I went to see Brenna in Brooklyn for a few days.  She drove me to the trail.  This is on the East River Ferry with Manhattan in the background.  She didn't want me to take her picture, but I did anyway.  I'm glad too, because she's getting ready to go to China for a year to teach English.  China?  Yes!  That's so far away!

 Manhattan skyline at dusk Saturday, August 26, 2012. Ready to hit the trail (again) at Bear Mountain State Park, New York.  See the white blaze?  

                                   Elke and I crossing the Hudson River on the Bear Mountain Bridge.

                   Getting a drink from the lake at Fahnestock State Park.  We spent our third night here.

                         Here's the water supply at one of the nicest shelters I've seen.  RPH shelter.

 This is Master Splinter and his dog, Bruce.  Remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?  That's where he got his trail name.  Not sure exactly how.  He was a very good guy.  He's thru-hiking and determined to make it to Katahdin.

 Some more trail friends.  Ladybug (aka Liz), Peter Pan (aka Elias), Nail, and the Silver Surfer.  Elke and I were with Ladybug and Peter Pan for several nights.

                      Does this look like sea coral to anyone else?  What is it?  It was a pretty fungus?

                                                 Elke taking a nap while I get us some water.

                              The boardwalk through the wetlands south of Pawling, New York.

 This is the A.T. train stop for the Metro North train into Grand Central Station NY, NY.  See the building in the background?

 See the building in the background of this picture?  It's the same building.  They let A.T. hikers camp beside it.  Notice the train?  This picture was taken from my tent!  It made for an interesting night!

                                               Connecticut at last!  I'm in New England now!

                                                    Elke meets friends on the trail daily.

                                   The trail passes right past this house in Falls Village, Connecticut.

                                                        The falls of Falls Village.

Here's a view from the trail between Falls Village and Salisbury, Connecticut.  

Friday, September 7, 2012
The trail up here is quite different.  There are a lot more rocks to climb up, down and over. Taking a wrong turn on the trail and hiking an extra 2.2 miles one day on those rocks added to the "challenge".  Other challenges have been the rain from Isaac, yellow jacket nests, and long days.  As always, all the people you meet make up for any hard times.  I'm resting for a day in Salisbury.  Tomorrow Elke and I will hike north again.  We're looking forward to my brother, Howard, joining us sometime next week!  

I miss everybody!  
    

Road Trip to Hike

     Today is the day I start again.  But I'll be traveling without my sister, Susan.  Arthritis in her knee is going to keep her from hiking with me.  Dang!  I'm really going to miss her!
     For 10 days I'll be visiting my wonderful family, Heather, Jeff, Audrey, and Josh, then up to New York to stay with Brenna.  Brenna will put me on the trail in New York and I plan to hike as long as I want to, or until the weather turns cold.  I'll try to update this as I go along.  Thank you everyone for all your prayers, love, and support!
   

MANY THANKS TO ALL FOR YOU ENCOURAGEMENT AND COMMENTS

This last Tuesday, I think it was June 26, Meg and I left Free State Hostel after a restful night and the good company of Flicka, Daddy  Long Legs, and One. It was a perfect day for hiking, cool and breezy. We both felt good and made great time in the morning. For lunch we cooked our days dinner at Raven Rock Shelter, and continued on to the MD-PA. But my knee decided to act up at that time. It got increasingly painful to walk and  it was even difficult to get to Pen-Mar Park. We got off the trail there, and went to the Burgundy Lane B & B in Waynesboro, PA. They couldn't have been more helpful. Since then, I've been icing, elevating, and resting in general. All of that did not do much good, so this AM I went to an orthopedist and got the recommended cortisone shot. The PA's best guess is that it will help in anywhere from a few days to a month, if at all. Given that time line, and the fact that the arthritus isn't going away, I've decided to come off the trail for the time being. Not an easy decision! It's funny 'cause maybe I should feel bad about leaving the trail.  But I don't. I feel OK about coming home. I think it's time. I appreciate more that you know all of your kind thoughts and prayers for our hike. That had meant a lot and has helped us along. We have had some marvelous adventures and know what it's like to be on the trail for several months. It has been amazing. And who knows what the future holds. Edith and I may both be back on the trail sooner than either one of us thinks.

MARYLAND




Last Friday Meg and I hiked out of Harpers Ferry. Along the way we hiked on the C&O Cannel, stayed at the Ed Garvey Shelter, had cheeseburgers cooked for us at Rocky Run Shelter, and watched the sunset at Annapolis Rocks. Tonight we are staying at the Free State Hostel, which is a clean and spacious hostel. Meg and I ordered a large Sicilian pizza for dinner, and it was HUGE. Guess we don't have that hiker appetite yet. We will cross the Mason-Dixion line in the next day or so and will be officially in the north and in PA. I'm looking forward to it.

MOVING ON.............

Meg and I left Front Royal Terrapin Station Hostel on June 14, and arrived at Harper's Ferry and the Appalachian Trail Conference headquarters on the 20th. Along the way we walked the "Roller Coaster" section of the trail. It's a 13.5 section that is very narrow, and as a result, the trail goes straight up and down the mountains. No switchbacks there at all. We did 10 miles the first day, and stayed at the Bear's Den Hostel, and finished it the next day. Glad to be done with that section of the trail. Tonight we are staying with Rick's cousin's, James and Lou Ann Stovall in Shepard's Town, WV, and are being pampered. It's wonderful! We are moving into Maryland tomorrow and will be in PA with in the week!!

Big Changes

Update... everything is fine! 

Edith broke her arm on May 20th, and hiked three weeks with a cast.  At the three-week check-up, the doctor said it wasn't healing correctly and she needed to have surgery.  The surgery went off without a hitch on June 15th, and Edith is taking a R&R break for the next six weeks. 

Susan, however, is forging on! She was joined by Meg, a close friend, on the 14th and they continue northward, making excellent progress!  They are now between the Shenandoahs and Harper's Ferry, waking up early and walking miles before noon. 

Go Susan!  Go Meg! 

The Guillotine!

Crossing the James River on the longest pedestrian bridge on the AT.

Home away from home.

On May 20th Edith broke her arm. See the blue cast!

Approaching thunderstorm

Columbine

Memorial Day party wooooo!

DuBose, our new friend and shuttle-driver who helped Edith get her arm patched up in Waynesboro.

And the clouds move below us.

This is what you do when you are the only ones in the shelter and the gnats are terrible: set up your tent in the shelter!
Priest shelter, where we saw a bear.

We are in the Shenandoahs... stealth camping!

Susan, searching for a signal.

Elke relaxing at Big Meadows Wayside. FYI, Elke is also on R&R, keeping Edith company.

 Since coming back from AZ we've had only one day of rain and the weather has been wonderful for hiking. At each shelter we've met interesting and entertaining hikers and have had a great time. We had been increasing in confidence and strength daily.  Then on May 20, Edith fell and hurt her arm. We wrapped it and continued hiking up Bluff Mountain. As it was still hurting there, and we had phone service, we called a shuttle to pick us up at the next road. That night we spent in a hostel, and as her arm was worse in the morning, we got a ride in to Waynesboro, VA to the doctor. Sure enough, her arm was broken. It's now in a blue cast. The choices were blue, purple, and camo! We'll spend the next several days slack packing ( hiking without a pack and coming back to a hostel to spend the night). Our plan is to continue hiking and we should be in Shenandoah National Park in about a week. Our adventures continue!!

On May 10, we flew from Roanoke, VA to Tucson, AZ to attend the graduation of Susan's daughter and son-in-law from the University of Arizona.  We were able to finally add photos to our blog!  We're looking forward to being back on the trail on Monday, May 14th, north of Roanoke, VA.  Many thanks to our kind and generous shuttle drivers, Homer and Theresa Witcher.

Saturday, April 14th, we had lunch under the bridge at Laurel Creek.

We arrived at Woods Hole Hostel on April 20th.  The food here is excellent!  They raise much of it themselves.

Monday morning, April 23rd, we woke up to snow at Woods Hole!

If you've wondered why we don't blog more, here's one reason.  Woods Hole's computer was on their porch, and all that white around me is snow!  Uh.... Yeah!  It was cold!

This is Molly.  Her trail name is Glide.  She's a daughter of a friend's friend, who we were told to look for.  Lo and behold, here she is--at Woods Hole with us! 

We stayed at Rice Field Shelter with No Sweat, Stray Dog, and Beast. Almost everyone has a trail name with a story.     

Here are Morning and Tigger, tenting at Syms Gap Meadow.

This is Pine Swamp Branch Shelter. It had a very welcoming fire in the fireplace after we had hiked all day in the rain.  This was also the day that Elke decided to lose herself in the woods 3 1/2 miles before the shelter.  When we realized she was missing, we both hiked back, uphill, looking for her.  After about 2 miles of backtracking and hollering "ELKE!" she bounded out of the woods, quite happy to have found us again.  

This is the trail through the rocks....a preview for what was to come!

A Snickers bar on a hot day!  Yum!

LADYSLIPPERS!

This was our "easy" 7.7 mile day.  Here is the top of the Dragon's Tooth!

And THIS is the "trail" down!  It was like this and worse for about a mile!

Please note the white blazes indicating the trail. Look closely!  No we did not have rock climbing gear.  We had backpacks and a dog!  Elke made this jump on her own!

There are no words!

McAfee Knob.  Once again, there are no words! 
Friday, May 4th.

Adventures on the Way to Daleville Continued

Have you ever seen a Dragon's Tooth?  We did!  On May 2nd!  The tooth was very interesting.  Pictures WILL follow!  We just haven't been on a computer where we can download them!  However, the trip off the TOOTH was a rock climb with backpacks and a dog!  Whew!

We climbed McAffee's Knob on May 4th, along with a huge 5th grade class from Roanoke.  They beat us!  And then were gone when we got to the top.  Very beautiful, restful afternoon. Incredible views!  You should look up McAffee's Knob until we are able to post pictures.

To follow up our restful afternoon, we walked down to Campbell Shelter, right below the Knob.  It was quiet, peaceful, and we were wonderfully alone.  At dusk, in the quiet of the evening, we began to hear rustling behind the shelter.  Elke perked up, but did not bark.  On investigation, we discovered Many LARGE men, in desert camo, quietly walking through the woods--NOT on the trail, mind you!  They began to put up tents and we were uncertain whether we were REALLY safe or were we REALLY in DEEP trouble. We both thought we would ask one of the LARGE men.  As it turned out, they were Army drill sargents, on a forced march.  We had a very secure and quiet evening with the U.S. Army behind us! 

Tinker Cliffs should also be worth viewing on the computer.  If you find dramatic pictures share them with us, because when we were there it was cloudy and raining!  Lots of rain on this trip, but we are doing well!    

Adventures on the Way to Daleville

Hello everyone!

I never sat on a snowy porch, in 32 degree weather and sent an email. It's really beautiful, but really cold. Tomorrow it's beginning to clear up a bit, and by Thursday should be nice again. We're going to leave in the morning, or else we'll have to begin to work for stay. 


We aren't the only ones that are taking zero days because of the clod weather. The bunkhouse is over capacity, and there were 27 for dinner last night. It seems that there might be 40 tonight. Lots of hikers have already sent their cold weather gear home, and are needing a warm place. 


My leg, not the knee, is feeling much better. It was hurting lots when we stopped, so I've been glad to have some rest days. Can't download photos here, as the computer doesn't have the capacity. Do wish you could see this place. Look at the Woods Hole website: but know it's better that the photos. Michael, a co owner, has lots of raised beds with so much planted. It's all  winter hardy stuff, and is now covered with snow, but will be fine. Our meals are copious, and much of it comes from their garden, last summer, and the sausage is from their pigs.They have a chicken tractor, and the chickens will be ready to eat in a few weeks. Guess we better not stay around that long. 


I love you all. Take care.
Susan 

Thanks for all the warm wishes. But no worries, 'cause we're still at Woods Hole Hostel. It's COLD and RAINY. The high for the next several days is 45, with rain, but lows may go into the 20's with SNOW!  We may have to go on a work-for-stay here, but we're warm and dry for now.
We can't publish pictures yet.  We haven't run into a computer with the capabilities out here.  Hopefully soon....  

Tonight we are at the lovely Woods Hole Hostel near Pearlsburg, VA.  You can see the place at http://www.woodsholehostel.com/.  And tonight we are having PIZZA!  Yay!!!!!!!!

After a little scare, Elke is doing great.  We are all three are getting stronger, but Susan is having a little trouble with her right shin and ankle.  It's just something to watch.  Thankfully the bum knee is doing very well.

Full disclosure, this post is by Batchelor Rick.  S&E do not have access to anything but a private phone today, so I'm relating the conversation as best I can.  We really did not talk long at all.

I will post whenever I hear from them, which will be infrequent.
R.

We're off!

We're off!  Here we are leaving the Big Walker Motel in Bland, Virginia.  Next stop, the AT!

Please note our packs.  Susan with 28 lbs, Edith with 38 lbs (before adding food and water!), and Elke with her food.

Edith and I, along with our older sister, have hiked about a third of the trail over the last 15 years, but now it's time to finish. Two of us, Edith and myself are planning to go to Maine this summer, walking on the AT. We're beginning in southern VA, at the place we got off the trail on our last AT hike. It should take until the end of September, God willin' and the knees hold out. See you in the fall.
Susan

Martha helped me to set this blog up, and believe me, I needed all the help I could get! Now It's going to be up to Edith and i to know how to use this blog.

Now I'm out of the captions and can go on and on.

We begin on April 12, 2012!