Summary of the Whole Thing

I completed my Appalachian Trail thru hike August 8th after 121 days. Below I've summarized a few things that I kept track of - the biggest surprise to me was the number of showers I took!

The Final Miles to Baxter Peak

At around 3PM on Tuesday August 7th Coors, Strider, and I left Abol Bridge Campground/Store (AT mile 2175.9) to hike the 10 miles to the Birches Lean-To. We were all in good spirits, the trail started very easy and crossed the Katahdin Stream and Nesowadnehunk Stream and passed Big and Little Niagara Falls (it was getting late in the day so we skipped those side trails). I was definitely dragging - my legs and feet were getting tired, I started falling behind Strider and Coors.

The 100 Mile Wilderness (99.8 Mile Day Hikers Paradise)

Coors, Strider, and I hiked 9 miles to ME 15 (AT Mile 2076.4) together on the morning of Thursday August 2nd. We had one week until our goal finish day and had made it to Monson, the south end of the 100 mile wilderness. The 100 mile wilderness is known to be the most remote part of the trail - hikers are warned that they should have at least 10 days of food when they enter because there are no stores/towns/public road crossings for the next 100 miles. One last test before summiting Katahdin.

The Hardest Part is (just about) Over

I got to the Hostel of Maine in Carabassett Valley, ME just after 4:30PM on Sunday July 29th. I decided to splurge for a private room - I had spent most of the past week in the rain, everything was soaking wet, my tent smelled like a swamp, and I smelled just as bad. I didn't know where Quesadilla and Overdrive were, and I was pretty sure that Coors, Strider, and Bird were going to end up a day ahead of me again. But they wanted to finish the trail as soon as possible, so I would have lost them again anyway, even if I hadn't gone into town for the night.

Gorham, NH to Hostel of Maine

Tuesday July 24th I woke up in the Royalty Inn in Gorham, NH after just completing the last stretch of the White Mountains the day before with Pizza, Overdrive, and Quesadilla. My other hiking partners Coors, Strider, and Bird were also in Gorham at a hotel down the street and planning on returning to the trail that morning. The hope was that we could make it about 17 miles to the Maine border and find some place to camp.

The Whites - 20% of the trail, 80% of the work?

July 19th, my 101st day on trail, I woke up in Lincoln, New Hampshire not feeling great. Sixlegs and I stopped for breakfast and headed to the trail, arriving at Kinsman Notch at around 6:45AM. I couldn't even finish my breakfast and was wondering how I was going to hike into the Whites that day. We started the climb up Mt Wolf just after 7AM and I felt awful - it took me 45 minutes to hike the first mile. The climb wasn't even hard but I just couldn't get moving. Sixlegs hiked with me for the first two hours before having to turn around and head back to his car to return home.

Hanover to Lincoln New Hampshire - Entrance to the Whites

On the morning of Saturday July 14th I entered my second to last state - New Hampshire. As Coors and I walked along the road over the Connecticut River into Hanover we watched a running race go by. We cheered for them as they cheered for us. The trail walks right through town and we arrived right around breakfast time. Coors and I ate at the Skinny Pancake - Bird showed up and we all enjoyed a big breakfast. As we were leaving Strider arrived and we went across the street to Starbucks to charge our devices and use the free WiFi. Hanover is a college town - there were many Dartmouth Students around even in the middle of summer. They must be used to seeing smelly hikers because we didn't get as many gross looks as I was expected.

The Maine Junction and into New Hampshire

Coors, Strider and I were sitting outside of the Price Chopper in Rutland, VT on Tuesday July 10th trying to figure out where to sleep that night when Bird called and said his aunt was offering us a free place to stay in a rental cabin she watched over. Pizza had already gone to the Yellow Deli for the night. We didn't know if this cabin had bathrooms or electricity but we took Bird's Aunt, Donna, up on her offer of a free place to stay. We got picked up around 7PM and drove to Killington. Donna made us a spaghetti dinner before taking us over to the cabin - it was a huge rental house with multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, showers, laundry, WiFi, huge TV, and a hot tub. Bird spent the night at his aunt and uncle's house but Coors, Strider, and I watched movies, drank a box of wine, and soaked in the hot tub. There were more World Cup games on the next day that Bird and Strider wanted to watch so we were pretty sure we would be taking a zero day, only my 7th of the hike, on Wednesday July 11th.