NY City fun, a train ride back, then a quiet walk to the next town... Fort Montgomery, NY AT Mile 785.7 August 19, 2009

Andrew had a really fun time in NYC, and enjoyed surprising his friends. Kelly's reaction was priceless! The friends played really hard, and he sounded tired on the train ride back to Pawling, NY, late Sunday.

His trail buddy, Brunch, called him Sunday morning, and met him in NYC about lunch time. Brunch told Andrew he had decided he was going to get off the trail. Originally he and Andrew were going to meet back at the Shelter outside of Pawling, but Sunday night Andrew hiked it alone. Brunch said he was no longer enjoying his hike, so it was time to return home, college classes were starting back up, so it was a good time. Brunch brought Andrew "some trail magic" and gave him the food he'd bought since he was on his way home. Andrew wasn't able walk to a good place to resupply so he appreciated the trail kindness. Brunch - if you read this - email me and I'll bake you a batch of cookies as a "thank you".

Andrew shared with me that it was hard heading out Monday when plans changed, but by lunch he was feeling better, and by night fall he had fallen back into the rhythm of the trail. Tuesday morning he woke up ready to go, and glad to be back on his journey. I asked did he still want to continue hiking, and he said "definitely!" He said, "I'm not finished with the trail, and the trail is not finished with me."


Today, the trail cut thru town, so Andrew was quick to make his mail pick- up, have a Bar-b-que lunch, a quick call home then on his way toward Unionville, NY. He should make Unionville before the PO closes on Sat. the 22nd. He laughed, and said he "blew out another pair of liner socks" and realized the next resupply town was probably up to a week away. One thing about Andrew, he is resourceful and I'm sure he'll make-do! :-)

Happy Summer Days,
Mom / Harriet

New York City!!! August 12 - 16, 2009 (no AT mile markers here...)

Andrew hopped off the trail Tuesday night just outside Pawling, NY to shower up, do his laundry, pick up the clothes we had mailed to him so he could catch the train to New York City... He has been planning this surprise trip to see Kelly, and several other friends that were meeting up for a few days before they all headed off to Grad School. Kelly and Julie arrived by bus (from D.C.) Thursday, about midnight, and others arrive today, more will join them tomorrow. Andrew didn't post to the Spot, because he didn't want the friends to catch on, but his Dad and I have talked to him each day, and have enjoyed his adventures.

He made it into 'the City' Wednesday afternoon, bought a map, and has discovered it is a terrific place! Can't wait to see his pictures and find out all the places he's visited. Two college friends share an apartment in NYC and were gracious to allow the doorman let Andrew in to their apartment when he arrived so he didn't have to carry his pack around all day. Besides, there are a lot of places that just wouldn't understand that a knife or fuel for a camping stove as something one typically carries for their day... all things to consider.

Andrew was up early, and wandered over to The Today Show Thursday morning. NBC didn't catch him on their camera, but he had a fun time watching it all. I teased him and suggested he should have gone with a poster that said "I walked 750 miles to be here and wave hello !" Always quick witted, Andrew said he "was looking for that poster board he had in his pack, but couldn't find it yet." I told him it probably got soggy in Maine - where he had 20 days of rain :-).

Andrew will take the train out Sunday, picking up his place where he departed the AT .

Happy trails,
Mom / Harriet

33% complete!! Kent, CT AT Mile 722.5 August 9, 2009

Andrew logged in at Kent, CT last night. He is exactly 1/3 the way on his journey. He called from Salisbury, CT the day before and was happy, healthy, and having a wonderful brunch, getting ready to resupply, and head out. I asked for more journal pages, and his camera card to be mailed since we are now up to date - except for a few photo captions...

Thanks for all the interest on his whereabouts. So far, all is well :-)

Mom/ Harriet

Journal June 30, 2009 (Tues.)Trail Day 21

So where was I?
Oh yes, thunder and lightning.

So we decided the best course of action would be going back to Stratton to dry out and try again the next day. As we are heading down, the hail comes. It wasn't big - it was HUGE! (kinda. Anything is huge when you're stuck in the middle without cover). Well, we make it down to the road and called Sue from the Stratton Motel to come pick us up. We were so bummed out that the mountain beat us, but glad to be okay. Back in Stratton, we grabbed come Wolf Burgers (1/2 lb. hamburger, sausage patty, bacon, swiss, mushroom, lettuce, tomato, onions, and a big side of fries) and more beer (not too much) and have a low-key movie night while our stuff dried out.

The next day we head out at 8:30 and talk about how bad it felt to re-hike that portion of trail for a third time. The rest of our day was fairly uneventful until we got to the Carabassett River. The Carabassett drains Crocker and Sugarloaf mountains (we had come down Crocker and wanted to go up and over Sugarloaf) and because of all the rain from the last 2 days, it was now swollen. I'm talking mega flows; what was typically a Class I rapid was now a Class III+.
Needless to say we weren't going to cross it and couldn't find a calmer place up or downstream to cross. So we headed back 1 mile to teh Crocker Cirque Campsite. We were all discouraged because of the amount of backtracking and lack of progress over the last couple days.

It has rained off and on since I left Monson and it is starting to wear me down. Yesterday and the 28th it rained for the better part of 2 days and the sun hasn't come out for more than a couple hours and it has been cold!
Yesterday it poured starting the night before and then all day. The trail was a creek with water up to our knees at some areas and the mud is ridiculous. I went up and over Saddleback Mountain yesterady which had 3 miles of exposed ridgeline and the wind and rain was crazy. It reminded me of when I was on Katahdin, only wetter. Yesterday was pretty high on the suck factor - it just wore me down, having to go back into town so soon, but it was nice to know I could warm up, dry out, re-stock, and sleep in a real bed for the first time since Monson. I stayed at the Gull Pond Lodge with Brunch, BK, Snacks, and a NOBO named Easy Going. Pirate stayed at the lean-to right outside of town and will be in later to check mail and resupply. Back on the trail late - it's nice to take it easy in town - and 9 miles to the next lean-to. More bad weather expected.

Love you guys and hi to all.

Zombie

Journal June 27, 2009 Trail Day 18 (Sat.)

Sorry it's been so long.
Stratton has been a disaster! Everything was fine on Thursday when we left Horns Pond and got a ride into town. I got a 16" pizza with pepperoni and pineapple for $13 and a 6-pack to wash it down, did laundry, and hung out. I got some items from the bump box and made my food list. I also got to talk to Mom and Dad. (Mom...if you make me more cookies, how 'bout throwing a few Dad's and Scott's way?) But I missed [talking to] Kelly.
I stayed at the Stratton Motel with the group of guys from Horns Pond Lean-tos, but because Pirate and I got there later we got the two couches - no biggie, they were long enough ane softer than the lean-to floors. We were supposed to leave Friday morning at 9:00 AM but didn't get on the road 'till 10:30 because nobody was really ready to go. I got Kelly's letter Friday morning (thought it wasn't going to come in time) and sent her a letter - it was a bit rushed and all over the place but I got it out. Then we headed out to the trail.
BK & Snacks, +1, Pirate, Owl/Brunch and I were going to hike to a campsite about 7 miles in becaues of our late start. We felt the lean-to 13 miles away would have us coming into camp too late. Aloebar/Stratton Outlaw was too hungover (that's why he got the new name "Stratton Outlaw") and Clownshoes had to go to Rangeley to buy a new pack. Outlaw and Clownshoes were going to yellowblaze it to a different spot and hike back a mile to meet up with the group.
So the other 6 of us start hiking and after about 4 miles, Brunch shows up and says he's been to the summit and the weather looks bad. As soon as he says that, it starts raining. So we keep hiking about 1/2 mile in some pretty hard rain and then the lightning starts. We were close to the summit and pretty exposed. The lightning and thunder was not only all around us, but it was right above us. We had a problem: do we hike down to better cover, or should we spread out and get on our packs to insulate us from a strike (hopefully)?
We decided to hike down but act fast, if our hair got tingly. The thunder was right on top of us, there was anywhere from 1/2-10 seconds between lightning and thunder - meaning it was anywhere from 0-2 miles away and it was not moving.
Well, I'm beat and will have to finish tomorrow.

Zombie

P.S. Spoiler alert! We did survive.