Well, Chris and I have been in New Orleans (or Nawlans) for a week now, and I am starting to think quitting the trail was the best decision we ever made. This feeling was cemented on Sunday afternoon...
Christine and I got up early Sunday morning for church with the family, then after church her Grandparents, 2 of her cousins and Chris & I drove to the Louisiana Superdome to watch the opening game of the NFL season for the New Orleans Saints! What an experience! Her Grandad has a luxury suite at the stadium, and let me tell you, they lay it on thick! Leather seats, open bar, free food, flat screen tvs in the box, and the loudest most enthusiastic crowd I've EVER come across! 75,000 fans inside a giant dome willing their team on to a 45 - 27 victory over Detroit Lions! As I was sitting back sipping on a single malt scotch during the game, I thought to myself "so glad we quit the trail".
New Orleans over all has been great though. We've been volunteering at the local church and also helping out around Chris' Grandparents property. Spent a lot of time with family, and have been treated most generously to some quintasential Louisiana cuisine (including my first bowl of Turtle Soup yesterday). Loving it.
Went duck hunting the other morning with Pawpaw (Chris' grandfather) and Uncle Joe. Up at 4am, on the bayou at 5.30am, with a 12 gauge shotgun in hand, camo gear head to toe, fresh coffee in my system and the sun just peaking up over the marsh. The ducks weren't really flying due to the conditions, but we got a couple of shots off and had a great time over all.
We've also enjoyed some good exercise, swimming in the pool, shooting hoops, running and more. It's rained quite a lot this last week, some of the downpours the heaviest I've ever seen (like movie rain) so the ground has been quite wet. But now that things are drying out we should be playing some golf at the New Orleans Country Club today. Livin the good life you could say. Through all of these good things though, we are still remembering to take our quiet times, bible studies, and thanking God for all he's doing in our lives.
So we're here for another week, then back to Colorado where the adventure will continue...the family "cabin" (if you've ever heard about it you'll know why it's in quotations" up in Steamboat Springs needs some landscaping so that will probably be our next adventure. Hope you're all well, Chris and I wanted to express how much all of your comments have meant to us, and that it just feels great to have such supportive friends and family. We were quite worried writing our last blog about the trail, but as I said the response has been phenomenal. God Bless, T&C
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
#1 Wost Idea By Christine and Tim
Hello to all! Im sure each of you have been sitting around eagerly awaiting the next blog. we appoligize that it took so long. day three on the trail we did stay at a hostel and their computer was broken, so no luck to us!
I want to tell you every detail but i think that there just isnt enough room on this blog. and quite frankly you would be terribly bored. but, i will sit and share some passing feelings and changing attitudes.
Day one feelings (lost and confused): tim and i made it to harpers ferry west virginia. it was late when we stepped off the train into a world of unkowns. despite the copious amounts of planning previously mentioned we found ourselves feeling a little lost. the town was something out of a harry potter movie. buildings leening askew, a train whistle, a glimmering light in a few windows, and no one to be seen. we walked down a grassy hill and onto a road, up a flight of rickety wooden stairs, and onto high rd. the only place it seemed that was open was a very old, three storied, skinny building called the town's inn. the innkeeper was a woman named karan from north texas. she set us up in a private room for the price of the bunk room which was fine by us!
Day two feelings (hot and fearful): Harper's Ferry is one of those towns that goes to bed early and gets up late. We needed to pick up a few things before starting the hike but had to wait till 10 for the outfitters to open. tim took care of getting a couple canisters of gas, while i went to the ATC headquarters and bought us maps for the next ten days and met a few thru hikers. we didnt get on the trail till 11 and had 9 miles to walk to the first shelter. a few hours into the hike tim pushed his side arm firm into my stomache and whispered, "it's a bear...". we were on the trail with trees all around, a clearing up ahead shows a 400 lb black bear meandering onto the trail. we began to inch backwards slowly, not taking an eye from the animal. the bear sniffing the ground, heard me, "tim, dont trip" looking up at us, straight in the eye, the bear stood, gnarled its teeth... no just kidding. it spooked so fast, we didnt see anything but dust and some bare butt.
that night at camp we stayed with a thru hiker named brennan and his dog taj at the david lesser shelter. nine miles down and more afraid because of it. tim and i took time to talk about bears and what we were really getting into. deciding to take it day by day and talk to another person for information at the next ATC center we went to sleep. almost sleeping deeply, except for the sound of a mouse nibbling a hole in the top of tims pack.
Day three feelings (hope and defeat): off on the trail again we walked briskly to the blackburn trail center and talked to a guy named brian who assured us that bears did not see us as food and we had nothing to worry about. we decided to hike on to a place, ironically called, the bears den. just another seven miles. it was noon and we figured at the latest we would be there by four. unbeknownst to us we were to enter a section of the trail called the rollercoaster.
another few miles in we started the ups and downs. starting with some burning muscles, those muscles soon became shaky legs, then shaky legs turned in to doubting thoughts and from there it was figuratively, all down hill. it was completely demoralizing. a never ending roller coaster. walking up a hill, stopping for a break, turing the bend and expecting the end in site but only seeing more hill, i finally was finished. bursting into tears and wimpering my way up step but step. i was a sight to behold. and poor tim had to push us both on...
we did finally make it to the bears den at 6:45. at nearly a mile an hour. for you non hikers. that is really slow. the bears den nursed us back to life with pizza, ben and jerry's, a shower, bed, and laundry, and pancakes in the morning. we slept well but man were we stiff the next day. ive never actually needed the handrail to walk up stairs before. it was utterly pathetic. we had met a couple hikers burger king, suger red, and lost rob and were sad to see them hike on. (for those of you that dont know, hikers on the AT adopt trail names, ours were a bit uncreative. t and c) But, on we went.
Day four feelings (stiff and lonely): we only hiked to the next shelter. a measly 3.5 miles. but that was about all we could do anyway. the rollercoaster was doing us in. we stopped at the sam moore shelter and settled down. making a fire, playing cards, whittling a walking stick, and talking. we both realized that despite the fact we had each other we were lonely! we missed people. and prayed that someone was going to hike through and stop to stay with us at the shelter. but no one came. that night we spent a lot of time in prayer and conversation. wondering, "what are we doing?" or "this is not what we thought it would be." we still decided to push on and see what the next day had in store.
Day five feelings (optimistic and upbeat): this was a good day for us on the trail. not only did we come to the end of the ten miles of rollercoaster, but we hiked briskly, saw a view, and had six shelter mates! God had answered prayers. we shared the shelter with a man and woman named racoon and raffle queen.
the rod hollow shelter was fun. a good spring where we washed some clothes, friends to talk with, soup and quesadillas for dinner, and a good nights sleep.
Day six feelings (frustration and realization): this was our longest hiking day, 14 miles. we pushed on through sky meadows park, and a wildlife area. stopping at dick's dome for lunch we saw a water moccasin (deadly snake), and spent time in the sun, a first on the trail! not because of cloudy skies... we made it to camp and found four other people already there! two more through hikers came, disney and pooh bear, and we spent the night in conversation.
it rained that night. tim had been feeling a sadness on the trail and we werent able to figure out what it was. loneliness? lack of sun? unmet expectations? we didnt know. we had spent a lot of time in prayer wanting to find God's will for us. with the rain that night tim felt that the dream of the trail was ending. it wasnt for us. the next morning we hiked three miles to a road. hitchhiked to town and found solice. we prayed that God would help us to know whether to go on. but stepping in to front royal virginia we knew we were done.
we had been crazy to think we could do it! a bit sad that we had been defeated but also happy to be off the trail we settled into a hotel and made plans to get out of town.
the trail had not been what we planned. we didnt get to know any friends. we hadn't seen the southeast (it was just a walk in the woods, no views, just trees and more trees). we didnt find purpose, we felt bored mostly, doing the same thing day after day.
but we learned a lot of great things. christine actually can hike, if she puts her mind to it. we can pray together as a couple and we can do it often. devotionals are awesome. we love people and it is essential to our life and happiness, and we hate walking in the woods. get us up on a mountain ridgeline with lots of views and we are happy!
i hope you all are not dissappointed. we are not. we still plan to make this a great adventure. im currently sitting in my grandparents house in new orleans. tim and i are going to do some volunteering and spend time with family. we'll keep blogging and sharing our life for these next six weeks. keep in touch and thanks for investing in our lives, it makes all the difference to us.
I want to tell you every detail but i think that there just isnt enough room on this blog. and quite frankly you would be terribly bored. but, i will sit and share some passing feelings and changing attitudes.
Day one feelings (lost and confused): tim and i made it to harpers ferry west virginia. it was late when we stepped off the train into a world of unkowns. despite the copious amounts of planning previously mentioned we found ourselves feeling a little lost. the town was something out of a harry potter movie. buildings leening askew, a train whistle, a glimmering light in a few windows, and no one to be seen. we walked down a grassy hill and onto a road, up a flight of rickety wooden stairs, and onto high rd. the only place it seemed that was open was a very old, three storied, skinny building called the town's inn. the innkeeper was a woman named karan from north texas. she set us up in a private room for the price of the bunk room which was fine by us!
Day two feelings (hot and fearful): Harper's Ferry is one of those towns that goes to bed early and gets up late. We needed to pick up a few things before starting the hike but had to wait till 10 for the outfitters to open. tim took care of getting a couple canisters of gas, while i went to the ATC headquarters and bought us maps for the next ten days and met a few thru hikers. we didnt get on the trail till 11 and had 9 miles to walk to the first shelter. a few hours into the hike tim pushed his side arm firm into my stomache and whispered, "it's a bear...". we were on the trail with trees all around, a clearing up ahead shows a 400 lb black bear meandering onto the trail. we began to inch backwards slowly, not taking an eye from the animal. the bear sniffing the ground, heard me, "tim, dont trip" looking up at us, straight in the eye, the bear stood, gnarled its teeth... no just kidding. it spooked so fast, we didnt see anything but dust and some bare butt.
that night at camp we stayed with a thru hiker named brennan and his dog taj at the david lesser shelter. nine miles down and more afraid because of it. tim and i took time to talk about bears and what we were really getting into. deciding to take it day by day and talk to another person for information at the next ATC center we went to sleep. almost sleeping deeply, except for the sound of a mouse nibbling a hole in the top of tims pack.
Day three feelings (hope and defeat): off on the trail again we walked briskly to the blackburn trail center and talked to a guy named brian who assured us that bears did not see us as food and we had nothing to worry about. we decided to hike on to a place, ironically called, the bears den. just another seven miles. it was noon and we figured at the latest we would be there by four. unbeknownst to us we were to enter a section of the trail called the rollercoaster.
another few miles in we started the ups and downs. starting with some burning muscles, those muscles soon became shaky legs, then shaky legs turned in to doubting thoughts and from there it was figuratively, all down hill. it was completely demoralizing. a never ending roller coaster. walking up a hill, stopping for a break, turing the bend and expecting the end in site but only seeing more hill, i finally was finished. bursting into tears and wimpering my way up step but step. i was a sight to behold. and poor tim had to push us both on...
we did finally make it to the bears den at 6:45. at nearly a mile an hour. for you non hikers. that is really slow. the bears den nursed us back to life with pizza, ben and jerry's, a shower, bed, and laundry, and pancakes in the morning. we slept well but man were we stiff the next day. ive never actually needed the handrail to walk up stairs before. it was utterly pathetic. we had met a couple hikers burger king, suger red, and lost rob and were sad to see them hike on. (for those of you that dont know, hikers on the AT adopt trail names, ours were a bit uncreative. t and c) But, on we went.
Day four feelings (stiff and lonely): we only hiked to the next shelter. a measly 3.5 miles. but that was about all we could do anyway. the rollercoaster was doing us in. we stopped at the sam moore shelter and settled down. making a fire, playing cards, whittling a walking stick, and talking. we both realized that despite the fact we had each other we were lonely! we missed people. and prayed that someone was going to hike through and stop to stay with us at the shelter. but no one came. that night we spent a lot of time in prayer and conversation. wondering, "what are we doing?" or "this is not what we thought it would be." we still decided to push on and see what the next day had in store.
Day five feelings (optimistic and upbeat): this was a good day for us on the trail. not only did we come to the end of the ten miles of rollercoaster, but we hiked briskly, saw a view, and had six shelter mates! God had answered prayers. we shared the shelter with a man and woman named racoon and raffle queen.
the rod hollow shelter was fun. a good spring where we washed some clothes, friends to talk with, soup and quesadillas for dinner, and a good nights sleep.
Day six feelings (frustration and realization): this was our longest hiking day, 14 miles. we pushed on through sky meadows park, and a wildlife area. stopping at dick's dome for lunch we saw a water moccasin (deadly snake), and spent time in the sun, a first on the trail! not because of cloudy skies... we made it to camp and found four other people already there! two more through hikers came, disney and pooh bear, and we spent the night in conversation.
it rained that night. tim had been feeling a sadness on the trail and we werent able to figure out what it was. loneliness? lack of sun? unmet expectations? we didnt know. we had spent a lot of time in prayer wanting to find God's will for us. with the rain that night tim felt that the dream of the trail was ending. it wasnt for us. the next morning we hiked three miles to a road. hitchhiked to town and found solice. we prayed that God would help us to know whether to go on. but stepping in to front royal virginia we knew we were done.
we had been crazy to think we could do it! a bit sad that we had been defeated but also happy to be off the trail we settled into a hotel and made plans to get out of town.
the trail had not been what we planned. we didnt get to know any friends. we hadn't seen the southeast (it was just a walk in the woods, no views, just trees and more trees). we didnt find purpose, we felt bored mostly, doing the same thing day after day.
but we learned a lot of great things. christine actually can hike, if she puts her mind to it. we can pray together as a couple and we can do it often. devotionals are awesome. we love people and it is essential to our life and happiness, and we hate walking in the woods. get us up on a mountain ridgeline with lots of views and we are happy!
i hope you all are not dissappointed. we are not. we still plan to make this a great adventure. im currently sitting in my grandparents house in new orleans. tim and i are going to do some volunteering and spend time with family. we'll keep blogging and sharing our life for these next six weeks. keep in touch and thanks for investing in our lives, it makes all the difference to us.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Off to the trail tomorrow...
Tim here. I have finally been convinced (kicking and screaming mind you) into getting some proper gear for the trail. Christine finds it quite funny that I finally caved just 2 days before we're due to leave. I feel quite Americanized (note the spelling) with all these high quality purpose designed items. They do however come with a high quality purpose designed price tag, which has certainly made this planning process slightly painful. Still, I'm starting to come around and enjoy all these great items I now own. REI will be glad that I decided to go hiking, I probably just paid the wages for one of their staff for over a month!
I have been researching the A.T website throughly today, and studying the interactive map online. Check it out at www.appalachiantrail.org if you're interested. It gives you a good idea of how far between shelters, and even shows a photo of them in most cases.
So anyway, tomorrow we fly out to Baltimore in the morning, take a train to DC in the afternoon, then another train to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in the evening. We'll spend the night there in our tent, and then set off on the trail on the morning of Sept 2nd. Harpers Ferry is the headquarters for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and is also known as the psychological half way point on the trail. We'll be heading south and as the seasons cool off from Summer to Autumn, the weather should stay fairly constant as we get closer to the equator. Our next post should be in a few days, at our first refuel spot. At this point we'll be about 30-50 miles in, and hopefully running like a well oiled machine. Hope you're all well, keep us in your prayers,
T&C
Friday, August 28, 2009
So, I was talking to Lindsay and she made me realize that we haven't shared much about the logistics of this trip. which most of you want to know about.... Here are some of the details including a map!
Food: We will carry our food for 3-5 days at a time. The trail isn't too much in the wilderness and runs close to towns quite often. We will go in to town once a week to use the internet, restock on food, wash clothes, and maybe even take a shower.
Shelter: We are carrying a tent in our packs and there are also huts spaced out along the trail. We will probably sleep in our tent if the huts are full, or if we just fancy it. In the national forests we can set up camp anywhere, but in the National Parks we have to camp in designated areas.
Packs: Our packs will range between 20-30 (9-14 kg) pounds, depending on how much food we are carrying at a time. We are trying to be very minimalistic so the less the better!
Distance. The entire trail runs roughly 2175 miles(3500 km). We are going to attempt to walk 700 miles (1126 km). We aren't going to have a tight schedule so as not to get burned out. Its just an estimate, so we'll wait and see how far we really get!
Start and Finish: We are starting in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and hiking south. We think we will enter the Great Smoky Mountains and finish there.
Hope all this helps! Heres a good map and a picture of a typical hut and blue mountain view!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Off to the trail....
after copious amounts of planning and money we have finally laid everything out. in neat and tidy piles the contents of our future life lie across a plaid quilt and some shaggy carpet.
amazing that the needs of human life can be put in one pack.
a pack that will not only hold our needs but also our hopes of laughter, campfires, growing love, and increasing faith.
we hope you all can keep us in prayer and thought these next seven weeks as we use our God given feet to haul ourselves across a beautiful country.
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