Finally a BLOG!! Written mostly by Gregg

We are currently hiking in the state of NY.

We are at mile 1380/2186 on the A.T.




(Back from the beginning of June)

After having freezing temperatures just days earlier, outside of The Shenandoah's the heat came and it came on strong. With 90+ temperatures our bodies had a hard time adjusting.

A couple of days into this heat Caroline was experiencing heat exhaustion and we ended up calling a local motel to rest and cool off. The owner was incredibly kind and drove up in the mountains to pick us up!
After a two nights, plenty of water and hours and hours of sleep we were back on the trail.








After being off trail for those days we started to see some familiar hiker faces when we got back on.
Part of the trail culture out here is having a nickname, a "trail name" as we call it. We caught up with a british guy "Smiles", a girl from Indiana "Shutterbug", two guys from Maryland, "Chainsaw and Raven"and quite a few others.




Sunset in the park.

Before we knew it we were finishing up the Shenandoah's and moving on to the next big task, The Roller Coaster! This is a 13 mile stretch of 10 mountains, literally up and over, and then back down.





The first day we lazily hiked just ten miles in the rain before stopping early at a shelter with "Smiles" and "Shutterbug" to play cards and eat. The next day we hiked 19 miles (again in the rain) to complete the roller coaster and end up at a great, historical hostel, Bears Den.


After getting dry and eating plenty of food I played some music as Caroline danced with the caretakers' children. We really enjoyed ourselves. We were also pleasantly surprised to find out that our good friend " Trail Trash" and his girlfriend "Solstice" had paid for our stay. Thank you again!

The following day we were off to Washington D.C. to visit Caroline's Uncle, Aunt and cousins. We were incredibly blessed by their hospitality and generosity. They fed our bottomless stomachs and drove us around to fix and replace some of our gear.

We attended a special retirement ceremony and went to her cousin's graduation. It was great to visit with her other Uncle and Aunt and Grandmother who came up from Florida for the festivities as well.




Graduation at the Daughters of American Revolution.



Cousin Joseph, Grandma & Uncle Tim

We of course explored DC a little bit and experienced our first real culture shock coming from the woods to the city. We spent a hour on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial just watching ALL the people.
























Caroline found her twin at one of the exhibits in The National Archives.



We also caught a Lionel Loueke show... It was awesome!

The day we were supposed to leave a big storm came through so we decided to wait an extra day. Wouldn't you know that evening I came down with a sickness that turned out to be Lyme's disease.

All the family medical professionals were working together through phone calls and picture texts. We were so grateful for all their advice and help. So our planned 4 day stay in D.C. ended up being a 12 day period of rest and antibiotics.




And I found my twin at the frozen yogurt joint.

Caroline's Uncle & Aunt were truly awesome to us and made us feel right at home.

We also spent a great evening with another one of Caroline's Uncle & Aunt who live in the D.C. area as well. The took us out to the Cheesecake Factory where we indulged!





We finally were able to get back on the trail thanks to Barbara -Caroline's Mother. She drove down from Chicago, picked us up and brought us back to the trail to finish out our final miles of Virginia.




At the A.T. Headquarters in Harper's Ferry, WV.









Barbara was rolling trail support for us for a solid week. She met up with us during the day and brought us lunch, snacks and dinner and she even took us to a banjo concert after a day of hiking - To Noah Reed: You would have loved it!








Thank you Mom for such a good time and all that you did for us. Especially taking us to the lake to go swimming.

Martin and Emily, a couple of our close friends, drove up to Harper's Ferry to visit with us the third week in June. We had such a fun time hanging out, hiking, camping and making fun memories with them! They are a major part of our support back in Burlington, NC and have helped us a lot.




They looked so official, like thru hikers.








We were sad when they had to head back south.

All of a sudden we were done with the shortest 8 miles of West Virginia and into Maryland where we explored many Civil War sites and other great historical monuments.









Maryland was another small state full of really nice shelters and nice, forgiving terrain. We then realized what was ahead of us, the Pennsylvania Rocks!




Bursting with excitement as we crossed the Mason Dixon Line.. On to the north!

This state is well known for its rugged, rocky terrain and we definitely saw it first hand.

The 2nd day of P.A. We stumbled upon a swimming pool with a hiker swim rate and we ended up spending about 3 hours there relaxing in the cold water and enjoying the perks of the concession stand.





More to come!

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