Alexandria, VA

2175 miles (plus)! We are done! We summited Springer Mountain, GA, the southern terminus on Wed., Sept. 24th @ 6:00 pm! Yahoo! We did finish strong! We pushed and did 16 1/2 to 19 1/2 miles our last 5 days on the trail to finish a little earlier! Our first full day of hiking in GA had me a little concerned that we might take longer to finish. We did 17 miles that day and had 15 climbs, up and down, of mountains and big hills. That was an extremely tiring day! I was thinking if it really was going to be constant climbs that we wouldn't be able to keep up the miles/pace we wanted! But luckily we did have some level terrain that allowed us to finish strong! Our last day we hiked 19 1/2 miles to get to the top of Springer Mountain! We crossed the last road and had 4.1 miles to climb to the top of Springer. We did that 4.1 miles in 1 hour and 40 minutes! I think the adrenaline kicked in and wanting to be done that got us going hard and strong that last 4.1 mile climb! Maybe the Power Bar right before that helped, too? The last 2 miles I was crying...tears of joy and relief! Dan said he thought for sure that I would cry when we reached the top but I told him I'd already done it on the way up!

We camped on top of Springer Mountain amongst the signs "strongly discouraging" hikers from camping there because of high bear activity. Dan convinced me to stay there anyway because it was like the Smokies-there were warning signs everywhere and we saw no bears. So I agreed and camped there our last night on the trail!

On top of Springer Mtn., the AT southern terminus!

Our retired shoes, holes and all (yes, we trashed them at the end of our hike!) We both went through 2 pairs of shoes. I probably could have had a 3rd pair but after experiencing pain for 2 days when I changed out shoes before, I decided that these pair of shoes were going to make it through no matter what! We had duct tape if needed! Dan also threw away his shirt-it was pretty well faded.

Scenes from GA, our last state on the AT!

Acorns, aplenty, on the trail that made hiking like walking on marbles! Had to be extra careful!

Wow-what an adventure we had! Lots of different emotions, experiences, hikers, beautiful views and adventures. We thank you all for your support and prayers through our journey! We feel truly blessed that we were protected, kept strong, and healthy through it all! There are so many of you to thank but want to especially thank:

James-for sending us our resupply boxes and putting in the extra stuff that we needed at times; for taking care of the homefront for us; watching out for our bills; doing the all the extra "jobs"

Joey & Cathy-for allowing us to use their home for a home base whenever we were in town; for sending us great care boxes throughout our journey; organizing family get togethers when we were in town

Jason & Heather-for sending us calorie filled, great care boxes throughout our trek

Billy, Climber, Scout, Thru-Thinker & Herb-for making time to hike with us and bringing us treats

Dana, Bob & Rick-for hosting us and feeding us, we appreciate your wonderful hospitality

Thanks to all of you for your comments on our blog, for emailing and keeping in touch with us during our adventures: Kelly & Brian, Jenn, Jena, Billy, Carol, Ann, Heather & Jason, Brenda, Jayne, Donna, Clark, James, Michael

Herb-thank you for picking us up at the end of our trek and driving us to Atlanta

Mary Paq-thanks for the addresses we needed

Diane-thanks for the CHF updates we needed

Thanks to all of you who have sent in donations for our cause for Children's Hunger Fund! Those of you who have made a pledge, please send in your donations at your earliest convenience (see the top right corner of the blog for address). We appreciate your support for our cause! God Bless You all for sharing in this adventure and fundraiser with us!