Hello everyone from Braintree, MA. We are currently resting comfortably at my mother and step father's house. We summited  Mt. Katahdin on Friday the 17th and ended up having beautiful weather .The forecast coming into the day was 50% chance of showers so we didn't expect much as far as views .The night before the climb we celebrated with 7 other 2010 hikers and 2 hikers from 2004 . We cooked hot dogs and had some beer and champagne. It started raining at about 8 that night and didn't stop for the rest of the night. We started our hike in the rain at about 7 in the morning. A lot of people will leave their full backpacks at the ranger station and borrow a day pack to use for the climb if they are going to return to Katahdin stream campground. Since we were meeting my father and step mother on the mountain and hiking down another trail we carried our full packs. This added a bit of a challenge on the "pull yourself up" sections. As we climbed that morning we were surprised to see the clouds beginning to move out and visibility improving. By 9 o'clock we were getting excellent views of our surroundings. Both of us were a little nervous on parts of the climb, and at times Robin was flat out terrified. In previous discussions with my father I had estimated that we would take about 3 hours to cover the 5 miles and 4000 ft of elevation gain. In reality it ended up taking us almost 5 hours to reach the summit. We both agreed that it was one of the most challenging climbs on the trail. When the summit sign came into view Robin began to sob uncontrollably as we both expected. I felt like something was wrong with me because I had a strange lack of emotion. I don't think the gravity of the moment had fully set in, and I still don't think that it has. While we were on our journey it was very difficult and stressful to think about anything past the day at hand. If you thought about mileage or time on the trail ahead of you it was very easy to get overwhelmed. I sort of feel like we are in that same mindset, and I haven't fully processed that we will not be returning to the trail in a couple of days. So far we have had absolutely no problem returning to society:) There is abundant food and water, and we no longer have to worry about the elements or shelter. Most importantly we don't have to walk if we don't want to. Anyway...... when we reached the summit the clouds were in and our so views were sporadic. We took 3 different sets of pictures with the sign, so we would be sure to have some keepers. In all we spent about an hour on top, and we consider ourselves lucky because the day before it was so cold and windy that hikers could do nothing but snap a photo and get off the mountain. We were able to have a celebratory Pabst Blue Ribbon beer in memory of Robin's father as well as a fine Black and Mild Cigar. We definitely spared no expense on this momentous occasion. We were also able to scatter some of Fred's (Robin's father) ashes that she had been carrying for the entire length of the trail. Right before she let him go the clouds broke all around the mountain and the sun began to shine. We knew that he was there with us as he had been for the whole trip. The whole day was pretty unreal and we both felt as if we were in a dream. Walking off the mountain I was still in disbelief that the hike was over. I still felt like we were just continuing on even though I knew we were going to get in the car and drive away at the base of the mountain. We didn't finish our hike until 6 that night and then drove to Sanford, ME about 3 hours south. The next morning we visited my grandmother and aunts and uncle who lived in town. It was very nice to see this side of the family again because it had been over 10 years since the last time. The next afternoon we continued our drive south to Boston where Dad and Kelly were flying out and Mom and Dave live. We spent the night watching videos that we had taken on the trail, and telling stories. We ate and drank and laughed a lot. I figured we had delayed typing the blog for long enough, so here it is. We really appreciate all of you that have been keeping up with our trip. I think we both agree that it has been the greatest journey and achievement of our lives. We both are amazed that we were able to complete the trip and have learned a lot about life. We are now confident that we can achieve any goal that we set for ourselves. Now it's time to begin looking for jobs and start our new life. The trail has taught us that everything usually works our for the best no matter how it seems at the time. We are very excited to see what will be in store for us. I guess that there won't be any more blogs until our next big adventure. Hmmmm...... PCT 2012? HaHa... only time will tell. I think we need a little break first. Once again we greatly appreciate all of your interest and support and we hope to be visiting a lot of you soon. Take care!

Hello from Monson, ME. We are currently resting at the well known Shaw's hostel which is the final stop for most north bound hikers. We got in yesterday and dodged some rain last night. Since we have set a date to summit Katahdin we are actually a little ahead of schedule. If we would have hiked out today we would have had 9 days to hike the relatively flat 110 or so final miles. Since we didn't want to carry the extra food and really had no other reason to leave we decided to stay again. Shaw's is one of the nicer hostels on the trail, so we are very comfortable. This morning we had their famous all you can eat breakfast for only $7. The way it works is you start off ordering 1,2,3, or 4. The number you say is the amount of hashbrowns, bacon, eggs, and sausage you get. After that you can have seconds if you wish. Being uncomfortably full also motivated us to stay today! It is raining again and looks like we will get a little more in our final week. I don't know why I even looked but the 10 day forecast is showing sunny with 0% chance of rain on summit day. We really hope that this is true! The going has gotten a lot easier and we have only had to climb a couple of significant mountains since the last update. We had a clear day over Moxy Bald where we unknowingly got our first glimpse of Katahdin. We thought that it was,  but weren't sure until another hiker told us later that day. As the crow flies Katahdin is only about half the distance of the trail mileage so we should be getting more good views as we continue to hike. We are still in a state of disbelief that we are so close to finishing our hike, but are anxious to see what will happen after the trail. We will update again after we hike the 100 mi wilderness and summit Katahdin. We have really appreciated all of you keeping track of our progress and encouraging us along the way, and hopefully it won't be long until we get to pay you all a visit. Until then take care.

No, not for our wedding, silly!  Hah, we have set a date to summit Katahdin...September 17th.  Moonshine's dad and step-mom, Greg and Kelly, have decided to come up and join us for our final summit, which we are very excited about!  It's been awhile since we updated, but things have been going well out here on the trail.  We're currently in Caratunk, ME at the Northern Outdoor Resort spending the day.  This is our next to last town stop, we've got 151 miles to go, and all the talk of the trail is about finishing.  The feeling that this journey is really almost over is beginning to sink in.  We are both definitely feeling physically worn out and tired of walking every day, but we are sad about the experience as a whole ending. 
Since we last updated, we have endured a variety of weather conditions.  We had some heavy rain after leaving Kathy and Dan's in South Paris, followed by some beautiful fall-like weather.  The skies were clear, it was breezy with daytime temps in the 60s and nighttime temps in the 40s.  It felt just like fall back down south!  Then came the heat wave, which we have been suffering through for almost a week...it has been in the 90s during the day and 70s at night with high humidity...definitely does not feel like we're in Maine!  The locals say they have usually had a frost by this time of year.  Last night it rained ALL night, i guess from whatever hurricane was breezing through.  We have found during this recent rain that our tent has lost it's waterproof ability, so we were fortunate to be in the shelter last night.  It was supposed to rain all day today, which is why we decided to stay in town, but it has turned out to be a beautiful day; the temps are also supposed to cool down. 
Maine has continued to be BEAUTIFUL, one of our favorite states as far as scenery goes.  The terrain has, up until a couple of days ago, continued to be very difficult.  The trails are not consistently maintained, which adds to the "wilderness" feeling.  There are knee deep mud bogs everywhere-Moonshine has gotten "bogged" once, the trail is extremely rocky, rooty, and eroded.  We have gone over a few beautiful mountains and mountain ranges, including Baldpate, the Saddleback range, and the Bigelow range, all with amazing above treeline views.  Fortunately, the weather was good over all of the major mountains, although with the heat, there has been a heavy haze in the air that severely limited our views in some places.  There are very plentiful ponds up here in Maine (ponds up here would be considered lakes down south...they are BIG, and we are still not quite sure why they are ponds and not lakes).  We have had many opportunities to swim, which we have been able and glad to take advantage of since it has been so hot!  There are also many river "fords" in Maine, although most of them are simply rock-hopping.  Perhas the most well known ford of the AT is the Kennebec River, where one thru-hiker has lost his life.  We crossed the Kennebec today, but a canoe ferry runs hikers across the river...after the heavy rains last night, we took the ferry.
Ahh, MOOSE!  We saw one together, and Moonshine has seen 2.  We were sitting by the campfire and heard something large walking around near our tent, Mooshine shined his headlamp on a moose towering over the tent, and it quickly made it's way into the woods before I could catch a glimpse of it.  Our second sighting wasn't much more exciting, we caught a glimpse of it early one morning in the woods while hiking.  I guess we scared it and it took off running-didn't know they could run that fast!  We would like to get a better sighting and be able to actually observe a moose for a few minutes, we will keep our fingers crossed but glad that we actually got to see one. We have seen more spruce grouse and a deer and tons and tons of toads.  Moonshine saw a pine martin, which is a carnivorous animal resembling a mink or other weasel-like animal.
We have had a couple of in-and-out town stops since we visited South Paris.  We stopped in Rangeley to resupply and EAT-we had been feeling super protein-deprived.  It was a nice tourist town, we packed out some hot dogs and wine and camped near the road with a couple of friends, Phantom and Blush,  that we have been hiking on and off with since the beginning.  Needless to say, a good time was had by all.  We also stopped in Stratton for a resupply. and a necesssary shower and washing of the stinky clothes.  As I mentioned, we are now in Caratunk, which happens to be home of the Kennebec River Brewing Company.  There are many hikers here reminiscing about the trip and chatting about the end of our journey, and lots of tourists here too (it's labor day weekend!).  Our last town stop of the trip will be Monson in about 3 days.  From there we will enter the "100 mile wilderness" and will be carrying a hefty load of food to last us for the last 115 miles of our trip.  We are definitely having mixed emotions about the end of our journey, but it is soon approaching!  We will attempt to update again in Monson, until then-everyone take care!  Much love!

Hello from North Conway NH. Yet another unexpected stop on our journey, but a good one. For the last week or so we have been hiking through some of the best scenery on the trail in the White Mountains. It has been very tough going and the White Mountains are kicking our butts for a 3rd time, but the views have been outstanding.  We've slowed our mileage down to about 10 miles a day.  We have been fortunate enough to have close to no rain and good visibility each day.  We have now traveled 1
Since out last update we have had a setback. We hiked from Hanover towards the whites and got to the first peak in about a week, Mt Moosilauke, our 1st peak above treeline. We summited and got limited views because the clouds were constantly blowing in and out. The north side of the mountain was a notoriously steep descent so we passed the shelter to make it all the way down to the road at Kinsman Notch. At the time we were just trying to make a couple of more miles, but it turned out to be very beneficial to us the next morning. When we woke up Robin was having shooting pains in her neck and was having a lot of trouble doing much of anything. We knew that carrying a pack was out of the question, so we made our plan to go to town. I carried my pack and her pack out to the road (fortunately very close), and we called a local cab company to take us to the medical center. We arrived early and got an appointment for 10 am. We were fortunate to get in earlier due to a cancellation, so by 9am she had seen a doctor and gotten a steroid and muscle relaxer for her neck. There was an amazing hostel literally 2 blocks away so Sideways got to lay out before noon. We spent 3 days in the town of Lincoln letting her heal, and enjoyed the company of many hikers passing through the hostel. Chet, the owner of the hostel, has an amazing life story and we felt very privileged and inspired to have crossed paths with him. In 2001 when Chet was preparing for an AT thru-hike he had a camping stove accident when a fuel bottle exploded on him burning his lungs and body severely. After the accident he was in a coma for 8 months and expected to be on a ventilator and dialysis for the rest of his life. The burns also affected the nerves in his legs taking his ability to walk. It has taken nine years, but he is living on his own and beginning to be able to walk short distances on his own. His eye sight is also slowly coming back, and is otherwise in fairly good health. His kindness and hospitality to us was beyond what we would every expect from a stranger, and his story was extremely inspiring to us. He allowed us to stay in his home until she was completely ready to hike.
When we left Lincoln we were heading for the Kinsmans which were two difficult peaks in between the notches. It was only 20 mi but it took us two full days to hike to the next notch where we stealth camped for the night. We were very excited for the next day because we were going over Franconia Ridge (see pictures on facebook) and were supposed to have pretty good weather, which can be difficult to come by in the Whites. We had a beautiful day and both got pretty sun burnt. It was good to be back on the section because we had visited 5 years earlier. Fortunately this time we had much lighter packs and better hiking legs on us. The first time we visited was actually Robin's first backpacking trip and she was carrying about 50 pounds in a men's size large pack. She lost 4 toe nails that time. We were still beat this time, but were able to enjoy ourselves much more.  Many of you have probably heard about the meteor shower that peaked last week.  The night of the peak, we setup camp by a spot on Mt Webster called Webster Cliffs with a beautiful panoranic view.  We woke up at about 2:30am and watched the meteors in totally clear skies for 30 minutes, we saw about 20-30 meteors.  Since we have been in the whites, we have seen some amazing, really dark night skies and have been able to clearly see the milky way. 
We summitted Mt. Washington on Saturday, August 14th.  We got up to the top pretty early, around 10am, and it was pretty calm.  The weather was great, about 50 degrees with pretty calm wind at 5-10mph...it was pretty cloudy, but Mt Washington is known to have "the worst weather in the world", so we felt very fortunate.  Within the next couple of hours, hundreds of people were piling onto the summit via the cog railway and the auto road, and a few people who had hiked up.  It was like being in a shopping mall or an airport, and we posted up on the summit and people watched for several hours.  We were thinking of our good friends who were married on that day...congratulations to John and Maggie Guy and Jason and April Brown!!!!  We were wishing that we could have been in attendance at your weddings, but we had you in our thoughts and summitted Mt Washington to celebrate!
The bad thing about the Whites for thru hikers is that the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) runs and maintains most of the shelters, tentsites, and huts in the national forest. They do a good job on trail maintenance, but they charge at every site you can stay. The shelter and tent sites are 8 dollars a person and the huts are a wopping 90 dollars a person. They do give a "work for stay" option to AT hikers,  but that is up to the caretaker. At our first shelter we got to do some morning work which was fairly enjoyable. Sideways and I transplanted some fir trees from the forest into heavily impacted "illegal" tenting sights right next to the shelter. The work took less than an hour and we saved almost 20 dollars. We got to do work for stay at Zealand Falls and Lakes of the Clouds hut which involved cleaning bunk rooms, bathrooms, and washing dishes. We don't mind doing the work because we were typically fed pretty well for dinner and breakfast, and that means a lot on the trail. We were unfortunately turned away from Madison Hut at 6:30 at night. The walk after the hut was harder than we expected and ended up night hiking half of the way to the next tent site, getting into camp at 11pm. We were very irritated by the fact that they sent us on because it could have ended any one of our hikes due to the danger of the terrain-especially in the dark. Hiking at night is not that good of an idea in the first place especially when you are doing a 2000 ft descent in 1.5 mi. We only wanted to sleep on the floor of the hut, but the crew said they had to keep thru hiker numbers down. They also proceeded to tell us that if we each payed 12 dollars it would be OK  to stay. We knew the money would just be pocketed by the crew because that is definitely not a rule so we moved on. We found two days later that they allowed seven hikers to do work for stay after they sent us all away. We don't think it's right that they put us all in danger one night and totally changed the rules the next. We have a little bit of a problem with and club being able to have concessions and authority on public land, but that's how it is. Needless to say we are very happy to be moving out of their main territory and get away from the crowds at the huts.
After our night hike we hadn't gotten much sleep and were very tired. We got to Pinkam notch visitor center and were sort of bummed out because we were about to get our butts kicked on Wildcat mountain. A former thru-hiker and trail angel M&M approached us and asked if we would like to come shower and do laundry at her house in North Conway. It was a fairly easy decision since we hadn't showered in about 8 days. She has provided us with the majority of our food here and opened her home to us. We ended up zeroing because it was raining when we woke up and we were very comfortable here. Last night 15 hikers stayed which was the largest number she has ever hosted. Most of us are heading back to the trail today, but there are a couple more taking a rest. Robin has developed a cold or a sinus infection, so there is another obstacle for her. We're gonna take it slow, but hopefully she is going to recover soon.

Hello, all.  We are currently in Hanover, NH, home of Dartmouth College.  We crossed the VT-NH border yesterday evening and are very excited to be in the state!  Thus far, we have traveled 1,737 miles and have 441 miles to go.  Last we updated, we were nearing the end of a wonderful vacation with Moonshine's mom and step-dad.  It is always very difficult to return to the trail after living the "good life" for a few days.  Upon returning to the trail, we did a rather short day to Killington Peak (4,235 feet), which is the 2nd tallest peak in the state.  We caught an amazing sunset with panoramic views of the Green mountains and beyond from the summit; perhaps one of the best sunsets we have seen on the trail to date.  Vermont continued to be muddy and a little rainy.  It rained almost every day as we traveled through the state, although fortunately most of the rain fell at night.  As we are getting further north hand into higher elevations, the weather has become noticably cooler and more unpredictable with sometimes sudden changes.  In preparation for the cooler weather, we will be getting back some of our "winter gear" that we started the trail with...unfortunately, this will increase the weight of our packs, but it is necessary.  The terrain in Vermont also became much more challenging in the past few days, as we have experienced a lot more elevation gain and loss, and the trail has very rarely been flat.  Our bodies are feeling much like they did when we started the trail, as we are no longer accustomed to these big ascents and descents.  I think that I got an ulcer from taking too much ibuprofen, so I have not been taking any for a couple of weeks...doesn't help matters!  Since we returned to the trail, there has been a lot of temptation that we have not been able to resist.  We have taken advantage of the opportunity to buy sodas, deli sandwiches, ice cream, etc, for the past few days as the trail has crossed by markets and farmstands. 
New Hampshire is one of the most challenging states on the trail, as well as one of the most scenic.  In just a few days, we will be entering the White Mountains, where much of the trail is above treeline.  We have gone on 2 backpacking trips in the Whites and are very excited to get back there.  The Appalachian Mountain Club offers huts along the trail in the White Mountains, and for about $90, one can have a bunk in a lodge and a homecooked family style dinner and breakfast.  The huts offer "work-for-stay" opportunities for thru-hikers, in which 1-2 hours of light work are done in exchange for a place to sleep and dinner and breakfast.  We are really looking forward to these opportunities, and are hoping to take advantage of them as many times as possible, though we hear that the work-for-stay opportunities are limited and at the discretion of the hutmaster.
Here in Hanover, we have enjoyed a very warm welcome into NH.  The trail actually goes right through the town and by the college campus.  The town is a little upscale and we definitely don't fit in, but some locals have made us feel at home.  We got a free slice of pizza at a local pizzeria, as well as a couple of beers a piece bought for us.  We are taking a "nearo" today (near zero mileage day) so that we can stick around, enjoy the town, and take care of all our usual chores.  Our next planned stop is in Lincoln, NH as we head into the Whites.  Hope all is well with all of you and we will update the next time that we have a chance!

Hello from Rutland, VT. We are getting ready to return to the trail tomorrow after a few days of vacation at my uncle and aunt's cottage. We got picked up on Friday afternoon by my mother and step father and headed to lake Winnipesaukee NH for a family reunion of sorts on Saturday. We have had three zero mileage days and plenty of good food. I think we should be good and rested for our last leg of the trip.
The day after our last update we crossed the MA/VT state line. The state line is also the southern terminus of the VT Long Trail which runs about 275 mi to the Canadian border. The AT runs with it for about 100 mi before making a fairly sharp right turn towards NH. We noticed a couple of things right after we crossed into VT. The temperature got cooler, and the trail got muddier. Our first day there we got poured on right before we got to the shelter, and we figured we would stop there. The rain ended up stopping after a short time and we heard that there wasn't suppose to be anymore from  several people so we pushed on a couple of more miles. We found a nice spot to set the tent up at the top of a mountain a couple of miles away so we set up camp and began to cook dinner. I soon noticed a wall of thunderheads coming toward us and we started to speed up our chores. Before we had even finished eating a severe storm was upon us. Lightning was striking literally every 2 seconds and there was very high wind and heavy rain. We felt very uncomfortable being on top of the mountain. After it passed we thought we were in the clear, but to our dismay two more waves of severe thunderstorms came through and we rode them out in terror. I don't think that either of us have been more scared on the trail than we were that night. It's not that likely that you will get struck, but when you put yourself in situations like that you are in much greater danger. We both agreed that we will pay more attention to the weather before we set up camp on a high peak .
We woke up surrounded by clouds the next day, but fortunately they broke by late morning and we had a very pleasant second day in the state. It was a little bit slower going trying to pick the best path through all of the mud holes, but the forest was beautiful. The Green Mountain Club was celebrating their 100th anniversary with a month long relay of day hikes to complete the long trail. The people were nice, but it made for very crowded trail. We ended up seeing the groups for the next few days. So far we have gotten rained on every day but one. It hasn't been that bad coming from such horrible heat and bugs though. We have been hoping to see a moose on the trail, but so far we haven't really seen any wildlife. It's pretty disappointing because we perceived New England as the "wonderful wild north". I'm sure we will have plenty of sightings by the end of our hike.
We only have 3-4 days left in the state and then we will be heading to the Whites. Unfortunately we will need to pick up our winter sleeping bags and our jackets to prepare for potentially much colder temperatures. This will add bulk and weight back to our packs, but I think it will be worth our safety and comfort. My stepfather looked at the weather report for Mt. Washington in NH this morning and it was 37 degrees with a wind chill of 21. It was a good reminder that we are heading to much higher elevations and harsher conditions. The views will be well worth it though. It is sort of what we have been waiting for the entire trip. Hanover, NH will be our first town stop in the state and we may be able to update there. If not we will do our best to post as soon as possible. Robin got the most recent pictures onto facebook if you haven't already seen them. If you don't have an account all you have to do is create a blank one and you can view them on her page.  Until next time take care and we are thinking of you all.

exciting note: We got to visit the Long Trail brewery today! Oh yeah and we saw 3 bald eagles

SIDEWAYS IS GONNA BE AN AUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yes, yes...my wonderful brother and sister-in-law, Freddy and Melissa, are expecting a little one!!  She is about 12-13 weeks along and doing very well.  Love you Mel and thinking of you every day!!!  Can't wait, due date is January 23...will keep ya posted!

WOW, sorry that we haven't updated in awhile.  Internet access is becoming more sparse, and we believe it will continue to be less accessible.  Everything is well with us.  We are currently in Pittsfield, MA, having a wonderful zero day with Moonshine's mom and step-dad, Gail and Dave.  We have been welcomed into Dave's business partner's house on a beautiful lake!  Thus far, we have walked 1,582 miles...hard to believe!! It is our last day in MA. We will be crossing the border into Vermont tomorrow and stepping up the difficulty of terrain as well. The last time we updated we were in New York.  Nobody ever talks about the state being difficult, but we found it to be so. They don't have high peaks elevation wise, but the trail maintaners love to take the trail up nearly vertical rock scrambles every chance they get. The scenery was excellent though, and we got to see the NYC skyline from  multiple lookouts. When we first spotted it we were in disbelief because that was our best visual indicator of how far we had actually walked. It was very strange to say the least. We were able to spend the 4th of July at a former thru hikers house that was hosting a party for this years hikers. They supplied food, beverages, and beds for anyone who came. We had a great time and thank you Bill and Amy if you are reading this.
After NY we crossed the border into CT. The only thing we knew about the state trail wise was that the re-supply was ungodly expensive. We found the prices to be consistent with the rest of the prices in the north, but the state had some more challenges for us. On July 5th when we crossed the border the temperature hit 101. I don't think the humidity could have been any less than 100 percent either. We were sweating so bad that my (moonshine) hands actually pruned up like I had been in a bath tub. Night time didn't bring any relief since the temperature stayed in the mid 80's and the mosquitoes were out in larger numbers than ever. That night I layed awake for about two hours with nothing but my shorts on sweating for about two hours. Not being able to go to sleep because of the heat has been one of the hardest things mentally I have encountered on the trail. The next day we hiked into Kent, CT to try to get some AC and watch the world cup game at the bar. We ended up hanging out at the bar for about four hours and went to do our re-supply afterwards. Robin was having a very difficult day due to her numerous bites and the heat and sweating and chafing that resulted from it and had a full trail meltdown. There was really no consolation that I could offer since my morale and nerves were shot as well. Getting back on the trail that evening was very difficult. We decided to do a night hike that night to make up for some mileage lost during the day. It was seven miles to the shelter , but we didn't realize the terrain had some nearly vertical descents causing another mental breakdown for Robin. After hiking until 11:30PM we figured we must have passed the shelter and even if we hadn't we were getting eaten by mosquitoes so bad that we pitched the tent on the side of the trail. We didn't bother with dinner that night and hoped for better temperatures and terrain the next day. When we got up the next day we found out that we had at least gone past the shelter we were shooting for because the sign was on the ground making it very hard to see at night. It didn't get any cooler though and we had another very low mileage day. Our morale was up though and we had a much better day. On our final day in CT we had the most tolerable weather and managed to actually get some decent miles done. We also had one of out best views in the state from the Lion's Head and enjoyed a local brew that we carried up from Great Barrington brewery.
The next day we crossed the MA state line. Unfortunately the minute we left camp it began to pour. Unlike other summer thunderstorms it continued for the first four hours of our hike making the already difficult terrain very slick. It beat the heat but I took a hard fall after slipping on a rock and slammed my knee into a boulder. It was extremely painful, but was nothing serious and we continued to hike. I think I bruised the bone pretty good though because it is still hurting over 100 mi later. It also made us realize how quickly our trip could be cut short if we were not careful.  We made it into MA and were excited to be in a state where we had some family. The weather had cleared up but unfortunately the rocks were still wet and I took an even bigger fall that morning. Going down some rocks both of my feet slipped out from under me driving my elbow into a rock and causing me to roll down the face. I popped up quickly but my arm was in extreme pain and swole imediately on the impacted area. I had some more bruises and scrapes on my legs but fortunately escaped once again with nothing seriously wrong. We hiked the rest of the way to Great Barrington MA where our next resupply was. Once again there was another World Cup game to watch (the final!) and we found a local restaurant/bar that was showing it. We had some good burgers and beers and even had a round bought for us. In the bar, we had 2 different offers for a free place to stay that night and we took one of them up on it. We took one of the offers, and ended up going to a great guy Jon's house with his buddy Brian.  They took us back for a cookout and gave us a bed. Their generosity to total strangers blew our minds as it does every time we recieve these random acts of kindness.  Our faith in humanity has totally been renewed on the trail and we have been totally shocked that so many people are willing to open their homes to us and make us feel so comfortable.  Jon had us back to the trail at about 8 and we were back on our way. We had another cool stop at the Upper Goose Pond Cabin which is run by the Appalachian Mountain Club. There is a caretaker there who cooks pancakes and coffee for the hikers in the morning. The place was full that night with over 20 people. We got to see some good friends that we hadn't run into since Shenandoah so it was nice to catch up with each other. The next day was full of lots of rain so we decided to hike all the way to Dalton MA. There is two hostels in local residents homes there and we made it in around seven that night.   We stayed at "the Birdcage", run by Rob Bird, a wonderful and very generous man!  A lot of our friends were there and we had a good time playing and singing music until late hours of the night. We decided to take Rob Bird up on a slack pack (hiking with only items that you need for the day, such as food and water...makes it much easier due to much less pack weight).  We hiked south 23.3 miles beginning at the base of Mt Greylock, the highest peak in MA, and ending up back in Dalton to stay at the "Birdcage" again.  Mt Greylock was the most difficult ascent we have had in a very long time, with an elevation of about 3,500 feet it was also the highest peak we have climbed since Shenandoah National Park in VA.  At the top of the mountain stands a tall observation tower serving as a memorial to the state's veterans.  It was a really tough day but we did the miles in record time for us.  This morning we were picked up and have had a very relaxing day by the lake.  Life is good and we are soaking up every minute of it.  As always, we are thinking of you all and hope that everything is well.  Take care!

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