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This is an extra long post. Typically we try to keep posts under a 5 or 6 minute read, but this has been a challenge, even after a fair amount of trimming, because we are having such a wonderful time on the start of our southbound hike and there are a lot of fun stories to share. Instead of stretching this across two separate weeks, it is written as two parts, both about a four-minute read. 1) Harpers Ferry to Front Royal 2) Front Royal to midway into Shenandoah National Park

Begin: Day 87 (Tuesday, July 16) Stratton, ME End: Day 96 (Thursday, July 25) Harper’s Ferry, WV Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 15.1 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 889 Video starting at Maine: Day 87- Tuesday, 7/16 Start: Maine Rt 27 - 2009.0 End: Horns Pond, Maine - 2014.1 Miles: 5.1 Ascent: 2316  |  Descent: 548 Sleep: Tent After getting slowed down much more than planned through the Whites and needing a change of pace, we decided to take shuttle 130 miles north to Str

Begin: Day 82 (Thursday, July 11) Carroll, NH End: Day 86 (Monday, July 15) Gorham, NH Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 7.8 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 851.3 Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the NH 3 folder. Day 82- Thursday, 7/11 Start: US 302, NH - 1851.8 End: Mizpah Hut - 1858.2 Miles: 6.4 Ascent: 3224  |  Descent: 690 Sleep: Building After a day off for recovering from our head colds and waiting out bad weather it was time for us to begin the

Begin: Day 77 (Saturday, July 6) Lincoln, NH End: Day 81 (Wednesday , July 10) Carroll, NH Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 10.4 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 825.3 Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the NH 2 folder. Day 77 - Saturday 7/6 Start: Flume Gorge, NH - 1824.2 End: Liberty Springs campsite  - 1826.7 Miles: 2.5 Ascent: 2478 Sleep: Tent Since the previous day was a 17-mile day, we decided to leave a little late from the Notch Hostel and made

Begin: Day 70 (Saturday, June 29) Hanover, NH End: Day 76 (Friday, July 5) Lincoln, NH Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 16.7 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 797.7 Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the NH 1 folder. DAY 70 - Saturday, June 29 Hanover, NH - 1755.0 Miles: 0.0 Sleep: Building It had been two weeks since we last took a day off from hiking. As with most of our “zero” days (a day where no trail miles are completed), we did our usual chores li

Begin: Day 63 (Saturday, June 22) Manchester, VT End: Day 69 (Friday, June 28) Hanover, NH Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 16.6 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 729.3 This week's photos are in the VT folder. Thundering Falls DAY 63 - Saturday, June 22 Start: Pinnacle Lodge - 1658.1 End: Big Branch stealth site, VT - 1674.5 Miles: 16.4 Ascent: 3289  |  Descent: 3623 Highest Peak: Styles peak elev. 3375’ We woke up Saturday morning at the Pinnacle Lodge near Manchester, Verm

Begin: Day 55 (Friday, June 14) Becket, MA End: Day 62 (Friday, June 21) Manchester, VT Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 19 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 631.6 This past week, we completed the part of the Appalachian Trail that traverses the Berkshire Mountains and have now entered the Green Mountains. This week's photos are in the MA & VT folders. DAY 55 - Friday, June 14 Another impromptu long day Start: Berkshire Lakeside Lodge, MA  - 1557.3 End: Dalton, MA - 1576.3 M

Begin: Day 49 (Saturday, June 8) Cornwall, CT End: Day 54 (Thursday, June 13) Becket, MA Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 21.3 (longest to date) Total Trail Miles Hiked: 531.6 This week we added photos to CT and MA DAY 49 - Saturday, June 8 Return to Trail Start: Cornwall, CT - 1484.5 End: Belters Campsite, CT  - 1495.4 Miles: 10.9 We finally left the motel after long three night stay. Lemonade’s stomach was feeling well enough to move on so we did a gentle 10-mile

Begin: Day 42, June 1, Stormville Market, NY End: Day 48, June 7, Cornwall, CT Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 15.6 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 458.0 This week's photos are in the CT folder Sour Lemonade Last week we had a few mishaps in a short period of time and meant to add them to Jimmy’s post. However internet service has been spotty and I did not get a chance to add it. I wanted to share these to point out that this trip is not all rainbows and butterflies. It se

Day 35 (May 25) to Day 41 NJ/NY State line to Stormville NYPizza/Deli Biggest Day this period: 14.3 miles Total Trail Miles Hiked: 412.9 This week's photos are in the NY folder NY Waterfall DAY 35 - from the NJ/NY State Line Saturday 5/25 9.4 Trail Miles (from Warwick trailhead in NJ to Bellvale Creamery in NY) Ascent: 1302  |  Descent: 1285 We discovered the trail in New York is not very well marked. There was a couple of times where we were not sure where the trail was, an

Days 27 (Fri. May 17) to Day 35 (May 25) Delaware Water Gap, PA to NJ/NY state line Biggest Day this period: 12 miles Total Trail Miles Hiked: 349.3 This week's photos are in the NJ folder Beautiful New Jersey DAY 27 - Zero Day Friday 5/17 0 Trail Miles Delaware Water Gap, PA After 13 hiking days, a rest day was much needed. Usually any aches and pains we have at the end of the day are gone when we get up in the morning. However, the rock-scattered trail hiking in Pennsylvan

Days 21 (May 11) to Day 26 (May 16) Port Clinton, PA to Delaware Water Gap, PA Biggest Day this period:  15.0 miles Total Trail Miles Hiked:  270.9 Now that we are leaving Pennsylvania, I wanted to note some specific characteristics that Pennsylvania has. Every state along the Appalachian Trail has its specific items of note. New Hampshire has the majestic White Mountains with Mount Washington, Maine has the hundred mile wilderness and Mount Katahdin, and even New Jersey has

Days 14 to 20 May 4 to 10 Duncannon, PA to Port Clinton, PA Biggest Day this period: 14.9 miles Total Trail Miles Hiked: 193.9 The trail this week has been very rocky. Sometimes it is walking on small angular one, other times we have had to crawl up onto big ones. It has required a bit of balancing and leaves our feet tired at the end of the day. Lemonade & Brillo enjoying a rock scramble in PA DAY 14 - SATURDAY May 4 Zero Day in Duncannon The trail went right through Dunca

Days 5 to 13 April 25 to May 3 Pen-Mar, MD to Duncannon, PA Miles Hiked total:  123 Biggest day for the week:  14.8 miles    Day 5- Thursday   We arrived at Zero-Day hostel in Pen-Mar Maryland. We went to Walmart and a restaurant with our hiking mates. Great comfortable hostel and host.   Farmland outside of Boiling Springs PA Days 6 & 7- Friday and Saturday   On Friday morning, we entered into Pennsylvania and crossed the Mason Dixon line.  We stayed at Tumbling Run shelte

The first week of our thru hike attempt, starting from Harpers Ferry

April 7- April 19, 2024 Tallahassee, Diamondhead, Montgomery, Prattville, Gadsden, Charlotte, and Washington DC Jimmy and I have just finished our 2,000 mile road trip and are now in Harpers Ferry waiting to begin our 2,000 mile backpacking trip.  It was an interesting road trip that started out in Brunswick Georgia and took us to Kissimmee and Tallahassee, Florida, which is where our post two weeks ago ended.    Road Trip Weeks 2&3   From Tallahassee, we headed to Mississipp

Last year a friend asked is to write a post about cruising with our cat, Baxter.  He is a 6-year-old Maine Coon cat that came into our household when he was about three months old.  Introduction to boating Right away, we introduced Baxter to boating.  Starting out, we would simply put him on our boat, a Sabre 32 at the time, and let him get familiar with it at dock.  Then he would ride along on day sails and eventually we began to take him on overnight trips, with his longest

March 31 - April 6: Brunswick, Kissimmee, Tallahassee   The transition period between our sailing and hiking phases is three weeks long.  This period has a fairly packed schedule, and I’ve discovered that we could not cram in as much as I’d like, especially while in Tallahassee.  Here is a quick recap of our first week which wrapped up in Tallahassee.  Leaving Utopia for Seven Months We returned to Utopia  Monday morning after the boatyard’s three day closure.  It took about

March 23 - March 30, 2024 Brunswick, Georgia Utopia  is now on the hard in a boatyard and we have been residents of Red Roof Inn for a nearly a week.  Pre Haulout Although our haulout was scheduled for Monday, we moved Utopia over to the haulout well two days early due to concerns of winds building through the weekend and through Monday.  Once there, we continued to prepare the boat for long term storage.  The prior owner gave us a copy of his decommissioning list when we pu

March 15-March 23 - Brunswick Landing Marina, Georgia No cruising this week, just working to get ready for haul out. We have spent the last week in Brunswick, Georgia at Brunswick Landing Marina. This marina is one of the most cruiser friendly marinas Sondra and I have visited. From the free laundry, courtesy bicycles, to free beer and wine three nights a week, these guys know how to treat a sailor. Having said this, we haven’t spent much time getting to know our surroundings