Hey, I’m finally here writing my post-trail blog post I promised. I’ve been enjoying my house and all the luxuries of home life ALOT and have procrastinated this longer than I had hoped to.

After summitting Mt. Katahdin, Lance’s parents came and picked us up and then next day, Monday we traveled back home. We were so happy to see them again and were so grateful for the time they took out of their schedule to come pick us up. The next few days we gradually got a few things moved into our house and enjoyed getting to see family and friends again! Lance took the remainder of the week off and went back to work on Monday. I plan to be home over the winter and work on my little side business of selling decor products to some of the stores in the local area. We are really enjoying the last few weeks of finding our new normal here at home again. Post-trail depression is a big deal from what we heard so I’ve been kind of bracing myself for that but so far I haven’t wished to be back out on the trail too much. We have had a lot of rain here the last bit and I’m just ok with sitting in my house and watching it from inside. We have missed the people from the trail and have felt nostalgic about our trail experience but I’m still just really loving living in my house again.

Things we have learned from our trip….
A lot of you have asked “so what are some of the things you learned from your trip?”. After living out in the woods and hiking for 6 months you don’t come back the exact same person as you left. This experience changes a persons thinking, perspective, and lifestyle patterns. Here’s a list of a few of the things I personally learned out on the trail: (I did do an instagram post with some of these so sorry for being repetitive).

— I really learned to appreciate the simple things of life. (conveniences such as running water, flush toilets, a fridge and a kitchen again.)

— I love being in the outdoors and getting fresh air. Running is one of my favorite ways so I have incorporated morning runs outside into my routine ( i don’t do too well with a treadmill anymore)

— Life can be simplistic. It’s not as complicated as I once made it to be. Don’t get me wrong…Life is really tough and things are not always simple, I have just learned a few ways to make the hard things in my life less complicated and confusing.

— I am in control of my own happiness. No “because of that situation or that person I can’t be happy”. Such a freeing truth.

— GO chase your dreams!! Don’t wait for the perfect time, when you have more money, or when your less busy. Planning is super important but take action somehow on that dream of yours!

— Even on the rainy days there is beauty. Might be really hard to find but it’s there.

–One thing I came back from the trail passionate about is taking a closer look at my life and getting rid of as much anxiety and stress as I can. When I was out on the trail, with the exception of a few times, I basically had zero stress and was the happiest person I ever was before. I struggle alot with certain types of anxiety and so I promised myself to keep my schedule over the winter very basic and not too busy. I’m trying to be more intentional with the things I do say “Yes” to instead of just making myself busy by saying “Yes” to everything.

— The trail has also taught me the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Eating healthier, daily exercise, and plenty of sleep make me feel like a brand new happy person!

— The trail brings to light more of who you are…the bad and the good. It intensifies your personality and emotions so there were things that came up that we learned about ourselves and each other. It was helpful in having to face it and actually have to deal with the negative emotions that came up. It was also exciting to find out more of what I love and what makes me happy too. There is definitely a level of self-discovery that happens out there that is beneficial.

— Our relationship as a couple grew…We learned so much together and created so many fun and beautiful memories that will last a lifetime.  It was so amazing to have the other person to share the hard times with and also celebrate the beautiful moments.❤️

— Self-confidence. I hesitate to even mention this one because I really have only made a tiny baby step in the right direction on this. I have a long way to go yet with this. I still have many ways I struggle with self-sabotaging habits and thought patterns but I celebrate the small steps I have made in this are of my life. I like to tell myself “If I can hike the whole Appalachian Trail, I can do _______”. (Fill in the blank with whatever is hard or I think I can’t do) I can do hard things, I have value, and have something to offer the world. So do YOU!❤️

Currently, we still have probably 70% of our stuff still in our shed. We got the basics like a sofa, bed, dresser set, and most of the kitchen stuff moved in. Its a bit overwhelming dealing with all our ‘stuff’ after living with so little.  Lance has spent the last 2 weeks rebuilding a boiler and putting new heat into our house so thats taken up a lot of his time he has had outside of work. It’s been a pretty crazy schedule since we got back because with being gone for so long there’s a lot of catch up to do.
Our bodies are still very sore…I’m surprised how much it hurts to climb stairs or get up after sitting awhile. I’ve heard though it may take a few more months. We are pretty much caught up on sleep though and are adjusting to a new routine and I’m really really loving it!

I’ve been thinking about my next blog post and what it will be about.  I’m considering doing a blog post on hiking together as a couple and how that was for us.  I also would love to do a questions/answers post…there’s so much I could talk about with our trail experience and I’m sure there’s many things I don’t think to mention or talk about so if any of you have any questions feel free to ask them and if I get enough, I’ll put together a blog post answering questions you have.  You can ask the questions in the comments, FB comments on our page, or private message me if your friends on FB with us.

Thanks for all your support and for following along!

-Marlisa

Our summit day!!! It’s hard to believe it’s finally here!

We were up bright and early of course because who can even sleep on such an exciting day!? We packed up our tent and ate a little breakfast before heading down to the rangers station. We left everything from our packs there that we didn’t need and just took food, water, and a few extra layers of clothes with us.  Our packs were amazingly light!  We took off and started up the mountain around 7:30. We had a nice day to hike…no rain and mostly clear.  There were quite a few day hikers too since it is a pretty popular mountain and it was a nice day out.  The first 2-1/2 miles were pretty easy…it was below tree line and there was some rock climbing but nothing too intense. It was cold though so we had to watch out for ice. There would be what looked like wet footprints on the rocks but it had frozen and turned to a thin layer of ice. Everything was wet and icy and sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between water and ice.

It was special that we got to hike and summit with our good friend, Brock the last day.  We had left a bit earlier than him this morning but he soon caught up and we hiked together the rest of the way.

After about 2-1/2 miles we got above tree line.  It became incredibly steep and rocky…we had rock boulder climbing…kind of like Mahoosic Notch except going up hill. There was 3/4 mile of it that was extremely tedious. With us being above tree line it was also very windy and cold. We were bundled up well with most of our warm clothing so we didn’t get too cold.  We were so happy for a beautiful clear day to summit! The views we had above tree line were amazing.

Often as we were climbing over some of the larger boulders, Lance would climb up first and then give me his hand so I would have something to grab onto and be able to pull myself up.  One of the times when we were doing that, my foot slipped and I slammed my knee into the rock. He pulled me up and I just remember it hurting so bad I could hardly move. I just laid over the rock and remember mumbling something to him about fainting and a few seconds later I passed out. He said I was only out for around 10 seconds. I came to again feeling pretty sick to my stomach and kind of confused the first few seconds. I told the others to go on and that I just needed a few minutes. Lance sat with me and made sure I was ok and made me drink and eat a little something. I’m assuming I passed out due to just sheer exhaustion, lack of food, and then the pain of hitting my knee.  We are so excited to finish and our bodies are running on adrenaline so I probably was just pushing myself too hard. After a few minutes I felt a lot better.  The others were waiting up ahead taking a snack break. We ate a bit more but soon got back to hiking. We all were so excited to summit and see the sign that that’s all we could think about…we are so close! We got to what is called the tablelands…the last mile or two flattened out a bit more and the terrain was much less rocky. It was so windy and cold though…we had a windchill of 0 degrees so we were thankful for every layer we had on. Closer to the top of the mountain everything was covered in a heavy frost and looked sooo beautiful and magical!

It’s hard to describe all the emotions and feelings as we kept getting closer and could finally see the summit.  It was an overwhelming and emotional moment when we finally reached the summit. WE MADE IT!!  We of course got all the Katahdin photos and were just so so happy to have made it to this milestone! The reality of it just doesn’t sink in right away.  I remember back to when this all was just a dream…When we were working so hard for 1-1/2 years saving up and planning everything out just hoping we could actually start. And then we made it Amicalola Falls and actually started. I remember thinking “I hope we can at least make it a week!” Then after a week passed…”A month…at least a month”.  Then once we hit the 1,000 mile marker I was so happy we had made it to that point. We just kept taking one day at a time and eventually we made it to the end!!!  It’s hard to actually believe we did it and that this journey is suddenly over.  Now what?? The 5 miles back down the mountain were filled with “We actually did this!” “I can’t believe it”. Many times I found myself just smiling and smiling and just trying to grasp the reality of the last few hours. All thoughts of hunger and pain were numbed by the incredible excitement and relief that we finished our thru hike.

I would like to express many many thanks to all of you who have supported us through our journey! Many of you have encouraged us through text message, sending us boxes, coming to see us/hike with us on trail, and having us in your homes. We were overwhelmed with the generosity of those of you who had us in your home and gave us showers and good food.  We really enjoyed getting to spend time with friends and family as we hiked along the trail. There were so many offers that we couldn’t take you all up on them, especially as we went through Pennsylvania, but thank you to all of you who offered as well. We felt so loved!  Thank you so much to those of you who took time out of your busy schedules to come see us out on trail! We really enjoyed getting to hike and be with friends and family!  Thank you to all of you who so generously and lovingly supported us in many different ways!❤️  My biggest thank you goes to God!  Honestly, there are times I really didn’t think it would be possible to complete this. There were so many things that could have easily happened to keep us from having this dream come true. I almost expected something to happen because it seemed audacious to think that we could somehow be a part of that small percentage of people who complete this. I didn’t see myself as a strong person. How did we avoid getting a trail ending injury. Even before we started this trip and were just saving up…how did something else not come up to keep us from putting aside the money we needed to save up. (That usually seems to happen, right?)  All I know is that I could never have done this without God. There were so many ways we saw his hand in this and I’m overwhelmed by His faithfulness and love in giving us the strength we needed to accomplish something that may be so trivial as just a dream of ours that we had.  I got to know God in a new way out there and my faith has done some growing and I feel I know more of who I am and what I believe in a way I didn’t before.  I am excited to see how God will continue to grow us❤️

We are so happy to be back but it definitely has its adjustments. It’s hard to get right back into the busy schedule of Lance going back to work and so many social obligations when we still feel so exhausted.   Our bodies are still so sore and we still walk like we are 90 going up and down stairs!🤦🏻‍♀️ We are being welcomed back well  though with so much love from family and friends! It is sooo good to be in my house and I’m thoroughly enjoying all the luxuries I once took for granted!  We really aren’t moved in yet but we have what we need for now. I guess all the stuff we still have to move in is the stuff we don’t need??🤷‍♀️ I’m really loving the whole minimalist idea now more than ever! I plan to put another blog post out sometime on post trail adjustments and what we have been up to since we are back and some of the things we learned from the trail. Thank you for being gracious with us as we make the transition and adjustments back into normal life again.

-Marlisa

The 100 Mile Wilderness…last stretch of our journey!❤️

Sunday, October 7 – We had our last REAL meal at Shaw’s this morning before we headed out into the 100 mile wilderness.  Poet, the owner of the hostel, cooked a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, home fries, and all you can eat blueberry pancakes.   We finished packing up and making sure we had everything we needed and enough of food for the next week. We weighed our packs before we left and Lance’s pack weighed 40lbs and mine 30lbs…definitely heavy packs but for a 6 day resupply, I was surprised they weren’t heavier.  There is the option of doing a food drop in the 100 mile wilderness so you don’t have to carry all your food for that long but we decided to just spend more on getting really light food. We spoiled ourselves with Mountain House meals (something we never had on trail out here before) and some yummy soup mixes that were light and looked healthy.

We got out to the trail close to 10am and headed out. With a later start, heavy packs, and harder terrain, the going was slow and we got about 10 miles in today. We had a few river crossings too today.  The first one, Little Wilson stream we could juuust so rock hop across. The rocks were so far apart and I slipped on one as I crossed but managed to stay on the rock. The next one was just too far for me to jump…I was contemplating just jumping or if I should take me shoes off…both which seemed like impossible feats from where I was standing.  Finally Lance stood on the other rock and as I jumped, I grabbed him to keep my balance. Very generous of him to put himself in such a risky position. Amazingly, it didn’t end with us both falling in and the crossing was successful!  The second river crossing was across the Big Wilson Creek and there was no rock hopping this one. It was so cold and took a long time to get across! It was up above our knees which was the deepest river fording we had done.

We got to the Wilson Valley Lean-to and stayed there for the night.  We were the only ones in the shelter that night which was a first time experience for us. We definitely have seen a lot fewer people out here the last bit.

Monday, October 8 – We passed the 2100 mile mark today!!! Our last 100 mile marker!  There were no mile markers made along the trail so we made our own on top of the mountain with a beautiful backdrop of the colorful trees.

We set up our tent tonight by West Chairback pond in hopes of maybe seeing a moose but we didn’t see any. Later in the evening it started raining. Our tent fly leaks since the seam sealing has come off so Lance put his rain poncho on top of the tent to keep us dry.

Tuesday, October 9 – It ended up raining most of the night so Lance packed up a wet tent which added a few pounds to his pack. We went over a few mountains this morning…not as many as yesterday but we go over most of the rest of the rougher terrain today and then the last half of the 100 mile wilderness it’s less mountains and a bit flatter.

We can feel our bodies are really wearing out. Our knees and ankles hurt really bad and especially with carrying heavy packs it makes it worse. We are losing a lot of weight and feel our bones sticking out in places we didn’t remember feeling before. My back developed a bruised lump from my pack strap at one of the bones in the back and Lance’s Achilles’ tendon is really starting to hurt him. We feel so ready for real food, rest, and just some self care in general. Ever since the White Mountains, we have been pushing ourselves and really haven’t found sufficient time to care for ourselves like we had earlier on. We have to make it to Katahdin in time so we are having to make sure we do enough miles per day the last few weeks. We just hope our bodies can hold it together till we get there!

We set up our tent tonight hoping to dry it out. Rain is in the forecast tomorrow but not till later in the morning so we plan to get up early and pack up before it hits so we can keep a dry tent the rest of the way and just sleep in shelters instead. It’s supposed to be rainy most of the rest of our trip.

Wednesday, October 10 – We got up bright and early this morning before it was even light.  As we were getting packed up inside the tent, it starting raining.  In desperation to keep the tent dry, we threw everything out of the tent quick and starting taking it down. Then it poured!!! It not only got the tent soaking wet but also got a lot of the things in our packs wet as well.  We just threw things in our packs as fast as we could and tried to keep it from getting any more wet.  Then we quick changed out of our camp clothes into our hiking clothes to keep the camp ones as dry as possible, especially since we knew we were hiking in the rain and would need dry clothing at the end of the day. We gave up on the tent since water had pooled up in it by now…we squeezed as much water out as we could but even after packing it up water kept coming out of it.  By the time we were all packed up, the rain had mostly stopped.  We felt pretty upset and discouraged. We are SO tired of the rain and it was one of those mornings where it was hard to believe we will go back home and miss the trail! Fortunately, the rest of the day it didn’t rain hard and it was 70 degrees so at least it was a warm day. We had an amazing surprise when we stopped at one of the shelters today…2 mountain house meals some weekend hikers left there that they didn’t want. We were elated!! We hadn’t packed very much food per day since we were packing for so many days and were constantly hungry so we really really enjoyed those meals.

Tonight at the shelter there were a group of people that were just hiking the 100 mile wilderness section…they were super nice and made some room for us in the shelter to get out of the rain. They had a nice fire going too!  One of the guys had hiked a bit of the AT and gave us some snacks and also $40.  Again, we were just amazed at how generous people are out here and were so blessed to be a recipient of his kindness.

Thursday, October 11 – Today again, in typical AT trail fashion, it rained again…all day.  It was a 43 degree day and so it was a lot colder than yesterday and also rained pretty hard the whole day so soon after hiking we were drenched.  We had a 21 mile day to do so we got an early start and hoped the rain would maybe lighten up later in the day. It just rained so hard and we hiked as fast as we could to try to keep warm. I ran for a little to try to get my body temperature higher and then walked fast and I was able to stay relatively warm the first few hours.  Later in the morning, we stopped under a rock ledge to grab a few bites to eat. Since we knew it would rain, we had packed the snacks easily accessible so we would be able to take as short of a break as possible. Even just stopping for more than a few minutes can get so cold and take a long time to warm up again.  I put away my trekking poles again since I was too cold to use them and we started off again.  I tried running again to warm up but I had got a lot colder from stopping. Lance had just bought a poncho and I figured it’s close enough to the end I wouldn’t bother…it was working well for him and I was regretting that I hadn’t gotten one too. He had mostly gotten it to keep things in his pack dry since the ponchos cover the pack as well. At least if the quilt is dry we will be fine so that was in his pack and the most important thing to keep dry.  As we kept hiking I ran out of energy to go as fast as I needed to to stay warm and got progressively colder and colder as the day wore on. I was able to keep my hands from getting too cold but my arms were freezing cold and had partially went numb from my wrist to the elbow. I cried a lot of the day…usually the terrain is tedious enough that crying makes it impossible to hike but as weird as it sounds I was glad the terrain was easy enough I could cry and hike while it poured rain. It felt good to get some of those emotions out. Honestly, I was never so cold in all my life and this was by far the hardest day I ever experienced on trail. I faithfully journal every day but I almost just didn’t journal about this day because it was so incredibly hard and difficult to put words to it. This trail has worn me down, pushed me to my limits and what feels like far beyond my limits and breaking point sometimes.  I know though that although I might not see it right now, there is value and so much growth and strength developed from these experiences. I’m just so grateful for Lance in times like this and that we have each other to share all the hard days and beautiful days with. We have grown together so much through this whole trip! ❤️

The day did end with us stopping early at one of the shelters and Lance got a fire started where we could warm up at.  We got into dry clothing and under the cozy quilt.  He even put rocks in the fire to warm up so we could put in the bottom of our sleeping bag liners at our feet to help warm up and that did the job well. After a few hours we were all cozy and warm.

Friday, October 12 – After a day like yesterday, I thought I would just crash and be exhausted but I woke up at 1:00am and just laid there thinking about our trip and reminiscing and working through the feelings of being so excited to finish but wanting to finish out the last few days well and already having the happy, nostalgic feelings of this trip. I feel the adrenaline kicking in that people talk about. I felt so inspired…and hungry of course so later in the morning around 4am I finally got up and I made some coffee and did some journaling.

We had over 25 miles to do today since yesterday we stopped early and we could not stop short of it today. We had to get where we had planned or it would mess with our summit date we had set. Fortunately, it didn’t rain today! The terrain was a bit harder than we thought and so it was a long day with a bit of night hiking but it was pretty much our last real big day of hiking so we could throw every single ounce of energy and adrenaline we had at it. It felt so good to roll into the shelter knowing we made it!

Saturday, October 13 – We only had 3-1/2 miles to Abol Bridge. We had a beautiful view of Katahdin there! We met a couple there who had a camera on an tripod and they were zooming in on the mountain and could actually see people walking up the mountain! We finally got some more food at the little campstire there at the bridge. It was hiker food so nothing like real food but we could at least fill our stomachs. We got some cans of beef ravioli pasta in cans and heated it up and ate little cheese slices, snacks, candy and whatever else they had. We packed out a nice amount of food to enjoy at camp later since we didn’t have far to go.

We got to the Baxter Park entrance, signed in to stay at the campsite reserved for hikers, and walked the 10 miles there. It was nice easy walking by beautiful ponds…it literally was a walk in the park. We got to the campsite early around 3:30 or so.  Later in the day, we were down by the stream getting water to take back to camp when we saw a familiar face headed our way…Brock!! We knew him from back close to the beginning of our trip and it was so good to see him again!  He plans to summit tomorrow too, the same day we summit!! So exciting to summit with one of our best friends from out here! Of course everyone was too excited to get to bed early so we had a nice campfire and hung out enjoying our last evening out on trail together.

Happy Trails,

Marlisa

Monday, October 1 – Happy October!!
We hiked over the Bigelow Mountains today! Some tough terrain but we had a nice day for hiking. We went over Avery Peak, our LAST 4,000 foot mountain before we get to Katahdin! We had an amazing view up there too…one of the best on trail…AND we spotted KATAHDIN for the first time!! It somehow makes it seem within reach and getting to the point where we can feel ‘we are almost there!’
Today something extraordinarily happened when we were sitting and eating lunch. There were birds flying around pretty close, so Lance held out his hand with some peanuts and they landed on his hand and ate right out of it!! Such a cool experience to watch!

Tuesday, October 2 – This morning we started out hiking with a light drizzle of rain. The terrain today was so much better than it’s been in a really long time so we enjoyed that. We heard from a lot of people that after the Bigelow Mountains it gets a lot easier and we’ll be able to make our miles better which is really exciting.
With all the rain the last while, Lance’s feet aren’t doing the best…looks like he might have trench foot again. He drys them out in the evenings which helps but it’s exciting to think about being able to go home and take care of our feet and not worry about that anymore.
We had some amazing trail magic today! An ice chest setting by the trail FULL of homemade whoopie pies, brownies, apples, bananas, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with marshmallow creme inside too. Definitely the BEST ice chest find out here!
As the day progressed, the rain started getting heavier and by the time we got to the shelter in the evening we were pretty soaked and cold. It wasn’t bad except for the last hour of hiking and we were grateful it held off raining hard till then. It felt so good to get into our cozy clothes and sleeping quilt and know that we got our miles done for the day that we needed to. We hiked a total of 17.7 miles today which has been our highest mile day since before the White Mountains. It’s exciting to see our mileage go back up again!

Wednesday, October 3 – This morning we had an amazing pancake breakfast…in the woods! A guy who has a cabin in the woods makes a big pancake breakfast for hikers for only $12…we had eggs, sausage, coffee, juice, and a huge plate of 12 pancakes! He even had a big wood stove where we could warm up by and try to dry our clothes out by.
We crossed the Kennebec River this morning. It’s too high to wade across so we got to take the ferry across which is a guy who sits there with his canoe and takes people across from 9am-11am.
We headed to Sterling Inn then for a few hours to resupply for the next few days. They offered us hikers a free shuttle to and from the trail along with free shower and laundry even if you weren’t a guest. It had been a long time since we had done both shower and laundry so it felt so good to be clean again!

Thursday, October 4 – We started out the day with a bit of a climb…nothing that really slowed us down too much though. These climbs are nothing compared to what we had in southern Maine. We crossed Moxie Bald and stopped at Moxie Bald shelter just as it started drizzling a little so we decided to just stay there for the night. We haven’t done a lot of shelter sleeping but this week we slept mostly in shelters to just avoid all the rain and dealing with a wet tent. The shelter was by a beautiful pond and at night we could hear the loons for awhile.

Friday, October 5 – We hiked 18 miles today and had beautiful flat terrain. We also had several cooold river crossings…ones we couldn’t just rock hop across. The first step or two is the worst but then it didn’t turn out being as bad as I thought it might be. We got to Shaw’s hostel tonight and are planning to take our zero day tomorrow and rest up before we head out into the 100 mile wilderness.

Saturday, October 6 – ZERO DAY!!   We started out this morning with an amazing breakfast at Shaw’s…eggs, bacon, home fries, and all you can eat blueberry pancakes.  It’s so good to be in town eating REAL food again!  The last bit we have been sooo hungry and have lost a significant amount of weight so it’s good to refuel with healthy ‘not-trail’ food!

We enjoyed relaxing and having a lazy morning…we got our laundry done and enjoyed hot showers and said goodbye to some of our friends heading out today into the 100 mile wilderness. They plan to summit a day before us so don’t know if we will see them again or not. It’s nice though that we can follow the most of our friend’s journeys through Instagram even if we never see them again.  Later in the day we got some food in town and went to check out the visitor center to get more info on Baxter Park where we plan to summit.  We talked to her about when we would summit, camping in the park, permits, and more info on the 100 mile wilderness.

Tomorrow we plan to head out into the 100 mile wilderness and figure it should take us 6 days to get through there. Our summit date is planned for Sunday, October 14.  I am so excited to be this close to the end but also have a lot of mixed feelings with the finality of it actually being over for good. We lived out here for over 6-1/2 months and although it has its ups and downs, it’s been our life and we have gotten used to doing this every day. I’m beyond excited to live in a HOUSE and go home but also know that it will be an adjustment too. I can’t believe we are actually this close to the END!! Only a week yet to go!

Happy Trails,

Marlisa

Tuesday, September 25 – Rain was in the forecast again for the day but since it wasn’t supposed to hit till afternoon, we decided to try to go the 11 miles to the next shelter and hope to beat the rain.  As the day progressed, I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with the whole situation. For the 100th time, we were out here trying to beat the rain and not really enjoying our day very much.  Obviously not every day is going to be fun but it seemed like so many days we were miserable due to bad weather.  I also fell 4 times today (I think my record in one day so far) on slick rocks and roots including twisting my ankle which turned out to be fine. I think some of these things are getting to me more mentally than before and I just feel a lot more wore out.  It felt like one of those ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore’ days. Fortunately, we got to the shelter before it started really raining.  We got into warm clothes and made hot cocoa and enjoyed watching the rain from inside the shelter.  I don’t mean to complain or be overly pessimistic but it’s just part of the trail life out here that can be a hard force to deal with so many days in a row. I’m sure that it’s these things though that do the self-improvement work that needs to be done in us and makes us stronger people.  This experience has been SO GOOD…way harder than I thought? Yes! But so much better than I thought too.

Wednesday, September 26 – Today was a lot warmer…in the 60s. We had our first river crossing today where we had to take our shoes off and wade across.  I guess they think if we made it this far we don’t need bridges anymore. It’s not very deep…just cold.

It was supposed to rain again today but it held off longer than we thought in time for us to get to our campsite and to get set up. It rained in the evening pretty hard. The seam sealer on our tent was leaking so water was dripping in so Lance put his rain jacket on top to keep us dry.  Water came up through the floor too so we put all we could in our packs to keep it from getting wet. The rain only lasted an hour so we stayed dry!

Thursday, September 27 – It’s interesting the difference in how our emotions can change so much one day from another…I’ve noticed this in the last week or so. One day will be so hard and we will feel so discouraged and wonder how we will make it and the next day is so beautiful and we feel so happy and confident.  Today was one of those ‘beautiful and happy’ days!  It was a warm sunny day and the leaves are changing making for such pretty scenery.

We had to hitch to Rangeley today to resupply on food for the next few days. We hiked 5 miles to the road to where we would hitch into town. Maine has definitely been the hardest state to hitch in and we heard this spot was hard to get a hitch from. People here in Maine are super nice and friendly but it’s just harder to get rides. We hitched for around 30 minutes before we got a ride which wasn’t as long as we thought it might take. We went to the IGA outside of town and got some lunch and did our resupply. In a few hours we were hitching back out of town and were picked up by this really nice older couple who had hiked a lot of the trail around here and were telling us what they knew about it.  After they dropped us off, we hiked a few miles and found a nice spot to tent by one of Maine’s beautiful ponds.

Friday, September 28 – Today we climbed a lot of mountains and had some amazingly gorgeous views! The trees are just starting to change color and everything is looking so pretty!  The terrain was pretty tough today so we didn’t quite make our 15 mile goal. In a few days we have flatter and less tedious terrain so we should be able to pick our mileage back up a little.  We collected some wood just 1/4 mile short of our campsite and enjoyed a really nice campfire. Although, with it getting dark so much earlier, we often end up going to bed around 7:30.

This afternoon we took a small break at the Poplar Ridge shelter. This is the same shelter that a lady Gerry (trail name Inchworm) was last seen at a few years ago in 2013. She went off trail for a break and wasn’t able to find her way back. A search was unsuccessful and her remains were found 2 years later.  It’s such an awfully sad story and I can’t imagine what she must have went through.

Saturday, September 29 – Today was a really fun day hiking! The terrain was a bit better and we could have a faster pace.  We made our goal of 17 miles to the road where we go into town. We went up over some more mountains today and enjoyed more gorgeous views of the fall beauty. This morning we reached the 200 miles left marker and later today hit the 2000 mile mark! It’s incredibly exciting to have made it this far!! Only 190 miles left to go!

Sunday, September 30 – We were able to take a full zero today!  We like to give ourselves a day each week where we can just relax and not hike and it gives us something to look forward to.  We went into Stratton this morning and got a good meal and got the food we needed for the next two days out here.  We came back out, packs heavy with lots of fresh yummy food for our day!  We enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing in the woods. It’s fun to just sit and really enjoy it out here.  Especially now, with being on a time crunch to finish, it’s easy to just hike and not really enjoy the beauty that we are surrounded by.  After taking some time to relax, we feel physically and mentally re-energized!

Here’s some pictures of the fall beauty we have had so far!

Happy Trails,

Marlisa

We are into Maine now!!! So excited to finally be in our last state!

Wednesday, September 19 – We got out of Gorham last night and found a place to camp about a mile down the trail. It was so hard getting up this morning! It’s starting to get a lot colder and so getting out of our cozy sleeping quilt takes a lot more effort. We got a pretty late start this morning sometime after 9am but the terrain wasn’t too bad…pretty sure I didn’t break any speed records though with a heavy pack.

Today we hit the 1900 mile mark!! Only 290.9 miles to go!

Thursday, September 20 – We got into Maine today!!! Only 282 yet to Katahdin! The terrain was definitely a bit tougher today and will continue to be pretty tough the next few days.

We found a nice little stealth spot to tent and since it was so cold, Lance started a fire. You would think with us being out here we would have a lot of campfires but it’s not very often we have them since we usually hike till dark. It was so good sitting around the fire, eating our yummy burritos for dinner, talking together and just enjoying the evening out here. It’s moments like these I just want to freeze time. As much as I’m ready to go home, I know I’m gonna miss this so much.

Friday, September 21 – Today was cold, wet, and rainy…As we continued to hike, it kept getting colder…we saw 40 degrees partway through the day. The terrain consisted of a lot of rock scrambling/climbing and steep flat rock slabs we tried to inch down safely. Rain is so miserable…but rain, with low temps and high winds just is a whole new level of craziness. After getting ourselves wet and freezing cold we decided to stop at a shelter and just be ok with doing only a couple miles today. People continued to stop at the shelter throughout the day because of weather…it ended up being a full shelter with close to 15 people.

While we were hiking today, we got to meet up with Brock, one of the people we knew pretty well from the beginning…so good to see him again!

Later in the evening at the shelter, we got to meet Pappy!! He is attempting to break the record for the oldest person to hike the AT. He had just came through the Mahoosic Notch! He has a team of people helping him, his granddaughter and another guy who already thru hiked this year. Was so excited that we actually got to meet him! What an inspiration!

Saturday, September 22 – Putting on wet socks and shoes this morning was sooo hard. We did this so many times before but never when it’s this cold. We went right into the Mahoosuc Notch (the hardest mile in the AT)…it was a lot of large boulders and rocks to climb over and under. It was kinda fun for the first bit but it was so tedious it started to get a little stressful. It took us 2.25 hours to get through it.

Sunday, September 23 – We got into the town of Andover today.  It’s a very small but hiker friendly town.  We were able to tent out behind the Little Red Hen restaurant and the country store was right across the road where we could get food to eat and resupply.  It was a convenient and fun town which made it hard to leave and go back out again.

Happy Trails,

Marlisa

We finished hiking through the White Mountains this week! The terrain was incredibly tough and wore us out pretty good but we had beautiful views and the weather was PERFECT!  A few days prior to this, I had mentioned to Lance that for being out here for 6 months, I’m really disappointed with the lack of gorgeous view/scenery pictures I’m going back with! And then we got the Whites, with the weather in our favor and we got our fill of gorgeous view pictures! Sooo…I may over share a bit with all the gorgeous views we had. 

Wednesday, September 12 – Today we hiked Franconia Ridge! This is one of the most beautiful places in the White Mountains but unfortunately it was all fogged in for us. (The only day where we didn’t have clear sunny weather)  It was kind of a tough day for us since it was one of our first day in the Whites. Our packs were so heavy with just coming out of town with a full food resupply and our bodies are using different muscles, it’s almost like starting over as hiking newbies.  We only did 9 miles today and it’s hard to be ok with just doing that when we are used to doing over 20 miles before.  

Thursday, September 13 – We spotted Mt. Washington today!! Should be there in a few days. 

This morning we stopped at one of the huts out here. They have huts along the trail in the Whites that we hikers can stop at to buy food.  We enjoyed some pastries and a bowl of soup which helped power us up over the next mountain.  This evening we stopped at the Zealand Falls Hut and decided to do a work-for-stay.  The huts are set up to cater to section hikers who are spending a few days in the Whites and don’t mind paying a lot to stay the night at one of those. Often times thru hikers don’t stay at the huts but they offer us a work-for-stay option where we work for them in exchange for their dinner leftovers and a spot to sleep on the dining room floor after the guests go to bed. They have to hike out everything from the huts, including their leftover food so we are kind of doing them a favor too.  We had an amazing meal of lasagna, bread, salad, peas, and chocolate cake.  It was a fun experience to do once. 

Friday, September 14 – We got an early start this morning. We had an amazing 7 miles of hiking where we felt like we were back in the Shenandoahs…flat terrain where we could just cruise…One of those moments when the terrain is so nice you check to make sure your on the right trail.  We were able to do a 15 mile day due to such easy terrain.  We stopped at another one of the huts today and had an amazing pumpkin curry soup. I feel like we are starting to get used to the terrain here in the Whites a bit better. It’s tough but we just back our miles down and realize that it’s best to just take our time.  We found a cool stealth spot at the top of Mt. Pierce where we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset. 

Saturday, September 15 – We climbed Mt. Washington today! The weather could not have been more perfect!  It was close to 60 degrees at the top and basically no wind and perfectly clear. There are not many days out of the year it is that nice up there so we were so happy to be able to enjoy it!  We were above tree line most of the day which can be sketchy if it’s windy and there is bad weather but again we were so grateful for the sunshine we got to enjoy over that section.  We got to Madison Spring hit close to 6 and were deciding if we wanted to hike back .5 mile to the campsites or if we wanted to try to get down past tree line and find a stealth spot before it got dark. One thing with thru hikers is, we may hike tons of miles but we hate walking any off trail miles…half mile off trail to a campsite is really far! Sooo…we decided to hike on to find a spot to camp farther on.  We didn’t beat the dark unfortunately and had to do some rock scrambling in the dark which was a bit sketchy but we finally made it and found a spot to throw up our tent.

Sunday, September 16 – We finished up all our food we had for breakfast…the only thing left in my food bag is coffee, tea, honey, and olive oil.  That’s it.  We had a few miles down to Pinkham Notch where we could finally get some food in us and spent the rest of the day relaxing and resting our bodies.  

We met a guy named Easy Walker a few days ago.  The other day he took a nasty fall and hit his temple. He wasn’t feeling the best and this morning when Lance was talking to him he seemed a bit disoriented and it concerned us. We heard later he did go to the ER and got it checked out and had had a concussion.  So glad he is ok.   We took a few falls ourself in the Whites but nothing more than some bruises and scratches for which we are grateful but with this terrain it is a bit more scary because sometimes it’s pretty far to fall. 

Monday, September 17 – Today we slack packed the Wildcat Mountains.  (Slack packing is taking only what you need for the day like food, water, and some clothing.)  Slack packing can be a bit of a controversial subject for some people. We consider ourselves Purists which is someone who hiked every inch of the trail.  We have done that so far and decided that slackpacking wasn’t something that we felt would take away from our experience so we decided to just do it. It was an amazing experience and a lot of fun to hike without a pack. (Lance carried the few essentials and I got to go without a pack)  We hiked a total of 21 miles over the Wildcat mountains…it was a much harder slack pack than we thought and took us 12 hours to hike that section which included some night hiking. 

Tuesday, September 18 – We spent the day in Gorham resupplying for the next 4 days and doing laundry and getting some good food in us again. Town always seems to take longer than we plan. The only place to resupply at was Walmart and that was a few miles out of town so till we got the bus schedule figured out and waited till it came around again, it just took a lot of time.

The Whites were a great experience for us and we really enjoyed them.  I feel like for myself when we hit the Whites the terrain difficulty went up a few notches and I just feel permanently wore out. I think this trip is starting to take a toll on me and I just feel so exhausted and am getting pretty excited to go home. I find myself just thinking of home as I hike and dream about using an oven again and eating something hot that I don’t have to boil water for…and an unlimited amount of showers…setting my thermostat at 80 degrees and being cozy as I watch it rain outside…wearing comfy pjs again…and being able to bake a WHOLE PAN of brownies instead of paying $3 for a small bar. Oh and being able to get in my own car and drive myself to where I want to go instead of hitching. I will never complain about car insurance again!!  This experience has been incredibly amazing…far beyond my expectations. I remember back when we started thinking “I hope we can at least make it a few weeks out here” and when we would watch YouTube videos together I would think “wow, when you get to NY you are basically there” (that’s a total lie).  I’m beyond amazed and soooo happy that we have made it to this point!  It seems like we are so close but yet we still have a way to go and have to keep it moving to get there in time.  We plan to finish in like 20ish days.  👏

Happy Trails,

Marlisa

We are in New Hampshire and have started the White Mountains!! The White Mountains are beautiful and the views we get at the top of the mountains are incredibly breathtaking. I’ve never seen anything like it! The terrain is definitely a bit intense and tedious though and cuts our mileage in about half. We climbed Mt Moosilauke, our first mountain in the White’s. The elevation was 4800 and the peak was above tree line so it was really cold and windy. We had a beautiful sunny day to hike and it’s crazy how it can be nice in town but the weather can be so much different up in the mountains. We are making good use of our cold weather gear and all the extra layers of clothing we have.

We have had so much kindness and trail magic the last while.  We always thought the farther up north we got, the less trail magic we would experience…but that wasn’t necessarily true for us.  We have found hitch hiking to town amazingly easy, coolers by the trail with drinks, and occasionally people are out along the trail cooking us hot food. One of the coolest experiences was the other night here in town someone came by the hostel and took a group of us hikers to his resort and let us use his hot tub. Sooo cool.  I have been so incredibly amazed and blessed by so many stranger’s generosity out here!

We have spent the last few days in town at Chet’s Hostel because of the big storm that came through from the hurricane effects. With being in the Whites now being above tree line with rain, low temperatures, and high winds, we decided to wait till the worst is past. We had a great time though relaxing and eating SO much food but are ready to be back on the trail again. It’s getting close enough to the end that we don’t have really any extra time to spare if we want to finish in time so that can feel a little stressful when we are sitting out bad weather.  The weather looks like it’s clearing up though so we will probably head out to hike this afternoon.

Happy Trails,

Marlisa

We have less than 500 miles left to hike on our trip! I can’t believe we are actually this close to the end. The first 500 miles felt sooo far but now with only 500 miles, it feels like we are getting close. We are figuring another 6 weeks out here approximately. We get into the Whites this week which is an extremely tough section in New Hampshire. We hear that the last 500 miles are extremely tough but with some of the most beautiful views and scenery. So excited for New Hampshire and Maine!

Happy Trails,

Marlisa

This week has been absolutely beautiful…one of the best on trail so far! We didn’t have rain except for one day and have enjoyed so much sunshine and the weather has been in the 70s which is perfect for hiking! With it being sunny and clear, we have also had a lot of nice views too! Our feet are doing great now since they are dry and hiking has went so well this week. We usually run out of daylight now before energy.

Another exciting thing that happened this week is that we caught up to some of our friends we had been hiking with before our 2 week break we took at home. We didn’t think we would ever see any of them again so it was an amazing surprise when we got to a shelter after dark and someone was like “What?? It’s you guys!!” It was SO GOOD to see someone we know again!! We met up with two others the next day and had so much fun catching up!

A few pictures from the week….

They brought us donuts and coffee out to the trail and brought us back to a motel so we could shower and clean up.  We enjoyed spending lots of time together just relaxing and catching up. So grateful they came all the way up here to see us and it kind of makes me excited for when we get to go back home!

Happy Trails,

Marlisa