The Mosquitos have arrived!

Hi all,

We're almost in Vermont! We had a wonderful time visiting Aunt Alice. Thanks for all the delicious food and good company:) Aunt Alice had all our favorites (grilled salmon, vegetables, and cinnamon chex cereal;) It was a great break from trail life and some of the best food we've had on our journey so far.

We need to average 18 miles everyday in order to make our Sept 2nd deadline, which will be a challenge especially in the rocky whites. So we will probably be updating the blog even more infrequently! 

We're in Dalton Mass, 620 miles to go!!! Connecticut was scorching hot, Massachusetts is rainy and buggy, but we're glad we're in the North, because as the Mountains get taller the views get more spectacular. 

I'm getting kicked off the Comp, gotta go, more stories to follow...

The Twins

Only 799.9 to go!

Hi everyone,

We haven't had Internet for the last couple of weeks, but now we're in New York!!  We have less than 800 miles to go till Maine:)

Since we've last updated the blog we've now hiked through all of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey!!  Pennsylvania was a true rock hell; everyone was happy to cross the PA border, so our feet would get a rest from the rocks. The first day we crossed into NJ we saw 4 bears.  Supposedly, there is a bear every square mile in NJ!   Here's a pic of one of them!

We made it halfway!  Such a dorky sign.

Another rock scramble in PA!

The AT is gorgeous! 

A break on the fire tower, so worth the extra climb!

Sometimes, Becky and I feel like we're wildlife sightings.  After talking to a couple of tourists and explaining the thru-hiker experience, a lot of them ask if they can take our picture.  You can just imagine them telling stories about their pictures, and here we saw a bear, and here we have two smelly thru-hikers.  It's hilarious, because people are always so shocked to hear our story.  We met one couple in a state park, who handed us a handful of candy.  I know we were always taught not to take candy from strangers, but on the AT everyone just wants to help you reach your goal of hiking to Maine.

We have also gone a bit crazy on the trail.  We now make up songs in order to motivate, LOL.  Here's a sample song to the song "The ants to Marching 1 by 1"

The Twins go marching one by one! Hoorah, Hoorah!
The Twins go marching one by one! Hoorah, Hoorah!
The Twins go marching one by one!
Maple stops to bathe in the sun!
And they all go marching down,
The trail, and on, to Katahdin!

It's been really really hot lately, so we've been going a bit slower.  We've also been taking breaks at many of the state parks that the AT travels through!  They offer swing sets, beaches along lakes, vending machines with candy, free showers... oh its a great oasis for thru-hikers. 

The mosquitoes and ticks have become ruthless.  We now know at least 6 people who have gotten Lyme's disease.  The mosquitoes are great motivators to keep moving.  If you walk to slow, you spend more time slapping mosquitoes off your arms and legs, then moving forward, so sometimes its best to half run down the trail:)

Hope you all are doing well!!
Best,
The Twins (Oak and Maple)