I'll wait a minute while you process that. Heck, I'm still processing it.
For a number of reasons we won't be hiking the AT any further this year. It's a combination of things from money to schedule to work and everything in between. It basically boils down to this: we have one month of hiking left before we need to return to our lives.
So we weighed three options for how we wanted to spend this month. Option 1 was to shuttle up to the Whites in NH and hike to Katahdin. Option 2 was to hike from MA to VT. Option 3 was to do a totally different trail.
We picked option 3 and we're really excited about it. Of course we have mixed emotions about leaving the AT and I already miss it, but I'm not one to dwell on a decision and question it. I'd rather be positive and focus on the adventure in front of us.
Ok, ok, so you probably want to know what that adventure is. Drumroll... the Great Allegheny Passage. It's a rail to trail line that runs from Pittsburgh to Washington DC and is about 330 miles total. We actually crossed this trail on the AT and it caught our eye. We made a note to hike it one day...we just didn't think it would be today! But there are a lot of positive aspects that just made it appealing to us.
It's incredibly flat so it will be gentle on Rooney while he is finishing out his meds and will allow us to log more miles each day.
It's closer to Chicago and will be easy to get home from in Sept.
It's near plenty of towns so I can be looking for work and possibly interviewing along the way.
We will get to hike the full trail in one shot. It's not easy to give up on our goal of an AT thru hike and thru hiking this trail gives us a different goal to work towards.
So that's our big news. I hope you guys can continue to support and love us like you have through our AT hike. It wasn't a decision that we made lightly and we truly think it's the best choice for all 3 of us. We are proud of what we accomplished on the AT...1300 miles and 8 states. Once we complete the Allegheny it will be over 1600 miles and five months of hiking this summer. Not too shabby!
I'll continue to post updates here and keep in touch like we did on the AT. Until then, we appreciate you all and hope you're enjoying your summer as much as we are.
Much love.
~Minutes, Serial and Rooney