Beth and Ward spoke briefly yesterday. He and Matt are now hiking with another person - a fellow in his 30s who hiked most of the AT last year, but who had to skip a few sections. He's making up for those sections now. We do not know how long they'll be together, but it sounds like a good thing for now, and surely makes things more interesting.
Ward passed the 700-mile mark yesterday, and by the end of the day he will be more than a third of the way through the trek. He's logging a lot of miles each day - an average of 21 miles per day over the past two weeks, excluding zeros.
We shipped another sleeping bag to him, which he will pick up today and a local outfitter's drop point. His current bag is rated to 0 degrees, and it's simply too warm now that we're in springtime. He wanted my bag, rated to 20 degrees, which has the added benefit of being lighter. On a side note, the manufacturer of his first bag (changed out in the first two weeks) accepted a return and gave Ward credit for future purchases. REI gave partial credit for his cracked boots. In both cases I think the sellers realized they were dealing with a thru-hiker who was fair and reasonable, and not someone trying to take advantage of the situation.
I expect Ward to take a zero in the next couple of days. We're planning around a possible visit next weekend, to include Ward's brother George, his uncle Brooks Bossong, and our friend Todd Klass. This could get interesting.
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