Hanover, NH

We are in Hanover, NH. Arrived in NH this morning! We have hiked over 1/2 the trail now! 1087.5 miles was in Manchester Center, VT. We were going to try to do our 1/2 gallon ice cream challenge there but things didn't work out for us in this town. We hitched into town (5.5 miles from the trail), but then the hotel we stayed in was still 2 miles from town. It rained on us and we just didn't get everything done we wanted. We were going to try to do the 1/2 gallon ice cream challenge here but I found a wonderful bakery with lots of wonderful desserts and decided to also get this wonderful peach/blueberry pie! So we'll see how much pie and ice cream we can eat. Actually we'll probably share the pie and ice cream with our hosts and other hikers at the hostel we'll be staying. We'll be getting clean! Yeah! There's a grill at the hostel so we're picking up steaks and corn on the cob to grill for our dinner tonight and then we'll have the pie and ice cream! Good eating!

So we have actually 1209 hiked miles and gone through 9 (most of VA, WV, MD, PA, NJ, NY, CT, MA, VT) of the 14 states (left to do NH, ME, rest of VA, TN, NC, GA).

We recieved some more trail magic and angels! This gentleman was walking on the trail doing a short hike. Asked us if we were thru-hikers on the AT. He offered to take us to his home for a good night's rest. We really weren't too sure at first but decided to take him up on his offer! He took us to the grocery store and asked us what we wanted for dinner! He cooked dinner for us. We slept in his bed and he slept on the sofa. We had breakfast the next morning and he took us back to the trail! He enjoys people and hearing about their life stories and adventures and asked us to put his name in the shelter journals because would love to host other hikers as well! Trail Angels are wonderful people who just want to help hikers enjoy the trail and their company!

We also experienced a "secret shelter." We were heading along the trail and found a note that told us of this secret shelter! We decided to check it out! It was for real! The hosts are backpackers/hikers, too. They were concerned about hikers and the shelter problems of the shelter that was 1 mile from their home. Apparently there are underaged partiers that go to that shelter and will harass any hiker who happens upon them in "their party shelter". Guess there's not a lot that can or is being done to allieviate this problem so "River Dog and Swanee" decided to build this "secret shelter" on their property for the hikers so that they don't have to worry about this problem! Swanee came down to welcome and greet us and brought us a soda and a beer and water! Wonderful trail angels! And we recieved trail magic the other day-a cooler with sodas! We each had a soda! Refreshing on a hot day of hiking! Thank you to all the trail magic/angels out there! We appreciate your magic and care!

Found some miniature strawberries! Have eaten a few but you have to eat a lot of these to get your fill of strawberries! There are suppose to be raspberries, blackberries and blueberries along the trail, too. I've seen some raspberries but not many ripe ones yet. Looking forward to getting our fresh fruits of these berries along the way!

Going through VT much of the trail seemed to be muddy, swampy, wet and like a stream. A couple hikers comments in the shelter journals called nicknamed VT Vermud and Vermuck! It became a chore at times to try to keep our shoes and socks dry!

A turkey vulture surprised us on one of our climbs!

NY had this "Lemon Squeezer" on the trail. We had to take our packs off and carry them to get through. Also in NY the trail went through a zoo! That was interesting! Why would they take us through a zoo to see caged animals when we're seeing them in the wild? If you count the 3 bears we saw at this zoo, we've seen 10. The first was an adult bear coming down a tree in Shenandoah Nat'l Park, VA! It came down that tree so fast it looked like it was coming down a fireman's pole! I thought for sure it was coming to get us because he was coming down so fast but he just looked at us and we kept on going! Harriman State Park, NY we saw 2 adult bears together about 50 feet away from us luckily going the other way. While we were in VT we saw 3 bear cubs; 2 must of heard us coming and were climbing 2 trees-they were very fast up those trees!; the 3rd cub we saw on another day-he was heading right to the trail just 20 feet in front of us but took off in the other direction as soon as he heard us talking!; the 4th was on the side of the street looking like it was going to try to cross the street but decided not to after seeing all the cars-that one was a big adult bear!

One of the big black snakes we have seen! We've seen a lot of snakes, much to my chagrain! Mostly garter, ribbon, and black snakes. Did see 1 rattlesnake and I high-tailed it out of there! Dan thought it was pretty cool! We saw rattlesnake skin right before a boulder/rock climb and I was pretty scared the whole time! Dan just told me to keep on going! Didn't see any snakes on that day but the next day walking across big boulders there was the rattlesnake slithering between 2 boulders just under my feet! I'm so thankful that that has been the only poisonous snake we've seen. Hopefully it's stay that way!

Mountain Laurels! They look like little cups on top and the underside looks like a different flower! They're really pretty, whites and pinks!

Starting in NJ we've had some "boardwalks" on parts of the trail. There is a lot of swampy areas along the way. In NJ there was 1 mile of the boardwalk (pic on left). There were several other places that we really could have used these boardwalks!

Dan with one of my newphews! Dan has never had facial hair before our trekking! The first time Dan's mom saw him with his hat and sunglasses and his facial hair (at the wedding festivities), she didn't recognize him! (This was about 2 months of not shaving).

Our next stops:

Dan and Debbie McMonigle

c/o General Delivery

Gorham, NH 03581

Please hold for AT Thru-hiker.

Our estimated date of arrival July 15.

Dan and Debbie McMonigle

c/o General Delivery

Andover, ME 04216

Please hold for AT Thru-hiker.

Our estimated date of arrival July 20.

We appreciate all your comments! Enjoy hearing from you! Thanks for all your prayers, support, Children's Hunger Fund donations for our cause and your love and friendship! God Bless you!

Pepperell, MA

We are currently with some friends in Pepperell, MA for the weekend! They are feeding us and letting us get clean and do laundry and relax! Our very own trail angels again! We had steak for dinner last night and tonight it's a seafood feast! Food, glorious food! Thank you Rick, Bob & Dana. You are truly angels!

-PA rocks-

PA, to AT hikers, is known for its rocks on their trail! This is what some of it looked like there. Actually, the northern ~40 miles is the rockiest part of the PA trail, not the whole PA trail! That section was a pain. They say that if all the hikers would pick up one of the rocks and throw it off the trail it would help clear the PA trail. Dan and I did our part and each threw one off the trail!


Those pesky caterpillars! Luckily they were only around for 3 days.


We endured 2 violent thunderstorms in CT. The first one we were tenting. We had left the tent fly off because it was one of those hot, humid days/nights. Dan had to get out of the tent to stake down the fly. We had a couple small branches fall on the tent-luckily that was it until the morning when we found that our stuff were wet! Guess one side Dan hadn't completely staked and so the rain pooled and got under us! Then the next 3 days as we hiked we encountered several downed trees all along the trail. We had heard about the next thunderstorm and decided to get to a shelter so we were dry for that one! Both thunderstorms were very loud with lots of thunder and lightening!



In NJ they say that there are the most bears per mile on the AT; in NJ there is at least 1 bear per square mile! So here is a bear box where we hid our food and toiletries!

NY brought extremely hot, humid weather for us. It was in the 90s for 5 days! Add to that the bugs and climbs and it made for very uncomfortable hiking! We were constantly wet and hot. We started wearing our mosquito netting suits as soon as we would get to our destiny at the end of the day. I had tried hiking with it on and it was like a sauna. Using the full strength deet on my arms and legs and having to reapply because of sweat was also uncomfortable. Those buggers would swarm my face because I didn't want deet on my face! Bites all over! I've decided to try garlic tablets to see if that will help stop the bugs from biting! I was told that will help! I'll let you know.
So we've hiked over 1000 miles! Heading into NH (oops I meant VT first!) in the next day or two after we get over Mount Greylock in MA! Thanks for your prayers and support! We're trekking on!

Kent, CT

We are in CT! Over 900 miles! Wahoo! We're just in Kent, CT to pick up our resupply boxes, check emails, get some lunch and then we're back on the trail this afternoon.

I finally got the one update on the blog but it's not formatted. It was the one that I had worked on during our visit in MD and the computer kept freezing on me. So I don't know why it did what it did. Every time I try to work on it, the computer freezes again, so you'll have to read it as it is for now.

Vernon, NJ

I tried to update info while we were in MD for Dan's niece's wedding over the Memorial Day weekend but the computer I was using kept freezing on me when I tried to upload pictures. This computer isn't allowing me to upload pictures either. Hopefully I will get to a computer in the next town we stop to get pictures up!

We had our first zero days while we were in MD for the wedding-4 days! We had a wonderful time with family-3 of our 4 were there, Dan's whole family and most of my family live in the area. So it was a great time to be with them all. The wedding was beautiful and reception was lots of fun. But we were so busy going to bed between midnight and 2 am and getting up between 6 and 8 am so we didn't get much sleep. When we went back on the trail I had a terrible headache, it was hot and humid and I was exhausted. So our first to days back on the trail were very difficult but we got through it.

We hiked over 800 miles now! Our feet still hurt. We've made our way through WV, MD, PA, and will be crossing the NJ state line today! MD has only 40 miles on the AT and there is a challenge that some hikers take up but not us! The challenge is to hike all the way through MD in one day without sleeping in that state! WV has on 18 miles, PA 230 miles, and NJ 72 miles on the AT. Another AT challenge is the 1/2 gallon ice cream challenge at the 1/2 way point on the trail in PA. It began with just seeing if hikers could eat a 1/2 gallon ice cream in one sitting. Somehow it turned into a challenge to see who could eat it the quickest. So some hikers would let their ice cream melt so they could drink it. That doesn't sound appealing to me-I would prefer to eat it and enjoy it! I don't think that we'll be able to eat a whole 1/2 gallon each. At our half way point (think somewhere in VT) we'll start with shaing a 1/2 gallon and go from there.

Before getting off the trail for the wedding, we did our first slack packing day. We had set up a day for Dan's brother to pick us up in Port Clinton, PA. We were going to get there 2 days early than the pick up date so we starting doing shorter miles. We ran into a section hiker who told us to do some slack packing and he gave us a name and phone number of a person who could shuttle us. It worked out so well. We got to Port Clinton and left our big packs with another hiker staying there for some zeros. We were shuttled up 15 miles and we slack packed back to Port Clinton for that day that we were early. Worked out perfectly and it was nice to not have a big pack on our backs but it didn't seem to be any different on our feet. When we got back on the trail after our zeros, we got back on where we started our slack pack day.

When we got back on the trail, we had to start dealing with the heat and the humidity. Also there's been a lot more bugs and biting insects! I'm being eaten alive! We have the full strength deet but it doesn't seem to be working for me-they eat right through it anyway and they even bite through my clothes! This week there's been a slew of caterpillars! They're everywhere-hanging down from the trees in front of our faces, crawling on our packs and us, all over the trail, shelters and picnic tables and are very annoying. Luckily they're life span is short and we won't have to deal with them too long.

Our next pick up will be:
Dan and Debbie McMonigle
c/o General Delivery
Kent, CT 06757
Please hold for AT hiker
est. date of arrival: June 10

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Catching Up

Meet some hikers we've met.

"Little Debbie" & "Hydrophobic"-NoBo thru-hikers; newlywed in September; from NC

Left-"Mouse"-flip flop thru-hiker; between jobs and contemplating moving out west; fast hiker
Middle-"Gediup"-flip flop thru-hiker; very joyful and loving every minute of his hiking experience

"Christopher Robin"-NoBo thru-hiker; graduated with a environmental politics degree (if I remember correctly); really nice young man, very outgoing and social

"Biker Dave"-met him on the trail as we were all heading to a hostel

A trail angel-our first hitch! Picked us up when we were hitching to the hostel. Said, "Get in. I know where you're going!"

Left side

"Strides"-NoBo thru-hiker; took a semester off to hike the trail; hikes 3-4 miles per hour with no effort

Right side

Eric & Tina-caretakers at the Blackburn Trail Center; thru-hikers last year; cooked dinner for us; they hiked trail SoBo starting separately but met each other about 1/2 and hiked the rest of the trail together

(Left to right)

"South Side"-NoBo thru-hiker; started hiking with his son (who lost 50 lbs) but is now hiking on his own; originally from Chicago

"Snickers and Energizer Turtle"!

"Yeti"-NoBo thru-hiker; we hear he's a big eater and hasn't really lost any weight to speak of

"Bad Hummus"-NoBo from GA to PA-had to get off the trail to get ready for med school; joyful young man; very social

"Toddy Bear"-NoBo thru-hiker

"Stovie"-NoBo thru-hiker

"Shepherd"-NoBo thru-hiker

The last five started hiking alone but had hooked up and have been hiking together!

Trillion Flowers

May Apple flower

Dan filtering our water.

Our trail angel friend, Billy, came to hike with us for the day. He started hiking with us on the "roller coaster" section of the trail, a 13 mile of 10 ups and downs. He also brought us Subway footlongs and sodas! Thanks, Billy!

Dan hanging our food bag on the bear poles to keep from the bears!

Hangers in the shelters to hang our food bags to keep mice and other critters away from our food!

Some of the critters we've seen on the trail.

geese toad

skunk salamander snake

We've seen other snakes-big black ones but I've been too afraid of them to take a picture of them. I usually back away as Dan shoos them off the trail! What I'm really worried about are the copperheads and rattlesnakes! Those you can't shoo away!

We've seen lots of other animals, too: deer, wild turkeys, turkey vultures, bears.

Duncannon, PA

Just a couple of pictures and comments for now. Computer is slow and it's time for bed. Hoping to be able to update all our pictures and info during our zero days coming up!

At the B&B for my birthday! Earl & Lois-owners and Earl, Sr. made & decorated my cake!

Sunset from our tent.

The white blazes we follow to keep us going on the right path!

Okay, so other things that we forgot to comment on last time:

Hiking Poles-98 % of the thru-hikers use them. Can't tell you how many times they've kept us from falling or doing a face plant! Hikers talk about how many times and how they've fallen from all the obstacles on the trail! Also, the hiking poles help to take the stress and load of our feet and knees! I've gotten the strangest tan from my hiking pole straps-a stripe across the back of my hands!

Snot rockets vs snot rag vs kleenex-I prefer kleenex but with my allergies and having used up my kleenex after just 2-3 days, I've had to go to using a snot rag much to my dismay. I won't be trying the snot rockets at all. Knowing me, I'd be getting it all over myself instead of the ground.

Sunset from a shelter.

Resting on a log after a day of hiking!

We will actually be doing our first zero days! Dan's niece is getting married in MD on May 25th. So we will be off the trail from Fri., May 23-Mon., May 26, getting back on on the Tuesday afterward. We're looking forward to resting our tired, aching feet. Other hikers have commented that that's a long time (that we've gone) to go without a zero. Guess I figured that you get on the trail and keep on going unless there's an emergency! We're looking forward to relaxing and spending time with family!

Our next estimated stops:
Estimated date May 28

Dan and Debbie McMonigle
c/o General Delivery
Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327

estimated date May June 10
Dan and Debbie McMonigle
c/o General Delivery
Kent, CT 06757

Thanks to all of you who have sent in donations for Children's Hunger Fund! You are awesome for blessing the needy children with your gifts!
Keep your prayers and comments coming! We appreciate them all!

Bear's Den Hostel, Bluemont, VA

Wow-it's been 5 weeks that we've been on the trail. We've gone 465 miles on the trail and 21 1/2 miles off the trail! Yes, our feet feel it! We're at a hostel just off the trail to shower, do laundry, and EAT!

(If you haven't already done so, you might want to read the Trail Lingo in the column at right.)

Okay a review of our 5 weeks!
I have lost 12 lbs! Last night after dinner I weighed myself and I had lost 9 lbs and the funny thing is that I weighed myself again this morning after breakfast and lost another 3 lbs! Interesting. Dan doesn't weigh himself and so doesn't know how much he weighed before we got on the trail. When people have asked him how he got ready for the hike he tells them that he ate and put on weight since he knew he'd lose it. My guess is that he's lost 25-30 lbs. He had a belly before we started (since he started eating lots since Christmas to get ready!) and now it's pretty much gone! Other hikers we've talked to have lost anywhere from 3 to 50 lbs!

Our pack weights: before food and water my pack weighs 23 lbs and Dan's, 34lbs. Add 10-13 lbs for food and water for each of us. My pack with the food and water is about 35 lbs and Dan's, 45-50 lbs. He tends to take the extra weight. He's been concerned about me losing weight that I really don't need to. There are ultra light hikers that carry just 20-25 lbs. They go into towns more often to resupply and so just carry enough food for 2-3 days. For us the drawback is the extra miles or hitching to get into town. We carry food for 6/7 days...more weight but less miles/hitching.

Shelter vs camping/tenting: Before our hiking I was thinking shelter! But now I prefer tenting. In the shelters there are mice and they run around and across hikers. They will chew through packs and clothes to find food. And there are snakes and other critters that make their way into the shelters, too. Tenting, we have some privacy and I feel a little better protected from all the critters. It's just no fun to pack up a wet tent when it's raining and it gets stinky because we're stinky! Other hikers said that they'll be tenting more when the mosquitos get worse.

Stink! Okay that's been one of the toughest things for me to get used to-and NO I haven't gotten used to it. I'ts been hard not showering every day and being stinky and Dan being stinky and dirty! A couple female hikers have told me that you just get used to it. One of them even said that she doesn't like the strong smell of the laundry detergent on her clothes after washing them. Hey-give me the smell of the clean laundry deterent over the strong stinky smell any day! It's been 5 weeks and I'm still not used to the stinky! Don't think I'll ever get used to it!

Privy vs digging a hole: Before hiking I was thinking-privy! Now it's digging the hole! An enclosed privy is stinky and there is evidence of little critters (droppings, nesting) and as it gets warmer, lots of flies and bugs. One privy had two resident mice in it and so off I go to dig my hole! Dan still prefers the privy to digging a hole. Okay, the other thing is that being exposed like that gives those mosquitos another target. Yes-that's the first bites that I got, but now I have them all over my arms! No fun! Dan likes having me around because the mosquitos like me better!

We had a trail angel with us for a day! Our friend Billy from Silver Springs, MD came out and hiked with us and he brought us footlongs subs and sodas from Subway! What a treat! I think some of the other hikers were a little jealous of our footlongs. We sure enjoyed Billy's company for the day! Thanks for making time for us Billy and for the good food.

Food-hikers burn 4000 - 6000 calories a day and so need to put that much back in. That's a lot of food. Food seems to always be on a hikers mind! Other hikers have talked about how much food they eat when they're in towns. The AYCE places are always the big talk. Thru-hikers talk about the number of platefuls that they eat and still lose weight! We haven't gotten there yet. We tend to be hungry every couple hours and eat through the day rather than gorge ourselves at one sitting so far! Maybe in another month we'll be at their pace? But I do seem to be hungry more often.

Good day-cool, misty, nice terrain
Challenging day-sun beating down on us with no relief, lots of rocks and obstacles on the trail, straight up or down climb with no switchbacks

This past week we did three 20 mile days and two 18 mile days in a row. Did it to catch up on some miles that we didn't do because of rain. We had a couple cold, rainy (& hail) days that we were soaked and got too cold that we needed to stop short of our miles to get warm and dry. And then that put us behind in getting to town to get our resupply box so had to put in the miles. Our feet really feel it especially towards the end of the day in the late afternoon. Today our feet hurt and haven't had the time to rest that we usually do. So we'll be back to our 12-15 mile days. We'll let those young guys (and actually some oler ones, too) do those 25-35 mile days and we'll do our 12-15 mile days!

Our next resupply stops:
estimated date: May 10
Dan and Debbie McMonigle
c/o General Delivery
Duncannon, PA 17020
Please hold for AT thru-hiker

estimated date: May 25
Dan and Debbie McMonigle
c/o General Delivery
Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327
Please hold for AT thru-hiker

Keep up the prayers for us and your comments! We appreciate everyone of them! Thanks! God Bless each of you! Again we'll have to update pictures later as this computer doesn't have the capacity to upload them.