coming back to the states

[Aaron Doss]

Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France and Belgium in two weeks, a total of 3100 km. In one way it's exhausting (the driving part at least) it was also very nice to see so much. Half way through I realized that in a few days we drove as much as we walked the last three months, hiking seems so far away right now. Being that europe is so developed this environment is totally opposite of the PCT. The Italian alps were spectacular though, our hike through the popular Crode Fiscaline loop was amazing, I have never seen any place quite like it. Alpine landscape, towering pinnacles, and war ruins/relics from the first world war. We took the side trip to the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, three giant pinnacles standing hundreds of meters tall. After our alpine slander we went to Venice, and from there west and back up through the center of French wine country northward to Holland.

My apologies for not sending more emails, pocketmail access was somewhat difficult as most public telephones in europe require phone cards (requiring new ones for each country). We also thought that we would have more access to internet cafes but we never really came across them.

Tomorrow we are flying back to Pasco and the Dry Cities, I plan on writing about our trip during the flight to Washington.

See you all soon,

Aaron