2010-appalachian-trail

Day 1

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:12:13 +0100

The climb of Mt. Katahdin was great for about two hours. The next seven hours however were ether spent getting rained on and walking in a wet cloud. Once we reached the summate we were faced with rain and sleet, every so often the clouds broke open to produce some amazing breathtaking views.

At one of the ranger stations we were shown a couple trails on maps that we could take to get to the top of the mountain, we chose to go up Abol and down the Hunt trail. This would have given us a nice round trip, or so we thought.

Most of the hike on the Abol Trail was a beautiful. Then it turned into steep paths, and out of nowhere the trail turned into hand, over hand, pull your self up giant rocks, kind of trail. This is right about the time it started to rain on us. Perfect timing too because dry rocks are too easy to climb. I prefer to have a chance to slip and fall to my death on nice wet ones. I think it was right around this time when I had to stop and pause just to say to my self “I am literally climbing a mountain,” just incase I forgot what it was I had been doing the last two hours.

Around this time my body took a moment to remind me that it was a little over weight and out of shape. I believe it gave me the option to turn around at that point or hurt for a long time to come. I gave my body no such satisfaction. I kept going. It was only muscle pain, and that can be taking care of by some Ibuprofen. When I got back to camp I made sure to do just that.

Seeing the summit sign was truly amazing. I was tired, out of breath and looked like a drown dog. All and all the climb was hard, cold, wet, painful and beautiful. About half way back down my legs started to give out on me, I had the people I was hiking with just go ahead with out me so that I could sit and rest. The best way to describe what I did is to have you climb up and down staircases or sky scrapers for 8hrs straight with a back pack on .

I am now in my tent on the A.T. my legs are starting to get the feeling back in them and yes it is still raining. Tomorrow should be interesting.

On The Trail

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:33:03 +0100

My husband and I dropped Matt and Christopher off at Baxter State Park Tuesday morning. They were greeted by a few great Park Rangers who were very helpful and gave them some great advice to get them started on their trip.

The night before, they had their last meal.
Fresh Maine Lobster!!!

Christopher is planning on sending me letters to have posted on his site. I'm not sure how often that will be. So for now, stay tuned and I'll update as soon as I get the letters.
-Sara

Food

Thu, 27 May 2010 16:45:06 +0100

Yesterday Matt and I went to a wholesale club and stocked up on rice, pasta, and other yumz. Today we will be putting things in boxes to ship out to spots along the trail...

I CAN'T WAIT!

35 days left

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:29:32 +0100

Can't wait to get on the trail. My sister will be updating my site with the mail I write to her along the trail. So right now im teaching her how to use my website.

Stocking Up

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:33:43 +0100

I get more and more excited about going on the AT ever day. For Christmas I got some matches and other fire starting things, yes as a child I once almost set the house on fire so I question if these things are in wise hands now. None the less along with an REI gift card I had a good Christmas. I ordered some books from http://www.atctrailstore.org/ I was way stoked when they arrived. Today I ventured out to L.L. Bean and got a few little handy things. I don't have all that much money right now so I am stocking up a little at a time I spent around $30 on the books and today $33 on a small solar powered/crank radio/flashlight/cell phone charger, compact can openers, a super cool salt and pepper shaker and soap called wilderness wash its friendly to the environment and can be used for shampoo, dishes, clothing and body wash. Its super concentrated so with everything that Im packing it fits into my little goes a long way mind set. Ill keep you guys updated as new things arrive.

Christopher Burks