Entertaining Ourselves (Privy Ratings)

Being out on the trail for six months can have a serious effect on the mentality of hikers. Needless to say, we get bored pretty easily. Everyone finds their own way of finding some entertainment to pass the time. Teddy's escape- rating privies. 

 

For those of you that don't know, privies are poop stations (a type of make shift toilet) for hikers to use at shelters. There are different types of privies in terms of how they work. But they all have the same purpose. 

Teddy leaves her reviews of privies in the shelter log book. They look something like this:

 

She uses a plus or minus system and gives an overall rating from a scale of 1-10. 1 being not usable and 10 being the Hilton of privies. Underneath the pluses and minuses she writes a review of the privy, a little something of a description. 

To say the least, it's entertaining for us all. I personally like my privies to be a 5 or higher. Otherwise I'll dig a cat hole. 

There are other ways hikers find joy out here. Musical instruments (of the light weight kind) are popular. But all to often you will find a hiker with a phone in their hand. 

Into The Mass

This will be a quick update. I'm well into Massachusetts and only a few days from Vermont. Ever since New York, we've been seeing south bounders (sobo's) everyday. Each one of them looks miserable. We speculate about who we think will make it all the way to Springer Mt. 

My feet still hurt... All the time. I get raw spots on my hips from where my pack rubs when I get soaked with rain or sweat. It's miserable hiking in 90 plus degree weather with high humidity. Mosquitos attack every night and morning. 

But then I look at the map. I'm less than two months away and just shy of 600 miles left to go. I can't wait to summit Katahdin, hopefully with friends I've hiked with. Thinking about it can bring me to tears.  

Now here's some photos of the past week! 

 

 

 

 

Bear keeper, teddy, and myself went bowling at a near by town!

 

We found a local park and had a great swing break!

 

Passed by a pond with some ducks.

 

We make fun of Bear (real name is Rubie) whenever she gets wet. We usually feel as miserable as she looks. 

Northward!!

New York Photos

 

Finally made it out of New Jersey.

 

There's a lot of rock climbing in NY.

 

After days of rain, streams flooded and we had to cross this... It was terrifying.

 

Saw plenty of tame deer.

 

The trail actually goes through a small zoo! 

 

We crossed the Hudson River on this bridge.

 

Myself, Teddy, Bear, and Bear Keeper before we crossed the bridge. 

 

View from the bridge.

The trail takes us by many lakes. 

 

 The trail also takes us across many rail ways, but this is the only one with an actual stop for the hikers!