Pictures!

Butterfly in the Shenandoah National Park

Kayaking the South Fork of the Shenandoah River

Ratzaz and Crazylegs

Skip, Me, Bryce and Wrongway

Getting ready to tackle 41!

Having fun in Harpers Ferry with Skip and Bryce

Sunset at Pen-Mar Park

Thank You

To everyone who has helped me out along the way so far. I am so very grateful to everyone who has offered me a ride and picked me up along the way, I am thrilled by the support I receive from everyone online, special thanks to Rambler for the care package and for lending me his digital camera, thank you so very much to Mala for finding and returning my lost camera and headlamp, Crazylegs and Ratzaz it was great to meet you and thanks for the BBQ, thankyou Bryce for hiking me out of WV at 4 am and of course thanks to everyone I'm not remembering at this moment and to those who will help me in the future. I love you all and wish you well.

-Bobcat

Happy Fourth of July!

I want to wish all of my friends and family a happy Fourth. I hope all my friends on and off the trail had a fun holiday and I'll see you all soon.

I am off to Duncannon and then down to Virginia to make up the miles I missed when I skipped ahead because of my injury. I should be back in PA in a couple of weeks and then I'll be trucking to get to Maine.

So since my last blog posting (I know it's been a while and I'm sorry we can't rely on Andrew) I have gotten back on the trail injured foot and all, kayaked 40 miles of the Shenandoah river, completed the Maryland challenge in 19 hours (41 miles from the West Virginia-Maryland border to the Maryland-Pennsylvania border) and hitched my way home to spend time with my family in Western PA for the 4th of July holiday.

My next definite post office stops will be: Buena Vista VA 24416, Duncannon PA 17020, Port Clinton PA 19549, Delawarewater Gap PA 18327, Kent CT 06757, Bennington VT 05201, Killington VT 05751, North Woodstock NH 03262, Gorham NH 03581 and Monson ME 04464

I am hoping to complete the trail by September 15th but will probably not finish until the first of October. It will all depend on terrain and weather.

Thank you again to everyone for their support and friendship!

Injuries...

This is turning into a blog about all my injuries and misadventures on the trail. That is going to change! But until then I have unfortunate news, I tore a ligament in my foot about 5 days ago. I have been off the trail since and probably won't be returning to the trail for at least another week. (Doctor says it takes about 6 weeks to heal but I can slowly ease back into walking and hiking with a pack- I'm thinking a lot of slackpacking the next couple weeks and some short mileage days) I'm hoping to be back on schedule by the time I hit Mass.

Other than the pain in my foot I feel fantastic and was starting to work up to regular 20 mile days. (I've been averaging 17 miles/day for the past two weeks)

Thanks everyone for your support and I'll let everyone know when I start pounding out the miles again.

Back in Damascus-

So I'm back in Damascus and just had lunch with Nutella and Caboosey (spaghetti and meatballs, mmm...) Now that I'm where I need to be I'll be heading north from here and should be at Grayson Highlands in a couple days- I'll be taking lots of pictures for mom with my cheap disposable camera (what mom doesn't know is she gets to develop the pics for me :-)

So for everyone who didn't get me email re: Trail Days- I had a great time and met a ton of fantastic people including hikers from this year and years past. I unfortunately lost my camera and came down with a bout of strep. But I'm feeling better and moving on.

Thanks for all the support!

So Andrew has requested that I take a video of something. Well I have. This video was taken recently of a couple AT hikers jamming on Miss Janet's porch in ERwin, TN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQmPvujjNJA

This is an email I received the same day as the post below.

Hello everyone!

Being the master hiker that I am I have made it all the way to Erwin, TN. I am now 338.7 miles in and will stay at the Curley Maple Gap shelter tonight (342.9 miles) I've met up with a fellow hiker from VT and were going to haul ass ahem I mean butt to Damascus over the next week or so. I know all the non-hikers are wondering what the big deal about Damascus is and why I'm in such a hurry to get there. Basically Damascus is just a few miles past the TN/VA border which means I'll officially have covered 3 states. Also Trail Days is a big hiker fest which is held in Damascus every year and this year it happens to be the 18th-20th. There are reps from various gear companies, plenty of food and beer, not to mention hikers from this year and years past. Also it's an excuse to take a couple days off ;-)

So I'm off to the woods again and hope to be sending the next email from Damascus.

BTW- Erwin Burrito- Highly recommended

Bobcat

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By The Way: Does anyone feel Angela was less of a wuss by reading the post with her own wording? A mouse, a scream, an assumption, a denial of truth. The facts are all the same! Umm... A MOUSE?!? :) luv ya, Ang!

I feel a need to clarify the story about how I got my trail name. Andrew seems to have colored the story a bit.

I got the name Bobcat after my first night on the trail. I was alone and freaked out but eventually fell asleep. Partway through the night I woke up to the sound of scratching and opened my eyes just in time to watch a mouse run up and over my tent. It startled me and I screamed. The next morning I was talking to the couple who tented next to me and they mentioned the "sound" in the middle of the night and assumed it was a bobcat. I wasn't able to tell them then that it was me (I was named by another hiker further down the trail after telling him the story) but I caught up with them at Standing Bear and "confessed".

It's all in the wording and my wording makes me sound less like a wuss :-P

Our wandering Bobcat has been kind enough to grace us with more pics! To take a look at the new additions, check out the Flickr account. I also have some journal updates, but I also have four finals in the next four days. Angela is doing very well though and is in very high spirits! Last report had her over 270 miles in so far. I'll pass along some stories as soon as I can:)

So, the word is you all are getting impatient waiting for more pictures. Well, so am I.
I just talked to Ang today – actually about three seconds ago while beginning this post – and she has just mailed the next batch which should be here in a few days.

The name Bobcat...

Some of you may have gotten Angela’s e-mail in which she signed it Bobcat. It is an AT tradition for through hikers to choose a “trail name”. This is how she got hers: Apparently, on her first night camping on the trail, Ang woke up to the sound of something scratching at the outside of her tent. Being the master woodwoman that she is, and that with a steely mettle; screeched when A MOUSE ran up and over the tent. In the morning, other hikers camping nearby told her that they had heard a “cry” around 3am and assumed it was a bobcat because they didn’t hear any other sounds after that. Oh, those poor hikers. They’re now doomed to sleep in terror of what may be lurking in the woods because, of course, our fearless “Bobcat” did not tell them it was really her just squealing at a mouse! :)