This is my first post to the blog I have been diligently following for the past couple of months. As you probably guessed this is Brock aka "Loophole." Over the past week and a half, I have had to come to many realizations of what hiking the AT is truly about. I thought that I would come out here and have endless hours to read and reflect on where I want my life to be going. Boy was I mistaken! It has truly been a trial by fire for me so far. We have hiked over 200 miles in the last ten days, which is probably more miles than I have hiked over the last ten years of my life. My daily thoughts generally range from hunger to sore, beat up feet. I will say that it has been more difficult than I could have imagined, but hasn't been all doom and gloom for me. There are always awesome things happening each day. One of the coolest things is trail magic. It can come in many forms, such as people hauling 20 extra pounds of wine and candy and giving almost all of it away to something as simple as a bag full of bottled water that you come upon when you're thirsty, tired, and have no water. One thing about being in the woods for days on end eating camp food is that going into any town becomes an event to look forward to. You actually have the ability to acquire any of the foods you have been dreaming of for the past few days, which is amazing. On a daily basis, Mike manages to come up with some of the most ridiculous food ideas you could ever imagine. There has been talk of creating a 1500 calorie trail burrito, but we'll post more on that once we come up with the final ingredient list. It has definitely been rough so far for me, but I have survived and made it to our zero days. Hopefully, a couple of days off will give me the time I need to rest and heal up. I'm still grateful to be able to be out here for this adventure, and am looking forward to moving forward to Maine!
*If you want to send a package to us -- the next drop to do so will be Duncannon, PA. Please put:
Mike or Megan Martin
OR Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Duncannon, PA 17020
*Please hold for thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: MONDAY JUNE 6, 2011
[please let one of us know via a message on here, facebook, or text if you're sending a package so we'll know to look for it!]
I'm soooo proud of all of you, happy to hear that you've had some good meals over the past week, and miss you bunches! Megan, stay away from the bears ;o/
ReplyDeleteBrock! Such a stud you are :) Praying for you guys and the trail life and we miss y'all big time! Mike and I launch early tomorrow morning for our out West adventure, so here's to living outside in all its glory! We're sending a package to this upcoming drop, too. We tried to get some of that tic spray we talked to Mc & Mike about but there's no bottles that don't weigh a ton. If we find something along the way we will send it y'alls way. Much love to you three!
ReplyDelete