Don’t let the hiking get in the way of the hike.

With 3 states covered, over three weeks camped, 200 miles under our belts, and 30 plus pounds on our backs we can say we are hikers. 

The last three weeks have been full of blisters, bruises, and bear stories but mostly we have been appreciating what an amazing experience this is. Many hikers and “trail experts” have told us about how everything in our packs is wrong, how terrible the weather is going to be, or how awful the smokys will be due to new rigid restrictions on thru hikers. 

Thankfully we haven’t been letting     that get to us and so far through luck, flexibility, and positive thinking we have enjoyed every day.

  
Moose and RAW

Now that we are a few weeks in we have started to embrace our “trail names”. Some examples of others’ trail names include Bearclaw, El Tejano, One-Step, and Poptart. Everyone has a story to go with their name and it’s just a little way to embrace this trail life. 

So Molly has decided, as a shout -out to her dad, to stick with her childhood nickname of Moose. People love to hear that such a small lady would go for such a big title. 

My name was decided after I broke out in a sudden, full body rash in the first week here. We were jokingly referring to me as “rashy ass” so I decided to make it an acronym and go for Rashy Assed Woman, or RAW. Thankfully the rash has passed but I think the name will stick for a few more months. 

  

Town Daze

We have spent one zero (a day with no hiking) and several nero (a day with some hiking but not much) days in towns along the trail. 

While the luxuries of town (running water, beds, restaurants) are extremely nice, I have started to feel like our town days are the most stressful. On hiking days all we have to do is walk and worry about what’s on our backs but in town we have to do laundry, buys groceries, plan our next stops, and most unusual of all, interact with loads of people in a consumer setting. I am really starting to get used to the simplicity of the trail. I’m finding a day in town more exhausting that a 12 mile day on the AT. 

  
Well that’s all for this update. Now that we are getting used to bedtime at 8pm, staying up until 11 to write this has been rough. Here are a few more pictures of the beautiful things we have seen, but honestly they do not do it justice. 

   
    
    
  
-Moose and RAW