just wait for your next post card...i think youll be happy with it. Yeah, i think i'm totally gonna do it. I heard of some North bounders doing it and the sheriff was stashed away, waiting for someone to do it and they chased the nobos who made it to the woods where they shaved off their beards and got away-haha

I wish i could show you the maps with the elevation profile and topo, but Mahoosuc's notch, is just a notch between two mountains (old speck mtn and goose eye mtn). It's supposed to be difficult/take a long time because there are just a lot of big boulders that need climbing. There is supposed to be ice at the bottom of it and everyone has been telling us that there's a dead moose still decaying on the trail that you have to climb over..haha.

The white mountains are around 100 miles long and are just supposed to be pretty tall and above tree line for the most part so the views are supposed to be gnarly.

7/30/2008 12:57:51 PM

rocks.

awesome.

7/30/2008 12:58:08 PM

above tree line...awesome...that's about the only time you get good views and can tell where you are going...above tree line is where it's at

[Edited on July 30, 2008 at 12:59 PM. Reason : d]

7/30/2008 12:59:22 PM

man this thread makes me want to break out my backpacking shit and head to the shenandoahs before it gets too cold

7/30/2008 1:03:54 PM

oh oh...the cheese burger challenge and the value menu challenge...my bad

Well, we will go to mcds and see who can eat the most double cheese burgers in 30 minutes...i'm thinking i can get 6...but some of the guys i'm with i think can do like 10...looser is supposed to where a burger king crown through the whites.

The value menu challenge is where you try to eat as much of the items that are on the value menu meal at mcds

7/30/2008 1:05:18 PM

whats a ballpark of the total cost of this trip?

7/30/2008 1:19:28 PM

well it varies to how long you spend in town cause that's where your money gets eaten up at. I think from 3k - 5k

what costs the most are hostels (so far have been $20 a night) and restaurants.

some pictures





We cowboy camped (slept under the stars with no tent) on top of sadleback mountain. The views were too awesome to pass up. Britta woke me up at some point during the night to view the stars which there were a cubic ass load. We were able to see the milky way! i was still pissed at her for waking me up at the time, but i'm glad she did.



rain cloud in the distance from atop a mountain

[Edited on July 30, 2008 at 3:26 PM. Reason : d]

7/30/2008 3:07:40 PM

^ that also doesn't count the money you lose from not working. Some people wouldn't include the cost of food because you'd be spending that money anyway. Food is a bit more expensive than usual because you have to buy from a lot of small town stores with high prices.

One thing I love is being on the the AT Diet - eat all you want and still lose weight! When I go to town my dinner can be a 1/2 lb burger, four slices of pizza, and a pint of ice cream. It's great. We're easily burning 4,000 calories a day so I eat anything I want in enormous quantities. TheBullDoza probably eats twice as much as me!

7/30/2008 4:07:21 PM

You're probably burning a lot more than that. I think I read that most guys are burning 10,000 per day when they get their trail legs.

7/30/2008 5:08:58 PM

most people do 20-25 miles a day when they get their trail legs, we're doing about half that, 10-13.

Also Maine has the most difficult terrain of the entire Trail, so that's part of the reason we're going so slow. I'm doing great though! I used to feel completely exhausted at the end of the day. Now I'm doing more miles over steeper trail, and I don't feel as tired!

7/30/2008 6:07:57 PM

We made it to New Hampshire!!! We've gone about 300 miles now.

8/4/2008 12:30:39 PM

Fuck you walked another 150 miles in 2 and a half weeks? I might walk 150 miles a year.

8/4/2008 12:37:28 PM

NEW HAMPSHA!!!

About to go through the white mountains...noticed on the map that there was one place we would have an elevation gain of ~2000 ft in one mile..ima zilla strut all over it...

will have more pictures soon. The mahoosuc notch was lots of fun and took a while. Lots of rock climbing and at the end we were rewarded with a moose that had died there a year ago. some how the poor bastard fell down and what not...now his bones are in the notch with some tibetan prayer flags above it.

[Edited on August 4, 2008 at 1:02 PM. Reason : d]

8/4/2008 12:43:43 PM

That is so awesome!
I was hiking in Wyoming at Devil's Canyon, where the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustangs are, and we found where one of the black mustangs who had a major hip injury had to be shot like 2 weeks earlier. He was still complete and nothing had been scavenging on him.

Have y'all had any awesome live wildlife encounters? I know moose up there are as numerous as our deer down here, but they're less skittish.

8/4/2008 12:50:01 PM

not really...you see moose scat all over the place. We have seen one, but as we move further south i expect to see none. We see mostly frogs and snakes...weve seen what we think have been grouse. They're funny as shit. They are camo'ed well and so you walk up on em chillin on the trail and then they freak all out and run 10 ft away and just yell at you a whole bunch. they dont wanna fuck with this..

There have also been some godzilla sightings

Wyoming...that sounds awesome. I remember you telling me you were goin out there. So glad yall had a good time...seeing free/dead free horses and what not

[Edited on August 4, 2008 at 12:56 PM. Reason : d]

8/4/2008 12:55:18 PM

I saw way more than just the wild mustangs. I went to Glacier (3 days), Yellowstone (4 days), and Grand Teton (drove through to Jackson Hole and back to Yellowstone) National Parks. I was on wildlife overload!

Oh yeah, grouse are funny critters. They'll scare the crap out of you if you're not expecting them. They sound like a helicopter taking off if you spook them when they're in the leaves. Have you seen sasquatch too? I hear he loves the AT!

I assume that you are on the return hike now?

[Edited on August 4, 2008 at 1:14 PM. Reason : ]

8/4/2008 1:04:53 PM

Quote :

"most people do 20-25 miles a day when they get their trail legs, we're doing about half that, 10-13."

how much are you carrying?

8/5/2008 10:36:06 PM

Nerdchick is carrying around 13 lb. as her base weight (no food or water). Her pack weighed 21 lb. w/ i think a liter of water and 4 days worth of food. I'm carrying about 20 lb. as my base weight so w/ food and water, upwards around 30

we're in Lincoln, NH staying at a hiker hostel owned by a guy named chester. He's in a wheelchair cause his canister stove blew up on him at some previous point in life...fairly cool guy. Calls everyone brother and is a pretty big hippie...has like 1800 hrs. of grateful dead shows on tape. He talks about music/jerry and reads a lot into feelings and stuff...so that's kinda funny.

Went through the presidential range of the white mountains, which would have been awesome, but we were stuck in a rain cloud the whole time...rains on us every day which is a pretty big bummer. Got to see the bust of Mt. Washington though on a clear morning...oh oh. I mooned the Cog railroad train that chugs up to the top.

[Edited on August 12, 2008 at 12:29 PM. Reason : d]

8/12/2008 12:24:46 PM

I've gone ultralight and made a lot of my own stuff. Me and TheBullDoza split up our gear pretty well, most male-female couples have the guy carrying like 20 lbs more. His load is heavier because his backpack & clothes weigh more, also he eats about twice as much food as me so his food bag is always really heavy. with my revised gear list, looks like my base weight is about 8 lbs

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pBxw1O7aoF_1p3ldltH8UDA

btw we are in Lincoln, NH. About 375 miles since Katahdin. Hope to do a 20 mile day once we get out of the White Mtns!

8/12/2008 1:16:00 PM

Quote :

"I mooned the Cog railroad train that chugs up to the top."

<3

I'm so glad you two are enjoying yourselves.

8/12/2008 1:51:43 PM

put some of those pics up, XTNE!

better be glad they aren't scratch & sniff

8/12/2008 1:54:05 PM

how much hiking do you do in a day? like, 10 hours/day?

8/12/2008 1:58:27 PM

oh god

I'll get to some pictures soon <3

Did you know your brother has registered on TWW already?

8/12/2008 1:59:41 PM

^^ I'd say 10 hrs is about average

^

yeah I know he signed up

8/12/2008 2:02:59 PM

i got my postcard! it was awesome

"godzilla" haha

8/12/2008 2:05:45 PM

total mileage now?

8/12/2008 2:12:23 PM

about 375. see a few posts up

8/12/2008 2:13:13 PM

I consulted the guidebook and the exact distance is .....

372.7 miles.

hope to make it to 500 before I have to leave

8/12/2008 5:38:52 PM

I have not had time to do anything on the AT in years. Done prob 110 miles of mountain hiking in New Mexico, 200-300 on the AT in short sections as I had time, and tons of other flat land stuff.
Unfort I never got on the ultralight bandwagon, other folks I knew did, I was the guy with an 85-90 pound pack once I added water. Of course I was carrying 35-40 pounds of food in there for the crew I was working with, but still, I could never cut down to ultralight standards. I like my comfy sleeping pad, and fluffy sleeping bag to much to buy new ones.

8/12/2008 11:13:31 PM

on August 16th we hiked....

21.1 miles

Hahah, hump them!

8/18/2008 9:01:46 AM

their Hillsborough St equivalent has Talbot's, Jos A Bank, and a Gap for the poor people I guess

8/18/2008 9:03:39 AM

my favorite quote of the trail so far has been...

Quote :

"yo dude, did you see that chick straight domein that dove bar?"

Hanover has been great...real pretty town and what not. We met this girl, who was on a day hike, up on a mountain and she said that when we get to hanover (bout 50 miles) to give her a call. Well we did and she drove us around, fed us, and let us lodge at her pad...it was total tits...anyways. back to the trail.

As Nerdchick said...lots of pastels and sweaters tied around the shoulders.



[Edited on August 18, 2008 at 9:17 AM. Reason : d]

8/18/2008 9:14:22 AM

aw I hope you guys are having fun!!!

8/18/2008 9:53:28 AM

so how much have you gone so far? are you hiking all the way back to nc?

8/18/2008 9:55:29 AM

^^
yo, howz florida?

[Edited on August 18, 2008 at 9:55 AM. Reason : ^]

8/18/2008 9:55:30 AM

this is a cool thread. keep the updates (with pics) coming!

8/18/2008 10:02:06 AM

You're making me proud, KONG BALLS.

8/18/2008 4:08:55 PM

here's some pics from Katahdin





this is a guy we met at the Katahdin Stream campground. His name is J-Clyme and he was averaging like 30 miles a day He did the 100 mile wilderness in 3 days

8/21/2008 12:39:08 PM

RAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRR. IS THAT MY FUCKING WHOOPIE PIE!!!!

whoopie pies are one of our greatest discoveries in new england. We met some new englanders who never left the region and when we told them we had never had one they were dumbfounded.

look adam8778, it's your stove!!!....Kong balls out!

[Edited on August 21, 2008 at 1:10 PM. Reason : 7]

8/21/2008 1:08:10 PM

not to be nosy...but isnt this like really expensive to do?

[Edited on August 21, 2008 at 1:10 PM. Reason : and do yall not have jobs? or did you just take off for a few months or what?]

8/21/2008 1:09:35 PM

Quote :

"whoopie pies are one of our greatest discoveries in new england. We met some new englanders who never left the region and when we told them we had never had one they were dumbfounded."

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

<3 Whoopies. Much better than Moon pies.

8/21/2008 1:11:55 PM

weeeeeellll...it can be like 3k-5k. I posted it earlier in the thread.

we graduated in may.

8/21/2008 1:13:13 PM

chembob...how about you pick a few up when you go up north, k?

8/21/2008 1:14:29 PM

oh...i thought she graduated like a year ago...figured she already had a job and just took off for a few months or something, but i dont know many jobs that would let you take off like that so thats why i asked

8/21/2008 1:14:43 PM

Quote :

""

I LOVE this picture!

8/21/2008 1:15:10 PM

Quote :

"chembob...how about you pick a few up when you go up north, k? "

DivaBaby19, you can get these at the twisted fork

[Edited on August 21, 2008 at 1:41 PM. Reason : ]

8/21/2008 1:41:30 PM

We're now in Rutland, Vermont. 504 miles!!! I'm leaving tomorrow, taking the train to NYC and then flying home

TheBullDoza will continue on!

8/23/2008 9:29:10 AM

pics! we keep coming across these very stern signs

you can see Mt Washington in the background of the second pic.

8/24/2008 2:08:57 PM

[Edited on August 24, 2008 at 2:15 PM. Reason : nobody's ever going to see the very last post]

8/24/2008 2:14:01 PM