Hello to All,
I wanted to let you know that I am well and healthy and headed into some of the
most rigorous hiking areas of my Appalachian Trail trek. We now have completed
over 1700 miles and within the next two days, will be over 1800 miles from
Georgia's
Springer Mountain.
Wing-Heart and I have taken on a new hiking partner, Aussie (pronounced Ozzie).
She is a grandmother of 15, lives in Queensland, Australia, and loves to climb
mountains and hike. She is a good partner for us as she is Red Cross, EMT and
Forest Rescue Certified in Australia. She was hiking with Bicycle Barb from
Peachtree City,
GA, but Barb recently decided to depart the trail and
return home. Aussie is now the third member of our team as Boo Boo decided that
she wanted to hike on her own.
We are in Glencliff, NH with only
398 miles remaining of our 2,175 mile trek. If we average 10 miles a day
through the remaining 117 New Hampshire portion and the 281 mile Maine
wilderness, we should have completed our hike in 40 days or around 17 Sep. We
would like to finish sooner, but we are going slowly to ensure we stay healthy
for our return home.
Rain has plagued us during the past two days and we will attempt to hike slick
rocks on some very steep mountains in the New Hampshire Whites and Presidentials
Mts. Much of the green we are used to will merge into clear vistas above tree
line above the 4 and 5 thousand foot level. Climbs will be steeper and much
more rigorous for us as we move on. Water that was a problem is now more
abundant as we move north into the ponds and bogs where moose are more
plentiful. We are still hoping to see our first moose in the wild although we
have seen many signs that they are in the area.
I will try to keep you apprised of our progress as we go, but internet and phone
access are quite limited here. My partners are departing this library in North
Woodstock-Lincoln, NH (we have to travel quite a distance to find these open
PCs). This library charges $2/30 minutes just to get on the limited number of
PCs they own.
Well, must go as others are departing. Please keep me in your prayers and thank
you for your support.
Castanets (Jim Schiwal)
CdLS - Walking for Alley