From Eileen:  My friends will know that hiking the Appalachian Trail has never been a dream of mine. Or even a passing thought. The closest I’ve come is reading Bill Bryson’s delightful book “A Walk in the Woods,” in which the author is constantly on guard from the imminent danger of being attacked by a bear. As am I.

So I have to say that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed these last two days. Of course (although this was not planned!) we hiked a relatively easy stretch of the AT – except for one place this morning where we had to help Rick inch around a narrow expanse of rock with a 10-foot drop, which was a bit nerve-wracking – and we had beautiful weather with a light breeze that kept the insects away. The trail was the perfect mix of cool woods and sunny meadows. We were the first to the Thistle Hill shelter last night so didn’t have to sleep outside in our nonexistent tents, and spent an interesting evening talking with and learning from two thru-hikers named Halfway and Flip-Phone. We saw a beautiful sunrise through the trees this morning.  And most importantly, we were with our friends Kate and Josh.

Ted and Carol met us with our car at the end of the trail today – thanks to them for their continuing trail support! On our way back to Winchester we stopped for a lovely visit with our friends Dyan Goodwin and Rob Serio in New Hampshire. Dyan is a long-time colleague of Rick’s at Bank of America. They welcomed us with bottles of Rick’s favorite Long Trail Ale and magnificent views of the New Hampshire mountains.

The stories that I heard from Rick’s first two weeks on the AT made me want to share a bit of this experience with him, and it was great fun to do it with Josh and Kate. We hiked about five miles each day, which seemed to the three of us new to Rick’s posse to be just the right amount of hiking to do in a day, especially with big backpacks full of essentials. Kate, Josh and I are all reasonably fit people, but by this evening we were ready for our own beds and feeling muscles we had forgotten about from our two days on the trail. So our admiration for what Rick is doing has grown even more.

From Josh (Reynolds): We’re back on the trail for the July 4th weekend and for this leg of the trip our first women hikers are joining Rick.  Eileen Marks and Kate(niss) Reynolds are leading us on the trail as I carry the pack.

We’re hiking the Appalachian Trail from Pomfret Rd to Queechee staying overnight in the Thistle Hill shelter. We got off to a fabulous start when we found a sign at the trailhead declaring “Rick Rocks” — a surprise placed there by the Rick Marks fan club, Tom, Liz and Charlotte Fries, who came to see us off. The Kellogg’s are providing continuous trail support by delivering Uber service to the trailhead and supplying us with Quaker ‘Chewy Dip’ chocolate granola bars to keep us energized.

We had an upscale trail dinner of hot dogs and baked beans prepared by yours truly, and spent the evening hanging out with some new friends and learning how to hang a bear bag.

It’s been a muddy trail after heavy rains last night but the sun has been beautiful and there’s a nice breeze and many babbling brooks so it’s been a splendid hike. We bestowed the trail name Kateniss on my lovely wife after she kept hearing Mockinjays calling in the woods. It’s been a joy to have the ladies lead the way.

No bear sightings – yet.

Josh

Hi all,

I am at home getting ready to be back on the AT tomorrow with a new crew.  Check out the blog tomorrow to find out who is joining me.  We are going to start back up in Pomfret, Vermont.

I want to tell you about my first two weeks on the Appalachian Trail.  These fifteen days were largely a test of my physical and mental fortitude.  Before I was diagnosed with ALS last October, I was ready to hike every foot of the AT.  But ALS has of course made things more difficult.  I am not as strong and I move slowly, and if I am not careful I fall occasionally.  Rocks and roots are major obstacles now compared to when I used to hike the most challenging peaks in New England.  Ted and I even once skied down Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington after hiking to the top with our gear (you can google it if you aren’t familiar with Tuckerman).

I still love the Green Mountains of Vermont, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and the entire state of Maine.  Although it’s now more difficult to hike my favorite mountains, I am determined to do the best I can.  My reason for hiking is different now — to raise awareness of ALS and funds for research.  My goal is the same as that of ALS ONE: to find a treatment or cure by 2020.

So I look forward to seeing friends back on the trail, and hiking all of the Appalachian Trail I can between Mt. Greylock in MA to the end at Mt. Katahdin in Maine.  The distance is 600 miles, and I am determined to fight ALS all the way.

As you learned yesterday, my favorite craft beer is the Long Trail Ale from Vermont.  Below is a picture taken at the Long Trail Brewery two days ago.  My friends Ted and Didier gave me this sweatshirt as a gift; I am looking forward to wearing it to keep warm this fall and winter.  Thanks to my friends and the Long Trail Brewery.

When I am on the trail I think often of my sons, Henry — who is working at the Philmont Scout Ranch in NM this summer — and Philip, who is at home now but will be leaving for college next month.  I will buy them Long Trail sweatshirts if they want one too.

 

From Steady and Wombat:

Ted, Didier, and I left the Winturri Shelter at about 7:30am to hike over four miles on the Appalachian Trail. It’s time to say goodbye to my first partners on the trail. I want to thank Ted and Didier again for all they have done.

We are staying at Ted and Carol’s house in Vermont tonight, so it means a bed instead of a sleeping bag.  We also visited the Long Trail Brewery which produces my favorite craft beer.  Thank you Ted and Carol for your hospitality!

In our last blog we discussed the pie lady.  As explanation for her popularity on the AT it might be helpful to understand the hiker’s diet.

A typical 6′ male burns roughly 2,000 calories per day just to keep body and soul together.  According to Ted’s Apple Watch, our ten-mile hike in the woods required an additional 3,000 calories yesterday.  That’s based on a vaguely worded description titled “Outdoor Walk.”  They didn’t have a setting marked “Arduous walk up and down hills with a 45-pound pack on your back,” but to make the math easy we’ll go with a 5,000 calorie daily burn.

Hikers can only eat what they can carry and food is a major portion of the weight they have to carry.  In addition, “cooking” generally consists of adding boiling water to a packet so meals are decidedly circumscribed.  We’ve included a picture of the daily fare below.  Oatmeal with Craisins, almonds and walnuts for breakfast, Ramen Noodles for lunch and a pouch dinner from REI in the evening. As a special treat we eat chocolate granola bars along the way. Total caloric value 1,700, give or take, for a total caloric shortfall of 3,300 per day. After 3 days on the trail you start to lose weight quickly. No, this is not a marketing pitch to get you to join Rick’s trek as it seems a bit like asking folks to join the Roman Legion as a weight loss plan…still…if it appeals to you…

Sadly, one of the cruel truths about ALS is that it increases your metabolism, making your body burn calories faster, while at the same time affecting your swallowing muscles thereby making it harder to eat. We ply Rick with chocolate granola bars and he gamely does his best to eat them, but from time to time he needs to go home to rest and eat a less sensible diet.

The rest of us visit the pie lady.

 

Editor’s Note:  This was written last night (6/28) but didn’t come through until this morning.

Today was our first ten miler! It took us almost two weeks to work through the logistics of how to make that happen but today was the day we set the bar at ten miles and got it done. We woke at 5am and made it to Winturri Shelter just before 5pm. Go Rick Go!

To give you some context for Rick’s accomplishment today:  the average American takes around 5,300 steps per day; depending on stride length call that 2-3 miles. Those steps include walking around the bedroom in bunny slippers and the Stop & Shop ice cream aisle (am I telling you too much about myself?) Anyway they are not the same steps as lugging a 30-pound pack up a 1,000+ foot hill when you’ve just put in a full day’s hike. Rick fell a few times but got right back up, giving us his signature two thumbs up and broad smile.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow when we meet the “pie lady” four miles down the trail. The pie lady is a bit of a legend on this part of the trail. She operates a small shop on VT Route 12 where she sells blueberry and apple pies 200 feet off the A-T. The last time I passed her shop a few years ago there were half a dozen hikers sitting in her parking lot cross-legged. Each had bought a pie, borrowed a fork and were making sure they were not missing even a little bit of that pie.

We are also meeting my wife Carol in Pomfret VT who will feed us a wonderful and far more balanced meal. Thank you to all who support us and make this effort possible. We love you and are most thankful for all that you do.

Wombat 6/28/2017

Hi all, I have had a few days off to rest and rejuvenate. I want to thank Didier and Matthieu for keeping the hike going, and blogging daily. I will likely take a couple days off regularly because the Appalachian Trail can be grueling (even without ALS). I also want to thank all the folks who have donated to ALS ONE through my website, because it is making a difference. I am hoping to go national to continue to raise awareness of ALS and funds for research. I am grateful to People Magazine for their interest and for helping to spread my message through their online site at people.com.

The trail yesterday was a bit of a challenge because the first third of it was super steep. It was not a long trail to the Stony Brook Shelter, 4.5 miles up and down. The last 1.5 miles were downhill, a different challenge. We made it to the shelter at 6:00, luckily in time to get a place inside (although it was tight) and before the rain began.  I want to thank Ted and Didier for carrying more than their share and making my pack lighter, which helped a lot.

Today, we have a 10 miler to the next shelter. I am ready.

Best, Rick

After a hearty lunch at the legendary Inn at Long Trail, Otter, Wombat and Steady were back on the AT today at Thundering Falls in Killington, VT. Eileen and Carol (Ted’s wife, celebrating 35 years of marriage yesterday!), joined the fun. We bid au revoir to Matthieu, with our heartfelt thanks. The three amigos then hiked 4.8 miles up and down fairly steep terrain, reaching the Stony Brook Shelter around 6pm this evening.

From Didier (trail name Otter):  Sunday was butterfly day, not because we felt particularly light but because we saw more of them than I’ve seen in the last 15 years. And it was perfectly in sync with the day, sunny, just enough mud to keep your eyes on the trail, fewer bugs. Matthieu and I crossed very nice forests as opposed to the last two days where we felt like we were passing through warehouses of all kinds of trees. This time the forests looked like forests, birds singing, sun shining through, we even saw pheasants which would have made a nice dinner if I had more than my index to point at it. Trail was nice without a large elevation, so we pushed to Little Rock Shelter, hiking 10 miles and still arriving before three. Great location so fortunately we were there before anybody else and got our spots in the shelter which ended up very crowded. The shelter is on a lake so not only was it very nice but we were also able to scare the fish and unbalance the local ecosystem by putting our dirty feet in the water.

Today (Monday) was the most challenging in terms of distance and elevation and actually we made it faster than we planned while still keeping to our plan. So it could be celebration day, although there will be several since we know now that Rick and Ted will come back on the trail tomorrow. We started with a good sweat to tackle Bear Mountain which, as somebody rightly wrote in the hut log, is unbearable. Straight up, straight down, very rocky and of course muddy. No bears though but that might be because we haven’t showered for a few days. We arrived to a tiny hut, where there is a real spring, with real potable water. You can trust me, it tasted like wine. Lucky to be the first here because there are only 6 spots and it looks like it might rain, so no hammock in the woods. Tomorrow we’ll have Rick and Ted back. Celebration day.

From Didier (written Sunday morning):  Saturday on the trail was muscle and mud day. Not really a new massage program at Bella Sante, just another day in Vermud. A Saturday night storm kept its promise, and the trail became all muddy. Mud going up, mud going down, everywhere…as slippery as my decision path in front of a chocolate bar. This was the good opportunity to learn all the muscles we have in the legs, the back, the shoulders. Not the name, who cares, but how many of them there are and how they can all hurt at the same time, even if you just blink an eye. Matthieu and I made it to Peru Peak Shelter at about 5:00pm Saturday night, a distance of 8.1 miles. Sunday should be better. We should part from these very long woody sections and even see a lake.

 

From Didier (written early this morning):  We left Eileen, Carol, Rick and Ted around noon yesterday.  Bright sunny day, chance of clouds. Very humid so we hiked in a perpetual sauna.  Steep trail for the first 1.5 mile.  We were so fast that we missed the left turn starting the AT and almost got straight back to Winchester.  Fortunately the angel called Instinct pulled my sweaty tee-shirt and we came back for a good start, on the right legs and right path.  Not a lot of people on the path. We managed to keep a good pace despite the challenging weight of the bags and every now and then the question what on earth are we doing here?  The shelter filled up pretty quickly after we arrived with some hikers coming all the way from Georgia. We were glad to have a roof on our head because a pretty violent storm started around nine and is still going on this morning. We are waiting for it to stop before starting the new leg. Equipment is fine so far. One problem could be the water that we have to boil for ten minutes because it is apparently not tested.  That might empty our little gas tanks quickly.  I knew I should have brought wine!

Adichat as we say in my mountains,

Didier and Matthieu

Note from Rick & Eileen:  Our friends Didier and Matthieu, as you might have guessed, are from France.  Among his many talents, Didier has served as a mountaineer and assistant mountain guide (he emphasizes the “assistant”) in the French Pyrenees.  So we’re pretty confident he will find a solution to the water problem!  Matthieu just graduated from high school in Cambridge, MA and will be attending American University in Washington DC in the fall, studying international relations.  We are grateful they are continuing the hike this weekend; Rick is looking forward to rejoining them!