A Family Adventure of the 2,185 mile hike from Georgia to Maine – 2014
After a late night at Chocolate World, we enjoyed sleeping in at Malto’s house. We got up to pancakes, sausage and eggs. It was misting and wet after a night of thunderstorms and our motivation to hurry back to the trail was low. RobinHood and All In took the opportunity to give each other summer haircuts.
Malto walked back from the office around lunch time and showed us some of the gear he has made for himself. It’s pretty cool to see what people do who walk forty miles a day with a five pound base weight. We used Malto’s extensive collection of repair items to do some needed gear repair. Mama Bear got her new pack in the mail- much lighter and a better fit then the old one that she used on our last thru-hike. Wired even gave Mama bear her old shoes since she was picking up new ones and Mama bear’s new ones proved way too narrow (New Balance must have changed thei last from the ones she replaced).
Finally, in early afternoon we piled back into the car with Wired, stopped for some groceries and a billboard photo-op, and headed back to the trail. We had a long stretch of 13 miles that wove its way through private farmland where camping is prohibited, which meant that we had to push a little more than our motivation would have lead us to otherwise. It was raining on and off with flash flood warnings due to the amount of precipitation over the last few days. The trail was muddy and slippery and we had a few impressive falls where people stood up looking like they’d just lost a mud wrestling match. In some places the trail was inches deep in water and we just had to slosh through.
Finally the trail climbed steeply out of the fields, passing by some impressive rock formations. We rolled into an empty shelter in the dark at 8:45 (way past bedtime), and were thankful for the opportunity to spread out our gear and stay dry as it rained all night. If there had been anyone in the shelter, we would have set up our tent (wet dogs, rambunctious kids, and other people’s dry, expensive gear don’t mix well), so it was nice that we were the only ones here. The late night will surely mean a slow morning.
A Family Adventure of the 2,185 mile hike from Georgia to Maine - 2014 
It’s a real treat to be allowed in on the Kallin family trek. I’m full of admiration for you all, but I miss seeing one of the GREAT beards!
hmm, time to start growing the beard again, methinks 🙂
All in and RobinHood, I love your haircuts! Hi, Cartwheel and Momma Bear! 🙂
Cartwheel certainly looks a lot happier in the bubble bath than in the mud!
it was great to meet your family and wired. I look forward to following you trip. If it keeps raining you may need a break at Swatara Gap. Offer is open. Have a great trip, your kids have to be some of the happiest kids I’ve encounter.
Man, I miss the Kallins!!!!
Since the kids are being ‘home schooled’ while on the trail this is an excellent opportunity to teach them about nutrition. Let them know which foods are beneficial to their health (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts etc) and which are harmful if eaten on a regular basis (candy, ice cream, donuts, processed meats etc.).Establishing good eating habits now while they are young is crucial for their long term health.
Please tell Orion he will have another playmate at the bottom of the hill with plenty of healthy smacks.
Smacks and snacks
Frank, when you’ve hiking 20+ miles per day for about 75 days, you can eat whatever and how much you want. Those kids live and know good nutrition, and are the healthiest and most physically fit children I’ve ever known!
I will admit to eating three chocolate bars today to help me climb Mount Defiance. Twelve miles and 4800 feet elevation gain.