We did it!!!

the 2000 mile mark
a funny end to the 100 mile wilderness

check out my jacket to see how windy it was
Ben rips!

a proud moment

Well it's official, we hiked the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine 2,175 miles in total. Ben and I summited Mt. Katahdin at 8AM September 3rd, 2007. It was a little later than expected due to an unexpected intestinal illness that we both caught 3 days from the end. We were able to get out of the 100 mile wilderness to rest for a week before returning. My father was kind enough to bring us home, my mother kind enough to drop us back off on some logging road in the middle of no where and our good friend Jayme was there to bring us home at the base of Katahdin. It was a wild day with cold temperatures and winds steadily blowing at 45-50mph. It was once again another test of our endurance and it seemed so fitting. My eyes teared as the summit and famous Katahdin sign were in sight, a day I have dreamed of for so many years. Ben and I walked hand in hand for the final steps and together touched that sign, the end of a nearly 6 month journey. We are proud to have completed our trip and will work our way back into "normal life". Thanks to everyone for the continual support and encouragement it has been more appreciated than you can imagine.

This will be our last posting except maybe a few more pictures!



Much love,

Ben and Amanda

Monson, ME

We arrived in Monson earlier this evening and are gearing up for our final stretch. We picked up our last box of food at the post office and had a yummy lunch at the Monson General Store. There are about 9 thru-hikers in town tonight, many of them we've hiked with for quite some time. The past several days have been amazing with many great ponds and more mild terrain. We tented along the shores of Bald Mountain Pond last night which provided a great sunset and lots of loon calls. The 100 mile wilderness and the hike up Katahdin are all that remain and we plan on enjoying every last step! We may have to plan a get together with a slide show and dinner to finally reveal some of our photos!
Much love to you all and may you know each one of you have provided motivation to help us get here!!
Love,
Ben and Amanda

MAINE!!

Greetings from Stratton, Maine!! Sorry that it has been so long since we last updated this, but the opportunities for getting online have become limited. We are both doing well and are now less than 200 miles from Katahdin! We plan to summit on August 29th if all goes as planned which is exactly 2 weeks from today. If feels wonderful to be walking in our home state again and it's hard to believe this journey will soon come to an end. We have had wonderful weather through most of the higher elevations in both New Hampshire and Maine and spent the night last night in a warming hut on top of Sugarloaf. We'll be heading back on the trail soon and sadly this computer won't allow me to post pictures.
love to all at home, we'll be there soon!!
Ben and Amanda

Glencliff, NH

Hi Everyone,
A quick update. We are in Glencliff, NH and have now hiked ~1775 miles. We are looking forward to getting back into the White's; our old stomping grounds! My body is doing better after some rest and we cannot wait to steam those "sters" on the summit of Mt. K.
Love to everyone at home!

Killington, VT and Maine again?!

Hello all,
On the trail we are currently in Killington, VT and have been really enjoying getting back into some larger mountains in Vermont. We also now have <500 miles to go! The weather has been pretty good with off and on T-storms/showers and it is true the trail in Vermont is muddy! We reunited with our friends Rodeo Clown and Trash Bag who we have been hiking with now for 800+ miles. We have been having a blast with them and together we refer to ourselves as the Mountain Furies (a name we gathered during our biking adventure).

I have had some continual issues with my feet and back and this past week it got to the point where rest was really the only solution. So the Mountain Furies rented a car and drove to Maine for a 3 day vacation with the hopes that my body will be ready for the final trek to Maine. As we enter into New Hampshire we'll try to keep folks posted on where we will be and when.

Thanks to everyone for the continued support and motivation it really is appreciated!!

Love you guys
Ben and Amanda

Dalton, MA and Tom's House

A quick hello from Dalton, MA! We were not planning on staying here, but have had a few troubles with our tent ( no worries though) so decided to stop by Depot Street where Tom opens his home to hikers. We were greeted with huge ice cream sundaes, took showers, were allowed to borrow clean clothes and then got a ride to a great restaurant for dinner.
We are good and we keep walking, one step at a time Maine here we come!

Oh and we are working on ideas of unique ways to celebrate on top of Katahdin so if you've got any ideas let us know!
Boiling and eating lobsters on the summit was our idea?!?

Much love!

Taking a break from the Berkshires

PHOTOS!!

Nothing like a blueberry pancake breakfast at home!
Dad and Ben playing in the compost
Enjoying the views in New York
Palmerton, one of the most polluted places in America!
This racoon had been standing in the river looking for food and then climbed this tree when we passed by.
In the Bear Mountain Zoo looking at home far we've come and how much further we have to go.

Our bike riding adventure


Hog Nose snake

Crossing into PA
One of the nicest shelters to date
The half gallon challenge

Yesterday our vacation from our vacation began when my dad and step mom picked us up around Great Barrington, Massachusetts and drove us home to Maine! It was so wonderful to see them! Both Ben and I are looking forward to having a few days without hiking to allow our bodies and feet to rest and to take a break from daily hiking, which at times is mentally challenging.

On the trail we have now hiked ~1506 miles and are about 50-60 miles from the Vermont border! We had a wonderful welcome to Massachusetts with more climbing and some great views, which reminded us of hiking at home! We are really looking forward to the final 3 states and it's amazing for us to think that we have already crossed through 11 of them. We are excited to be close enough to home to have friends and family join us for some of our hiking in New Hampshire and Maine.

That's all for now, love to you all!

Kent, CT

The final stretch of New York

Many thanks to the Savoie family for the wonderful care package and oh so delicious cookies!!

Enjoying the lovely pool at Marc and Jan's on a hot day!


Greetings from our first stop in CT! It is hot today, in the 90's, but what a day we have had. We met a wonderful couple while eating breakfast here this AM and they kindly brought us to their home where we took showers, did laundry, swam, had a great lunch and wonderful conversation! Jan and Marc you are amazing trail angels, we won't forget you guys!

We are both continuing to do well and have passed through some beautiful spots in New Jersey and New York. There are so many stories to share and loads of pictures, but time limits me as the library is about to close.

We are looking forward to our beach house vacation in Maine coming up in ~4 days (we're not counting can you tell). Much love to all at home!
Miss you guys!
Love,
Ben and Amanda

Delaware Water Gap, PA

Hi Everyone,
We are finished with PA after having walked on lots of loose unstable rocks and our feet are feeling it. New Jersey tomorrow with new sights and adventures. Short and sweet this time, we are well and living life to the fullest!
Much love,
Ben and Amanda

Pennsylvania, a visit from Mom and less than 1,000 miles to go!

Hi All,
It has been a while...we have finished Maryland (only 40 miles) and have now been hiking in Pennsylvania the state famous for "the rocks". The terrain has been mild and the rocks are not constant but they do make for sore feet (nothing new there). We passed the halfway point and Ben along with thru hiker friends participated in the half gallon challenge of which he is now a proud member. The flavor: cookie dough, Calories: ~3500, Grams of fat: ~160 and tons of sugar! We also had a wild and fun 2 days of birthday magic for Ben last week! We hitch hiked to a town where us along with 2 other thru hikers purchased very cheap bicycles and we biked for 2 days instead of walking....yes we biked!!! For those of you who know Ben, you would love to know that on his birthday he actually got to assemble 3 of the 4 bikes and boy was he is tool heaven! Day one we rode with our 35-40lb packs on our backs and day 2 a little smarter, we found someone to drive our packs to our destination and ride bareback! We had a blast and my stomach muscles were sore from all the laughing! The funny thing is after 2 days of riding our plan was to somehow get rid of the bikes so with magic marker and paper in hand we made a sign that got a lot of attention: Bikes $15 each. We had bankers in suit coats running out to buy our bikes it was hilarious!
So we are back to walking now and my mom arrived yesterday evening and hiked with us today. We also had a surprise visit from my brother which was great. There's just nothing like a visit from family!
Well shower, laundry and rest are in store so goodbye for now.
Much love to all at home!

I will try to post pic's tomorrow.

Harper's Ferry,W. Virginia and Family

Ben getting excited about Uncle Food's Italian meal!

Box Turtle

1,000 mile excitement crossing the bridge into Harper's Ferry

Fellow thru-hikers enjoying mom's homemade lemon squares

Dad this photo was taken for you... the horse's name is SugarFoot!

Crossing the Virginia-West Virginia Line with some friends!

Me proudly standing in front of the first trail side skinny dipping hole

Ben during one of his eating sprees ( this included 6 loaded chili and cheese hot dogs)


We made it to Harper's Ferry yesterday afternoon and celebrated as we passed the 1,000 mile mark! Once we arrived at the Appalachian Trail Headquaters, our photo was taken to be added to the 2007 thru-hiker yearbook. We were numbers 115 and 116 so far this year! We were quickly picked up by my wonderful Aunt Becky and are planning to spend 2 full days relaxing with their family and eating and eating and eating and eating! For those of you who know Uncle Sam, you know food will be frequent and delicious.

The heat has been a bit of a challenge lately, but the leaves on the trees are finally providing us with some shade. Both Ben and I are now in the habit of performing detailed nightly tick checks as we have both found deer ticks on one another. For those of you who have not seen them they are incredibly small about the size of a pin head. I have had some boot issues, but a visit to REI today hopefully solved that problem. We are both excited to finally enter into some new states as we have been hiking through Virginia for the past 500+ miles. Other than numb toes our bodies are holding up pretty well.

In regards to Ben's upcoming 26th birthday if anyone wants to mail something to Ben please feel free. Below is the place we'll be closest to his big day and you will want to address the package as follows:

ETA: 6/4

C/O General Delivery
Duncannon, PA
17020
Hold for Northbound A.T. Hiker

For the procrastinators...
ETA: 6/7

C/O General Delivery
Port Clinton, PA
19549
Hold for Northbound A.T. Hiker

Much love to everyone and many thanks to the Pease Family for our wonderful mini vacation filled with food, laughs, foot baths and cotton clothes!

Fun in the "Shennies"

Hello All,
Sorry that is has been so long since we last wrote. We are currently in Front Royal and are at the 955 mile mark! 1,000 miles is coming up soon and we are doing well. The "blues" have improved and we've had a really fun week hiking into Waynesboro, VA and then through Shenandoah National Park. We have seen several bears over the past week including a momma bear with 2 cubs! The park also had multiple "waysides" and dining areas where we sat down to some real food with a blackberry milkshake almost daily, it was great! We have also enjoyed lots of laughter since meeting a great young couple "trash bag" and "rodeo clown". That's all for now as I am using a computer at a local outfitter.
We love you guys and keep gettting closer to home with each step!
Ben and Amanda

Happy Mother's Day

Finally the rododendrens bloom!!

Pink Trillium

Ladyslipper

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's reading.

Enjoy the flowers in the photos since we won't be around to send any.

Love,

Ben and Amanda

Glasgow, VA

The Gulliotine

Early morning fog

McAfee Knob, VA

Heading into Daleville, VA

Hello from hot and sunny Glasgow. Well we ended up taking 2 days off from hiking in Daleville/Troutville (felt really good) and are now at our next re-supply point. Basically we've been eating all day and washing ourselves and clothes. We're getting really easy to please I must stay put some running water and anything edible in front of us and we're happy! The weather has been superb the past 4-5 days and hopefully it will continue. We continue to meet great friends along our hike who provide great company, humor and can laugh and moan about the same issues. We are ~775 miles into the trail and have had what I'm calling the "700 mile blues" from time to time. Each of us have had periodic days of longing to do another activity, but we keep keepin on and Maine keeps getting closer with each day. I've got to say I had the best trail magic the other day (no it didn't involve food or a ride or a cold drink). Those who know me know I'm a goal driven person so during our hiking days I have the tendency to keep an eye on my watch and move us along as to get to our destination before dark. At times this is a good thing, but also is a stress for me. Well... long story short one day when I just really wasn't wanting to hike we had taken and break and my watch broke! Now that I am unable to wear it I swear my life has improved...it couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

Oh also for those of you who may not know Ben's birthday will be coming up June 3rd so I will try to let you all know where we think we'll be so people interested can send something.

A note to our friend Patrick:

So sad that we havn't run into each other again. We tooke 2 zeros in Daleville and will be leaving Glasgow today. Definitely leave an e-mail or some way to get in touch so we can see you around the 4th at the beach house! Miss you.

Love to everyone!

Catawba, VA

The chaos of setting up camp. This shelter recently had a tree fall on it but I assure you it was still safe to sleep inside.


As we walked through this pasture I just couldn't pass up a little donkey love.



We made it to our next resupply point Thursday afternoon and due to the rain and feeling a big fatigued we decided to take our "zero" early. A kind couple from Mass. gave us a ride to a town Thursday and we've been relaxing today and doing some errands and plan to get back on the trail in Catawba tomorrow. Thanks to all of you for the continued comments, we really enjoy reading them and it's so great to know that all of you are supporting us in our journey. Despite those days when we simply just don't feel like walking anymore or are tired of the heat, rain or cold that you just can't get away from, the throbbing feet and all this trip has already enriched my life and my soul in ways I don't know I can describe. For that I am thankful.


Love to you all!

Virginia is for Mainers, Hikers, and Lovers

Hi All,

We are doing well and are in Pearisburg VA at 622 miles from Springer. My parents came to visit from Maine and helped us slackpack (allowed us to day hike and shuttled us around) for two days. It was great to see them and to get to spend some time with them while they were on vacation (it almost never happens). We have been loving VA, it is by far our favorite state thus far, with easy terriain and more wildlife than the other states we have passed through. We also have been enjoying the warmer weather and lack of snow and rain. As you can see from two of the pictures we havn't been so lucky in the past.

The other pictures are of a snake that we saw along the trail ( a king snake we are told) around four feet long, and of a man who goes by the name Jake that we have been hiking with. He is a really great guy from Georgia that has spent many years on the trail and is full of great knowledge, which I probe him for at every oportunity ( I'm sure this comes as a big suprise to everyone who knows me). The picture with ponies is from Grayson Highlands State Park in southern Virginia. The US Forest Service maintains a heard of around 100 ponies that keep the area open and grazed down. This leads to a huge open area that resembles a high elevation pasture. The picture of Amanda and I standing near the sign for the Mt. Rogers NRA is actually the Tenn. / VA. state line. It seems odd but there is no sign to designate the border. Last is the picture of the horses and riders in the pond.

-Ben

If anyone out there knows how to arrange the pictures on the page and to place captions under them please help us out. We have yet to figure it out.

Damascus, VA

Greetings,
We arrived in Damascus, Virginia yesterday late afternoon after doing the "damascathon"( it was a 26 mile day over fairly mild terrain). We have now hiked ~460 miles of the trail and passed the 20% mark yesterday. The weather yesterday was still cool, but warmer and sunny and hopefully things will keep trending upwards. Both Ben and I are pretty tired of the cold, but are just taking things one step at a time literally. Once again I am at a library and the computer will not allow pictures to be downloaded...sorry we've got some good ones too!

We are planning to head out in just a bit so I will end this post with one amazing story.

O.k. here we go....I own a pair of Crocs (you know those strange rubber clog like things), they are my "camp shoes" a welcome change to the leather boots I wear all day. ~ 7 days ago after having walked ~12 miles we took our packs off for a rest and I realized one of my Crocs had fallen off my bag. Ugghhhh what a bummer I thought, but maybe someone will pick it up and bring it to the next shelter. Later that evening one hiker came into the shelter and I asked "did you happen to see a green croc on the trail?" She replied "yes I did." "Did you pick it up?" I asked. "No, I wasn't sure how long it had been there and didn't want to carry it for too long."
"oh too bad it was mine." She felt badly, but oh well. So I continued to carry my one Croc in my bag for ~4-5 days. We then stopped in Hampton, TN and stayed at a hostel for several nights to avoid more extreme weather. Well one of the evenings Ben, I and another fellow hiker were walking from the hostel to the grocery store in the rain when I looked up to see a car pulled over on the side of the road and a hiker whom I had previously met running towards me with my Croc!! He had carried it for 5 days and somehow had learned that it was mine, but he had no idea I was in that town. It was such a crazy coincidence. Now that's some trail magic for you.

We're heading out for a 75 mile stretch to Atkins, VA where our next box of food is. Hope everyone is well.

Love to you all!

O.k. Seriously It's Cold Outside!

Hi All,
We are in Hampton, TN. We are staying at a hostel here and originally planned on only spending last night, but we are supposed to be getting 2 inches of rain with winds up to 45mph tonight so staying in for another. The weather has been crazy! It has continued to be quite cold and was just starting to warm up but they are calling for snow tomorrow?!?
We've had some good and tough days since we left Erwin Monday AM. We left Erwin after a great FREE Easter Dinner put on by the famous "Miss Janet", a woman who will do just about anything to help a hiker out. With full tummy's we headed out Monday morning and have had 5 days of mileage in the range of 15-18/day. We ran into snow on Roan Mountain (it's above 6,000 ft) something I thought we had left behind when we left Maine. The day after Roan Mountain was just CRAZY! I have never walked in weather of this type in my life and I'm not sure I want to again. We climbed over 3-4 bald mountains (remember big and grassy) with temperatures in the 30's, wind blowing 50-70 miles per hour and rain coming at us sideways! It was a struggle just to stay on the trail and continue to climb upward. We walked from 8AM until 4:30PM in those conditions ahhhh! We made it, sorry no pictures were taken cause it was just not really possible...I did however manage to eat a pop tart while walking, but I almost went blind as the pop tart dust flew into my eyes :)

We plan to head out tomorrow morning and have ~ 2 days until we reach Damascus, VA which feels like we're really making progress.

Oh my back has been doing much better thanks to some good help from my momma and a fellow thru hiker who showed my a great yoga pose. I've improved my posture and am taking more stretch breaks.

Well as usual there are more stories, but I'm in an internet cafe that was closing when I arrived and the woman was kind enough to stay an extra 2o min for me so I've got to run. I'll post pictures next chance I get.

Love to you all!

Still in Erwin

Surviving a cold night

Ben on Big Bald

Filtering water

Fur therapy in Georgia

Hello from snowy Erwin, Tenn!

We are still here..taking a a little time to hopefully get my back feeling better and to avoid the cold.

Everyone reading please go to bed tonight telling themselves I will wake up tomorrow morning with the best feeling back on the planet.

Above are some more random photos from our trip.