July 31

     Its been a little while since I got back on the trail from the wedding and I feel like a lot has happened. I had a really great time getting to take the to go back to Virginia to see a lot of my friends and family. My brother was awesome and came all the way up to pick Son and I up from Connecticut. The trip seemed to be pretty long but not too bad because we were able to stop off in New York and pick up the girl I was telling y'all about and take her with us. It was really nice getting to know her and all the time I spent with her added to the feeling of how special I think she is. The wedding turned out to be very beautiful and a really good time. It was really great to get to see a lot of you and talk a bit more about my experiences out here. Sadly for me however my time in civilization had to come to an end so that I could get back to the trail and get to Katahdin.
      It was pretty difficult getting back in to the swing of things from being off the trail for so long. I just kept thinking how everything was so much easier when I was back for the wedding and how nice it was to not be kind of alone and away from everyone. I think if it weren't for Son being out here with me when I got back on I don't know if I would have been able to make it through the transition of getting back onto the trail.
     After a few days of not so great weather and scenery not changing so much things started to get a little better. We started making climbs over 2000ft again allowing for some better views and also getting to see some nice waterfalls and brooks that ran along side the trail. Just after we got into Massachusetts there was a really cool spot along one of the brooks that looked like it could have been a really great spot to do a cliff jump, probably about 20ft high. I was really excited because this was going to be the first one I would be able to do on the trail so far. The water was pretty clear and looked like it was about 10 or 12 feet deep so I climbed up and gave my camera to Son to take a video. He said, "hey it not working man." So I went over and checked it out, sure enough my phone had frozen on the video screen so I had to restart it. I figured since it was restarting I might as well climb down there and make sure everything was alright down there before I jumped. So I swam in and that water was freezing cold and by some kind of optical illusion the water was only really about 4 feet deep. Man am I glad my phone crapped out on me there! Definitely checking the water personally now before I think about doing anything like that again.
     So the next couple of days were pretty nice and we got to see a couple of cool little small towns. One town in Salisbury, CT actually interviewed us for their town paper and said we were going to be in the issue that came out last Thursday. Massachusetts has been a pretty beautiful state to hike through with surprisingly a lot of really nice people here. Just a couple of days ago we went and stayed at a cabin that was maintained by the Appalachian Mountain Club or AMC called Upper Goose Pond Cabin. The cabin is run by a volunteer caretakers who switch once a week. It was a very beautiful place to stay right on the pond. They allowed you to go out on their canoes and in the morning they made all the pancakes and coffee you could ever want.
     After leaving the cabin it started off like it was going to be a nice day, however around 10am that story changed. It started raining then and rained all day until we got to Dalton, MA. It was a pretty miserable day however we heard that a man named Tom Lavardi allowed you to camp at his house in town so we figured we would do that and go in and get a bite to eat to try and make the day a little better. To our surprise when we got to his house there were about 20 hikers at his house all just hanging out. As it turns out Tom goes above and beyond to help hikers. He completely opens his house up letting hikers sleep in the middle of the living room, he lets you use the.shower, does all of your laundry and will pretty much drive you wherever you want to go. ALL FOR FREE! He makes it so that his house is a bit of an Oasis for hikers. He doesn't mind how long you stay either. When we asked him if we could stay another day to.recuperate he said well the record is 47 days and your welcome to try and beat that if you want. Supposedly a hiker in the past ran out of money for the trail and Tom let him stay at the house while he got a job in town to make enough money to finish. Anyway we have been at his house for the last couple of days and I think I have finally gotten out of my funk from feeling the way I had after the wedding and am now ready to get back on the trail and experience the beautiful northern states. Be looking forward to some beautiful pictures because I know they will be coming!

-Turbo Zero

July 9

I was really hoping for the fact that when I got out of PA these darn rocks would ease up and give my feet a little break but they are at it again here in NJ. So far however everything about NJ has been pretty awesome. We have finally been getting some great scenery again with some awesome views. There seems to be a lot more creeks and water along the way as well. My plan when I got out of PA was to start doing 30 mile days until I had to go back for my sisters wedding but after the first one and the rocks still not letting up much, my feet just aren't going to be able to take it doing that kind of mileage. It also didn't help that yesterday we came across a nice lake to go swimming in for a while. We came down from what is known as the highest point in NJ yesterday to go throigh some bogs and farmland. Going through the bogs was probably one of my favorite portions of the trail so far. When you hike through them you walk on all these elevated boards so it kind of seems like walking through a rainforest all most. Well right now I'm sitting on the porch of the general store here in a little town called Unionville NY. This has been a really great little town to stay the night at. I got to meet a really cute girl yesterday and talk to her for a while. She seems to be the first girl I have met in a while that was really cute and I could be a bit interested in. She kind of comes off as one of those small town girls that is genuinely nice and I don't think realizes she is as pretty as she is. I really hope that I'll be able to see her again someday. I think its really awesome how one day I may be driving somewhere and pass through one of these small towns and know that I have had some kind of experience there. This kind of thing has been my favorite part of hiking so far.
-Turbo Zero

July 5th

     Well PA you did it, my feet really hurt. This entire last 80 or so miles has been completely filled with inescapable sharp rocks. I feel like I've had my best days on the trail and my worst days on the trail so far in this last week. The first stretch right after we left Boiling Springs the heat was just ridiculous. I had a really bad case of a heat rash that went all up and down my legs. It felt very similar to a very bad sunburn but would kind of go away if I went out of the heat for a while or put water on it. We spent a night in Duncannon  at the Doyle Hotel, normally a pretty gross hotel but really nice for hikers since the rooms were only $25 a night. The hole place was filled with hikers and it was pretty fun. After we left Duncannon we crossed the Susquehanna River and got up onto a ridge line where we would be hiking for the next hundred miles or so.
     We did our now longest day of hiking just a little while ago. We did a total of about 38 miles, 34 on the trail and another 4 coming in and out of town. I arrived at a really nice view at about 4:30am and decided to set up camp there on rock overlooking the PA countryside. The next morning however I had to get up really early at about 6:30 am because the sun was shining right down on my and starting to cook me on the rock. That day was pretty miserable, the rocks were horrible and I started to suffer from sleep exhaustion. I still ended up hiking about 17 miles that day however.
     I had one of the best 4th of Julys I have ever had out here on the trail. I hiked out of town up this mountain, which was one of the hardest climbs that I have had on the trail so far. I had to use my hands to climb the mountain and kind of did a little rock climbing, hikers call this a "rock scramble". After we got to the top of the mountain we had a couple mile walk along the ridge line of the mountain which didn't have any trees on it so we were able to see down into the valley the whole way. We came across this spot where we decided to camp that someone had made a bunch of seats out of the stone that was all laying around there as well as a fire pit. We set up there and were able to have a birds eye view of about 25 different firework shows all over the valley.
     The next day we hiked down into Wind Gap, PA and met up with the Dipaolos who hosted us last night and have been taking really good care of us here. We will be finally leaving PA today once we cross the Delaware River and will be getting into New Jersey.

-Turbo Zero