June 28, 2008
Matt, Jeff, and debi are with Paul and Scotland in Rawlins, WY after a long drive from East Glacier Park, MT where the snows were melting creating hazardous water-crossings. Tomorrow they begin the journey north to Lander, WY. They will probably not stop for mail at the South Pass post office as was previously planned. From there the hikers are to muster north on Togwodee Trail to Brooke Lake Lodge. There is no mail stop here either. Continuing travelling north will bring them to the next stop where they can receive mail: Old Faithful Village, WY. Continuing on, they will land farther north at Lima, MT where they will also be able to receive mail. Another northward push will bring them to Leadore, ID. All mailing information can be found on the 'Maildrops' page on this website. Click link on this website's 'Home' page to request password for maildrops page. Check here for updates as they are available.
July 1, 2008
debi and Jeff have had to leave the trail because of a foot injury. They hitched a ride into town and so are there quite early. Matt stayed on the trail and is on the way to Lander.
July 3, 2008
Matt and friends have met up with debi and Jeff in Lander.
July 6, 2008
The hikers are going to head out for Dubois, WY on the way to Old Faithful Village in Yellowstone National Park. Their next mail stop and address in Dubois is posted on the Mail Drops Page.
July 7, 2008
The first pictures have been received by the webmaster and will be posted tomorrow!
July 9, 2008
First pictures are up! Also new journal entries received yesterday are on the journal page. More journal entries to put up tonight!
06/26/08
Jeff, Matt and debi are safe and sound, with a new plan for the hike. Facing floods in Montana, they have hooked up with two other hikers, Paul and 'Scotland' and are driving a rental van to Lander, Wyoming to catch a bus to Rawlins, Wyoming. From Rawlins they are going to hike north throught the Great Divide Basin back to Lander and then plan where to go from there. Check out the weather map to see the orange triangles denoting Rawlins and Lander. Hopefully we will get the home page map updated soon to show these landmarks. The mail drop for the Lander area (South Pass City) has been updated for the 1st week of July.
July 13, 2008
Due to altitude sickness, debi and Jeff have left the trail. Matt has continued on and should be on schedule as planned. Since the gps device went with debi and Jeff, we will not know Matt's position until we hear from him when he gets into town. Weather information on this website will go by Matt's last known position. debi has asked me not to post any updates until they get their bearings and a fresh wind. So there will be no updates until we receive the next journals.
July 15, 2008
After an unbelievable ordeal for debi and Jeff to find a way to town, and a hike that we will try to get up on this site if Matt obliges us with a journal entry or two, the three hikers have reunited in Dubois, WY. The next few journals have arrived for July 6th-9th and they will be posted today. A new camera has arrived, thanks to their friend Brian whose charm was irresistible to the shop owner where they had first purchased the camera that died in the brutal creek crossing. The shop replaced the camera for free! Yay!
Matt has some bad blisters on his feet from the last leg of the hike so all three of them are going to wait another day and try to get back on the trail tomorrow (Wednesday) to get to Old Faithful Village in Yosemite National Park. Check the new mail drop schedule on the Maildrops page .
July 20, 2008
After a grueling 80 mile road hike to avoid a dangerous river crossing, debi, Matt, Jeff and Scotland have arrived safely in Old Faithful Village in Yellowstone National Park, although a little further south than they had expected. The whereabouts of Paul, who went ahead and forded the swollen river, are unknown. The last sign they had of him was a note at the river warning the hikers not to cross. They are only stopping for the night to do laundry and rest and will be back on the trail for Lima, MT tomorrow morning. We will have new pictures on the website after they arrive in Lima in about a week.
July 22, 2008
Matt, Jeff and debi checked in briefly by phone this afternoon. They are still on the trail to Lima and all is well. See their position on the home page map.
July 25, 2008
Check out new entries on the Journals page (July 16-19).
July 27, 2008
Our friends arrived In Lima last night. They are having fun showering, carb-loading, laundry-doing, mail-sorting. equipment-cleaning before going on.
July 29, 2008
Pending decision by the hikers on where to go next, they ask that you please don't mail any packages to future mail stops. Check back to this website for updates. As soon as they give the word we'll post the OK for maildrops.
July 30, 2008
debi and Jeff are travelling from Salt Lake City to Bangor, Maine by plane and bus. Matt is on his way to Leadore, ID. See the first three mail drop sites for the AT hikers on the Maildrops page.
August 2, 2008
No word from the hikers yet. New journals posted July21-26. I got a cd in the mail today. Maybe new pictures? If so, they will be posted tomorrow night!
August 1, 2008
debi and Jeff are expected to depart today on the first leg of the AT, from Bangor, Maine.
August 6, 2008
We are having technical difficulties with the website not having enough space for posting photos and maps, A new journal from Matt is posted on the Journals page-check it out-I won't spoil it for you but you WANT to read it!!! Also some photos from him posted Monday on the Photos page. Also posted earlier in the week-some journals from debi and Jeff. Will try to resolve problems and get more photos and the maps posted.
August 10, 2008
OK. Heard from debi and Jeff- interesting news. They have decided to go back west and hit the Pacific Crest Trail. They found the AT to be much too 'closed in' for their Rocky Mountain tastes. They are in Seattle and making their way to the Canadian border and Vancouver to begin hiking south through Washington and Oregon. As you may already know, debi and Jeff hiked the PCT once before; in fact, that is where they met! So we have good expectations for this journey in the beautiful, wide-open Northwest. Maildrops and weather maps will be updated soon.
No word from Matt yet- I believe he is going to try to send regular journals and photos and we will post those as soon as we get them. Good news: we have more storage space on the website server and have posted more of Matt's photos- from Rawlins to Yellowstone NP!
August 11, 2008
Just spoke to debi and Jeff- their passports arrived in the Seattle mail today thanks to Jeff's brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Ashley. They have secured a ride from a trail angel to Vancouver tomorrow morning, about a 4.5 hour drive, and will begin the hike south from Manning Park immediately upon arrival. Mail drops will be posted soon and also some new photos from their Rawlins to Lima hike . As they waited for their passports, debi and Jeff hung out with a good friend, Michelle and her family and the huge Greater Swiss Mountain Dog- Elvis- who weighs 125 pounds and insisted on crowding into the car with the whole family plus debi and Jeff as they went on their errands today. We all feel the love, Elvis!
August 13, 2008
Mail Drops for debi and Jeff posted through September.
August 15, 2008
debi and Jeff checked in today from the satellite link phone in Stehekin, WA. They are doing well and continuing south. No word from Matt yet. New photos posted from debi and Jeff's hike from Rawlins to Dubois!
August 23, 2008
Bad news-Matt has had to leave the trail due to knee problems. He is back in Charlotte healing and hoping for another try on the CDT next year. Heard from debi and Jeff Friday from Skykomish, WA. They are doing fine and sending journals and photos which will be posted as they are received. ***Note that the September 5 Mail Drop address for debi and Jeff has changed.***
August 27, 2008
debi and Jeff are back on the trail after a day in Snoqualmie Pass where they celebrated debi's birthday! New photos are up on the Photo page and new journal entries on Journal page.
August 30, 2003
More journal entries posted; some new photos are up today. Check it out!
September 10, 2008
debi and Jeff are doing great. They are in Portland for a few zero days after arriving in Cascade Locks nearby on Monday. They will be back on the trail tomorrow most likely. New journals will be posted by tomorrow afternoon, so check back then!
September 19, 2008
debi and Jeff checked in yesterday. They are doing well. They've passed Timberline Lodge and Olallie Lake and are on their way to Bend, OR. They ask that any new mail be sent to the Ashland, OR address. New journals are posted on the Journal page and new photos will be posted in the next week- some wildlife in this batch!
September 23, 2008
Heard from debi and Jeff yesterday. They made it to Shelter Cove Resort after an eventful week which included a bout with food poisoning for Jeff- ugh- and some shin splints for debi- ouch. After a long 31 mile hike Sunday and an easy 10 on Monday they were going to spend the night in a cabin at the resort and head back to the trail Tuesday morning. It will be about 4 days to Crater Lake and then a 100 mile hitch to Ashland. We are still working on getting the last batch of pictures up on the website- hopefully by the end of the weekend.
September 28, 2008
(Apologies from the webmaster for tardy updating: my computer hard drive crashed Thursday and I have just gotten back on line tonight.)
debi and Jeff reached Ashland Friday evening (after a one hundred mile hitch!) and should be back on the trail today. A few new pictures are up- some breathtakingly beautiful landscapes- more coming throughout the week!
October 3, 2008
debi and Jeff checked in from Seiad Valley last night. They are safe and doing well. Due to impending heavy snow and rain and a wildfire south of the valley, part of the trail will be closed temporarily so they are going to have to take a bus from Seiad Valley to Etna, their next planned stop.
October 4, 2008
Our intrepid bus-riding adventurers have made it to Etna and will hole up tonight in 'The Hiker's Hut' behind a bed and breakfast owned by Vickie and Dave in Etna. They are joined in the bunkhouse by several business men and women in town with the Harley Davidson rider's club. debi and Jeff are going to stop by The Trail's End restaurant then check out some local beers at the Etna Brewing Company. They tell me some new journals are on their way soon. See new pics posted on Photo page!
October 10, 2008
debi and Jeff are in Shasta, CA just a hitch and a short bus ride from where they left the trail near Dunsmuir. Bad weather is expected ahead so they will stay in Shasta for 2 or 3 days in a motel. Joining them are Speedstick (who lives in Shasta, and who stayed with Jeff and debi in Oregon for a while) and Retro, another Southbounder. The Shasta International Film Festival is in town and there is a local brewery so they all will be entertained nicely in town for a few days.
October 15, 2008
The hikers checked in today from Burney, CA where they spent the night and resumed the trail this morning in the company of hiker Retro whom they met in Shasta. They are enduring difficult temperature extremes: 80-plus degree days with 20-degree nights and anticipating rejoining civilization soon. Lots of new journals posted- take a look.
October 18, 2008
Rabbit and Tumbleweed checked in today from Old Station, CA. From the last check-in when they were in Burney last they hitched a ride from there to Old Station (thanks to Dennis and Georgie) so they could watch the Presidential debate on the t.v. After the debate, Dennis and Georgie drove them back to Burney so they could walk the 50 miles through the Hat Wilderness on the trail to Old Station. The highlight of their trip was walking through a 'lava tube', a tunnel through the earth formed where hot lava poured through in a volcanic eruption in an unknown era. They will be staying the night in Old Station and starting out again tomorrow.
