The Boys Are Back In Town...

Well, almost back in town that is.

Serious days of hiking have been going on as they get close to home. I think Porter is looking forward to sleeping in his own bed and visiting family and friends. They will be in Bennington, VT on Thursday and they will take the vehicle I left for them to drive home. If anyone is interested, Pace and Porter will be at Brown's Brewing Co. in Troy at 6PM on Thursday, June 30 so feel free to stop in and say "hello" if you want.

Here is a little of what has been happening. Thank you Aleks for meeting the guys for some serious trail magic. Here is what Aleks wrote about his meet-up with Pace and Porter.

June 20, 2011

"The bear photo is from the zoo.

The pool picture was taken right on the AT as we entered the zoo.

We met up around 10 AM  they told me they had gotten up at 5 AM and hiked in 9 miles going over Bear Mountain to reach the drop location. I have never seen a dozen doughnuts disappear so fast between three people. For the first half hour their concentration was on food, coffee and OJ.

We had a great time at the zoo and afterwards I drove them to a hotel near by. They where able to get a room and we had lunch that I brought mostly sandwiches and chips. I also brought along some treats, candy and snacks for the trail along with a resupply of zip lock bags and hopefully enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

Funny on how almost everything on the trail revolves around food."

-Aleks  a/k/a "Fix"

Deva, Porter, Pace relax with donuts and coffee with Aleks.

They passed through New York State into Connecticut on June 23.

New York - Connecticut border sign. Mile 1452.5 - 1250 ft. elevation

Lions Head Mountain, CT mile 1492 - 1738 ft. elevation

 On June 26th, they started early and crossed into Massachusetts. They had some beautiful views off the mountain where they were higher than the clouds.

Early morning view in MA.

On Sunday Dreamer played trail angel again and met with Porter, Pace, & Deva in Great Barrington, MA. While I was waiting, there were two thru-hikers that were waiting for a third to meet them. They had to cross a highway so I offered them homemade triple chocolate chip cookies. They seemed to appreciate them. Once the three hikers were together, I drove them to a deli that was a mile or so down the road. They seemed pretty happy to have trail magic.

It was good to see our hikers again and after some Gatorade and cookies we drove to a local hotel were I had reserved rooms for the night.

A few of Porter's work friends came for a visit and we all had lunch and hung out at the Barrington Brewery and Restaurant. Thanks Mike for lunch. The food was fantastic and the craft beer was tasty.

Dreamer, Doug, Porter, Pace, Mike, and Gerry

The last two days Pace, Porter and Deva have been hiking 30-mile days. Porter told me "I want to get home to Dreamer". That's something...90 miles in three days. They are strong determined hikers that's for sure.

• 6/27 Great Barrington, MA to Upper Goose Pond Cabin, elevation 1483. 30 miles
• 6/28 They hiked 30 miles to Cheshire, MA and are staying at St. Mary of the Assumption Church. They had to check in with the priest. (Talk about trail angels!)There are two hiker rooms, restrooms and an outside cooking area. There isn't any laundry or showers, but they have a good place to stay tonight. The doors are locked by 9:30 p.m. so it is an early night for all.

Pace has a new backpack from Hyperlite Mountain Gear, custom made for him. It came just in time as his last pack has given up the ghost and was causing some major blisters and rubbing problems on his shoulders. Pace is testing out a new pack and it has specially made straps that are wider and thicker than the packs Deva and Porter are using. Mike at Hyperlite took into consideration Pace's pacemaker. The pack looks like it fits him great.

Deva, Pace, & Porter back on the AT - Great Barrington, MA 6/27

 

Deva, Pace, and Porter show off their Hyperlite Mountain Gear backpacks. Keeping it light is how they can hike 30 miles in a day.

Deva is an official tester for Hyperlite, check out the blog.

I am looking forward to having my husband home for a couple of nights. Maybe he will mow the lawn and weed whack while he is here? Now that's a nice dream for Dreamer.

SPOT the GPS was on strike for a few days but seems to have decided to get back to work and is now sending messages again. Porter thinks SPOT was just getting tired of the trail life and didn't care if it had new batteries. SPOT was just tired this week. Don't forget, you can click on the title at the top for a larger map.

Porter and Pace Appalachian Trail 6/28/11

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Until next time, happy trails!

Ground Control a/k/a Dreamer

New York, New York...it's a wonderful town...but the trail is better!

This past week has been busy with work for me and hiking for our fearless heroes Pace and Porter. On Thursday Dreamer went to the "big city" for a board meeting and then a great fundraiser for the Preservation League of New York State. I did a little "hiking" on the High Line in New York City. It is a great elevated park that was an old rail line. If you get to NYC it' worth a visit.

The best part of my trip to the city was that I knew I was going to see the guys the next day. The original plan was to meet them at a specific trail head and then I would hike into the shelter and stay over night with them. Best laid plans don't always work out the way you expect. There was a large storm system over the area with heavy rains and lots of lightning. Porter called me to say that they would stay a bit longer in the shelter Friday morning and I should meet them around 11AM to pick them up. With coordinates entered into my car's GPS unit, I was spot-on finding the trail head.

To kill time, I put on some purple nail polish, whacked a deer fly that had the nerve to bite me, and talked to a couple of day hikers. Finally, across the field they came - Porter in the lead with a big smile and a welcoming hug for me. I met Deva and got a big hug from my old pal Pace. It was so great to see them looking so good. I shared some home made chocolate-chocolate chip cookies that disappeared fast. (Except for the batch I accidentally made with Southwestern style Eggbeaters - woops, was that a red pepper in that cookie? Deva liked them though.)

View of the turnstile, our hikers in the distance.

Here they come!

We found a hotel in Chester, NY about 15 minutes away and stayed the night. As the designated trail angel that weekend, Porter and I picked up three other thru-hikers that he had wanted to reconnect with. Upstate, Caboose, and Loop Hole had gotten stuck in the big rain storm earlier that afternoon and were thrilled when Porter asked if they would like to come and stay at the hotel with us.

Loop Hole, Caboose, & Upstate (Caboose and Upstate are married.)

On Friday night Porter, Pace, Deva, and I went to the Lobster Pier where we celebrated my birthday. Porter then resupplied at the grocery store across the road and Deva went to a local fair that was also across the street in the parking lot.

Deva and her friend on a ride at the fair.

On Saturday, I dropped Porter, Pace, and Deva back at the same location I had picked them up at the day before. The timing was perfect because in came "AT Royalty", 501. If you remember, the guys met 501 back toward the start of their hike. He is the man that wrote the AT guide Porter and Pace are using.

Since I was going to meet them all at another trail head, Deva and 501 emptied pretty much everything out of their backpacks except water and food and "slack packed" 15 miles. It was a treat for them to have a light pack.

Deva, Pace, 501 and Porter as they start their 15 mile hike.

Meanwhile, it was back to the hotel to pick up Upstate and friends to bring them back to their trail head to start their day of hiking. It was great meeting these hikers. Keep up the great work everyone!

Loop Hole, Caboose, and Upstate   (Caboose and Upstate are married.)

With time to kill before I met Porter, Pace, Deva, & 501 at another trail head, I went shopping for a deluxe trail dinner of cold cuts, cheeses, and bread with S'mores for dessert. I hiked in 2.1 miles with Porter and crew to Wildcat Shelter. We had our feast and then I played my Irish tin whistle for them. They applauded, but I think they were just being nice. ;-)

Porter, Dreamer, and Pace sampling the spread for dinner.

Dreamer, Pajamas, Deva, and 501 at Wildcat Shelter in NYS.

The weather was mild Saturday night and the bugs were fine until around 4:00 a.m. when the mosquitoes decided to dive bomb all of us. Pace gave up and put up his tent outside the shelter. Strangely enough, when he left, they all followed him and stopped bugging us. Thanks Pace for taking one for the team.

Saturday morning we all packed up. Unfortunately Dreamer could only dream about hiking with the guys as we split at the trail head and went in opposite directions. Pace and Porter heading north and Dreamer heading south and back to her car.

I have more to write about but since this is already long, I'll finish it later this week.

Next up: Trail Angel Alex!

Diva, Alex, Pace & Porter. We will hear more about Alex this week.

Happy trails,

Ground Control a/k/a Dreamer

Don't forget you can click on the title at the top for a larger map.

Porter and Pace Appalachian Trail 6/21/11

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Rocksylvania

Porter and Pace have been hiking Pennsylvania, affectionately known as "Rocksylvania" because of the rocky trail.

This is part of the trail they had to hike on.

Porter and Deva taking a rest.

Pace & Deva negotiate the rocky trail. Can you find the white blaze?

Now you are probably wondering who Deva is. She is a 23 year old woman that decided to take on the trail alone. After hiking with several other people, she settled in hiking with Pace and Porter. She can keep up with the "old men', as she like put it. She likes to rub it in about how old they are. I guess when you are 23 years old, 40 and 47 does sound OLD.... Of course, to people who are in elementary school, 23 sounds OLD doesn't it?

Last week when Porter was visiting me, Pace had the best trail magic and trail angels yet. His parents came to visit for the weekend.

Kip and Anita Stratton at Bass helping Pace resupply.

Pace said he had a wonderful time visiting with his folks.

Pulpit's Rock - Deva, Pace & Porter mile 1215.8 - 1600 ft elevation.

The view from Pulpit's Rock

There is a trail log book in here. Hikers should sign in as they go past.

Deva wonders which way to go. It says the AT trail goes that way, but there is a "No Trespassing" sign.  It's a dilemma.

Pennsylvania has not been a very scenic part of the trail but they still have come across some interesting things. Snakes have been seen a lot including two copperheads. They also came across a wonderful  turtle and a nest of baby birds.

Copperhead Snakes - checking them out from a distance.

A friendly Eastern Box Turtle.

Nest of baby Robins.

As usual Porter and Pace have found many trail angles and wonderful people along the way. Recently they stayed at the Blue Mountain Summit Restaurant and B&B. They asked the B&B owner if he had a special rate for thru-hikers. He said he did! It would cost more because hikers stink! Pace and Porter became fast friends with this man even though he kept threatening to throw them out of the B&B. He was kidding with them and they enjoyed his company until late that night.

Porter, Ken the B&B owner, Deva and Pace

Porter said they like to catch live music when they have a chance since there isn't much of that on the trail. They listened to Christy Jefferson that night and she played some Irish music for Porter.

Porter, Deva, Christy (singer) and Pace

On Sunday they passed through an area that had been devastated many years ago by zinc smelting. The smoke fumes killed off all the vegetation. Even today there is strong evidence of pollution from the smelting process. They had to be very careful where they got their water as some of the water supply is polluted.

Devastation from zinc smelting causing pollution in the area. It will take many more years to recover.

Where they have been this past week:

• 6/9/11 -  Hamburg, PA - resupply - mile 1208.1 elevation 430
• 6/10/11: Eckville Shelter - it had a shower toilets and best of all...pizza delivery! mile 1223.3, elevation, 600 ft.
• 6/11/11: Blue Mountain Summit Restaurant and B&B - clean beds, showers, and live music.
• 6/12/11: Palmerton JAIL! - well, it was supposed to be a jail but it never was used as one. The town lets hikers use it as a hostel. Porter says it was was in the basement of a building and was loud and echoed. Must be fun to sleep in with a lot of people snoring...not.
• 6/13/11: Delaware Water Gap, PA resupply, mile 1284.4 elevation 520. This is a big resupply for the team. Deva is getting a new backpack from Hyperlite and she is testing it for the company. Pace & Porter are getting new stuff sacks for their gear. Porter had to get another backpack and ordered one from Hyperlite. He's looking forward to testing it out. He is also on another pair of shoes. (He really needs to take better care of his shoes.)

Porter is on his 4th pair of shoes. Here are some pictures of the ones he threw away at Delaware Water Gap.

Porter's shoe pulling away from the sole.

Porter's shoe...looks like an old fashion hobo shoe to me.

This morning Burt was a trail angel and picked up the gang to start their day back on the trail. Thanks Burt for taking care of our hikers!

Deva, Burt, and Porter. Thanks for the ride!

Porter and Pace Appalachian Trail 6/13/11

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Happy Trails,

Ground Control a/k/a Dreamer

Dreamer gets a surprise!

Just a quick map update. The guys are in PA and after a long weekend of visiting family, they were off again.  Pace's parents arrived in Duncannon, PA on Friday to visit for the weekend. Since Pace and Porter were off the trail, Porter made a surprise visit to me! It was wonderful to have my husband back home for the weekend.

Porter surprises Dreamer. An early surprise for her birthday that's on 6/14.

Of course, it was too short a visit but the trail calls to him. Off he went on Sunday morning to meet back up with Pace in a rented Lincoln, the only car they had available in Duncannon. On Monday they started at the same white blaze they ended with on Friday.

The break allowed several other people they have been hiking with to catch up. 

Pace hikes through a farm field. They wear bug spray to keep the ticks away.

I will have some more pictures later on this week. My schedule is a bit hectic so I hope you all will be a little patient for a better update.

Porter and Pace Appalachian Trail 6/7/11

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Happy Trails,

Ground Control a/k/a Dreamer