Harper's Ferry!!

We have made it to the unofficial halfway point, historic Harper's Ferry, West Virginia! Here's some recap of our adventures over the past 300 miles or so....

This is Chuckles hugging the biggest tree on the AT (in the south)! It's so big! 

Blooms are soo pretty!! The mountain laurel and rhododendron have been out in full force.

Looking over the James River. 

This was on top of a very windy place called Spy Rock. 

On Memorial Day weekend we hiked a section called Three Ridges. While we were hiking, a fellow thru hiker said she counted 86 people passing us (hence the packed parking lot on the Blue Ridge Parkway)! It was REALLY busy. We didn't go much more than 10-15 minutes without seeing another group of backpackers, which made for a long day; seeing other people is great, but large groups are notorious for having poor trail etiquette. This was not the most enjoyable hike, however the views along the way were beautiful! 

In other news, the group we've been hiking with has become less solid. We'll see everyone again soon, but we're not all on the same schedule, so there have been many goodbyes. 

Shenandoah National Park comprised over 100 miles of the past couple weeks, and it was a rough, rough section. The trail was boring (though relatively easy terrain, when you weren't avoiding the bear scat), there were a lot of people, and when we had the opportunity for views, it was cloudy. Shenandoah is a beautiful place, but most of the beauty is meant to be seen via Skyline Drive and not while walking. Seeing the sign that meant we had only 0.2 miles left in the park may have been the best moment in the Shenandoah!

... And then we made it out! 

...out of the National Park, and into a terrible place called "the Roller Coaster." According to "AWOL," the author of our guide book, it's 13.5 miles of tightly packed ascents and descents. There weren't many switchbacks on the trial and it was rocky, so this was a difficult hike. We did the 13.5 mile roller coaster while we did a 25 mile day. Gnarly.

But somewhere on the bumpy ride, we made it past the 1,000 mile mark! ... And EmSklar continued the trend of taking many selfies. 

Goodbye Virginia! See you never... You were beautiful, but it's definitely time to see something new. 

And so we got to Harper's Ferry, and made it in the book! Most thru hikers stop at the ATC trail headquarters in Harpers Ferry, which is the celebrated halfway mark. All the hikers that stop are photographed and get their photo in the book! Our numbers mean we're the 379th and 380th people to pass through this year. 

On to cross the Mason-Dixon Line, gearing up for Rocksylvania!

A Note to Readers from BeLight

First we wanted to thanks Zinta for the article she wrote about our trip in BeLight. BeLight is K College's eZine. If you're reading our blog because of the article, there are a few things you should know (if not you can see it here: http://www.kzoo.edu/belight/article/where-the-tinytent-a-t/)... 

Mostly we don't blog too often... Don't panic, we're likely totally fine. We stop in town at least once a week, but more often than not, we are rushed. We try our best to blog when we are in town, but often are distracted by real world amenities that we have missed.

We're almost halfway too! ... Check the next post for an update! 

-Giggles and Chuckles 

Some dramatic pictures to appease and please the clamoring hordes

(Rhoderunner) Breakfast (Special) at Wind Rock

Non-view from Dragon's Tooth

Bones in his tiny seat at the Home Place in Catawba, VA

The 700 mile mark (we're actually past 900...) on a sad fence stile

Giggles and Chuckles and the quintessential MacAfee's Knob picture 

Captain, Giggles, and Boat on the Tinker Cliffs

Emergency Snickers break 

The longest walking bridge on the AT over the James River (Chuckles barely made it over, her legs are so short)

We climbed those three ridges with turkey sandwich and chocolate pudding trail magic in our bellies. 

We got a visit from the wonderful Grace Kelley, who put in 14 hours of driving and an unexpected amount of gnarly hiking just to see us and bring us Fireball and snacks! What a lovely woman :)

Our trail family, no longer together, but forever tied by a love for exposed thighs. 

More to come....we're nearing the halfway point, and we need support! Send food please we're so hungry

"I heard you guys hike 4 miles per hour...."

An addendum to our quantitative post: 

There's a rumor going around trail that Chuckles and Giggles hike 4mph. We thought we'd clarify some things for those BoiColins out there. 

Our pace hovers around 3mph. Anything faster, especially when the terrain is also anything besides downhill, is uncomfortable. And not worth it. We try to do "10 by 12." Sometimes it happens, sometimes we get distracted by burritos handed to us by a trail angel in an elf suit. But usually we'll do 10 miles by noon, and our mileage ranges between 15 and 25 miles per day (25 is pretty miserable, just as it sounds)! 

Wahoo! 

chuckle chuckle giggle giggle

Ponies

Grayson Highlands delivered beautiful views and also wild ponies. Although our LNT Trainer certifications told us to leave wildlife alone, the ponies walked right up to us and nuzzled our hands. There were even a few babies!! 

This is a view from the highlands. 

This is a pony and its baby. 

There were many ponies. 

Pony!

They were friendly and tryna chill. 

But sadly we had to leave to ponies so that we could make it to mile 500! 

Fueled by a few occasions of Virginia trail magic, we pushed and made another 100 miles in less than a week. 

Thus far we have loved Virginia. The ridge walks are a nice break from the ups and downs we had in North Carolina and Tennessee. Unfortunately, living in the Midwest has not prepared us for the heat--we've done a few 20+ mile days in some hot weather with minimal water sources in between. Four of those in a row left us pretty exhausted. But we made it over a quarter of the way to Katahdin!!!!

Virginia!

We made it to Virginia, which means we've completed over 20% of the trail. A really long section of the trail covers Virginia (550 miles!), so we will be here for a while. Here are some photos from some of our state crossings: 

This was the first, Georgia to North Carolina. This was also a long ways back...but we figured we could still share the picture.

Crossing the border from North Carolina to Tennessee happened many times, so we didn't document that. 

But here we are with the Captain, moving onto Virginia! We were so excited that the 3.5 miles down to Damascus was the fastest that we've ever hiked!

Stats for the quantitatively-minded

We've been thinking lately about numbers. We think the following stats are a pretty good representation of our journey (quest?) so far....

Together, we have completed, had, finished, accomplished, done, made, etc etc:

6 jars of peanut butter 

10 days of rain

2 days of snow 

2 pairs of shoes for Giggles

3 food drops

5 care packages (shout out to Chuckles' wonderful parents, Grace Kelley, and the Broken Rocks crew courtesy of Sarah Stoner!!!)

12 days of trail magic 

1+ month on trail, or 39 days!!!!

5 or so face-plants

4 states

1 national park

42 lbs & 47 lbs in our packs coming out of Erwin, TN (too too too heavy...we've changed our ways since)

2 goodbyes to members of our family (but only temporary ones)

2 dozen Snickers bars (each)

5 towns

2.5 zero days 

22.7 miles (longest day)

1 shelter to ourselves 

1 lost Nalgene

2 Lost and Found's 

6 flavors of instant pudding

countless incidents of teasing for being petite "girls"

9 interviews for Giggles' SIP 

1 urban legend 

2 states with the Noro Virus

2 crossings of major interstate underpasses

1500 loud snores in shelters

3 dozen+ catholes

22 blisters (20 for Giggles, 2 for me)

15,000 Frozen references 

2 viewings of Frozen

288 photos taken 

1 funky footbath each

9 listens to "Ignition Remix"

16 listens to "Let It Go"

a couple sunburns

30 people in one barn

2 viewings of "A Bug's Life" previews 

15 chains broken on hostel bikes

3 heads of garlic

....aaaaaaaand (drum roll)

468 miles completed, 168 miles past Michael Hammersley's expectation of how far we would make it. Thanks for believing in us! 

Xoxo,

Chuckles and Giggles