Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Night in Hostel




-- Post From My iPhone

Phone call from Scotty

I talked to Scotty at 3:00 pm today. They were about 1 mile from Blood Mt. It was looking like rain and they were trying to decide if it was best to set up a tent or try to get to the next shelter before getting wet. Next shelter is at summit of Blood Mt.

He said the trip is going well. There Steripen (water sterilizer) is not working correctly. They met a very helpful fellow at Preacher Rock, that drove to the nearest Wal-Mart to get some new batteries for the Steripen. It didnt help but its not a big deal right now.

All is well.

-- Post From My iPhone

Approaching Blood Mountian




This should be a cool and rough time. It is said that a large percentage of people attempting the thru hike drop out here. They will be acscending some 4000ft to the summit.


Blood Mt Shelter






View From the Summit





Balance Rock is along the trail





The only part of the AT that is covered, runs through the breezeway of an abandoned house. 


-- Post From My iPhone

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Text from ScottyMegan




Scotty called after sending the text. He sounded like he was running on adrenaline mostly. Said he lay awake for hours through the middle of the night cold and excited but at least he was dry. One lady in the shelter was totaly soaked along with all the clothes in her pack. Megan loaned her a pair of dry socks for the night. They didnt have a very hard hike today. One exhausting stretch up hill but not bad. The shelters are packed with other thru-hikers so they plan on tent camping tonight. It will likely be tuesday before they pass through civilization and another 80 miles before there first maildrop.


Hawk Mt. Shelter



Path to Hawk Mt Shelter.

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From the Trail

Photos from Mt Springer to High Tower Gap. . They will pass Long Creek Falls along the way.














Note: I found these photos on the internet

-- Post From My iPhone

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Text From ScottyMegan

March 28 6:40pm

We've been in our shelter at the summit of Mt. Springer for a good hour now. Only 1 mile hike today. Bunk partners are; seatle sailor, Philipino dude that speaks no english, a nice old lady called druid, and Jeremy the carpenter from S. Carolina. Rain and mist is nonstop. Infact, were the only dry ones here




-- Post From My iPhone

3:45pm March 28

I just talked to Scotty on his cell phone. Scotty said Digger was driving them up a rock road going up the mountian to the trail head. They were getting pretty excited. The sky was cloudy and thunderstorms were on the way. They were hoping to make it to the first (.2 miles) or second (2.8 miles) shelter before getting caught in the rain.


-- Post From My iPhone

Day One





























They started today, but it has been nearly a year of preparation. Down here, in the Schipp residence, in south Georgia we got to see the transition from dream to reality. This final two weeks was a mixture of exercising the body, and exercising the right to take advantage of luxuries that wont be found on the trail. The constant eating so there would be calories to spare on exhaustively long hikes. The packing, weighing, and unpacking of the back packs. And the incessant sharpening of Scotty's new knife. They might have spent the majority of there energy playing with my daughters and dogs. I think that lounging on the couch in front of the TV was appreciated but we could all do with less of that. It is an exciting time for Scotty and Megan.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009