Homeward bound...

H:

Last week was quite a whirlwind week for us and we start off this week with an all day car drive back to Indiana (my weeks start on Wednesday now because a Tuesday was the last day we hiked, it makes sense in my head).  Google tells me it's only 10 hours 26 minutes, and if all day wasn't enough, our experience driving out here to my parents' place in Newport News proved to be much longer due to delays with traffic and construction.  This is the second Wednesday in a row that we will have an all day adventure, lets hope it doesn't turn into a trend.

Our goal was to be up around 6 this morning to get driving and beat some of the heat as we have no AC in our car.  I was up at 6, I just didn't get off the floor, and as it is now 8:13...  At least we packed the car last night with the little bit that we have to take back with us.  All except the chocolate, I was smart enough not to leave that in the car overnight, yesterday the heat index for the area was well over 100 degrees and as of this morning the thermometer says 80 degrees already, you can imagine what kind of day we're going to have.

My ankle is slowly healing.  It went through its bruised phase and has transitioned to mostly yellow.  The swelling has gone down but it's still a bit misshapen and larger than the other ankle.  I'm also getting better at walking.  Then again, with my feet not being used to stepping on level surfaces, I'm surprised I'm not having more problems.

Part of recovery has been a lot of sitting around with ice packs on my ankle which means I have been able to get a fair share of knitting done.  Before we left Indiana I was asked by several people if they could send us things while we were on the trail and another made a joke about drop shipments of yarn to me.  Not being sure how to coordinate individuals sending items, I put the last two ideas together.  Folks from my social "yarn-ie" circles could all chip in about 10 yards of sock yarn.  What do you do with that?  Make socks of course.  One person collected the yarn, rolled it into a ball, and sent it to my parents for putting it into a resupply box.  It made it to my parents and was scheduled to be in the next shipment... the one that didn't get shipped.

Which meant that as soon as I got back I was handed what turned out to be around 800 yards of yarn, enough for two pairs of socks!  First day back I cast on and started knitting.  Pair one is almost done and I should be able to start the second pair today on the ride back to the Midwest.

Recovery

H:
I'd like to say that we're on the road to recovery, but really it's just my ankle that I can speak for.  Our psychological viewpoint is going to need more time to readjust to the change that happened so quickly and many months ahead of schedule.  For a few more days we look to be resting up at my parents' before being amazingly and so suddenly available for a stint of house sitting for some friends.  The friends who are in fact watching our cat and we will now be able to watch their cats and their house while they are away.

That means we will be looking for a place to live starting in July sometime.  We still have our RV tucked away in storage and will need to get back to that and what little we own contained inside its walls, which now seems like an insanely excessive amounts of possessions after 2 months of backpacking.

The biggest problem today is "the hunger."  The hiker hunger that develops after hiking all day for the last few months isn't quite as bad as the people we met hiking from Georgia but it's pretty bad.  Everything we see we want to eat, and then when we're done we're thinking about what's next.  To compensate we have a lot of fruits and vegetables sitting out as a distraction.  Yesterday we had a good bit of fruit, a huge salad for lunch, another huge salad for dinner and a couple of bowls of broth based soup. Okay... and a few leftover truffles from the Kent Coffee & Chocolate Company visit... and there was that Snickers bar I found in our food bag when looking for dirty laundry.  While we didn't lose a ton of weight, we did lose some and built a good bit of leg muscle in the process.  We're now on a mission to not gain back the weight like we hear happens so often.

As for the ankle, it's still swollen as is the side of the foot, but I can hobble about alright to the bathroom and to the kitchen, and there isn't much pain now.  Flexibility is alright pointing my toe up and down but the side to side motion is still seriously impeded.

Today is another day of rest, and a bit of a celebration.  Dave and I are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary today.  We're probably going to celebrate by watching a movie while I ice my ankle, oh wait, that's what we've been doing since yesterday.  Ah well, when you have something that works why change? (c;   What movie?  I think it's The Hobbit today.

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! June 16th & 17th, 2015

Soup Mix has sprung her ankle and cannot hike.  She and Knotty Boy are riding a bus to return to Newport News til she heals.   Ice and Doctors.

But we'd have to return the umbrella and we'd get wet anyway...

H: 

We were sitting outside a Chinese restaurant in Kent, Connecticut when it started to rain. We had just finished eating so we threw away our trash and sat down inside in the oppressively hot restaurant to wait.  A little girl, 7 or 8 years old, sat across from her father in a booth as they were waiting for take out. "Oh no! We're going to get soaked!" she moaned to her dad.

"We'll be fine" he replied and then looked up to see that the drizzle was now a downpour. "Oh."

I had watched them walk to the restaurant while we had been eating outside. "You'll be fine," I interjected, "you see, I have an umbrella you can use."

After just a moments hesitation the very wise child noted: "But it won't work because after we walk home with the food we will walk back here to give you your umbrella back and we will get wet anyway."

Normally this would be a correct assumption but today was a magical day. "Actually you can keep the umbrella."

The dad attempted to refuse the gift and once again the girl spoke beyond her years: "But won't you get wet too?"

"Oh no, you see, I am leaving here in a car."

Dave handed over his umbrella too and the deal was sealed with a handshake from the dad and smiles from the little one.

Why did we part with the umbrellas we had searched so long for before our trip? Sadly, because our hike was now over.

A few hours earlier we crossed a road, climbed a wooden stile in a field, and about 100 feet later, I fell. Maybe it was just good timing, luck, or because I can no longer walk on a level surface, but it was the perfect spot to roll my ankle.

Several times the day before I had slipped on wet rocks, leaves, mud, and a few times when atop a large craggy hill thought, "Whew, I am glad I didn't hurt myself, just think if someone had to haul we out of here!"

It just so happened that a few minutes after my stumble and after trying to stand and realizing that no more hiking today was going to happen, a couple with a dog who had run past us before were on their way back to their car. They happened upon us sitting in the mowed path in the field: "You know, there's a great creek just ahead that you could rest at."

"I got one better," began Dave, "can you drive us to town? My wife just hurt her ankle."

In no time we were bundled into their car with our packs and headed to a local Inn. Turned out the Inn was closed but we said we would sort it out from there. They left us on the porch with what was obviously another crazy hiker but returned a moment later with a bag of ice and a couple of cold drinks. We thanked the couple again and sat down on the steps.

What to do? I was pretty sure my ankle was sprained and not broken so we iced my ankle, drank the drinks, and Dave went to the local pharmacy to get a wrap.or brace while I talked with the crazy hiker who turned out to really be drunk off his ass. It was past the time we were to eat lunch and granola no longer held any appeal.

Dave came back from his walk to a pharmacy and we Ace wrapped my ankle before stuffing it in my shoe. The workers doing maintenance on the Inn pointed out a good restaurant 900 feet away (we knew the distance because we checked with GPS because "near by" means something different when you have a car). Dave carried his pack and I hobbled to the Chinese restaurant while the crazy/drunk (and by this time stoned) hiker carried my pack and joined us for lunch.

While eating we made an executive decision, because we are the executives of our hike, we needed to go "home." My ankle might not be broken but it was certainly going to take time to heal and the best place was to start at my parents' in Newport News.

We made contact with Kathleen from a few days ago and worked it out that she could pick us up, give us a place for the night, then drop us off at a bus stop the next day.

After we ate lunch, the crazy/drunk/stoned hiker was sad to part ways but he went off to his own world and we are now back to where this story started.

Today is Wednesday the 17th of June and after much debate and deliberation we have decided to end our hike this year. We still aren't sure of the extent of my ankle injury. I was able to hobble around today but the side to side stretch of the ankle is gone and this is critical in hiking as we found out over the last few months. Instead of pushing to get back to hiking we are going to recoup, regroup, and get started on what's next. What is next? We're not exactly sure but we're ready to find out.

Currently we are on a bus back to Newport News and about 100 soup packs we didn't get to on the hike. At least we have food to eat!

Location: Day 52, June 15, 2015

41.699604,  -73.505913 
Another state!  We have left New York and we are in Connecticut!
Latest start to date on day 52 at noon.  It rained pretty hard last night so it takes a longer to get going. Still did nearly 10 miles with an 850 ft. climb in 1 miles at one point.

States so far are:
West Virginia
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
New York
Connecticut

Email from Knotty Boy, June 14, 2014

D Robinson wrote:

2 nights ago we stayed in Pawling at the Lions Club's park just outside of town after spending the day doing laundry and eating at three different restaurants. We waited out a tornado watch that night in a bar until 11 P.M. before we got a ride to the park. We set up under the pavillion in case it rained torrentially. Turns out the bulk fell in the area north and west so we escaped with a drizzle.

We rode buses all day Saturday to get to Woodstock which was very touristy. We participated in the contra dance and had a blast. Freight Train enjoyed himself too, and plans to look it up when he gets back to Chicago.

We met Peter, the caller for the night, and even before we danced we were talking with him about going to Albany for another contra dance the next night. It seemed like a good idea at that moment but by the end of the night we wanted sleep more than anything, well except food. Plus we need to figure out shoes before we dance again because the barefoot dancing was causing blisters that I can't afford.

We met Katheline at the dance and she lived halfway back to where we left the trail AND she was super generous in offering a ride, food, and a place to sleep for the night so we would be set up for a shorter day of bus rides. Little did we know her kindness would also include a ride back to the trail today and the reminder that we would be amazingly close to another dance by next Saturday! What an incredibly awesome weekend!

Tonight we are camping on a tent platform outside a shelter name escapes me. Tomorrow we finish New York and begin Connecticut.

We are very sad that Freight Train has completed his section hike of the AT and is now off on another adventure but we wish him well and hope that he has fun. Well, we know he will have fun.

That's all for now. Time to sleep!

Location Day 51, June 14, 2015

41.637936,  -73.532051
We have a couple bus rides today to get back to the trail.  Dancing was a blast but very hard on the feet danced in our socks.  We will figure something out for the next dance.

Ready for departure..

Time to say goodbye to Freight Train for now. He was dropped off at the bus station 4 weeks to the day that we had traveled on and off together. Have a great time visiting New York and Fire Island this weekend.

What a way to kick off week 8 with a Contra dance

Sure it looks like fun at first but it took Soup Mix about 3 hours of juggling bus schedules for the 3 different buses and 5 hours, including lay overs to do it. The pay off, we got to Contra for three hours with an awesome bunch of people and it was Freight Train's first time. He had fun.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Byb7pYnD5yKjfkNvRHVxYjZqSGpoSWtzcTM0WG5fT1FYNTZSM1FTOWdyX0xHYVVCS1ozcDg&authuser=0

Taking a look at week 7

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Byb7pYnD5yKjfkpaTWdETEFCMjlrMS1aTnROM3dWZWhITjlzVXNvQ251ZkoyWXJyVklsMWc&authuser=0

A blast from the past..

Frogmonkey has been keeping tabs on these new long distance hikers. I'd forgotten about these pictures being taken by her. Moxie and Frogmonkey thru hiked in 2014 and we met them on our first day while they were out for a weekend hike for a few miles. They still had quite a pace to keep up with.

Frogmonkey

Knotty Boy Soup Mix and Moxie

It was still quite cold the next morning. Freezing rain collected on the edges of our tarp the night before.

Location Day 48 June 11, 2015

41.564640,  -73,691673
We are staying at Morgan Stewart Memorial Shelter. We covered 9 miles today of nice trail even if it was a bit uphill.   Tomorrow we are going to Pawling then trying to find a ride to a bus stop that will take us to Woodstock, New York for a contra dance on Saturday.

(editor's comment: Dave & Heather are about 45 years too late for Woodstock.)

Location 47 June 10, 2015

41.514244,  -73.792458
Staying at the RPH Cabin.  Hiked 5 miles to get here.

Location Day 46 June 9, 2015

41.465950, -73.822853
Staying at the Clarence Fahnestock Park Campsite.   15 miles today,  glad to be at camp.

Location Day 45 June 8, 2015

41.347271,  -73,919540
We are at the Graymoore Spiritual Life Center.  We did 7 miles today over some pretty good inclines. We are close to the 400 miles mark.

Taking a look at week 6

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Byb7pYnD5yKjfkZBOVFILTJ4aUprREdhdHFPMnVpdG51VS01U3JfbzBPY1R5aWpMOHVqUGs&authuser=0

Location Post June 7, 2015 - 2nd encouter with "bears"

41.308445,  -73.989120
Tonight we are camping at an undisclosed location "near" Bear Mountain Recreational Area.
Ok, we are camping in a grass parking lot at the rec area,   but the bears (police) did give us permission after they found us setting up our tents.

Maps June 6, 2015 - start and end of today's hike

Possible route from  41.251845,  -74.211075  to 41.278934, -74.058098.   Google maps shows the route by the road.    The mileage by the road is close to the 10 miles Knotty Boy Soup Mix hiked to day.

Location Post June 6, 2015

41.278934, -74.058098
We are staying William Brien Memorial Shelter.
Close to 10 miles today with a visit to Lake Tiorati

Thanks to Google Maps



.

Maps June 5, 2015 - just over the New York State Line

By the Trail - over 315 miles



By the Road

Via US-15 N 283.67 miles  4 hours 35 minutes

 

Taking a look at week 5

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Byb7pYnD5yKjfnQ2cHhWcVRkcWhZZDVOMlZ3OHpIS0dWN2ZvbUttTEg1bUJtUjhGZTg5elE&authuser=0

Location Post June 5, 2015

41.251845,  -74.211075
Staying at Trail Angel John's house tonight  We had some bbq'd hamburgers, steak and Brussels spouts.  Some weather coming in tonight so we're glad he was available.  When we called the number  he left on the trail, he said there were only two rules:  1) You have to shower.  2) You have to pet their dogs.  Freight Train agreed immediately to there rules.

It started with a ride from a nice couple into Warwick, NJ..

Bagged a drive-in movie last night, saw Tomorrow Land and Avengers. It was Freight Train's first time at the drive-in and enjoyed himself completely. Next morning we got a ride to a lake by a friend of someone we met on the trail the day before.  Freight Train rented a pontoon for a couple of hours so the 5 of us enjoyed an awesome sauce time on the lake. After that we had tacos for dinner then went to a creamery where we ate ice cream. After we parted ways with our new friends we caught a great sunset and as people saw us with ours back packs, we talked to a bunch of people about our hike. To top it off, Freight Train put local law enforcement up to a picture with us, in between pulling people over for speeding.

Location Post June 3, 2015

Another state down! We made it to New York.  We are staying at the Warwick Drive in Theater,  The Story is that hikers can camp there after the movies are over.  We plan to watch a double feature of TomorrowLand and then Avengers before we setup our tent.   Currently we are relaxing in the share with a beer and ice cream.  Life is good.

Water...

H: 

Yesterday I used an outdoor shower.  I decided to do my  laundry at the same time.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Halfway through the shower/laundry it started to rain.  The hot water from the shower mingled with the cold water from the rain running off the roof of the building I was standing next to.  

I tried to hang the sopping wet clothes up under an eave so that they would dry.  The rain poured down for an hour then stopped.  The humidity remained and later in the evening the rain started again.  The clothes never dried.  

That was last night.  This morning everything was still wet.  After squeezing 8 people into a "4 person" shelter we all woke up early... for us.  It was still raining.  Do I wear soaking wet clothes to hike in or do I wear my sleep clothes?  I hiked out in my sleeping clothes under my rain gear and our day started.  It rained all day.  Some point in the day on the trail we crossed into New York.  

We made it to Unionville, NY to pick up a mail drop, then hiked on in the rain.

We made it to the state line and crossed back into New Jersey, it kept raining. 

We hiked a mountain in the rain.  

At the top we took refuge in a shelter at the rain let up.  Freight Train joined us and a new face "Rope" settled into the shelter. 

Should we stay or go on to the next town?  It was only 1 P.M. and the rain had let up.

The rain started back up and we hiked on somehow persuading Rope to join us in our hike to the next town... in the rain.

4 wet hikers standing by the side of the road after hiking down a mountain in the rain caused a car to come to an abrupt halt.  Jay, a very kind local, took us to town and we are now sheltering in the St. Thomas' Episcopal Church Hostel in Vernon, New Jersey... in the rain.

What was the first thing I did when I got here?  Took a shower.

Taking a look at week 4

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Byb7pYnD5yKjfk9NaUxVV3d1TXFCQ0M0dURWYk1VbVE3eEpGdmhxUnVaandwZWROaFByU1U&authuser=0

Location Post May 31, 2015

41.315758, -74.657005
Stayed at High Point shelter last night.

Location Post May 29, 2015

41.199394, -74.752625

Location Post May 28, 2015

41.153145, -74.838280
12 miles today.   We took a bath in a lake. Then we feed 200 blue gills and trout who were begging for food.   We had an encounter with an adult rattlesnake and a spider.  The spider had a leg span of a silver dollar,  We removed the spider from the shelter so we could sleep.  This brings everyone in the shelter closer together. 

Location Post May 27, 2015

41.055473, -75.962265
We set out to walked 15 miles today; but, it turned out to be 13 miles instead, so not bad. We met the "Lorax" today,  really cool dude. Looking to seeing him on the trail again someday.

Taking a look at week 3

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Byb7pYnD5yKjfk54N3RYNjhZNTgzcnJMMjdRNXFqbUdvN1lGVGhDamQxejFCaUZ2MzkzWXM&usp=sharing

Location Post May 26, 2015

40.982594,  -75.141907
We hiked about 5 1/2 miles today and we are staying at Church of the Mountain Hostel.  We met "Sweet Blood", "Not Yet", "Frodo" and "Luke Trailwalker",  (more trail names).  Our goal is to hike about 15 miles tomorrow. 

Thank you to our new friends

Occasionally we go into town. It might be for a mailed food supply, or just a change in the peanut butter and bagel diet on the trail. When it was time to go, we'd waited for a few good candidates for a ride, that passed us by outside of the McDonalds drive thru, before we started walking down the road to hike a few miles back to the trail head.
Freight Train has a sign, featured in week 3 folder of pictures and vids, Ride 2 trail. Within 5 seconds this lucky couple picked up these lucky hikers. What a treat it was to share that ride with you.

Selfie performed by Freight Train

Location Post May 24, 2015

40.840580,  -75.358894
We walked 11 miles today from 11:45 AM to 6:40 PM.  About 2.5 hours of that was taking breaks and enjoying the views.  Terrain was relatively flat, but we had a good dose of rocks to walk over on 3/4 of the trail today.

average walking speed = 11.0 miles / (6:55 hours - 2:30 hours) =  11/4.417 = 2.49 miles/hour

Yeah, it really happened like that

We're at a bonfire tonight with an invitation from the night before from a husband and wife we met at a pub.
Memorial Day weekend would prevent us leaving for a mail pickup on Monday, you forget about holidays while you're on the trail sometimes.
They were at a table next to us, able to hear the conversation with our waitress about our hike.
Since you have a day to burn, why don't you come to our house for a bonfire tomorrow night? We're going skydiving and kayaking in the morning,  so we'll pick you up in the evening. You can stay in our house and we'll give you a ride to the trail the next day. So we did and I got to invite Freight Train too.
Here is a picture of the sunset at their house.

Thank you Tara and Barry.

They are actively engaged in raising money to help find a cure for cancer.
This is a link to there website, please help support this effort.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/Team-Hahn

Location Post, May 23, 2015

40.878830, -75.545052
Made a post tonight.  Having a great time.

Location Post, May 22, 2015

40.832443, -75.522812
We were able to get indoors tonight.  There is a projected frost warning tonight for the low 30's.

Location Post - May 21, 2015

40.781498,  -75.613297
Dave:  We passed George W. Outerbridge shelter for some tent sites. We are eating a late dinner with Beetle and Freight Train.  We are often passed by other thru-hikers that started in Georgia.  They are doing 20 to 25 miles per day.

Ed: What is their rush?  Just think you and Heather did 22 miles today.   11 + 11 = 22 ;-)

Ground covered - April 25th to May 20th

The portions of the trail that Dave & Heather have covered as of May 20, 2015.  The green line is growing!

By the Road

Location Post - May 20, 2015 10% of the A.T. in 26 days.

40.723927, -75.783005
13 miles today.   We should have taken more breaks.  We're building endurance, but hiking for 10 hours can work against you day after day.  We went over the 10% mark for the trail on the 26th day.  We will need more distance {ed: per day} to finish this year.  It will come.

Location Post - May 19, 2015

40.633938, -75.957870

10 miles from Eagles Nest shelter to Eckville shelter.  Today's highlight was that "Freight Train" worked very hard to get pizza delivered to the shelter.  At 18 miles from the pizza store,  it took an extra 20 bucks in tips to get the pizza delivered to the shelter.

Taking a look at week 2

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Byb7pYnD5yKjfk54N3RYNjhZNTgzcnJMMjdRNXFqbUdvN1lGVGhDamQxejFCaUZ2MzkzWXM&usp=sharing

Assistance from the home base. Heather's Dad

Hello,  
I am Heather's Dad,  Edward Boll.    I will be assisting with the posts while Dave and Heather are on the trail. I will be posting their GPS coordinates on a frequent basis.
May 18, Monday 40.590260, -75.941216
May 17, Sunday  40.584705, -76.024994

You can copy these values and paste in Google Maps and you can see where Dave & Heather are located.    I will be working toward the beginning of the trip as well as trying to keep current.

Location Post - May 17, 2015

40.584705, -76.024994

Ed: I got a light binocular at a golf tournament.  It weights only 17 grams.    I offer it to Dave and Heather

Dave said: "Appreciate the offer, we're good."

Location Post - May 16, 2015

40.549202,  -76.152939
15 miles today.  New record.  Met Locks and Mojo,  they are good peeps.  Have a lot in common.  Because of our efforts hiking so many miles, we only have to 9 miles tomorrow to get the largest Cabellas in the nation to replace our shoes.

Location Post - May 15, 2015

40.513031, -76.347939

Location Post - May 14, 2015

40.515167,  -76.33893

Send small green knife

Finding a knife

Ed:  Before Dave and & left on their travels they went through my collection of pocket knifes and selected a few for possible use on the trail and placed those in a bag.  Dave asked for the green knife to be shipped in the next resupply box.   However we could not find the bag of knifes!

I took a picture of what I could find and asked Dave to pick one:

 

I even offered my Super Knife: 

 

 

It even has a compass and weights less than a pound!    Dave reply was, "That is what 11 times what we need looks like."

 

Since he turned down the Super Knife, I picked the small black knife with the chain in the middle of the first picture and we shipped it the next day.

 

The following day we found the missing back of knifes.   The one we sent only weighted a few more grams than the one he wanted.

Location Post - May 13, 2015

40.479500, -76.541252

I will call you tomorrow to let you know what we need in the next drop shipment.

Saving Weight - May 13, 2015

{ed: After a few weeks on the trail,  Dave & Heather reviewed their packs and shipped a few things back to home base.   The total weight was about 9 lbs.   Clothes,  extra shoes, AND part of the an AT trail guide.   

Only part of the guide!  The part they sent home was the portion of the AT guide for the southern half of the trail.   Since they are going north they do not need it at this time.  It saved then 147 grams.}

Location Post - May 11, 2015

40.425876,  -76. 879379
11 something miles.   New shoes courtesy of Walmart working out okay so far.
Blister did file today.  Bunion cover, paper tape and duct tape.  Made a cup padding the heel and walking was relatively painless! Both hour for tomorrow! Or I meant best hope for tomorrow!

Flash back to week 1

We're killing time at the Doyle Hotel using a Pentium III processor in an ancient computer tower.  It's working, just slowly.  We're attempting to upload some photos of our trip so far.

Click this link to visit a folder on our Google Drive account to see some photos and a few videos.  We're working on renaming the files so that you know what each photo is, but with the slow computer we might just have to wait until Heather's dad has time to do it with the audio file we sent him describing all the photos.  For now, here's a bit of fun.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Byb7pYnD5yKjfnljcGwwbGc0SW1pTGNKNFp2dzVZY3B5STVoZU8tWWFYR2VvT2cxd3VJS2M&usp=drive_web

An update from the trail...

H:

First few days of hiking were great. Then some foot pain started. Blister hotspots developed but we squelched them and hiked on. Pain in feet came and went, we hiked on and callouses developed.  Thursday last, something was no longer right with my feet. We made it into Boiling Springs for a mail pickup and resupply. It was supposed to be a light day and we still put in 7 miles!

Out of Boiling Springs we HAD to hike to the next shelter to abide by the law. 14 mostly flat miles, shouldn't be too hard. It took us 9.5 hours.  My feet were cramping up, I also had a callous that was feeling pretty iffy and Dave was walking slow with some hotspots on his ankles. D is also dealing with poison ivy breakout on ankles and feet so skin is super sensitive.

The last mile was up hill and rocky. Halfway along I had to stop and check my heel. I'd had a lot of heel pain and thought this was a bruise but it turned out to be a blister forming under the callous! I patched it up and hobbled into the shelter. We set up our tarp and tent. I fixed soup after Dave fetched water. 7 other hikers crashed in and around the shelter and a troup of boy scouts took up the upper camping area. We took our tired and sore feet to "bed" on a level surface and wondered what tomorrow would bring.

We slept well but moved slow in the morning, our feet hurting in different ways. We started hiking at almost 10 A.M., pretty late start, but we pushed off hoping to get to Duncannon, PA, for a mail drop and rest and maybe new shoes. An hour into the morning's hike my shoes were causing my feet to cramp again. 7 miles to the next shelter seemed impossible, let alone the 11 to Duncannon! 

I gave up on my trail shoes and put on my camp shoes. Flimsy but atleast they didn't pinch. D switched too because his feet weren't able to dry out due to the waterproof fabric on our shoes and he was getting hotspots all over.

We slinked along, stopping often and resting our feet but walking better and enjoying the views. The last mile into the shelter was long and slow due to lots of rocks on the trail. Probably best just to rest up at the shelter and hobble into Duncannon Sunday afternoon.

Sid the Sloth was resting at the shelter when we got there. He'd passed us 30 minutes earlier with a quick "hello." We talked a bit and he left to hike the last 4 miles. It was Saturday night, he wanted a few beers in town and wanted to try to catch up with a couple other thru hikers. He figured it would take 1.5 hours for him to get to town.

We sat at the picnic table looking for a level surface to pitch our tarp. None were around and a notice mentioned that porcupines were around eating anything tainted with hiker sweat. We downed a Nutella filled wrap, 800mg of Motrin, all but the last of our water and topped it off with a handful of M&M's plus lemon girl scout cookies. Time to move on. It was 4:30, we had 4 miles, maybe we would make town by 8.  We made it by 6:55.

Somehow, despite the rocks and foot pain, the 30 minute break we took revived us and we hiked feeling good, the thin camp shoes couldn't absorb all the shock but stepping gently and skipping rocks had us practically flying compared to the last two days.  Our feet are sore but no more cramps for me and D's feet were drier than they had been. We were suddenly enjoying the hike again!

It's now Sunday and we are on the hunt for new shoes in a town 8 miles away. We are waiting on a ride from a local shuttle who charges to run you around.  

Tonight we are crashing for a second night at the Doyle Hotel. The Doyle was rebuilt in 1905. GOOD FOOD in the bar but the whole place is a little dingy and run down, but no bugs and the bed and sheets are clean and smell good! We could have slept with porcupines instead, but we're happy with our choice and full bellies.

Location Post - May 9, 2015

40.390015, -77.030121
12.6 miles today.   At the Doyle for a couple of days.  Working on new shoes and sleeping mats.   Pain subsided mid day, pressed on to town instead of shelter.

Dad: We can send her tennis shoes.  An Option is to cut a hole in her shoe to relieve pressure.  Customize the shoes.

Dave: The shoe bends at a point so that pressure is put on top of Heather's toe.  The shoe doesn't flex properly.   We're looking for tennis shoes.  I (Dave) could use new shoes too.  It's semi urgent we have them to be able to walk out of here instead of the next drop location. 

Dave: Thought of cutting shoe.  Being water proof,  cutting shoe could ruin integrity the way it's sewn together.

Location Post - May 8, 2015

40.301941,  -77.086761
Thanks for working on the blog,  map idea sounds cool.   If you want to update it every week that would be OK

14.3 miles in 9 hours 35 minutes.  Ouch! Sore feet slowed us down.  Hoping for good sleep and less painful hiking tomorrow.

Almost the 100 mile mark of our journey

We're in Boiling Springs, PA getting a little rest and picking up another food resupply.  We had the chance to weigh our packs on a scale at the AT Conservancy. Soup Mix came in at 14lbs without water and mine was 16lbs. Both of our packs had some remaining food before we picked up our resupply, they would have weighed 1 or 2 pounds lighter. As far as having a light pack, ours are very competitive. 13 miles to the next shelter. Pictures and video coming soon!

 

 

Location Post - May 7, 2015

40.148705, -77.118126a
Picked up 2nd supply box.  Uploaded a few images in video to folder labeled week 3 in my Google Drive.  It might work to just link the pictures and video out of the Google Drive to the blog.  Some of them are just sharing the view around us.

Shipped box #2a.   9 lbs. 11 oz.

Location Post - May 6, 2015

40.111744, -77.104179
Take the next box; divide in half.   Then pull 2 dinners out of A half and put aside.   Send 1st half to Duncannon, PA.

Please buy a big box of carnation instant breakfast start putting that in the boxes.  2 packets per dinner in the boxes.   We like them for breakfast and will need 1 each per day.   Thanks for all your efforts!!


{ed: Dave & Heather decided to reduce the size of the resupply drops.   The boxes as they planned the drops were 13+ to 15+ lbs.  They decided to cut the boxes in half.     This box weighted about 8 lbs.}

Location Post - May 5, 2015

Message from Dad:
Today is Cinco de Mayo.  Good luck on finding a margarita on the trial.

Reply from Dave:
40/062984,  -77.206017
We have lemon lime Kool-Aid.
11.2 miles   .2 miles to water source.   Still working on audio description for week two folder in Google drive

Location Post - May 4, 2015

40.033562, -77.356674
14 miles in 9 hours.  Stopped for 2 hours.

Location Post - May 3, 2015

39.932114, -77.486135
Very nice shelter tonight.   Light day for us.  Got resupply box 1.  Worked out good.  Will send info in a couple of days about box 3.  We got tracking updates in our email too.

Around 55 miles so far, and making progress..

Greetings friends, family and those who eventually wander here. We knew before we started that being able to use the internet would be sporatic. That's why we left the majority of blog updates to Soup Mix's dad Ed. I have just recently sent him a few pics and videos to work with to make the blog more colorful.

You are all missed. It didn't take long to fully understand everything we put on hold for this experience,  and for such a long time. We are doing really well, and getting our new life on the trail sorted out.

We only received our first food shipment today, so still a lot more to do and learn.

Lastly, why did I mention Soup Mix earlier? It's Heather's trail name. So given for her dedication and elaborate array of dehydrated soup mixes for the entire trip. Mine was self given for my recent interest with making good and useful knots..Knotty Boy.

Till the next time, from The Hiker Beans, peace, love and happiness stuff.
 

Location Post - May 2, 2015

39.905190, -77.505569

11 miles in 7.5 hours - 1 hour of lookouts and breaks

Location Post - May 1, 2015

39.804974, -77.477943
13 miles in 8.5 hours with 1.5 hours of breaks

{ed: 13/(8.5-1.5) = 1.85714286 miles/hour}

Location Post - April 30, 2015 resupply box #2

39.673462,  -77.530304
Staying in the same place we did last night.

Box #2    Mailed to Boiling Springs, PA

 

{ed: You feed your kids while they are growing up.  They leave home and you expect them to feed themselves.   Here I am feeding my kids again.  For the next six months.}

Location Post - April 29, 2015

39.673462, -77.530304
Mailed a couple of trail guides.

Location Post - April 28, 2015

39.630650, -77.555252
Taking a rest day tomorrow and going into town.  Everything is OK.

Location Post - April 27, 2015

39.541713, -77.602372
We have decided we have too much food at one time.  Heather suggested splitting restock boxes in half.

{ed: Each restock box is about 13 to 15 lbs. plus additions items that are placed in them as needed.}

Location Post - April 26, 2015

39.461910, -77.639565
Doing OK.  Feeling it in the shoulders and legs.  Have stopped earlier than yesterday.
Hiked 9 miles

Dave & Heather's first encounter with a Bear on the AT trail - April 25, 2015

Dave & Heather's first encounter with a Bear on the AT trail in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Location Post - April 25, 2015 The Start!

Started the trip on foot.
Saturday at Noon 39.329814, -77.681927  Keep Tryst Road

Evening:
39.361042, -77.662895
Rained after we found camp.   Met Moxy and Frog Monkey,  They hiked the A.T. last year.  Super positive people,  a good first day.  Went up 1000 feet in elevation.

{editor: You ever wanted to take your kids and drop them off in the woods?   My wife and I did that to Heather & Dave!}

On the eve of our departure... Part 2

H:
Some how this mass of lists will tomorrow morning be organized.

Right now it looks like this:

And no...we're not taking the oscillating fan, the couch, or the TV tray.

On the eve of our departure..

D:
There are no fewer things to do today than any other day in the last several months. In addition to packing everything properly from 2 or 3 inventory lists, we need to clean up our occupation of Heather's parents apartment for the last 3 weeks.

Probably not the last invention we'll make for our trip, but at least one that needed done while we still had the resources of an electrical outlet and sewing machine. We created a head strap for holding the flashlights we're taking. In fact, two of them.

Weighing in at 14 grams, or half an ounce for a couple of pieces of elastic, will be invaluable for working hands free when it's dark. For those of you who have held a flashlight in your teeth, for any length of time while working on a project, can appreciate this the most.

A lot of people buy headlamps already made but ours is not just a headlamp.  Out setup is rechargeable,  can via a USB cable power a phone or MP3 player... and, with flashlight included it weighs 50 grams, about 2 ounces, less than the store bought ones.

The clever part is we already had the material from the purchases for previous projects. Another feature for the completion of its adjust-ability is a roll of velcro I brought with me. It was free to me, I saved it from being thrown out.

Tomorrow, at an unspecified time, we'll load into the car and head north to Harpers Ferry.

Decadence is a full sized bath towel...

H:
As we packed our gear today in preparation for leaving in a few days these words were said to us,  "So, you're really going to do this?".   My mom has a way with phrases.  She always gets one in when you least suspect it.  I blame it on the fact that she has been substitute teaching kindergartners lately.  

The next one she said though was a classic mother thought, "So, are you going to wear the same thing every day,  day after day?"  This was a reaction to the tiny stuff sacks we had our "spare" clothes in.  No, we have a change of clothes. 

Next came the big one, "Are you taking a change of underwear?"  Leave it to moms to worry about the important things.

With the exception of a cotton t-shirt that will double as a towel when drying off after bathing,  (yeah you read that right), all of our extra clothing fits into a 5 inch diameter bag that is about a foot long.  Total weight is about 4 and a half pounds, including the stuff sacks.  I think my clothes weighed 2 pounds 8 ounces and Dave's were 2 pounds and an ounce or so.

Fully packed, these stuff sacks will double as pillows at night.  Living the good life.

1 for the money, 2 for the show, 3 to get ready...

H:

Just 3 days left before we start our hike!

Our gear is laid out on the sofa and love seat at my parent's place.  We have an inventory list to check off everything as we pack it up to make sure we have, well, everything.  But we just can't seem to do it because every time we get ready to start we think of some other little process or project to do first.  It's not stalling, in fact it's getting things finished so that we can check them off.  

We just finalized how the collection bag for filtering water will hang (it's a gravity filter system), but first we had to find the bag!  Turned out it was in the bottom of one of the backpacks.  We are sealing the seams on the tarp I made (months ago, I know, I know, I could have done it then).  We ordered a digital scale for weighing packages to ship to ourselves.  We initially thought we would use the standard flat rate boxes to make it easy on my parents but by not using the flat rate boxes we save 5 times what the scale costs so it is worth the investment.  

Now I'm just sitting down to design an identification label for putting on the boxes that will be shipped to us.  That way when we go to the post office and say that we're thru hikers, we can also say... oh yeah it's the box with this label on it that has hikers and beans.  

Okay, back to work for a bit!

We went to Virginia Beach on Saturday

 It has been nice for the last 3 months to occasionally take a break from the never ending organizing for the trip. It was only a half an hour drive south too. Lucky for us, we were there for about 2 1/2 hours before the weather moved in.

 

It won't be long before our scenery is radically different..

Thanks for the tip, literally..

A friend of mine, fellow contra dancer and recent thru-hiker Curly J, suggested I make my tent stakes more visible. Tent stakes have been known to be ejected from your sleeping area with a strong enough gust. It's expected to be a little nicer to find them looking for an orange duct tape flag, than a naked tent stake landing on an aluminum colored rock.

One of my favorite times..invention time.

It's never been about feeling compelled to make absolutely everything I own and use, it's more like, "I could make that better and cheaper if I do it myself." Then, attempt to enjoy the process, that's a bonus.
There is a lot more going on than it seems in these next few pictures. At first glance it appears to be a long sheet of metal flashing 6 inches wide, a 3ft aluminium dowel 1/4 wide, and a few hand tools. The portable vice is a nice touch, to be able to move it where your working, instead of being mounted to a work table. I'm also in my wife's parents apartment and we're not on the lease. Keeping a low profile, though a challenge, is a priority.

Not only am I going to make my own tent stakes (tent stakes available to me locally were too short or too expensive) I'm making my own pot stand / wind screen combo, to cook our food on. Making it myself allowed me to use two longer tent stakes that will double for supporting the pot and hold the wind screen together. It saves weight, money and I made it myself ( Insert maniacal laugh)



First order of business, open pliers enough to place the dowel in it's jaws before you clamp the pliers, that aren't normally supposed to be used like this, in place.




Then slowly bend it around the jaws of the pliers to make a shape like this. Aluminum is soft, so to make one of these only took about 20 seconds, then I cut to length with the bolt cutters.

Next on the menu is drilling 4 strategic pilot holes in the sheet metal to place to two extra long tent stakes all the way across. This will not only hold the wind screen in place, I'll set the pot evenly on top of them. The height of the holes were selected to place that alcohol burner I made out of a cat food can a while back. An ounce of gas line antifreeze known as Heet, is all that's required to properly cook our meal for two.

Disregard the purposely deformed can from an earlier burn test, and you are looking down upon a wind screen combo cook pot that is super light.

Here it is, in action with a pot holder being used as insulation to keep the water as hot as possible while cooking. Aluminum is probably the best type of metal for heat distribution through convection. It's also harder to keep things warm as it is quick to cool off. Since it's completion, Heather has already crocheted a more permanent, circular design for insulation. (picture temporarily unavailable)

Before the fuel ran out, I measured boiling temperatures for 2 to 3 minutes. That will be good enough to heat our dehydrated food after it's reconstituted. 

Finally, to prove that I am not completely perfect, I'd like to point out how I almost completely melted the face of the thermometer. Yeah, that's not steam. In the heat of the moment...

Seam Stress

D:
I figured it out. Everyone thinks it's the occupation of women sewing. Well I think anyone who sews seams has stress. As it happens, my wife is the one occupied with the sewing.
I can do it, I have done it, so I sew so so. (yes, I positioned myself to be able to type that, but it's true.) With the recent addition of a 90.00 sewing machine, Heather has probably spent around 20 hours altering clothing, making food bags, or 2 grams of fabric stuff sacks that will help us stay better organized on our hike by putting like items together.

This morning's break from some sewing was research on how to properly tie your food in a tree so little furry creatures aren't able to chew through your food bag or large furry creatures aren't able to rip it open, bear. Fortunately, bear, for the most part, don't want anything to do with humans, but there is this excellent training video available.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dfd18Zfv2U

We opted for using a food bag hanging in the tree as the lightest option. A bear resistant food container is not only heavier, it is somewhat awkward to fit it in your backpack with everything else. Besides, we get the daily challenge of putting a rock in the bag we use for the tent stakes, with a rope tied to it, to throw the rope over a tree limb, to hang our food high enough above ground for the night. Maybe we'll be the only ones that eats our food for the entire trip..that's the challenge.

It's not all work, while we continue to get ready for being dropped off at the trail. Since we weren't going to use a bear resistant food container we might as well see how good they were.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn7oayAaf4k

10... no 9... no... 8?

H:
The calendar speaks... we have but 8 days remaining before we finally start our hike.  The last 2 weeks has been spent in highly productive ways.  But it will finally be good to get to the trail and put all of this preparation to use!

We've never worked so hard to carry so little.  But one "extra" item we wanted was an umbrella.

The concept of carrying an umbrella while hiking is that it can act as a windbreak as well as to keep the rain off.  If the terrain is conducive to hiking with it, you can prevent having to put on your rain jacket which can heat you up unnecessarily.  If it's raining in the middle of the night and you need to find a bathroom, and by that I mean just get out of your tent, it can keep you dry enough.  It can also work to keep off the sun.  We've walked and bicycled in rain gear and we know the benefits to staying out of it when working up a sweat, so we're going to give the umbrellas a try, if we could just find the right kind!

You see, not just any umbrella will do.  Most umbrellas we have found are too big or too heavy.  The "dream" umbrella is the folding style, not the telescoping collapsible ones that have a lot of hinges and breakable parts.  It would also be light weight, say less than half a pound.  And it would be cheap.  This combination is pretty much impossible to find.  There are a few "backpacking" umbrellas on the market but at $30 a piece we weren't in a rush to buy two.  We've been looking everywhere for the right umbrella.  I even started hunting for a "kids" umbrella but the few we found were too tiny.  

Today we held out hope when we went to K-Mart.  But, our hopes were dashed by the umbrellas we found there in the clothing section.  Perhaps we just weren't going to be able to get umbrellas.

Dave wandered off to use the ATM inside the store.  Eventually he called to me.  He'd been standing by the ATM waiting for it to process his transaction.  While the computer was spinning, Dave's boredom got the best of him, and he looked around to find himself standing by a wire bin filled with giant patio umbrellas.  I shrugged my shoulders at him as he pointed to what was hanging off the outside of the bin.  Then I realized he was pointing at dozens of small, folding, lightweight, and most importantly... cheap umbrellas!  They were designed to bolt to a table or chair's arm rest.  A quick look revealed that the, unnecessary to us, bolt mechanism spun off the end.  Success!

At $6.99 each and everything we hopped for we bought two.  Final weight after removing the bolt mechanism... 225 grams. Around half the weight of another hikers lightweight umbrella.

There may be a living room in the background, but Dave was checking out the use of the umbrella for the trail in his mind.