Today was our first trial of the spot tracker. Cole was to turn it on and bring it to work. I was to follow him online. He messaged me and was on his way. The dot didn't move. Wierd. I searched the site wondering if there was something i had to activate or something we had missed. I came up blank. When Cole got home I told him the bad news; our spot did not work. "Not true" says Cole. "It worked perfectly!" Turns out Cole forgot our spot and it spent the whole day on his windowsill! Woops. So it is up and working guys and the lesson here is if we want to be tracked we must bring the tracker with us!
-Ash
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Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Ash's Story
I guess it's time for Ash's story too. I was an architecture major who got TIRED of architecture and couldn't get the AT out of my head. The AT has been a dream of mine since I was little, and after returning from a semester abroad in Italy I was itching for a new adventure. I picked my boss Rich's (a 2000 thru-hiker) brain for AT info and stories. (Thank you Rich!) I contacted Cole Bear under the impression that he had completed a thru-hike as well. (See third paragraph in Cole's previous post "My Story") And I read as much as I could about the AT.
September came around and I was back at RWU for my senior year. But I couldn't get the AT out of my head. And I couldn't get back into the swing of all nighters in studio followed by 6am swim practices. I was exhausted, constaintly behind (at least it felt that way) and I felt like crap. Plus, despite Liz's persistent elbowing, I could not stay awake in class if my life depended on it! I had already done this for three years. Did I really want to do this for three more... and then for the rest of my life? Was this really what I wanted to do?
I decided to graduate at the end of that year with a BA instead of continuing for the masters. I planed to begin my AT thru-hike in the early spring one year after I graduated. March 2011. That is almost here!
Cole Bear and I leave for Georgia in jsut over 3 weeks to complete what began as two separate thru-hike dreams and became a duo. I have no doubts that we will complete the 2000+ miles to Katahdin and I am very excited to be sharing this adventure with the guy I love. My dad will be driving us down to Springer Mtn on March 10. Thank you Dad! Can't wait!
Closing with a Skip Griffin pre-race (now pre-AT) quote from GHS swimming:
"Eye of the Tiger"
-Ash
September came around and I was back at RWU for my senior year. But I couldn't get the AT out of my head. And I couldn't get back into the swing of all nighters in studio followed by 6am swim practices. I was exhausted, constaintly behind (at least it felt that way) and I felt like crap. Plus, despite Liz's persistent elbowing, I could not stay awake in class if my life depended on it! I had already done this for three years. Did I really want to do this for three more... and then for the rest of my life? Was this really what I wanted to do?
I decided to graduate at the end of that year with a BA instead of continuing for the masters. I planed to begin my AT thru-hike in the early spring one year after I graduated. March 2011. That is almost here!
Cole Bear and I leave for Georgia in jsut over 3 weeks to complete what began as two separate thru-hike dreams and became a duo. I have no doubts that we will complete the 2000+ miles to Katahdin and I am very excited to be sharing this adventure with the guy I love. My dad will be driving us down to Springer Mtn on March 10. Thank you Dad! Can't wait!
Closing with a Skip Griffin pre-race (now pre-AT) quote from GHS swimming:
"Eye of the Tiger"
-Ash
Sunday, February 13, 2011
My Story
So, where do I begin? I guess the beginning would make the most sense, but that's so cliche. But in accordance with trying to keep some sense of the stories to be posted here, it seems I'd better just start from the start.
It's summer 2009, I just graduated college and desperately wanted to do the "just graduated college" thing. Backpacking Europe was out of the question, because as I established in the first paragraph of this post, I'm not a fan of cliches. So what was I to do? Hiking the AT had always been a dream of mine, and I'd dabbled on multiple sections of it more times than I could remember. But I got out of school in late May, and a good Northbound start date was in EARLY spring. On top of my poor timing, my college handed me a couple of last minute schedule mishaps that set me 6 credits back upon my time of graduating, which meant summer classes (read: easy online music courses). So the timing worked out better to do a country-wide bicycle tour. I won't get into too much detail here, that whole trip is covered extensively on another blog (if you can find it). Let's just say that as soon as I started pedaling, all that kept running through my head is how I'd top the current adventure with the next one. Answer: thru-hike the entire Appalachian Trail. So upon returning from the bike trip I had a mental seed planted in the mind garden that I would soon hike the AT after getting some job experience under my belt.
Fast forward to about 5 days after returning from California via train. I'm at my old college visiting friends and sharing the stories of my trip, when I get a message from a girl whom I know of, but have never actually met in person. As is turns out we don't quite share the same circle of friends, but more so a loose fitting Venn diagram with my social life and hers overlapping just slightly. This intriguing girl is Ashley, and she is expressing interest in the AT and inquiring my advice about gear and such, under the notion that I have already thru-hiked it myself. While this was flattering, it pained me to break this "experienced thru-hiker information station" aura I had inadvertently projected somewhere and tell her I had never done it, but I planned to. As it turns out, it has been her dream to thru-hike the AT as well, and she offered her start date to me as a gesture for a car pool to Georgia, about a year and a half from our date of contacting each other. I was on campus anyway, so we decided to meet up and have a picnic lunch. The rest is a long exciting love story, needless to say now we are a happy couple ready to start a long and arduous but rewarding journey together in a matter of weeks.
I have been waiting for this trip to start for so long now. Never in my life have I known how long beforehand I would be doing something for certain. That day is coming up on us like a bat out of hell, and I couldn't be more ready. I give my notice at my job this Friday, and I'm glad to be doing it. I don't live by way of regrets, and to pass up this opportunity just to stay at the most unfulfillable workplace imaginable would be a moral crime to myself. I have no doubt in my mind that Ashley and I will make it to Maine, and I never will no matter what we encounter out there on the path. She's the strongest girl I know, and I stand by her over one hundred percent. There are no words for the excitement I feel when I think more than five solid seconds about this hiking trip, I just know that the next 3 weeks of work is going to seem way too long.
I'll end with a quote a mentor of mine put in my head a long time ago, it's simple and eloquent, and sums up an array of travel quotes I have read over the years:
"Process, not product."
Thanks for reading!
-Cole Bear out
It's summer 2009, I just graduated college and desperately wanted to do the "just graduated college" thing. Backpacking Europe was out of the question, because as I established in the first paragraph of this post, I'm not a fan of cliches. So what was I to do? Hiking the AT had always been a dream of mine, and I'd dabbled on multiple sections of it more times than I could remember. But I got out of school in late May, and a good Northbound start date was in EARLY spring. On top of my poor timing, my college handed me a couple of last minute schedule mishaps that set me 6 credits back upon my time of graduating, which meant summer classes (read: easy online music courses). So the timing worked out better to do a country-wide bicycle tour. I won't get into too much detail here, that whole trip is covered extensively on another blog (if you can find it). Let's just say that as soon as I started pedaling, all that kept running through my head is how I'd top the current adventure with the next one. Answer: thru-hike the entire Appalachian Trail. So upon returning from the bike trip I had a mental seed planted in the mind garden that I would soon hike the AT after getting some job experience under my belt.
Fast forward to about 5 days after returning from California via train. I'm at my old college visiting friends and sharing the stories of my trip, when I get a message from a girl whom I know of, but have never actually met in person. As is turns out we don't quite share the same circle of friends, but more so a loose fitting Venn diagram with my social life and hers overlapping just slightly. This intriguing girl is Ashley, and she is expressing interest in the AT and inquiring my advice about gear and such, under the notion that I have already thru-hiked it myself. While this was flattering, it pained me to break this "experienced thru-hiker information station" aura I had inadvertently projected somewhere and tell her I had never done it, but I planned to. As it turns out, it has been her dream to thru-hike the AT as well, and she offered her start date to me as a gesture for a car pool to Georgia, about a year and a half from our date of contacting each other. I was on campus anyway, so we decided to meet up and have a picnic lunch. The rest is a long exciting love story, needless to say now we are a happy couple ready to start a long and arduous but rewarding journey together in a matter of weeks.
I have been waiting for this trip to start for so long now. Never in my life have I known how long beforehand I would be doing something for certain. That day is coming up on us like a bat out of hell, and I couldn't be more ready. I give my notice at my job this Friday, and I'm glad to be doing it. I don't live by way of regrets, and to pass up this opportunity just to stay at the most unfulfillable workplace imaginable would be a moral crime to myself. I have no doubt in my mind that Ashley and I will make it to Maine, and I never will no matter what we encounter out there on the path. She's the strongest girl I know, and I stand by her over one hundred percent. There are no words for the excitement I feel when I think more than five solid seconds about this hiking trip, I just know that the next 3 weeks of work is going to seem way too long.
I'll end with a quote a mentor of mine put in my head a long time ago, it's simple and eloquent, and sums up an array of travel quotes I have read over the years:
"Process, not product."
Thanks for reading!
-Cole Bear out
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
SPOT
Hi guys,
We set up our SPOT tracker. the link is: http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=241430 enjoy.
-Ash
PS- or... click on the "SPOT Tracker" link that will remain at the top of our page. Ciao!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
34 days until our AT Adventure!!
Hello Readers!
Cole Bear and Ash here. This is our first post in our blog that we will keep running throughout our entire Appalachian Trail Thru-hike.
We are leaving pretty soon and have most of our gear together, starting a blog was the next step so here it is. As we pass through towns along the trail we will stop into libraries to share stories and upload photos (photogs) onto this site.
We will also be carrying a GPS tracker with us, so once that is registered we will post a link to our live map where you can watch our progress live.
Right now we are assembling a list of addresses to send post cards to during our travels, so please feel free to drop us a line here or shoot an email with your info, and we promise we will send you a momento from the next couple months of our lives.
This is just a preview post/test, so stay tuned for some real substance in the next couple of weeks before we head out.
Thanks for reading and we will post more soon!
-Cole Bear and Ash
Cole Bear and Ash here. This is our first post in our blog that we will keep running throughout our entire Appalachian Trail Thru-hike.
We are leaving pretty soon and have most of our gear together, starting a blog was the next step so here it is. As we pass through towns along the trail we will stop into libraries to share stories and upload photos (photogs) onto this site.
We will also be carrying a GPS tracker with us, so once that is registered we will post a link to our live map where you can watch our progress live.
Right now we are assembling a list of addresses to send post cards to during our travels, so please feel free to drop us a line here or shoot an email with your info, and we promise we will send you a momento from the next couple months of our lives.
This is just a preview post/test, so stay tuned for some real substance in the next couple of weeks before we head out.
Thanks for reading and we will post more soon!
-Cole Bear and Ash
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