484 miles and 28 days to go.

Well it has been awhile since I have been able to update the blog due to me dropping and breaking my phone back in Greenwood Lake, NY. So haven't had the option to update my blog.

Well it's that time in the home stretch! Less than 500 miles! Less than 30 days! So in order for us to summit Kathadin on the 27th of June we have to average 18.0777778 miles a day. Which sounds amazing. So short!

So we are currently in Rutland, VT. Two days from starting the white mountains. Thursday, two days from today we will be in Hanover, NH. Which means we start the White Mountain Range. I've been through NY, NJ, CT, MA, and more than half way done with VT. NY was pretty at some points but had a ton of puads (pointless ups and downs). These puads were mostly rock Clift faces that lasted for about 100-200ft up and a bunch during the day. Very challenging. NJ was mud and swamps and lakes and beaver dams and mud and mud and mud. CT was well I don't really remember just another state I guess haha. Next came MA. Worst state on the trail I think. People are not friendly and the trail is poorly maintained. I will not be hike in MA ever again. Beavers have taken over that part of the trail. There is not a dry step on the trail in MA. All the branches are over hanging in the trail. Grass was taller than me. Etc... But anyway it was between me and Maine so I trucked on through it. So far VT has been the best looking part of the trail. Gorgeous views and great hiking minus the 3 mile road walk. But that was cause by Irene so no blame there. Hurricanes can ruin many things.

I really don't have any interesting stories to tell or any great falls to talk about in this blog so instead of story time I will try my best to explain what a day in our shoes are like. So we will say we have a 23.6 mile day to hike. Which tends to be a pretty common day.
We wake up around 6:16ish.
Eat and pack up.
Be on trail by 6:45ish.
9:30 restock 2 liters of water.
12:00-12:20. First lunch.
12:21. Get more water. 2 liters.
2:45. More water. 1 liter.
3:20ish. 2nd lunch. Collect 2 liters of water. Hopefully by this time you are at least 17-18 miles deep in the day.
So now it's about 4:00. You have 5.6 miles to go. Which means 2 hours of hike time. Time to kick it in gear.
6:15ish. Roll into camp/shelter. Sit around and talk about the day to fellow hikers/ make bed/chores etc...
7:05ish eat dinner.
7:45 finish cleaning etc...
8:00-8:30 bed time.

So that's your typical day of hiking with beautiful sights and "new adventures" waiting around every corner or swamp or rock scramble or 1500ft climb over 0.7 miles. It really is a thing of beauty out here. Love every second of it. Anyway thanks for allowing me to waste 5-10 minutes of your time. Everyone enjoy the summer break! Peace y'all.

Shout out to Lara from VT. Girl kick that Long Trails butt!!!

P.S. Mom and Dad thanks for the new phone!

Penn and Jersey over.

Well it's true we've enter New York. No more PN rocks and no more NJ mud. Since we've left Virginia we have been able to crank out way more miles per day. Last week we averaged around 24 miles a day. We have 819 miles till the end!! No more counting up it's all countdown now! Which is crazy to think about. Looking at only 7 weeks to go.

So let's talk about that state called Pennsylvania. Well it can be summed in one word. That work is ROCKY. Yes on the map Penn looks very flat, but if I do recall i never actually took a flat step. Every step required your ankle to bend in some awkward fashion. But it's the AT no one said it was a cake walk gotta earn Maine! There were three sections that were a bit over the top and they are.... Knifes Edge, Pinnacle, and Bake Oven Knob. Pinnacle was our first big rock section. It was a nice wake up call. Then came Knifes Edge. Good Lord. It was tough. Well it was seriously an edge. One foot to the left drop off. One foot to the right drop off. One wrong slip and that was your last step on the AT for sure. Then came Bake Oven Knob. It was just soccer ball size rocks over and over and over and over again. Bake Oven I really didn't notice to be that bad because I was on the phone with my sister Anna Beth catching up on what has been going on in her life. So that was Penn.

New Jersey wasn't much really. Just really swampy and very muddy. Granted it only took us 2.5 days to finish the state. Nothing really special about NJ.

Finally we've been hit by rain and 10 days straight of it. Today was the first day we've seen a slight sign of sun. But the weather looks great these next couple of days. Time for some nice sunshine.

Well ladies and gents time for bed. I will post again soon. Night y'all.

Just moving along.

I haven't updated it looks like since the Grayson Highlands. Since then we have done over 400 miles and finally finished Virginia. Thank the Lord. Virginia just got old real quick. I'm sitting here at Harpers Ferry, WV. Which is the half way point mentally as a fellow thru hiker says. The actually half way point is another 70 miles away. We will be hitting that very soon. Since my last post I've been through the Blue Ridge ParkWay. Through Jefferson National Forrest. Washington National Forrest. Shenandoah National Park. Been to the ATC HQ. Fallen twice. Hyper-extended my left leg. Have seen 6 bears. Countless snakes. More deer than I thought was humanly possible. Tons of chipmunks. Hand full of turkeys. And a group of smelly thru hikers (which I am apart of).

Our thru hiking group is consider the 1st bubble of this years hike. There are 3 females and 11 males. Turtle, Greenbean, and Fern are our lovely ladies. Goose, I, Moses, Bluegrass, Rambo, Spoon, ZoSo, Daddy O, TBo, Groundhog, and Mule are the menleist of all men. Mule and Turtle are married. Fern is Greenbeans dog. So there is our hiking group. Someone none of us do drugs. Which is really rare on the trail I've come to realize. As of right now only Moses, Bluegrass, and Groundhog are ahead of us.

Harpers Ferry, WV. Is well a tourist trap. Awful for thru hikers. Even though it is the official half way point for the AT according to the ATC. In HP, WV you go to the ATC HQ to sign in letting them know you've been half way and to really register for the trail. Also you find out what number you are. Goose and I are number 18 and 19. Which means we are the 18th and 19th person to make it half way. So if the AT was a race we would be in 18th and 19th place out of 1000+ other thru hikers. Which I thought was really cool. So theirs Harpers Ferry, WV in a nutshell. Oh yeah we hit 1000 miles yesterday.

In Virginia we got to experience The Priest, Three Ridges Mountain, Blue Ridge Parkway, bears, Shenandoah National Park, and some mean 11.5 miles known as the "Roller Coaster". I will start with The Priest. The Priest is a mountain that well pretty much goes straight down for 4000ft. It put you knees into shock. On the otherside of The Priest is Three Ridge Mountian. Three Ridge Mountian is 3600 feet straight up with a BUNCH of boulders and really annoying softball size rocks that you walk over. It took longer than expected to get up this Mountain. I also managed to fall up this one. Yeah fell up a mountain takes talent my friends and I have that talent. The Blue Ridge Parkway and Shenandoah National Park are pretty much the same thing. You hike along side this parkway for about 180 miles or so. On top of a ridge all day everyday. Got old. Same views. Now the roller coaster. Rough. I mean rough. 10 back to back to back to etc... Straight up and straight downs. All atleast 500ft and rockier than a gravel pit. It was tough. Managed to fall during this and hyper extend my left leg. Felt really good.

I need to go hiking now. I will bring more later. For now it's hiking time!

Wild Ponies will try to eat you.

Well it's been awhile since I've been able to post. So this could be kinda long. Well last time I posted it was Damascus. That was awhile ago. Well we are at the point where we ridge walk. Which means you pretty much climb up 2000 feet. Then walk on top of this ridge for about 100 miles. Then you drop down 2000 feet into a town/river/major road then go right back up 2000 feet and get onto another ridge. Which is pretty much all of VA. For the beginning of VA we ran over a bunch of open fields and really big balds. Oh and we met the wild ponies. We were up about 100 feet above them as they came out to eat some grass on the field. Well I wanted to play with them because I heard they we pretty friendly. So down we went to take pictures and play with the wild ponies. Well we got down there and I grabbed some grass and started feeding one of the ponies. This got the attention of a couple other ponies. Well for some unknown reason feeding them grass just wasn't doing it for me. So I grabbed a mini snickers. Well I've never seen ponies run so fast in my life. They heard the wrapper and ran to me. I didn't even open the thing yet. All they had to do was hear it. So by this point I'm in the middle of 20+ wild ponies all of them trying to grab this snickers. Ends up they start kicking each other. They get in some fights. So I start to ease my way away from the scene. Well the leader of the pack noticed I was leaving. So he freaking chased me down and started nudging me in my shoulder with is head. So I gave him the snickers. Once he ate it he decided he would lick my eye ball and he did. Sooo that's my wild pony story of the AT. Well that was day two after Damascus. Since then we've been doing anywhere from 22-26 mile a day. We are moving flying through VA. We will be able to keep this average all the way up until Vermont. So looking forward to the very fast moving. Our goal is June 30th and we are gonna make it. Well that's about it for now. It's hiking time. Later this week I will post a blog on what we do on a typical day of hiking. This blog is brought to you by "Hey Girl" by O.A.R. Oh yeah we are a 1/4 of the way done.

When things get tough the tough get going.

Well as I sit here waiting for these 400+ pictures to upload onto Facebook I figured I would update my blog. First I would like to think my parents for the much much bigger data plan. Instead of 300mb I now have 3gb. Yeah huge difference. Anyway last time I talked to y'all I was lusting over a Subway sub at Mountain Harbor Hostel. Well sad news. I didn't get my sub that day but I did get a 12oz double bacon cheese burger from a local joint that was very good. Do not worry though I got my sub only later in Hampton, TN. Well these last couple of days have been flat, flat according to AT standards. Not your Mississippi flat we are all so well accustomed to. So we've been doing faster miles since we've hit this flatter land which is good because that means we can move quicker and get done by our goal date of June 30th. Which will be legen wait for it dary. (who caught the how I met your mother line?) Legendary. Well we've finally reached two major goals. We've been now over 400 miles and we are in Damascus,VA. Yeah that's right we are in Virginia. Goodbye NC, TN, and GA. Virginia is known for it's flatness and so far it hasn't let us down. We expect to be done with Virginia in about four and a half weeks. Anyway we left Mountain Harbor Hostel and were on our way to a small stop in Hampton, TN. Took us only 2 days and some of the most beautiful landscape we've seen yet. Got to Hampton and guess what there was a Subway there. Oh yes a Subway. Two footlongs later I was on my way to Virginia and two days later we made it. The last day hiking into Virginia we spent in a "mild" thunderstorm. But hey as they say "No pain No rain No Maine". So now with "flat" land in our sight we will be on our way to finish this beautiful trail. Shout out to Anna Beth and Mary Kate Waldron. Tonights post brought to you by "Let Her cry" by Hootie and the Blowfish.

The 22 and the 24.

22 and the 24 miler. Well yesterday and today. 3-20-12. Were our biggest days yet by far and I have to say they were harder. I think the 22 was harder to be honest. The 22 was a big mountain then a bunch of small up downs. I did manage to fall on easily the flattest ground we've been on yet on the 22 day. Not just fall but a full tuck and roll. All I did was get caught up in a 5 inch stick. It was crazy. So Goose and I are now even on the falls. Well for the 24 miler we left this morning about 6:42ish because we had to make it to the hostel by 5 in order to catch the dinner shuttle for Subway. Now must of you are thinking something like "Leave that early just for Subway? Psssh no way." (see what I did there?) Well let me explain how good Subway taste after hiking a 24 mile day and coming off the trail. So picture this. First you're going to the country side of England where they have the best veal. You will run around the country side finding this glorious meat. Once you have found the prefect calf to produce the perfect meat. You buy it. No matter the cost. Now you're on your way to Maine to find the best lobster. You go to Maine find the best lobster fisherman and go with him on his run. Don't forget your scuba gear cause you're gonna hand pick that lobster from the ocean floor. Once you got that lobster go home. Now at home feed that lobster the hand chosen veal for three weeks. Make sure that lobster is nice and big. Now take the lobster to Emeril to cool it. Bam. He cooks it. Bam. It's eating time. Bam once more for good effect and out of respect for Emeril. Now eat this veal fed Lobster. Enjoy it because it only taste this good once. AND that's how freaking delicious Subway is on the trail. Anyway it seems that my legs are now in shape for bigger miles. Also we went over our last "real" mountain for good awhile today. Means flats and rolling hills. So we should be able to produce bigger miles. That is all for now. I will update later. Today's blog was brought to you in part by the following: "The Dance" by Garth Brooks.

It's been long enough.

Well the title is referring to how long it's been since I've posted or been able to post. Goose on the other hand has been rather good at this with his fancy Iphone 4Gs (Parents send me one and more blogs will come or give me more data to play with) anyway in the last post two things were really messed up. The grammar and Standing Indian Mountain is not the tallest mountain south of Clingsman dome. To explain my grammar problem. There was the German waiting for me to finish using the computer so he could check his facebook. He would ask me every 3 minutes in some really broken what I though was English if I was finished. Buddy you're in America and facebook isn't that important. But anyway let's move on. Well A LOT has happened in the past 3-4 weeks. Sickness, rain, lighting storms, and the Smoky (SP?) mountain national park. Let's get this started cause I would like to sleep at some point tonight.

Let's see last time I updated it was about Beaver Rat so that was awhile ago. Well we hiked from Highawasee to NOC. Then from the NOC (which I will either buy a house there to live in during the summer or I am moving there) to Fontana Dam then we started the Smokys. It was a two day hike from NOC to Fontana Dam. Where we stayed at the Fontana "Hilton" shelter. Supposedly this is the nicest shelter on the trail hence the nickname of the Hilton. To be honest just seemed like an everyday typical shelter but could sleep 40 instead of 6-12. Fontana dam was really cool. It was massive. Took some cool pictures. Then we started to smokys expecting to finish it in about 5-6 days because we were meeting Goose's parents at I-10 to go into town for a half day. Well the start of the smokys were nice and it was cold. Freaking cold. Being from the South Mississippi I typically avoid all weather under 40 degrees. Well the Smokys decided that the high would be in the 40s for the 6 days we spent in it. The Smokys can be described in three very simple words. Up. Down. Repeat. If you were curious to where you were going just look for the highest peak. You were going over the center of that peak only to be surprised by a much larger peak on the other side that you were also going to go straight over and of course back down the other side just as fast as you came up it. For the first 3 days all the way to Clingmans dome it was cloudy, very very windy, and also very cold. Didn't really get to get any cool pictures until the last 3 days. We did get some snow which was kinda cool because I never really get to see snow. So anyway we made it clingmans dome only to be met by hurricane force winds. In all seriousness this wind pushed me across the tower on top of clingmans dome. It was crazy. On the way down from Clingmans dome to the next shelter we were hiking on ice down the trail. Well more of sliding the actual hiking which made for a lot of great laughs. If anyone knows Goose (JT) he's tends to be rather clumsy with his size 15 feet. So it was pretty funny watching him lose his balance. He only fell once though but it was a great fall. I was ahead of him sliding down the trail and I started to lose my balance, you know the whole arms flailing only one foot on the trail stance, Goose though this was funny and began to laugh at me. Well as soon as he started to laugh he lost his balance and just ate it. Karma at it's best. Anyway finally the weather cleared up and got to really see the beautiful Smokys. So day 6 rolled around and we only had 10 miles to I-10. We knew it was going to be a town day and our packs weighted next to nothing so we flew down the mountain. It took up 2 hours and 38 minutes including breaks to go the 10 miles. We were excited for some Taco Bell. So excited I actually ended up spending $16.54 at Taco Bell (sorry daddy). But on the way down the mountain we crossed this stream about 7 times. Well at first we both were very careful at where we stepped on the rocks instead of flying down the river so we didn't fall in. But I guess at one point Goose just got tired and decided he was going to 1 step the river. Oh man the funniest thing yet. Yeah he 1 stepped it alright. Right into the river. I was laughing so hard I nearly fell in myself. I took a picture of the spot so he wouldn't forget. So we met his parents went to taco bell, got a shower, slept in a real bed, and got to resupply at a Wal-Mart. CLUTCH.

Got back to the trail the next on our 4 night 5 day hike into Erwin, TN. We decieded to up the miles so we did a 19 then a 19-13-19-16. Pretty easy hiking for the most part until the morning of the 13. IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THE NEXT FEW LINES I WILL TYPE AGAIN IN ALL CAPS WHEN THE NASTINESS IS OVER. So the morning of the last 19 I woke up packed my stuff and went and took my morning poop like usual. Then to go get water. Well half way to getting water I felt a little rumble in my stomach and ran back to the privy (toilet) were I again pooped. I thought ehhhh must haven't gotten it all out the first time. So I went on the get my water. Well soon as I finished getting water it hit me again. So I ran back to the privy took care of my stuff. Kinda got worried then. Only thing to do at this point was to hike and hike really fast to town. Well small problem 2 days from town. So I went on about 3 miles stomach lit up again except this time it was from the mouth. Vomiting. Not good. So after puking once more and pooping who knows how many times I made it to the next shelter were I saw Goose. Only had 9 more miles to go to the shelter we were actually staying at. So on we went. Well we get about 2 miles away and we are on top of this bald in a cloud. Well this cloud decided that it was going to start raining and lighting. By the way if you ever get the chance to be in the cloud that makes lighting do it. Really cool to see it happen and also very scary at the same time. So sick, soaking wet, and freezing we make it to the shelter finally. I get to the shelter dry off and jump in the sleeping bag. Off to sleep I went for the night or so I thought. 9:45 boom vomit number 1. With in the next 7 hours I threw up 5 more times. It was great.... I couldn't hold anything down. So the next morning I got up hiked 6 miles which took me nearly 4 hours which is retarded long to Highway 19 were I then hitched into Erwin, TN. Went the the Urgent Care there got all doped up and feeling pretty good at the moment. OK PEOPLE WITH WEAK STOMACHS CAN START READING AGAIN. So we took a zero which would be today 3-17 Saturday and will be hiking an 18 tomorrow. Staying at Uncle Johnneys Hostel. Pretty cool place here.

So that's all for tonight. It's 18 minutes past hikers midnight and time for some shut eye.

Thanks to everyone for the support back home.

Stephanie Russum (my lovely girlfriend)

Eric and Tracey Waldron (dad and mom)

Emily Riggs, Brittney Ainsworth, and Bethany!!! (BFFL)

and the rest of the wonderful family out there. Oh yeah I-40 not I-10.