The end of this chapter

Ok so what a crazy summer.

First we quit our jobs to hike the AT with no plans - just hike until October 15th. Then we get a phone call about a possible job opportunity for me with The Escape (Christian Teen Center). I quit a job that I loved to hike the trail and now was being asked to apply for similar job, but closer to home and with the opportunity to share God's word with teens. We found this out just about a month in and were very hopeful about it. I knew that if the job were offered to me I would take it.  As summer grew hotter and the possibility of the new job seeming more and more likely we realized we would not be finishing this year. The idea of not finishing was sad to us, but we were both feeling like this is the direction God was leading us in and we are both very excited because I GOT THE JOB!!!! Overall, we hiked about 700 miles this summer and had a great time. It was very hard at times, it hurt, we were tired, we were hungry, but we met new friends, had great conversations, saw God's wonderful creation up close and personal, spent more time together in 3 months than most married couples get to spend together in a year (and liked it), we learned what the important things are in life and it was one of the best things we have ever done in our lives!

We plan to take time to section hike the rest of the trail throughout the next couple of years. Dan "Jackrabbit" Brunner is still out there with Maine on the brain. Elliott and I are praying for the safety of him and the other hikers still out there.

Thank you all for following and for your thoughts and prayers.

Oh P.S. we did not get to disc golf with the president, but when we went to see the White House there was a climbing wall set up, guess he knew we were coming :) Our trip to D.C. was great! Kim Kasprzak is a wonderful person and a fantastic host! We were honored that she let us stay with her. Liz and Dave Schwalenberg were also very good to us and we had a great time in Baltimore! There daughter Anna is adorable and Liz and Dave are amazing parents! 

What are those crazy Kasprzaks up to now?

So we ended  up taking a zero day in Pearisburg because it took us a long time to resupply and do laundry. The Walmart was 2 miles away from the hotel so on foot it took us about and hour to get there.

Hiking out of Pearisburg we got lost and ended up doing about 4 extra miles... lame. There was no place to resupply on fuel in town so we had to cook by fire for a couple of days. Normally I prefer this method, but when all you want to do is eat and go to bed making a fire becomes a lot of extra work, not to mention all the extra "protein" you get from bugs, bark and what ever else falls in your cup. When i was stirring my pasta i pulled out a bug the size of my spoon. Yuck! But i ate it anyhow (not the bug, the food)

It has been super hot. Yesterday we hiked 16 miles through 105 degrees on top of a mountain ridge. HOT! A few days earlier we were at "the captains," a nice man from the area that lets hikers camp in his lawn,tube down the river and provides them with cold soda. He even set up a zip line swing so you don't have to walk through the river to get to his place. Elliott and I couldn't resist a day of tubing down the river so we stayed there for and hung out for awhile.

So hiking, hiking, playing, hiking.... but tonight we are getting a ride to Harper's Ferry and plan to do some hiking around that area, but also we plan to spend a few days in D.C.! 
Elliott has never been there and we really want to go... so its our adventure and we are going to go! We are both pretty excited!

What I don't think I told you yet is that we will probably not be able to finish the trail this year. I have a possible job opportunity and will start August 1 which is not enough time to finish the trail.(If I get the job i will let everyone know what it is) Instead of pushing it and killing ourselves we have decided to chill out and have fun. We will most likely end the summer having hiked about 800 miles... give or take... 

So yeah Appalachian Adventure here we come hiking, couchsurfing, traveling, sight seeing, relaxing, more hiking and then we take a trail out of Harper's Ferry June 22nd to come home for Paul and Cathy's wedding!

Can't wait to see everyone!!!!

100 More Miles

We hung out with Jon Schleef in Marion for a couple of days and had a great time!
Thanks for visiting us Jon!!

5-25 We could only hike 11.5 miles from Marion to Atinks because we had to send Elliott phone home and the post office was closed by the time we got there. We camped just outside of town, we call it hobo camping when you are on the out skirts of town. We met a man who calls himself Dman he is 65 and hikes about 5 miles a day. We admired his patients and persistence.

5-26 This day we hiked through lots of cow pastures and took a ton of breaks by streams and rivers. We camped near the road by a pavilion. While we were cooking dinner a man drove up in a truck got out, in the puring rain, went to the back of his truck, made himself a mixed drink in an open cup, got a beer and got back in his truck and drove away. This made us thankful that we were in the woods and not on the roads. He tried saying something to us, but we couldn't understand him. That night it stormed lightly, but we missed the worst of it. A shelter just 15 mile away got rain, hail and thunder. There were 4 live trees that fell over, but thankfully everyone was alright. 

5-27 We saw 5 orange newts and 1 orange salamander today. They are pretty cool looking! We hiked about 12.1 miles this day to a shelter called Chestnut Knob. It is an old fire warden's house, it was enclosed with a door!  Shelters hardly ever have doors. Elliott and I set our tent up inside to dry it off and luckily not many people came so we got to keep it up.

5-28 We did 18.9 miles to a great campsite with a view of the the sun setting over the mountains. There were tons of millipedes by our tent though... yucky...

5-29 We went into Bland to do a light resupply and get lunch. Elliott wasn't feeling well so we spent a few hours in the shade just resting. At around 5 pm Elliott started to feel better so we hiked about 7 miles before setting up camp. We met some section hikers that come out every year for about 2 weeks. They seemed to be having a blast- a few days later we saw them in Pearisburg... all of them had poison ivy, but were still in high spirits.

5- 30 Great time at a waterfall, Dismal Falls, today for a couple of hours. 19.6 miles today. The heat makes it hard for Elliott and I to move fast so we try to take big breaks in the middle of the day and save our energy for when it cools off.

5-31 Camped by some power lines on a bald part of a mountain. The sunset was beautiful and the sunrise was amazing. 12.8 miles that day.

6-1 We hiked 5 miles into Pearisburg and saw 3 snacks, a tons of toads and one little baby deer that scared us a little. We walked past a tree and then heard this really loud noise. When I turned to look Elliott was in the woods in the other direction yelling "What is that?" It was a cute little baby deer yelling at the top of its lungs for its momma. The momma deer came running so Elliott and I walked away slowly. We did get one photo of the cute little guy.

Once in town we got our room. While Elliott was setting things up a car pulled in and everyone started walking toward it. Someone walked by me with an arm full of bread and fruit saying "Its the food car go get some." It was a woman that worked at the sore who fills up her car with food that the store can't sell and brings it to the hotel a couple times a week for the people who live here. Elliott and I grabbed some fruit after everyone else got what they needed.

Little Notes
- We still have not seen a bear, but we have heard them.
- As of this time we have hitch hiked 12 times
-We will be in WI June 23 to July 3 for Paul and Cathy's wedding


Thanks for reading :)
Hope you are all staying cool and having fun

Back at it :)

Hey everyone,
We are back on the trail and loving it again!! :)

Lets see where did we leave you at... Damascus for Trail Days i believe. Well Elliott and I ended up staying there for 4 days because we were waiting for Uncle Jonny's Hostel to forward our mail drop to the Damascus Post Office. Trail Days was super fun. We met a lot of people that had thru hiked in previous years who had a lot of wisdom and encouragement. When we realized that it was going to take awhile to get our package we asked the Damascus Post Office to forward it to Troutdale, about 50 miles away. We resupplied and set out.

We left so late that day that we only went 1.5 miles and set up camp. It had rained on and off during Trail Days and again that first night out. We had sent our cold weather sleeping bags home because for 2 weeks we had not been sleeping inside them... bad choice. It got down to about 35 degrees that night and we had 45 degree sleeping bags. We shivered most of the nights and morning. It was raining when we woke up and we were slow moving. We did not pack up and leave until after 12:30 pm.

That day since we left so late and because we were not in the best moods we only hiked 7.6 miles through a very cold rain. Which was fine because we decided to do what we want while hiking and not push it if we don't feel like it. That night we had a shelter to ourselves so we set the tent up inside the shelter to try to dry it out. We also had picked up some Jiffy Pop from a pile of food someone left in the woods. GREAT IDEA. After eating dinner we made hot coco and jiffy pop. Who knew that could be such a mood lifter. That night was very cold as well even with zipping our sleeping bags together and wearing all of  our clothing.

5/18 We had a decision to make. Hike 6.6 miles and sleep at an elevation of 3,399 or hike 18 miles and sleep at an elevation of  5,430. Since we knew it would be even colder on top of the mountain we could only go the 6.6. So another short day of hiking in the rain.

The next day we summited the mountain. Can you guess it? Yup through the rain, but good news! By the time we were on our way down the rain and fog cleared up and we saw some of the most beautiful sights we have seen so far. The Grayson Highlands were amazing! And there were wild horses hanging out. They were not scared of us and actually liked to lick us because we tasted like salt. One horse even tried eating my rain coat. We hiked 17.3 miles that day and camped by a stream in one of the coolest camping areas we have been at. It warmed up a little and we were able to sleep.

The next day we hiked 15.8 miles in 6 hours and hitched to the Troutdale Baptist Hostel. The provided us with an amazing free dinner and a short Bible message. Guess what- No rain that night :)

We hiked 14.5 miles the following day and about 7 miles in another Baptist Church was offering shuttles to their church for lunch. We ate so much that the next 7.5 miles went pretty slow. On our hike that day we saw 52 millipedes!!!!! Yup we counted the whole day. Elliott didn't really get into it until I got to 35. That night we hitched a ride back to Troutdale and went to church the next morning.

The last couple of days we have been in Marion hanging out with Jon Schleef! We are both very excited to be hanging out with a such a great friend!

Tomorrow we hit the trail again. :) More adventures to come!!!!

p.s. i just figured out how to respond to comments... so go check it out

Some photo's Dan had taken

Cooking breakfast by Justice Creek on our second day out.  Shortly after this photo a stray dog followed us the rest of the day.

Hanging out

Another rainy day on the trail.

This is the border of GA and NC. 

Very Exciting!!

Hanging out after Trail Magic provided by Tatter Chip.

He had soda, moon pies and Gatorade! It was awesome. 

Lots of peanut butter for energy. A hiker will eat pretty much anything.

Day One - Waterfall

So many great views!!!!!!!!

Trail Days in Damascus, VA

Backpacker magazine give away at Trail Days

Changing things up a bit

So the other day we were hiking... because that is what we do... and it was very hot, we were both tired because of the thunderstorm the night before, the trail was hard that day with  lots of straight up and straight downs and we realized that we were not having very much fun. Prior to this we had decided that we HAD to do 15 miles a day to get to Harpers Ferry on time and ...well ...Elliott and i do not do well with restrictions while we are on adventures. Around mile 315 we hopped off the trail and got a shuttle to a hostel to reevaluated our plan and adventure. We camped at Uncle Jonny's Hostel and then decided to go to Trail Days in Damascus,VA. Trail Days is the largest backpacker gathering in the world. There are free meals, showers, gear giveaways and tons of hikers from all over come to celebrate the outdoors. The First Baptist Church is a huge supporter and offers most of the free stuff. This has been a great break for Elliott and me. Trail Days has been a great way for us to get excited about hiking again and remember to "hike our own hike." We plan to hike north out of Damascus, missing about 130 miles of trail that we will go back and finish later this year. This changes our title slightly to Flip Floppers/ Leap Froggers... our plan is to complete as much of the trail as we can- while also enjoying ourselves and resting when we need to. We are excited about the change of scenery and will continue to keep you all updated on our progress.

Jack Rabbit- Dan Brunner- has moved on since Hot Springs and seems to be doing some great mileage. So from here on out it is just Elliott and me wandering around in the Appalachian mountains.

pictures from Karen

Charley's Bunion in Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We were wishing we could have stayed there longer to hang out, but rain was on it's way.

Elliott in his sleeping bag in a shelter in the smokeys. This was after our fist 20 mile day.

Quick Update

The library is closing soon so this will be a quick update.
(P.S. I have a much greater appreciation for libraries since we have started. They are so welcoming and open to letting strangers use their resources... i guess we forget this when we have everything we need in our homes.)

So the day we left Gatlinburg it rained on use. A super clod and blowing rain up on the mountains. Elliott and I hiked about 5 miles in it before we got to the shelter. We were pretty much soaked from head to toe, but luckily the people that got to the shelter before us had started a fire. We were not with any of the hikers we had met before and I was the only girl that night so finding a private place to change all of my soaking wet clothing was interesting. We both had dry clothes to sleep in and our sleeping bags stayed dry :)

The next day there was snow on the ground and the trees were covered in ice. It was beautiful! Hiking on the ridge we could see that the mountain tops were all wight, but just below 4,500 ft you could see there was no snow or ice. We hiked about 13 miles and were still at a pretty high elevation so we decided to press on to get to warmer temps. We hiked another 7 miles into Davenport Gap and were excited to see some of the friends we had made (i hugged then all because the crowd the night before were not my favorite people).

On May 5 we hiked only 10.7 miles and took our sweet time. We stopped at Standing Bear Hostile to get some snacks and have a cold soda (yummy- and i thought i was going to quit drinking soda... yeah right i need those calories and the sugar... maybe i'll quit when i get back). Standing Bear was pretty cool- it is an old farm transformed into a hostile. It seems like hikers stay there and then come back to visit or work.

For some crazy reason on May 6 Elliott and I hiked 23 miles. At 4:30 pm we made the decision to hike 4 more miles, which turned into 10 more. I guess when you can keep walking that is just what you do.

Today we only did 3 miles. We may stay in Hot Springs or we may move on- not sure yet. We will for sure go sit in a Hot Spring for  a little while though.

Guess I am faster at typing then I thought...

Have a great Mother's Day tomorrow!

Oh Hi Mom (Reible and Kasprzak) - Happy Mother's Day <3

Crazy Hikers

We are currently 204.7 miles into our hike. Which means we are one eleventh of the way done. Woooo! Our longest hiking day so far was 17 miles... i was pretty tired after that, but think I could do it again. 

The scariest night so far was when the really bad storms went through Alabama. We were in a mountain gap in our tent. There were high winds and a thunderstorm. We were listening to trees fall and branches were hitting the side of our tent. Needless to say we both prayed a lot that night. All people in the camp were kept safe and able to hike the next day. Needless the say we both thanked God a lot that day for our safety. 

Yesterday we woke up at 4:00 am to hike to Clingman's Dome, 6,643ft- highest point on the AT, to watch the sun rise. We had to hike 3 miles uphill in the dark... I was really hoping to see a black bear, but no luck. We got there while it was still dark and super windy. Elliott and many others busted out their sleeping bags to wrap around themselves to stay warm. It was the coldest weather we have experienced so far, but totally worth it. We had fun watching the sun rise with the 8 other hikers that also got up early with us. The funniest thing was that all the hikers that got up early are the ones that usually leave camp last in the morning, including us. Elliott and I usually sleep in and then hike late... so many people get up with the sun and get to camp by 3 pm. We get up when we are done sleeping and usually get to camp before its dark.

Funny Trail Randomness
- Usually by the end of the day we are a little delusional. One day Dan was imagining that we were all animated Wisconsin icons. I was the cheese, he was the sausage and Elliott was the beer. Cheese, sausage and beer with legs hiking the AT. Believe it or not we probably talked about this for a good hour.
- There is a kid out here, who i have not met yet, but i hear is really nice, that calls himself Kid Supertramp. He has a backpack strapped to a backpack, is trying to afford the hike with food stamps, gave away his fleece for a plastic sheet because "it can be a shelter and keep him warm," tried eating a raw acorn.... he is trying to do the AT "Into the Wild" style. I'm not sure he will make it.
- Elliott and Dan both say the have more gas when they hike up hill. This is bad news for me because they are both faster then me... guess who is always downwind.

We hope you are all doing well!

Take care and have fun ______fill in the blank____ (Having your second child, buying and preparing your house, getting that job, working the job you currently have, moving, planning your summer vacation, planning your wedding, ect)

God Bless

The last 70 miles

Since going back out we have upped our mileage. We did 3 days of 12 mile hikes, one 15 mile hike, a 10 and then a 6 mile hike into town. Elliott and I were out for a full 7 days with no shower... yikes. I showed twice today. Dan and I may have poison ivy... we are trying not to scratch it. Pretty much it sucks. If it does not calm down by the next town we will be wiping all of our belongings down with rubbing alcohol (which shouldn't take too long because we keep sending stuff home). I got a new pack yesterday. It is 2.5 lbs lighter then the one i had and packs down smaller. This should make my hike easier each day. Elliott's foot seems to be getting better and he will be getting a new pack hopefully in a week or two.

Today we will be hiking up a mountain about 10 miles. We will go from an elevation of 1,000ish to about 5,000 ft. Uphill is the hardest so today will be interesting. After that is should be relatively soon sailing to Fontana Dam. At this point one of the guys we were hiking with will be heading home, he is a section hiker, and we will miss him.

Well I am running out of time for today. I will try to update in more detail next stop.

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

The views on April 23rd

Karen: Check out that view 5498 ft. up. What a climb. And we only had to ascend 1400 of it.

More fun from the first few days

Mom, Mary Reible, got all the facts right. Thanks mom!

Here are some fun, and funny situations, we have encountered so far.

Day one- after our ten miles we got to the top of Sassafras Mountain and i said "Elliott set up the tent please." He did and I took a 2 hour nap before I had enough energy to eat dinner... after which I fell back asleep.

Day Two- Dan left early to get to Justice Creek so he could cook breakfast because there was no water on Sassafras Mountain. Elliott and I left about 30 minutes later and after about a mile we passed Hat Rack, another hiker, at which time dog started following us. We assumed it was Hat Rack's dog so we let it hike with us the next mile and a half to the creek. It got there before us and stole Dan's tortilla bag. When Hat Rack arrived we asked if it was his dog... it wasn't. Cooking was quite the challenge with Hiker, this is what we named the dog because it just loved to run on the trail. Four ladies came along and fed Hiker 2 sandwiches so we thought that she would for sure stay with them, but once we started hiking Hiker followed us again. Later a another hiker passed us and we thought that Hiker would follow him so we took a break and let Hiker and the hiker go on ahead. Finally rid of the dog! JK about a half mile down the trail Hiker came running back. Poor thing was so skinny that we couldn't just leave her out there. We waited on a forest road to try to get cars to stop and take her into town, but no luck. So we hiked on. Finally, we got to a paved road and decided enough was enough, though we all loved the dog that adopted us, we had to get rid of her because we couldn't take care of her. Elliott and I started down the mountain road toward a town to find someone who could help us get the dog somewhere safe. After about a mile and a half of road walking we ran into a lady who knew a man that had lost a dog. She called him and he took us back to the parking lot were we left Dan and Hiker. It wasn't his dog, but he was kind enough to take her and get her to a shelter. His son had hiked the trail the year before and had a great time doing it. He also invited us to eat dinner with his family, but we had to keep moving. In all we hiked about 9 miles with Hiker... made for a long second day on the trail.

Day Three- Hiked up Blood Mountain which has the highest elevation on the AT in Georgia. It had a great view! After we hiked down to Neels Gap, the first civilization on the trail after you leave Springer. A man that had hiked the trail the year before donated some money for the hikers to have a good meal so the hostile host cooked up a huge spaghetti dinner with garlic bread, salad and ice cream. This very welcome after 30 miles of hiking. We met a lot of other hikers that night too and were glad that we had only been doing ten mile days instead of 15 because many of the hikers at the hostile were already suffering from injuries.

Day Four - 11 mile day. Elliott's foot started swelling and hurting. We got to Low Gap before the storm hit. That night there was a fierce thunderstorm with rain that just poured on our tent.

Day Five- Everyone woke up with wet gear, but for the most part we all stayed dry in our tents. We got a late start that day because we were drying everything off. This day Elliott's foot hurt to the point that he was struggling down hills. After about ten miles of hiking and not wanting to do another 1.5 mile 1,000 ft incline we chose to hitch hike into Helen so Elliott could see a doctor. We shared a room with Denis, from Iowa, and got a sweet hiker rate. Unfortunately, there were no medical services in Helen, but it was nice to shower and get a full meal.

Day Six- Back on the trail. Elliott decided to start taking aspirin for his foot and wait until Hiawassee to get his foot checked out. We did not lose any mileage due to the town night. We camped in Sassafras Gap with Sam W., Thunder Foot and Panda Bear and had a great time. This was the first night on the trail that we had a campfire.  We went to bed later than usual. Hiker midnight is about 9:00 pm.

Day Seven- We hiked 6.5 miles to highway 76 where we ran into Tatter Chip, a man that hiked the whole last year. He had a truck bed full of soda, water, Gatorade, moon pies and cookies. This my friend is what you call Trail Magic. It is almost like and oasis. Tatter Chip was very encouraging. He informed us that if we can make it through Georgia then we can make it through the Smokies. He lost all of his toe nails by the end of Georgia. Luck for us we still have all of ours. :) We hitched into Hiawassee got a hotel room. We all started sifting through our gear to see what we could send home to save on weight.

Day Eight - Zero Day. Elliott is finally getting his foot checked out, we are resupplying, resting, rebuilding our tired muscles, eating, sending gear home and updating the world outside of the woods on our happenings. Elliott's mom informed us that the shelters from Woods Gap to Neels Gap had been closed due to bears. Lucky we went through before that happened. Some of the other hikers were there a few nights ago and the bears were shaking their bear bag lines and smelling guys in hammocks. After some yelling and throwing of rocks the bears ran away.

Mom K, Nyoka Kasprzak, has been sending us food drops. Thanks Mom K.!

What an adventure so far... tomorrow we will be done with the Georgia section and will move onto North Carolina.

Update

(submitted by Mary Reible)

We arrived at Springer Mountain at about 6 p.m. on April 11th. We hiked .9 miles to the starting point of the trail, Elliott, Karen and Dan wrote in the log book and we took photos. That night we stayed in Dahlonega, GA. The morning of the 12th we went back out to Springer and after gearing up at about 10:00 they set out on the trail in a cold and foggy drizzle.

They got to Neels Gap on Thursday and received their first food drop sent by Nyoka.

On Friday several storms passed threw the area. They were in a valley between two mountains. The sky opened up and poured on them. Karen said it was the first time she had ever heard a lightening strike before seeing the flash.

On Saturday there were strong wind advisories out. They were going to go the shelter on Blue Mountain but decided to stay in Helen because of the wind.

Today (Monday) they are in Hiawassee. Elliott's foot is swollen and needs to be checked by a doctor. So they will take a zero day tomorrow, get rested up, and make sure Elliott does not have a stress fracture.

So far they have hiked 67.5 miles, averaging about 10-11 miles a day on very rough terrain.

Dan has earned the trail name of  "Uphill Jackrabbit" and Karen was known as "downhill Karen" but has been changed to "Avalanche". It sounds like they are very much enjoying their adventure of a lifetime.

They should be entering North Carolina on Wednesday.

04/14/2011 View from big Cedar Mountain, The 4th mountain today.

Springer Mountian

Here we are at the starting point. We had to drive on a bumpy mountian road for about 45 minutes, then hike a mile up the mountian just to get to the starting point. My mom and grandma went to the top with us to check out the view and take photos. The rocks had a sparkle in them that was beautiful, especially on our way down because they were reflecting the light from our head lamps. Tonight we are staying in a hotel for one more good night's sleep and because there are tornado warnings here.

So one mile down- 2,174 left to go.

Elliott and Dan's first sight of the AT. I saw it in PA when I went on a road trip with my sister.

Rain Gear Test

All of our gear worked great! Check out the video on Dan Brunner's facebook page.

The shower test is very important :)

Elliott learned that his gear will keep him dry even though it feels wet because it is very thin.

Dan's gear may rip easily, but it is pretty light, cheap and it keeps him dry.

Karen's coat was awesome, but she was nervous about the open pockets.

(later that week elliott duct taped and super glued karen's pockets)

Well that was fast

This last week went by super fast. I can hardly believe March 29th was my last day of work and now i am in a hotel somewhere in Indiana trying to sleep and ready to get to Georgia tomorrow! Tomorrow we will most likely check out the top of Spinger Mountian, the AT Trailhead, take our begining photos, be sillly and then stay in the town one last night before we become one with nature.

Lets review what happened the last 12 days...
Quit my job, moved from MI to WI, went to two birthday parties, packed everything Elliott and I own, except our backpacks and hiking gear, into boxes, put those boxes in closets and corners, went through gear, hiked with nephews, dehydrated food, seperated food, packed food, hated to look at so much food, tested our rain gear, treated the tent, tried hanging out with what ever friends we could, sorry nikki, patti, erik and emery that i got sick and couldn't make it, figured out bills, figured out bank accounts, bought gear, realized getting gear is really expensive, weighed our packs, unpacked, repacked, hung out with family, went to pool with my brothers, sold Elliott's car- thanks Bork, had a going away party (thank you to everyone that could come elliott and i really appreciated seeing you all), went to church, got in a car and started to drive.... what a busy couple of days! I am really ready to slow down and smell the flowers... although after a couple of days with no showers i will probably just be smelling body oder - yuck.

Springer Mountian watch out! Here come Elliott, Dan and Karen ; ) 

Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike Planner

This is a pretty great book. I would suggest getting it more than a month before your anticipated departure, but that's not how Elliott and I roll.  I am about half way through it and so far so good we are right on track as far as gear, food and finances are concerned. There are plenty of good tips and trail knowledge that we wouldn't have learned until we were on the trail. The book also contains plenty of worksheets to help you prepare. Worksheets include a financial spread, suggested mail drops, calendars, mileage, gear list, towns, inns, post offices and restaurants.

Elliott and I highly recommend this book to anyone planning to hike some or all of the AT.

     

Huffing and Puffing Thoughts

So while Elliott and I were hiking up Mount Marquette tonight I started huffing and puffing. The first thought that always comes to mind is "why the heck am I going to do this?" Why in the world would I commit to hiking 2,175 mile for fun? Not to mention all we have had to give up while saving and training for the trail. Missed opportunities to hang out with friends, go on ski weekends, go out to eat, get ski passes, go to the movies, trips home to visit family ect. Things we wanted to buy like new clothes, play station 3 (elliott), wii (elliott), kayaking gear, other outdoor gear, books, movies, new shoes ect. All the extra things we had to do late nights working, extra hours at work, plan meals for the trail, train, research, coordinate with Dan ect.

This morning Elliott came across this thought on facebook from Lecrae's page.  

"Prepare your heart now to embrace today's difficulties. God uses those to refine us and save us from worshiping comfort."

None of the things we sacrificed caused harm to us or threaten our beings. This has been a great lesson in not "worshiping comfort," but to appreciate them as gifts from God. There will be plenty of difficulty on the trail as well as throughout the rest of our lives. My hope is that God always guides me to see more than the comforts around me and to look to him.

Karen

What I will miss the most...

Driving to Wisconsin last night I started to think about what I will miss while I am on the AT.

From Marquette I will miss my Youth Center kids the most hands down, next the friends I've made and finally all the great recreational areas. There are so many places in and around Marquette that are absolutely beautiful.

From Wisconsin I will miss our families, especially our nephews and our friends. We are very blessed to have such great friends and family.

 In general I will probably miss toilets, face wash, sweatpants, a bed to sleep in, not being in physical pain, and showers....

Then I started to think about after we hike I am sure I will miss the trail. Peaceful nights in the forest, feeling tired and accomplished at the end of the day, the closeness to God one feels when they are far from society, endless days of adventure, spectacular sights, meeting new people and living simply.

Billy Joel lyrics come to mind when I think about all this

'Say Goodbye to Hollywood'


"So many faces in and out of my life
Some will last
Some will just be now and then
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again"

Quitting?

Hmmm...

Lately Elliott, Marit and I have been talking about reasons why people quit the AT before they finish….

Here are a few of our thoughts 

1. Rash decision to hike the trail.
2. Did not plan ahead financially.
3. Romanticized view of hiking meets physical pain = quitting.
4. Carrying too much weight.
5. Lack of determination.
6. Mental break downs.
7. Missing comforts of “civilized” life.

Hoping we don’t fall to any of these…

Can you think of other reasons why someone might quit the AT?

Dehydrated Food Photo

In the photo you see
- Pre-dehydrated peppers on the dehydrator trays.
- Dehydrated apples and pears in the plastic bag on the left
- Dehydrated green onions in the next bag
- Dehydrates spaghetti sauce in the tray on the table

Yummy!

What are you going to eat?

Many people have been asking what we are going to do about food on the AT. There will be towns every 5 to 7 days along most of the trail so we will only have to carry about a weeks worth of food with us at a time, but the follow will tell you more information about food while backpacking. 
 

There are two main thoughts of food preparation while on long backpacking trips; preplanned and pantry style. Preplanned is a meal that has been planned in advance so that all ingredients are in your pack ready for boiling water. Months before the trip you will find yourself measuring ingredients and bagging each meal with cooking instructions written on the bag. It is also recommended to test your recipes before committing to eating them in the woods with no other resources. After a long tiring day of hiking this method can really pay off because usually all the hikers have to do it boil the water, throw in some food and shabam spaghetti dinner with meat sauce. On the other hand this method does not allow much creativity when cooking and can become boring to the hiker. Pantry style on the other hand allows variety and creativity while cooking. The hiker will pack bulk dehydrated foods and decide at each meal what to prepare. For example; hummus, dehydrated green peppers, tortillas and some cheese make a great dinner wrap, but you could also use the hummus, dehydrated eggs, cheese and a tortilla for a filling breakfast. This method is great because the hiker gets to pick which ingredients they are craving on a daily biases, but at times hikers find themselves with bulk items that they rarely use which equals extra weight. Elliott and I are going to use a mixture of the two methods. We will have a few preplanned meals and a few bulk items in our pack. This will allow us the luxury of “just adding water” when we are exhausted and the freedom of throwing in extra ingredients for variety. We have been dehydrating fruits and vegetables to add to various meals along the trail and are starting on preplanned meals. Last weekend our friend Sam Crowley came over to let us try his dehydrated spaghetti with meat sauce and give us a few pointers. Check out photos of some of the kayaking adventures Sam has go on at www.seakayakspecialists.com.