Greetings from Gorham, New Hampshire. Less than 300 miles to go...
For the last week or so, I've been hiking with PigPen. We both have a strong desire to get to the finish line, plus we're both avid football fans, so we've made it our goal to summit by September 8th. This way, we'll be back at PigPen's house in New Hampshire to catch the NFL season opener between the Saints and the Vikings on the 9th and I'll be back to Indiana on the 10th.
Gotta run, becuase it costs me a dollar to use this computer for 30 minutes! Next update? The Victory Update!
~Duchess
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
It's Nearing the End, and I'm Sad for it to be Over
Hello All!!
Since hitting Vermont I have completely fallen in love with this state, and contemplating moving here next summer and into the fall...Don't worry Mom & Dad...it's just a thought!! Anyway, I have been hiking with a pretty cool crew the last week or so, and have been enjoying my time and taking it slow on what we call the "leisure tour". I hiked quickly to catch my friend Klarity in Manchester Center, VT & she and I have been having a great time since.
(This is a picture of Klarity and I on top of Bromley Mountain...beautiful mountain top with a huge ski lift & a shelter at the top of the mountain! We got to see the meteor shower from here and it was a clear & beautiful night)
The hike has been great since meeting up with her, and I have also been running into a lot of people that I had not seen in a while. After Bromley Mountain, we pushed on and spent the week in the woods swimming, watching beautiful sunsets and enjoying the 3 days of a meteor shower with clear skies atop the mountains. It had been a while since we got to enjoy the views because we have been below tree line for so long. Once we got to Vermont, the weather has been beautiful and the land has been amazing!!
(This is a picture on top of White Rocks Cliff, the sunset was beautiful, but so was the night sky...if you can see the moon, look a little to the right & that is Saturn....you can see everything from these mountains!!)
Along with the beautiful skies, the landscape has been so beautiful too!! The trees are huge & the cedar smells delicious, and yes I have enjoyed some REAL maple syrup.
(Here's a picture I took while enjoying some of these delicious blackberries...fresh blackberries and blueberries have been all over the trail all season!)
Another exciting day was when we were getting ready to hike down from Killington Peak, (the second highest peak in Vermont), and decided that we didn't really feel like hiking down. So, we did the first SKY BLAZE of the season, taking the Gondola down the mountain into the town of Killington.
(Here's a photo of Klarity and I at the bottom of our gondola ride...we got a hitch from here by a guy named Mad Dog...he hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2000, and has the record for finishing the ENTIRE trail in only 5 WEEKS!!...needless to say, he was almost bed-ridding for 2 months afterward)
We are now in Woodstock, VT visiting a friend of a couple of the guys I am hiking with. She is the soul-owner of the local coffee shop so we have been enjoying her yummy coffee & this cute little touristy town. Like I said earlier, Vermont is beautiful, and I have been enjoying this state so much!!
We start New Hampshire in just a few days, which means we will hiking the intimidating WHITE MOUNTAINS....after that, it's just a few more weeks until we hit Baxter State Park and the beautiful Mount Katahdin. If anyone is curious, I plan to book a ticket from New York to Indianapolis on the 22nd of September. Well, with that being said I hope all is well with everyone and I miss and love you all!!
With Love,
Malorie "NotBad"
Since hitting Vermont I have completely fallen in love with this state, and contemplating moving here next summer and into the fall...Don't worry Mom & Dad...it's just a thought!! Anyway, I have been hiking with a pretty cool crew the last week or so, and have been enjoying my time and taking it slow on what we call the "leisure tour". I hiked quickly to catch my friend Klarity in Manchester Center, VT & she and I have been having a great time since.
(This is a picture of Klarity and I on top of Bromley Mountain...beautiful mountain top with a huge ski lift & a shelter at the top of the mountain! We got to see the meteor shower from here and it was a clear & beautiful night)The hike has been great since meeting up with her, and I have also been running into a lot of people that I had not seen in a while. After Bromley Mountain, we pushed on and spent the week in the woods swimming, watching beautiful sunsets and enjoying the 3 days of a meteor shower with clear skies atop the mountains. It had been a while since we got to enjoy the views because we have been below tree line for so long. Once we got to Vermont, the weather has been beautiful and the land has been amazing!!
(This is a picture on top of White Rocks Cliff, the sunset was beautiful, but so was the night sky...if you can see the moon, look a little to the right & that is Saturn....you can see everything from these mountains!!)Along with the beautiful skies, the landscape has been so beautiful too!! The trees are huge & the cedar smells delicious, and yes I have enjoyed some REAL maple syrup.
(Here's a picture I took while enjoying some of these delicious blackberries...fresh blackberries and blueberries have been all over the trail all season!)Another exciting day was when we were getting ready to hike down from Killington Peak, (the second highest peak in Vermont), and decided that we didn't really feel like hiking down. So, we did the first SKY BLAZE of the season, taking the Gondola down the mountain into the town of Killington.
(Here's a photo of Klarity and I at the bottom of our gondola ride...we got a hitch from here by a guy named Mad Dog...he hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2000, and has the record for finishing the ENTIRE trail in only 5 WEEKS!!...needless to say, he was almost bed-ridding for 2 months afterward)We are now in Woodstock, VT visiting a friend of a couple of the guys I am hiking with. She is the soul-owner of the local coffee shop so we have been enjoying her yummy coffee & this cute little touristy town. Like I said earlier, Vermont is beautiful, and I have been enjoying this state so much!!
We start New Hampshire in just a few days, which means we will hiking the intimidating WHITE MOUNTAINS....after that, it's just a few more weeks until we hit Baxter State Park and the beautiful Mount Katahdin. If anyone is curious, I plan to book a ticket from New York to Indianapolis on the 22nd of September. Well, with that being said I hope all is well with everyone and I miss and love you all!!
With Love,
Malorie "NotBad"
Monday, August 9, 2010
3 States to GO!!!!
Hey there Everyone!!
Little update from NotBad here. Got into Bennington, VA last night and got a place to stay with a nice couple wanting to help me out. I am headed back on the trail today with the plans to be in Maine the first weekend of September-then hoping to be done around September 17 (that would be exactly 6 months for me). Duchess has jumped up the trail and her finish date is around September 9...unfortunately we will not be summiting together, but we are hiking our own hike and have plenty of stories to tell to one another when we get back home to good 'ol Indiana.
So what's new with me? Well, last week I was hiking and ran into some great rock climbers from Rhode Island...they invited me to climb and of course I took the offer!!
(This picture is of me starting my climb...it was a hard one but I had a great leader belaying me up the rockface!!)
After that I called up some friends and they were invited to some trail angel's house for ice cream, showers, laundry & they even gave them the car to come and pick me up!! After staying the night my buddy Ice's father picked 3 of us thru-hikers up to spend the weekend with his family in Old Lyme, Connecticut. We were there from Friday 'til Tuesday and had a great time with his friends and family.
(Silly picture of me, Griz & Ice at the Old Lyme firework show that his family brought us to while visiting.)
After getting back on the trail Tuesday, Brendan (one of Ice's friends from his home town), came out and hiked with me for the day. We started hiking and talking about a music festival in Ghent, NY that we could work and get in for free. After only a few hours of hiking we headed out of the woods to pick up Ice and Griz and head to Ghent, NY. We spent the weekend dancing and having a good time and meeting a lot of great people behind the scenes of the festival. It was an electronica and jamband festival and we all had a tiring, but great weekend.
(This is a picture of the band RAQ...they played a double set and rocked it for almost 3-4 hours!!)
So I'm leaving Bennington this afternoon and plan to head up to connect onto the Long Trail. (The Long Trail was the original part of the AT and we stay on this trail for most of Vermont.) Although there will still be white blazes, we will be Long Trailing it for a couple of weeks. I look forward to hooking up with old friends and perhaps meeting some new people as well.
Hope all is well at home & elsewhere and I miss you all!!
With Love,
NotBad
So what's new with me? Well, last week I was hiking and ran into some great rock climbers from Rhode Island...they invited me to climb and of course I took the offer!!
(This picture is of me starting my climb...it was a hard one but I had a great leader belaying me up the rockface!!)After that I called up some friends and they were invited to some trail angel's house for ice cream, showers, laundry & they even gave them the car to come and pick me up!! After staying the night my buddy Ice's father picked 3 of us thru-hikers up to spend the weekend with his family in Old Lyme, Connecticut. We were there from Friday 'til Tuesday and had a great time with his friends and family.
(Silly picture of me, Griz & Ice at the Old Lyme firework show that his family brought us to while visiting.)After getting back on the trail Tuesday, Brendan (one of Ice's friends from his home town), came out and hiked with me for the day. We started hiking and talking about a music festival in Ghent, NY that we could work and get in for free. After only a few hours of hiking we headed out of the woods to pick up Ice and Griz and head to Ghent, NY. We spent the weekend dancing and having a good time and meeting a lot of great people behind the scenes of the festival. It was an electronica and jamband festival and we all had a tiring, but great weekend.
(This is a picture of the band RAQ...they played a double set and rocked it for almost 3-4 hours!!)So I'm leaving Bennington this afternoon and plan to head up to connect onto the Long Trail. (The Long Trail was the original part of the AT and we stay on this trail for most of Vermont.) Although there will still be white blazes, we will be Long Trailing it for a couple of weeks. I look forward to hooking up with old friends and perhaps meeting some new people as well.
Hope all is well at home & elsewhere and I miss you all!!
With Love,
NotBad
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)