A Family Adventure of the 2,185 mile hike from Georgia to Maine – 2014

The morning started with hard rain and we ate our breakfast huddled under the hammock tarp. It had slowed to a drizzle by the time the kids and Mama Bear started hiking. I packed up the wet tarp and started soon after. While I was hurrying to catch up, I took the opportunity for a morning swim in rocky pond. The silver mist rose slowly from the ponds surface and the soft drizzle rippled the mountains’ reflections.

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The Green Mountains have welcomed us home to northern New England. Lush forests, barren granite outcroppings, and plentiful boggy board walks. We even got to ride on a high speed quad chairlift.

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We awoke to what would have been a beautiful sunrise if it weren’t for the thick clouds settled into the valley filling our view with a uniform gray. But as we ate our breakfast and sipped our morning beverages the sun grew stronger and began to burn through the mist, allowing the distant mountains to melt into varying shades of darker and lighter gray. It was a spectacular, if monochromatic, display. Read More

Now in the forests of northern New England it feels like we’re back in our home playground. The Green Mountains are green indeed. Lush and damp with thick underbrush and mossy tree trunks it feels like an elfin garden. We hiked through clouds and mist with the occasional light rain but were snug in our tents before any of the hard rains came.

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We awoke to the sunrise from the top of Mt. Greylock. We enjoyed the view from the nearby summit tower, which was constructed in 1933 when Mama Bear’s grandfather was a student at the nearby Williams College. Almost seventy years later, that same grandfather backpacked eighteen miles over three days into Williamstown on our 2002 southbound thru hike when he was eighty-nine years old. Passing over those rugged miles again today (with the incredibly steep rocky climbs and descents) impressed upon us just how incredible a feat that was. Read More

We spent a lazy morning lingering with friends, in no rush to say goodbye. Cartwheel had her hair done. Everyone cooed over the baby. We ate more good food. Eventually we did head back to the woods and the miles melted away. Read More

Over the years that our kids have grown, our good friends Neva and Fredo have always made an effort to come see us, no matter what part of the world they were living in at the time. Now that they have a new one of their own, it’s our turn to travel to see them. Only, apparently not quite yet. Read More

The rains came hard overnight but we all stayed dry and the heat finally broke. The morning brought ethereal light sifting through rain sparkled trees. The trail was pretty, the weather was perfect, and the hikers were crabby. Read More

It was love at first sight. When Cartwheel first set eyes on the rhinoceros-shaped walking stick painted pink, she knew it was the one for her. There was a whole collection of differently shaped sticks back at the WoodsHole hostel, free for the taking save for a thank you note to the stick collector. Cartwheel was delighted and declared that Pinkanoceros would accompany her to Katahdin and eventually be passed down to her kids so that they could pass it along to their own in turn. Read More

After a long drive (with few pictures) we made it back on the trail. Mama Bear and the kids watched Frozen in the back seat and we listened to many hours of Eragon. Then, with much appreciated help from Peggy, we made it back to the trailhead in time to catch an evening rainbow. Read More