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.

July 27

Today we did our short day to upper goose pond cabin, most of the day was uneventful.  We spent most the day taking breaks, once we came to the last 1.5 mile stretch along the pond sunshine and I heard laughter from some boats parked along the shore, so we investigated. After talking with the people for a min. they invited us aboard to have some beers and of course we did. The group were mainly in their 60s but full of spunk, we all laughed and carried on for a while. When it came time to leave, they offered us a ride on the boat to the cabins dock where we would be staying for the night and we said yes. Sunshine and I officially aqua blazed on a motor boat lol. When we walked up to the cabin area the other hikers looked at us with crazy eyes like "how did you get here"?

July 28

We awoke early for the free pancakes then hit the trail. The plan was 20.6 miles into Dalton Massachusetts to tent in Tom Lovardies back yard for free, the trail passes directly through this little town. Unfortunately on this morning I sad also awoke sick...maybe the Nora Virus again? Two other hikers lucky and ledge had been feeling the same way yesterday, so I hoped for the best and hiked on. I threw up about 3 miles in, after that I was extremely nauseas for the rest of the day. It took us a while longer to do the 20 miles than we thought because I was struggling mostly but we made it before 7 pm so that works. There are about 16 hikers here all of them we know.  I'm am dead tired but feeling better. Tomorrow we will start heading towards mt. Greylock the highest point in Massachusetts.

July 26

Some of you may not believe this but I spent all day walking in the woods. The day started about 9am a bit later then we had planned,  but really plans are just talk to keep us entertained. Most of the first 5 miles were up hill to our first break at the Tom lennard shelter,  sunshine and both agree the mileage was a little off it was more like 6 miles. After a long lunch we headed north again, up some hills, down some hills, through swampy areas and pine forest.  While going through a swampy area we saw a bear patrolling the trail going south bound. Sunshine tried to get a picture but he disappeared into the thick under growth crowding the bank of a pond. That is the 7th bear I've seen in 1500+ miles. We continued on as usual,  talking about nonsense and me making strange noises to entertain myself. (sunshine hates it) We breaked at another shelter and contemplated where to finish the day. Six more miles was the goal which would put us at 16 for the day.
After hiking for a while we saw our first porcupine, it was just a baby, and boy was it cute. The rest of the miles seem to take forever as they usually do before you reach camp or a town. Tomorrow is going to be a short 10 mile day to stay at the Upper Goose pond shelter where a cartaker stays and cooks pancakes for breakfast. 

July 22-25

First off I realized I have been putting June on July post woops. I also had the last four days of blogs typed and ready to post, but for some reason my phone deleted them. Now Ill just give a brief overview of the last few days.

The weather has been fairly good, its not crazy hot anymore, but there has been some rain with a few thunderstorms.  Sunshine and I seperated for a couple days to hike alone. Sometimes its necessary considering we are together 24/7. While we were seperated I got some bigger miles in. On the 22nd I had 12 miles done by noon so I spent a few hours swimming at a waterfall and laying on the rocks. After taking the long break I did the 5 miles to the next shelter that was bug central so I ate quickly and climbed in the tent to call it a day.

The 23 I awoke to rain and a tree falling over. I heard it popping and knew it was going to fall, but I couldn't see where it was falling so I closed my eyes and gritted my teath while hoping for the best. Luckily the tree crashed to the ground nowhere near me. Once that was over I packed up the wet tent and started thr climb up lions head mtn. At the summit I had lunch and dried the tent out. Just as I was finishing lunch a fast moving storm moved in.  While quickly packing my gear up on the ridgeline the rain started coming down,  I flew down the ridge to begin the steap rocky and now wet decent towards the Riga shelter.  I arrived at the shelter and I wad empty but not for long, hikers began to pile in. Its reminded me of Georgia to be in a packed shelter waiting out the rain. Ambassador was the last to arrive at the shelter,  he told me that sunshine was just ahead of her so I grabbed my pack and took off in the rain towards Bear Mtn. I arrived at the summit 3 miles past Riga shelter in 50 min. I was booking it up that mountain.  At the top I saw Giggle fitts and paisley but no sign of sunshine, so I asked them if they had seen her "nope"" they said. Hummmm she has eluded me again. Leaving Bear Mtn. heading towards the Massachusetts boarder was an extremely steep rock scramble down to sages ravine. Crossing the Massachusetts boarder I began the next climb, no long into it I saw a bear walking on the trail surprisingly he didn't see me so I hung back. Close to the summit I took a break, and after a few min. I could hear trekking poles clattering against rocks all of the sudden I saw sunshine "hey you" I said. And after two days we were back together. Two miles to the camp and the day would be done but not before gorging ourselves on blueberries atop the amazingly beautiful ridgeline.

24 of July. ..yesterday we set out early to get to Great Barrington MA to grab my package and resupply.  Thanks to Vivian and  Terry Lewis for the package it was and is great, and of couse to momma for my normal food drop. Sunshine and I stayed at the Days Inn, had a showet and did laundry.  I'm so happy to have clean socks.  This morning we left town late and went 3 miles to Nero in the woods. Tomorrow we plan to get up at 4am and try to pound out 26 miles.

We are at 1519 miles and have 667 to go.
Vermont should be under our shoes by early next week.

June 20 Connecticut

For the last two days Sunshine and I "beat the heat" we stayed at the duchess motor inn in Wingdale NY. The heat wave that took over the nation this past week was not good for us hikers. Many people got heat exhaustion or were just plain miserable.  With heat indexes around 110 we found it best to get off trail for the two worst days of it.

Today we left the inn at 930am and hitched back to the trail. Our plan was to do 15 miles due to the fact it was still pretty hot. During first lunch 6 miles in we saw Bottle Cap and fun size, who we hadn't seen since DWG. NJ also there were some new faces. Sunshine and I left after about an hour break headed for Ten mile river shelter.  Once we arrived at the shelter we went down to a little pebble beach type area and took a dip to cool off. After cooling down we decided to push 3 miles further than planned to get 18 miles for the day. We are in Connecticut finally and on our way to Massachusetts,  we should be there early next week.

I'm am now tented out behind the Algo shelter area, Sunshine is close by in her hammock and there are a few other hikers here, not sure who is here other than fozzy bear due to the fact it was dark when we got here. Algo shelter area is terrible for bugs, mostly mosquitoes. .. so many many many mosquitoes so many I can hear the steady humm from their wings outside the tent, it was absolutely torture setting up camp even after I sprayed myself with 100% deet. Bastards I tell you!

The picture is of the largest tree on the AT it was in NY

June 17

Well it was another hot day in the mid. 90s. Sunshine and I left the shelter at 7am, hiked 5 miles to a deli down the road .4 miles and had a delicious sandwich.  Apparently all the other hikers had the same idea, there were 13 of us there. Two of the hikers I met there are from Chattanooga TN. Once we left the deli we did 4 more miles to another shelter to wait out the heat. Timber, little engine and Ambo were there too. I had a great time joking and laughing with them for a good 5 hours. 4:30 we continued hiking, we wanted to go 7.8 more miles to the next shelter. An hour passed and we were just over 3 miles when we came to the "Nuclear" lake. Bro Hawk, Double D, button and the Chattanooga boys were layed out by the lake after a swim so of course we joined them. The water was warm but still refreshing, I finally got to wash the large amount of dirt from my legs that was getting pretty thick from burning up the trail. Hahaha.  Once the lake party was finished we all finished out the day at the shelter 6 miles before the Connecticut boarder. On the way into the shelter I met Mercury he is the first official AT south bounder I've met. Fortunately for me I'm getting close to my goal while he is just beginning an amazingly beautiful and fun mind test...

Carpenter

June 16

Finally got a good day of hiking in 15miles. We did 5.5 this morning and the rest in the evening.  Sunshine and I are now at RPH shelter, and a trail maintainer was here with cold beers awesome...
Also Mr. giggle fitts and paisley are here, its nice to see them again. Speaking of reunions today, I saw Timber, little Engine and ambassador today, whom of which I have not seen since the smokies...1200 miles ago. We all hugged and exchanged stories...really really nice to see them.
 

Oh geezer

July 12

Well we saw some bears...yes bearS. 2 strolled right up close to our camp last night about 5min. apart. The first bear was a male about 400 pounds. This bear thought nothing of our shouts and noises, he never missed a beat just walked right past us. The second bear was a female, weighing in about 250 she also had no time for us. Welcome to NY!

New York is actually a really pretty state, the terrain has changed again along with the water situation.  The Trail is just jetting up and down at steep grades but its kinda cool, its a little rocky...but its more like rock scrambles so its fun.
Water is few and far between,  fortunately some road crossings haVe gallons of water from trail Angels.

Tonight Sunshine and I are stealth camping in a beautiful no camping area...but in our defense ny has terrible back country rules. We hope to be up and out on trail early to avoid and early hikers, or maybe the rain will keep them away who knows.

Slowww. July 13 - 14

Summer is in full swing, which maybe nice for those of you who have air conditioning or are hitting the lake and the river. For us thru hikers it makes for short days and heat exhaustion.  Sunshine and I have cut our daily miles down to about 13. Between the rocky steep climbs, limited water and the heat, exhaustion rears its ugly head early in the day and causes us to stop short of our desired destination.  Yesterday we climbed bear mountain (hill) amongst a ton of tourists and had to be tortured by the smell of barbeque when we got down to the lake. The trail went through a zoo and over the Hudson River. In the zoo we hit the lowest elevation on the AT 124 ft. Lately my energy levels and motivation have been low maybe because the heat or just due to the fact I've been walking for 4.5 months...I don't know.  Sunshine and I have made a pact, basically we promised to get the other one to Katahdin no matter what. I'm glad she is my hiking partner, we make a good team.

Carpenter

Relaxed finally

Well we made it through Jersey and are in NY. Sunshine and I stayed at Antons on the lake, a quite and beautiful little B&B. Yesterday was a true Zero day, we did nothing and it was amazing.  Today sunshine and I are heading back on trail with a full resupply of food ugh heavy packs...Thanks you again momma for keeping the food coming,  also I want to thank Nanna and Papa Friend for the package can't wait to eat the smores :-).

Hopefully the dark ominous clouds rolling in will hold off for us but either way...we shall walk tall.

Carpenter

July 4-7

On the fourth I stayed at a free hostel. I got back on trail on the 5th. Sunshine and I are back to doing good miles...we will be at the highest point in NJ by the end of the day 841 miles to go after today. The temperature is blazing hot...low 90s its not really bothering me as much as other but still its hot. Blueberries are everywhere on the NJ ridge line, I can't help but stop and eat them. Last night sunshine and I stayed at a fire tower and watched the third day of continuous fire works.

Carpenter

Freedom from Pennsylvania rocks on Independence day

Oh thank God, we are out of Pennsylvania. The Next 100 miles is in NJ, where there are supposedly no rocks...just bugs and bears.

Currently I am in Delaware water Gap, after two days of mental torture...I know I keep talking about rocks, but that's all there was rocks rocks rocks, and an occasional blueberry patch or some other delicious berry to munch on. Sunshine and I are once again around a whole new group of hikers...all of which are also glad to be out of the rocks.

My knees at this point are killing me...I'm just thankful for new shoes so my feet don't hurt too. Today is resupply day, sunshine is resuppling in DWG and I have a package ten miles north of here. Speaking of miles....Less that 900 to go!

Rain is officially gone...until tomorrow, I'm just used to everything being wet now so whatever, let it rain!

Carpenter

July 2

Today...well today was mostly just "not that great". Sunshine and I got a late start, which really wasn't a big deal and some important gear business was taken care of, but its was raining of course. It rained off and on most of the day, which wouldn't have been bad except that we were crossing huge bolder fields that are extremely slippery when wet. Come 3 o'clock we were 1 mile from Polmerton PA. which either meant go 17 miles into the Waste land, up a huge bolder scramble and no available water, or go to thr FREE hostel in polmerton and call it a day. We decided to go into town and dry out our gear, which was all soaked get a good rest and hit the rock scramble hard in the morning.

Just a little side note. ..I still have not fallen since springer mtn GA. About 50 miles left of rocks so I hope I can stay vertical. Cant wait for NJ on the 4th for independence day!

Carpenter

June 24-July 1

I'm am currently,  sitting at Blue Mountain Summit B&B waiting on UPS to deliver my new shoes. I just wanna say I love Solomon shoes and the company,  the Solomon's I'm currently wearing have over 700 miles on them and have held up great but they are worn out as any trail runner would be. Last week I called the company told them what I was doing and with no hesitation they shipped me a new pair.

Since my last post I have moved  100 miles north with one zero day. The weather and trail have been rough. We have officially hit the "hell" of northern Pennsylvania.  There are rocks absolutely everywhere,  and when wet they are extremely slippery and dangerous,  which makes hiking slow and tedious. Bugs, particularly nats are driving me nutty, there is nothing like trying to navigate wet rocks with nats flying in and around your eyes all day ugh I hate them. Belgium hiker Hot Foot was taken off trail the other day by the fire dept. due to the giant bullseye on his leg...Lime Disease!  Personally I have only had four ticks on me but none have embedded for now.

Trail magic has been nice lately though even with inclement weather.  We have had 3 different trail angels with food and one that Slack packec sunshine and I 16miles which was awesome. Bag Of Tricks was who slack packed us, but on top of that he tracked down my Trekking poles that I had left in a car on accident in Port Clinton, PA and had them waiting with my pack at the end of our slack pack.

In Port Clinton/ Hamburg I picked up my two mail drops, the first one was my normal food drop from my sweet mother and the second was from a good friend named Brad, its always exciting to get packages with unknown goodies in them, thanks a lot buddy it made my day. I also want to thank Nanny and Papa Elliott and my Uncle Billy for donating some money to help me to keep going north. Love all of you.

I'm happy to say we have less than 1000 miles to go...we should be in Delaware Water Gap by independence day, which is the PA/NJ state line. Currently our mileage is 1238 miles from Springer Woot!

Its Raining AGAIN. ... but I still wish UPS would show up, we need to hike! Today we will cross the Knife Edge and Bear Rocks, both should be equally a pain in the ass in the rain and dangerous...Maine doesn't move south though so we must put our heads down and push on.

I'm sorry for being late on my post...I've been wore out every day and just want to sleep but I will do my best to keep you updated.

Have a great day...

Carpenter