Trail angel shout out

Happy happy birthday to my dad! He has been the official map and data printer for this and all my expeditions and is one of our most important trail angels. He also let me run around state parks by myself long before I should have been allowed to, so I can probably blame him for how I turned out. Thanks, I think. :) love, jo

Our trail angels

Huge thanks and happy Father's Day! Bart's folks drove us up to State College to Champ's Sports Grill where my friend Leslie will take over. It was such a beautiful drive and Bart got a great nap. Onward and upward... Going to meet Tussey Mountain today!

Heading home

No we didn't walk back! Three wonderful people helped get us home. Pat Monahan from NY(no not the city) took us to Duncannon PA where we ate lunch at the famous Doyle Hotel with(thanks for lunch) Pete Fleszar who traveled us to Morgantown WV(not before dumping us out of his convertible to hike a section of the GET West Route) (glad he thought it was a good idea) to Peggy Pings where we indulged in burgers, salad and potatoes before leaving to the Center Of The Universe!(My back porch Mullens WV!) sorry no squirrel gravy Peggy was walkin not huntin this year!

White Sulphur Springs

White Sulphur Springs WV! Love this town brings back memories as a kid riding through for our annual squirrel hunt stopping to view the trout at the hatchery. Our stay at the Village Inn was delightful. We were soaking wet when we arrived.

A "rest"

OK I had to take a day off to -well- to do stuff. Not like I took a day off. Hard at it!

Hinton, WV

We didn't get a picture of both of us here, because Jo was melting into a puddle when we took this photo.

Hinton, WV is the last trail-town we hiked through in southern West Virginia.  It did not disappoint!  What a beautiful part of the world this is.  

 When we got to the dam, we knew we were close to town.  It was about 900 degrees outside, and so we stopped at the best Dairy Queen I've ever been to.  The view from there is spectacular.

While there, we met a local who shared stories with us and whose son we'd once met while we were on a TuGuNu Hiking Club mission. . . it's a very small world.  Mr. Maddy, it was nice to meet you!

Hinton from Zion Mountain Road

We spent the night with Bart's cousins Christy and Lee, who prepared steak dinner and a bacon-drippin'-with-gravy biscuit feasts for us, which powered us up the mountain.  Thank you for your kind hospitality, and it couldn't have been on a more perfect night - the crazy rain lasted most of the night, turning the Bluestone brown and raising water levels quite a bit.  It was so nice to be inside.

The next morning we awoke and went to a reception held in the Belle Point park.  Mayor Blankenship was there and presented us with a certificate, and everyone who came was excited for us and eager to hear stories.  Thanks to everyone who braved the blustery weather to come out and say hi to us.  Bart was especially happy to see his cousin Kenna and her husband Jimmy - Kenna has been a fixture in Bart's life for a long time and it was nice for me to finally meet them.  Special thanks to Rick Moorefield who helped arrange the event, and to Jessica Lilly, who continues to follow our story (and who I also finally got to meet in person!).

Hinton, it was a wonderful time.  Thanks for being a Great Eastern Trail town!

This guy watched over us as we got water later in the day.

Hinton

What a send off for me and Jo today in Hinton. Lots of pictures to come once we get to a computer so look for them. So stay in touch! Much love HillBillyBart & Someday Jo

Calling it

One of the questions we get asked a lot is about what it's like to hike with just one other person.  Most of my long-distance hiking has taken place on the Appalachian Trail, where even as a southbounder, there we always other people around.  On the Great Eastern Trail, it's been the Bart-and-Jo show, 24/7.  Some of our friends have come to join us for a section and thankfully lots of time with Tim and Paul here in West Virginia!  It brightens our day to have company.  To folks who have hiked sections with us: for days and even weeks after you leave us, we'll still be thinking back to things you brought up. You give our brains new ideas to mull over.

So what is it like, hiking with just one other person?

In a way, it's easier: when you hike in large groups, the slowest in that group is the person who sets the pace. When one gets sick, the whole group stays behind.  I only have to worry about Bart (although that is arguably a full-time job).  I know him well enough to anticipate problems we will have (and vice-versa).  Also, by the end of this, I will have a best friend for life, because no one else will ever understand the hilarity and insanity of certain situations we've found ourselves in.  One word can set us off laughing, and wherever life leads us, we'll have to remain friends because you just had to be there.

But in a way, it's harder to hike with just one person: Especially in sections where we have to choose-our-own-adventure, this can be a pretty stressful trail.  We have only each other to discuss things with, and it can get heated.  Bart and I have very different philosophies on some aspects of hiking, and trying to make it mesh can be really challenging, and even more so because we often don't have a third party to complain to/counsel us/be a tiebreaker. 

I'm really happy with how we've been able to spend 3 months together and not kill each other.  This bodes well for the upcoming 2 months.  We've got some ground rules and we're both really good at sticking to them.  Basically, they are:

• We connect everything by foot, even if we don't want to.
• Either of us can "call it" - end the hiking day at any time, at any place, for any reason.

Very few times has either of us had to call it.  I called it in Georgia when our friend Ramar offered up his yard to camp in when my ankle hurt so bad.  I called it last week when my foot gave out on me after only 5 miles.  I called it a couple of times in Chattanooga when I was super sick.  And today, Bart called it.  We took yesterday off to deal with some loose ends here in Mullens, and it was a super-productive day, but some loose ends remained.  It is a beautiful day and I want to hike so badly, but I am happy that it's my turn to gracefully accept that he called it.

I won't hike today, but I will watch Sula drinking water from Bart's Camelback bitevalve:

Water crossings

Devils Fork Creek running high and cold today. Twice we had to get wet to cross. So cold it made my teeth hurt.

Yep- my dog Sula actually loves the water crossings.

Jo, not so much.

Mullens --> Devils Fork

My cousin Dylan Saunders Joined in on the hike from Mullens to Devils Fork. He's holding the map we needed to traverse this section.


My dog Sula taking a mud bath!



Beautiful day and fantastic views!


















Convenience in the woods is rare here in WV. Nice find today.

Sula

Sula after our hike into Mullens. My oh my! 13 miles tomorrow will bring more of this down time.

Thank you!

A huge thank you to my parents, who put this welcome home party for me and Jo together.  If not for them, this would not be possible. Thanks for making a cold, wet, rainy afternoon a time to remember!

Jo would like to add that she'd like to attach the helium balloons to her backpack. :)

Hometown welcome

A HUGE thank-you to all who came to the cookout to say hi to us!  It was awesome to see so many of you!  Another thank you to those whose thoughts were with us, but who stayed safe at home rather than chance the weather. It was pretty sketchy out there.

We had a pretty good hike from Twin Falls into Mullens today - even if we did get poured on.  Thanks Tim and Morgan and Sula for coming with us!

Bart, the mayor, and Jo

We were wet and stinky, but no one seemed to care - thanks everyone, for pretending we didn't smell!

This is Dewey, who is pretending that Bart doesn't stink.

 The parade through town led by Mayor McKinney, Police Chief Ray Toler, Fire Chief Chad Cox & local volunteers was a spectacular welcome-home for us.  Thanks to everyone for their love and support!

Hey Big Ed - your food was spectacular.  You wanna follow us to New York?  'Cause that'd be okay with us.

 

 Here is Jo spreading the good word about the Great Eastern Trail!  

 

Good buds!

Mullens cookout

There will be a cookout this Thursday at the park behind the Mullens Middle School (the old high school).  Bart and I will be walking into town then, around 5:30 or 6:00 PM.  Come on out to see us at the park, have some food, and get a hug from two stinky hikers!  You know you want to.

Adventures of the last week

We were really happy to hit the Wyoming County Line a couple of days ago, but I wanted to post this picture of Bart in Mingo County.  When we get the trail through Mingo, it will be spectacular.  For now, it is all roadwalk, but a big part of that roadwalk is simply beside a road and not on it.  Expansive views of Kentucky and West Virginia mountains filled the soul, and the occasional car driving past us 20 feet to our left did little to take away from the experience.  Wilderness trail it is not (for now), but it was nevertheless a beautiful experience.  Thanks, King Coal Highway!

Also, to everyone in Mingo County: Thanks for not running us over.  We appreciate it.  We realize that 52 is not made for pedestrians.  Trust us, we tried to find another way.  So, thanks for your help. 

Yesterday we were set to tackle a large portion of trail between R.D. Bailey WMA and Horse Creek Lake.  Bart's mom made us biscuits & gravy to power us over the mountains, his dad drove us to the county line, and we were off!  Thanks, you two, for all you've been doing for us!

It was the nicest day (weather-wise) we've had since . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Tennessee somewhere, I'd say.  I was so excited to revisit some of the trail I'd GPSed last year when I was a VISTA for this project.  I'd only ever hiked this section in the rain, and I wanted to see it in sunshine.  Tim was coming with us to help us not get lost and to tell us stories.  In short, everything was perfect.

Until my foot quit working.

Suddenly, our 13-mile day over unmaintained trail became a complete impossibility for me, and we had just our daypacks, so we couldn't camp out.  Bart's Jeep was 8 miles away at Horse Creek.  When we got to Big Branch (AKA "Burning Car Gap") Tim suggested we try to hitchhike to Horse Creek.  Hitching with 3 can be very difficult, and I was not surprised when no cars were pulling over for us.  (Tim also tried to thumb from an ATVer, who just grinned at us.  Yeah, right!)

All of a sudden, from the other direction, Paul and Ruby, our TuGuNu VP and Treasurer, pulled over!  They just decided to come see if we were out and about, and their timing couldn't have been more perfect.  What are the chances?!  They gave us a lift back to the Jeep.  Can't wait for them to join us on a deathmarch hike soon!   

We took today off to ice my foot.  I went from hobbling to walking normally in just 24 hours.  I think it's my boots doing it to me, and so I will wear my sandals for the next few days.  Sandals in this section is not recommended, but I've done it before, so . . . onward.

Happy anniversary!

My journey would not be possible without my wonderful parents. They are my life compass.
Happy 45 years together!!!
Love Bart

Happy birthday!

Happy happy birthday to my mom!  She's been putting up with me for my whole life, so she deserves major applause.  A few years ago I made her hike some of the Superior Hiking Trail in Minnesota.  After Bart and I finish the GET, I hope she'll come hike another section of the SHT with me.  Thanks for everything!

"She tried to KILL me!" - Mom, after the hike

"PERFECT?! Bang on my chest if you think I'm perfect!" - the Tin Man

at home

 

It will be hard to get back on the trail and leave mornings like this! Homemade buttermilk biscuits- gravey- bacon- apples and the coldest milk anywhere !
HillBillyBart

Found

 

My Dad and Kodak on a covert mission to get us back into WV. Success!!

Brown beans!

 

Me, Jo and Mom talking about important world changing stuff over my favorite food brown beans and cornbread!! I ate three bowls and a slice of homemade chocolate cake.