Thursday, April 28, 2011

Update: The Maryland Challenge

On April 27 (DAY 63) Coach and the Professor departed from Harpers Ferry, WV at 4am to commence the Maryland Challenge. This consists of hiking just over 40 miles in a 24 hour period. They were successful, and celebrated today with a relatively "short" 8 mile hike in Pennsylvania.

They have now completed hiking the AT portions for 6 states: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virgnia, West Virgnia and Maryland.

In an email from Harpers Ferry on April 26 (the official halfway point of the AT), Professor writes:

we are just under halfway there! We got our pictures taken and everything and are now officially a part of the AT history. Here's a stat: last year, 1460 attempted a northbound thru-hike of the AT, 747 made it to Harpers Ferry, and only 402 made it to Maine. This year as of 4/20/11 there are 573 northbounders who started at Springer Mountain, and to this moment exactly me and coach are numbers 18 and 19.

Friday, April 22, 2011

From the Journals: DAY 42

Coach


Wapati Shelter - Pearisburg, VA: 17mi


Easy day into Pearisburg. I wonder if my body is ever not going to be in pain when I am not hiking.


Professor


Beautiful day. Arrived at Pearisburg. Stayed at the "Plaza Motel." Ate doughnuts and drank a couple beers to boost our blood sugar..


Met "Walker KY Ranger." He had a really red eye, bad infection, made me not want to touch anything for fear of catching it. Just wanted to curl up in a ball and close my eyes.

From the Journals: DAY 41

Coach
Helvey's Mill Shelter - Wapati Shelter: 24.2 mi
Today was another big mileage day, and another top 5 worst weather day. The weather changed at least 10 times ranging from hail to freezing rain to sunshine and all in between. My favorite precipitation must have been the "sneet" it was a combination of snow and sleet that looked more like hail. We also came across what appeared to be a dump site for a dog fighting ring. On this gravel road, there were 4 to 5 carcasses of rather large dogs in different levels of decomposition, so it was clear they were dumped at different times. It was a very disturbing site, and day for that matter.

Professor
Animals seen:


  • Several white tail deer

  • Eagle

  • Hawks

  • Screeching owl

  • Copperhead snake

  • Chipmunks and squirrels

  • Mice

  • Red headed wood pecker

  • Skunk (walked in front of us for a while on the trail)

Trail Magic (cont'd)



  • "Carrot Guy": Dark chocolate oranges, a large raw carrot

  • Lindsay and Mom's baked ziti

  • The Christian's 5 course meal

  • Shana's box of sweet goodies

  • The Hiker Inn with Paul and Lee in Damascus and Lindsay driving us to the front of every establishment

  • Storeowner who gave us 2lbs of fudge

  • Manager Mike- slackpacking

  • Healthy trucker magic: bananas and peaches

  • Marcus's Chalet

From the Professor's Camera













From the Professor's Camera