Slackpacking

Slackpacking is when some king hearted person agrees to drive your 30-40 lb pack to where you are planning on stopping for the day so that you don't have to carry it. Newt and I slackpacked for the first time the whole trip yesterday, the 26th, and it was AMAZING! We went 20 miles in 7 hours and were skipping on the downhills since we didn't have an extra 30 pounds on our backs trying to break our knees. The kind hearted person was Earl from the Dutch Haus B&B in Montebello. We stayed at Rusty's Hard Time Hollow last night and he is another very kind hearted person who has been letting hikers and bikers stay at his farm since 1982. Today we also hiked 20 miles, with our packs, and almost as fast as we went yesterday. The reason we did this was because we got a late start but we wanted to get to Waynesboro where there is a church hostel that you have to check into by 8pm. We made it, hence the reason I have internet access:) Anyway, our feet hurt really bad but we feel like bad-asses:) Hope to be in Harper's Ferry in a week and a half.

Update

This is an update from Mom and Dad. Yesterday the girls were in Montebello, VA staying at a B&B that had a special hiker rate. They were very excited that the tables turned and it was raining while they have a zero day instead of being beautiful on their zero. They said they have been hiking in gray weather, but not in the rain yet. Harper's Ferry, which is halfway, is still coming up in about 10 days or so. Their group is still together and they are all in good spirits. Thanks for everyone's continued support and good wishes for them.

Trail Days

We got off the trail in Daleville, VA to head back to Damascus for trail days. Trail days is basically a chance for anyone who likes being outdoors and/or has hiked the AT to get together and have a good time for a few days. It's cool for current hikers because we get to see friends that we've made along the trail and maybe haven't seen for awhile. It's also been amazing because the sun has been out for about 5 days straight now! The only rain we've had for awhile was thursday night when we got into Damascus. Thursday was a weird day because we got up extremely early to hike the 9 miles into Daleville so we could be the first people at the pizza hut all you can eat buffet. None of us had slept very well because the shelter was infested with no see ums. We got into Daleville at 10:30am and when pizza hut opened it turned out they didn't have a buffet, a fake pizza hut! We went to the Mexican Restaurant instead and we all had several margaritas before noon so it worked out well in the end. We met some really cool guys doing a section hike and they bought our lunch for us, yay for trail angels! The rest of the day was spent loitering around the interstate interchange area waiting for our ride to show up, which he eventually did around 9pm.
Trail days has been a lot of fun but we're not used to so many people so it will be nice to get back on the trail on Sunday. We're about a week and a half from the Shenandoah's and about 3 weeks to Harper's Ferry.
Hope everyone else is getting to enjoy the nice weather too!

Tinker Cliffs

This picture was taken from McAfee Knob looking over to Tinker Cliffs. We hiked along the ridgeline that you can see

McAfee Knob

back row; Squeegie, Miss Scarlett, Sunbeam, Rapunzel, Recess, Halfmoon
front row; Snorkel, Newt

Dragon's tooth

Rapunzel, Squeegie, Miss Scarlett, Newt, Sunbeam, and Halfmoon

don't do it!

Newt on the Dragon's Tooth

proof of sunshine

I forgot I'm supposed to be updating this for Newt and Miss Scarlett! They had an interesting night Friday night. The weather brought them one thunderstorm after another all night long along with torrential rain. The next morning the trail was a stream - quite handy for filling your water bottle! Luckily Jennifer and Sarah were in a shelter that night. They were behind the rest of their group because they had taken that time out to visit Courtney. I'm not sure how much safer a shelter might be, but the rest of their friends were about five miles ahead in their tents. Everyone made it through the night safe and sound, but sleepless.

Yesterday they had some great trail magic again. A welcome sight after hiking in the rain all day (again). Three very generous ladies built a campfire and cooked lasagna, quesadillas, desserts, etc. The hikers really enjoyed the fire and having some real food. Plus the sun came out while they were visiting with these ladies. Thank you so much to the trail magic angels.

Jennifer called today. She said the mountains have had so much rain that yesterday there was water bubbling up out of the ground at the top of a mountain. Once again a handy place to fill your water bottle.

Okay - that's all the latest news. They will be going back to Damascus, VA this weekend for Trail Days. Hopefully they will be able to update a post while there.

To find their post

Hi everyone,

We just thought it might not be obvious how to find what the girls wrote most recently, or how to find their older postings. As you look through the photos they most recently posted just look at the bottom and click on Older Posts. They have a nice, long update there (Zero day with Courtney) plus you can still see all their previous posts.

sweet shelter

Courtney lives really close to the Greenbrier Inn so we went over for 4 o'clock tea :)

Greenbrier Pool

not what we usually encounter on the trail

Squeegie!

Squeegie being squeegied by Sunbeam :)

how cute!

awwww

We saw several baby ponies in around Grayson Highlands State Park but this one came up and started licking the salt off Jen's leg. yumyum

Ponies in the shelter

new shoes!

Zero day with Courtney

Hello all! Jen and I are taking an off day with our awesome friend Courtney. She came and picked us up from a hostel outside of Pearisburg, VA even though she's at the end of her first year of medical school and had to drive an hour and a half to get there. Yay for friends :) Anyway, we are at mile 615 so we've gone over a quarter of the way. When we look at the entire map of the AT now it's actually a sizeable chunk that we have done. We've been on the trail for almost two months at this point and it still doesn't seem real that we are actually out here getting to live this dream.
We got new shoes in Damascus which have helped our feet immensely! Barbara also took home quite a bit of stuff for us so our packs aren't as heavy anymore. Thanks Barbara :) We've started doing bigger mile days now because of this. A 10 mile day is now easy and 17 to 22 miles is more the norm. David Beams also let us use their house in Damascus for showers and resting our feet. It was the cleanest and most refreshing shower we'd had since we started. He also made us some pretty awesome brownies and took us out for a magnificent lunch.
We had some great weather coming into Damascus and a couple of days out of Damascus. It has started raining again since then but at least it's not as cold now. We're definitely not in a drought anymore! Our sleeping bags that everyone was so skeptical about are keeping us warm and we've sent the liner bags home. They are the envy of the other thru hikers and one girl we're hiking with is even going to get her mom to make her one and have it sent to her on the trail.
All of the amazing people and trail magic that we have encountered have balanced out the rainy days. Just yesterday we met a couple on the trail who were on vacation from New York and they were passing out tootsie rolls and gummies to all the thru hikers. A few days ago a church shuttled about 15 of us hikers to an all you can eat homemade breakfast and they also had a basket of cards so we could write mother's day cards and then they mailed them for us. There is a 65 year old grandmother out here who we have all dubbed Madeline from Maine. She has run a marathon on every continent, including Antartica, and all since she turned 55. The group of healthy early 20 year olds that we're hiking with all started within a few days of March 15 with Jen and I; Madeline from Maine started March 26. Needless to say she was only with us for a few days before she moved on.
Whew, this is such a long post because it's the first time we've had unlimited internet access and there's not a line of hikers waiting to use the computer. We miss everyone and are tired of the rain but we have made a lot of good friends out here and, like I said, the awesomeness that we encounter on the trail outweighs the rain. Next weekend we're hitching back to Damascus for trail days and then we'll probably focus on hiking for awhile ;)
peace

Jennifer called earlier this evening. They are near Bland, VA and still with their core group of fellow hikers. Their feet are feeling much better now in their new boots - especially after eliminating their DownUnders insoles. Not a good recommendation. Super Feet work much better. They are still looking forward to seeing their friend Courtney this week. They will update the blog themselves while at Courtney's.

They had some great trail magic this morning. After hiking about 5 miles from the shelter where they spent Sunday night the hikers came to a road crossing where there were 3 gentlemen waiting with their trucks to shuttle hikers to their church for a hot cooked breakfast (there was a note in the shelter saying this happened on Monday mornings - so they knew it was safe). The kind people at New Hope Union church (Bastian, VA) piled their plates full, shuttled some into town to resupply, and shuttled the rest back to the trailhead. Thanks so much to the folks of this church. Trail magic really fills the bellies and lifts the spirits of the hikers.

I just want to make a quick comment. It was so nice to read the note from Jerry & Judy. It's so neat that you are enjoying the girl's blog, and we appreciate your interest in and prayers for them. I knew that it is a whole community of hikers on the trail, but never thought about the community of parents as well!