Were Thru with this Hike

We made it! Who would have thought that after starting our trip on Springer Mountain during one of the most rainy summers in recorded history and walking through many chronic injuries that 3 months 3 weeks and 3 days after we would be standing on Katahdin in Maine.


After finishing a late day of hiking when we left Stratton, Me (hitching apparently becomes more difficult late in the thru-hiker season) Stew ran into the Jersey guys on the North face of the Bigelow range and caught up before getting to camp at dark. The terrain after the Bigelows was much more moderate and low lying so we ended up camping on several lakes, ponds and rivers (beautiful spots) and passing several more. Despite the cold nights I even managed to go for a short freezing swim in a pond while doing what we thought was going to be our last load of laundry for the trip. The whole way through, we only caught a single day of light drizzle on our way to Monson, Me (the last stop before the hundred mile wilderness and Baxter Park). Although we only had about 6 days left till Big K, we decided that a pit stop with my old Alma Mater at Umaine would be an excellent last day off. Luckily my friend Mark was only a short drive away since he was visiting his home in Dover, Me, so we went from trail to dinner in a matter of minutes. When we arrived at school, we stayed with my buddies Matt and Luke for both nights and Matt was nice enough to drop us off at the foot of the wilderness with our last ressuply before the Mountain.

When you cross over into the Hundred Mile wilderness you are greeted with a scary sign that reads:

"CAUTION. IT IS 100 MILES SOUTH TO THE NEAREST TOWN AT MONSON. THERE ARE NO PLACES TO OBTAIN SUPPLIES OR HELP UNTIL MONSON. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS SECTION UNLESS YOU HAVE A MINIMUM OF 10 DAYS SUPPLIES AND ARE FULLY EQUIPPED. THIS IS THE LONGEST WILDERNESS SECTION OF THE ENTIRE AT AND ITS DIFFICULTY SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED. GOOD HIKING! MATC"

Unfortunately, ten days of food for a thru hiker weighs about 25 pounds dry (which seems even heavier after over 2,000 miles) and Stew and I didn't really feel like hiking 10 mile days, ending our days before noon, so we ended up planning for about 4 days for us to go through the wilderness and then just a 10 mile walk to Abol Bridge and the Park. There were a few good climbs in the wilderness, and some great rocky summits early on, but the overall flatter terrain was very welcome on our tired, 22 turned 90 year-old knees. Unfortunately all of the views of Katahdin were clouded by fog the entire way through, so we never got to see the massif until entering Abol Bridge the day before summit day, but that just made it even more exciting to know that somewhere out there was the end of this journey. Overall the hiking was easy through the wilderness and the river fords (in reality there was just one real ford) were very manageable. It rained on and off during one of the days there which was very cold and we had a few nights that hovered around freezing, but at this point it's really impossible to complain about rain since we had lucked out for almost two whole states.

On summit day we met up with my father, uncle, sister, and friends from Umaine and all set out at about 8am for our final and largest climb of the trip (but hey only a ten mile day). After all the hype about the enormity of this mountain we expected to leave it feeling a bit let down, but all the hype proved well deserved; one of best on the trail by far. Although a class 3 day with multiple trail closures, the summit was clear. However once above treeline that mid- 60 degree weather day changed very rapidly with the wind and altitude with some snow and ice left over from the day before (good thing for the day off that stalled us one day). Although not every body had the time to summit that day, all of my family members were able to make it up (my sister climbing with strep throat we found out, what a trooper) along with my friends Matt and Brian. The day was soon coming to a close, so we gazed out briefly from the summit and trail terminus and headed down the great mountain. What a day. By this time we were greeted by Stew's parents who had the great foresight to bring some Long Trail beer for the end and we had our last talks with a few new members of the thru-hikers class of 2009.

Although the number of Trail Angels we met this trip were more numerous than we had ever expected, with out every person along the way, our long journey would have seemed like even more of an arduous task. I know I can speak for both Stew, Jeph, as well as all the other thru- hikers on the trail when I say that your help and especially your kindness was one of the greatest parts of this hike. There are very few people (I have not met one) that walk away from the AT without a renewed sense of humanity; we are no exception. So from all of us: thank you, for everything.


So, with our finish with one day left of our first summer after college we had taken a plane to Georgia, a train out of the city, a car to Springer Mt. walked on foot to 1900 miles to Maine, hitched in cars, on the backs of trucks, even clinging to boat trailers, taken a boat across the Kennebec River, eaten hundreds of gas station pastries donuts and fast food burgers, walked hundreds of miles through the most isolated section of the trail, most of the time alone and sometimes with friends, through rain, hail, lightning, wind, sun, cold, hot and fog, all to climb a single mountain in the middle of nowhere in Maine and take a long drive late in the night back home. After all that, I'm not sure what the hell is wrong with us, but I do know it was worth every moment.

Thanks again to our family and friends for supporting us so much on this trip. Even in the farthest stretches of the trail, you helped us feel a bit closer to home.