Oh, we finished

Hi,

I don't know if anyone has or will check here again, but I figure I can't let this blog exist any longer without some confirmation.

WE MADE IT!

On July 27th of 2015 the Safety Committee summitted Baxter Peak and successfully finished the trail.

You can see a video of it all here.

And if you see this in time we'll be talking about our trip alongside Jim Haskell (who wrote a book about his section hike) at the Falmouth Historical Society on June 16th. Come thru, it should be a blast.

And uhhhhh.... thats all for now folks.


Maybe I'll try this whole blog thing again for the next big hike. Maybe I'll post more. Maybe. :)

Saddleback

Hi,

Today we're on Saddleback mountain, pushing our way north into Maine. By the end of the day today well have less the two hundred to go. We've had good weather, and despite being rugged and challenging maine continues to be some of the best hiking on the trail.

We are getting to the point that the end is in sight. We've planned a mail drop for Monson before the hundred mile wilderness and are looking at submitting katahdin in 12 days.

See you all then

June, New Hampshire, Family

Hi guys,

First of all, I'd like to make a huge shout out to the 249 of you that viewed this blog in the past month, despite there being no fresh content for the past 29 days. This sort of support inspires me to write a post, even after almost a full month of radio silence. Also a shoutout to Johnny for calling me out on not writing a post and inspiring me to write this one. Lastly, shout out to the fam for coming to visit these past couple of days, and to all the Safety Committee family members who have supported us in the past month.

We've had a pretty crazy time in the past 29 days. We finished Connecticut, where Gary and Johnny gave us an excellent evening of trail magic. We climbed bear mountain and Mt. Everette into Massachusetts in good weather. In MA we met Brett's family for some more support. Shout out Grandma Anne and Aunt Suzanne for putting us up, cleaning us up, and for Teo's franks in Pittsfield. In North Adams Mass we met Michaela and Anthony who hooked us up with some of that Mario Kart 8, Netflix, and an impromtu tour of MCLA. OH, and they even were able to swing us a ride home too (and a shoutout to Ian for the ride back out west)! Michaela was headed home for her dad's retirement on the exact day we happened to show up; and a friend headed from the exact town we were in in western mass, to exactly the town we were headed too on cape, and back to western mass exactly the same day was to good to pass up. We zooped home with her, met all three families (and the rest of the camper crew) and left back for the trail in less than 24 hours. Shout out to all involved there!

And then we entered Vermont (or Ver-mud). The trail was muddy, but we persevered. We got a lot of KFC in Bennington and met the Depolo's near Rutland. (shout out to them, the dogs, and moby). That took us to Hanover (which is New Hampshire). In Hanover we met up with Showshoes (now keytar or man cannon) and the pub club whom we associated with for a short while. We met Lexi and Kelly who put us up on their floor in their apartment, and saw Savannah, a friend from home. From Hanover we have hiked towards the whites, and in the past couple of days into the whites. We climbed Moosilauke in strong winds (video coming up on Youtube) and descended into Kinsman Notch, We hitched into North Woodstock where we met the Demanches (or my parents, its me writing) and have been with them since, I'm writing this on my moms laptop right now! So Cool!


Now we move forward, and away from the cluster of support that has coaxed us through the first half of New England. By the end of independence day we will have climbed Washington, and all familiar trail will be behind us. We move towards the brutal and awesome hills of southern Maine, the vastness of the 100 mile wilderness, and the finality on Katahdin. It seems so close, yet still 375 miles over the course of another month of backpacking through some of the most rugged terrain yet. From here we hike away from home. We're stoked.


Anyways. Ttfn. I'm hoping the redditors on the trail post hasnt forgotten us (reddit.com/r/appalachiantrail). I'm hoping you all havent forgotten us either. I swear its nothing personal, writing this blog just has the worst habit of getting away from me (us, but really just me), Maybe all the attention we've been getting face to face has had too much effect and the solitude that looms approaching will inspire us (me) to write more. MAybe the next post will be from Baxter SP and that we've completed it all. Who knows.


Here's a video of what its like to cross over the half mile bald summit of mt moosilauke in 70-80 mph wind gusts http://youtu.be/jfALo8Crhkc

heres a video of frodo and hozzle jumping into the white river https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrlUYNTXlu8

aaaaaaand thats most of it. Like I've always said, I'll try to write more in the future. I can assure you all we are getting as much out of the whole entire experience as we can. More than I could ever express in a blog. More than I or we will ever be able to explain. Probably more than we will ever understand. Still, I'll try to go less than 29 days this time, even if its just a location.

Cheers,

Cap't Tying Knots

CT

Hey,

We're in Connecticut as of last night. Today we're making way to Kent to resupply. Then just a couple days to Massachusetts where hozzle claims to have family or something. Sweeeeeeeeet.

It's not raining anymore, which is cool.

See you all later.

NJ Border

Hi guys,

This morning we expect to finish New Jersey and begin to take on the great state on New York. Apparently there is a spot today that we can see the NYC skyline which sounds cool. It's very humid and buggy. I miss the biting cold.

Anyways, my mom said I should try to do more blog posts even if they're shorter so this is one of those. Sam is terribly slow at getting ready in the morning so I'm just taking advantage of that to send this out. Uhhhh I think that about covers it. Oh, and  totally stoked to see the folks in a couple days.

Ttfn
Mike

Delaware water gap

Hi,

This morning we're in Delaware Water Gap which is right on the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We spent the night at the Presbyterian Church of the Mountain Hostel and ate pizza. We're glad to be done with Pennsylvania. The state has been moderately rocky, exceptionally flat, and generally boring. We're looking forward to getting on to new England where we can start looking for actual mountains to climb.

It was really nice to see Matt this past week. I was really glad to have my brother around for a couple of nights. Thanks so much for the hotel, food, ride to Walmart, and slack packing. We're also super excited that the folks might be coming down in the next week.

Asides family visits we have been working hard to save money on this trip. Since it has gotten warm and we have checked our bank accounts we have been much more thrifty in our style of hiking. We've avoided all hotels, and most hostels. Since early Virginia we have spent almost no money on anything but food. It's a neat challenge to try to stretch out our money after we blew most of it in the first couple months. We are out here after all to live on the wilderness, bathing in rivers and sleeping in tents is a big part of that.

The rocks have just about destroyed my shoes. Both Cascadias have big holes on either side of the toe box. The tread is holding up though, I bet they have a couple hundred miles left in them. Especially so if we make it out of the rocks and on to easier trail. My jetboil has also failed. I've been using my partners' stoves in the meanwhile while I try to sort things out with  JB.

Aaaaand I think that's most of it. Oh,  yesterday was our the month anniversary,so that's neat. We're faster, leaner, and way more low budget than when we started, but it almost feels like we're getting close. Less than 900 to go.

Cheers,

Captain Tying Knots

Waynesboro (totally forgot about the blog, woops)

Listen to Wayesboro at Virginia by Mike Demanche #np on #SoundCloud http://soundcloud.com/mike-demanche/wayesboro-at-virginia