EMILY'S ESCAPADES

Day 187 Tuesday September 26, 2017 Miles: 1883.5 - 1891.6.   Completed 8.1 Time: 6:00am - 1:40pm Weather: HOT Hotel room at Royalty Inn Gorham, NH New Hampshire is almost in the bag. We did the most treacherous and challenging part without a hitch. We had no weather issues, no injuries, and no logistical challenges. As a matter of fact everything was fantastic. We can't believe the heat wave the White Mountains have had since we have been back on trail. We are not complaining. Well, maybe a little. We sent all our summer clothes home. As the initial pain of Dad's passing seems to be subsiding I can see humor again. I've jokingly said that Dad is with Mom now and she is giving him a hard time

Day 165 Monday September 4, 2017 Zero Miles Weather: beautiful Sleeping at my own home View of Franconia Ridge NH We visited my dad last night at the Hospital in Bangor. He was anxious to be able to come home. As long as his numbers were still good in the morning they would release him. And they were. My brother and sister brought him home late morning. Shortcake, Batman and I spent our morning at home doing what we always do on a zero day, tending to hiking chores such as laundry, food, and gear checking. Since we came home I decided to switch out whatever I could with warmer choices. We spent the afternoon visiting at Dads. Then we returned home to make our plans to return to the trail. To

Day 164 Sunday September 3, 2017 Zero Miles If you have followed this blog for any length of time you will recognize several common themes. One of them being everything seems to workout. Last night we were not too thrilled to have to travel so far from the trail and to take a zero due to weather.  It because of those issues I was available to receive contact from home that my dad was still not doing well. Dad was still in the hospital from his health issues a couple weeks ago. My siblings thought I should come home. So that's what we did. Shortcake, Batman, and I packed up our gear and headed north to Maine to see my dad. There is a time to hike and a time to tend to priorities. I need to se

Day 163 Saturday September 2, 2017 Miles: 1807.9 - 1816.7.    Completed: 8.8 Time: 7:05am - 5:16pm Weather: Cold, windy start then ended warm and sunny Hotel Hampton Inn Our luck at hitting popular destinations on a Saturday has been terrible. I think the whole world was climbing up the peak today while we were trying to get off of it. We worked hard to get to the top of South Kinsman. There we had the summit to ourselves. The view was amazing. The profiles of Mountains rolled off into the horizon like storm waves across the endless ocean. We could only enjoy it for a quick snack. The wind whipped and whirled around cooling us to the point we needed to add an extra layer of warmth. We finish

Day 161 Thursday August 31, 2017 Miles: 1793.8 - 1800.4.   Completed: 16.6 Time: 6:11am 7:26pm Tented inside woods at mile 1800.4 Shortcake and Black Bear We had our first big climb today since the south. It was incredible!!! Again our initial plan was to stop south of the summit at a shelter. At noon we arrived there and decided since it was so nice and also early we would push up and over Mount Moosilauke. In order to do it though I needed to cook some lunch. We were stretching our food and I was out of snacks. The only food I had left in my bag required cooking. Since I hike slightly faster Shortcake set out after she consumed her calorie deficient lunch. Mine wasn't much better but it's

Day 154 Thursday August 24, 2017 Miles: 1680.4 - 1700.8    Completed: 20.4 Weather: not to hot and not too cold Rented at Gifford Woods State Park When we set out this morning we did not plan to do record miles for us but it just happened. Sometimes we can barely do our miles and other times we can't stop. Today was one of those days. I started a little earlier then Shortcake. I was ready, she wasn't and the morning chill had me wanting to get my blood pumping to warm up. There was a quick steep incline that did the trick. I stopped to check cell service since down below I had none and wanted to let Batman know we were good. When I  hacked messages I had one from home informing me about my d