2 more states and only about 400 miles to go!
For more pictures and tales of our journey you can go to www.sambomc.blogspot.com

As if today we are in Kent,CT. We have been moving at a moderate pace. Getting out of NJ and into NY the mountains are starting to get bigger and more challenging. Have had some good trail magic lately which always seems to help get ya down the trail a little further.(the north isn't as bad as they said it would be... has been some truly nice people up here) Finally have had some bear activity, so far we have seen 12 bear, some closer than wanted but it have been a good experience. Some would say different since black bears are known to eat hikers for a snack. On my third pair of shoes now, hopeing they will make it to the Big K for me. Untill my next rambellings I hope all is well with everybody at home.
Myco Polo aka Dustin Pinion

Rock Rock everywhere a Rock Rock!! Finished PA today and heading into New Jersey tomorrow. PA was nice on the southern end, but really rocky on the north end. I am no longer solo, my buddy Sam and Sally Wag are traveling with me now. I am glad to have them along on this roller coaster of a trail they call the AT. Been taking it pretty easy to get them adjusted to trail life. The weather has been good, but the rocks have been harsh... eating my shoes off my feet! We should be knocking out New Jersey and New York in about 2 weeks so that will make it feel like we are getting somewhere. I have hiked 1283.6 miles and only have 894.7 to go... so starting to count the miles down now! But like always life is good, times are sweet, just be glad you can't smell my feet!!!

Hey to all, I am finally out of the big state of Virginia and passed the 1000 miles marker. My legs and feet feel great and my soul as well. It has rained for the last two weeks or as far back as I can remember it seems, but everything is still going to plain and life is good... as always right? The Shanadoah National Park was super easy unlike the rest of Virginia. The weather got really Hot while I was there so I woke up at 4 in the mourn, and hiked till lunch and slept during the hot part of the day...one week I see snow and the next it is 90 degrees. I didnt use my hiking poles in the park in hopes of sneaking up on a bear, but no luck and no pictures of one. I got to Harpers Ferrys today and it has been really cool...alot of history here. I really would like to come back and vist again when I have more time. Tommorrow I am catching the train to Washington D.C. for the day and try to see as much as I can see. I feel so lucky everyday for my health and to be able to be out here doing something as crazy as this. Heres to another 1000 miles!

If you want to look at more pictures, some with and some with out me. C-Zur the guy i been hiking with has some at http://picasaweb.google.com/codyzur

My feet, my shin, my ankle, the last few days all of them have been hurting...glad to have a day off. I am around 770 miles in and everything has been really good besides the few minor injuries which started after i switched shoes in Damascus. They are getting better though, just making sure i keep my eye on them and taking it slow. Virginia has been pretty sweet, not as boring as people have said it would be. C-Zur, a guy i been hiking the last few weeks with and I been enjoying the nice easy trail walking Virginia has to offer, but it seems it has a lot of pointless ups and downs(up to viewless summits and stuff like that). The weather has been back and forth with April snow storm, but it has been sunny the last week. Lets hope it stays warm now because i sent some of my winter gear home, but my back is loving me for it. Now we are by the James river at trail angels house. They are super nice and letting us stay at their cabin/hot tub and treating us very well. I couldn't be more thankful for their hospitality.

VIRGINIA!

hello folks i made it to Virginia the 4th state on the trail. I been catching alot of rain lately but things still have been great as always. Hiked 26 miles in a day into Damascus, VA to beat the rain and my feet didnt like me to much after that. Damascus has been a cool town, it is real friendly to hikers so its going to be hard to leave. I will be in Virginia for a little over a month. It is the longest trail on the AT. I hope i dont get the Virginia blues but there should be good times ahead. I will be entering the Grayson Highlands in the next few days where the terrain is nice and ponys run wild, so that should be interesting.... they say you shouldnt ride them but i plain to ride one to Maine. Thanks for all the support im getting from everybody, it really helps with the being away from home.

sweet days of spring

hey I made it to Erwin TN which is around 340 miles in, the smokeys were amazing not as tuff as I amagined they would be, i think it was the coolest part of the trail so far besides that fact it was full of spring breakers. It got really instrusting a few nights. I had one day of bad weather for the week I was there, and for the smokeys thats really good. I will put pictures from there up later I sent them home before I could get a chance to load them. After the smokies I got cleaned up and relaxed at standing bear hostal on the other side of the park before I started toward hotsprings. Hotsprings was really fun. I took a few days off there and had a great time by the river in a cabin. Eat alot of food there and finally was able to get full for the first time in 3 weeks. From Hotsprings I hiked some really tuff up hill all day days to Erwin TN, but finally paid off the third day when I reached big bald. It was 360 degress of veiws of all the mountains around me. I sat up there for hours taking as much of it up as I could. I got some trail magic a couple of times in the last few days. One christin couple took me into there home and feed me till i couldn't eat anymore from waffles to banana bread al la mode. then the next day some couple day hikers gave me 20 dollars to get something to eat in Erwin. Makes you think there are some really good people out there besides what the tv news tell you about. Times are good, People are good, Life is good!

One Down 13 to Go

What a warm welcome to NC. It rained on us the whole day coming in the second state of my journey,and snowed the second day. It got COLD! I hiked the whole day trying to make it to the next shelter which was 12 miles away. When i got to the shelter it was in bad shape, had no floor and leaned a little. My pride was broken. I looked to see where the next shelter was on my map to get out of the storm and it was 7 miles away on the other side of the mountain, so I mentaly preped myself to push on. I got back on the trail and got about 200 yards down when out of the corner of my eye I saw a new shelter with the guys I been hiking with. I think this was the most emotinal day of my trip so far. I jumped up and down with joy and would have rolled around in the snow if it wasnt so cold. We made it into Franklin NC at the end of the third day. The sky cleared and the sun popped out ,and it turned out to be a good day to hike 16miles out. Next full stop will be on the other side of the Great Smokey Mtn. National Park in Hot springs. Im going to ship myself some food ahead right before the park, so i want have to stop to resupply. I should make it to the park in about 4 or 5 days, and to Hotsprings in about 12 days from now.

hey folks,
I'm back in the real world once again. I'm 67 miles in and I hitchiked in to hiwassee GA which is about 11 miles from the trail. The last few days have been good, a little foggy so the views haven't been the best. For 5 great days of good hiking weather a few bad is not going to get me down. I think there is a few more rainy and maybe even snow days a head of me. I got to town today and eat at a little resturant first thing because I been craving some real food for a change.. i eat so much food! When i tried to pay for it my debt card got rejected. Come to find out somebody from Germany has pretty much emptied my account. Now I have to go through the trouble to get it strightend out and get my money back. But besides that everything else has been great, still meeting a lot of nice people and having a blast. Still a little sore but i think my feet are finally getting use to mountain poundings. Im going to hitch a ride from here to a hostal down the road called the blueberry patch which is supposed to have the best breakfast on the trail. Im looking forward to it and then getting back on the trail tommorrow mourning. My next town i will come to will be in Franklin, NC ,and there i will take my first zero day.

hey folks, Everything has been amazing so far, seen some really sweet stuff so far and meet some really cool people. I am 30 miles in and not to sore, so life is good. I stayed at Springer Mtn. shelter the first night with my dad,GF Ali, and friend Sam. It was a great send off. I stayed at Hawlk Mtn. shelter the second night with 5 other thru hikers, and woke up to 2 inches of snow... wasn't expecking that. Everything was white and so beautiful, made a great day of hiking. The 3rd day I ended up hiking 15 miles to woody gap... way more than i needed to. I spent my first night alone that night in my hammock with about 45 MPH winds rocking me to sleep. I think it got into the single digts that night, but i stayed warm and cozy in my gear. It just made for a cold start that morning when I striped down to hike, but it was all worth it just be out here. I got to neels gap that day right before dark because I spent a few hours on blood Mtn. The views from there were sweet so I had to spend extra time there. I checked in at Mountain Crossing Hostal/Gear store that evening, and it was more then i was expecting. The people have treated me so good. I got there to late and missed super so they started cooking me pizzas. Had a great night of sleep and shower here, and now Im ready to hit the trail again. Untill next time folks, yall dont work to hard :-) Dustin (no trail name yet, but did give my first trail name today to a guy from Steamboag CO, "Stemboat" because I kept forgetting his real name.)