Greetings, all from Unionville, NY (although we are hiking the New Jersey section of the trail).  Sorry it has been awhile since we have updated, but unfortunately we have not had access to internet in quite some time.  We've hiked 1,335 miles and have 843 to Mt Katahdin!  We have completed the portion of the trail that runs through Pennsylvania...it DEFINITELY lived up to it's nickname (Rocksylvania).  The rocks were plentiful and definitely put a hurting on our feet, but we did enjoy some nice vistas, especially in northern Pennsylvania, such as the Pinnacle and Dan's Pulpit, and Knife's Edge, where we saw a copperhead.  We also witnessed a black snake kill and eat a chipmunk, we felt lucky to be in the right place at the right time for that. We encountered some wonderful trail magic in PA 3 days in a row...a big box of snack foods and drinks left in the woods, a cooler of sodas left in the woods, an amazing dinner of 3 types of pasta and lots of dessert at a shelter, and a cold spring stocked with sodas!  The trail magic definitely gives us a psychological boost!  We've also been enjoying a bit of natural "trail magic", lots of blueberries and blackberries along the trail.  We stopped in Port Clinton, PA to resupply and ended up going into Cabelas to do some shoe shopping...the Cabelas there is the biggest one in the world and has some amazing taxidermy displays.  Sideways got some new shoes after putting about 800 miles on the Montrail trail runners that she had been wearing since Damascus.  We had a wonderful stay in Palmerton, PA, which has perhaps been one of the most hiker-friendly towns that we have stopped in.  We were so glad to be in town, when we stopped in Palmerton it had been more than 2 weeks since we had done laundry...it was pretty disgusting.  Our packs also now have a horrid stench, so we took them to the car wash and pressure-washed them in hopes that it would help with the smell, but no luck with that.  We stayed in the basement of the town borough hall for free.  Out of Palmerton, we climbed out of Lehigh Gap, which may be one of the most well known climbs on the AT.  We had heard terrible things about the climb, but we both really enjoyed it.  Palmerton is an EPA Superfund site, which basically means that the government took over the land that had been heavily destroyed by zinc mining rehabilitate it.  The mountains surrounding Palmerton are pretty much piles of boulders and smaller loose rocks and very exposed without any foliage.   There is little water on the climb out of Lehigh gap, and the water that is there is not safe to drink due to the heavy zinc contamination.  We got an early start on the day with plenty of water.  It also happened to be "hike naked day", the first day of summer. We stopped again in Delaware Water Gap, PA  to rest our bones and tired feet, and took a zero there.  As most of you probably know, the US has been competing in the World Cup (until today) and we have been hiking with some big soccer fans.  Although we don't care much about soccer, we have gotten sucked into watching some of the games with fellow hikers, but it is always a good time. We are now on the New Jersey section of trail and have been very pleased with the trail scenery..we have been walking along open ridges with wonderful views, as well as strolling around the many lakes and ponds along the trail.  New Jersey is "bear country" as there is no bear hunting here, so we have seen 1 bear so far in the state and spooked one more that we did not catch a glimpse of.  Unfortunately there is a lack of good drinking water here, and we have had to pay close attention to refill points along the way. The mosquitoes are the most horrendous that we have encountered in our lives. This is very bad news for Sideways because she has abnormally bad reactions to bites. I have even been tormented by them and I have fairly mild reactions to their bites. Just imagine at least ten mosquitoes at a time trying to bite you at all times and you can get a fairly good idea of what it's like. I think it has been one of the most annoying aspects of the trail so far.  Getting into the tent at night has become one of our favorite times over the last couple of days as we can get away from the vicious bugs. It has also been EXTREMELY hot, but we make sure to take plenty of lengthy breaks in the shade.  We are currently at the "Mayor's House" which is the private home of the Unionville ex-mayor. He accomodates hikers for a meager donation and furnishes showers, laundry, internet,and a home cooked dinner and breakfast. They are definitely giving southern hospitality a run for its money. We look forward to hitting the trail again tomorrow, and plan to hit the next town in about four days. The hiking is still rocky, but we are getting a few more breaks than in PA. We will soon be in New York, and a little bit closer to our friends and family in New England. We look forward to seeing you all as we move along, and we will keep all of you in the south updated the best we can. By the way, pics have been upda

Helloo all!  We are currently at the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon, MA.  We have traveled 1,137.7  miles by foot to get here!!  Our timing was perfect, as we arrived this morning and USA played England in the World Cup today.  Several (20+) hikers gathered here at the Doyle today to watch the match, including a couple of British fellows.  The Doyle has great food and cheap beer...the game is now over after ending in a tie and we are about to hit the trail and hike just a short distance out of town, though a great time was had by all.  Sadly, we just said goodbye to our good buddy Upgrade, who we met right outta Hiawasse after 1 week on the trail.  We have been hiking with him ever since, more consistently than any other hiker.  His girlfriend got a job in Oregon starting in Late August so now he's in a hurry to finish before then...we will miss him dearly!  Since we last updated, we have hiked through West Virginia and Maryland and are now in Pennsylvania, aka Rocksylvania for its rocky terrain.  Only about 4 miles of the trail go through West Virginia, but it was great.  We really enjoyed Harper's Ferry, which has a rich history...we stayed with a wonderful trail angel named Bonzo for 2 nights and slackpacked one day (hiking without your backpack).  We had a great and interesting/unforgettable time at Bonzo's and met the coolest dog ever named Rio who will even retrieve a beer from the fridge  for you at your request. Maryland was great walking, it was about 40 miles, basically flat, and passed through several state parks that offered nice benches, potable water, soda machines, bathrooms, etc.  There was a ton of Civil War history around the trail in Maryland so we stopped to check out all the monuments, museums, etc.  In Maryland, Moonshine was hiking slow and very busy looking for Civil War artifacts, but came up empty handed.  Now we are in Pennsylvania and a couple of days ago WE HIT THE HALFWAY POINT...it was very exciting, but we still have a looong way to go!  Right around the halfway point there's a state park called Pine Grove Furnace.  A popular hiker tradition takes place there at the general store...the HALF GALLON CHALLENGE..in which a hiker eats a 1/2 gallon of ice cream in one sitting.  Moonshine was up for the challenge and prepared by eating a small breakfast and nothing else while we hiked 12 miles to the park.  He chose Neopolotin and COMPLETED the challenge in 1 hour, 2 minutes. I ate hot dogs and chips instead.   Everyone else there that day failed, so we were proud!  We actually just heard of a hiker that finished the challenge on a cold, rainy day in 10 minutes and some seconds...must be some sort of record!  This past Thursday on the trail has been our rainiest day in a loong time.  It rained on us all day and we were soaked to the bone on the way to Boiling Springs, PA.  We hadn't planned on staying, but we heard about a really cheap place to stay and decided to get a room and dry out a little.  The place was called the Allenberry Inn and Playhouse, and it was FABULOUS.  As we were walking in, drenched in rain and reeking of hiker, there were plenty of Mercedes and similar nice cars rolling into the parking lot...we felt very out of place.  We checked in and sure enough, the room was only $25 for hikers (we heard that a regular guest pays $109/night!).  The room was very nice, and the resort included a pool, hot tub, game room all on beautiful land with nice grass and trees.  There was a playhouse there, although we decided not to spend the money to see the show.  The resort also had a bar/restaurant with excellent food.  We checked out of our room the following day, and decided that it would be the perfect place to rest, relax, and take a zero...so that we did!  We unexpectedly took a day off, but we are just living life day by day, having fun, and takeing everything day by day...we told you about our little epiphany a few weeks ago.  So we are definitely having fun and taking advantage of as many opportunities as we can.  Well, it just began to rain/storm here at the Doyle Hotel, so we may be here waiting it out for a little while.  We are headed to Port Clinton next to resupply, we should be there in about 5 days.  I know that I mentioned the nickname Rocksylvania, well it's been a little rocky but not much worse than we've already seen...apparently the REAL rocks will be after Port CLinton, but we shall see.  Hope all is well with you, we love you all and are thinking of you often...until next time!

Hello everyone from the Bear's Den Hostel near Bluemont VA. It is our last day in the wonderful long state. We have covered 540 miles in VA and are pleased to be approaching the 1000 mi mark as well as the symbolic halfway point in Harper's Ferry, WV.  The heat and bugs are on the rise and Sideways D is taking the brunt of it. Every biting insect that exists  is attracted to her, and she has bad reactions. We are happy that we don't have to worry about being cold anymore.

Shenandoah NP was totally different than we both expected. We were suprised at the amount of road crossings as well as the constant availability of food, sodas, and beer. Normally the lack of solitude would really annoy us, but since we don't normally have access to these comforts we were willing to let it go...it was like being on vacation!  The best part of the park was the wildlife sightings. We saw seven black bears and our first rattlesnake of the trail. Luckily we spotted it before we got too close. We didn't even get to hear it rattle which was dissapointing. Four of the bears we saw came at one time when we spotted a mother and 3 cubs right by the trail. Fortunately there were enough people that the mother sent the cubs up a tree and retreated. We were able to get a few good pictures of the cubs, but didn't push our luck too much. There were also countless deer sightings every day, and it was not uncommon to be within ten feet of them browsing without a care in the world. The day we left the park it was amazing how the wildlife sightings ended. It's sort of crazy if you think about it. More people and cars in the park, but much larger numbers of animals.

The day we left the park we hitched into Front Royal and got a room with some other hikers. The town had everything we needed. Just like always we milked the motel room until checkout time and mosied back to the road to thumb a ride to the trail. The humidity has been outrageous and temperatures have hit the 90's. It is now almost impossible to maintain any level of cleanliness now. It's like jumping in a pool of your own sweat every day. We eventually dry out at night though and are in good spirits. The most exciting part is stepping out of VA because it has a horrible reputation for making thru hikers quit. We might take a zero mileage day in Harper's Ferry to sight see. In the next week we will move from VA-WV-MD-PA. Hopefully we will be able to give an update there and get some pictures on. We are thinking of you all and appreciate your support.  Chad and Adrienne-we are thinking of y'all often and appreciate your support...keep your heads up, keep your faith and stay positive!!   Until next time.