Date: 2006-08-04
From: Duncannon, Pa.

To: Duncannon, Pa.
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Green Township couple hiking along the Appalachian TrailWayne BoblittPress staffThe Appalachian National Scenic Trail is a 2,174-mile footpath through mountain systems stretching through 14 states from Maine southward to Georgia.While many adventurers each year take the challenge to hike the entire trail, many other adventurers choose to travel only a portion of that trail - which is still a challenge in itself.Jeff and Mary Jablonski of Green Township are among those adventurers who decided to travel only over a particular portion of the trail.The couple began their journey June 5 in Damascus, Va., and are hoping to complete it Wednesday, Aug. 23, in Bear Mountain, N.Y., according to Mary Jablonski who gave a telephone interview July 28 from a Best Western hotel in Waynesboro, Pa."We're doing OK - it's just a big challenge," Jablonski said.She said they became interested in an eventual journey on the Appalachian Trail about 12 years ago when they were on a family vacation at Bear Mountain State Park in New York state. They met three young men who had started hiking the trail in Georgia, had made it to that area of New York, and were aiming to complete the trail in Maine. Jablonski said she and her husband decided to travel just a portion of the trail.The states along the trail include Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. Beyond their starting point in Virginia and their hotel stay in Pennsylvania, Jablonski said she and her husband also had traveled through Maryland and West Virginia.Mary said she and her husband are seeing a lot of the United States that they had never seen before during their first trip on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.While Jablonski said this journey "is probably the most exciting adventure I've ever done," she admitted that she had trouble at the beginning because she began missing her family and friends and wanted to go home.She said she developed some bad blisters at the beginning of the trip and mentioned that she and her husband have come across a lot of rocks and roots along the way. Jablonski mentioned that they have to look down at their feet a lot to make sure they don't run into something on the path, and she mentioned that they use walking sticks to help them keep their balance.She also mentioned that every hiker along the trail gets a "trail name", sometimes a name given by other travelers. Jablonski said she is known as "Little Billy Goat Gruff" and her husband is known as "Camel."Jablonski said she and her husband have met many different people along the way, most often at the shelters where they have camped. "That's been one of the best parts - meeting different people."She said one young man she met who was with a church group had attended Glen Este High School in Clermont County, and she had him take her picture.Many of those taking the challenge to hike the Appalachian Trail are in their 20s or 30s, Jablonski observed, and some have even quit their jobs for the quest. It takes about six months for those who plan to hike the entire trail to do so.She mentioned that some people who live in communities near the trail act as "trail angels" to assist hikers. Jablonski said these angels sometimes set food packages along the trail for hikers, and she recalled how an angel named Bernie not only picked up her and her husband and took them to the Best Western hotel but also let them use his car.People are not the only creatures that the Jablonskis and fellow hikers meet along the Appalachian Trail. There are, of course, the animals.Jablonski said she had seen three black bears, and her husband probably had seen four, but they hadn't acted threatening. "They are more scared of us than we are of them."She mentioned that while she had seen a lot of deer, she hadn't seen a large number of other animals, possibly because they preferred to stay away from hikers, but Jablonski recalled how she almost stepped on a copperhead snake the previous day on a section of the trail in Maryland.Participating in an adventure as ambitious as an Appalachian Trail trek takes foresight and planning, and Jablonski had one thing figured out before she and her husband hit the trail.Before heading to Virginia, she prepared some packages with such items as dried fruit and freeze-dried meals. She carries a phone card and at different times during the hike, she has called her friend, Cookie Linskey in Mt. Orab, and had Linskey mail a package to a specific place where she and her husband could pick it up.Jablonski said when she and her husband stay at a shelter, they purify their water with a filter they brought and cook meals on a tiny stove they also brought. She mentioned she is carrying a backpack that weighs about 25 pounds while her husband's backpack weighs about 35 pounds.Jablonski also stated there are journals at the shelters where they have stayed where Appalachian Trail travelers can leave messages and comments.She mentioned that she and her husband usually stay in a lodging establishment once per week and sometimes twice. She said their next planned indoor stop was a bed and breakfast in Boiling Springs, Pa.When they complete their trip hopefully later this month, Jablonski said she and her husband hope to stay at the Thayer Hotel at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Her brother, David Leary, who lives in Dayton, is expected to pick them up and drive them back to Ohio.When she and her husband finish their trek, it will be yet another successful undertaking among a long list of challenges Jablonski has accepted. She has completed six marathons including one Boston Marathon, and in 1999, she and her youngest child, Noah, participated in a long-distance bicycle ride across part of Ohio."It's been the hardest thing I've ever done, but I am glad I did it," she said of her Appalachian Trail trek.Jablonski is a former substitute teacher in Brown County, and her husband retired after serving as an emergency room physician at Scioto Memorial Hospital in Portsmouth. They have three sons, Noah, David and Adam, and one daughter, Emily, all of whom are adults, and a seven-month-old grandson, Luke, who is the son of Adam and his wife, Susan.