What Smells?

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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

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

Hey everyone!

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


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

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

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

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

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

~Styx & Bones

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

Photos!

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

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

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

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

  

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

  

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

  

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

  

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

  

~Styx & Bones

  

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

Milestone Achievements & Challenge Dominations!!!

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!

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"

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.

Crazy bearded hillbilly!!!

Blue Ridge Mountain Madness...and 700 miles!

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
  
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HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
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Racing through Virginia

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
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Virginia... and Vacation!

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

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

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!