I am having way too much fun right now to blog, but I have too many thanks to express to not write them down. My last entry had to be cut short because I was falling asleep (mostly from having too much fun for the proceeding days). 

My last couple days hiking in New York were made a little more special thanks to my friend and hiking buddy, "Plant Man". He and I hiked together last before Chris came to visit in Virginia. He then got ahead of me. However, Plant Man lives in New York near the trail, and decided to take a couple weeks off to rest his knees and feet of hiking ailments. I got an invitation from him to join him in his home for a warm shower, good food, and comfy bed. Of course I didn't pass up that offer!
Instead of staying at the overpriced B&B as I had planned, I arranged to stay at Plant Mans home. I was able to get my mail drop and resupply with extra goodies for the coming week. Roboticus came with me, and at the last minute with the rainy weather, four other hikers joined in as well. Gingersnap, Oliver Twist, Sonshine, and Charlie Brown were also invited in with open arms. 

When we arrived, there were four different kinds of vegan soups and chilies to choose from as well as pasta salad and green salad. We had an amazing feast. 

A couple weeks earlier, I had some equipment fails. I had a strap break on my backpack, and one of my trekking poles busted. Osprey sent me a brand new backpack, and Leki sent me a new pole, free of charge. I also ordered a new pair of shoes. All this new equipment met me at Plant Man's home. It was like Christmas morning! I was so happy to have my new gear, and my feet were glad to have some shoes with tread on them. My tires were bald! I got the exact shoe that I had before since the old ones had been so faithful to me for the last 1160.6 miles. here is what those miles can do to a shoe...

And here is what the same shoe looks like brand new...

Costomer service for Osprey, Leki, and Keen was awesome! It's hard to get bummed out on the trail when companies like this take such good care of our equipment, and people like Plant Man take such good care of everything else! Roboticus and I stayed a second night. 
Connecticut was beautiful to hike through. Two days after leaving Plant Man's home, it was raining again. I didn't care though, because I was excited to have my good friend, Elisa meet me on the trail. Elisa did the first week of the trail with me, and was back to give me some company. It always rains when she and I hike together, so the rain seemed appropriate. We had a great time! Elisa hiked with me through the rest of Connecticut, and into Massachusetts. 

I have sassafras leaves in my headband for its natural insect repellent. The bugs are insane lately.  At night there will be at least 50 Mosquitos swarming between my tent mesh and the rain fly. My tent is my most loved piece of equipment!
Elisa did long miles with me despite not having hiked mountains for four months. Our last night of camping, we decided to push past the shelter to make it so we wouldn't have too many miles to do the next day. We "stealth camped" on some rocks with a nice view. We weren't very stealthy though, since we were right by the trail. We figured it wouldn't be an issue unless a ridge runner came by, or something. Well, guess who decided to come by! Haha! Caught red handed by the sweetest ridge runner around. She thought it was a great place too, so she let us stay. We made sure to be out early in the morning and left no trace of our camping. 

The next morning, we hiked in a little rain, but it never poured on us too bad. Aside from the mosquito infestation in the forest areas, it was a very nice hike. We met a trail angel, "Tink", who gave us fruit, gator aid, and cookies. He offered to give us a ride to town, but we wanted to make our destination as early as possible, so we declined. We ended our hike at a hostel called the East Mountain Retreat. It is supposed to be some kind of silent spiritual retreat, and a couple buildings were used as a hiker hostel. It didn't seem as quiet or serene as I had expected. Elisa stayed there for the night, but I had bigger plans. I got there in time to shower and clean up a bit before Chris arrived. I was so excited to see him! We got to spend time with Elisa for dinner and then breakfast the next morning. When Elisa's son came to pick her up, we did a little window shopping around the cute downtown of Great Barrington, and then had to say goodbye to Elisa and Julian. 
Chris and I have had a great weekend together. We went to a semi private yoga class last night where I was able to relax and stretch some of my sore areas. 

Today, we did another yoga class, then had a couples massage. Chris had really wanted to hike a bit this weekend, but arranging transportation to mountain roads was tough. It also rained a lot of the weekend, so we bailed on the hiking plan. I was very happy to get two full days off of hiking. So are my knees and feet. This is my last true rest weekend before finishing the trail. The trail ahead is going to get tougher, so I needed this rest to push me through. 

A huge thanks to Chris for making the weekend great and relaxing! I sure am gonna miss him when he has to leave me in the woods again tomorrow!

"It is enough right now to taste one moment of peace. Of course I want more, but at least the door is open. 
It is enough to draw a conscious breath, and let my hands relax, fingers releasing their tight grasp on things outside of my control. 
It is enough to to shed a layer of stress as if taking off a jacket or pair of too-tight shoes. 
Ease of being has to start somewhere. This breath is my first step."
~Danna Faulds

Miles hiked: 1524.4
Miles to go: 659.8

I am having way too much fun right now to blog, but I have too many thanks to express to not write them down. My last entry had to be cut short because I was falling asleep (mostly from having too much fun for the proceeding days). 

My last couple days hiking in New York were made a little more special thanks to my friend and hiking buddy, "Plant Man". He and I hiked together last before Chris came to visit in Virginia. He then got ahead of me. However, Plant Man lives in New York near the trail, and decided to take a couple weeks off to rest his knees and feet of hiking ailments. I got an invitation from him to join him in his home for a warm shower, good food, and comfy bed. Of course I didn't pass up that offer!
Instead of staying at the overpriced B&B as I had planned, I arranged to stay at Plant Mans home. I was able to get my mail drop and resupply with extra goodies for the coming week. Roboticus came with me, and at the last minute with the rainy weather, four other hikers joined in as well. Gingersnap, Oliver Twist, Sonshine, and Charlie Brown were also invited in with open arms. 

When we arrived, there were four different kinds of vegan soups and chilies to choose from as well as pasta salad and green salad. We had an amazing feast. 

A couple weeks earlier, I had some equipment fails. I had a strap break on my backpack, and one of my trekking poles busted. Osprey sent me a brand new backpack, and Leki sent me a new pole, free of charge. I also ordered a new pair of shoes. All this new equipment met me at Plant Man's home. It was like Christmas morning! I was so happy to have my new gear, and my feet were glad to have some shoes with tread on them. My tires were bald! I got the exact shoe that I had before since the old ones had been so faithful to me for the last 1160.6 miles. here is what those miles can do to a shoe...

And here is what the same shoe looks like brand new...

Costomer service for Osprey, Leki, and Keen was awesome! It's hard to get bummed out on the trail when companies like this take such good care of our equipment, and people like Plant Man take such good care of everything else! Roboticus and I stayed a second night. 
Connecticut was beautiful to hike through. Two days after leaving Plant Man's home, it was raining again. I didn't care though, because I was excited to have my good friend, Elisa meet me on the trail. Elisa did the first week of the trail with me, and was back to give me some company. It always rains when she and I hike together, so the rain seemed appropriate. We had a great time! Elisa hiked with me through the rest of Connecticut, and into Massachusetts. 

I have sassafras leaves in my headband for its natural insect repellent. The bugs are insane lately.  At night there will be at least 50 Mosquitos swarming between my tent mesh and the rain fly. My tent is my most loved piece of equipment!
Elisa did long miles with me despite not having hiked mountains for four months. Our last night of camping, we decided to push past the shelter to make it so we wouldn't have too many miles to do the next day. We "stealth camped" on some rocks with a nice view. We weren't very stealthy though, since we were right by the trail. We figured it wouldn't be an issue unless a ridge runner came by, or something. Well, guess who decided to come by! Haha! Caught red handed by the sweetest ridge runner around. She thought it was a great place too, so she let us stay. We made sure to be out early in the morning and left no trace of our camping. 

The next morning, we hiked in a little rain, but it never poured on us too bad. Aside from the mosquito infestation in the forest areas, it was a very nice hike. We met a trail angel, "Tink", who gave us fruit, gator aid, and cookies. He offered to give us a ride to town, but we wanted to make our destination as early as possible, so we declined. We ended our hike at a hostel called the East Mountain Retreat. It is supposed to be some kind of silent spiritual retreat, and a couple buildings were used as a hiker hostel. It didn't seem as quiet or serene as I had expected. Elisa stayed there for the night, but I had bigger plans. I got there in time to shower and clean up a bit before Chris arrived. I was so excited to see him! We got to spend time with Elisa for dinner and then breakfast the next morning. When Elisa's son came to pick her up, we did a little window shopping around the cute downtown of Great Barrington, and then had to say goodbye to Elisa and Julian. 
Chris and I have had a great weekend together. We went to a semi private yoga class last night where I was able to relax and stretch some of my sore areas. 

Today, we did another yoga class, then had a couples massage. Chris had really wanted to hike a bit this weekend, but arranging transportation to mountain roads was tough. It also rained a lot of the weekend, so we bailed on the hiking plan. I was very happy to get two full days off of hiking. So are my knees and feet. This is my last true rest weekend before finishing the trail. The trail ahead is going to get tougher, so I needed this rest to push me through. 

A huge thanks to Chris for making the weekend great and relaxing! I sure am gonna miss him when he has to leave me in the woods again tomorrow!

"It is enough right now to taste one moment of peace. Of course I want more, but at least the door is open. 
It is enough to draw a conscious breath, and let my hands relax, fingers releasing their tight grasp on things outside of my control. 
It is enough to to shed a layer of stress as if taking off a jacket or pair of too-tight shoes. 
Ease of being has to start somewhere. This breath is my first step."
~Danna Faulds

Miles hiked: 1524.4
Miles to go: 659.8

Today, I completed the New York section of the AT. As a whole, NY has been my favorite state so far. It offered some new technical difficulty of rock climbs, and was surprisingly beautiful. We went through something called the "lemon squeezer"

Just after this, we had a rock climb that we had to actually take off our packs and hand up before climbing. 
Near mountain was also a great part of NY. A good portion of it has been groomed with steps, making it a little easier. From the top, you can see NYC. That was really neat! I have never been to NYC, and would love to come back someday to explore without my backpack. 
After descending bear mountain, the AT goes through a zoo. I thought the zoo was a little sad. I'm used to seeing wildlife in their natural habitat, and seeing them in cages was very different. After the zoo, the trail crosses the Hudson river via the Bear Mountain Bridge. It was windy, so my picture turned out a little crooked. 

By the end of that day, we were all pretty worn out. Pickup and I were both suffering from some heat exhaustion. We have hiked in several heat advisory days where they warn not to do physical activities outdoors. This was one of those days. Even the low of the night was over 80°, so I still felt under par the next morning. We all decided to take it easy the next day and only hiked 4 miles. We stayed at a monestary that allows hikers to camp. There was a cold shower there too. I jumped in wearing my clothes. Easy way to cool down, shower, and do laundry all at once! A storm came through later that afternoon, which brought in some more hikers. It was the largest group of thru hikers I have seen for a while. 

It was also Pickup's last day on trail, so we had a little celebration thanks to his mom and aunt who brought food and drinks for all of us. 

Starting to fall asleep, so I will tell you all about my Christmas in July soon. I'm beat!
Cheers!!

Another installation of "Letters from the Family"

From Lori's sister, Jamie:


When Lori told me she wanted to hike the entire AT my first thought was, “Why?” Seriously, why would you want to endure all that crap? You really have to know Lori… Know how she enjoys nature the way she does. The way she loves life like she does. All one really has to do is spend one day with my sister; you will walk away with a greater appreciation of the world around you, and a very sore behind from either hiking or walking all day!! She only stops moving to embrace the beauty around. I also know how serious she is about getting to Katahdin and there is NO doubt in my mind that she will get there. From the time Lori was a little girl (we’re talking two years old) if you told her she couldn’t do something, she would formulate a plan to prove you wrong. Sometimes it has been the most annoying and admiring of traits, because she will go to the ends of the earth… To Heaven and Hell to make sure that you are proven wrong. :) When I think of perseverance and tenacity I think of my younger sister. I truly believe there is not one thing in this world she cannot accomplish as long as she puts her mind to it. I knew that she would have a very detailed plan, but so far she has surprised me with how detailed and organized she has been. Kudos to her for that!! I’m very lucky to be Lori’s sister, the fact that she is younger and teaches me far more than I could ever teach her... ehhhh! Oh well!! So lil sis, keep on walkin’… Till we see each other in Maine!

I am lying in my tent right now listening to rain and thunder. The storm is welcome since many streams and springs along the trail have been dry or nearly dry. 
Yesterday, I took a zero day in Warwick, NY. It was a great little town! Me and Roboticus shared the "princess room" at the Meadow Lark Farm B&B. The rest was so nice, and well deserved after three 18 mile days in a row! Voltron and Bobby-now called "pickup", stayed in tents in a field at the B&B. 

This is Dorothy, who runs the place all by herself. It's her first year of advertising in the AT guide, and the hikers have overwhelmed her a bit, but she does a great job. 
My friend Elke found out that I was going to be in Warwick, and it turns out she has a good friend who lives there. Diane came and picked us up and showed us around the Warwick village. She also took us to the grocery store for resupply of food for the next week of hiking. Thanks, Diane!!

In case you didn't notice, I found a cute, lightweight dress to wear in town while all my other clothes are being washed. Much better outfit for summer than rain gear!
For dinner, we bought veggie burgers and grilled out on Dorothy's patio. It was one of the best dinners I've had for a long time! For dessert, girl scout cookies from my sweet friend, Kelly. 

Today we finished New Jersey. Eight states complete!

 Tomorrow we will pass the mark where we will have less that 800 miles to go. The countdown is on!
New Jersey was pretty rocky, much like Pennsylvania. New York seems that way as well, with more rock climbing. 

Today, I got a partial picture of a blue tailed salamander or lizard that is definitely worth showing off. It was so neat!

One of the interesting things about hiking in NJ was the miles of boardwalks. 

The bugs, however, are driving me crazy. Except for the lightening bugs, I love those!!

Today I completed hiking in PA, and crossed over to NJ. What a great feeling! Unfortunately, there was no sign to take a picture of to commemorate the moment. I was hiking with Bobby. I have a habit of adopting long section hikers. My buddy, 4-trees finished his month section in Harpers Ferry, and just happens that Bobby started his month long section there. We met up in Pine Grove Furnace, and he is a great addition to our group. Someday he will be a famous NFL player, and I will be able to brag about hiking the AT with him. 

I think carrying my pack too is great training for him, don't you think? Haha. 
Pennsylvania was a tough state. I had heard horror stories about the rocks and snakes for months. Because of this, it was actually not as bad as I expected. The first half of the state was, do I dare say, kind of easy. The last half did have some remarkable rock scrambles. In addition, there are tons of small pointy rocks that hurt your feet all day as you walk. 

This is the "knifes edge" there was quite a long section like this with a narrow place to walk with steep edges of rock on either side. 

This is Spiceman, scaling part of the climb out of Palmerton. This, according to a local, is one of the most dangerous climbs on the trail. I'll let you know in a couple months if I agree, but it was quite intense. We had a nice group of eight hikers to climb this area. It helped tremendously as we helped each other along. Behind Spiceman is Rhino, who is his brother-in-law, and lives in Germany. Listening to his accent makes me miss Snail and Turtle. 
As far as snakes go, I got away with only running into one Rattlesnake in PA. (~cringe~) The biggest problem with hiking in PA was the lack of water. We had several days with 100° temps, and sometimes a 16 mile stretch without reliable water. We had to carry a gallon at a time. Luckily, Roboticus had her parents visiting, and they met us along the trail a few times to give us water, lemon aid, and watermelon. Toby and Lisa, you were lifesavers!

PA offered some restful places, and some not so restful places. I got to Duncannon excited to stay at the Doyle hotel. It is some what of an icon at 107 years old. It is known as a hiker friendly place, has a bar on the ground floor, and said to be haunted. I also heard it was pretty run down and a total fire hazard. How could I turn this excitement down?!? Turns out, staying at the Doyle cured my fascination with hole in the wall hiker joints. It was disgusting! The bar/restaurant was great, as was the people running the place. However the rooms were awful. There was only one communal bathroom for each floor, and the place was falling apart and covered with dirt and cobwebs. Somehow, it was a full house. With stinky hikers, of course! We were able to entertain ourselves, non the less. Those details will go unwritten, to protect the innocent. 
A few days later, I made it into the town of Hamburg and split a very nice hotel sweet with Spiceman and Rhino. We got a big room with three beds, and some much needed rest. 
In the tavern located in the hotel, we ran into a couple sets of parents who we had previously run into on the trail as they were doing some hiking with their kids. 

They bought us drinks as we talked trail talk. Joe and Trip gave us a generous ride back to the trail the next morning, and we hiked with their kids for a couple days after that. 
Palmerton was the next town we stopped in. We also got some good rest there, in jail. The jailhouse hostel was quite comfortable. Although not so comfortable was the co-ed communal jailhouse style shower. Luckily, Spiceman watched the door for me so I could have a private shower. The hostel was never actually used as a jail, and it is a really great thing the city does for hikers. It's even free!

Our next, and last stop in PA was the Delaware Water Gap. We stayed at the Church of the Mountain hostel, run by the Presbyterian church. This was a fantastic hostel, run by donation.  

The town is very nice as well, with many places in walking distance. The trail actually runs right through it, so it is very convenient. I left the hostel this morning well fed and well rested. Our first day in New Jersey was a delight. Sunfish pond was a perfect resting place. 

The rock statues were pretty cool. I hear NJ and NY are also pretty rocky, but today, the trail was mostly nice. We even took a nice two hour break at the Mohican Outdoor Center. A homemade sandwich and air conditioning was in order. 

It's funny how groups move on the AT. You might hike with someone for a couple weeks, get off track, and then meet up a long ways down the road. Sparky, Longstride, and Silvergirl are about three days ahead. They can run, but they can't hide. Bwahahaha!
We have hiked in an unusually big group lately for being this far along the trail. It has been great though. This is the gang at one of the best campsites yet. Awesome view!

Letters from the family.

From Lori's mom, Debbie:

When Lori first talked about hiking the Appalachian Trail I was adamantly opposed to the idea! I thought it was very dangerous and I felt that she should not take on such an extreme and lengthy hike, especially where she would not be hiking with a set group and may at times be entirely alone on the trail! I was very vocally against the idea and told her so every chance I got. When she had trial hikes, especially the one where she got rained out, I was grateful for the rain. And I felt assured that she would decide it wasn't for her.

She ask me to at least read the book "Hiking Through" before she started. She brought me the book and I let it set on the counter. She kept asking me if I had read it every time I talked to her. Finally I relented the weekend before she was to start her hike. It helped me in that I found that she would not be alone and there were many stops along the way to refresh and re-fuel. I finished the book in 2 days.

I called her and told her I would no longer be trying to talk her out of the hike and that I would support her. I can't say it has been easy knowing she is in the woods for such a long time and subjected to all the danger that is there.

The great part is that we are able to keep in contact quite often and can live the hike vicariously through her blog post, texts, and phone calls. She is living a dream and doing something that she really wants to do! We are all on this earth to live and experience life...not just survive!

Letters from the family.

Hi all! Chelsea here. Lori has asked me to gather letters from her family talking about how they feel about her hike. So here is Installation #1- Daddy.

Papa O says:


If someone were to tell me that the day would come when your pretty bright eyed little girl will one day, on her own choice and determination, be hiking continuously for months on end covering many hundreds of miles and many unknown challenges, well I would have to say they were out of their minds. The mere fact that I have witnessed Lori all her life do things, the kind of things that most people won't do because either they can't or they shouldn't simply because everyone has always told them they would fail, it's so much easier and or funner or simpler to do it differently, smaller, cheaper, safer, so they won't. Not Lori.

Now Lori is on the trail, she has passed the "Half-way-Mark", has surpassed 1000 miles several hundred miles ago!!! It's like being aware of an under-dog in your favorite sports. You follow the sport fairly closely from your own comfort zone, watching the players. You happen to catch a glimpse of a "Long-Shot" player early in the season who appears to be exceeding the expectations of your fellow fans. Then suddenly the long-shot player starts to reach totally unexpected and unplanned victories. That's when you start really paying attention. Every new day brings on that new anticipated yet at first astonished excitement as the unknown, unfamiliar, under-dog long-shot starts to come out every time, every day, on top. Now you find yourselves every moment cheering, hoping, amazed by the new champion who is well on the way to success and victory. It's difficult to even get through an hour without thinking about your new found Hero and you find yourself even praying for their ultimate achievement.

For every one of us our lives and the opportunities that we have within us are like holding two hands full of sand. Much of life's choices seems to pour through our fingers like the spilling sands with little way to contain and keep from loosing the treasures that life can bring our way. We don't mind at all when mixed in with those great opportunities, spills away the all to often disappointments that always come connected with those missed great moments. Still we seem to take on that "coulda-shoulda-woulda" attitude. However there are those special moments in life when all of the distractions, the noise and clutter, the obligations and limitations we all have and pause, if even so very briefly. Those are the moments that really count.

That is when we, like Lori, can travel at perhaps still the all too fast speed of Walk and reflect and repent and restore and rededicate and remember who we are and even really find ourselves, then move on because life holds still for no mere mortal being. The challenge is to discover and make the most of those special moments, tools if you will, and then just keep on walking.

Jerrie, Lori's Dad

Sorry guys. Having blog posting issues. Will have an update soon. All is well!