The Appalachian Trail is 2,189 miles long and runs through 14 different states. Each year the mileage is a little different, depending on reroutes and changes to the trail. With 281 miles, Maine is the third largest state on the Trail and is described by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (aka the ATC, the main organization supporting the Trail) as being the “most challenging, rugged, and remote state” on the Trail. When we were in 100 Mile Wilderness people kept saying…
We did it! We successfully completed the first hard section of the Trail – the 100 Mile Wilderness. Last Friday, we hiked nine miles from the bottom of Mt Katahdin through Baxter State Park. It was an easy, gorgeous walk with some amazing views (we were thinking “Wow! This is great, we can totally do this for 2,175 more miles!”). “Little Niagara Falls” in Baxter State Park After leaving the park and grabbing a last real meal at the restaurant…
We have officially begun our southbound thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail! Shawn and I have been talking about hiking the Trail for a long time. Back at Christmas, I put “Books about the Appalachian Trail?” on my wishlist. In February, when friends asked me what my next adventure was I sheepishly whispered “We’re thinking about hiking the AT this summer.” However, the idea really started to gain momentum when Shawn accepted a position with the Army JAG back in March….
6/16/16 Group: Monica, Alejandra, Shawn & Emily The hike we had all been anxiously waiting for – Trolltunga! We had come across this recently popular tourist hike in our online research, and I could not wait to get to the top of the fjord and see the view. The forecast called for rain, but we had already booked our hotel (we had a 4-person suite at the Trolltunga Studios) and made the trip to Odda, so there was no turning…
7/6/16 Parking: Bradley Pond trailhead at Upper Works Group: Mom, Shawn & Emily With only one day of rest after our grabbing Tabletop, Marshall, and Redfield over the weekend, we headed back out to Upper Works to visit the infamous Santanoni Range. This range includes Panther, Couchasagra (or Couch, which is pronounced “Cooch”, unless you’re Shawn and you pronounce it “Couch” in hopes that there will be a couch on top of the mountain), and Santanoni peaks. It is…
7/3/16 Parking: Adk Loj Group: Mom, Shawn, Emily & Murphy Tabletop was one of our orphaned mountains that we needed to grab before finishing up our 46. This mountain can easily be tagged onto to several of it’s neighbors (Phelps, Marcy, Colden, etc) but we just kept leaving it out. So, after a beautiful wedding in Bolton Landing that Saturday night, we drove up and slept in the car so we could hit the trail early Sunday morning (we had…
Parking: Upper Works Take trail north towards Indian Pass & Lake Colden @ .25m path crosses Hudson over bridge @ .35m Calamity Brook trail (marked in red, later blue) forks to R This trail is 4.4m and takes approx 2.5 hours Brings you along Calamity Brook to Flowed Land and Marcy region Henderson monument (2 hours after leaving trailhead) Will be at 4.75m at Marshall herd path, there’s a lean to Pass the herd path to Marshall, cross a bridge…
Directions to common Adirondack hiking trailheads: The Garden: Take Exit 30 of I-87 and head west on Route 73. While driving north on 73 in Keene you will see a large DEC sign that reads “High Peaks Wilderness Area and Johns Brook” (it is adjacent to the Ausable Inn on the left side of the road). Follow the DEC sign for 1.5 miles to the Garden and park. When the parking lot is full, a shuttle runs until 7pm…
6/15/16 Group: Monica, Alejandra, Shawn & Emily The Folgefonna Glacier hike is a MUST DO of any trip to the Bergen area. The trip is a couple of hours from Bergen by car (including the ferry ride) and it is on the way to Trolltrunga, which works perfectly if you pair the two day hikes together. Plus, who could ever pass up the opportunity to hike on a glacier?? We took an early ferry and the morning sun was just gorgeous on the…
6/12/16 Group: Shawn, Monica, Marius, & Emily Bergen is not only famous for it’s small town charm and atmosphere, but also for being the “City of Seven Mountains”. I’m not good at the history part of things, but trusty Wikipedia gives you a little bit more info on them here. However, I do know that Bergen has a local brewery named in honor of the mountains! We were incredibly lucky to have picture-perfect summer weather throughout our time in Norway. So, on…