As the miles go up, the donations do to.

I just wanted to let everyone know that as Maya and I have been working hard to make the miles toward our goal of Canada you have helped show your support through the donations to the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.

Through your help we have raised over 700 dollars.  We thank you for our support.  At this time we have hiked just over a thousand miles.  So help us stay motivated as we hike and give some support to the WVHC. 

Thanks, Maya & Garrett

PS. We love when people leave comments!!

Dine' (Navajo) Poem

"With beauty before me,

may I walk

with beauty behind me,

may I walk

with beauty above me,

may I walk

with beauty all around me,

may I walk.

Wandering on a trail of beauty lively, I walk."

One of the many people we have met along the trail gave this poem to us after spending an evening camping with us and chatting about the trail. Even though the trail has at time provided us with many challenges, I think this really sums up why we persist and continue on our journey northward.

1,000 Miles!!!

Ok..so we've actually hiked another 95 miles since this photo was taken...(Smile!)

We are on a time crunch here at the public library in South Lake Tahoe so I will summarize the last  400 miles with this:

Hiked on snow, more snow, and yet more snow and then when we thought we were getting out of snow with the melt finally arriving, we hiked through creeks, lakes, creeks and more creeks, sometimes wading in up to our chests in the creeks and if we were so lucky to have a bridge, we sometimes had to wade up to our knees on either side...Never fear, we are ok and know the worst of it is behind us. Oregon here we come!!!

A Letter to Mark

July 3, 2011
       I said goodbye to you today on top of Donahue Pass. While you were back in Maryland, I knew you were following our journey closely and living it vicariously through us. You can imagine how surprised I was to hear the news...You always seemed most content when we talked about the mountains. You were so excited about our plans to do the PCT that you did what you did best, and researched the trail and gave me all sorts of info about it before I left. I actually think you knew more about the trail than I did!
      I cried a lot in the few days between Mammoth and Yosemite as I took you with me on our hike. It took me a while to figure out the best way to really say goodbye from out here. Finally I realized that since you would have loved to be here, it would be appropriate to build something in your rememberence. So when we got to the top of Donahue Pass, I built a small cairn in your memory. Its not much but you just can't beat the view down into Lyell Canyon in Yosemite National Park. And be sure that while I said goodbye, I still keep your memory with me.

You are missed dearly.
Your friend,
Maya