April 30, 2009

Hi everyone,

The girls have asked us to keep everyone a little bit updated since they don't have access to a computer all that often. We spoke to them (or attempted to - bad signal) today. They arrived at Partnership Shelter this afternoon. This shelter is right next to the Mt. Rogers NRA headquarters and about 6 miles from Marion, VA. The big excitement about this shelter is that you can call and have pizza delivered to the shelter!!!

So, all is well. Jennnifer and Sarah both bought new hiking shoes versus boots while in Damascus over the weekend. Their boots were really causing their feet to hurt, and the new ones seem to be working out better.

They also got to see a couple of good family friends while in Damascus. David, who along with his wife has a vacation house there, was up mowing and doing chores. He baked brownies for Jennifer and Sarah and let them take showers at the newly remodeled house. Brave man. Our friend Barbara stopped to see them on her way home from visiting her daughter in Roanoke. She had taken the resupply box we keep on hand for the girls (bulk food items, batteries, etc.) and then she "got" to bring home their old boots, smelly winter clothes, etc. Jennifer and Sarah were really happy to get to see both David and Barbara. Thanks to both of you.

Next week they are looking forward to seeing one of their very good friends who is going to pick them up in Pearisburg, take them to her apartment for their favorite chicken casserole, and just have girl time. Hopefully they will be able to update their blog while at Courtney's.

The new photo is Barbara with Jennifer and Sarah.

Damascus, VA!

Writing from Damascus, VA at mile 463... Virginia is the longest state on the trail with 500 something miles of trail - something to look forward to. The weather has warmed up since our last update and we have also had several days of sunshine:) Mom hiked with us from Erwin, TN to road crossing 19E and it was very nice to have her with us. She climbed over Roan Mountain with us which is one of the more difficult sections of the trail. Way to go Mom!!!
We are still having a great time and it has been really awesome to have walked through an entire season. It's now warm and sunny and the flowers are out and everything is green! We have had all types of weather and feel like we could handle anything now (not that we want more snow ;-) We've still got the same group of people that we met in Georgia and we've met more amazing people along the way, some of whom are also hiking with us now. Whoever thought you could find solitude on the AT was crazy, it's just a social scene out here:)
We gave back to the trail a couple of days ago by doing some trail work with the Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club who maintains the trail between Erwin and the state line.
The following pictures are; entering Damascus, the friendliest trail town!
Laurel Falls, TN
Newt and Bob Peoples (he runs the Kincora hostel, which is the coolest one on the trail and gets hikers to do trail work)
Newt, Miss Scarlett, and Trailmom in the Roan Highlands
Digging ramps for dinner, yumyum! onion and garlic

from Elk Park/Boone, NC on April 20

Following posted by Mom and Dad to update everyone
Since Hot Springs, they have gone 116 miles, for a total of 388 miles since March 15. From Hot Springs to Erwin, TN, which took four days, it mostly rained. Mom and Dad met them in Erwin, and Mom hiked from Erwin to Elk Park, or about 50 miles, which also took four days. The weather from Erwin to Elk Park was wonderful - they had three days in a row of sun. The hike took them over several balds in upper East Tennessee in an area called the Roan Highlands. This is a hard stretch of the trail, and Mom did great. Dad met everyone in Elk Park yesterday and ferried them to Boone for the night. Eight hikers crashed with a friend of Jennifer's from college, Casey and his roommates, and they all cooked out cheesburgers for dinner. This morning, Jennifer and Sarah took everyone on a tour of Boone and they were able to visit all their old buddies at AppState Outdoor Programs. Everyone got back on the trail by about 1:00 PM. On the current schedule, they should arrive in Damascus Saturday or Sunday. An interim stop will be made tomorrow night in Hampton, TN at a hostel called Kincora where they are planning to do a day of trail maintenance. Since snow is forecast for the middle of the week, the trail maintenance might be postponed. Sarah has stated she is not moving from the hostel until the snow is gone. Will try to get some pictures from the last section of the hike to post soon.

from Hot Springs, NC April 9 and 10

Hey Everyone,
We started hiking from Newfound Gap last Saturday (a week ago today) after spending a night in Gatlinburg. The weather was beautiful and sunny for two consecutive days and one afternoon we sat on a mountain top for hours just soaking up the rays. Then the second night from Newfound Gap it started to rain again... it wasn't raining when we started to hike in the next morning but we didn't know what we were in for. Later in the day when we got out of the Smoky Mountains, it started snowing. Since it was at a pretty low elevation we didn't think much of it since we are from TN and it doesn't really snow here anymore, especially not in April. We woke up on the morning of April 7th with four to six inches of snow and our tent was collapsing in on us from the weight of the snow – see picture. It was very pretty and we sang Christmas carols all morning as we hiked. It continued to snow throughout the day and we gained elevation as well. Hiking over Max Patch in the snow storm will hopefully be one of the most intense experiences that we'll have on the trail. The snow drifts as we went up the hill were deeper than our waists and several of us were on hands and knees crawling because of the high winds and deep snow drifts. I can't really describe it very well so I won't try too hard but it was an awesome experience which is much more appreciated after the fact. The next morning, we stayed in our sleeping bags for a very long time waiting for the weather to warm up and when it finally did, it was beautiful. The sun was out and there was still snow everywhere. At the higher elevations there was close to a foot of snow and often times much more than that because of the drifts. Our next stop was in Hot Springs, NC where we are writing this from. It seems like every day that we spend in a town the weather is gorgeous and sunny.
We are having a great time even if we make the weather sound horrible. We are hiking with a group of people that we have been with for about 200 miles now and that is a lot of fun. The community of people along the trail is great. Everyone knows everyone else on the trail because you run into the same people every few days or so as people take longer and shorter days. It is like having this huge family all of a sudden even though we really hardly know each other, the trail is what we all have in common.
We are planning on stopping again in 5 or 6 days and will hopefully get internet access. Thanks everyone for following and supporting us on our journey. It has been amazing so far!
Jennifer

PS added by Dad,
Jen and Sarah decided to have a zero day (no hiking) with Patti and I. We had a wonderful time hanging out in Hot Springs and talking with all the hikers. We got them back on the trail this morning (April 11th). As an update to their itinerary, they should be in Erwin, TN April 15th or 16th and Damascus, VA sometime around the 24th, 25th, or 26th. As you can tell from previous posts, everyone goes by their trail names, so when Patti and I meet them all we know are these crazy monikers. The immediate group is Hammock, Colonel Mustard, Rapunzel, Squeegie, Doc, SamWise, Greaser, Newt (Jennifer), and Miss Scarlett (Sarah). They also hike quite a bit with Mr. T, Bison, Buffalo Man, Rolling Stone and his dog Cole, LeanTo, Long Haul, and Old Gear. I don’t remember any more names, but you get the idea. They are all doing fine and having the time of their lives. The last picture attached is after the Max Patch episode in the diner in Hot Springs.

From Gatlinburg April 3

Here are some more pictures. The second picture is trying to dry out gear, something we have had quite a bit of practice doing but unfortunately not getting much better at it. The first picture is at Rocky Top on Apirl Fool's Day, the one and only time we actually saw the sun. We sang Rocky Top all day and kept hollering go vols!

From Gatlinburg April 3

We are in Gatlinburg tonight with our parents and Dad showed us how to use our blog!(he has done the few postings that are on here so far:) The Smokies have been fun and wet. The sun came out in the afternoon on April Fool's Day, mother nature's trick on us, and we got to cross Rocky Top and Thunderhead Mountain in the sunshine - the views were amazing. We also laid on Spence Field for over an hour soaking up the rays before they went away. Of course it was raining the next morning again but we are sure that the sun will come out eventually, it just needs some time. Sarah's trail name is Miss Scarlett (which is just one step closer to her lifelong dream of being Scarlett O'Hara). We have been hiking with a group of seven other people for over 100 miles now. We camp together at night but everyone hikes their own hike during the day. Yesterday we went over Clingman's Dome which is the highest point on the trail and we crossed mile 200.