Day 51 - Acadia NP

​Day 51 - Acadia NP

Starting location: Tucker Johnson Shelter

Ending location: Seawall Campground 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

So today we woke up at 5:30 in the shelter in VT, the boys at 6 am. On the trail back to Amee by 6:45. We packed up the van, and ditched the boys smelly hiking shoes and headed southeast to Acadia NP. 

We drove 347 miles and it felt so weird just sitting all day. The boys were restless in the car but found stuff to do. 

As soon as we arrived we saw tons of deer just chilling along the road side. We got our tent up, ate some dinner and then went to explore just a bit. About a 5-10 min walk from our campsite is the Atlantic Ocean. 

It is foggy tonight since there is a storm on its way. Should rain all night and most of the day tomorrow, which is fine since we need to do some laundry and find a place to take a shower. lol. 

The boys had fun exploring the rocks and tide pools since the low tide was happening. We found some clams and seashells. 

I just loved looking at these tide pool areas for signs of life or cool rocks. Didn’t find much today. 

Did find some alive snails though. Maybe dinner tomorrow night!? lol. 

***Here is a text from Mustard Seed trying to summit Mt. Washington, which has the worst weather in the world...and another reason trying to cross the White’s with 2 boys wasn’t in the cards!***

Hey! Soooo basically the weather didn’t allow, but we did it anyway. The wind was gusting to about 100mph. The entire presidential range was very scary. It was considerably worse than the weather forecast said last night. It was pretty dangerous. We had to crawl a couple of miles. Really not a good idea. If we had known it was going to be like it was, we would have walked the road down from Washington instead of continuing on the ridge. It’s a gorgeous section of trail! I would just say don’t be like us and push it with the wind. This is the video of us at the top. I know it looks crazy, but it was the mildest wind of the day. We physically could not stand up for a while. That’s why we crawled.

Here is there summit video. The winds were actually calmer than most of the day! Yikes. 

Well good night. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 50 - Governor Clement shelter

​Day 50 - Tucker Johnson Shelter

Starting location: Gov Clement Shelter

Ending location: Tucker Johnson Shelter

Mileage today: 12 miles

Total Mileage: 560.7 miles

Miles from Springer: 1709.7 miles

Miles to Katahdin: 488.30 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Happy Father’s Day to all who are fathers reading this blog. I am blessed to have such amazing boys that hiked for 50 days and 560.7 miles without any complaining (at least not out loud. lol.). 

Today we woke up and put on our still wet pants and shoes and started our accent of Killington. 

So this is what my toe looked like when I woke up. I knew something was wrong when I captured the lost shoe from the river but I thought it might clear up over night. Not so much. I still put on my shoes and thankfully they padded my foot enough to hike the 11 miles up and over Killington Mountain. This would’ve our highest mountain yet. 4,250 ft above sea level! 

As we were climbing Killington, it became more and more foggy, which was pretty exciting and spooky for the boys. Also it was so peaceful and quiet. 

The trail to Killington’s peak is a 0.2 mile blue blaze off the AT. It was basically straight up boulder after boulder. It was tough but very rewarding. 

Even though it was fog covered the boys were so proud to summit their first 4k mountain. We explored just a little bit but couldn’t find an actual summit sign. Bummer. 

So then we hiked about 6-7 miles downhill to Amee and Froning waiting in the parking lot. 

Now my foot don’t hurt to bad hiking uphill, but downhill made it hurt worse. 

When we got back to Amee, we decided to get my foot x-rayed since if I broke my metatarsal then that would be much more serious than just a broken toe. 

Obviously after hiking 11 miles the bruising had gotten worse. So we found an urgent care (not ER worthy) and got it checked out. 

Thankfully, it was only a broken toe. My first broken bone. It is the crack on my second toe in the xray. So the doc said some rest, ice and elevation should do the trick. 

So we are now going to hang up the AT adventure for some new ones. We reserved a week of campsites at Acadia NP and plan to drive there tomorrow. After the week there we plan to visit the Nuland’s and explore a day in Boston. Finally travel down to Washington DC to camp for a few days to visit the Nation’s capital during the 250 yr birthday celebration. Unfortunately we won’t be there for the 4th of July, but we have done that before and it’s a madhouse. lol 

So going to read and enjoy the last night on the trail!

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil. 

Day 49 - Governor Clement Shelter

​Day 49 - Governor Clement Shelter

Starting location: Hampton Inn

Ending location: Governor Clement Shelter

Mileage today: 7.5 miles

Total Mileage: 548.7 miles 

Miles from Springer: 1698.1 miles

Miles to Katahdin: 499.9 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today we woke up fresh and dry and ate a delicious hearty hot breakfast of eggs and sausage links. Got our last taste of running water and headed back on the trail about 8:50 am. Now the weather man said rain should hold off till 2 pm which was plenty of time to get our 7.5 miles finished. 

Well that didn’t happen! Lol. Today was actually worse than two days ago. We started off well but within about 2 hours it started to lightly rain, which got heavier and heavier as the day went on. 

Plus add to the fact that we had not one but two river fording to tackle that didn’t have adequate hoping rocks to get across dryly. Since it has rained so much the rivers are raging full. So the first one went well. Legolas on both just kept his shoes on and just said heck with it, “I am getting my feet wet!”  Bombadil and I both took our shoes and socks off both times. 

The first river went perfect except it was really pouring at the time of the crossing. The second fording didn’t go so well. Legolas got across easily. I then went across with no issues and dropped my pack off on the other side and went back to get Bombadil’s pack and shoes. I carried them back and put them on the bank, but one of Bombadil’s shoes fell in and was taking down the river quickly! Legolas shouted, “The shoe!” I (in my bare feet in a raging river) try to “run” down to catch it before it was lost and Bombadil would only have 1 shoe to hike in tomorrow. (No clue what we would have done then!), but praise the Lord it got caught up along the edge of the river to where I was able to grab it. Plus his sock didn’t even fall out of it! Unbelievable. Although I think I either broke or severely bruised my second toe on my left foot. I put some comfrey salve on it and tools some ibuprofen. Will see how bad it hurts to hike on it tomorrow. 

Here is that river. After we got across the shelter was like 50 yards away. People in the shelter said there was a redirect sign that we missed to lead us to a bridge. Ugh! But we have a fun story to tell! Lol. 

This was before we got to the second crossing, but I thought it was cool pile of rocks with the states names carved into them that go through the AT.  Also we have less than 500 miles to Katahdin, and we are knocking on the 1700 mile mark from Springer! How exciting. 

So at the shelter we are now changed into dry clothes and in our sleeping bags trying to warm up. It will be a rough morning when we try to get our wet cold clothes back on. We have 12.5 miles to hike over Killington Mountain. 

Now play some solitaire and read some books. Goodnight. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 48 - Hampton Inn zero day

​Day 48 - Hampton Inn

Starting location: Hampton Inn

Ending location: Hampton Inn

Mileage today: 0 miles 

Total Mileage: 541.5 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today was a much needed zero day after the rough day yesterday. We lounged around all day and watched TV and ate food! 

Not much to talk about except that we met up with Pie and his wife for pizza dinner. He is trying to finish his thru hike and we met him in NY. Him and his wife were both nurses, so Amee thinks this is us in 20 years. lol. Great couple and we had a great time. 

Time to rest and hike again in the morning! 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 47 - Hampton Inn

​Day 47 - Hampton Inn

Starting location: Lost Pond Shelter 

Ending location: Parking lot

Mileage today: 17.5 miles

Total Mileage: 541.5 miles

Miles from Springer: 1690.9 miles

Miles to Katahdin: 507.1 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Despite the sun in this photo it was actually an all day rain and a couple thunderstorms. 

During the night at Lost Pond Shelter, it poured all night long. Once we woke up it was still raining, so we trudged out to meet Amee early in the morning. When we got there we took shelter in the van until a heavy cell came through. 

We then set out from Amee around 9 am and then as we headed up the next mountain the first thunderstorm came. This one wasn’t the worst one but it was kind of scary hiking up the mountain with thunder echoing around you! 

This was just after we got up the first mountain. 

Then God provided a break from the storms at lunch time so we took a lunch break right on the trail. 

We then actually dried out until about 2 pm when God sent the second stronger thunderstorm. It poured and poured. We were soaking wet and headed up the second mountain as thunder clapped around again. I had to put my phone away to keep it dry. 

We passed some cool rock charins (sp?) just after lunch. The boys tried to build some themselves. 

One nice thing about all this rain is the waterfalls are spectacular here! 

So since it has been 19 days since our last zero day, we decided to hike the 2.6 miles from the full shelter we were to stay at to Amee and take a zero day tomorrow! Today was the hardest day on the trail. So hot showers, TV and comfortable beds for the boys tonight! 

Good night!

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil