OBOs

Getting our official photo taken at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, we wait for the volunteer to add us to their 2012 archive photo album.

"You're section hikers, right?" she asks.

"No, we're thru-hikers, but we jumped ahead," I say.

Finishing the AT in a single year counts as a thru-hike, no matter how you walk it. To leave the bubble, we've jumped north with the intent of walking south from Harpers Ferry to Tennessee after we reach Mt. Kathadin in Maine.

We started as NOBOS - northbounders - and we'll become SOBOS - southbounders - when we return to Harpers Ferry in the fall.

The volunteer looks up a number. "You're 17," she says, marking it on our photo with a brown pen. I look up the color code.

"OBO" it says. "Leapfrog, flip-flop, etc."

An hour later, John finds his new trail shoes. Brand name? Oboz. I guess that seals it for us.