bigalow update

It snowed over night and it got cold. We slept  well and all of our gear worked great. I really like the marmot precip jacket, it weights a few ounces more than the marmot mica, but for bad weather it is worth it. Sassafras said she was a little bummed out when she thought it was raining at night, but was happy when she saw the snow and said it was beautiful and that this was the best part of the hike (you have to love her attitude).  Kaboose

Bigelow training hike

We hiked up the a.t. from Stratton me. To horn pond, boy was it cold. We hiked down to the fire wardens trail about 9 miles. We started at 130pm.  It is about 35 degrees now, but we are warm in our down 15 deg sleeping bags. Kaboose.                              

Today was a easy trail to hike, but there was snowy ,and ice high up the mountain. It was more fun when we got lower. See ya later. Sassafas ps you can see snow and ice in the picture. sassafras

New phone

I just purchased my first smart phone, a Samsung galaxy s III. I am trying to learn how to use it. We hope to use it for calls, email, texting, blogging, pictures, video, and surfing the net. Kaboose

We are starting this blog to document our planning, preparation and to give updates of our 2013 northbound thru hike of the Appalachian Trail.

Sassafras is in the seventh grade and will be 13 years old when we start in Late March of 2013. She loves hiking and backpacking. In the last 4 years she has section hiked all of Maine (much of it 2 or 3 times), northern New Hampshire, Southern Georgia and the southern part of Virginia.

We have meet Parent/child teams each year thru hiking and she has wanted to do a thru hike for the last 3 years. With the support of my wife, her school and my work, we are able to attempt this adventure.

We will be doing gear reviews and planning updates in the future.

Please go to our youtube channel to see video's of our past hikes and video updates from our thru hike.
mainebob6363 youtube channel