Update

I figured it was time to post again and let everyone know what's been going on since we got home. It's been a few months now, and it's been nice to be home - I got to go to my brother's graduation and celebrate my birthday with my family. Gadget is working at his farm, getting it back into shape, and I'm sorting out my next four years in college!

That's my most exciting news. A week or two after I got off the trail I found out that I was indeed accepted to the college of my dreams - Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona. I even got a few scholarships totaling 10 grand! It's a huge relocation, and Gadget is moving there too, so there's a lot to be done. The school is amazing. I'm majoring in Adventure Education and minoring in Writing. Adventure Education pretty much means when I graduate, I'll be qualified to do things like run an adventure based tourism business, lead expeditions, work at a place like Outward Bound, or a myriad of other outdoor oriented careers. Ideally, I'd like to combine it with writing and write something like trail guides, travel bios, articles for Backpacker etc., or even outdoor themed novels. I've also got some other interesting ideas floating around in my head - we'll see what happens. I'm very eager to start my classes. I'll be getting credits for rafting down the Colorado, climbing Mt. Shasta, trekking through the desert... playing in the wilderness!

Obviously, this changes things a lot. We had planned on starting back up on the trail in March, but now I'll be in school. There is a possibility that we could hike some during summer break, which is usually sometime in May to August. However,Gadget might be holding a steady job that he wants to keep for the four years we're there. Honestly, I'm not sure if he's so interested in finishing. Which is fine - he keeps saying he's gotten what he needs out of it - but I desperately want to be back out there, so it might just be me.

I thought that thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail was the hardest thing I'd ever do. Now I know I was wrong. The hardest thing I've ever done, by far and away, was leaving the trail, especially unfinished. We've been home a few months now, and every day I miss the trail. Some mornings I still wake up expecting to be in my tent, fumbling for my sleeping bag zipper. I go to bed at night thinking what a luxury it is to be in a bed and not the hard ground for once - and yet, I've been in a bed almost every day for months. I haven't adjusted yet, which is good, because I don't ever want to go back to taking things for granted. It's hard though - hard to read friends trail journals, hard to look at our pictures, hard to hang out on whiteblaze. You go to this amazing place, to the trail, and your faith in humanity is restored. Every day you meet wonderful people, every night you go to sleep with an innate sense of accomplishment. Then you hurt yourself, and go home, and suddenly it's... where are the angels? What did I do to be proud of today? Wait- what happened?

Gadget and I have long said that whenever on of us feels one way, the other feels the opposite. My ankles are healed. I'm fine. But Gadget isn't. We've gone backpacking several times lately - once we set out for a weekend, once a week, and a couple long day hikes or overnights. Every time we've had to turn back because Gadget is having serious problems with his knee. We don't know whats wrong - he's going to the doctor soon - but he can't hike for more than a few miles without it hurting excruciatingly. I'm worried about him. Hopefully we'll get it all straightened out soon.

I guess that's all for now. To everyone we met along the way who made our journey that much more enjoyable, and to all our trail-mates, thank you. My time on the trail was the best time of my life, and that's all due in little bits to all of you. God bless, stay safe, and keep the dream.

Take a hike!

-Scribe

Hikers invade gadget's house

Yesterday I took some soda's and water out to Lehigh Gap and sat with them for 3 hours, met a few hikers and they were very grateful of the drinks.

I've been talking to Persistent on and off, and found out that her and her group (Melk, Ronin, and Young Eagle) were closing in on our home turf. We made arrangements to meet at 9pm at Little Gap.

So, at 9pm, I arrived and stole them from the trail, got them laundered and showered. We opted to spend the night in a lovely campsite I set up.

Today it's been raining all day, so everyone got a late start getting up, and we all went out to a local diner for breakfast. They've been convinced to zero here (it wasn't really hard considering the weather). So now their all piled in my room reading, watching tv, and using the internet.

Somehow even after being off the trail, I can still convince hikers to take zero's.

-Gadget-

New Website

While this isn't exactly trail news.. Hiking the trail has given me a different outlook on life, it has made me respect the environment more, and want to help it even more than I did before.
So, I have started a new website dedicated to Alternative Energy and Green living.

You can visit it at http://www.do-it-green.com.

This will also give me something to occupy some of my time while we're off the trail.

-Gadget-

Off the trail :(

Hey All,
I just wanted to let you know that we're now officially off the trail. After two separate ankle injuries that took us off trail for two weeks each and then spending about four days sick with stomach viruses and colds in a hotel just off the trail, we felt it was time to call it quits. It was a very hard decision, and we weighed many factors, the main one being that we feel we have missed too much of the trail to be able to finish it this year. The plan is to try again next March, now we have some insight on just what it entails. We had a great time, had many adventures, and saw some awesome sights. We have a lot of good memories, and lots of great photographs.

We also have alot of friends that couldn't finish this year, and are looking forward to starting next year with them.

WhoAh - I don't believe I have your e-mail address, but we're interested in when you might be starting again.

Until March, this blog is going to have regular goings ons here, as well as our training hikes.

I'll keep you all up to date on our plans.

-Gadget-

Thanks

Just a short note to thank all those that have given us the encouragement to keep going on. It's a big help. -gadget-

Troutville, Not Troutdale

Well, we finally made it to the other trout town, after a long wait. Currently at the econo lodge, and will be hiking out in the morning. Our Next town stop will be glasgow, Va.

Philly

We've been in Philly for almost a week now. It's almost time to return to the trail, but my ankle isn't completely healed. It's still swollen and strange looking, although the discoloration is minor compared to before. It hurts a little still, and it's obviously still injured. I'm going to try to get back on the trail and hike, hoping it will stay strong.

Philly has been fun, although it's tough to do anything in a city without any money. Still, we went to a concert that Kerri's band, Drive Through Pharmacy, was in. (If you walk in with the band and help carry their equipment, nobody asks you for a ticket.) That was a lot of fun, and yesterday we saw Shrek 3, which was just ok. Tonight was the best - my parents drove down and we all went to our friend Gerry Timlin's pub, the Seanicie. Gerry and his singing partner Tom played and sang for us. It was so good to listen to some Irish music again. It's been too long since I've been to a pub. It was wonderful to see my parents. I had been upset that we were so close to home and wouldn't get to see them. Thanks for coming!

The plan is to drive back to the trail Sunday, and either camp a mile or so up the trail or find a cheap place to stay that night and head out Monday morning. Another week off the trail is going to make us that much softer so we expect it to be hard again, but then again, when isn't it hard?

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Let's hope for a miraculous recovery.

More pictures up.

-Scribe

Ankle Talk

Gadget and I spent the night at the Relax Inn in Atkins trying to figure out what to do next. It's so hard, because injuries are tricky - you don't want to waste too much time sitting around, but you don't want to injure them worse because then you'll have to sit around way longer. This particular injury, however, was a no-brainer. I could barely hobble around on it, and it was clear that we would have to take some time off... again.

Unfortunately, there were no hostels within a hundred miles that we could rest, and we certainly don't have the money for a week in a hotel room, so we were at a loss of what to do. Thankfully, our friend Kerri called and said she happened to be doing nothing and would love for us to come stay with her! Incredibly, she was willing to make the 5 hour drive down, pick us up, and take us to her place, provided we help her move into her new apartment. So that's what we did.

On the bright side, we've gotten to spend time with a good friend and even helped her out a little. On the not so bright side, we're starting to get worried. Maine is still a long way off, and all this recovery time is cutting into our hiking time. We took a lot of time off in Franklin way back, and then the 2 1/2 weeks at home healing my tendinitis, and now another week here. I feel like I'm cursed with ankle problems. Thats over a month of down time. Now we're at the point where we need to be doing bigger mile days, but we're still nursing injuries and can't. I'm not sure what that means as far as getting to Maine before Baxter State Park closes for the season.

Anyway, Gadget made a few extra bucks working on the apartment building for the landlord here (he's so handy!) and wants to go see Shrek the Third. I'll post more later tonight or tomorrow.

-Scribe

Rocks, Rocks, Rocks

Well, we have some bad news. scribe twisted/sprained/generally hurt her right ankle on a rocky stretch of trail. this is the other ankle from the one that was hurt before. it's all swollen and black and blue, and she can't walk on it. so, we're not really sure what to do now. we did make it to atkins, va today, however that was by a 4 mile taxi detour. the only good thing that happened today was that we were reunited with certain 'Yay!' will post more when we get to a real computer. -gadget

Trapped in Troutdale

Alright, we're not reall trapped. We're just waiting until Tuesday morning to get our maildrop out of the post office. We took a zero yesterday because Scribe's achilles was hurting after a real rocky day, and we're just not willing to risk injuring it again. We had a good day - a really good church sermon about the outdoors in the morning, a church picnic in the afternoon, some volleyball, a little Fluxx, dessert at the cafe, and a late night movie on a tiny screen under a pavilion with 5 or 6 hikers huddled around- Thanks, Tumbler. (FYI - Troy is a quite good flick) We shared the hostel that isnt really a hostel with several hikers, trail dog Max, and 3 girls who were biking across country, from the Va coast to Oregon. It was really interesting to compare the lifestyles of long-distance biking and hiking. Their bike ride was also a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, so I donated and got to draw on their banner for $1 a square inch. My AT symbol with our trail names on it was a nice addition to this super-cool keepsake. They were really fun and inspiring people, and I wish them every happiness on their journey. Good luck, girls!

Today we slackpacked 8.5 miles from Fox Creek to Dickey Gap. We saw yet another snake, this time a small harmless Garter. It refused to get out of the trail, and at first we weren't even sure it was alive. Finally Gadget resorted to flicking it aside with his trekking pole, and the poor thing ended up airborn, and then stuck in a tree. We watched until it found it's way down, and then moved on. The rest of the day's hike was pretty uneventful, other than meeting a nice section hiker named Kimo who was finally finishing up his thru-hike. He reminded me a lot of Gerry Timlin, for those of you who know who that is. Then we hitched a ride in the back of a pick-up, and tonight will be our last night sleeping on a picnic table under a pavilion at the so-called hostel. If that sounded unappreciative, I'm sorry, it wasn't meant to - a picnic table is just fine for me on a rainy night.

The rest of the pictures are up. Take care!

-Scribe