Views from the White Mountains!

Pigpen is relaxing in a super nice hostel in Gorham NH this evening after completing his journey through the White Mountains.  He's currently at mile 1888 and only has 298 left.  Anticipated arrival at Katahdin is now approximately August 12.

The Whites were beautiful and he says the pictures don't do them justice.  Dan spent a lot of time above the tree line and suffered through a little bad weather.  Had several falls and 2 (hopefully) minor injuries -  one to his knee and one to his wrist where he fell on it.  He's been wearing a wrist brace the last few days and it seems to be getting better.  The summit of Mt Washington was a little anticlimatic because the tourists who drove up in their cars were standing in such a long line to have their photos made at the summit that Dan couldn't even get up to it.  Oh well.....

The White Mtns get a lot of tourist traffic and many stay at "huts" which are like B&B's for tourist hikers.  They run from $125 to $150 per night and they get a comfortable place to sleep and a couple of meals.  They also let the first 2 thru hikers that pass through each stay "work for stay".  They get to stay and eat in exchange for washing dishes, cleaning, etc.  Dan got to do this twice and he said it was great.

Unfortunately, there is sad news on the trail as of today.  A 66 year old female hiker going by the trail name of
"Inchworm" is missing in Maine.  She was supposed to meet her husband on Tuesday and has not shown up.  There is a large search effort going on right now but so far no luck.  Dan had met her but was several days behind her on the trail.  The weather was severe on Tues and right now foul play is not suspected.   Here is a link to a current article :

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine-investigators-look-for-fellow-hikers-in-search.html


Back to Dan's news.  Here are some of his pic's from the White Mountains:

Mt Moosilauke

View in Whites

Steep Downhill site of Knee Injury

Knee after fall

Galehead Hut site of first "work for stay"

View from Galehead Hut

Pigpen in the Whites

Crazy but serious sign

Trail through the Presidentials

Presidentials

Madison Springs Hut from above site of second "work for stay"

View from Madison Hut

Sunset from Madison Hut

Top of Mt Jackson

Tourists at the top of Mt Washington

Passing through mile 1800 and into the White Mountains !

Well Pigpen has made it to mile 1800 and is now about to enter the White Mountains.  He will have about 80 miles+- through the Whites and this will probably be the only time I am just slightly nervous.  Even though this is a "relatively" tame time to pass through, the weather in the White Mountains of New Hampshire can be  very erratic.  Much of the hiking will be above the tree line where he will be exposed to thunderstorms and Mount Washington has held the record up until 2010 for the highest recorded wind gusts on earth  (234 mph).

He's still been averaging well over 20 miles per day although that will go down through the White Mtns.  He has caught up to some of the hikers he had seen down south,  (Blazer, Molly, and Pyrogi)  Blazer came through mine and Robin's trail magic station in GA way back in March. 

Dan has seen a moose, bear, and a coyote in the last 2 days.  Probably a good thing Kara came off the trail when she did or she would be doing a lot of extra miles chasing after them!

We hit our first drop box snag with the US Postal Service.  Dan missed a drop box at Palmerton PA so I called to get them to bounce it up to Lincoln, NH, but they sent it back home instead.  He's been getting a good bit of town food luckily.

Here are a few pics from the last couple of days:

View from the Lookout Tower.  A cabin with a tower Dan stayed at.

Another view from the Lookout Tower

Waterfall number ?????

Trail Magic with flowers in boots for atmosphere!

53 Miles in 2 Days !

Dan is really pounding out the miles.  He's done 53 miles in the last 2 days and 200 in the last 8.  He sounds tired, kinda like I do after a 3 day hike.  I guess he has a right to be though after hiking 1715 miles in 4 months!   He called and talked to Robin today from Killington VT and expects to reach Hanover NH by Friday morning. 

By the way, this might be your last look at Pigpen's blue shirt.  After 4 months, it was worn bad enough and smelled bad enough that he broke down and bought a new one.

Here are some pics from the last 2 days.  I don't know where all the views are, but they sure are pretty:

Beginning of VT

View from Baker Peak

500 to go !

Looking down on small airport

Pigpen Tracker 1662 miles and 3/4 complete !

Dan is currently in VT, his 12th state so far with 2 to go.  At the end of today, he will be at approximately 1662 miles with 524 to go.  He is estimating that he will be finished around August 14.

Dan's been hiking a lot of big mile days, including 29 miles yesterday.  Needless to say, I think it was a wise decision for me to not try to hike along with him!  One of his motivations for pushing along is that he would love to catch up to his friend Tyler ( aka "Sweat").  Dan and Tyler are college buddies who planned to hike together, but have been seperated due to Dan's early injuries which caused him to fall behind.  Tyler is coming off the trail for a week or so for a family reunion and Dan may be able to catch up to him for the last leg.

Here are some photos from the past few days.  Mt. Greylock is the highest point in MA.  Stratton Mountain is where Benton MacKaye conceived of the idea for the Appalachian Trail.  The Bromley Mountain Ski lift taunting those carrying heavy loads.

Mt. Greylock

Stratton Mountain

Bromley Mountain Ski Lift

1515 miles Great Barrington Massachusetts

Another state down!  Dan has made it through CT and entered MA and is currently in Great Barrington.  He has not been feeling well lately.  He began showing symptoms consistent with lyme disease so we got him on antibiotics.  Unfortunately the medicine has made him feel nauseated and possibly caused an ulcer.  Hopefully everything will get back to normal in a few days when he comes off the medicine.

Dan found a trail party and took a day off on July 4th.  He was able to enjoy some food , shower, laundry, ice cream and beer courtesy of a kind trail magic provider.  He met Buddy Backpacker who is currently attempting to become the youngest thru hiker ever to complete the A.T.  He turned 5 years old on April 1 and plans to complete the triple crown by the time he turns 8.  ( Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail)

Thanks again to everyone who is following along with Dan, and here are the current photos:

Pigpen and Buddy Backpacker

Biggest Oak on the A T

Trail in Hay Field



Favorite CT View



Falls on Housatonic River

Housatonic River




Above the Clouds in MA

 

1400 Miles passing through NY

Pigpen is moving along through NY and reports that it is one of his favorite states so far and very beautiful.  It's interesting in that a lot of the wilderness he's been in the last couple of days is less than an hour from NY City.  The hiking has been tough and slow with a lot of rain and slippery conditions.  He passed by the lowest point on the trail yesterday at 124 ft. elevation near a trailside zoo.  Now that he's in the north, he's getting a lot more town food as the trail is closer to civilization.  He reported yesterday that he ate an insane amount of pizza and ice cream.  Here's a few pics from the last 2 days:

Waterfall

Lemon Squeezer

Hudson River

Bridge over Hudson River

Does and fawn

Trailside Zoo

Pigpen Tracker - 1365 miles and now in New York!

Pigpen Update -  Dan has now made it through 2 more states, PA and NJ since the last post and has racked up 1365 miles.  His estimated completion date now is mid August.  He's been hiking with 3 other young men for the past week or so and they are really moving along.

PA was as rocky as it's reputation.  New Jersey was a lot of swampy land with some boardwalks.  Dan saw a few bears in NJ and even got bluff charged by one.  Trail Magic continues to magically appear at opportune times.  One one occasion, a woman gave the 4 hikers a ride from the trail into town, made arrangements to pick them back up, and then took them to her home where they swam with her 2 sons in their pool and got some laundry done.  On another occasion a man was day hiking with his young son when they bumped into Pigpen and the other 3.  They talked a while and the young boy told his dad that they ought to hike it together some day.  The man later tracked the hikers down and gave them $20 to get a drink at the next town on him. 

Here are the current batch of pics:

Trail through the fields outside Boiling Springs PA

The Taj Mahal outhouse. Dan wasn't impressed.

Pigpen

Foot Bridge over the Susquehanna River

Snake (again)

Delaware River

Camping at the Beer Stein at Wind Gap

Dan's Tent

Bear

Small Buck

Trail alongside highway over Delaware River

View of Delaware River

Boardwalk over swampy area in NJ

Dan at highest peak in NJ

Highpoint Monument

NJ / NY state line