Backpacking the Appalachian Trail

We spent last week on a New England road trip - 10 states in 10 days!


Our first stop was in Killington, Vermont where we stayed at the Inn at Long Trail before and after hiking the Appalachian Trail. Thoughts of being able to eat their delicious French toast helped us get through our last day on the trail! (see more photos of the Inn here)


Ever the overachievers, we picked the "strenuous" hike and overdid ourselves a bit. In the span of three days, it took us 18 hours to hike 22 miles and climb and descend seven different 2500+ foot peaks. We were exhausted!

The trail was gorgeous and all of our pain and agony brought us many wonderful views and nature-y smells (mmm...pine needles!).










The trail was really steep at this point. Steep enough to warrant an extension ladder...such a funny moment to encounter this!


We saw lots of moss covered quartz - so pretty!






No foot bridges here...


I don't think I've ever been more excited to see a mileage sign...4.2 miles to go until the end of our hike!


On top of the last hill.


This is what 3 days of sweat and rain does to us!

Check out the rest of the trail pictures here.

If you're interested in backpacking the trail, here are the three resources we'd recommend:
  

A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson's narrative of the 6 months he spent backpacking the AT (get the audiobook if you can!)
Exploring the Appalachian Trail: Hikes in South New England - Lists a handful of segment hikes that can be done on the trail and outlines parking, lodging, and water options along the way
Appalachian Trail Official Maps - lightweitght, waterproof map with elevations

Backpacking in Manistee

Jon has finally turned me into a backpacking lover! He started backpacking a few years ago, but I didn't have any time to join him on his trips because of my busy work and school schedule.


Jon, always up for a trip to REI, set me up with a new pack and some other random gear and we had our first adventure together over Memorial Day weekend. We drove up to Manistee and did a fairly easy 12 mile round trip, overnight hike along the Manistee River trail.








Now that I've gone backpacking, I'm pretty sure that I never want to go regular State Park camping again. Being so close to nature and so far away from technology is such a nice break from day to day life. And, setting up the tent in the middle of the forest away from other backpackers makes the trip much more peaceful! I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get into backpacking sooner but super excited to have a new hobby to enjoy with Jon!

Pillows!

I've been in a sewing rut much of this year, but I always seem to find inspiration for another project when I attend Brighton Modern Quilters meetings in the Creative Quilt Kits store in Brighton, MI.


I loved this Tanis Keefe fabric and had to make two kitty pillow for our basement couch.


And, I combined some fun prints to make two pillow for our living room couch. It feels nice to freshen up the place with some simple projects like these!

Mail Sack

I've had the Pink Chalk Studie Mail Sack pattern sitting around in my stash for at least a year now. In an attempt to use what I have, I decided to finally put this together a few months ago.


The pattern was extremely well written and I was able to put this together in a few hours. I'd definitely recommend it!




Now, if only I could walk around the neighborhood with a kitty in tow and not get strange looks!

Branden's Grad Quilt

My aunt commissioned me to make this t-shirt quilt for my cousin. He's headed off to SUNY Geneseo this fall, so I used his school colors for this quilt. I know the colors are blue and white, but I couldn't tell if they are royal blue or navy blue, so I used both. Branden's super tall, so this quilt is huge! I used interfacing for the t-shirts, kona solids and stippled it with white thread.

Now I've got to finish making the college t-shirt quilt that's been sitting in my stash since 2003!

Kensington Metropark

My dad had been trying to get Jon and I to join him on another photo/nature walk at Kensington Metropark for a few summers, but our schedules never matched up. Fortunately, we were able to check out the park in mid-May.

We didn't see as much wildlife this time as we had last time (probably because we actually had our good cameras with us), but we had a beautiful day for a hike.










The funniest part of the day was when we ran into an older man who is a nature walk regular. He looked at us with all of our long lenses and said,

"You guys are proving my theory wrong."
"I've always said the bigger the lens, the bigger the paunch."

I guess he's run into lots of bird photographers with large beer bellies?!

Happy June!

I'm alive! And I'm dutifully following my mama's orders to "update your blog" so everyone in the family can see what I'm up to.

Lots of good stuff has been going on around here...

The 2011 garden is doing wonderfully! I am trying out a new biodegradable paper weed barrier and it is really keeping the weeds at bay. Now I have more time to play with and stare at the plants.


Here's what I planted this year:
2 types of heirloom tomato plants (cherry and large size)
4 cucumber (1 climbing and 3 picklebushes)
8 pepper plants (red, purple, orange, banana, green...)
8 basil plants (yay for pesto)
4 parsley plants
lots of lettuce, swiss chard, and kale
8 squash (acorn, butternut, crookneck, zucchini, spaghetti)
6 snap pea plants (which I will never grow again because they just don't do well here) replaced by
6 climbing bean plants
2 Rhubarb plants
7 Asparagus crowns (I will be so happy if these actually grow correctly!)

 I have finally decided that I will no longer be growing seeds inside in the winter months. It has been too much hassle for me and a big waste of money because the plants just don't grow well. It's nice to finally free myself from that obligation. And it fits my instant gratification personality well, too!


I am also trying out black plastic in our squash bed. It's supposed to warm the ground and keep weeds away, so it should work out really well with these heat loving plants.


I've been aided by these  3 books that I would highly recommend:


Week-By-Week Vegetable Gardener's Handbook - This workbook will tell you what to do in your garden each week based on your calculated frost date. It's great help for getting second and third cycles of plants in the garden.
Grow Great Grub - Lots of great tips for growing food in small spaces.
The Kitchen Garden Cookbook - Answers the perennial question of "what do I do with all of this X." It's got lots great preserving tips and techniques and wonderful recipes (mostly vegetarian/vegan friendly)