Two local 18-year-olds, Quinn Pickett and Maya Schwehm, have been hiking the Appalachian Trail for over three months and hope to finish in Maine by Aug. 1.

According to Quinn's mother and father, Nancy Bosio-Pickett and Tim Pickett of Boothbay Harbor, Quinn and Maya left from Springer Mountain, Georgia on March 1 and have been hiking an average of 12 miles a day.

"They have had good and bad days," said Nancy in an email to the newspaper. "But they have trekked on no matter the weather or circumstance."

According to Bosio-Pickett, on May 26, Quinn and Maya arrived in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, (the trail's headquarters). Quinn was number 178 for the year and Maya was number 179. The pair had hiked 1,094 miles.

"Those are really great numbers considering that as many as 50 hikers a day start in the spring and most never make it as far as them," Bosio-Pickett wrote.

Last week, Quinn and Maya made it into Pennsylvania and passed the official halfway point.

"They have earned and been given trail names," Bosio-Pickett said. "Quinn is Hook and Maya is Franklin. Of course, there are really good stories behind these names, but they are for them to share when they return home."

Bosio-Pickett said she and her husband are confident that Quinn and Maya will accomplish this "very lofty goal" and that they are very proud of them both.