All three of us find it distressing to see how much animal cruelty there still is in this world and together we want to do something about it. In the United States and Canada bears are still hunted on a large scale to serve as trophies. A lot of bears die a horrible death because the hunters use awful methods like arrows, guns, dogs and traps. When a bear is killed orphan cubs are often left behind.
In the state of Idaho there is a unique project that gives these orphaned cubs a second chance of living in the wild. The Idaho Black Bear rehabilitation Center is run by an autodidact on bears, Sally Maughan. Sally is a remarkable woman who dedicates her life to the rescuing of bear cubs and getting them back to nature where they belong. Sally is almost literally a surrogate mother for these cubs. She has been taking care of bear cubs for over 20 years.
Our 2175 miles on the Appalachian Trail
The end of March 2009 we start on the oldest and longest footpath in the world: the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail, or in full the Appalachian National Scenic Trail is a 2175 mile long distance footpath through the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. It stretches from Springer Mountain in the Georgia until Mount Katahdin in Maine. It passes through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
© IBBR
© foggymountain
Extra
We will also run the 10x10 kilometer race in Winschoten and the City-Pier-City race in The Hague to promote our project
© WSPA
This journey is going to take us about six months, day in day out in the Appalachian Mountains. We will each go with a 40 pound backpack into the wilderness to try and finish this trail for a great cause! We will take a lightweight tent, hiking boots, multi-fuel stoves and much more to battle the elements. Besides the hard times we will definitely endure we will also have great moments living together with the real inhabitants of the Appalachians like: bears, moose, snakes, wildflowers, plants birds and much more.
An average of once a week, using internet access in villages and small towns near the trail, we will update our site with stories, photos, and films which you can find under the Blog button.