Great Eastern Trail - Appalachian Trail Hike

Welcome to the official website for the GET-AT Hike!

We’re so excited we had the chance to hike 2,174 miles to spread the word about the Great Eastern Trail, one blaze at a time.  It took us from March 15 - September 4, 2008 -173 days - to hike the entire Appalachian Trail!  You can read more about the trails, view maps and photos, read about the hikers & our blogs about our journey on this site.

Scroll down or use the archives to the left to view the blog entries from our hike.  Read more about the GET-AT Hike in the “About” section, and about Andy, Corley, & Susan in the “Hikers” section.  There are a bunch of photo slideshows organized by state in the “Photos” section of the webpage, or you can link to our google photos site to browse them all.  Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments - we love to talk about the hike and wish we were still out on the trail!

An update on progress in getting the Great Eastern Trail defined and built!

 Read short update here

Our hat’s off to everyone working hard to make this trail a reality!

best,

susan

Our friends from the Great Eastern Trail wrote an article about our hike!

Click to read the article

It’s got a photo from day one and day 173 (the last) right next to each other.  We look so different!!

enjoy!

susan

Hello all!

Last night NBC had an interview with the two men that were shot on the Appalachian Trail this past summer by Randall Lee Smith.  This happened near Pearisburg, Virginia.  We happened to be camping less than 10 miles from where this incident happened - many of our trail friends woke up that night hearing the sounds of the sirens and the life-flight helicopter.  We hiked down to the road the next morning to find the trail blocked by yellow caution tape and a big DOT sign saying “Trail closed to Pearisburg”.   Needless to say, this event caused a huge stir among trail lovers & hikers and scared the daylights out of me.

If you want to read more about what happened go to the article on NBC’s website here 

There is also a book about the 1981 murders on the AT that happened almost in the same spot, by the same man called “Murder on the Appalachian Trail” by Jesse Carr.  You can get it on Amazon here.

Happy Trails!

susan

Well, I think we’ve done a pretty good job of re-entering reality. We’re currently sitting on a couch, eating and watching a NASCAR race. Same old, same old!

We got to drive to Acadia National Park in Maine and see some beautiful coastline. We ran into our hiking friends Red Dog & Lucky Dog by chance in Bar Harbor and had dinner and drinks with them. Then we drove back to Rangely, Maine to pick up Andy’s broken backpack and came back to the Phairs for one last night of home-cooked dinner & good company. We set off the next day to get a rental car to drive to Portland and then back to South Carolina. After much ado, we got a Hyundai Tuscon that is very much like my Honda CR-V and packed up and got on the road. We stopped off in Freeport, home of the famous L.L. Bean store, and did a little shopping before heading to Portland. We walked around a bit in downtown Portland, checked out the port area, then ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant (we couldn’t resist!). After dinner we heading down the interstate toward home. We drove a couple of hours then booked a hotel in Mass. somewhere for the night. The next day we drove all the way to Columbia, SC, getting home around 1:45am.

Since then we’ve been seeing all of Andy’s friends and trying to organize the boxes of random stuff we sent home over six months on the trail. We also did our spring cleaning in September. None of our clothes fit either so we’ve had to go get some new outfits (darn). Other than that, we’re preparing to go to Gauley Fest, a white-water festival in West Virginia, this week and Andy’s brother’s wedding next week in Ohio. Then after that we’ll look for jobs, promise.

Thanks again a million times over to the Phair family for all their kindness and generosity - we’re so sorry you couldn’t keep Corley! Thanks to the Bellaire Moms for the HUGE card (awesome), HAT & Dan, beall+thomas, Sammi, Jeffrey & mom for the cards of congrats! Thanks to Mindy for the box of clothes to make us look like real humans again!

Thanks to everyone we met along the way who gave us support, and to all our contributors to the Great Eastern Trail! We’ll try to keep ya’ll updated on it’s progress.

That’s all for now!

Best,

susan, andy & corley

 We finally made it to the last mile of our journey!

We were so excited and nervous about the last day - a 4,000 foot climb in 5.2 miles, half of which is exposed above treeline.  Southbound hikers had been shaking their heads when they told us about Katahdin: “It’s a butt-kicker for sure”.  So we couldn’t sleep too well for the three nights leading up to our last day; we were like kids right before Christmas! 

We stayed at the thru-hiker campground in Baxter State Park the last night with some old buddies and some new: Aboman, Half-Ounce, SeatoLand and Snakebait.  We carried in S’mores and snacks from the Abol Bridge Campstore we passed ten miles before just as we left the 100-mile Wilderness (which was awesome!) and had a feast.  We all sat around the fire reminiscing about our journies, the good, the bad and our disbelief that it was finally coming to an end.

In the morning we were all up by 5:30.  We were only carrying food, water, extra clothing and cameras to the top so we packed our other gear in trash bags and left it at the ranger station.  The sky was partly cloudy when we started out, looking like there were some winds up on the mountain tops.  There’s a mandatory sign in/sign out when you summit Katahdin; we signed out to leave at 7:17am. 

The first mile was mostly flat, which surprised me and made me nervous at the same time because if we didn’t gain any elevation in the first mile then we still had the whole 4,000 feet to climb in the remaining four miles - it means a much steeper climb.  After we crossed Katahdin Stream, one of the clearest and and coldest streams I’ve seen, we started the climb.  It was just like any other mountain in Maine for the next two miles - some rocks, some roots and fairly steep.  Then we reached treeline at the Hunt Spur after climbing around and over some boulders.  The weather had become less than beautiful; the mountain above the Hunt Spur was covered by a cloud and the wind was blowing harder and making me nervous.  No turning back though and we began climbing from the Spur to the Gateway.

This was probably our toughest part of the climb - something like 1200 feet in .6 miles.  It was like walking a narrow ridge straight uphill on big rocks with a pushy breeze coming across our left side.  Yikes.  Looking back, I’m glad I couldn’t see the top of the climb because it probably would have scared me.  The Gateway was the top of the steep climbing where we reached the Tableland, the flatter ridge of Katahdin.  It was still foggy, windy and rocky, but less precarious.  It was still a mile to Baxter Peak, the highest peak in Maine.

Because of the fog we couldn’t see the peak until we were about 50 yards from it.  We were so excited to be done, although it really felt like we had climbed just another mountain on the trail.  We were taking photos with the sign and celebrating when suddenly the clouds parted and then dispersed, giving us a beautiful view of the mountain.  Blue skies!  Then we took tons more photos, ate, toasted our finish with some Nassau Royale and just took in the view.

After about two hours we started back down - the first time we’d hiked the same section of trail twice.  When we reached the Gateway again the clouds rolled back over the mountain and covered it again.  We were so lucky to have had a view!  It took us two hours to get back down where we hung out with our thru-hiker buddies, drinking some wine and talking about how we never have to hike again if we don’t want too! Yay!

We got a ride into Millonocket where our buddy Beatbox picked us up and took us to Bangor.  We went out to dinner, then got dropped off at the Phair’s home in Levant where we were reunited with Corley!  He was so excited to see us, and we were estatic to see him.  He looked healthy, happy and pudgy!

Now we’re travelling around Maine a bit and hanging out with the ever so generous and fun Phair family.  We’ll head back to the South this weekend and back into the real world.

Check out the photos!

best,

susan, andy & corley

We’re in our last trail town!!

 Let me just say that we had such a great time at the post office in this town… I think we cleaned out an entire shelf when we got our mail!  There’s a photo in the Maine section of our photos that shows the towering stack of packages and letters we got.  Thanks so much to everyone; we feel very loved!

We had a nice, easy day out of Northern Outdoors, up Pleasant Pond Mountain and back down.  We were staying at a shelter about 22 miles out of Monson and decided we’d rather do a long day into town and then take a day off than two short days into town.  So we got up early and hiked our tails off for 9 hours to get to the road to Monson at 3:30 (the P.O. closes at 4).  We were nervous about getting a hitch, but after about 10 minutes a nice Maniac (Maine-iac)(ha) picked us up and took us right to the P.O. with seven minutes to spare.  Yay!  So we had a feast with all the food we got - dried fruit, cookies, chocolate, sour patch, snickers and some Nassau Royale to top it off!

We’re staying at the Lake Shore Hotel, which has both a laundromat and restaurant/bar in the same building.  Perfect for hikers!  Rebecca is the owner and she is a wonderful, hospitable lady, plus a lot of fun.  Tonight is all-you-can-eat Taco night and we’re planning on doing some damage.  Speaking of, it starts at four and I’m ready so off I go!

Thanks to Tammy, Claire, Whitney, Crystal and Bahama for the packages, and Courtney, Vanessa, Cory and Tonie for the letters!!  Y’all are some great friends for sure.

See y’all on the other side of the wilderness!

susan, andy (and corley)

ps. Corley decided he likes doing nothing with the Phair’s more than hiking so we’ll pick him up in just over a week to drive around Maine with us.  They don’t want to give him up so it might be a fight to get him back!  Thanks so much for watching him Mark & Julie!

pps. Our buddy Sampson had to undergo surgery for an abcess on his back in New Hampshire (yikes!) so we wish him a speedy recovery to get his skinny butt back on the trail to Katadhin!  Bondi, Rocksteady, Butters, Superchunk…. we miss you guys!

Hello from a rafting outpost in nowhere, Maine!

We’ve gotten through the toughest part of Maine, we think…  It’s been big climbs and big decents for a week and a half, but the past two days have been low and easy.  We saw some incredible views of the Maine mountains and valleys, hopefully I’ll be able to upload some in the next few days.

We crossed the Kennebec River today!  The official AT route is a ferry ride in a canoe, so that’s what we did.  It was raining this morning so we were slow to get out of the tent and get going.  It was a race to get to the river before the ferry closed for lunch at 11, but we made it (10:45!).  Our ferry-man was Dave, aka Hillybilly, a river man through and through.  The last ferry-man did the job for over twenty years.  This is the last operating man-powered ferry in the whole United States.  Andy and I donned our PFDs like pros… almost… Andy had a little trouble with his (and after all those years rafting!  it’s that silly pillow they have on the back for your head– does it even do anything really?!).   Anyway, we hopped in the canoe with Dave in the back, me in the middle, and Andy in front paddling. It took about three minutes to get across the 70 yard wide river.  I’m glad we made it to the ferry though because we probably would have tried to ford the river without knowing that the river was rising… yikes!

We had a food drop in Caratunk, ME and found out that there was a rafting outpost with a restaurant, brewery and camping just down the road… we couldn’t resist.  We figure with only 150 miles, less than two weeks left, we can take a short day and have a brew or two.  So we rented a little cabin tent for the night and have been hanging around the outpost just like old times.

We expect to be in Monson in two and a half days then heading into the Hundred Mile Wilderness, after which is Katadhin.  So close!!

All the best to y’all,

susan, andy (and corley)

ps. we’re hoping corley will get to come through the hundred mile wilderness with us!

Brrrr!

We never thought it could be this cold anywhere in August!  We came into Rangeley, ME yesterday around lunchtime to re-supply with food.  This is the last “big” town we’ll come to on our journey so we bought extra food and sent it forward to Caratunk, ME, 100 miles down the trail, a town with only a post office!  The towns in Maine are actually perfectly spaced out every 3 days or so which means our packs get to be fairly light as we trek over these tough mountains.

We stayed at a motel in town and were excited to take a hot shower, except we couldn’t get the hot water to work! Argh.  Turns out the hotel owner had to turn on the propane to heat the hotel as it was to be in the low 40s last night, and when he tinkered with the propane it somehow turned off the hot water to our room.  An hour later we were washing off all the mud and dirt in a steaming hot shower and it was fabulous.

We’re leaving this afternoon again, never a day off when you get this close to Katadhin!  Less than 220 miles to go now, yippee!

Thanks so much to Erin out in Montana for the package!  No-Bake Cheesecake, what?!

Best,

susan, andy (& corley)

We’ve made it to our last state, less than 300 miles to go! 

The sun came out too, and has stayed out for the few days we’ve been here.  The terrain is rugged, very rocky and steep, and we are more “in the woods” than we’ve been so far.  We are hiking in the Mahoosuc range and got to go through one of the more famous sections of trail yesterday: the Mahoosuc Notch.  It’s a mile long section of car-sized boulders at the junction of two steep mountains that hikers have to pick and choose thier way through.  It took us over an hour to go that mile section, and we got bumped and bruised, but it was exciting!

We ran into our old buddy Slowstepper who lives around this part of Maine.  He finished his section hike of the AT this year by hiking Springer to Harpers Ferry.  We were there the day he finished!  He and his wife have been tracking down all his hiking buddies and bringing them trail magic.  He showed up at the road we hiked to today with some fresh watermelon and candy bars.  It was great to see him and to meet his wife.  Have fun hiking the Mahoosucs!

The latest update with Corley is that he’s getting tons of loving attention from Mark & Julie, he went car camping with them last week and slept a good bit.  Perhaps we’ll be getting him back near Monson, ME.  We still miss him a lot!

We’re in Andover, ME staying at the home of the very generous and fun Scott, aka Gunny Goose, grilling hot dogs and hanging out with some other hikers.  We’ll get back on the trail tomorrow morning and slug and slosh our way up some more tough Maine mountains!

Hope all’s going well with back to school for you kids and the beginning of the end of summer for the rest of y’all!

Best,

susan, andy (and corley)

Hello from the other side of the White Mountains.   We’re glad to be done with them!

It’s been incredibly rainy, I think it’s rained 12 of the last 13 days we’ve been on the trail.  They have record rainfall in New Hampshire and have even seen some mudslides and tornadoes.  We’ve also had some beautiful views though, between rainstorms.

Our first big mountain was Mt. Moosilauke at 4,800 feet, which means that it is above treeline.  Treeline at this latitude is at around 4,500 feet, which means that the environment of mountains above that elevation is alpine, consisting of rocks, shrubs, lichens and little else.  It’s dangerous to be above treeline in thunderstorms because you’re the tallest thing out there, and you’re carrying two aluminum hiking poles.  A walking lightening rod.  It’s often foggy at those elevations in the Whites because the weather changes so quickly, so the trail is marked with rock piles, or cairns, often spaced close enough so that you can see the next in the fog.  Moosilauke was our first experience above treeline and it was rainy, cold and foggy.  We stayed at a shelter at 3,600 feet and caught a fleeting glimpse of the White Mountains at 5am the next morning before the fog rolled in.

The Appalachian Hiking Club runs “huts” and campgrounds throughout the Whites and thru-hikers are allowed to work for stay at these huts.  They’re like very basic hostels in the mountains, often above treeline, that have “croos” of college kids cooking meals and entertaining guests.  We stayed at the first hut, called Lonesome Lake, after a long 15 mile day.  We had to clean the oven and freezer, but got to eat all the lasagna and soup we wanted.  The “croo” that worked there also got us to dress up in costume and have a 20 minute dance party for the guests after breakfast the next morning.  Andy really enjoyed wearing a tutu and I enjoyed my mumu.

We stayed at two other huts, Galehead and Madison, at which we took part in giving a talk about what it means to be a thru-hikers and answered questions from guests for an hour, such as, what do you eat?, and how did you train?.  To which we said hot dogs and ice cream. 

The terrain has not been so kind to Corley, with the rocks and the rain, and we ended up having to send him forward to Maine.  Our buddy Rocksteady’s brothers were visiting him in Lincoln and agreed to take him to their parents home in Maine.  We were so very sad to say goodbye to him and miss his companionship every day out here.  We hope to get him back in the next couple of weeks, but know that until then he is enjoying himself taking long naps and hanging out with the very cool Mark & Julie Phair (thank y’all so much). 

We finished the whites this morning with our eight mile hike into Gorham, NH.  We ran into Karl Meltzer today who is trying to break the record for an AT thru-hike:  47 days.  (www.whereskarl.com) Good luck to him, it’s taken us 151 days to get this far!

We wanted to say thanks so much to Karen, LC, Dave & Diane, Jessica and Courtney for the mail and goodies!  Thanks to Rock Dancer, Stitches and Gold Thumb for the trail magic!  Thanks to Richard and the Crawford Notch Campground for taking such good care of us!

Hope all’s going well with everyone out there and we’ll see y’all in a month!

Best,

susan, andy (and corley)

New Hampshire!

Level 13 of 14 on our trip–we’re getting so close!  Yet, still so far with two of the hardest, but most beautiful states to go.  We enjoyed our time in  Vermont; it was indeed a very Green State. 

From Bennington we hiked up Glastenbury Mountain, which, according to some locals, is a bit haunted as there was once a town atop the mountain.  There was no view from the ground, but we hiked up the fire town to find ourselves above the evergreen treetops with a dramatic view of some big mountains.  We stayed in a small shetler with our friends Lotus, Thinker, Jon & Jess, and were visited in the night by a porcupine gnawing on the shelter.  So strange!  The next day it rained on us some more as we went up and over Stratton Mountain at 3,936 feet.  It was chilly on top and in the clouds.  Stratton Mountain is the probably spot where the idea for the AT came to life and we wished we could have seen the view Benton McKaye had seen!  We met some southbound hikers (or SOBOs) that told us about this shelter ahead that was like a cabin with windows and a sliding door so we ended up doing about 23 miles to make it to that shelter.  It started pouring rain just as we got there and we were glad to have a roof over our head and a door to shut to keep ourselves warm as it poured all night.

We awoke the next morning to a creek running down the trail and we sloshed our way 2.8 miles in the pouring rain to hitch a ride into Manchester Center, VT with our friends Jon & Jess.  We decided we should take the day off to dry out and clean up so we split a room in a hotel with our friends.  Manchester Center was a nice little town with an outfitter, laundry, groceries, a bookstore and even a theater.  All in all, a nice day off.

It cleared up and we hiked the next day to a campsite where we met back up with our buddies Rocksteady & Butters. We camped out at a shelter that came with a $5 per person (!) charge.  The Green Mountain Club is sometimes called the Green Money Club because they have several charge sites for camping and AT hikers don’t like having to pay to camp!  The next day we ended up hiking about 23 miles to get into Rutland, VT where we could resupply food.  We stayed at the Back Home Again Hostel run by the Twelve Tribes and it was awesome!  A bed with sheets, dinner and breakfast, showers, laundry and some energy bars to go.  We did a work for stay: Andy did dishes and I swept and mopped.  Much thanks to those guys! 

We hiked up and over Killington Mountain the next day, yet again in clouds, and were the only ones in the shelter so we set our tent up inside and slept well.  We hiking into Killington, VT the next day where Andy picked up some new shoes (finally!) and I picked up my film camera that my parents sent me for the rest of the journey.  Met back up with our friends who had gotten ahead and had a nice lunch at a deli in town.  Took us two more days to hike into Hanover, NH, and they were nice, sunny days.  Vermont got bumpier as we got farther north and now we are only a few days from being in the White Mountains that we’ve been hearing about since we started.  The trails were built before the switchback was invented so we just go straight up and straight back down rocky mountains, many of which are above treeline.  Our tired bodies are in for a beating!

We could take this day off in Hanover thanks to Ralph and Karen who run Tigger’s Tree House, a place for hikers to stay.  We are set up in a pop-up camper, which is perfect and cozy, especially when it started raining this morning and we didn’t have to get up and hike!  So thanks so much to Ralph and Karen for your cozy haven!

That’s about all for Vermont, check out the photos on the photos page!  Wish us luck for rocky NH and rugged Maine!

Best,

susan, andy & corley

Well, we made it to Vermont and as soon as we hit the border the trail turned to mud and the sky poured rain.

Not really, but close!  We’ve been lucky with rain on our trip so far, probably only five real rainy days, so all this rain is throwing us for a loop.  We made it to camp last night before the rain hit, and when it did we dove in the tent never to emerge again.  We figured there weren’t too many bears in Vermont anyway, so we slept with our food bags.  But the nice woman who gave us a ride into Bennington, VT this morning told us she had a bear in her back yard yesterday… so I believe we won’t be so lazy again!

The rain, we decided, is better than the mosquitoes of Connecticut and Mass.  Some nights we couldn’t do anything but sit in the tent and read, watching the mosquitoes buzz around.  Andy deemed those two states “Mosquito Boot Camp”, where they teach young mosquitoes how to bug the heck out of people.

We’ve been hiking with some old friends, Stomp and Shuffles, from Kentucky, Lotus, from Virginia, and Thinker, from Indiana.  All these guys started in Georgia the same weekend as us, and we’re excited to have been re-united with them!  I’d put up some photos, but the library doesn’t allow me to plug in my camera so you’ll just have to wait until the next town.

We hope to be through Vermont and into New Hampshire in less than two weeks.  Less than 600 miles to go!!  The terrain of NH and Maine are supposed to be rugged, but beautiful and we can’t wait.  We’ve started to run into South-bound hikers too, who started in Maine and will end in Georgia.  Some have shown their photos to us North-bounders who are getting sick of hiking to inspire us to keep going.  After 1,600 miles and 130 days, we’re getting ready to stop walking so much!

We wanted to say thanks to Jennifer, Vanessa and Mindy for the awesome packages!  You helped my pack to weigh over 35 pounds (UGH!)(but YUM).  Here’s a shout out to Bahama Dave - we’re missing you buddy, and your warm little friend, Nassau Royale :)  Thanks to my sister too, for sending me my ipod, and to Emilie, for getting Andy’s stuff together and sent to Hanover.  Thanks for the letters Claire!  We’re feeling the love!

We’ve updated our mail drops to the end of our trip, with approximate dates of arrival.  Feel free to send us letters anytime, we like mail!

Much love,

susan, andy & corley

www.greateasterntrail.org

www.lekiusa.com

www.mionfootwear.com

Today we”re going to cross the border into Vermont! Getting ready for some bigger mountains and hopefully cooler weather. We took a day off in Dalton, MA. Thanks so much to Tom Lombardi for letting us crash at your house and giving us stinky hikers a shower!
We”re getting excited about being so close to Maine!
Hope all”s well with y”all!

Best,
susan, andy and corley

hello all!

It’s been tougher than we thought to get access to internet as we get farther north– if only the deli’s we get to at every road crossing offered free internet!  sorry for the lack of updates.

We’ve made it to our 10th state with under 800 miles to go to Katadhin.  We are getting excited!  New Jersey and New York were great, although they were tough after the flat ridges we walked through Maryland and Pennsylvania.  We continue to get up at 5:30 to beat the heat.  Well, Andy gets up at 5:30 and I roll out of the tent around 6…  but I’m trying!  We hear that there is a hurricane headed our way and are apprehensive about what that may mean for the state of the trail and our gear!  It’s already so hot and humid that our clothes never dry out.  But that’s life in the woods, I guess.

We spent the fourth of July hiking, but treated ourselves to a hotel room for the fifth of July so Andy could catch the Nascar race on TV, and I could do, well, NOTHING!  But the hotel didn’t have TNT (?) so he ended up watching the race at a TGIF’s across the street.  The next day we had a great time though, so it made up for it.  We hiked 1.7 miles to Island Pond where we decided to camp in the most beautiful spot next to the lake.  We went swimming and relaxed, as one can only do in the woods.

I wish I could write more, but the library is closing so I must end now.  Rest assured, we are still having a great time and making progress toward Maine!

best,

susan, andy & corley

ps. check out photos!

We have finally made it out of the rocky state of Pennsylvania and into New Jersey!  Pennsylvania is known as the place where boots go to die.  Well, mine died.  Susan just bought a new pair two weeks and and is showing some serious war wounds.  Thankfully the rocks end right at the boarder of PA and NJ so our feet and boots will not take such a beating.  We are on our way out the door to travel through the bear infested woods of New Jersey.  Stay tuned for more stories and pictures that are soon to come!

susan, andy, and corley

Well we took five steps and jumped through Maryland straight to Pennsylvania!

We got to walk through lots of interesting Civil War ruins through West Virginia and Maryland.   The terrain has been nice and “easy”, but it’s been so hot!  Pennsylvania has been lovely so far and it’s cooled off a bit so we’re enjoying getting to sleep in until 6 or so…

Our good buddy Erik has picked us up off the trail for some laundry, showers and lounging.  We’re going to hike two more days to Duncannon, PA and then he’s going to pick us up again to go kayaking on the Yak!

More stories then!

susan

Half-way!

Well, psychologically.  We’ve made it to Harper’s Ferry, WV, a historic little town wedged between the Potomac & Shenandoah Rivers, with Maryland on one side and Virginia on the other.  We’re at mile 1,011 or so and 85 days into our journey.

We had a great time going through Shenandoah National Park - we saw so much wildlife!  Two black bears, a big rattlesnake and more deer than we could count.  The trail also crossed Skyline Drive, the by-way through the park, several times a day so we had access to the few “wayside” diners along the way.  We would go a few more miles everyday just to get to a diner with burgers and blackberry milkshakes.  I think this is the first section we’ve gained weight on!

We got to stay at the lovely home of Sharon & Tom Johnson in Front Royal, VA.  Tom is the president of the Great Eastern Trail, so we had a great time talking new trail with him and updating him on our progress in spreading the word about the GET  (www.greateasterntrail.org).  Plus Sharon cooked us up a feast morning, noon & night, took us to the grocery store and let us shower and do laundry.  It was perfect.

My good friend from college, Courtney, came up to visit us in Front Royal also, and we had a great time wandering around town, eating and lounging (she’s good at that :).  It was fantastic to have her around because she drove us around in air-conditioning while the temperatures reached the mid-90s.  It was great to see a girl friend and catch up on real world happenings.

We got caught in a huge storm last Wednesday; turns out we were about three miles from where a tornado touched down!  It was our biggest storm to hike in yet.  The wind was blowing insanly hard, upturning all the leaves on the trees so we could see their white underside - the forest literally turned white in front of our eyes!  Then it poured buckets and buckets on us, but at least it was warm outside so we didn’t get cold.  We found a low spot, laid our metal hiking poles down and stood apart from each other so that if one of us got struck by lightening it wouldn’t jump between us.  Crazy.  It seemed to clear as quickly as it came though and soon we were hiking again.  The wind caused many trees to fall over the trail and we were breaking branches and blazing trails around blowdowns.  The worst were the trees covered in posion ivy - it was unavoidable! 

Since then, it has gotten steadily HOT, and yesterday we got up at 4:30am to try to beat the heat.  The heat has really slowed us down and we’re hoping the storm coming tonight will bring cooler air.  Tomorrow we head out and immediately cross into Maryland.  We spend only 40 miles in that state and then will be in Pennsylvania.  Now it feels like we’re actually getting somewhere after 44 days in Virginia!

Thanks so much to Blue Moon for taking some of the hikers to catch the 7am train into DC to check out the monuments and for putting us up in your apartment!

 I hope all is going well with all y’all and that the heat & gas prices aren’t getting you down!  It seems like a great time for us to be hiking instead of driving!

much love,

susan, andy & corley

ps. corley is doing great still, he’s enjoying laying down in streams and biting bugs.

pps.  check out new photos on the photos page!

So there we were, Andy & I, doing our laundry at the laundromat when, who walks in?  Our buddy Sharkey from the Twinkle Toes Yellow Shoelaces club who had gotten off the trail to travel in Egypt with his girlfriend Tammie.  Surprise!  They had just returned from their travels on Sunday and were ready to treat us to a stay at their home near Waynesboro.  Sharkey also had Bogey & Slim and Danger Danjo signed up for a night at the Sharkey Ranch.  It didn’t take too much convincing to get us to jump on the band wagon and stay another night in town with such good company!

Sharkey drove us around to the places we wanted to go - Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and the local outfitters store (typical hiker stuff, eh?) - and then took us to his lovely home in Rockfish Valley, about a mile from the ridge the AT traverses.  He has chickens, a rabbit, two cats, a dog, and a big Python snake called Pooh!  He took Pooh out for a ‘walk’ and a wash, and then we watched him feed him a live chicken.  It was fascinating.  We spent the afternoon catching up and hanging out, even trying Sharkey’s new hookah he brought back from Egypt.  At dusk we saw about 12 deer come down from the woods into the fields behind his house, and later heard some foxes barking.

We slept well and awoke this morning to a feast of whole-wheat walnut waffles, orange juice, coffee, watermelon, and fresh eggs from his chickens.  It was a feast!  And we ate it all.  Well fed, Andy & I are lounging around waiting for Andy’s replacement Mountain Hardwear backpack to arrive and then we will head back out on the trail!  

So many thanks to Sharkey & Tammie - you treated us like kings! 

Hello all!

It’s been awhile since our last update! We’ve been going through some remote areas of the state, putting mile after big mile behind us on our way to Maine. We’ve now made it a bit over 800 miles and are taking a rainy day off in Waynesboro, VA, just south of Shenandoah National Park.

Pearisburg, VA to Catawba, VA

We took awhile to drag ourselves out of town and felt the need to stop and eat a big meal at Hardee’s before we left. So we all felt sick as dogs as we climbed up to the ridge out of Pearisburg. But we were rewarded with a beautiful shelter site at the top called Rice Field. Virginia, we have found, is most definitely not flat. A typical day involves hiking up 1500 feet to a ridge in a mile or so, then hiking along that ridge for 10 miles of short ups and downs, then hiking 1500 feet back down the ridge to a creek or river, then doing the whole thing over again. So that’s what we did, day in and out, for about a week and a half or so. We hiked through some more farmland, got soaked in the biggest downpour yet (with hail), met some donkeys, forded a creek, crossed the Eastern Continental Divide, climbed up on the Dragon’s Tooth (a big rock jutting out of the top of a mountain), and taught Corley how to scale big ladders.

Catawba, VA to Daleville, VA

Andy’s good buddy Sean and his girlfriend Caroline came up to meet us in Catawba, VA to hike with us for a few days. I think the few days they were with us were our “vacation” from real trail life. Sean made us breakfast burritos, coffee with Kahlua and cream and carried some wine and bourbon on the trail for us to have with dinner. We got to see some great AT views with them, including McAfee’s Knob and the Tinker Cliffs. Now it’s notorious for it to rain anytime we have friends come hike with us, but luckily we made it to a shelter before the rain came. And we were the only ones in the shelter so we spread out, made dinner and listened to some music and news on Superchunk’s radio. During dinner, eight deer snuck up behind the shelter and surprised us - all I saw was a bunch of white tails bounding up the hill, but Andy says that they were big ones! We made it into Daleville the next day where we had Caroline’s vehicle waiting to take us to Trail Days. After a wonderful dinner at the local Mexican restaurant, thanks to the very generous Charlene, we piled in the truck and headed back south toward Damascus.

Trail Days

Trail Days is an annual gathering of hikers to celebrate the Appalachian Trail - and it is BIG! We arrived late on Friday night to snag the last parking spot near “Tent City”, where all the hikers pitch their portable nylon homes. It was like a big reunion, we saw lots of our friends that had gotten ahead of us or behind us on the trail, like Gucci & Bearfoott, Bahama Dave, Grasshopper, and Mango & Cannuk. There was a big bonfire and live music with dancing. The weather was great all weekend, which was a blessing, and roamed around town looking at all the outdoor gear and food vendors all day Saturday. We got to see our buddy Chris Hall with LEKI trekking poles, who had generously donated our poles to us for our journey. LEKI set up shop and did maintance on any set of trekking poles the hikers needed - it was great! We picked up our packages and letters so thanks a million to HAT, Dan & Kreis, Deputy Dan, Mindy, and Pam for the mail and goodies!!! Andy and I spent lots of time re-outfitting ourselves with summer gear and we are happy as pigs in poop with our lighter backpacks. We also hiked in the “Hiker Parade” through town where tradition has it the townsfolk and bystanders soak thru-hikers with water balloons, water guns, and other creative means of getting large amounts of water onto the hikers! Sunday morning we packed up and headed back up the interstate to get back on the trail. We said a sad goodbye to Sean, Caroline & his dog Dolly in Daleville and spent the night in a hotel room due to pending rain.

Daleville, VA to Waynesboro, VA

We headed back out on the trail Monday after Trail Days around one, and it felt good to get back into the simple lives we lead in the woods. The weather was beautiful again and found a nice camping spot beside Curry Creek to stay for the night. The next morning we headed out early and about a half-mile before Wilson Creek Shelter Andy rounded a switchback to see a big black bear! Luckily it had heard him first and was headed away from him as fast as it could. Spring has sprung and we are now hiking through beautiful tunnels of green, keeping cool under a canopy of leaves. The rhododendron and mountain laurel are blooming, along with many different wildflowers. This section of Virginia has been beautiful, with long slow climbs and vast views. We climbed the easy way up The Priest mountain, then went the hard way down to the Tye River only to go the hard way up the Three Ridges mountain and the easy way down into Rockfish Gap/Waynesboro. This memorial day weekend was beautiful so the trail was packed with people hiking, and people dishing out “trail magic”. We got five different trail magics in one day, including bacon cheeseburgers and sodas in Hog Pen Gap!! We met “The Runner”, a trail runner who has run the AT and the PCT and is off to run the CDT in 70 days this summer (read more at www.eco-xsports.com). We’re also getting into tick season and Battle Tick has already begun - I’ve had 4 so far, Andy has had 2, and we lost count for Corley. The AT has been crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway on and off for the past hundred miles, which has given us much more of a sense of civilization (yay for trash cans at overlooks!).

Now we’re looking forward to the Shenandoah National Park and getting out of Virginia into Maryland in the next two weeks! Special thanks go out to Mr & Mrs Caveman, Head/Shoulders/Knees/Gypsy Toes, and David Horton for the trail magic, ATC ridge runner Mike for the ride to town, and Heather Anne/Dan/Kreis, Deputy Dan & Mindy for the packages!!

much love to all!

susan, andy & corley

Hello from Pearisburg, VA!

We’ve fast-forwarded a day and a half to this small town near the West Virginia border because of some interesting events that transpired in the past day.  We got up early today to hike the 7 miles to a small grocery store 1/2 mile from the trail to get breakfast and enough food to get us to Pearisburg then next night.  When we got to the road there was yellow police tape across the trail and a giant road sign that said “Trail closed to Pearisburg”.  Confused, we hiked the 1/2 mile to the grocery store and found out that there had been two non-fatal shootings the night before about 3 miles up the trail from that road.  Apparantly a man who killed two thru-hikers in 1981 and served 20 years returned to nearly the exact spot near the trail (not actually on the AT) and shot two fishermen then stole their car, but was apprehended after a police chase and is now in custody.  The fishermen hiked 3 miles out of the woods to a house where they were soon air-lifted to a hospital in Roanoke.  The law enforcement officers were not sure when the trail would re-open - it could be tomorrow, it could be a month - so we got a ride with a local man who owned a school bus into Pearisburg to stay the night.  Tomorrow we’ll hike north out of town and return to do the 27 mile section later on.

Other than that, we’ve been having a great time since Damascus!  We hiked in the Mount Rogers Wilderness, through a snow-covered mountain trail, and the rocky Grayson Highlands.  We’ve been hiking with our buddy Nate, aka Superchunk, for a week or so since his other two buddies got ahead of him.  We stayed at Partnership shelter, which is so close to a highway to town that we ordered pizza and cokes delivered right to the shelter!  We crossed I-81, ate a super hiker breakfast at restaurant called “The Barn” - 2 eggs, 2 slices of bacon, 2 sausage patties, two slices of toast, two pancakes, sweet tea/coffee, and the boys added biscuits and gravy.  WHEW!  Let me tell you, we were s l o w up that hill.  I think we actually only made it about 5 miles past the highway before we set up our tents for the night! 

We had heard the Virginia was flat and easy, but so far it has proven to still be pretty hilly!  We’ve been walking through a good bit of farm land, which involves climbing over a bunch of ladders over fences and stepping around cow poop.  We climbed over one ladder right into a bunch of cows - Corley wasn’t sure what to do!  The other wildlife we have seen that was cool was in the Grayson Highlands - they have wild ponies!  They’re not afraid of humans, on the contrary, they walked up to us and wanted food.  One tried to eat my camera bag that was attached to my hip belt and left me with some partially chewed grass when he found out it wasn’t edible!

Next week Andy’s buddies Sean & Caroline are coming up to hike with us and bring us back to Damascus for Trail Days, a celebration of the AT that includes a parade, food & all the gear manufacturers set up with their tents to help you with your broken gear.  After that it’ll be back to hiking through some of the more remote parts of Virginia and hopefully soon enough into the Shenandoah National Park where we hear there are hot dog stands fairly often near the trail.  Yum!

Feel free to send us goodies in the mail, letters are always good too!  We’ll update our mail drops as soon as we figure out the next “big” town we’ll come to in VA.  Until then, have fun in the real world and hope to hear from y’all soon!

much love,

susan, andy & corley

ps. I’ve uploaded a bunch of photos from Virginia.  Enjoy!

Hello Virginia!!

We’ve made it to Damascus, VA and into our fourth state, about 450 miles into our journey.  They say Damascus is the psychological 1/4-of-the-way-done of the trail and we’re excited to have gotten this far and still be in such great shape. 

So our pal Sharkey who hiked the trail in ‘92 started a little ‘club’ called the Twinkle Toes Yellow Shoelace Club and the story goes like this:  In 1992 about 33 miles from Damascus Sharkey and two thru-hiker buddies were in desperate need of a beer.  Damascus was the first town on the trail that wasn’t in a dry county so they decided to hike 33 miles from Vandeveenter Shelter to town to get a drink.  Now Sharkey & one of his buddies had broken shoelaces so when they made it to town they went to the outdoor store in town to buy new ones.  The store didn’t have any shoelaces but they did have some yellow rope he could use to lace up his boots.  So he bought three pairs right then and the Twinkle Toes Yellow Shoelaces Club was born. 

Now, Sharkey has been spreading the word that he was going to do the same hike again this year and that anyone that wished to partake would get 1. new yellow shoelaces 2. all you can eat dinner 3. all you can drink beers, all on Sharkey’s tab.  So Andy, Corley & I have been doing big days to make it to this Vanderveenter Shelter by Thursday night.  Lo & behold, when we get to the shelter Sharkey is the only one there — no one has taken him up on his offer!  So we decided that we’d go ahead and just try it with him.  More and more folks came to the shelter as the day came to a close and Sharkey convinced them to do the hike with him.  In the end it was Sharkey, Pipper, Hopper, Danger Danjo, Pusher, Pyro, Grasshopper, Hot Wheels, Corley & me that got up at 3:30 am to start the long hike. 

We were hiking by 4am, and hiked in the pitch black dark with headlamps for about two hours before the sun came up.  By 7am we had gone 7 miles, by 9:30am we had gone 14.4 miles, and by 1pm we had gone 23 miles.  Now, it got hot and dry by 1pm, and although the map showed relatively flat terrain, I am telling you there were some big hills we climbed.  So I’m exhausted by the time we reach the last shelter, 10 miles from Damascus.  (As an aside, we hike about 2-3 miles an hour so 10 miles will still take anywhere from 3-6 hours.)  By 1pm we had been hiking for 9 hours, but we weren’t about to give up.  My feet felt like they were bleeding (my insoles are crap) and everyone was tired, but we all set off for the last 10 miles into town.  Pipper, by far the fastest of the group, got into town around 4, with Sharkey & Andy not too far behind.   Hopper was the only one behind me, and I made it to town around 6pm, exhausted and hiking in my sandals. 

We made it though!  Sharkey took us all out to dinner at Sicily’s Italian Restaurant and awarded us our yellow shoelaces, then out for drinks at Dot’s, where some of the boys closed down the bar at midnight. 

We’re taking two days off to recover and relax, but everything is closed on Sunday except for the bar, which is open to watch NASCAR (that’s where we’ll be!). 

I’ve uploaded a few more photos so check them out!  Much love to all!

Susan, Andy & Corley

Sharkey’s Yellow Shoelaces!

Hello from somewhere between Erwin, TN & Damascus, VA! 

We’re about 50 miles outside of Damascus, VA spending an un-expected night at a hiker hostel.  We’ve gone 70 miles in 5 days coming out of Erwin and are moving faster than we expected.  We were supposed to re-supply food by hitching a ride into a little town called Dawson, TN, but since we’ve been moving so fast we needed only a few snacks to make it the next few days into Damascus. So instead we decided to hike .5 mile down a paved road to this campground/hostel to get the few pop-tarts and snickers bars that we need to get us to Damascus.  Here we ran into our good buddies Super Chunk, Hometown & Loveboat, and a new friend named Privy Monster, who fed Andy a few beers and me some ice cream until we got content enough with sitting on the porch that we had to stay the night.  So we ordered pizza from a local joint and all the hikers are sitting around telling stories on the porch.  The best part of this un-expected stop is, as always, being able to take a shower and wash clothes (this is definitely a susan comment because andy does not need nor want to do either of those things until he absolutely has to).

So we’re thinking we’ll get into Damascus either late Friday night or Saturday and plan to take a day off recovering from all our big hiking days.  We might do two 25 mile days, or a 17 and a 33…. we’ll see how far our legs carry us!  Hope to talk to y’all then.

susan, andy & corley

So we finally made it out of Hot Springs and started our trek towards Erwin ,Tn.  We had a mere short 60+ miles to go.  Our first day out of town brought a little bit of snow but nothing to write home about.  on our second day after going by FAL and Hercules’s house for some wonderful trail magic we started up the long hill to the shelter.  on our way up the mountain it stated to snow.  i mean really snow.  it just kept coming down.  made it to the shelter to find some folks their already.  Knowing that more folks were on the way up the mtn. susan, corley and I pushed on through the now snow blizzard.  several hours later we made it to Jerry Cabin Shelter only to find it full to the seams.  We ended up having to rake a spot out in the snow to pitch the tent.  Cold, wet, and tired we hit the hay early.  The next morning our buddy Super Chunk measured the snow and it was 10 inches deep.  Talk about great fun.  The next few days were sunny & warm and we made it to Erwin, TN and Uncle Johnny’s Hostel in 5 days where we are taking a day off and waiting on our buddies Curtis & Jessica to come hiking with us this weekend.  It’s supposed to pour down rain so it should be exciting hiking for them!

Wanted to say thanks to the following people for the special packages & letters that they sent us out on the trail: Crystal Rippy (the cookies were fabulous), Desirae Arrington and Class (thanks for the notes of encouragement and snacks), Christie Cummins (you spoil us!!), Cory Olsen & the Postma family.  We’re so excited to hear from all y’all and appreciate all the love & encouragement.  Corley loved all his dog treats too - he likes coming to town as much as we do because all he gets to do is sleep & eat!

Thanks also to the Jensons of Marshall, NC for the delicous & warm trail magic!

We hope all y’all are doing well and hope to blog again from Damascus, VA in 120 miles, 10 days from now or so.

Check out the new photos of snow & adventure we posted under North Carolina, Post-smokies!

much love,

susan, andy & corley

And we’re back!

Our good buddy from back at the Chattooga, Eli Helbert, not only hooked us up with a place to sleep in Hot Springs, whose hotels were booked solid, but let us use his computer and internet!  So I’ve uploaded loads of photos to amuse you during work hours and beyond, and even three videos (although I’m not sure if there’s sound as this computer has no speakers)!

The sun finally decided to show its face the afternoon we left Gatlinburg to get back on the trail.  A nice family, Pat+Wendy Reynolds & their little boy, picked us up on the side of the road and took us to Newfound Gap.  We later found out they had taken our buddy Leaping Turtle from Clingman’s Dome to Gatlinburg two days before, so thanks guys for being so kind to dirty hikers!  The weather was gorgeous and we were rewarded with beautiful views of the mountains in every direction.  We went only three miles or so since we had gotten such a late start, and camped at a shelter with our buddies Mango & Canuk, Red & Aries, Gucci & Bearfeet, Aquamaria & Tailgate, and Nona.  One of the big reasons for staying there was also that I wanted to hike the one mile to Charlie’s Bunion to catch the sunset.  The weather didn’t seem like it was cooperating until about 7:30 when it became beautiful, so I almost ran the mile to the rock outcropping with Andy hot on my heels and we got to see an incredible, colorful sunset in the Smokies.  Then we practically ran the one mile back uphill to try to beat the darkness (andy thought it was hilarious when he hid in the woods ahead of me and scared me (boo!)).  It was well worth it though.

The rest of our time in the Smokies was filled with sunshine and vistas and we were so grateful to be out hiking in the woods!  Andy’s dad, Ken, brought Corley up last Wednesday morning (dogs are not allowed in the Park) and took us out to a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel (thanks!) - we’re so glad to have our third body back in the tent with us!  We did some big days out of the Smokies and made it to Hot Springs yesterday mid-morning.  We could see the town from the top of the last hill and practically jogged down the mountain in the excitement of getting some packages & mail, a big meal and some cold drinks.  This litttle town with less than 1000 people is very welcoming to hikers and we’ve had a great day off here, even did a little wading in the big French Broad River.

We’re hoping to make it to Erwin, TN (68 miles) by next Thursday, although the word on the street says it’s supposed to drop to 32 tonight, snow tomorrow, 29 tomorrow night, and then snow again on Monday…. good thing we kept our cold weather clothing!!!

Again, thanks to everyone who sent us letters and packages - we love hearing from the outside world.  And, Vanessa, the pudding is fan-freaking-tastic. 

We have to give a big thank you to Eli & the NOC French Broad Outpost staff - y’all made us feel very welcome and comfortable in your outpost and kept us out of the cold and rain.  Thanks!!

Until next time, we hope y’all are getting along fine without us (we know it’s tough) and feel free to send us notes or come hike with us whenever!

much love,

shutterbug, hot wheels & don corlioni

ps.  I’ve added photos to the North Carolina album and added two more albums, plus three videos on the “Photos” tab.  Enjoy!!

hello all!!

we’re safe and well in hot springs, nc, 270 miles into our journey.  unfortunately the library in this town is closed on saturday (?!) so the only internet is at the outfitter store, and you can only use it for thirty minutes!  i’ve uploaded some photos into an album online, but haven’t even the time to make a link on the website or captions.

View the photos of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park by clicking HERE.

I know we promised stories, but that’ll have to wait until, hopefully, next week when we get to Erwin, TN!

A big shout out to Vanessa White for the package, Mindy, Claire, Sammi, Mom&Dad Baxley & Grizzell for the letter and love!!  And many thanks to Ken for bringing Corley back safe and sound.

Much love to you all!

susan, andy & corley

Hello from the tourist mecca of the smokies!!!

We hiked the first half of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in the rain and fog - not one view yet (!) - and then decided we needed a night of dry clothes and warmth, so we hitched a ride with two very nice University of Tennessee students (thanks Nick & Eleanor!) into Gatlinburg, the Las Vegas of the Smokies.

We’ve had an action-packed two weeks, with lots of big mountains and new people.  We went through the Nantahala Outdoor Center - a long hike downhill then a big 7 mile uphill - and Fontana Dam, where we dropped of Corley with Andy’s dad.  We’re missing that little bugger.   We’re planning on stopping in at Hot Springs in about 5-6 days and taking a day off, so we’ll write a much more in-depth post about our adventures - with some photos!

Right now, we want to say whats up and many thanks to the folks that did some great trail magic today at Newfound Gap - G-man, Snow-hoe, Just Eric, Magic and Greg.  Those burgers, homemade treats (thanks Just Eric’s mom!), drinks and good company hit the spot after a long, muddy trek down the mountain.  We hope y’all made it up - and down - Clingman’s Dome in one piece!

much love to all y’all

andy&susan

Shout out to Randy at Flextronics.  We’re planning on hiking up to Charlies Bunion tomorrow!

So yesterday we hit our 100 mile mark!  pretty exciting for us as a team.  in the middle of the trail was 100 written in small stones.  many hikers that we have meet along the way will not get the chance to see it.  As days go by we hear about people we have hiked, cooked and sat in rain storms with that have gotten off the trail for good.  Many of them end their journey due to not being prepared for what mother nature throws at you or getting injured.  susan, big corley and i are very fortunate to have made it this far without any major injuries ie. blisters, shin splints, hurt knees, etc.  dont get me worng, we do in fact wake up every morning feeling the sore feet and legs from yesterday’s trek through the mountains.

each day brings a new adventure or challenge for us.  what is the weather going to be like?  how far should we hike today?  do you think there will be water?  in the end we make it through. 

tonight we are calling the great town of franklin, nc home.  staying at a motel for the night before we head back to the trail tomorrow morning for our 3 day trek to the NOC.  we ate at an all you can eat bbq joint for dinner with about 10 other thru hikers.  it was nice to not have to cook your own meal and eat it while sitting in the dirt. 

we had some nice trail majic the other day as well.  gatorade and fishing frank hit us up before we climbed albert mtn.  they hooked us up with hot dogs, sodas, coffee, cherry cobbler, coco, and an assortment of other things.  it was great to meet them.  hopefully we will be able to return the magic someday to some other thru hikers. 

hope all is well on the home front.  

andy, susan, corley

Greetings from South Carolina and Happy Easter! 

We’ve made an unexpected stop back in our old stomping grounds at the Chattooga River in South Carolina!  We hitched a ride from the Hwy 76 crossing into Clayton, GA and had our buddies Roz & Zach come pick us up in town.  A big group of us went out to dinner at the local Mexican restaurant - margaritas taste so good after a week in the woods!  We’re sticking around for Easter dinner here and then another buddy Lee will drop us back on the trail early tomorrow morning. 

Last you heard we were in Neels Gap, trying to decide whether to stick around for a day or head out into “severe thunderstorms”… and we decided to brave the rain.  It was totally fine hiking in the rain, our gear stayed dry as did our upper bodies, and we went about 5.5 miles before hatching a brilliant plan to hike to a shelter 1.2 miles off the AT where no one else would want to go because it would be so far off the trail.  There we could hang our clothes to dry inside the shelter & keep our tent high and dry in our bags.  BUT, about 7 other people had the same idea so we ended up having to set our tent up anyway (although we made it fun by having the other hikers time us on how fast we could set up our tent: 3 min 50 sec).  We met some thru-hikers we hadn’t happened upon yet- Foghorn, Austin, Sean, Top Hat, Grasshopper, Joe & partner - and had a great time getting to know those folks.  A chilly night in the gap lead to frozen boots, tent & clothes in the morning and it was the hardest morning yet - so so chilly.  After a little while, our boots thawed and our clothes dried and it turned into a beautiful sunny day.  We hiked a nice 12.7 miles that day to Blue Mountain Shelter where we stayed with the same crew again.  We felt good after that long day so we decided to do another long day - 13 miles to Addis Gap.  That day kicked us in the butt, especially Trey Mountain, which was beautiful and clear at the summit, but the downhill side seemed to go on forever.  Went though the ”swag of the blue ridge”, which we’re still not sure exactly what it was… and finally made it to our campsite to find that the water source was half a mile down the hill… AH!   

 So the next day we hiked about 7 miles to Hwy 76, tired and worn out, and decided to roll into town to take a day off and give our aching bodies a little break.   Plus there’s good food & company here, so why not!  We resupplied our food at the local Ingles, filled up on beer and ice cream to keep us for the next few days, and are looking forward to getting back into the woods and crossing our first border into North Carolina this week. 

Thanks to our buddies Roz & Zach, Kristen & Dave and Lee for helping us off the trail, showing us a good time, and then seeing us back on it safely.  See you all at the Gauley this fall!  

And a special shout out to the boys from Georgia Tech who did have some awesome trail magic going on at Neels Gap - some hot, delicious hamburgers straight off a hickory wood-chip weber grill - two each!  After a chilly hike up and down Blood Mountain it sure put us in a good mood!  \

much love,susan, andy & corley  

susan & andy atop springer mountain, ga 2008/03/15 

I’ve uploaded photos onto our web gallery - find the link under the “photos” tab! 

Hello from Neels Gap, GA!

This is the first stop on the trail where you can get a shower and some ice cream - so you know we stopped!  We’ve hiked just over thirty miles from Springer Mountain, with lots of adventure along the way.  Andy’s friends from Columbia came with us the first weekend to see us off on our hike.  We got lost several times trying to find the parking lot to get up Springer Mountain, then ended up hiking the wrong direction for a ways… but we made it to the top around ten or eleven pm, where it was foggy, then rainy, thundering & lightening.  Saturday we set off in dismal, but promising weather, just to be met by a downpour, then some hail, then rain, more hail, and wind.  HA.  It was a long eight mile trek for me, but even worse for andy’s friends who didn’t bring much rain gear…  After a windy night in Hightower Gap, we hiked a beautiful 7 miles to Gooch Mountain Shelter, where we met some fun thru-hikers like Willowwisp, Columbus, & Britt.  Yesterday was windy and we spent most our time on ridges getting blasted, but with some beautiful views of smoky blue mountain ranges.  It was our longest day so far, 12.3 miles, and we were so tired that we saw the sunset from inside our tent, in our sleeping bags, just before we went to sleep!  Today we hiked a short mile up Blood Mountain, where it was nothing but white fog and wind at the top.  At the bottom we came to a little hiker haven, a hostel/outdoor store where they go through your pack and take out the stuff you don’t need (but i NEED that deodorant Cola Monkey!!) and feed you good food.  YUM!  Tomorrow, if it’s not pouring, we’ll head out to the next mountaintop.  If it is storming, we may just take a day off (a zero day) and rest.  Sounds good to me!  much love! susan aka shutterbug

 ps. i forgot my camera gear (card readers, chargers) at home, so i won’t be able to post photos until franklin, sorry!!

Welcome to the GET-AT Hike website/blog!  This will be the place to check out the progress of our Appalachian Trail hike and our fundraising efforts for the Great Eastern Trail.  Browse the site, learn about the trails, and check back frequently for stories and pictures from the trail!

Best,

susan&andy&corley