New Hampshire!

We've made it out of Maine alive! And finished the hardest mile of the trail to boot... which took us two hours (but it takes most Nobos that long too!). We blue-blazed to Monson though... we were very hungry, but did a nice 5 Miles in the morning (before breakfast!). So much has happened, and I have about 3 minutes left to write this blog post so I would recommend reading Cat's. I got a bee sting on my hand just as we were about to start the Mahoosuc Notch (the hardest mile) and it swelled up, so we could (its and lot of climbing over boulders where you need to use your hands). And we ended up going in to Bethel and seeing Harry Potter! I might actually write and long post when we get to hanover, but this is it for now. And...

I'M ALIVE! (That's for you mom)

:)

Sun, sky, lake, and no walking!

So we are currently enjoying our wonderful short vacation from hiking in Rangeley, ME. The Murphy's are kindly letting us stay at their camp here on the lake, and it is absolutely amazing! Today we've been spending getting the necessary stuff done, like laundry, and groceries. And I get to see my family! Molly, Anthony, and Mom all drove up and are taking care of us. These last two weeks have been really nice.

After a while, the days start to blend together, but we did have a few fun things happen! One day, we stopped for a hour and picked Raspberries that were just growing along the trail, and then made raspberry pancakes in the morning. And we took a zero on Moxie Pond (camping under powerlines, some wilderness, haha) and just went swimming all day. We went to Tim Harrison's Pierce Pond Camp for breakfast one morning for the hiker special of 12 "patriotic" pancakes, with blueberries, raspberries, and apples (red,white, and blue!). We met a section hiker named Retread and talked to him for a while. When he left breakfast, Tim informed us that he had paid for ours as well! - And left us 10 pancakes to take on the trail!

In Caratunk we got some nice trail magic, 6 snickers bars, and a jar of peanut butter! We've been hiking for most of this time with our old friend Pepster, who is almost done with the trail. He's been section hiking since 1998 and is doing his last section, finishing in just a few days. We've also been hiking with our news friends René (a german!), and Mr. Z.

We leave again on Monday, and in a little more than a week will have made our way all the way back to New Hampshire!

The Lakeshore House

So we've been at the Lakeshore House for a day now. For us, we're basically living the life here. Yesterday evening we went to the General store to restock, (and had delicious grilled cheese and tomato soup we made here!) and then just chilled in the common room all evening with a bunch of other hikers. Mom, sorry I haven't called yet, I'm charging the phone, because the first time we charged it on the solar charger, it turned itself on in the pack after it was charged, and used the entire battery.

Today we got up and had an all you can eat breakfast at Shaw's, the other Hostel/Bunkhouse in Monson. It was delicious. When you go there, you order in numbers, like a 2, 3, or 4, etc. That means of whatever number you pick, say 3, you get 3 blueberry pancakes, 3 eggs, 3 servings of homefries, 3 sausages, and 3 bacon (but we skipped out on the meat part. Then we can back here and started our work for stay.

The first thing we did for work for stay was last night, and definitely a first for the place. It was searching her house part of the building for her daughter's hamster. (It escaped, all the hikers have decided it is an escape artist, and her daughter was very distraught.) I found it after about 15 minutes in the back of a closet, and Cat and I coaxed it out with some treats. But, it escaped again this morning, and even after searching the entire house, we could not find it. Then we did some cleaning and organzing for a few more hours, nothing strenuous.

We're trying to lose some weight from our packs, and sent a whole box of stuff home too. It's pretty awesome here, there's a fridge with food other people left, or want to share. I'm currently eating toast with fresh goat cheese made yesterday that someone gave one of the boys. It's delicious.

This place is amazing! Its right on the lake, with a dock in the back. They have kayaks and a floating trampoline and other big floaty things. There's a big common room with a couch, TV, table, toaster, microwave, etc. Compared to the lean-tos in the woods, this is like a penthouse suite. There's a bunch of other hikers too. I ended up sort of giving one of the army guys his trail name, because he keeps wanting to watch Canadian Bacon. (We've watched it 3 times so far?) So I suggested that be his trail name, but he said he didn't want his name to have anything Canadian in it (he has a small prejudice due to childhood experiences). So someone else changed it to American Bacon, and it stuck.

Monson is a sweet, quaint town. We went to the general store and everyone was very nice. We got a milkshake (cookie dough/mint chip) there and signed the hiker register. Later we'll probably go swimming or kayaking, and that's it for now.

Oh! We did laundry, which is drying on the line, and might currently be my favourite part of the experience. Besides trail magic, of course. That's basically when hikers get awesome things for free. Like one day when we were in the middle of the 100 Mile Wilderness, a couple day hikers who came in on a side trail gave us a fresh veggie wrap...it was amazing. or when the strap on my nalgene broke, we found one left in one of the shelters. And of course, the hiker boxes. Its where hikers leave all the stuff they don't want, and we found some good stuff (food, sparklers for tonight, and some other random stuff). That's it for now.

http://thelakeshorehouse.com
Cat's Blog: dinoflagellatesrock.blogsp​ot.com
:D

Two weeks down. 115 Miles down. Its definitely been exciting. Right now I'm sitting in the Lakeshore House in Monson, ME. We're doing a work for stay here, so 3 1/2 hours of housework tomorrow, and we get to stay here! Its on a lake, and we went swimming. Hiking Katahdin took us 12 hours. Yeah. We've gotten a bit faster though. Lots and lots of hiking, meeting lots of new people. One crazy thing was the thunder/lightning/rain/hail-storm we got one afternoon, with like quarter sized balls of hail. At the moment, I can't think of any other good things to say, but maybe I'll update later. Oh, and I have a trail name, Toast.

The Trail.

So. On June 21st I'm leaving for my next big adventure, perhaps more perilous than the last. I will be hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT for short), which runs from Mt. Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mt. in Georgia. This year the mileage is set at 2,181 miles, but it changes every year. Nobody is sure exactly how long the AT is. Most people who thru-hike (the term for hiking the entire trail all at once) it go from Georgia to Maine, but I will be one of few "Southbounders", the name for people who hike from Maine to Georgia. I will be hiking with my wonderful girl, Catherine Joyner. We will hike somewhere between 20-10 miles each day (approximately), summiting many peaks, as the trail goes through the entire Appalachian Mountain range, just walking up one mountain, down it, and then up the next. Not to mention we have to carry everything on our backs, which will equal a pack probably somewhere around 40lbs in weight.

We have all our gear set (some of it may have been a tad bit expensive). I'm going for the what-the-hell-is-she-wearing color scheme. I have a gray/black/navy blue pack (which is rather normal. I have a bright orange sleeping bag, along with a pair of shorts the same color. My raincoat is bright green, and my fleece is a pastel blue. I have one fire-truck red and one neon yellow shirts. I have a long underwear teal shirt, and an army green one. My long underwear pants are purple with blue stars and a black pair. The pants are sadly rather normal, one black, and the other kind of khaki-ish/off-white-ish. To top it all off a purple bandana or a blue wave hat. I think the best word to describe it all might be: clash. I'm excited. (Also, I am not bringing any more clothing than this (except I have undergarments as well) so it will all have to last me six months.)

My mom will drive us up on June 21st, and we'll spend the first night at the base, summit Katahdin the next day, spend one more night there, and continue on our way. The first part of the trail is the "100 Mile Wilderness", which is exactly that, 100 miles without anything. So we'll have to carry enough food with us to make it through those days. Its one of the reasons most people start in Georgia, but we can handle it.

Only 25% of Thru-hikers make it all the way. We aim to be part of that 25%. There is no stopping us, count on it.

Poetry

Sonnet V

Repetition. Up. Down. Up. Down. Again.
Apathetic, these feet unconsciously
Beat a rough pattern, as into the glen
I travel. This body monotonously
Treks over the hardened earth. But my mind
Is elsewhere occupied, racing across
Universes, contemplating mankind.
My thoughts flit in and out, some stay, some lost.
Musings fueled by this never ending
Pace, the motion, the generator of
Bold spirit for my brain's fervent spending.
In tune with these steps, my dreams drift above.
The allure of nature envelops me,
Shapes me, captures me; and so, I am free.

Updates.

So, with all the excitement and boredom of life I forgot about my blog. So minor updates, well, I'm almost graduating, two weeks. I'm going to thru-hike the appalachian trail, but I'll get into that in another post. And, I'm attending Smith College after deferring, so Class of 2016.

Anyways, here is a picture of my birthday cake, which was AMAZING. Also, I turned 18, which is a feat in itself.
And then another picture, with it cut into... surprise!