Some of the arrival photos

Getting Home

Sorry that the blogs were more scarce toward the end of the trip. It was probably a combination of lack of computers, and lack of urgency to do anything except hike and rest. However, here I am at home finally with a bit of time on my hands.

New Hampshire and Maine were both incredible and challenging. The white mountains in New Hampshire make the Vermont ski areas seem like foothills. Alot of the time we were above tree line. One night we barely made it off the top of a mountain before a severe electrical storm set in- actually more like 4 storms at the same time coming from different directions. We were lucky enough to have great weather on both Mount Washington and Katahdin.

Thankyou to Matu, Nick, Jessie (from Duke), and Dad (Big Chief) for coming out and hiking with us periodically. It was very rejuvinating. Thankyou Mom for spearheading the food drop support, and thankyou to all friends and family for general moral support and encouragement. It was a fantastic suprise to have Holly and Nicole come up and meet us at the end in Baxter State Park. They even made victory signs! We are also thankful for all those people along the way who lifted our spirits with trail magic (usually free food). Phil and I are planning to go out to the trail in New York to do some trail magic of our own. Thankyou everyone for the pledges to Running Strong. Phil and I will be sending out return envelopes to pledgers soon .

Nothing can match the incredible feeling of climbing to the top of Katahdin and seeing the famous sign that marks the northern terminus. Our friend Double Cheese was already at the top when we arrived and he cheared us on the final 20 feet or so. Phil and I had left at about 5 in the morning to get to the top at a decent hour in the morning. Double Cheese had left at around 3:30 to catch the sunrise.

I have been home for a day or two now. I still need to readjust to life in Greenwich again. Its very different from the trail obviously, but my bed feels great and seeing friends and family is awesome. There was even an article in the Greenwich Times on July 5 with a full page on A3 about our trip. I was very happy to see that.

Memorable views

You can see here some of the reasons for the walk!

(posted by Eddie)

2,000 miles done - the last 100 to go

Adam and Phil crossed the 2,000 mile marker, and are now in Monson,ME. They are taking the day off to watch the final of the Eurocup soccer. Tomorrow they will set off on the final, and most challenging, leg of their trip - the 100 mile wilderness in Maine. They expect to summit Mt Katahdin on July 5th. They have had a lot of rain, but spirits are high, and the end is nigh.

Psycho

Just to give an outsider perspective on the story below, Phil did look like an actual Psycho

Glencliff, NH

Hey everyone, we made it to Glencliff, about to start into the White Mountains. We're staying in a Hostel, and on our way in could see the 5,000 ft climb up Mt. Moosilauke, which we have ahead of us tomorrow.
Our stay in Dartmouth was awesome, and we got to hang with our friend Ian Murphy at the Bones Gate frat. funny anecdote: Before we left Hanover, after picking up our food drop at the Post Office, I had an interesting moment out on the sidewalk. I was trying to fit our folded box into a trash can, facing a crowded / traffic-packed street. I suddenly got hit with a fit of the giggles, which turned into full blown laughter. To sum up, everyone on the street driving by watched as I attempted to ram a box into a trash can while laughing uncontrollably. Must've looked kind of crazy.
That's it for now, I'm pumped to get above treeline tomorrow.
-Samsa (Phil)

At Killington going to Hanover

Hey everyone. We are now at Killington after a grueling 5 days through the green mountains of Vermont. We got great views of Mount Snow from the fire tower on Stratton. It was great to see the chairlift where I was sitting this past winter thinking, "this summer I will be out there." It dosn't seem all that long ago that I was getting a wintry view of the lake from the Mount Snow's North face. This time I saw the lake in all its summer, blackfly-ridden, glory. In the past two weeks we have seen classic New England vistas from Greylock, Glastenbury Mountain, Stratton, Peru Peak, and Killington. Ahead of us is Hanover, NH and the frat house at Dartmouth where our friend Ian Murphy is planning to provide some "R and R".

Video - another summit somewhere in VT

Video - preparing dinner

Video of camp

Visit from Matu, Nick Tag, & Adam's dad Rob H-B

Adam and Phil are in VT, shortly to summit Killington. They have had some company in recent days, including Matu and Rob who did a few days each, and Nick Tag who has been with them since Cornwall Bridge and will be leaving them at Killington. The pace is tough for the newbies, who have suffered blisters and sore knees, but Nick has the medal for grit as he keeps up the pace.

Happy and healthy in NY state

Hey everyone, not much to write, thanks to Adam's detailed entry. I was also really glad to have my friend Jessea from Duke visit. It really helped boost our spirits through a section of trail that many people mentally struggle with.
Other than that, I'm excited to have made it to New York. Earl Shaffer, the first "thru-hiker" of the AT, waited until reaching NY to notify the Appalachian Trail Conservancy of his journey. He figured, unless struck with a hindering injury, that he would make all the way to Katahdin. At this point in our voyage, I am living comfortably with a similar peace of mind. I'm excited for the trail we have to come, and gleefully anticipate the majesty and ruggedness that I think we'll find in the northern Appalachians. We're also now outfitted with some bug net head-coverings.
-Phil/Samsa

Delaware Water Gap and Beyond

Hi Everybody,

Sorry that I havn't left an update in a while, but we havn't seen much internet lately. We have completed PA at this point. We met up with one of phil's friends (Jessie) from Duke in Port Clinton, PA. He met up under really funny circumstances too. When we arrived in town we borrowed the phone of a local outfitter to call him. He had just spent the night in a bush just off the main road in town. It was the kind of town where everyone has an angry dog and a fake deer in the back yard. He said that he just didn't want to be seen from the road. We admired his sense of adventure and felt at ease that he would have no trouble fitting in to life on the trail.

Jessie provided fresh perspective and rejuvination for the hike. Most of all we had new things to talk about, which was good. We hiked along the fabled rocky ridges of PA, some of which had no vegetation due to chemical poisoning. This provided spectacular, but sickly vistas. Luckily it was a mild day for the ridge walk because there was no vegetative cover whatsoever.

We descended into the Delaware Water Gap and found refuge in the basement of a church that was very hiker friendly. At the church we met a middle aged couple from Alabama and a young solo hiker from North Carolina. All were hikers, and all had different plans for how they split up the miles. Phil and I were the only thru-hikers. The water gap marked the beginning of Phil and I's adventure into New Jersey along the Kittatinny Ridge through the DWG National Recreation Area. This area is famous for its high bear activity, but we didn't see a thing. From the Kittatinny Ridge we could see great lengths of the Delaware River, along which there are huge tracts of undeveloped land. Most people think of New Jersey as an industrial state where it seems like the only place to live is under a factory or highway, but NW Jersey is actually very green. I spoke to a hunter from Warwick, NY in a bar a few days ago who was raving about the quality of New Jersey bear hunting. Just another interesting dynamic to the state I suppose.

So by now we have crossed the border in New York State. People treat us differently now. We are more of a novelty because of the distance we have now covered. There is much more wonder in the eyes of the average person when we explain what we have done. I think that's because Georgia feels very far away up here. Its bazaar to think that we have now re-covered all the distance we flew on our plane down to Atlanta three months before.

I also have to give a belated shout-out to our friend Susan MacDonald who we met in Damascus! Thanks Jessie for meeting up, and we are looking forward to our BBQ in Harriman State Park, NY tomorrow with Stephie, Eddie, Phil's parents, and possibly Charles and Matu. Also looking forward to meeting up with Nick Tagliarino at Cornwall Bridge, CT on the 21st, and Dad (Big Chief) on the 26th or so. Thankyou everyone for the comments! Good luck with the Aussie mushroom picking Janet. Don't worry we'll try to keep Big Chief alive, but I can't guarentee that his toes will all be alive at the end of his hike. We might have to deal with the dead sausage syndrome. Maybe I can find a plant that deals with gangrene or somthing... Bye for now.

The common morell

The past few days of hiking has been funny because of all the people out here picking mushrooms. The locals say that it has been the best year in a long time because of three inches of rain that fell recently. Phil and I are only too aware of the incessant downpours we experienced going through Shenandoah National Park. Anyway, much to the pleasure of locals, the rain had a positive affect on this years Morell Mushrooms.

You'll be hiking along an see a shady character squatting in the woods about 30 feet off the trail behind dense foliage. The first time I experienced this situation I half expected it to be an ambush, or if I saw overalls, a pending rape scene. It turns out that these people were just your average shroomers foraging around for the common morell. Its one of the easiest mushrooms to identify in the wild. This is assuming your sober while foraging. Many of the pickers also found it a good idea to carry along cases of cheap beer for the excursion. Phil and I fried some up ourselves the other night with a small packet of butter from KFC. It really was delicious. I hear they get sold for a fortune in some restraunts.

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia

So we're almost back over the Mason-Dixon line. Yesterday afternoon, Adam and I made it out of the infamous "Rollercoaster" section (named because of its 10 accents and decents within about 13 miles) into Harper's Ferry. The night before we spent the night at the Bears Den Hostel; an old stone building on top of a mountain near Bears Den Rocks, which used to be the beautiful home of some wealthy family. We're taking a day of rest sans-hiking at my Uncle Pete's nearby in Maryland. My mom came down from CT, picked us up at Harper's Ferry, then took us back here. We had a fest last night, complete with steaks, spaetzle (German noodles), esparagas, and beer to our content. After another night here, we'll be heading back out on the trail tomorrow.
This morning we toured around Harper's Ferry a little bit. The historic town has many interesting things to offer, the dominating factor being its role in the Civil War Era. It was also awe-inspiring to hike in over the monstrous Shenandoah River yesterday. Tomorrow we'll be crossing the Potomac on an old RR bridge in order to get over the border to Maryland.
That's it for now, gonna take advantage of our remaining rest time to do absolutely nothing. I shaved my 2 month beard yesterday. I think I'll appreciate losing the extra hair, especially in this warm weather we've been having.
P.S. We also passed the 1000 mile mark on our hike into Harper's Ferry yesterday, which was exciting. Adam and I celebrated with a high-five.

-Samsa (Phil)

Hello Friends/Family from Waynesboro, VA

Before I begin I must say that its not true that I got kicked out of Mt Rogers Recreation area for attempting to ride a feral poney. Thats just horse shit. But in the interest of full disclosure I think one of them liked me enough to the point where it could have been my noble steed. Then again, maybe it was just the salty sweat residue on my pack straps.

The last week of hiking has been incredible. We have had day time temps averaging the upper 70s and night time temps in the 40s. Phil and I have basically been following the blue ridge mountains on a north-east heading towards Maine. The canopy foliage is still not out which makes for stunning views of the Virginian flatlands down to our right and the lowlands between the blue ridge and alleghenies on our left. With summer time heat and no shade from trees it somtimes feels like a dry savanna. This is especially true when we're walking over sandy soil with lots of pines. I never expected some sections of Virginia to feel like California! The warmth is invirgorating, but yesterday we were swatting gnats from our faces as we cooked dinner. All I could think was, "And so it begins..."

Spring has not fully sprung, but it has already given us a taste of the pros and cons of summer hiking. We're not so quick to discount the cold as a bad thing anymore, although still happy to be free of the possibility of future snow drifts and snotstickles. Still meeting great people, like a 70 year old thru-hiking from Tennessee who we've spent a couple nights with. His names Bear Fodder and his son came out to hike a section (son of Bear Fodder). Son of Bear Fodder even brought his son out, who they just call rubby ducky (age 11). Its still pretty amazing that two 19 year olds can be living the exact same life style as a 70 year old for a year.

Phil and I are still teaching each other languages. He's teaching me German, and I',m teaching him Spanish. I think I could now be able to at least order some good beer, white sausage, and a Pretzel if I find myself in Munich.