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Sunday, May 31, 2009
The end of my AT week-long hike!
Today I am driving 8 hours back to Ithaca. It is bittersweet... I can't wait to enjoy the real world again but I find on my drive home that I miss the simplicity of living off of the land and living off of everything on my back. I hiked a total of 91 miles this week. I wish I could have done more! I'm sorry if my posts sounded negative... I did have a very tough week but the experience was amazing and one that I think anyone should try for at least a couple days. There are so many things that we take for granted! Anyway I'm excited to let my knee rest for a day or two but I'll be hiking again this week to prepare for my next trip on the AT at the end of June! Don't forget to check out Mr. DeVoe's site too! Thanks for the ongoing support!
Day 8
Woke up in our campsite this morning. Took everything down and had a Cliff Bar for breakfast. I am out of toilet paper, almost out of Motrin for my pain, and ready to go home! After a 5 mile hike down 3,000 feet I am going to get my car at the bottom of the mountain and rest for the rest of my last day. The hike down is exasperating because my knee is still in a lot of pain and every step downhill sends pain shooting through it. I am probably getting huge arm muscles though because I'm using my poles like crutches and slowly bringing myself down the mountain!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Day 7
MotionX GPS Track: USFS38 - US60
Hello,
Mr. DeVoe uses MotionX-GPS on the iPhone 3G and is sharing with you the following track:
Name: | USFS38 - US60 |
Date: | May 28, 2009 1:38 pm |
Distance: | 4.12 miles |
Elapsed Time: | 1:43:09 |
Avg Speed: | 2.4 mph |
Max Speed: | 14.9 mph |
Avg Pace: | 25' 02" per mile |
Min Altitude: | 1,121 ft |
Max Altitude: | 1,974 ft |
Start Time: | 2009-05-28T17:38:32Z |
Start Location: | |
Latitude: | 37.685444º N |
Longitude: | 79.271185º W |
End Time: | 2009-05-28T19:21:42Z |
End Location: | |
Latitude: | 37.723385º N |
Longitude: | 79.249932º W |
Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Jun 28, 2009 6:32 AM PDT.
There are two files attached to this email:
"USFS38 - US60.kmz" is a Google KML track that can be displayed in Google Earth or Google Maps.
"USFS38 - US60.gpx" is an Open Standard track that can be displayed by select mapping software.
MotionX-GPS Commonly Asked Questions:
Q1: | What is MotionX-GPS? |
A1: | MotionX-GPS, available for the iPhone 3G, is the essential application for hikers, bike riders, joggers, and geocaching enthusiasts. It puts an easy-to-use, state-of-the-art handheld GPS system on your iPhone 3G. |
Q2: | Can I use MotionX-GPS? |
A2: | Sure! MotionX-GPS Lite for the iPhone 3G is free and can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store here. |
Q3: | How can I display tracks in Google Earth? |
A3: | Follow the directions on the Google Earth web site to download and install the Google Earth program. Save the attached USFS38 - US60.kml file to your computer. Launch Google Earth, select File, Open, and open the saved USFS38 - US60.kml file. |
Q4: | What is a GPX Track? |
A4: | GPX stands for GPS Exchange Format and is used to transfer GPS data between many GPS devices and applications, including Google Earth. A track is a path recorded by MotionX-GPS showing movement over the surface of the Earth. |
Q5: | This e-mail was forwarded to me and I can't find the attachments! |
A5: | Some e-mail programs do not include the original attachments by default when forwarding an e-mail. In this case, the sender must reattach the original files for them to be included. |
Please contact us here with any comments or questions.
All the best,
The MotionX Team
US and Foreign Patents Granted and Pending. Fullpower® is a registered trademark of Fullpower Technologies, Inc. MotionX™ is a trademark of Fullpower Technologies, Inc. © Copyright 2003 - 2009 Fullpower Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.
ref-id: 64afd3ba-1ec2-4450-a0bf-66fdac36b75b
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Day 6
on this 14 mile hike up 3,000 feet today!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Some Pictures
Things You Know Not to Take for Granted After Hiking for 5 Days in the Woods
Day 5 Continued
WOW this has been such a challenge! Every step I take I am pushing my body and my mind to do something I'm not used to doing all day long. When I'm hungry I eat something I'm not used to eating. When it rains, I don't go inside... I keep walking. When my knee has shooting pain, I can't just not hike for a few days... I need to keep on going! It is a very strange thing being a hiker on the Appalachian Trail. My thoughts have definitely turned to coming home. Today Ned picked us up around 2pm and we went to his house and ordered a pizza, did some laundry, showered, went out to dinner, and dried our wet packs and tents. The greatest thing was reading the cards and letters from my class! I really needed this! They made me happy and I know you guys are counting on me to try my best and your thoughts are with me! Thank you everyone for so much support, and please keep it up for Chad and Kevin because now I know how tough this can be and how much your support means!
Day 5
This morning we set our alarm to wake up at 7:30am, but when it went off, we could hear the rain outside and just did NOT want to get out of our tents! We tried to wait it out and slept later, but it just wasn't going away. Eventually I had to put on my cold, wet clothes and pack up everything soaking wet. It really dampens the spirits! I suggested to Mr. DeVoe that we have my dad's friend Ned pick us up and take us to Lexington to dry our things and have a nice meal to lift our moods. Ned was awesome and said he'd be there in an hour! Here's a picture of us hanging out at the shelter before we headed out. The picture shows the fog and mist and rain we were dealing with.
Day 4
Hiking in the rain!
Hello! I tried to post on Day 4 but it rained... a lot! We hiked about 12 miles in the pouring rain. My foot and knee pain was still happening. My feet were squishing around in my boot. By the time we got to a shelter it was full so we pitched our tents in the back. Everything in my pack was wet so I had to sleep in wet clothes in a wet sleeping bag. We did our usual night routine of cooking up dinner, hanging our food high in a tree so bears won't get it, and getting all the ticks off of Koda before zipping them up in the tent with me! Despite the ticks crawling around, I slept really well that night because I was so tired!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Day 3
hoping to hike 23 miles to a fancy 3-story shelter. However, halfway
through the day my feet got really really sore until it was bringing
tears to my eyes to walk. Then later my knee started to have a
shooting pain in each step. I continued to hike and hike. After 13
miles we stopped to make dinner with three miles straight up a
mountain left to go before the next shelter. Koda was so tired he
collapsed on a pile of leaves and wouldn't even get up to eat. Ticks
were crawling all over us and feasting on the dogs. After a filling
dinner of pasta and sauce and a Reese's Fast Break for dessert, we
were about to gather our things together when it started downpouring.
We ran around throwing on our rain gear and packing up. Koda and Lucy
were so miserable. We happened to be right next to a road and in time
got a ride to a motel 7 miles away. I'm resting my feet and hoping
for a little less pain tomorrow.
Ticks
of the worst nights of sleeping of my life. Koda has been attracting
a lot of ticks and I tried checking for any on him before bed. But I
just could not fall asleep knowing they were crawling around the tent
ready to latch onto me. My anxiety was confirmed when I felt
something crawl across my eyelid... A tick. And those things don't
die easily when you squeeze them! For hours and hours I was awake,
turning on my headlamp every time I found something crawling on me.
Parasites gross me out!
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Day 2!
Lowes to see if they could bolt my backpack back together and the
shuttle driver took me to his house and they were able to fix it!
This is what they call "trail angels.". This is a picture of the snake
we saw yesterday! My feet hurt a ton today! Since we got a late
start we only did 10 miles.
Day 1 on the Appalachian Trail
1) I got to see Mr. DeVoe after over a month-and-a-half of him being away and gave him the BIGGEST hug ever!
2) We started hiking at 8:00AM out of a small town called Catawba.
3) About 3.7 miles in we reached McAfee Knob, a famous place on the trail with a breathtaking view and this rock that juts out over the 2,000 foot drop! (Don't worry Mommy, I was careful when I got a picture taken of me dangling my legs of the edge!)
4) Shortly after this, we reazlized that Koda's backpack wasn't designed very well and it kept falling off of him easily. It got so annoying putting it back on every 3 minutes so at one point Mr. DeVoe and I split the weight and carried Koda's weight ourselves.
5) The most horrible part of the trip for me: At some point early on in my first day on the Appalachian Trail, my backpack broke. The strap that hugs my hips so that the 35 pounds is mostly on my hips broke so that it wasn't bolted into my pack anymore and it was sliding up. With this broken, now all of my pack's weight was on my shoulders and the pack was leaning backwards off of me. It's like trying to hike up a hill with someone grabbing your shoulders and leaning back on their heels. It was gruesome and frustrating because we would not reach a town until Sunday and the backpacking store is closed on Sundays. I called the company that made the backpack and they are not open on weekends and I fear they'll be off Monday for Memorial Day. So I won't be able to do anything about my pack until at least Tuesday. In the meantime the two boys I'm hiking with were increadibly kid enough to each take something heavy out of my pack and carry it for me. That made it a lot more bearable, but still incredibly annoying.
6) My class will love this one... I saw a huge snake! That's pretty lucky for my first day! The guys I'm hiking with have only seen 2 or 3 snakes these last couple months! It was climbing up a tree and I got pictures of it!
7) Another lowpoint of my first day: remember how we started hiking at about 8:00AM? Well 12 hours later at about 8:00PM the sun was setting and we were looking for a place to settle down and eat dinner and go to bed. We checked the guidebook and thought we had crossed the last ridge that would take us into town, so we decided to press on thinking the town was less than an hour's hike away. We excitedly called in reservations at a hotal and thougth about the yummy dinners we could have. My feet were killing me at this point but I pressed on thinking we were almost there. It started getting pitch black dark and we put our headlamps on. We hiked, and hiked, and hiked, and could see the lights of the town next to us but the trail was not turning down the mountain to head toward them. After awhile we realized that we must have made a mistake and we much farther away fromt he town than we'd thought. It was past my bedtime, my pack was broken and digging into my sides in an uncomfortable way, my feet were swollen and sore, and I hadn't eaten much all day. I almost started crying it was so frustrating. But Mr. DeVoe's optimism pressed us on and we hiked and hiked until finally at 11:10PM we stumbled out of the woods and into our hotel. I had hiked for 15-and-a-half hours, 20 miles on my first day!
7) At the hotel I collapsed ont he bed and peeled my boots and socks off. My feet were calloused and blisters were forming. The sides of my hips were red and starting to bruise. We ordered a large pizza, 10 wings, cheesy bread and a 2-liter of Coca Cola and devoured it in less than 10 minutes. All I ate that day was one pop tart for breakfast, 3 granola bars and one-and-a-half candy bars throughout the 15-and-a-half our hike. Mr. DeVoe and his friend Kevin each took their first shower in 8 days and I was spoiled enough to get a shower in on my first day! We fell asleep at 1:30 AM. Koda was exhausted too.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Miss Coffey on the Appalachian Trail
Next week I will have a guest teacher as I take time off to go join my partner, Chad DeVoe, on his journey thru-hiking (which means attempting the whole 2,175 miles!) the Appalachian Trail. I will be meeting Mr. DeVoe down in Catawba (near Roanoke), Virginia, and will hike for 8 straight days shooting for 15-20 miles a day! I am taking my dog Koda with me and will try to post to this blog whenever I am able! So check back for updates! Also see Mr. DeVoe's blog.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Our Field Trip
Finally we ended up at Cayuga Compost and learned what happens to the food we send here from our school. We saw the many piles and learned of the process of composting. We got to view the end product and were given a bucket of compost to take home with us!