Photo Highlights!

Here is a bunch of photo highlights from the whole trail I was finally able to pull off my nicer camera.  Enjoy!

1st Night at Katahdin

Besties sleep shirts

Katahdin Summit

Beautiful Maine View

Lucky, Carrot and Bear in the 100 Mile Wilderness.

Southside and Carrot and Bear.

Extreme river crossing by Emily.

Em hanging at Chairback Shelter, Maine

Moxie Bald, Maine

Emily and Jen on Avery Peak, Maine

The Horn, Maine

Emily making her way through the Mahoosuc Notch, AKA the toughest mile.

Jen and Emily through the Notch in Maine!

Camped out on Wildcat Tower, NH.

Jen crossing a bridge in NH.

The White Mountains, NH

The White Mountains, NH

Jen, Emily and Bear on top of Mt. Washington, NH

Lake of the Clouds Hut, NH

Mt. Moosilake summit.

Emily and Alison the pig.

One of our favorite meals- BBQ chicken pizza outside Belleview Creamery, PA.

The splinter after exiting Jen’s thumb after 7 weeks.

BFFs.

1,000 mile mark in PA!

Bear on the trail.

Bags hanging in the shelter in PA.

Fair warning.

Official halfway point!

We are going this way!

At the PA-MD line at 3am, starting our 42 mile day through Maryland.

Alabama, Lucky and Carrot at the end of the day in West Virginia!

Home State!

Our boys Gritz and Pace showing their Blaze Fashion.

Carrot and Em.

Shenandoah, VA.

Carrot and Lucky loving the Shenandoah in October.

Our final attempt to get back on trail post-Hurricaine Sandy. Sad day…

The return, April 16th at the same spot!

Bear meets box turtle.

Afternoon shelter napping by Carrot.

Beautiful campsite in VA.

Lucy loving the Blue Ridge Mountains, VA.

Jen enjoying a Blue Ridge view.

Lucky on McAfee Knob, VA.

Bear post-hiking and post-dinner.

Bear enjoys the view.

Lovely laurels in southern VA.

Em and Jen loving the waterfalls.

Lucky with 500 miles left!

500 miles left celebration by Carrot!

Emily making friends with the wild ponies.

Hi Pony.

Beautiful waterfall. Probably Laurel Falls.

First time crossing in NC!

Old shoes (475 miles on them) and new shoes we received in Tennessee.

Beautiful TN view.

Blazing away.

Emily trapped in the bear caged Davenport Gap Shelter in the Smokies, NC.

Hiking the Smokies.

Waking up Ebeneezer Scrooge, AKA Lucky.

Still waking up…

Amazing tree roots in GSMNP.

Charlie’s Bunion, GSMNP.

Lucky!

Lucky and Carrot in GA.

Chunky Gal Trail!

Yay for Chunky Gals!

Lucky modeling the latest Frogg Togg fashions.

Blood Mountain Shelter

Emily enjoying our wine Lead Dog carried for us the final 2 days.

Sisters.

4 miles left!

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2,000 Miles Down!

Tennessee!

We finally crossed over the border today into our 12th state!

500 Miles left!

Yesterday we passed the 500 miles to Springer mark. Here is our celebration!

Trail magic

Emily and I are sitting on top of a mountain outside Atkins, VA enjoying the first sunshine in days. To make it even better we got some great trail magic- PB&J’s, brownies and orange soda. Yum!!!!

Happy, Pretty Feet

While we are working through all the sudden changes in plans, we wanted you all to know we are not just sitting around. Emily and I ran together 2 of the last 3 days including a great 8 mile trail run this afternoon. To lift our spirits we got pedicures together to enjoy the luxury of being feminine again for a few months!

Lazy days

After some deliberation and a valiant (though failed) attempt at slack packing through the Shenandoahs we have decided to take the next few days off. We realized we were very close to home and wanted to take advantage of time with our parents while we were in proximity. Hopefully a few days of rest will heal some of the aches and pains and we will be ready to rock the last 900 miles!

The Roller Coaster

Yesterday Emily and I did the “roller coaster”- a 13.5 mile section with over 10 climbs and ensuing descents. The trail makers were forced to create the trail up and over these “view-less rocky ridges”, which is how our book described them. We did a 4 mile warm-up before starting the coaster in the morning, making it a 17.5 mile day. We got into camp past dark last night and agreed it was one of the toughest days in a long while! Here is the
map with the elevation profile:

The Wentzels!

My mom and dad came into Harpers Ferry, WV last night to visit Emily and I for the night. We celebrated our 42 mile day and it was absolutely wonderful to see them! Here we all are after lunch today:

Vermont!

We are 10 feet away from Vermont, heading in now. Here is Jen’s pack with our favorite town treat!