From Virginia to South Dakota with a plane

That feel when you decided to quit the trail...

It is with mixed emotions that I write this last post. After struggling with the trail for the last few weeks, we decided that it would be in our best interest to stop hiking and return home. While we are both disappointed that we will not be reaching Maine this year, we are also very excited that we made it as far as we did. We hiked 870 miles, which is roughly 40% of the entire trail. We hoped to make at least to Harper's ferry before getting off the trail but we are mentally exhausted, so we decided that now is the best time to get off. 

For the next couple of weeks, we are going to spend time with friends and family back home, then decide on what we want to do next. We are in no hurry to return to full time jobs so we might do some traveling abroad. 

We are also planning on how we can finish the trail in the future. We have most of the boring parts of the trail out of the way and many good views to look forward to in New England. Hopefully we can afford an opportunity similar to this in the future where we could take another 3 months to do the north section of the trail. I'm sure it will be on the back of our minds until it happens. 

Thanks to everyone who read this blog and sent us encouragement! We have many fond memories of the Appalachian Trail and we will return with a vengeance to finish it!

Until we begin again,

Leap and Frog