Monday, March 24, 2008

prep work

preperation for the hike was very time consuming, tideous and sometimes frustrating. But it will all be worth it once we're on the trail. not only did we make too many extensive trips to REI, but Costco and other supermarkets were always needed one more time. we bought a bunch of quality bulk foods through United Natural Foods though- cheers to Kirsten for that!
a lot of the food we bought before the trail we have put in boxes for mail drops, which Elizabeth's parents are helping us with. the rest we will buy on the way in towns for resupply.

unloading from the road trip


so much food...

...and gear


let the boxing commence!



all the little things



they call it mountain money...

...so chris is loading up!

still working


we're already sick of peanut butter...and we haven't started yet!


thats right, peanut butter in a ziploc. pretty much everything is in a ziploc.
we will try to reuse everything sent as much as possible - i wish there was a good alternative to all this plastic?

the aftermath

and the final products

thought we're done? we still have to label them...then were done!


dryrun near Atlanta/Decatur - panola state park

we can't wait to just get on the trail and start walking. hopefully the planning will pay off!

Looking on to the big adventure!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

are we there yet?

These are educated guesses as to where we might be in the near future. Please feel free to come visit!


ETA

Resupply Point

25-Mar

Springer MT, Ga

27-Mar

Neels Gap, Ga

31-Mar

Hiawassee, Ga

4-Apr

Franklin, N.C.

7-Apr

N.O.C., Wesser, NC

10-Apr

Fontana Dam, NC

17-Apr

Standing Bear Farm, NC

20-Apr

Hot Springs, NC

26-Apr

Erwin, Tenn

2-May

Dennis Cove, Tenn

5-May

Damascus, Va

10-May

Troutdale, Va

15-May

Bland, Va

19-May

Pearisburg, Va

24-May

Catawba, Va

27-May

Daleville, Va.

31-May

Glasgow, Va

4-Jun

Montebello, Va

7-Jun

(NP) Waynesboro, Va

12-Jun

(NP)Big Meadows, Va

16-Jun

(NP)Compton Gap, Va

21-Jun

Harper's Ferry ATC, WV

26-Jun

Smithsburg, Md

28-Jun

South Mountain, Pa

2-Jul

Boiling Springs, Pa

4-Jul

Duncannon, Pa

10-Jul

P. Clinton/Hamburg, Pa

14-Jul

Palmerton, Pa

17-Jul

Del. Water Gap, Pa

22-Jul

Vernon, NJ

26-Jul

Peekskill, NY

30-Jul

Kent, Conn

1-Aug

Salisbury, Conn

5-Aug

Dalton, Mass

7-Aug

Williamston, Mass

9-Aug

Bennington, Vt.

12-Aug

Manchester ctr, Vt

18-Aug

Hanover, NH

21-Aug

GlenCliff, NH

23-Aug

N. woodstock, NH

30-Aug

Gorham, NH

4-Sep

Andover, ME

7-Sep

Rangely, ME

10-Sep

Stratton, ME

13-Sep

Caratunk, ME

16-Sep

Monson, ME

White House land

Abol Brige

24-Sep

Katahdin

Mail Drops

Mail Locations: in case you would want to send anything, letters of encouragement, lightweight items, this is where we are sending our mail drops. Eta= estimated time of arrival (we will update these as they are sure to change!)

For most packages you can label:

“my name”AT Hiker
Business if applicable
Address

The Post Office is different:
Label:

“General Delivery”-AT Hiker
My Name
Town, State, zip


1. Walasi-Yi center
Ship to
9710 Gainesville Hwy., Blairsville, GA 30512
Eta: March 27th

2. Franklin,NC:
Three Eagle’s Outfitters
78 Siler Rd.
Franklin, NC 28734

eta: April 4th

3. Nantahala Outdoor Center
13077 Hwy 19W, Bryson City, NC 28713
eta: April 7th


4. Post office
Fontana Dam, NC 28733
Eta: April 10th

5. Standing Bear Farm
4255 Green Corner Rd., Hartford, TN 37753
eta: April 17th

6. Troutdale, VA
Troutdale Baptist Church Hostel
10148 Troutdale Hwy, Troutdale, VA 24378
eta: May 10th

7. Montebello VA :
Dutch Haus B&B
655 Fork Mountain Ln., Montebello, VA 24464
eta: June 4th

8. Compton Gap VA:
Front Royal Terrapin Station Hostel
304 Chester Gap Rd , Chester Gap, VA 22623
eta: June 16th

9. Harpers Ferry WVA:
ATC Visitors Center
799 Washington St., Harpers Ferry, WV 25425
eta: June 21st

10. Post Office
Duncannon, PA 17020
Eta: July 4th

11. Post Office
Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327
Eta: July 17th


12.
Bennington, VT:
Nature’s Closet Outfitter

400 Main St., Bennington, VT 05201
eta: August 9th

13. Post Office
Glencliff
, NH
: 03238
Eta: August 21st


14. Post Office
Monson, ME 04464
Eta: September 16th

Thursday, March 20, 2008

prelude

hello there, and welcome to our Appalachian Trail blog. first we'd like to share the cross-country trip we took from Seattle to Atlanta. here are some pics from the drive where we stopped with friends in Corvallis (thanks Ruth!), San Fran, Tucson, Amarillo, Fayetteville, AR (thanks Tom & Barb):


elizabeth and oregon

mt. shasta, north ca

north San Fran, from the bay bridge

showing us the ropes was....
....Aaaaahh-knew!....


.....and dios mio, its Tamara!

onto Tucson, home of the famous Saguaro N.P.

and the world renown....
...Bob!! - who runs the joint.

this one's for you Julie:
Dance your cares away,
Worry's for another day.
Let the music play,
Down at ??????? ????!

(have to look closely?)
thanks again nick, julie & bob

the grand canyon.....
....of Texas?
palo dura canyon

camped for a night and onto oklahoma.

oh look...
...its...
and
and

and
finally back to Conyers, GA
time to unload for the next post....


!Down at Fraggle Rock...if you didn't get it!