A Hike with Kat

Hi,

I was able to go hiking with the guys today.(July 30th) It was really fun. We hiked about 9 miles on the trail, saw various wildlife, and generally had a good time.

We made attire from Paper Birch bark. Matthew made a crown with an 'M' in the middle. Eric had a crown and a gauntlet (wrist-covering shield); he was a knight. There's a nice picture with Eric being knighted by Matthew, using his hiking pole ("Excalibur").

We had an extra piece of bark that Eric had put on his head, but it looked like a bonnet, so I donned it and got to be a "milk maid." I was promised all the cows in the AT kingdom. We walked down the trail and got admiring looks for our handsome apparel. Photos click here. http://mitoc.mit.edu/gallery/album382

It was so sweet that the guys hiked their maximum for a day thus far- 32 miles- in order to get to Dalton so that I could meet them. It all worked out pretty well, except when we got to Cheshire at the end of the day, the restaurants listed in the guide book were closed for the summer. We made a 2 mile loop in the town to go back to the ice cream shop that we had originally passed. Luckily, besides ice cream, they also made really yummy, big sandwiches. :)

It was awesome. I hope you are doing well!

-Kat