Day 3, First day in wilderness

July 16

26.3 down, 2159.6 to go

Started into the 100 mile wilderness. Picked up mosquito nets for the top half of our body before starting hike, best $18 we've ever spent. Good hike up to Rainbow Ledges Rock, great view of Katahdin...beautiful. Quite a climb though! A tree fell in the woods, and we heard it! Ha ha. Made it to Rainbow Lake Campsite in time to see a beautiful sunset over the lake. A loon attempted to take off from the water went about 60 yards before deciding to stay on the water, right at sunset. A beautiful way to end the day. A guy we met suggested we stay at Antlers Campsite in two days.

Days 1 & 2, Katahdin and Panning For Gold

July 14

Day one, 5.2 down, 2180 to go

Paul and Debbie dropped us off after a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast and we were on our way up to Katahdin, the official start point of the AT. It was a 5.2 mile hike up, 5,268 feet, just a few feet short of a mile. The hike was fun and strenuous. Started out slow and all of a sudden we were climbing boulders, lifting ourselves up each rock. There was a false summit, once we got to the top of the rocks we realized it was still a mile and a half to the top. It was sooo worth it. I remember stopping to look at the view thinking, this is what I quit my job for? All right! It was pretty hot, 95 degrees. We got burnt pretty badly since we were over the tree line for over half the hike. We got back to our campsite around 6:30 and were exhausted from a long days hike. Made dinner, walked around real slowly and limpy, all the while thinking "this is it!" We are on the trail! A wonderful first day.

July 15

Day two, 15.1 down, 2,170.8 to go

I (Ethan) was in the front and took a wrong turn which led to an extra two mile loop around a small lake... I guess that's life. However, before we knew it was a wrong turn, we sat down at a creek and put our feet in and had lunch (Snickers).

(Billy) Also a highlight was getting to Big Niagra Falls on the way. We stopped and waded in the water and panned for gold. After being convinced sparkly gold colored flecks in the water were gold, Ethan made me go get our cooking pan. we spent another 10 minutes trying to get the sand and water out of the pan and looked closely at a few specks, before we realized that it was fools gold. Our hopes of striking it rich diminished, and we continued on the AT.

(Ethan) We met another SoBo today, her name is Karma, she flip flopped (hiked from Springer Mountain to Harpers Ferry and then went to Katahdin to head south, back to Harpers Ferry). She seems pretty cool, we tented in the same site tonight and we will see if tomorrow keeps the three of us together. We ran into a pretty bad batch of mosquitoes; worse than anything I've ever seen. It made me think of what Nick Rowe went through when he was a POW (Five Years to Freedom), as punishment, his captors took his mosquito nets away. Though we didn't have it nearly that bad today, we walked through at least two miles of Mosquitos surrounding us at every moment. We are bitten pretty bad, but have kept a positive spirit!

(Billy) Ethan still has no trail name. He has turned down Not Yet and Wrong Turn. We will find one soon. I think enough people asking if he has a trail name and him responding, "not yet," is causing him to rethink it. He says to ask him again in the morning. We are loving this so far. There have been rough moments in only two days, like crossing a river, missing a step and having a wet boot the rest of the day, muscle soreness, tired feet, hunger, swarms of mosquitos and putting our pack back on after taking a break. But I stop and look at where we are, and the doors God opened to get us here and I am so grateful and willing to take it one step at a time. We are enjoying Psalm 139. Debbie read it to us yesterday morning, before we got going and we read it last night again.

At the official start point, Katahdin

View of Katahdin 

Sitting at Big Niagra Falls

Big Niagra, behind me was where we panned for gold!

Tomorrow!

We made it to Millinocket this afternoon. Millinocket is about 20 miles from Baxter State Park. After leaving Traverse City yesterday at 11 in the morning, Ethan, Paul, Debbie and I all took turns driving. We took the Southern route, rather than having to go through Canada. We crossed Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and finally, Maine.

We passed a few trail spots along the way, including a bridge over the freeway in Massachusetts labeled "Appalachian Trail," and the Kennebec River in Maine, at mile 151. In the guidebook, it says, "Do not ford, use ferry service." The ferry service is a local guy who lives near the trail and shuttles hikers across the river in his boat. How cool!

We were able to drive until early this morning at 3 am. We made it about midway through New York. We stopped when we knew that even if we drove through the night and made it to Baxter State Park at 11, ready to start hiking, we'd be without sleep and exhausted for our first day of hiking. Not fun. So we slept a few hours, were back on the road by 7. Hit some bad traffic (isn't it a weekend?) but made it to Millinocket by 3, checked into our hotel and after recommendation by the guy at the front desk, ate at The Appalachian Trail Cafe.

It was the perfect little cafe to eat at the night before starting the trail, filled with photographs and hiker art, as well as a ceiling that featured tiles that were signed by each thru hiker who'd completed a NoBo hike. So fun and inspiring the night before we leave for the same hike they'd already finished this year. 

Feels so good to be out of the car and even better to have one last good nights sleep in a bed. Ethan and I are enjoying one last cold beer with Paul and Debbie while watching an old Clint Eastwood movie on cable. What a perfect night. Can't wait for tomorrow -- the strenuous hike that awaits us at Katahdin, the beginning of the 100-mile wilderness and our first steps on the AT. Here goes!

Getting of the freeway in Maine to this sign

The Appalachian Trail Cafe, where we had our last supper of a hearty burger and fries

Hiker art "Welcome to the Appalachian Trail"

A ceiling tile reserved for 2013 thru hikers to sign, not many on yet, but it will be filled in a few weeks

The ceiling at the cafe, home to previous years' thru hikers signatures

The Baxter Park Inn, our last stop before the trail 

Leaving tomorrow

We have talked and planned our AT hike for months! Now, the day has come. Tomorrow we leave for Baxter State Park from Lake Ann, Michigan. It is a 1,200 mile trip, 20 hour drive since we will not be going through Canada. Ethan's parents, Paul and Debbie are taking us. We are going to try to drive the entire way through, taking turns.

We probably won't make it in time to start the trail on Saturday, since you have to start hiking by noon. We will most likely start Sunday morning.

It's a 3 mile hike to Mt. Katahdin, the official Southbound start point of the trail. From there, we begin our first steps on the Appalachian Trail and enter the "100 Mile Wilderness." We will hike 5 miles the first day to our campsite.

Ethan's really pumped to start. I've got nerves and homesickness is starting to kick in -- perfect timing, right? But I am excited for our adventure! We will keep on keepin' on. It won't be be easy, but worth it. After all, who knowingly enters a long journey of bug bites, soreness, blisters, hunger and whatnot? Someone who craves adventure. Bring it!

Our packs ready to go. Probably the heaviest they will be on our hike.

4 Days, Trail Names

A lot of thought has gone into the trail names Ethan and would some day use on the trail. We'd joked about Socrates and Plato since we like to ponder thoughts together. Sometimes Ethan calls me his "little thinker." We ended up fighting about what name would be who's, since Plato was Socrates student...that was the end of that idea.

Trail names can be determined by an individual for himself or deemed by another. In the National Geographic movie on the AT, there is a man who's name is Santa. He was called that because he hiked the entire trail in a Santa costume. 

Ethan hiked a few miles on the AT with his friend Dan last summer. They came across a man who used a combination of  the words, dude, man or bro frequently in  conversation, sometimes all three in one sentence, thus his trail name was Dudemanbro.

I chose my own trail name, in honor of my Grandma. Her name is Laura Belle and her friends called her Billy when she was growing up. I love that name and never knew that about her. So I am no longer Katy, but Billy.

As for Ethan, he has turned down many suggestions from friends and family and will pick up a name on the trail. Interested to see what it will be...

Ethan and Dan discussing gear for the AT. Dan has hiked sections of the AT and had some great advice and good stories to share with us. We were trying to get ahold of him and ran into him on the street in downtown Traverse City at just the right time.

5 Days, The Things We'll Carry

We did our shopping, checked out gear and packed our bags. We are ready to go!

Our packs are the heaviest they will probably be on the trail. Our first leg will be 9 days before touching into a town to resupply. Starting at Mt. Katahdin and arriving in Monson, ME, for a total of 117.8 miles on the trail. Monson is 1.6 miles left of the trail, meaning we will either walk there or hitch a ride. (Do not worry, Moms, Ethan's got a pocket knife.) A lot of stores in towns offer rides to and from the trail as well, as a lot of towns are farther from the trail, sometimes 10 miles or more.

So what does one bring for a long walk?

Osprey 65 (Katy) & 68 (Ethan) liter backpacks

Down sleeping bags rated to 19 & 15 degrees 

REI Down pillow

Thermarest pillow

Marmot Lime Lite 2 person tent

Sleeping pads

MSR water filter

3 liter water bladders

Trekking poles

Cord for hanging food at night 

First aid including: sam splint, band aids, ibuprofen, pain reliever and a bag with two white pills labeled "big oh crap moment"

Camp stove 

Camp stove stand

Propane

Cooking pans

Squishy bowls

Mugs

Utensil sets

Nalgenes

Camp towels

Duck backs (rain cover for backpacks)

5 liter dry sack

13 liter dry sacks (hanging food at night)

Compression sack for sleeping bag

Dr. Bronners Magic Soap (soap, shampoo, dishwashing, teeth brushing, you name it -- it cleans it)

Freshette

Small trowel (bet you can guess...)

Toothbrushes 

Hair brush 

Headlamps 

Compass

Tick remover

Clothing: pair of shorts, pair of water resistant pants, short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt, rain jacket, lightweight jacket, 2 pairs of socks and a pair of wool underwear

Crocs (for crossing rivers and camp)

Solomon hiking boots
And....a mini Bible
Unnecessary weight

One Week

A week from today we will leave Lake Ann, Michigan and head to Baxter State Park in Maine where we will start the trail on Sunday or Monday.

Ethan and I left for Michigan early Sunday morning from Washington and made it after stopping a total of 12 hours on Tuesday afternoon. The weather here is great.

We are about ready to hit the trail. We just need to pick up our first bit of food. When we first start the trail, we will have about ten days without coming into a town so we need to pick up enough food for that amount of time. We are also looking for an iPhone on AT&T. We don't want to have to pay $100 a month for a contract when we will rarely use a phone. Think there's a bigger market in Washington. Should've picked one up there. Oh well!

It's nice knowing we have the support of family and friends. So many people have told us that we will be in their prayers... Thank you!