September 6

This morning we woke up early to head the almost 4 miles to the Kennebec river, where a "Mainer" would paddle across the river in a canoe, pick two hikers and their packs up then head back across and drop us off. Easiest section of trail hands down. Hiking on we hit  sections of nice trail, then muddy trail, next rocky and rooty trail....Maine can not make its mind up what kind of trail it wants to be. The day seemed to drag by once again, its so hard to be in a good mood these days. You would think this close to the end we would all be "fired up" but most of us are just tired and hungry. Our new entertainment is bitching about everything to one another to pass the time. Tonight Jabberwalkie, skinny and I are camped out by a road, right before our first river ford...hopefully tomorrow is a happier day...if not I guess we will just walk more.

Aug 24-26

Saturday morning Riggs was up early and heading towards Pinkham knotch to catch the Early shuttle. I Left soon after him, nothing seemed to be as the guide said. I kept walking anyhow. After about 4 miles of walking I came out into a pay camp area...not on the AT. Turns out the night before we didn't take the turn we were supposed to at the Osgood campsite, probably due to the fact we were exhausted and it was nearly dark. I continued walking down a road till I hit Hwy 16 and hitched into Gorham NH to the post office. Later in the day we all reunited and got a hotel room. We had a great night, there were alot of our hiker friends in town. After everyone went there seperate way, Leaks, sunshine and I snuck into the hot tube area to relax.

Sunday we went to the grocery store and grabbed some food to cook on a fire. Bratwurst, corn on the cob and potatoes. We had decided to zero in the woods to save money. After saying bye to Riggs after a great week of hiking, the three of us found an awesome stealth site way off trail and across a river to take our zero. Leaks, sunshine and I sat around all day telling stories and jokes over a few semi cold beers.

Today Leaks left out early to hike back to the visitors center where a friend of his had left some mystery trail magic. Sunshine and I slept in way to late and we lost leaks. We began the 2800 ft climb up the first Wildcat mtn. It was long and steap, but to make it even more challenging all the rocks/boulders were slippery from last nights rain. We moved slow and explored the rock crevasses which were really cool. Towards the end of the day we decided to stay at the Carter knotch hut, and do some work for stay. This hut stay was the best of all, all the hut caretakers were really cool and gave us a ton of food. Once dinner and the work was done, sunshine and I went out to Couch rock with one of the caretakers. The three of us chilled on the rock overlooking the lake and played with laser pointers. Now back at the hut I sit on my sleeping pad on the floor and prepare for bed. Tomorrow we should finally be out of the whites.

Aug 27

Waking up in a hut was nice this morning. After the few guest ate their breakfast and left the hut, we got to eat! Bacon, pancakes and coffee are a great way to start the day especially when you have a 1500 foot climb to wake you up. It didnt take to long to hit the summit, the ascent was steep but we were fresh so it took little time.  After Carter dome we headed onwards to middle carter then onto North carter all of which are 4000ft peaks. The trail was very steep and wet with a ton of rock scrambles, the decents were very tedious and taxing. Once we descended off the high ridge line we stopped at Imp Campsite, the last pay site of the whites. Sunshine and I took a long second lunch and filled up on water considering the last water source was almost 8 miles back. Now to climb the 3991ft Mt. Mariah the last climb before we hit a huge decent down to Rt. 16 where sunshine and I have our resupply hanging way up in a tree. We hung the resupply so we didn't have to carry a ton of food over the Wild cats and the Carters. Almost halfway down the decent is where I am camped for the night, just 3.5 miles from our food!  I am camped on a Small island between two streams, the sound here is priceless.

Aug 23

Woke up early to the wind beating against the lake of the clouds hut. Looking outside I realized we were socked in and the temperature had dropped. We packed our gear, put on warm clothes and started the exposed 1200ft climb. The wind was Howelling gusting at 56mph. With a wind chill of 29 deg. Multiple times on the climb I had to use my poles to stay standing due to the winds. Once at the summit we took pictures and found shelter from the elements.

After an hour break we headed back out into the cold, the walk was beautiful once the clouds started to recess. The trail began to get more and more rocky. Six miles into the day my feet were killing me. Unfortunately I think my Super Feet insoles are wore out. Continuing through the Presidential range we made it to Madison Hutt where I washed some dishes for soup and coffee. Heading back on trail we began the climb up Mt. Madison, a mountain that consist solely of medium size boulders, it began taking a toll on my feet almost instantly. At the summit we had a snack and began the long decent towards Pinkham knotch. Osgood campsite was our planned destination but upon arrival we realized it was full. It would be dark soon so we continued down the trail, finally we gave up and camped in the middle of the trail. I didn't even bother putting up the tent I just layed out my ground cloth and sleeping bag and went to sleep. In the morning Riggs and I will leave out early to get to town so he can catch a shuttle to his van and I can make the post office before the close.

Aug 19-20

Still rolling up and down mountains strong, yesterday we stopped at grean leaf hut and Yogied some breakfast. While at the hut I started talking to the Florida flip floppers and realized that Camomdo went to high school with my mom. The trail may be 2000 miles long but its only 2ft wide. The day was really pretty lax. The Florida flip floppers got the work for stay at the Zealand hut so we moved on .3 miles and found a stealth site. After settling on a fine piece of realestate, leaks and I went back to the Hut to try to Yogie some food and it worked. Leaks and I made a deal that we would clean a part of the kitchen for food, it took us all of ten minutes. We had Chicken and rice with fresh baked bread woot.

Today we decided to head for Crawford Knotch 7.2 miles to resupply and stay in town for showers and laundry. I have not showered in almost two weeks. The 7.2 into town was probably the easiest part of the Whites. At the Knotch Jerry Rigg took a shuttle to the Van while we sat around and waited.  Waiting wasn't bad due to the fact Clever Girls mom was there with trail magic. A few hours later Jerry Rigg pulled up and we headed to town. In town we stopped at a gear Co-Op and got Jerry Rigg a new pack. Now we sit at the hotel taking showers while our clothes wash. Loving the Whites

Aug 16

I woke up before the sun this morning to try to catch Sunshine who was about 5 miles ahead of me. The first challenge of the day was a huge decent off of Moosilauke. Decending down the mountain I realized the south bounders were not lying, trail conditions were extremely wet due to the fact 90% of the trail paralleled a cascading water fall over 2000ft long. The rocks had 6×6 cut on 45 deg. angles anchored to them so that hikers could use them to walk down the steep slabs of wet rocks. After about an hour and a half of nerve racking hiking I made it to kinsman knotch, it was 7:45 am. While walking towards the road crossing I saw a red cooler full of trail magic and I was the first one to get to it.

After a short break I was heading north again. Opsticle #2 was Wolf mountain about a 1500 ft. climb through mud and rocks. I hit the summit and didn't look back, I was on a mission.  Now for opsticle #3 Kinsman Mtn. taking a short break I began the climb with only a half liter of water. Ascending the mountain was extremely technical,  one huge rock scramble after another.  I put my trekking poles away so I could us my hands to help climb. The trail was the steepest its ever been, much steeper and it would have been dangerous without a rope. I thought to myself, "I've climbed every tall mountain for 1800 miles south of here ill be damned if I don't conquer this one as well" With that as my driving force I put one hand in front of the other and made it to the southern summit in no time at all. Little did I know sunshine was just a half mile ahead on the northern summit. While going through the gap towards sunshine a day hiker stopped and said "you must be Carpenter" with a strange look I replied yes. He then proceeded to tell me that sunshine had been waiting on me but was out of water so she headed for the shelter/water source.  I high tailed it down the mountain to the shelter and there she was. We sat at the pond and got water, I hate pond water but I was thirsty.  After sitting around for a while we headed down to meet sunshines dad who is coming to hike with us for a few days. Once with him we all went out to eat. At dinner I had a burger smothered in pulled pork and onion rings along with a baked potato It was an amazing way to end a 19 mile day in the White Mountains. It almost killed me.

Aug 17

After a late night trying to find a place for the three of us to make camp, we slept in till about 9:30. At the camp we divided up the trail food sunshine's dad had brought and "shook down" his pack. About 11:30 we headed to the outfitter where Sunshine got a new stove and I got a new pair of the same shoes I've been wearing and some new socks. Thank you mom and dad for keeping me going out here I love you both. In the outfitter we ran into Leaks, he needed a ride back to the trail so we brought him along. Once we found a place to park the car for a couple days we headed back to the trail. Today would be a short one, the four of us decided to do the 3800ft climb and go to a stealth spot our secret thru hiker map told us about. Tomorrow we will cross Franconia ridge, the ridge line is totally exposed for two miles and is beautiful with a hint of deadly.

Aug 18

After a great night sleep in an illegal stealth camp site, Leaks, Jerry Rigg (sunshines dad) sunshine and I headed north. We had just a little bit of water for the first 3.5 miles of the day. Normally we would do the 3.5 miles in an hour ten min. but not in the Whites. A mile is now taking us about 30 min. but everything is so beautiful it really doesn't matter. Our first climb started out gradually well gradually for the Whites but soon turned into a hand over hand rock scramble.  At the summit of mt. Lincoln was a beautiful view of Mt. Moosilauke and Mt. kinsmans two peaks which we had climbed in the previous couple days. The new found team and I kept on trekking to the start of the exposed Franconia Ridge. Franconia ridge was absolutely amazing,  with vast views and huge rock formations continuously for 2+ miles.  We took our time crossing the ridge stopping a lot for pictures and to watch the Glider Planes swoop by. Unfortunately the ridge was also covered with tourist coming up from the hut a whopping 1.1 miles away. At the summit of Lafayette the highest point on the ridge we took a break and went down hill .2 to get water.

Once back below tree line a few miles past the summit we stopped for lunch before taking on the huge decent.  The decents in the Whites slow us down the most and are really taking a toll on my knees. I find myself more times than not getting down on all fours and doing the crab walk down steep sloped rocks. Heading towards Garfield pond the four of us took another break. Leaks got up to move for an oncoming hiker and I realized it was Whistle, and Grim was right behind her! Finally we were reunited we all hugged and began telling stories, shortly after Dump truck and Clever Girl came walking up! Now we were a gang of hiker trash. Sunshine and I hadn't seen them since New Jersey so we had a lot of catching up to do. Continuing up to the pond we began climbing Mt. Garfield. The ascent was pretty lax just tons of rock on a continuous climb, but of course right before the top....more rock scrambles.
On the summit the shanangins started of course and we were all laughing and carrying on. One more decent down Garfield and we would find a stealth camp, the decent was steep and rough with one part of the trail being shared by a creek. I finally found a stealth site and luckily it was big enough for everyone. 
After camp was set up we all sat in a circle, cooked dinner, told jokes, sang songs and just had a good ole time. Sunshine' s dad must think we are all loonies but I think he is having a good time.

Aug 15

Wow what a productive day. Woke up around 7:30 still feeling like crap. Occupy and I got out of camp at 8 and headed towards Glen Cliff NH. Once in Glen cliff a guy at the trail head offered to take me to the post office, which was not far at all but I hopped in the truck and headed into "town" when he dropped me off he handed me a 20$ bill and said good luck.

After realizing the post office was closed till 2pm I walked over to the Hikers Welcome Hostel to mingle with my fellow hikers. I watched a movie and charged my phone until Ms. Janet arrived and took me to resupply for a couple days.

I finally got back on trail at 3pm, once in the woods I changed into my shorty shorts and got my game face on. The Climb was steep and long, very wet and rocky but at the same time beautiful.  I put my head down a pushed up the mountain.  I made it to the 4800+ ft. summit from around 900ft. in 2 hours 15 min. Once I realized I was almost to the top I got really excited to be back in Alpine. 

After a few pictures,  and a change into warmer clothes I moved from the summit to decend 1000ft to the Beaver Creek Shelter where I lay now. The shelter is full of south bounders but they are a decent group so no worries. Tomorrow Ill shoot for Franconia Notch to catch sunshine.

Aug 14

Today was a long day, did 20 miles over 3 different mountains.  Smarts Mountain was the first ascent of the day 2200ft in 5.4 miles. The climb was pretty steep in most sections,  and scattered with slippery rocks. At the summit was a fire Tower, Occupy and I climbed the tower and took pictures.  After a brief snack we decended 2000ft down the other side of the mountain. In the Gap we got water and prepared for the next 1500ft. climb. Once we hit the summit there were amazing views of smarts mountain the fire tower looked so far away yet we had been there just 3 hours earlier.  About 1:30 pm I began feeling nauseous and my stomach was rumbling.  Unfortunately I got diarrhea that just wouldn't quit. It made the last miles of the day basically just miserable but I pushed on. 7:30 we arrived at camp, the wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping,  I set up camp quickly and crawled in to try to sleep.  The night was somewhat miserable too, After climbing in and out of my tent multiple times to usef the bathroom I finally fell asleep.  I'm am currently 8 miles into the day, sitting at the hikers welcome hostel waiting on the post office to open. Hopefully I can get my package and a small resupply Before climbing Mt. Moosilauke at 4000ft climb in 5.3 miles. This will be the biggest climb Yet.

Aug. 12

Sunshine and I made it to New Hampshire this morning,  after a late start. The first three miles were a road walk into Hanover NH. Once in town we went to Ramundos Pizzeria,  where thru hikers get one free slice, and boy was it delicious. A waitress took our picture for the "hiker wall" and we signed the book. Hanover seemed to be a very hiker friendly place, unfortunately we didn't spend long there.

Out of town we made lunch, and pondered the rest of the day. We would shoot for 19 miles even though it was already almost 2pm.  After a long hour of hiking I stopped to wait on Sunshine,  the miles were just dragging by. Snack time was over and we began to hike again, the next 6 miles were steady but gradual up hill with just a few steep sections.  I arrived at the first peak (1000ft. climb) of moose mountain at 5:45, sunshine was about a half hour behind me. (she is getting used to having a heavier pack again) We looked at the map and decided to just go a few more miles once we reached the moose mountain shelter and filled up on water. Turns out the water source is virtually stagnant and just about dried up. Completely out of water, we decided we had no choice but to collect what we could.  Someone had left an empty can nearby to scoop up water, we put a bandanna over the mouth of our bottles to keep the sediment out. 20 minutes later we had four liters of water, now for aqua mira and hoping it kills whatever parasites are living in it. Being that the water collecting process took so long we found a nearby camp and called it a day, almost 14 miles done today hopefully we get more tomorrow.

Aug 13

On the 13th Sunshine and I woke up early, and its a good thing we did. We had just finished packing up when the rain started, It was no drizzle but a downpour.  To accent the rain was a lovely 1200ft decent followed by a delightful 1300ft ascent...just to go down another 1200ft.  After coming down for the second time in 3 hours, we came across a sign for water and free Ice cream .1miles away. The sign its self was awesome,  the sign had written on it the following. ..

My Ice cream brings all the hikers to the yard
My water is better than yours
Damn right my croquet game is better than yours
All this and there is no charge.

Trail Angel Bill

Of course we went! On arrival we recognized occupy's pack on the front porch, then went around back to get out of the terribly cold rain. As we talked, we realized Bill was out of town but a really nice woman named Ashley was watching the place. I immediately changed into dry clothes,  if the rain wasn't done I was. Nothing is more miserable than walking through mountains in the pouring rain when its cold and windy...no thanks. Sunshine was dead set on hiking out, and she did. I hope it wasn't too cold for her atop the 3400ft. Smarts mountain.

During the short  parts of the day that it stopped raining, Occupy and I played Croquet.  I never really realized how much I like croquet,  and apparently Occupy as well. Him and I played off and on till right up to dark. Ashley was working on a wooded chandelier, I like the idea and gave her some advice on which blade to use in her jigsaw, after that she went to work I'm not gonna lie I was quite impressed with her jigsaw skill.

About 10 we went to bed, once again turning down a spot on the floor inside. The screened in porch made a fine place to sleep.

Aug 10&11

Yesterday was great, Sunshine and I slept in till 10:30. We watched movies on and off all day, Talladega Nights one of my favorites that sunshine had never seen was on along with Ferris Buelers day off.
Jeff got home around 6:30 and we headed to the party. There was a ton of farm fresh foods just like I had hoped for, we were like wild animals eating ribs like it was our job, along with Corn on the cob, huge juicy pork chops, potato with carrots and onions, salad, homemade baked beans and pie. We mingled with the strangers at the party and tried to act somewhat normal.

This morning Sunshine made us a breakfast of Eggs, left over pork chops and corn...Delicious.  We got a late start today due to the fact we were up pretty late for hikers. Jeff dropped us off back at the trail, we saw our friend Occupy there, with out his German shepherd Helga. Helga had hurt her foot a few days earlier and had to get off trail. Occupy told us his crazy story from the night before. Apparently he was half asleep when he heard walking around him as he was cowboy camped on the ground, reaching up to pet Helga he remembered she was gone, he opened his eyes and saw a huge black bear just feet from him, he jumped up and began yelling at the bear who disapeared into the night. What a crazy night that must have been. After walking for just a few miles we decided to take a nap, just not enough sleep last night. Sunshine and I woke up about two hours later, snacked and started hiking again. We did 8 miles, it was less than we wanted but enough.  Tomorrow we will go into New Hampshire and shoot for a big day. This will give me a chance to see how good this hear new knee brace will work. Thank you Nanna and Papa Friend I greatly appreciate it and my knee does to, its just what I needed.

Aug. 4

Slept great last night with the warmth from the wood burning stove. We kept the fire going all night then made coffee on to the stove to save fuel. Sunshine was low on food because we can't carry enough food anymore.  Hiker hunger is getting out of control I  believe we should be taking in about 8000 calories a day. We hitched into Manchester center and ran into toast and rusty at a bagel shop. Sunshine ans I charged phones, got some food and loitered around like hikers do. Hours later we got bk to the trail head, we had bought two beers so we sat down to drink them. Once settled in the rain started coming down, sunshine put her tarp up so we would stay dry. A south bounder and his dog came down the trail, it was cold and hailing at this point so we invited him under the tarp. He was a cool dude from vermont and his friend was slack packing him. He hooked us up with some awesome trail magic. The day was cut short due to the cold ass rain so we just climbed up bromley and watched the sun set.

Aug 6-9

We have slowed down dramatically,  not for any serious reasons, but to give enough time for my winter gear to get to the post office. The last couple days have been very relaxing, with great weather in the day and a bit chilly at night. Our mileage averaged about 8 mpd (miles per day) (did I just make that up?) Vermont trail just keeps getting better, I love the views.  At some of the Vistas we have been able to see ski slopes covering the mountain sides for miles. Yesterday Aug 8 we climbed mount Killington, it was a 2000ft climb with the summit being at about 4000ft making it the second highest peak in VT. Towards the top of Killington the clouds encased the mountain, the air was very moist which made stopping rather cold. We stopped at the Cooper lodge shelter near the summit, and ate the last bit of food we had. Also at the summit was a south bounder from Chattanooga,  his trail name eludes me, we talked a bit made a few southern jokes and moved on.

Once in town, a friendly day hiker and his dog stopped to talk to me. He asked me the normal questions and I gave him the normal answers, but just before he walked away he handed me 7$ and told me to go in the Irish pub and have a beer on him, obeying his wish, that's exactly what I did. Finishing my beer I paid the unfriendly bar tender and left, outside and across the street I spotted Ms. Janet's van. Perfect timing, sunshine and I needed a ride to the post office and the outfitter. Ms. Janet is a trail Angel who dedicates most her time to just helping hikers. She is great.

Sunshine and I picked up our packages and hung out at the outfitters with toast and rusty, while charging phones and sorting gear. Although my winter gear had not yet arrived it was ok. Sunshine had arranged for us to be picked up today (friday) to stay at a friend of hers house.
The four of us went back to the trail to find a camp just outside of town. After walking about .5 miles we spotted at little spot on a pine covered hill which we decided would do. Sunshine, rusty, toast and I all squeezed our tents/hammocks into the tiny clearing and sat back to relax and have intensely serious conversation about cartoons and going back to society.

During the night the rain came down hard, and had no intention on stopping.  For sunshine and I it was no big deal, we would be getting off trail in the morning,  but for our comrades it was a wet morning.  We said bye to rusty and toast and headed back to the outfitter. The rain continued most of the day at a steady down pour. My winter gear arrived about 1pm then sunshine and I walked in the rain to the post office to send our summer gear home. 6pm. Jeff arrived to pick us up, oh what a wonderful day. Jeff offered us the pull out couch inside but we politely declined to sleep outside,  we really are going crazy. Tomorrow we will go to a party with food, tons of it I hope, stay the night again then head north, towards New Hampshire the 13th state and home of the White Mountains.

Aug 5

Woke up this morning freezing, my watch read 52 deg. Sunshine and I put our heads together last night to stay as warm as possible,  we took one of the quilts and used it as an underquilt for her hammock while we shared the other quilt inside the hammock. Our camp was on the side of Bromley mtn. about .75 miles on the decent, Really it wasn't a camp at all, just two trees the right distance apart on a steep grade. With it getting dark fast and us begining to get cold we decided that would be home for the night. During the night the wind picked up dramatically, and blew right through our "camp" with a cold furry.

Finally sunshine and I climbed out of the hammock,  about 10:30am and in a rush to start hiking to stay warm. Leaving camp at 11:15 we were on a mission.  20 miles by dark. It was a long shot, usually when we do a 20 we are up early, but not this day. Within the first two miles rusty and toast came walking up...we had stopped for some "brown blazing". (Use your imagination you will figure it out )
After conversing with our friends about extremly serious topics we headed north again. A few more miles went by when we found a bag of linguine noodles by a sign, being that we are always hungry the noodles went north too, a feast of linguine would be our dinner tonight.

   The trail was beautiful,  Baxter peak was a great climb, with amazing views. While climbing the steep rocks up Baxter I was in awe of everything it was perfect. Once we hit the summit the trail turned immediately in a dense spruce fur forest that smelled of Christmas.  After decending Baxter we came to the Shelter that marked 15 miles for the day and it was barely 4pm. We took a quick break loaded up on calories and headed for our last climb for the day. On the ridge line it was beautiful again, another dense pine forest littered with quartz rock. We were approaching the white rocks overlook, before the trail head to the overlook we came across a ton of prayer rocks. It was awesome to see what a bunch of hikers had built. Dark was in our near future,  so we headed the .7 to the Green wall shelter.  The shelter and tent area was all ours for the night. Sunshine set up the hammock as we did the night before, while I made what I like to call an instafire. One second there is no fire and the next there is. We cooked delicious linguine with olive oil and oregano then headef to bed for another big day tomorrow.

Aug. 3 Stratton Mtn.

Last night was a ruff one. The temperature dropped when a front moved through at about 2am, we woke up to rain and wind. Around 6am its was oh so cold and still raining so instead of getting an early start we slept in till 9:30am. Climbing out of my quilt was a mental challenge I hate being cold. Once up and moving we broke down camp and hung the rain gear to dry in the wind. Sunshine and I left camp at 11:15 still hoping to pound out 20 miles. The two of us flew up the almost 2000 ft. climb 5.7 miles or so in two hours, passing everybody.  At the summit was tourist central...they had a nice walk from their cars about .5 away.
There was a line to climb the fire tower, so we ate lunch while the civilians got their payoffs.  Once most the people cleared out sunshine and I were about to climb up when Toast hit the summit so I told her to cut line and bring her thru hiker butt up the tower with us. Above the tree line it was extremely windy going up the 70ft fire tower.  Inside we looked at what we had climbed and what is too come, seconds later Rusty, toast hiking partner popped his head in. We all laughed at toast rant about tourist and took pics then headed down.

Sunshine and I said bye to our hiker friends and headed north, Stratton mountain is beautiful and reminded me of Clingmans dome. We made it 3 miles in just under an hour, stopped for a few min. and decided we would go 4.9 before the next break. I took off at a fast pace, about 4 mph with sunshine right on my heels. After an hour at that pace we slowed it back down to 3mph and made it the 4.9 in 1 hour 20 min. hehehe. We took another break got water and moved on. 3 miles away was Spruce Peak shelter that we didn't plan on staying at, but one we got there we quickly changed our minds. The shelter has a door and swinging windows which is awesome but to top that a wood burning stove. After being cold last night this is just what we needed.  Also at the shelter tent sites is a summer camp group consisting of 7-10 yr olds and two counselors.  The kids were all very well behaved and the counselers were really cool and generous. They fed us mac-n-cheese...tons of it we are stuffed. Sunshine and I used some good old-fashioned team work and collected enough wood to keep this toasty fire going all night. I think I could live here, its not much different then my old house in Vonore lol minus the electricity and fridge.

Tomorrow we walk on...
Good day sir.

Aug. 2nd

I awoke to the hikers in the shelter making noise early in the morning.  Not wanting to get up I laid In the tent contemplating the day and where sunshine was. Finally I got motivated and put my shoes on. The rainfly was soaked from the downpour of rain but it was too humid to try to dry it out so I packed it anyhow.  As I was about to leave sunshine came walking into camp. She had stopped about three miles back and stealth camped, we made coffee and began the final accent to the summit and fire tower. Once we had climbed the tower and took pictures we set off again. The trail was rough there is a lot of mud, roots and "rocks and sticks and twigs". All of those combined slowed us down more than we expected.  Arriving at Kid gore shelter Sunshine and I hung up the rain gear to dry while we ate lunch. Kid gore shelter has a beautiful view from the front, so we had lunch with a view. It made my bagel with cheese drenched in olive oil and oregano sandwich priceless.

Climbing out of the gap where the shelter was was slow moving. Our next goal was the stoney spring shelter which also took us forever to get to. We had second lunch and talked with some Sobo's and LT hikers along with a Family of Nobo's sectioning half the trail. The youngest of the family is 7 his name is HI Five and two daughters one of which has down syndrome she is named tutu.

With Stratton mountain in our near future and my foot hurting, we decided to camp at the base of the mountain rather than climb the 5+ miles over the summit to stelth camp. Camp tonight is directly next to a nice little brook on soft pine needles. The family of Nobo's are camped on the other side. Its 9 pm hiker midnight so I'm calling it a day. Goodnight

Aug. 1st 5 months on trail.

Eight AM Sunshine and I hit the trail headed for Bennington VT to pick up our packages. It was a 2.2 miles hike mostly steep down hill followed by a 5 mile hitch into town.  A man who was 88 was in the near by parking lot and was just thrilled to take us to the post office (we were not so thrilled with his driving). The two packages I picked up were my food drop (thanks mom and dad) and the replacement quilt from Jacks R Better. We transfered our food from the boxes to our food bags and headed to eat some breakfast. Breakfast turned out to be lunch followed by huge free ice creams with all the fixins. Our last stop was Right Aid for more Alieve to keep the pains down. While in Right Aid the rain started coming down,  needless to say we just went on with our day. After walking about a mile a "wild woman" picked us up and she was pretty funny. I had spotted Big Yankee another nobo hiker in the back seat of a car that passed, he had also hitched to and from town. Once back on trail we had quite a climb ahead of us. A continuous climb from 1366ft to 3573ft. in about 10 miles. On the first and most steep climb the rain began to get harder, we made it to the first shelter just 1.6 from the road where big yankee, twigs and lucky were also hiding from the cold rain along with a couple other hikers. Sunshine and I sat there for about 1.5 hours while the rain poured down.  Even though we were wasting time we were having a blast telling jokes and riddles and just being well hiker trash. I believe most of us have lost our minds.
Finally we got motivated and set out to do 8.5 miles up to the next shelter (Goddard shelter) I lost sunshine about two miles in to the climb, I was kinda cold so I didn't want to mess around with breaks. I made it to the shelter in 2.5 hours without stopping.  On the way up the fog got thicker along with the forest, It was kinda spooky especially when huge gust of wind would rattle the trees. The trail is beautiful up on the bigger mountains I'm so glad to be above 3000ft. although tonight may get a bit chilly. The shelter here is full of people probably LT Hikers I don't know I just peaked in then set up my tent. It is 9:02 and I'm sitting in my tent listening to the rain and wind pounding against the rain fly, sunshine is still not here and I am beginning to worry about her, the rain is steady and the temp is dropping I hope she gets here soon.

Loving Vermont!

July 31 Welcome to Vermont and the long trail.

After our last breakfast with Tom and saying bye to new hiker friends, we climbed in the car for the 30 min. drive to North Adams where we thanked Tom said goodbye and started north again.

Right off the bat we had a 1000+ ft. climb, and we killed it...except for the stop at the creek running beside the trail where sunshine and I both washed our hair and faces. (Toms shower is leaking or we would have showered there)
We made it to the state line of Vermont as well as the start of the 105 mile section of The Long Trail that the AT shares. Apparently The Long Trail attracts a lot of hikers either for the weekend a few nights  or a thru hike that is 273 miles to Canada.
Either way the trail is packed and Its seems to me that most of the LT hikers are not very experienced and kindly annoying, or maybe we feel they are intruding on our "home" so there is a small amount of prejudice in us. No matter we will still be respectful of the trail and the people on it.

The day was pretty good though, after the first 1000ft. climb the terrain leveled out which caused mud pits to form. Vermont is known for being muddy and it didn't take long to see why. We then climbed another 1000ft and took a break on top. Most of the day was spent above 2000ft. which is nice, less bugs and cooler temps. make the days enjoyable.  Sunshine and I reached Congdon shelter and realized it was taken over by LT hikers. Lucky a NOBO hiker from Ireland and a SOBO named spits were there already,  we talked to them and cooked food then decided to move on and find a stealth site to camp. 2.4 miles north we found a little spot by the last creek before Bennington  VT where we will hitch into in the morning for resupply.  At this moment I'm laying in my tent listening to some creature make strange dying like noises. Its kind of annoying and unnerving at the same time.

(Sunshine is a real OG)

July 30

Oh what a day. Sunshine and I woke up at 730 in Tom lovardi's basement on a king size bed and boy did I sleep good. Tom had coffee, bagels with cream cheese, english muffins and donuts for breakfast free of charge. I'm must say he is an extraordinary man with a huge heart and the kindess soul, he is the ultimate trail Angel and for that we love him.

After waiting on the thru crew to get their shit together Sunshine and I finally got to North Adams Massachusetts to start our 23 mile "slack pack" over Mt. Greylock Sobo style. We began the long climb up the southern side of the mountain.  The accent was appox. 2000ft. in 5 miles. Sunshine and I made it to the summit in 3 hours. On the summit 3450ft. it was chilly with a constant breeze. Fun size, waffles, and bottlecap were also at the summit they caught me doing a push-up on the monument in honor of our new friend pink leprechaun.  The Five of us went down to the lodge for lunch and stunk up the place with our trail merc. Once we had eattin sunshine and I began the long decent down the northern side of Greylock. During the decent we ran into Nomad and his daughter doin a day hike up the mountain,  we talked laughed and said goodbye for the final time before he end his 4 month adventure as a trail Angel.
Later in the day a porcupine was running down the trail in front of us it was really cool and really pretty funny, after about .1 miles he took off into the woods. As dusk was approching we saw another porcupine, but he just climbed a tree and stared at us while we took pictures and talked to him or her. Finally we came off the trail back in Dalton Mass. and headed for Toms house, at this point it was about 8pm and we were beat. Tom's backyard looks like a tent city, there are 11 tents 3 people sleeping on the porch and a few more upstairs. I am now back in the kingsize bed ready to sleep like a rock, tomorrow we will cross into Vermont and have less than 600 miles to go.

Random Pictures

Eatting blueberries
Massachusetts boardwalk
Motor Boat Blazing
Making sandwiches in the hotel during laundry time. No pants dance!

July 29

Sunshine and I stayed at Toms today, we rode to town with him and had lunch along with a south bounder named pink leprechaun.  Nomad a hiker turned trail angel also showed up today in the Van, aka the Vanimal. We talked a while and realized we had not seen one another since uncle jonnies in TN. After a while he said he would slack pack us 23 miles tomorrow which will make today a free zero day. In the evening sunshine and I barrowed Toms bikes and rode down to a restaurant for dinner.  When we arrived back at Toms house, Timber, little engine and ambo had returned from their slack pack. Nomad took the girls to his hotel for showers, and the guys were left to fend for ourselves.  Timber and I improvised,  we took a ladder and wrapped a tarp around it and secured it with cordage. Once the framework was done we put the hose through the hammer slot and let the water flow. The shower works great if you can take the cold. Tonight we will sleep inside and hopefully get some good rest before a big day of slack packing over mount Greylock.