Andover, ME

Today we were able to slack pack 10 miles and had to ford 2 rivers. We were lucky to get a beautiful day; no rain! Good thing! The first river was just above my knees. The second river was at the end of our day! Dan went across first with his pack over his head holding one hiking pole with his other hand to keep himself from being carried away with the current. He dropped his pack on the other side and came back to get me! The river was up above his waist so guess where it was for me! He came to get me and the current was stronger than I realized. Dan held one of my arms to keep me from being swept away with the current and then basically 1/2 way through I wasn't touching bottom so was kicking my legs as Dan pulled me till I could again touch bottom! So I was all wet except my head! It was coooold water but luckily I was able to warm up quickly in the sun! I'm so glad it hadn't rain today or the river would've been even higher and faster current!

We've received more trail magic:
Bill, the ice cream man-met us on the trail and we followed him to his house (NH). We ate our lunch on his porch out of the sun. He gave us ice cream for dessert and got water from him. Also used his bathroom and he took our trash so we didn't have to carry it!
The cookie lady gives hikers water and cookies!
Other thru-hikers: Grey Ghost is a NoBo hiking with his grandson who just joined him. He bought us some ice cream and gave us brownies.
Allgood knew we were a little short on our supplies and he said he had too much so gave us some crackers, raisins and candy bars!
Dan was the recipient of a pair of Asolo boots! They were used but still in good condition. Dan's boots were starting to come apart and he was trying to decide what to do about it. On one of the fire towers that we went up there were these pair of boots! Just the right size and broken in just for him! He's been enjoying these boots! Hikers will leave things they don't want to use or carry any more for other hikers! It's amazing what you find sometimes! Dan lucked out at just the right time!


Dan by an AT symbol in Maine!

Anyone know what this is? They look good but figured I'd better not eat anything I don't know for sure what it is! And I haven't come across too many berries, yet. A small bit of ripe wide raspberries and some wild blueberries but not much to really get my fill, yet! Hoping we'll find more!

A couple pictures coming into Maine! A neat looking cliff with trees growing out the side! A sample of some of the big boulder climbs we've encountered!

Lilly pads with flowers-really pretty!

At top of Mt. Washington with presidential mountain range in background. A view looking back at Mt. Washington as the cog trains were going by.

Dan has called the trail a car wash at times after the rains. As we hike through some the narrow trails with overgrown bush and tree branches, we get thoroughly drenched!

Does anyone know the differences between a toad and a frog? And the differences between salamanders, newts, and geckos?

Next stop:
Dan & Debbie McMonigle
c/o General Delivery
Stratton, ME 04982
Please hold for AT thru-hiker!
Est. date of arrival-July 31

Andover, ME

We're in a hostel which is really busy! It's been storming for last few days-lots of hikers trying to dry off and get warm from the pouring rains. We're working out a slack packing day for tomorrow to get through some more ME mountains, fording 2 rivers (one hiker said 1 of the rivers was us to his waist when he forded today! Yikes!) and getting through it all in the rains that are predicted for the next week! Ho-hum, gotta take the good with the not so good!
ME has rendered me slow and weary! Thought the whites, NH would do that. There are 20 (over 3000-4000 foot) mountains to climb in the first 115 miles of ME. The pouring rains haven't made it any better but on we go! With all the rains, it's looking a lot like the Vermud of VT! Guess we'll be fording several rivers in ME. We did ford our first river within our first couple weeks when we were in VA. Dan said that's been his favorite thing!

This is "Allgood". He packed his mandolin; told me that if he had to get rid of things for weight he'd get rid of his food before his mandolin! Other picture is of us "work-for-stay" hikers finishing our breakfast before our jobs at a hut.

Some scenes from the NH mountains! More to come in later entries-I took a lot!

We really enjoyed the White Mountains in NH! Lots of climbing mountains and we made use of the hut system throughout. The huts in the "whites" have a work-for-stay for thru-hikers which is pretty good deal for us thru-hikers. Advantages: we had a warm place to sleep inside and we got to eat all we wanted for dinner and breakfast! I was getting a little concerned as I was feeling worn down and tired. I called Jason, our son-in-law who is also a trainer to get some advice from him. He basically said that we've lost all our fat and now we're probably using muscle for energy instead of fat. (Dan has lost about 40 lbs and I have lost 18 lbs.) So he said that we need to gorge ourselves as often as we can. The huts helped us do that! The huts also have an AYCE to get rid of their leftovers that thru-hikers can also make use of (otherwise they have to pack it out-so works well both ways). We did that a couple times for breakfast and lunch. The best work-for-stay we did was giving a "talk" to the guests about being a thru-hiker. We did it with a section hiker and then talked Allgood into playing his mandolin. He's a NoBo thru-hiker (GA to ME). The guests and "croo" said that was the best "talk" from hikers they've heard. We sure enjoyed it and Allgood put on the magic touch by playing his mandolin! One guest said to me that she wouldn't have believed I was a thru-hiker; I looked too good for a thru-hiker! Guess I didn't look too grubby then! That was a wonderful compliment! And then 2 guests after hearing about our need for lots of calories that we can't carry, gave us food! We had a great lunch that day! The hardest we worked for a hut was cleaning the oven/stove!
Disadvantages: we eat after the paying guests (~$90/person), we sleep in the common area which can get noisy, we're awakened about 5-5:30 am when the "croo" starts breakfast, no privacy, and have to do our job in morning and so get a late start hiking. The first 2 huts we stayed we ate after the "croo" and the other 2 "croo" we ate before them. The 2nd "croo" said that we thru-hikers need the calories more than they do. It worked out great! But now we're back to cooking for ourselves again and being hungry after we eat since we really can't carry enough food to gorge ourselves!

More scenes from the White Mountains, NH.

(NY, I think)

In our full mosquito battle gear. Usually put it on as soon as we'd get to camp or a shelter! Worked pretty good! Just can't hike with it on because it was like a sauna-got too hot hiking with it on!

Evening sunlight through the trees as seen from a shelter where we stayed.

Our next stops:
Dan & Debbie McMonigle
c/o General Delivery
Monson, ME 04464
Please hold for AT thru-hiker.
Est. date of arrival: August 5

Please continue to keep us in your prayers! We appreciate all your support and donations for our cause for Children's Hunger Fund! God Bless each of you!

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!