome: flat water paddling, Class II rapids, and riverside camping! It was such a great time except for Jeff clueing me into the plot of Deliverance, which I had never seen, after we had started our adventure. For two nights straight I had nightmares of crazy banjo playing locals chasing me down the riverside! Arrgghh!!! Anyways, we did not encounter any whacko’s luckily. We feel good about our decision and thoroughly exhausted after the trip (paddling 20 miles in a day is tougher than we thought). The outfitter that set us up with our canoe said a group of thru-hikers had been through there that week and told them that the Appalachian Trail Conservancy now considered canoeing the Shenandoah as an “official replacement” for the miles missed while canoeing. We are pretty sure that is a pipe dream of said thru-hikers, but agree that it will work for us this go around!

In the morning we start out from Front Royal, VA at mile 960, our stopping point on the river this morning. What does this mean? It means we are few days away from 1000 miles and Harpers Ferry, WV! From there we will attempt the “Quad State Challenge,” where we hike over 40 miles from the border of Virginia to the border of Pennsylvania all in one day. Thats right. 40+ miles! Borderline Insanity? Perhaps.

By the way, Jeff has been looking in the mirror and curling the ends of his moustache into one of those old-time curly-q mustaches for the past half hour. He thinks in another week it will be “perfect.” LOL. That beard is getting LONG!

Later!
~Styx & Bones

P.S. Not to forget, we were fortunate enough to catch up with Bruce and Karen Langevin in Charlottesville, VA before we hit the river! Thank you both for meeting up with us and showing us around town!

Yes, after a long day of hiking Jeff did this.

2010-06-11T14:38:00.001-07:00

Crazy bearded hillbilly!!!

Blue Ridge Mountain Madness...and 700 miles!

2010-06-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

There are new sweet photos updated here: http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010/VirginiaATHike#

We don't have a whole lot new to report, but we DO have some sweet photos updated, so thought we'd do a quick blog to say hello! We've officially crossed 700 miles and are now hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. By "hiking" I mean racing across land, stopping occasionally to take a picture.

The pictures here are from McAfee Knob, the site where our logo that Jeff drew was inspired by. We were, unfortunately, unable to completely re-create our logo in real life due to some very stinky and tired hikers camping on top of the rocks in the middle of the shot. I guess at one point they did offer to move out of the way, but I was too distracted by the hair-filled armpits of the girl who was with them. Oh yeah, I wasn't going to mention that, but it shocked me! LOL! I also wasn't about to do the "roundhouse kick" photo here, but Jeff encouraged me to and I'm glad I did! Thankfully he got the picture in one shot! As soon as I lifted my right leg off of the ground I started to silently freak out at the thought of losing my balance and falling right off that cliff! It was windy!

Anyways, so the past few days and the next several we will be hiking in the along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We have heard a lot about hikers actually hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway instead of the Appalachian Trail. I can understand why they do it. For a large part of the trail, you can see the BRP right from where you are walking, but you hike in the middle of the woods and miss the beautiful views that go along with the road. Plus, there are many opportunities to switch and hike the road, as yesterday alone we crossed the road what seems like 7 times!

The other pics here are of "The Guillotinel" We really thought this rock formation was going to be a lot bigger, but being smaller gave us the chance to mess around on it. I guess you can call this bunch of photos our "not so safe" poses!

OK -- battery going low! Check out the pics!

~Styx & Bones

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
- Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!
- Ready to make a donation? Go to www.hikestrong2010.com & click the "Donate Online" button! Thank you for the support!

Racing through Virginia

2010-06-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

New photos have been uploaded to the the VA album http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010 (I am missing a chunk of photos I forgot to upload in CT... oops).

Back to the grind hiking in Virginia again and seeing what there is to see. Its very green, lots of trees, flowers and old hiking friends to catch up with. After taking a few days off the trail we thought for sure most of the hikers we'd been seeing would have been long gone, but it seems like they all took days off as well. I'm getting the feeling that people hiking the AT start to lose their mind between mile 500 and 700 as almost everyone we've grown to know has taken from 5 to 10 days off in the recent past. In our first couple days back on the trail alone we ran into Dune, Baldy, Lemonade, Hazard, Puma, Chef, Caspar and one of my jacket buddies -- crazy!

The hiking in VA is definitely less challenging than the three states preceeding. There are some difficult parts, like the climb up to Dragons Tooth yesterday, but for the most part we trudge along each day through the woods with not much to see. The most challenging part lately is weird weather! In the past if we saw a 30% or 40% chance of rain, it almost never rained. Now, it seems like that 30 or 40% comes in the form of a quick downpour almost always when we are near the top of a big climb. As we were leaving Laurel Shelter the other day we were almost to the top of a couple mile high climb when suddenly we heard booming thunder followed by popping noises that sounded like bubble wrap. It was all around us! I barely had time to digest it when I could hear the rain coming through the woods like a wave of water. Seconds later I could see the rain coming towards me. All I could do was hunch over my backpack as I scrambled to dig the pack cover out and put it on my bag. Jeff was up the trail and, thanks to the $5 poncho I mocked him for buying, had his pack and himself covered in record time. When I finally caught up to him I just laughed at myself... and took a mental note that I needed to get a poncho... LOL.

Off to hike another day!

~Styx & Bones

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
- Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!
- Ready to make a donation? Go to http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ & click the "Donate Online" button! Thank you for the support!

Virginia... and Vacation!

2010-05-27T08:20:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone --

Since we last blogged we hiked a few 20+ mile days through some of the most beautiful country we've seen yet, the Grayson Highlands of VA and surrounding areas. We saw the famous Grayson Highland Ponies and Jeff even caught an awesome picture of the elusive Eastern Red Newt. Hiking in VA so far has been easier than NC and TN, and I hope it stays that way at least for a little bit. I have yet to find a pair of shoes that doesn't give me blisters each day, and both Jeff and I have been having troubles with our knees even though we have trimmed our pack weight down to the barest of minimums. Before we started the hike, Jeff drew up a great plan of where we projected to be each week until the end of September when we would reach Mt. Khatadin, or the end of our journey. Until now this plan has been rigid on two events that we absolutely had to make it to -- Trail Days and a friend's wedding coming up this weekend. Both events are in Virginia, so it was easy for us to stay on track despite the fact that we tend to hike faster and farther than we ever thought we would. This past week we realized that despite our best efforts, we were still ahead of schedule getting to the wedding, and decided to take an impromptu "vacation" to Connecticut to meet up with friends. Yes, we took a short, mini-vacation from hiking! It definitely feels weird being off the trail for this many days in a row, but it was great to smell the fresh ocean air and see some of the friends who have been supporting us on this journey. Thankfully, our friends Dave and Lina let us crash at their house, and it was in exchange only for a little hard labor by Jeff who helped Dave build the sweetest pullup bar you've ever seen in his yard... lol.

Anyways, I don't have a lot of time to ramble, but we wanted you all to know we are alive. We are leaving Connecticut today, hope to hike a couple more days and will hit up the wedding on Sunday. After that, all gloves are off! We have no further "appointments" as we hike, and plan to continue hiking farther and faster than we have been with a new hiking strategy we will implement when we get back to the trail. I hope this note finds everyone well!

~Styx & Bones

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
- Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!
- Ready to make a donation? Go to www.hikestrong2010.com & click the "Donate Online" button! Thank you for the support!

Now appearing in Virginia! Our 4th state!!!

2010-05-17T20:01:00.001-07:00

Made it to Damascus, VA just in time for trail days! Sure, we hiked 26.6 miles in one day to make it here, but I would say the mental break from hiking every day was well worth it. Pictures are being uploaded to our NC & Tennessee and Virginia albums here: http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010 (there are some really awesome pictures in the NC & Tennessee album... check them out! To catch you up...

We said goodbye to Mary & the Mountain Harbour Hostel after our second night tenting in their yard. She told us to send her a card and mocked me again for the phone call I placed to her before we arrived the first night. She told me that hikers usually know exactly when and where they will be, but when she asked me if we would arrive before dark I replied "I dunno, I hope so!" LOL... apparently I need to get into the game a little better!!! That days hike was great as we crossed our 400th mile!!! The hike from Dennis cove to Laurel Falls started out really flat, but ended up as a roller coaster up, down, up, down and up again very steep stone steps. Our feet were killing us! It was so bad that when we actually got to the falls, neither one of us wanted to walk down to see them... so we got the best view we could through the trees and pressed on! Terrible, I know! Shortly after the falls is my favorite 100 feet of the trail so far -- a narrow stone walkway around a huge rock cliff right next to the river. A few miles after that we were in Hampton, VA where we stayed at Braemer Castle Hostel in Hampton, TN for the night. Hampton is a sleepy little town and reminded me a little of Maxwell... except it had a McDonalds. We walked down to McD's to have a Big Mac attack and as we walked through the doors we heard a familiar voice say "Hey, tell my friend in there to get his @ss in gear!" I have neglected to mention "The Florida Boys," Tim & Jeff, who we had seen hiking the last 2 days. We first met them during our 10 mile slackpack to Mountain Harbour Hostel. While we were hiking we passed Tim who, upon seeing us, told us to look out for a "big old bear" and tell him to get his @ss in gear when we saw him. Soon after we ran into Jeff and delivered the message. Jeff asked if the message was from his "9 month pregnant friend" and laughed that they both enjoyed "trail mail." The next day we ran into both again and exchanged the same pleasantries. That night we happened to run into them after walking a mile to McDonald's... lol... which worked out perfectly as they, and famous 'Trail Angel' Mrs. Janet, gave us a ride back to the hostel. Sutton, Beverly & Alex run the hostel and were very nice and welcoming. Alex said that another hiker had accidentally left his medical tape behind and asked us to return it to him at Trail Days... the 'other hiker' was our friend Loon and we were happy to oblige.

Leaving the hostel we immediately passed the group that calls themselves "Chicken Pot Pie," comprised of Tiny Dancer, Salty, Mr. T, Hot Sauce, Speakeasy & her dog Claire who goes by the trail name "Dragonslayer." We crossed the Dam in Hampton and took a lunch break after a few miles. I mention the lunch break because we decided it would be a good idea to have Pepperoni & Cheez-Its on a Tortilla for lunch today... what the heck?! LOL! We hiked a normal pace for the rest of the day and ended up at Iron Mountain Shelter for the night along with Chicken Pot Pie, Baldy, Powder with his dog Russell and two older gentlemen (one of whom definitely did NOT go far enough away from camp to relieve himself). We stopped early, around 6pm, deciding to get up at 4am to knock out the next 26.6 miles into Damascus the next day.

At 4am the alarm went off, but we weren't about to get up. This was the day that we learned we will never, ever, wake up early to hike. If we want to hike farther, we'll have to do it later in the evening when we are already awake. We were up and out of camp by 7am and it felt like a foot race against Chicken Pot Pie the entire day! Exhausting! We made it to Damascus just before 7pm, going 26.6 miles in under 12 hours and headed straight for tent city. Before we could get anywhere near where we eventually pitched our tent we heard a man shout "get your @sses over here and grab a beer!" It was the Florida boys again! After a welcome break at their tent, we navigated the mile-long strip of land that was designated as "tent city" for hikers to camp in at trail days. We stumbled upon hikers Jason & Evan, pitched our tent next to them and headed to Quincy's pizza for some dinner. On the way there we passed Lawson & my jacket buddies and were amazed at how many people we knew we had seen in such short time. We even saw One Life at Quincy's and were glad to know he was still on the trail. On the way back to tent city we wondered how we would find our tent seeing as how we forgot our headlamps... so we stopped by the general store for beers and to think about it. We purchased a 12 pack at the counter and were directed to a tiny room in the back of a dingy bar to pick up our purchase. There we were greeted by two men and a woman who took 15 beers out of an ice chest, packed them in paper bags and sent us on our way. The paper bags rapidly began to fall apart from the wet beers, and since there were cops all over tent city, that was awesome. We followed the first guy with a headlamp we saw until he turned a direction we knew wasn't towards our tent. So there we were, fumbling around in the dark with 15 beers in shredded paper bags, not knowing where we were when a bright light shone in our faces. Then we heard it... "Hey you two! Get your @sses in gear!" Lol... it was Florida Boy Jeff who happily exchanged a Bud Light for leading us to our tent. That night in tent city was madness. After our longest hiking day yet we were exhausted and fell asleep early, but tent city was drinking, drumming, screaming and partying until just after 4am.

Sure, maybe we are just getting old, but one night in tent city was enough for us, so we headed to a nearby town to relax the next couple days. We had a list of people to see at trail days, and without even trying, were able to check it off as we headed out of town. As we left our tent site we met our fundraising teammates Dayla and Jasper for the first time. Around the next corner was Peach & Bam Bam with the rest of the goonies. Saw Baltimore Jack downtown at the outfitter. Headed to a diner for lunch, changed our mind and went to a different diner only to see our fundraising teammate Joe inside. We were amazed we'd seen everyone! Then we went to pick up packages and realized we'd missed one person, Loon, who *surprise* was at the post office! We gave him his medical tape, took a picture of him with his parade dress, and headed out of town.

Life is good. Rested, resupplied, saw Iron Man 2 and ready to hit the Virginia trail in the morning!

~Styx & Bones

-- HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly Ready to donate? Visit www.hikestrong2010.com and click the "donate online" button! Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

Dancing With The Weatherman

2010-05-10T18:38:00.001-07:00

Amazingly we have service here in beautiful Roan Mountain, TN! We are tenting in the old horse stable in front of the best hostel we have seen so far... Mountain Harbour B&B run by Mary & Terry. They have a plush green lawn for us to tent on, a nice hostel above their barn, and Mary cooks a gourmet breakfast for everyone every morning -- it is deeeelish.

Anyways, to catch you up...
We took another day off in beautiful Erwin, TN (birthplace of Wayne Stephens for you Spangdahlem folk). We caught a movie (Date Night, very funny), and lightened our pack weight a little more. We mailed some colder weather and rain gear ahead of ourselves based on the forecast at the time, reducing our weight temporarily by about 5lbs. We also made a bold move and mailed our sleeping bags and liners home, reducing our weight another 2-3lbs combined. We picked up some ultralight, fuzzy, cheapo blankets and some sweeeet PJ pants at TJ Maxx and have successfully used them the last few nights. This morning we woke up with a frosty tent and a water bottle half frozen, so we are pretty excited to have slept rather warm with them.

The hike out of Erwin was tough but beautiful. We hiked around with most of the people we've been mentioning lately - Ups, Sideways, Sandman, Lowrider, Peach, Bam Bam, Tiny Dancer, Hot Sauce, Mr T and others. Lowrider found my hat hanging on a tree somewhere and reunited it with me while we all had a lunch break at the Greasy Creek Friendly (where I saw a huge nasty snake!) Climbing up Roan Mountain was a chore! It was one of those mountains where you think you are at the top, but there is another "top" once you get there. We ended up camping halfway up the mountain. We were glad we made that choice as the Roan High Knob shelter is the highest on the AT, and even after 10am the next day there was still bits of snow falling on top.

Yesterday's hike was beautiful... huge bald mountains with 360 degree views of the entire valley. When we reached the top of Little Hump Mountain, you could see the trail across the valley going up Hump Mountain. We figured the trail would go down one mountain and right up the other, but the trail never seems to be that easy. We wound around Little Hump Mountain and down to the very base for over half an hour before we finally got close to the base of the next mountain... very annoying. We have a ton of beautiful pics, but need a library to upload them. :0(

We arrived in Roan Mountain, TN yesterday evening. We hiked half a mile for dinner only to find the restaurant closed early for Mothers day... bummer. Since we were out of food, Jeff used his "magic thumb" to hitch to the only open restaurant, Subway. Once we got there, we were so lucky to see four other hikers waiting on a shuttle back to the Mountain Harbour B&B. So here we are in our tent by their creek for a second night. They shuttled us up the trail 10 miles today and we had a nice, easy slackpack back. At one point, we walked into this cozy pine tree tunnel where the ground was just a sea of needles. Jeff was so inspired that he fell to the ground and started making pine needle angels...weirdo!

Tomorrow we should reach Hampton, TN and Virginia by Thursday or Friday for Trail Days in Damascus. The most recent forecast shows rain for the next 10 days! Good thing Jeff mailed his rain jacket forward because he didn't feel like carrying it, huh? He bought a $5 poncho at the Dollar General this afternoon. Can't wait to take sweet pictures of him hiking in the rain wearing THAT!
Oh yeah, we are 1.8 miles from 400! Awesome!

Well, I'm gonna finish off my Coors Light tall boy that we just bought at the Beer Wash - the drive up beer mart where it's OK that five guys are hanging out drinking beer while watching mud tractor pulling on a 13" zenith while their wolf-dog slept on the counter next to the register where I had pay, kill Jeff in a mean game of Cribbage, and call it a night. Hope to write again in a few days.

~Styx & Bones

-- HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
Ready to donate? Visit http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ and click the "donate online" button!
Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

Yes, we hiked 22 miles for a soda pop...

2010-05-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

Jorge Munoz 300 Miles Photo! Loon Phone Lasso-ing Melissa, Sandy, Tim & James Crazy Ridgeline Hike

(Pictures updated at: http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010)

Hey everyone! We are alive and well and in Erwin, TN enjoying a day off to rest our tired feet. We arrived in town very late the other night, hiking a few miles in the dark to get down the mountain and into our hotel. I think my favorite part was walking down the road to the hotel for a mile while calling pizza place after pizza place to find one that would deliver to us. When they asked what room we were in I said I had no idea because I was walking down the road... but that we would be there when they got there! Yes, we were driven by a cool, refreshing soda pop that day, and boy did it taste good.

Its been several days since we've last blogged. Our telephone service has been terrible and there has been no internet access for the last seven days of hiking. To catch you up:

We finally kicked ourselves out of Hot Springs at noontime and still managed to make it to Hemlock Hollow Farm 17 miles up the trail. Along the way we stopped at a pond and met a trail maintainer, the weed-wacker carrying Jorge Munoz, who had "adopted" a cemetery on the mountain. He said he was hiking and stumbled upon it one day, so now it is his honor to maintain it when he could. Hiking this day was sweaty, hot and bug-filled. It was by far the most bug-infested day of the entire trip, which makes sense because I had accidentally mailed off Matt's super-bug spray in our bounce box. Nice. I fell down at LEAST 5 times too, which was a little ridiculous. One time my trekking pole got stuck in a rock and when it jerked me back I almost fell off of the mountain! Good thing I hike slow and Jeff was right behind me -- he grabbed my pack and pulled me back from certain death. Who knows what would have happened!?! Yikes! Hemlock Hollow was a pretty nice place with a cute little cabin by a creek. The weather reports were predicting wild storms, so we decided to do our first "slackpack" for 18 miles from Devils Fork Gap back to Hemlock Hollow for the night. Slackpacking is the act of hiking with minimal gear, and it is awesome. I carried no pack at all (which makes me just a slacker), and Jeff carried one with food and water for the day. We hiked SOUTH, so we passed many of our new friends who were continuing north past us. Snowman & Escargot cursed us for slackpacking, while Loon & East Wind said it was great. They told us Madness & Mayhem had gotten off the trail due to a knee injury for Madness -- hope he gets better soon. East Wind also mentioned that another hiker, Country Gold, was held up at the next shelter exhausted after running out of food. Jeff & I made it our mission to make it to the shelter and give Country Gold a couple Snickers bars that we had planned to eat during our slack. He was really thankful, which felt great! When we reached Big Butt Mountain, our 300 MILE MARK, we met local hikers Melissa, Sandy, Tim & James. One of the men asked Melissa if she had her cell phone and as she pulled it out of her pocket, she dropped it, and it bounced directly down a 5 foot deep crevasse in the rocks we were sitting on. Good thing our slackpack contained the magical ingredient... hot pink duct tape. With the help of a trekking pole and a duct tap "lasso," Jeff managed to fish it out and Melissa was thrilled! We were too! After that, we practically flew over the rest of the mountains and actually jogged the last 3.5 miles down the hill in approximately 48 minutes. The best part about jogging in the wrong direction past people who KNOW you are thru-hiking is the confused look on their faces when they see you doing it. :0)

The next day Mr. Kinsey (owner of Hemlock Hollow) drove us back up to Devils Fork Gap and we started back up the trail. Mr. Kinsey was in the Army in the 1960s over in Germany. He was stationed outside of Munich as a welder and used to get his acetylene from a place right next to Dachau. He said he lucked out going to Germany though because the barracks next to his got sent to Vietnam. Crazy. Deets, Powerpack & Slow-Go passed us on the trail right away, and we leapfrogged with them for the next few days. We all ended up camping at Low Gap and it rained alllllllll night.

The next morning we woke up fairly early, but the rain was still coming down so we waited it out. Around 10am we made a break for it and surprisingly it didn't rain on us the rest of the day! Like normal, everyone we had camped with was already gone when we finally emerged... starting to see a trend here. We crossed Big Bald Mountain, known for great 360-degree views, first thing that morning. It was foggy and visibility was very low... reminds me of the time Mom, James, Jani & I visited the Cliffs of Moher and all we saw was FOG! We hiked hard all day, reaching No Business Knob Shelter at 7pm. Now, the problem with shelters like this one is that they are so close to town. We always PLAN to hike to shelters like those, stay there, and then have a short hike into town the next day. A short hiking day is called a "near-o," but I guess Jeff & I just like our "zero" days more. Knowing No Business Knob shelter was just 6 miles from town, and a nice cold soda pop, we headed into town and didn't look back.

We are glad to be at the hotel and have enjoyed doing laundry, relaxing while watching "Billy the Exterminator" (???), and soaking in the A/C. Back to work tomorrow!!! Last night we had a nice chat with Loon, one of four people slackpacking to Maine with van support by Bayou. Turns out Loon has hiked the AT 5 or 6 times, the PCT 2 times, the CDT and many other trails. He organized this van-supported slackpack and calls it a "Geezer Hike." LOL. He says he's 70 and we found out that he is a Dr. of Natural Resources and was a Professor in the past. If you want to learn more about him, check out www.ratherbhiking.com/hikes/geezers/ I think Jeff & I both want to join their Geezer Hike... he and East Wind have great personalities, great stories, know a ton about the trail, and we love to chat with them. We just hope we can catch up to them again on the trail!!!

Well, I think that's it for now. We hope we have better cell service this next stretch of trail. Hope to be in Damascus, VIRGINIA, by next Friday!!!

~Styx & Bones~

Want to receive our updates by email? Send us a note at hikestrong2010@gmail.com
Ready to donate? Visit www.hikestrong2010.com and click the "donate online" button!

Hot Springs, NC

2010-04-29T13:51:00.001-07:00

What a great city! The AT actually passes right through it! The first thing we saw when coming off the trail was an awesome display from the Hot Springs 4th Grade class where they used different letters to write about things on the AT -- my favorite was "S is for Sticks!" (photos coming soon). Now settled in for a night of Survivor, our residence for the night is half a mobile home situated right on the banks of the river. Not only is this a great and friendly town, but tonight is their annual "River Fest!" We are taking a quick break at the library to catch you up on the happenings of the previous several days before relaxing our tired feet for a few hours! Since we last blogged...

We survived the Smokies! Wow! Some people get lucky and have a great experience wandering through the majestic Smoky Mountains... and some people get pelted with rain and hail the entire time. We were glad to see them go, but know that they are probably awesome if you are able to look around, versus keeping your eyes directly on the trail so as not to slip and fall or step in a muddy pile of muck.

Anywho's, we met some interesting characters the last few days. One, Eric, works for awalkinthewoods.com and is very knowledgeable about the area. Some of the things we learned from Eric:

A) The coyotes in the park (like the one that Jeff saw) actually contain the DNA found in Grey Wolves, which explains why they are much larger than ordinary coyote's and appear more grey/white in color.

B) Its lichen season! Anyone else out there excited about moss???? No???

C) Russell Field shelter (the one with the cage that we stayed at days back) used to get visited by over 10 bears a night... in 2009! They actually had to shut that shelter down last year because of how frequently bears stopped by. Add to that the fact that one of these bears invented "tent surfing," whereby he would jump into the air and land directly in the middle of the tent, smashing it flat. The park service tried to catch him doing this by setting up a "dummy tent" and camera, but the bear was too smart... all they ended up with was a couple pictures of the bear and a picture of a flattened tent. LOL.

I'll skip talking about the day where we hiked in the rain and hail... HAIL! MAN!

We reached the famous Max Patch, a huge natural bald in the middle of the trail, yesterday. Awaiting us at the top was hiker Mucho Gusto. He met some friends at the top and was spreading trail love in the form of chocolate chip cookies made with duck eggs and ghiradelli chocolate --- that was seriously the most delicious cookie I have EVER had in my LIFE! Much thanks to Mucho Gusto. He is a fan of the trail and says he does something like that every year for the hikers -- his website is http://www.trailhound.com/. The top of Max Patch seemed like walking on the moon -- great views on all sides! On the top we met a nice couple who's daughter is the first female bike cop in Connecticut, stationed in New London -- small world! The father had thru-hiked the AT in 1986 and said he still had his certificate. When we reached the bottom of the hill we stopped at a nice grassy area to air out our tent in the hopes it would dry off. There we were passed by a local hiking club that was there to see Max Patch. Joker, an avid hiker, is 77 years old. He said that he is bipolar and has hypermania during the months of April & May. Rather than taking drugs his doctor prescribes, which has nasty side effects, he chooses to hike to get it out of his system. He joked around with us a lot and said that his daughter says its not "hypermania," its "hiker mania." After letting us in on those details he told us that Erwin, TN is a great place to retire and we should think about it for the future... lol. Too funny! This day was so pretty we just kept hiking. Our plan to hike 16 miles turned into 20 miles, and would have been 23 straight into Hot Springs had the sunlight not left our sights. We arrived at Deer Park Mountain Shelter at dark and set up our tent & cooked by headlamp. We were camping by two guys, Jason & Evan, who we hadn't seen since we camped at Cheoah Bald over a week before. 20.5 miles was a loooooooong day, but it was a great day. Today we woke up and had only 3 miles to get ourselves into Hot Springs. After a great breakfast, showers and some clean laundry, we are ready to head out again tomorrow! We should be to Erwin, TN in about 5 days.

Hope to update some photos later... having some trouble at the library here! :0)

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

200 Miles and now in Tennessee!

2010-04-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

New Pictures Uploaded here: http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010

We started our Smoky Mountain Adventure at the Marina near Fontana Dam. Sure, the shuttle would have taken us right to the visitors center AT the dam, but we had hopped off the trail a couple miles south of there at the Marina, so the Marina it was. We started out fairly late in the day, so after some appropriate gawking at Fontana Dam, we crossed over it and into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP). As with any other trail town, the climb out of Fontana Dam was mostly uphill all day. We stopped at Birch Spring Gap campground where we were lucky enough to get one of the last two tent spots left. It was there we met Sandman, Sideways, Ups, Indiana and a few other hikers who were staying the night. There are two things required of hikers in the GSMNP: 1) you must have a back-country permit and 2) you must sleep in a shelter or at a designated campsite.

We woke up the next day to the sound of raindrops falling down on the tent. I think Jeff & I both thought if we fell back asleep for a while that the rain would go away, but it never did -- the 30% chance of rain the weatherman had promised us had turned into a 100% chance of all-day rain! Nice! We reluctantly put on our rain gear, packed up our tent and headed out. Fueled by a couple Pop Tarts and the freezing cold day, we pushed on and did not take a break until 5 miles later at Mollie Ridge Shelter. There we warmed up to a fire Sandman had built and when we saw a break in the storm we headed out again. A few miles later we reached Russell Field Shelter, one of the last shelters in the GSMNP that still has a "bear cage" attached to the front of it, and decided we would go no further. The elevation of the Smokies stays between 5K & 6K feet most of the time, and with the cold front that had moved in, temperatures were low and we were worn out. We managed to build a fire from a pile of wet wood, and were soon joined by Sandman, Ups, Sideways, Indiana, Freight Train & Boomer. While Jeff was out gathering wood, he actually ran across our first Coyote! He said the coyote was about 15 feet from him and when it noticed Jeff, it dropped its jaw open as if suprised, turned, and ran off into the woods. When Ups & Sideways arrived, they mentioned that a bear had come into our campground the previous night and sniffed up against their tent. They scared it off successfully... the second time it came to their tent. Between that story and the coyote, I was glad to be staying in a shelter that had a cage on the front. Sleeping in the shelter wasnt too bad, but the snoring and the threat of mice attacks keep you from really having a "good" nights sleep.

The next morning we were on a 16+ mile mission to get to Double Spring Gap Shelter. It was cold, rainy & wet so really the only things I remember about the hike that day were: 1) we cooked lunch for the first time... Ramen, 2) there was a TON more uphills than the map we had showed & 3) Jeff saw a bear right before we got to the shelter we were camping at... yes, he saw a BEAR! Gaw! Double Spring Gap Shelter is the last shelter before Clingmans Dome (the highest point on the AT at 6,684 feet), so it was pretty busy. O, Boomer, Freight Train, Mama Bear & Papa Bear were all there along with a bunch of other thru-hikers we have met in previous days. Luckily, the shelter was full so we were able to pitch our tent in a grassy patch next to the shelter.

The next morning we got up very early by our standards (around 615) with the hopes of getting over Clingmans Dome and down into Gatlinburg before some really terrible weather hit us. I stretched in my sleeping bag and put my hand against the side of the tent only to discover that it was frozen! LOL! The whole area had frosted over overnight and was blanketed in white. As we were tearing down camp we were lucky enough to see our first deer, a doe and two fawns, that came very close to camp. After taking some pictures and chatting with our new friends Mama & Papa Bear, we headed up the mountain. We took a breakfast break at the top of Clingmans Dome Tower and then started our sprint down the mountain and into Gatlinburg. The trail was highly affected by the previous days' storms, with lots of trees blown over, mud and snow. When we reached Newfound Gap we were on a mission to find a ride into Gatlinburg... we were both craving some Wendy's pretty bad :0). After 5 minutes of trying to hitch a ride, a nice lady approched us with offerings of chocolate chip cookies and an apple --- she said her daughter had thru-hiked the AT last year and said the best kind of "trail magic" came in the form of food. She was right and we were thankful! Soon after a trail maintainer/volunteer named Steve offered us a ride into town in exchange for some help changing out a donation box at the gap. He was pretty knowledgeable about the trail and gave us a few bits of information I was glad to hear AFTER I was in the car -- 1) there are over 2,000 bears in the GSMNP & 2) the reason there is still a cage on Russell Field Shelter where we stayed is because there is a "mean old bear up there that keeps having cubs"... great! He said that there were so many bears in the park that we would probably get stuck in a "bear jam" before we get into Gatlinburg, meaning there would be a traffic jam because someone in their car saw a bear. Sure enough, less than 2 minutes after he said that, there was a bear up the hill alongside the road with about a hundred people trying to take a picture.

We were glad to be in Gatlinburg and took a couple days off there to rest and ride out some storms. Luckily, the day we got into town was their annual "Rib Fest!" HA! In all seriousness, it was a nice break and we were glad to be out of the cold for a couple days. My most exciting moment was when we were walking down the street and all of a sudden we were reunited with my "Jacket Buddies" from Neels Gap! It was great to see them after so many days and good to know we were all still on the trail.

Thats it for now... I hope to blog a little more frequently so we can all avoid these huge diary entries like I just wrote! :0) Talk to you all soon!

Styx & Bones

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

Photo Album Links

2010-04-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

We were FINALLY able to get some new photo's uploaded!!! You can find our state-to-state albums by going to this link!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010

Headed into the Great Smoky Mountains!

2010-04-19T09:00:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! We stopped here in Fontana Dam, NC for a nights rest and to pick up one of mom's great resupply boxes! We haven't had a phone signal in a few days and probably won't again for about 4 more when we reach Gatlinburg, TN. We are headed across Fontana Dam and into the Great Smokey Mountains now... hope the rain in the forecast goes away!!! ~Styx & Bones -- HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

Room With A View

2010-04-17T04:24:00.001-07:00

We had a long, tough, 8.1 mile uphill climb to Cheoah Bald today, but being able to camp at the top makes it all worth it! We saw our first sunset tonight and hope to catch the sunrise in the morning. One of our campsite neighbors said he saw a bear down the hill about a half hour ago... I hope he's just messing with us, but he was pretty excited about it.

Other things we saw today: 2 lizards, an aquamarine colored bug, a 4 foot long black snake, our new friends Convinced, Breathless, Bad Dinner & 7 D's... and a pile of human poo alongside the trail... bad form!

~Styx & Bones

Happy National High Five Day!

2010-04-15T17:07:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful (and a little rainy) day here at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina! Since we last blogged we've traveled 67.5 more miles and into a new state! We hit our 100 mile mark when we stopped for a snack break in the middle of a stream. Now at mile 135 we have the Great Smokey Mountains in our sights and just a few days away. To recap what's been going on...

We've been meeting some fun people along the way and seeing some really cool sights. When we crossed the NC border into Bly Gap, we met a crew of hikers we would leapfrog with the next few days - Trashman, One Life, Laid Back, Turtledove & Timber.

As we hiked into Deep Gap we were passed by a hiker in all black that we'd seen several times in previous days. As he passed us he muttered something about seeing a cheeseburger in his future, but we thought he was kind of crazy and laughed it off. When we got to the gap, sure enough, Red Truck, Green Truck and Brown Trout (previous thru hikers) were throwing their eighth annual "feed the hikers weekend." It was there we learned that our friend in black was actually "Baltimore Jack," the very same man who wrote the resupply book we are basing all of our mail drops on. He has hiked the Appalachian Trail eight times, all northbound, starting back in 1995. We have since hiked ahead of Jack, but hope to see him again in the near future. After some chili dogs and beer we hiked on to Beech Gap campground where we camped right next to one of those pesky "bear sanctuary" signs.

Camping at Beech Gap was interesting to say the least. I awoke several times to the sound of either owls hooting or coyotes howling all over the forest on different sides of us. Thankfully I was too tired to really care, but Jeff barely slept a wink. The first thing he said to me the next morning was that he thought a bear tried to get our food bag from the tree we hung it in, and that he thought whatever was hooting/howling had caught and killed something. Yikes! I couldn't help but think of the quiet lady who was sleeping ten yards from us in only a sleeping bag with head net... she must have been scared to death that night.

We had some challenging hikes the next couple days. Albert mountain seemed nearly vertical with steps and rock climbs all the way to the top... but it was still very fun. At the top was a fire watch tower and a fantastic view. The next day we saw the fire tower in the distance and couldn't believe we'd hiked that far! A couple days later we met Bad Dinner, a fast hiker who was on a mission to reach the NOC and eat a huge pizza. It inspired us to do the same... and so we did! We caught up with him, the big crew from Bly Gap, Number One Son and his dad all at the NOC. We shared a few PBRs with 7 D's and Number One Son and took a break today to do laundry with Bad Dinner and watch Survivor tonight! Anyone notice a trend with us and Survivor?

Speaking of trail names, we've been going by "Styx & Bones." When we left CT, our buddy Dave joked that when we were done hiking we would be nothing but a pile of sticks and bones. Since Jeff's last name is Bonelli, Bones fit. I wasn't sold on Sticks until one day we were hiking along... I almost fell for probably the 10th time, but caught myself with my trusty trekking poles. I shouted to Jeff, "MAN I love these sticks! If it weren't for these sticks my trail name would be Faceplant!" Then I knew it fit... but I spelled it like Styx because, you know, they sing Mr. Roboto! Domo Arigato! LOL!

Styx & Bones OUT!
~highest mileage day = 19.1 miles into Franklin, NC to watch Celebrity Apprentice

Why oh why do we keep seeing this sign everywhere?

2010-04-11T07:42:00.001-07:00

Including next to our campsite...

Goodbye, Georgia...Hello, North Carolina!!!

2010-04-08T11:44:00.001-07:00

We are in Hiawassee, GA tonight, resting up and hunkered down for another exciting installment of Survivor! :0) We are excited to be just 10 miles from our first border crossing into North Carolina! To recap the last few days...

Earlier in the week we hiked to Neels Gap, a well-known place on the trail to meet up with your fellow hikers, stay the night in a hostel and have the experts at the Mountain Crossings outfitter sanity check your gear. We saw some new friends along the way, Orange Moon, Gingersnap & Jaime who we'd been hiking with since the beginning. As we were climbing Blood Mountain, one of the tallest climbs in Georgia, I was wiped out and we decided to take a break halfway up. This is when we experienced our 2nd dose of "trail magic," a 16oz Fruit Punch NOS Energy Drink left right next to the very spot we stopped -- let me say it put a huge spring in our step for the rest of the hike up and down into Neels Gap. When we arrived there, the "Trail Dames" were throwing a BBQ for all of us Thru-Hikers, and we were so thankful for that! Nothing better than burgers and hot dogs after a long day of hiking! After checking into the hostel, we went to the Outfitter and had our packs audited by Logan. We had whittled our pack contents down to the barest essentials, so there was not much for him to audit, but he did fit us with some super-sweet 2lb Granite Gear packs that we are extremely happy with. Our night in the hostel was OK. It was great to chat with other hikers but it was too loud to sleep -- 16 bunks with people snoring and moving around made it almost impossible to catch a wink. Needless to say we were the first ones to leave the next morning -- out the door by 6:30!!!

The next day we hiked about 11 miles into Low Gap, where we arrived early, cleaned up and played cribbage on grandpa's old wooden travel set -- I brought the rules so Jeff would quit saying I was making them up :0). We both had really sore feet from hiking, and Jeff hobbled around camp most of the evening whining about "chafing". lol! "Bulldog", the high school principle, and "Old Blue Eyes" camped next to us. We spent the evening talking about hiking strategy - Jeff & I decided that we needed to change ours if we wanted to make it to Maine. Before we left the next morning "Bulldog" videotaped us for one of his high school video class projects -- he says it will be on YouTube eventually as "Bulldog on the AT."

The next day we implemented our hiking strategy change from "go, go, get there" to "lets hike a bit, take an afternoon siesta, then hike some more." So far it seems to be a much better strategy. We hiked 6 miles to Blue Mountain shelter, relaxed for a couple hours, and then hiked the rest of the afternoon as it started to cool off. We ran into Emily Maple on our way up Rocky Mountain and took a break with her halfway up at a nice stream. Our original plan was to go 13 miles that day and camp at the old Cheese Factory Site. However, there looked like there were some raging wildfires on some nearby mountains, so I agreed to go 15 miles to the shelter on top of Tray Mountain, meaning we would have to cross 3 huge mountains to get there. On the way down Rocky Mountain, I was hiking along to "Fireflies" by Owl City when I realized I was going to fall. My trusty trekking poles kept me from falling down the slope of the mountain, but I still toppled head-first down the trail, eventually landing on my backpack with my head going downhill. I tried to get up, but it was almost impossible... so there I was, laying on my backpack like a turtle on its shell, wriggling around trying to sit up. It took a LOT of effort, but I finally sat up. You would think I would inspect myself for damage at this point, but instead I took a couple pictures... lol. When I took my earphones out, I heard Jeff down the trail singing some random song from his Ipod. There he was dancing in the middle of the trail completely oblivious. Hilarious. When we got to Indian Grave Gap we saw a sign that said the fires were a controlled burn, so I calmed down a little bit, but Jeff was still set on getting to Tray Mountain Shelter. I was so exhausted, and whiney, but we kept going. At the top of Tray Mountain there was a great view of North Carolina -- I can't believe we are so close!!! We arrived in camp near dark, cooked dinner and hit the sack.

The next day we had 11 miles to get to Dicks Creek Gap, which is 11 miles up the highway from Hiawassee where we planned to stop, rest, and resupply. When we hit the road we met a great couple, Bob & Cathy from Ohio, who offered us a ride into town in their camper. They not only took us into Hiawassee, but they stopped on the way in order for us to pick up mom's first resupply box at the Blueberry Patch Hostel. After some much needed Dairy Queen, we checked into the motel and the desk clerk made sure to put us in a room next to the washer & dryer -- lol.

Headed off to Franklin, NC in the morning!

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

Trail Magic, Showers & Survivor

2010-04-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

Our third day on the trail was a challenge after a very exhausting day two. It was 80 degrees and sunny, with almost zero leaves on the trees. We took a break for lunch at Gooch Gap & after about a half an hour our friend from the first day, Marty, arrived. We were sure he was ahead of us on the trail, but at one point he and two other guys took a wrong turn down a steep 2 mile long trail that led directly to an Army Ranger training camp -- not good!!! After the steep climb back up the trail, he was too tired to push on and made camp at the base of Sassafrass mountain. We hiked with Marty pretty much the rest of the day and ended up at Woody Gap near Suches, GA. As we got closer to Woody Gap, we both began to run low on water and eventually ran out just before getting there. In our dehydrated states, we were dying to find the spring to fill up. To our dismay, it was a trickle of dirty water down a hillside. As we treated our half-and-half of dirt and water, two guys we had passed earlier showed up. One of them, Tyler (right), offered beers, water, oranges and a ride into Dahlonega -- he had parked his truck at the gap three days prior. Jeff & I were both pretty sunburnt despite lathering on the sunscreen, and Jeff was nursing some pretty good blisters, so we took them up on their offer and spent a night with some Bud Lights and our favorite, Survivor :0).

Showered, clothes washed and farmers tans in full effect, we are ready to hit the trail again in the morning. We mailed off 8lbs of gear we'd been carrying and will most likely get lighter packs once we get to Neels Gap. Being somewhat rookies to this thru-hiking thing, you don't really think about the difference a few pounds of pack, or a few ounces of soap add up to when you are carrying it on your back over mountains in the heat. Lessons learned, lol, and I am sure there will be more in the future! All that matters is that we are having a total blast and are meeting tons of cool people. It seems like everywhere we go everyone is interested to know what we are doing -- are we thru-hiking? where did we start? where are we from? Everyone has tips and tricks and stories of their own and it is great to be here to hear them. We even ran into our friend "Genuine Draft" here at the place we are staying. Small world.

Talk to you guys soon!!!

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

21.2 down, a whole bunch more to go!

2010-04-01T07:17:00.001-07:00

So far so good! We hiked the agonizingly steep approach trail to Springer Mountain yesterday and enjoyed a nice lunch on top, knowing full well the approach trail doesn't even count! We camped at Stover Creek shelter with some friends we met along the way, Marty & Genuine Draft. GD has her "trail name" from hiking a few years ago - we are still waiting for that moment where we get or choose our own. Today was a long day. We woke up later than pretty much everyone else and hiked with GD to Hawk Mountain shelter for lunch. After 11 and some change miles over mountains and through the woods we made camp at Justus Creek campsite... we are sooooo thrilled to be here! Still working on the plan for tomorrow!
OH, and our campsite neighbor is thru-hiking just like us. He's 80 years old and a total rock star!

Amicalola Falls, Georgia

2010-03-28T20:35:00.001-07:00

We've arrived! No, no, that's not us hiking the Appalachian Trail
just yet... we are just taking a leisurely stroll up the Approach
Trail to check out this awesome view of Amicalola Falls. We have a
few loose ends left to tie up tomorrow, and since the weather forecast
calls for severe thunderstorms with a bonus tornado watch, we figure
we'll take the extra day and start hiking with the sun on Tuesday.
We did get to weigh our packs today at the Visitors Center - 27 lbs
each! Not too bad, but we are definitely scrutinizing our gear
looking to toss any extra weight!

It’s the FINAL countdown… (da da da dum, da da da da dum)

2010-03-26T16:24:00.001-07:00

Wow! I can not believe that we are leaving for Georgia tomorrow!!! Its hard to imagine that in less than 2 days I'm going to show up at the beginning of a 2,175-mile trail and start to hike it… its unbelievable and I am so excited!!!

Today has been a day of packing, mailing, weighing gear, and recovering after a great night out with some old friends from Unilever! Here is a photo of things that will be in my pack as I hike and a list of a few other items in case you were interested in what we are bringing along.

Leki trekking poles

North Face Cat's Meow sleeping bag

Thermarest sleeping pads

Pocket Rocket stove – literally smaller than a pair of glasses

Fuel canister

GSI Dualist cookset

Sweet Sea To Summit ultralight flatwear courtesy of the Arch Man

Gregory pack covers

Outdoor Research gaiters

Gregory Deva pack for Aly

Gregory Baltoro pack for Jeff

First aid kit

Journaling material

ShamWows!

Sierra Designs Velox 3 tent

Water purification system

Grandpa's travel cribbage game – oh yeah!

Waterproof bag for food

Clothes… yes, I gave in and I'm taking my down jacket! (for now)

Sweetest fake crocs EVER!!!

Merrell footwear courtesy of our sponsor, Merrell Footwear & Apparel, Inc.

A bunch of other stuff… lol

That's all for now folks!!! Next Stop, Amicalola State Park, Georgia!!!

~Aly

Colusa Sun Herald Articles

2010-03-09T07:35:00.001-08:00

This article is a little fuzzy, which makes sense, because it is a scan of one printed in the Colusa Sun Herald back in 1989. Some of you probably recognize the little girls in it but may not remember the story. At the time there was a little girl, my grandfather Milt Bruhn's granddaughter, who was afflicted with Leukemia and needed a transplant. As fourth-graders we decided to try and make a difference by washing cars, selling baked goods at LaLonde's and having a yard sale. This is probably one of the first things I thought of when we decided to do this hike for a cancer charity. Cancer seems to touch everyone I meet in some way or another and it makes me feel really good to be a part of helping out and making a difference in the fight against it.

There should be an article coming out this week (~wednesday) in the Colusa Sun Herald about HikeStrong 2010 and what we are doing with the hike --- check it out if you can!!!

Also, if you would like to make a small donation to our cause in memory of someone you've lost or in honor of someone who's fighting, you can do so securely at our donation page, http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2010/hikestrong2010

~Aly

Boxes, more boxes and Uhaul's... oh my!!!

2010-03-08T19:04:00.001-08:00

Driving down the freeway just outside of Houston... figured now is as good a time as any to catch up on the madness of the past several days. Only one of the pictures came through from my visit home, but that's ok because it was the most important one... the one with the best mom in the world packing resupply boxes at her house!

I really had NO IDEA how big a pain in the rear it was trying to guess what food, toiletries and other miscellany we will need a month from now when we hit the trail. Our plan is a hybrid approach, resupplying in towns and with a dozen or so maildrops from mom with all-important things like vitamins, protein powder and random carb-loaded foodstuffs. I have to hand it to my mom for being such a champ because it was literally 4 days of non-stop chaos interrupted by me being cranky every so often. Seriously, my mom is awesome and I thank her so much for all the help and support.

Sooooo, I left home yesterday. After being stuck in the Denver airport for 5 hours I finally made it home to San Antonio... pretty late at night, which was terrible because that's 5 hours of Mario Bros Wii I didn't get to spend playing with little Philip before I left (don't worry... he woke me up bright and early today to play before school.) Anywho's, today was a rollercoaster of emotions and a flurry of packing. After Michelle and Philip left for work the rest of the day was a blur. Packed my room up, got a Uhaul trailer, found Jeff wandering around the airport, and proceeded to watch his amazing Tetris skills as he magically fit all my earthly possessions in this tin can we are towing down the road.

So, I'm headed up to Connecticut for a bit... then off to hike. Today was definitely bittersweet... can't stop thinking about my 8 month San Antonio sleepover and how absolutely grateful I am that it happened. I miss you guys.

Quote Michelle: "hike? Are you still doing that?"
Lol...
~aly

2000milestogo

2010-03-06T21:27:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I stopped by Walmart to buy a few totes to pack up my stuff for storage. On my way inside, I noticed a couple fundraising at the entrance. When I checked out their sign, I could not believe my eyes...it read "A long walk for a good cause. Hiking the Appalachain Trail". What are the odds of running into another group of Appalachian Trail Charity Hikers outside a Walmart in Guilford, CT?!? How cool is that!!!

Doug and Stephanie will start their hike on April 4th, just a few days after Aly and I set off on our journey, to benefit the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp was founded by Paul Newman in 1988 in Ashford, CT to serve children and families coping with cancer and other serious illnesses and conditions. I wish Doug and Stephanie much success in raising funds for a great cause, and I hope that we'll run into one another again on the trail! To learn more about Doug, Stephanie, and their charity hike, check out their website: 2000milestogo.com

Jeff

Seriously....

2010-03-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

We have so many blog posts we want to make!!! BUT, let me begin with another big "THANK YOU" to the awesome crew at Alamo CrossFit in San Antonio, TX. You guys changed my life and really made me a believer! You also gave me a sweet shout-out on your website today. To check it out go here: http://www.alamocrossfit.com/?p=1446

Thanks again!!! T-minus 3 weeks until we hit the trail!!!

I've got two tickets to paradise!

2010-02-13T08:36:00.001-08:00

Aly & I have an official start date: March 29, 2010 !!!

After weeks of searching, we found an awesome deal: Two one-way direct flights out of JFK to Atlanta for $64 each!

We'll fly out on Saturday March 27th, get our bearings on Sunday, and then start hiking on Monday the 29th.

We are really looking forward to starting this incredible Georgia-to-Maine Appalachian adventure!

Please check out our website, www.hikestrong2010.com , and consider donating to our #LIVESTRONG cause!

Jeff

"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success."

2010-02-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

Holy Smokes! We are going to hike over 2000 miles!!!

When this realization set in for Aly and I last December, we freaked out. We needed to prepare! Unfortunately, with freezing temps in the Northeast and few mountains around San Antonio, hiking was not much of an option. We had heard of others gaining their "hiking legs" on the trail, but that the first month of hiking was miserable. For the record, Aly and I are not interested in being miserable on purpose. We had to figure out a way to prepare.

And then, our friend Dave made a suggestion that changed everything, " You should try Crossfit; it's a really intensive core strength and conditioning program." Open to anything (albeit worried about my bum knee), I went to a class with Dave... I was immediately hooked. Crossfit focuses on high intensity, constantly varied functional movements that deliver amazingly fast improvements to one's general fitness. It's ridiculous.

I called Aly that night to tell her about Crossfit. She seemed rather hesitant, and avoided my urges for her to join a gym in San Antonio. Every day for 2 weeks, I fruitlessly egged her on to join. I began envisioning myself hiking down the trail with a winded Aly over my shoulder...for a couple miles, OK...but for 2000? Ain't happening! I was at my wits end...

Then I get an e-mail from Aly with just a picture...a picture of her doing an overhead squat...Sonova! Aly's been Crossfitting the whole time!!! I wanted to be angry because she was hiding it from me, but I was just too relieved that I didn't have to carry her over Mount Washington!

Our Crossfit hike preparation is still going strong, and we are feeling great! I'm training at Shoreline Crossfit in Branford, CT (http://www.shorelinecrossfit.com/) and Aly's training at Alamo Crossfit in San Antonio, TX (http://www.alamocrossfit.com/). I cannot wait to get out there and HIKE! We are going to kill the trail!

Jeff

Hiker Grub!

2010-01-24T10:07:00.000-08:00

With Jeff about a week out from leaving Unilever, he took full advantage of the extra-cheap "company store" to stock up on lightweight food for us to carry on the trail! They must have thought he was crazy buying all that stuff at once!!! LOL!

Scouting Mission, Kent Connecticut

2009-09-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

Outside of Kent, the Appalachian trail crosses through CT near the town. Here are some photo's of Trail Markers, a "stile" (a place the trail crosses over a fence), a shelter, a privy,and a journal entry by a hiker this year. Cant wait to see this after 1,000 miles! :0)