How many miles left?!

114.

It's well past "hiker midnight" (8:30pm)... the anticipation of entering the 100 Mile Wilderness is keeping me awake.

For the past nine summers I have worked/played/had tons of fun at residential summer camps, this has been my first summer without camp in my life. Just wanted to give a shout out to all my camp family at YMCA Camp Benson, Phantom Lake YMCA Camp, & YMCA Camp Pendalouan! Hope you are all enjoying your time at camp this summer. It has been strange not living the camp lifestyle this summer. I'm excited to return to it this fall in Michigan. Time to get some sleep, did I mention I'm trying to break the $1,000 fundraising mark? Please donate, here.

Enter Sobos...

A rare moment in time when Sobos outnumber Nobos! Lakes of the Clouds Hut, White Mountains National Forest, New Hampshire. 

Yesterday was a short hike to the Northern Outdoors. We crossed the Kennebec River using the official AT route -- canoe! The crossing is the biggest crossing of it's kind on the Trail. It is over 100 yards across a wide river with swift and unpredictable currents. Thus, the ATC provides a free ferry across for all thru-hikers. The canoe is even properly marked with a white blaze on the hull.

As Shelby said in the previous post, I was interviewed for a documentary about thru-hiking. It is an independent film being shot under the working title "Thru-Hikers" by a group of Southbounders (SoBos). The filmmakers interviewed three Northbounders (NoBos) Jack Rabit (back row, yellow shirt) as well as J.C. (back row, HUGE BEARD) and I. Their questions were pretty standard, nothing too outrageous. If all goes according to plan J.C. and I might give the group of SoBos hiking under the group name of Dirty SouthBounders, some trail magic on Springer Mountain in December when they finish. Hopefully my interview does not end up on the editing room floor, I'll keep you posted on the release date.

Over the last few weeks we have been running into tons of SoBos. The more north we hike, the less experienced Southbounders we run into, simply because they have been hiking less miles. It is great to have someone to exchange information with about the trail ahead, hostels, upcoming side trails, or swimming holes. It's also fun to mess with SoBos. We enjoy beating them in Uno games at campsites and telling them completely false statements like "Oh yeah! Virginia is totally flat!" -- It's just good clean fun : )

I can't believe this journey will be coming to an end in less than 155 miles. My Katahdin ETA is July 31st or August 1st, (it's hard put things in stone when using foot travel) which is weird to think about... being able to put a date on the end of this hike. It seems like just a few weeks ago I was standing on a foggy mountain in Georgia called, Springer. The trail is calling my name, time to get off this internet machine and get to walking. Hope all is well!

--

Can you help me top the $1,000 fundraising mark for the Chicago Fire Foundation?

Please donate, here.

2,000+!

Hello friends and followers of Matt's hike!

Today Matt, or Pretzel, hiked his 2,000th mile on the Appalachian Trail! Now he has only around 180 miles left. 

The stretch of trail that he has been hiking for the past few weeks, in and around the White Mountains, is known as the most difficult section of the either trip. However, he is still trekking along and is on his fourth, and hopefully last, pair of shoes.

Recently Matt was interviewed for an upcoming documentary about the Appalachian Trail. I believe that the name of the documentary is simply going to be called "Thru Hikers." Hopefully he will make it to a computer soon so that he can fill in the rest of the details. 

Happy Trails! 

-Intern Shelby

The Vermont Moving Picture Show!

These videos hail from the Green Mountain State, Vermont. Reaching the state line was one of my big milestones of this trip. It proved us with great views/actual mountains (something the last few hundred miles were lacking), trail magic, stories and lots of rain!

Hiker Trash Speedometer

Hiker Trash Shower in West Hartford, VT - Spice still needs to work on his camera operating skills.

JC and I were the last ones on Bromley's lookout tower before it was taken down. 

An old section hiker once asked me "You know what the best part about wet shoes are?" I tried my best to think of something witty but the three days of continuous rain were not helping. He replied, "They'll dry out." Wise words.

Special thanks to the Dartmouth Outing Club allowing thru-hikers full access to their computer lab. Would not have been able to upload these without it!