Hey Buddy,

Just read the TITLE! Check out new photos below. More to come soon.

I’d like to quickly address a few questions that have been raised over the past few posts, just to make sure everyone is up to speed.

First off, I don’t know how much we’ve been able to raise for the Trailblazer Campaign. Since we’ve been out of the loop, we’re kinda behind the times on all that info. I do know that we are presently a long way from our target of $100,000. It seems that since completing the AT is such a difficult task, as more that 75% fail in an attempt at a thru-hike, many people held off on their pledges of a certain amount per mile hiked until they knew how many miles we actually completed. I think the next few months will be more telling as it relates to reaching that goal. If you are totally in the dark about what I’m writing, the hike was a fundraiser for Rainbow Christian Camp to be able to build a new high ropes course that can accomodate up to 50 people at once and will also be handicap accessible. This will open new doors for ministry at the camp that we had, until this point, only dreamed about. School groups will be able to involve an entire class at one time in team building initiatives on the course and we’ll be able to minister to special needs children and their families in a way that very few other facilities can.  We feel God leading us strongly in this direction and are seeking to partner with anyone who sees value in this new ministry endeavor. All gifts are tax deductible and we’ll be able to keep you personally involved as the process continues to develop. Individuals, churches, and businesses are welcome to be involved. If you have any questions, check out the Get Involved section on the side of the page, or contact the camp @ 765-395-3638. You will also find information about how you can become a monthly supporter of the work that I will be doing at the camp. I am raising my own support to work there and would love to partner with you in ministry on any level you’d like.

Second (and mostly for Rick), I did get a picture of the soul patch and I’ll make sure to get it on here sometime in the near future. All of the remaining pics will be posted gradually over the coming weeks, as well as the remaining videos, including the first time we touched the sign on top of Katahdin marking the end of a 2176.2 mile walk. Please be patient but do continue to check back for those pics and videos to come in the near future.

Third, rather than posting “after photos” of our physical changes from the hike (since we forgot for the first week as we were eating everything in sight!) I’ll just tell you that Mel lost a couple pounds and lost some inches off her legs. Other than that, she feels softer on the whole and like she lost alot of muscle. I lost around 32-33 lbs and ended at around 188 or so. I’ve put a few back on and now sit around 193. In spite of the amount of weight lost, I also feel much softer and weaker than before we left. How can this be? Well, when you constantly expose your muscles to extreme exertion, and then give them no time to recover, the breakdown of the tissue causes muscle loss over time. So, even though we could walk for 100 miles or so without really hurting, especially if we had no pack on our backs, our muscles are in worse shape than when we started. My legs, which were roughly the size of an anorexic 2nd graders’ before we left, have actually gotten smaller. On top of all that, we, as well as everyone who we hiked with and have asked about it, are constantly in pain from the pounding on our knees and other joints for 25 weeks. Each morning we’ve awakened this past week, we’ve been more sore and stiff than any day on the trail. We’re not sure how long that will last, but we’re certain we don’t like it!

Finally, due to lack of reading material and such on the trail, I’ve been like a sponge these past few days, trying to catch up on everythinggoing on around us. I just recently finished a great read about the dangers and/or difficulties with the issue of same-sex marriage, and I was heartened to read a passage from 2 Chronicles 20 in the conclusion on the book. This passage isn’t just pertinent to the issue of gay marriage, but to all the issues/battles we face as it relates to living our lives in a world with increasingly hostile attitudes toward Christians. Chapter 20, verse 12 is the conclusion of a prayer uttered by King Jehoshaphat as the people of Judah prepare for a desperate battle with Moab and Ammon that they’re certain to lose. The king concludes his prayer with these words: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” In the midst of tumultuous times, when the world would seek to push an agenda of hatred toward a Christian world view and then seeks to force “acceptance” of everything else, may we incline our ears and hearts toward Christ. And oh yeah, Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah went on to win that battle! God bless you and thanks again for your prayers and support. We hope to see many of you in the coming weeks.

I’m looking at the skyline of lovely Cleveland, OH and wishing I wasn’t sitting in the back seat of a cramped and stuffy Rav 4 with my knees shoved into the back of the driver’s seat in front of me. I feel like one of those nasty little fish that people with no taste buds like to suck out of those little tin cans you can buy at the grocery. Does anyone really eat sardines swimming in duck sauce, or whatever nasty liquid they’re encased in? The last couple days have been less than compelling in terms of excitement. I have manage to read then entire USA Today from cover to cover the last 3 days and we’ve been watching all the election coverage we’ve missed for the last several months. I’m struck with the notion that, regardless of which animal you side with (donkey or elephant), the mudslinging, name calling, and outright lying (I mean, carefully orchestrating information to make oneself sound infallible and the other party sound anything but), are almost circus like. I’ll certainly vote, and I certainly hold strongly to opinions, but I’m certain I was more content, or at least less appalled, when we were pitching our tent next to a river or in a pine thicket each night. Oh that Jesus would come back soon so we could spend forever just trying to figure out which amazing and perfect thing we wanted to do in the morning before the next amazing and perfect thing in the afternoon! Speaking of amazing and perfect, after spending the better part of 180 days without the aid of motorized transportation, I feel its at least amazing (and perhaps could be described as perfect) that we’re still alive, given the type of traveling we’ve been doing the past few days. Allow me to explain: My dad, after catching a break with not having to pay for my schooling (I still remind him of this every chance I get!), decided to spend roughly the equivalent of the GDP of some third world countries on camera equipment so he could carry said camera, encased in a box that looks roughly like something that would house the “nuclear football,” on every trip he decides to take in his retirement years. The typical MO For my father and his electronic arsenal is to take a picture every 15-20 miles on every dilapidated little highway and side road he can find. Shari, his wife and chauffeur, has one foot constantly itching for the brake, and as soon as he can utter the first syllable of the word “picture,” the tires are smoking and woman and children behind our little silver casket are diving for cover and praying their affairs are in order! No regard is given to location or traffic signs, and if the Rav can pull off to the side of the road without getting stuck in the mud, we pull off. If that isn’t an option, Melissa and I just breathlessly pray the drivers of the logging trucks behind us did well on their CDL testing and had plenty of coffee to keep them alert! After the picture is taken, usually of a broken down old barn or a duck or something life changing like that, the 4 cylinders kick back in and the little silver bullet goes rocketing back down the road like a horse with spurs buried in the flanks! Such has been our situation these past few days, and thus the reason most of you reading will probably live long and successful lives while Melissa and I battle from addiction to addiction, trying to shake the memories we just can’t get past of our 6 month Odyssey and ensuing 4 days along the River Styx!

With that all said though, it has been lovely seeing them and we do genuinely appreciate their willingness to come and pick us up. Yesterday, we made a trip to Niagara Falls. This was a first for me, and, aside from not being used to seeing so many people in one place, it was an amazing little detour and I was reminded again of the power of Our Creator, even in the midst of the clutter created by man than now surrounds it. We’re meeting Melissa’s dad (and perhaps mom as well) in Ft. Wayne this afternoon and will soon be in the Windy City and enjoying the best food Chicagoland can offer! We figure we’ve got at least a couple more days before our metabolisms figure out we aren’t hiking anymore and slow back down. Hopefully by then we’ll have had our fill of everything we’ve been craving. Speaking of craving, we still crave contact with everyone out there, so feel free to shoot us an email at joehiker@rainbowcamp.org or drop us a comment on the blog. God bless.

Last Monday night we were sleeping outside of a shelter 10 miles or so from Monson, just entering the 100 Mile Wilderness. This Monday night, we’re @ the Comfort Inn in Bangor, ME, watching Monday Night Football. Both, I would argue, involve time well sent, but are worlds away from each other as it relates to lifestyle. It was nice to have the day off, and we spent it driving Highway 2 from the Canadian border south back down to Bangor, eating @ Subway and Texas Roadhouse, and having some celebratory ice cream from Baskin Robbins! We ended our time this morning in Monson with breakfast @ the AT Cafè and then sharing some final  moments with Sunny, Share, Bones, Slightly, and The Breeze. It felt strange saying our final farewells, but it was great to see Dad and Shari and to be reminded of life back among the living! We’re still struggling for the proper way to express how we’re feeling after such a major event in our lives has come to an end. There is a mix of emotions that we’re trying to sort through and hopefully in the days to come, this blog will serve as a place we can express those emotions. For tonight, just let me express apologies if you haven’t heard from us after having tried to call, as we’ve intentionally shied away from the phone for at least a day or two. Also, please accept our invitation to share in the coming stages of our lives and ministry through not only what you can read here online, but also through your prayers and perhaps even involvement in the ministry of Rainbow Christian Camp. If you’re curious to know what my job will entail, and how you can get involved, be it through prayers, times, or even finances (yes, definitely finances!), please check out the Get Involved section on the side of the page. Our journey on the Appalachian Trail was a dream we hardly dared to believe could come true, but it was also a means of raising support and awarenss for the ministry of the camp. Each pledge made toward to Trailblazer Campaign goes toward creating a high ropes course on our camp property that will adequately meet the needs of large school groups (a group of people God has recently allowed us to come into closer contact with) and even special needs students. Each pledge also goes toward paying the salary for the new Program Director @ camp to maintain the ropes course, as well as a myriad of other programs. That Program Director is a dashingly handsome and supremely witty guy who…okay, it’s really just me! The Trailblazer Campaign, as well as monthly support options, does go toward allowing me to continue to do the work we are convinced that Christ has called me to at camp. If you’d like to talk more about that work, or anything else related to this new, and equalling compelling, adventure in our lives, please feel free to comment here on the blog or send an email to joehiker@rainbowcamp.org. We are anxious about this transition in our lives and curious to see how we respond to the pressures and demands of a vastly different schedule than we’ve enjoyed these past several weeks. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and I also ask that you prayerfully consider how you might partner with us in this new adventure. For now, its off to bed and then we’re headed southwest in the morning. Have a good one and don’t forget to love each other…and yes, that includes the guy who cuts you off in traffic!

Total Miles Hiked: 2176.2
Total Money Spent: Around 8 grand
Total Nights Away From Our Own Bed: 200+
Total Toenails Lost: 4

Completing A Journey With Someone You Love: Priceless!

We did it! Today was the day of our final summit and we pulled it off without a hitch! Thank God for such an amazing journey and thank you all for sharing it with us. We aren’t even sure where to begin with a wrap-up of the past 25 weeks, so I’ll just give you the details for the day and we’ll worry about the rest later. After we headed to bed last night with bellies full and hearts eager for the morning, we got a few uninterrupted hours of sleep until some joker, who’s trail name we later found out was Ulysses, showed up @ camp shortly after midnight and commenced with banging and dragging his gear across the gravel around his tent and shining his light into our shelter. If I hadn’t been so distracted with continuing to blow up my rapidly deflating sleeping pad, I might have said something. As it was, we just listened to him move around and make a general bother of himself for the next 45 minutes of so (It should be noted that we later met Ulysses and even had dinner with him tonight in town. He’s a good guy, just a little noisy in the night). Stubbs later said she was awake from then until around 4, but I was asleep and awake again just as black was beginning to turn to gray. The moon that was shining earlier in the night had been replaced by the expected front moving in and the day dawned chilly and gray. The temps were supposed to be around 60 on the valley floor, and it was anyone’s guess what they’d be like on top. We were up before 6 and headed back to the Ranger station to drop our unnecessary gear for the climb to the top by a little before 7. The crew that headed out with us was made up of Sunny, Share, and Lady Cluck. Slightly was slightly ahead and Bones was just behind. We made great time over the first 2 miles or so of the Hunt Trail (AKA the AT) and enjoyed good conversation and great views of a waterfall or two. As we climbed higher, the fog got thicker and wetter and the rocks got bigger and harder to traverse. It soon became useless to use my trekking poles, so I stowed them in my pack and we continued on, using arms, legs, knees, elbows, backsides, and everything else at our disposal to make it up what proved to be our most technically challenging climb of the entire journey. With the fog making things extra slick, “treacherous” was certainly an appropriate word of description. By the time we reached The Gateway, a ridge of jagged rocks that was little more than a few feet across, most of our party had bloodied themselves on a rock at one point or another and we were continually getting wetter and wetter. I took a hard fall back down a truck-sized granite boulder and landed hard on my knee. Thankfully, except for feeling a bit clumsy, I wasn’t hurt at all. The Gateway ended up being a 1200 ft climb (in the midst of over 4000 ft of elevation gain) that required at least 4 points of contact at almost every juncture. Had we been able to see more than 25-30 feet, it would have been a fantastic view, but as it was, we mainly focused on the task at hand. Once we neared what I guessed to be the halfway point of the ridge, the wind picked up and we had to fight sustained winds at 50 mph or more all the way to the plateau a mile and a half from the summit. Even as I type this, I know I am doing a woefully inadequate job of describing just how challenging the climb was. To put it into perspective, there are generally around 100 people rescued off of Katahdin each year, many of whom try to make the journey to the top in conditions just like we were experiencing. Share was not at all enjoying herself, and honestly, had the climb been for any other reason than to finish our journey, I would have told Stubbs to turn back and we’d try again some other time. Once we reached the top of the ridge, we walked across a boulder field for about a mile, Bones in the lead (sporting a gashed and still bleeding right shin bone), and struggled to remain upright against the wind. Since we didn’t know how far we had come, and the fog obscured any hope of seeing our destination, we didn’t even know we were close after our final 500 ft climb until we started to hear wildly animated voices through the fog above us. We took this as our cue to begin cheering (although, at the time, for all we knew it was just a group of rowdy kids trying to do a keg stand or something), and we were certainly at the right place. Slightly had been on top for a couple minutes, but the rest of us decided to touch the sign at the same time, in sort of a “we’re all in this/done with this together” frame of mind…and there was much rejoicing, at least as much as can be expected of freezing wet, sore legged, hikers who still have the daunting task of making it back down alive! That didn’t matter for now though. At the moment, all that mattered was that little 3 ft x 3 ft sign that told us we could finally sleep through the night without wondering when our next resupply, shower, or hitchhike would be! It was a fantastic moment for Stubbs and me, made even sweeter by the company of good friends. After getting a few pictures that did the situation far from justice, sending our GPS signal, and refusing weed offered to us by a couple stoner day hikers, we determined we’d done all the damage we could do, I cut a small sliver off the sign as a souvenir, and we headed back down with much haste. Our group had already left as we waited for the GPS to send, but we had the pleasure of walking back down with The Breeze, a fella in his late 40’s who we’d met a couple times but not talked with a whole lot. It was good to talk with him, even if it had to be more like shouting and only in between gusts of wind when we weren’t fighting to stay upright and headed in the right direction. If it was even possible, the wind seemed to have picked up, and we were walking right into it. We were also starting to feel some more consistent rain drops and we knew it was going to be an ugly trip back down. We passed the rest of the group we’d entered the Wilderness with (RockSteady, Butters, Mouse, Bondi, Bus Driver, and SuperChunk), and hi-fived and congratulated them as we walked. It was so cool to think that only a dozen people in the whole world were finishing what we finished today! We hiked every step that we’d hiked to make it up to the summit, and grew more anxious as the elevation continued to drop. We were done with the trail, but we weren’t out of the woods yet! When we finally passed the falls, signed out at the registration booth, and made it to a pavilion in the campground where RockSteady’s family was waiting with beef stew, drinks, and desserts, we knew the journey was finally at an end. The rain was falling harder now, and we huddled under another pavilion adjacent to the one RockSteady’s family was under, and waited for an hour or so in the shivering cold for everyone else to make it back down. After all the merriment and cheering was done, we all walked back to the Ranger Station to get our gear and waited for the shuttle that was coming to take us to Millinocket. It finally arrived shortly before 4, and with that, we were leaving the park, and a piece of our lives, behind for good. What a day, and what a journey!

The rest of our night was typical of any town stop. Shower, dinner @ a local restaurant (burger for me and shrimp for Stubbs, followed by some coffee and cheesecake), laundry @ the hostel, and calling our family to celebrate. It still feels like we’re just taking a zero tomorrow and then we’ll keep hiking some more. Reality, however, says we’re headed to Bar Harbor, then to Niagara Falls, and then back to Indiana with my Dad and stepmom. They’ll drop us off near Chicago, we’ll spend a few days with Stubb’s side of the family, then we’ll head south to see my side, and before you know it, we’ll be moved into a house and sleeping in that comfy queen bed of ours. Do we want it to end? In so many ways, Yes! But then again, maybe not. Thanks so much for all your prayers and support. Keep checking the site for more blogs, pictures and videos of the rest of our journey. Now its time to lay our clean heads down on soft pillows and clean sheets and try to get used to “normal” again. Peace and love.

Some days are good days, some days are better. Today, was one of the better days! It didn’t, however, start out that way. Here’s all the juicy info:

We woke up shortly after daybreak to the sound of rain still dripping onto our tent and with no appreciation the way the earth stays watered! We certainly weren’t in the mood for rain and the forecast in Monson had called for clear skies through the weekend. Rain was the reality though, and we determined to deal with it. We were, after all, making our final push into Baxter State Park today. So, in the midst of early morning drizzle, with nothing more than 2 protein bars apiece for the first 11 miles, we headed off. I knew right away something wasn’t right with my foot. The pain I’d been feeling the past couple days was back with a vengeance and there were a couple times I almost went light-headed from the pain. I talked with Lady Cluck about it later today, as she has experience in the medical field, and she seems pretty convinced it is a bout with Planter Fasciaitis (sp.). Whatever it is, it hurts in ways that are hard to explain. I hobbled through the first 7.5, with Stubbs patiently on my heals, and then took our first break @ Hurd Stream Lean-to. Just before we arrived here, we were fortunate enough to find a fantastic patch of blueberries on top of Rainbow Ledges that helped to give our systems a much needed boost. What it didn’t help us do though was to stay ahead of RockSteady, who we had last seen back @ Long Pond Lean-to. Turns out he and the rest of the guys decided to push to be into Baxter the same day the rest of us were and now the race was on to get one of the 12 spots that are reserved for thruhikers @ a place called “The Birches.” it is essentially two lean-tos that were built to keep “hiker trash” away from the paying customers! From Hurd Stream, we had 3.5 miles into Abol Bridge and the first grocery store in over 100 miles, and then another 0.8 to the info booth where you reserve a spot for The Birches. Due to my foot problems, Stubbs ran on ahead (and I do mean “ran”) and I followed as best I could, doing better and better once my pain meds kicked in! Getting into the park and to our first real food in 6 days was a fantastic feeling, and I actually threw my fists into the air like a little kid when I saw the sign for the camp store. We had finally accomplished something we’d thought about and waited on for months: we’d beaten the 100 Mile Wilderness! By the time I arrived, Stubbs had already resupplied and left me a food bag with 10 bucks to buy some lunch. I did this quickly, said hi to Lady Cluck’s family, snagged a couple brownies from her mom, and was out the door to catch my wife up the trail. We were number 6 and 7 to sign in @ the board, and after we got the done, we sat and allowed ourselves a short rest for lunch and to chat with Sunny, Share, and Slightly. We still had about 9 miles to go, but it was only a little after noon so we took our time, stopped often, and enjoyed the rest of our day. This is where things start to get good. The weather finally started to clear, and gave us some decent views of the mountains for the first time in a while. We also had fairly even terrain and the final 0.5 into Katahdin Stream Campground and the Ranger Station where we paid for our tentsite was on a smooth gravel road. We paid the very friendly Ranger, got our official number (241 and 242), headed to our campsite, got situated for our last night of the entire journey, and then set out to build a fire out of wet wood to keep the late summer mosquitoes away. It was then that we got the news that totally changed our day. The news became reality 30 minutes or so later when 2 former thruhikers, Gold Finger and Strider, showed up with camp stoves, a cooler of pop, hotdogs, fried potatoes and onions, fresh tomatoes, and some of the best chili I’ve ever had the pleasure of putting in my belly! After not having a decent meal in the last week or so, this was a little bit of Heaven! The aches and pains of 4 20+ mile days seemed to melt away with every bite, and we ate until our stomachs were pleasingly plump! Then, we headed to bed to enjoy our last night of sleep before our summit tomorrow. We’re in a shelter next to Slightly, Sunny and Share are tented nearby, and Bones and The Breeze are in the shelter next to ours. The rest of the crew we left Monson with is staying @ one of the sites in Katahdin Stream and we’ll probably all head to the top around 7 in the morning. My foot is still in a lot of pain, and Stubbs is dealing with some lingering hip issues, but we’re still feeling good enough to finish this thing! The moon is out tonight and we’re hoping the next weather front holds off until late enough for us to at least get a decent picture on top. If all goes well, the next time you hear from us, we’ll have successfully fulfilled our dream of walking from a little mountain in GA to a little mountain in ME! Goodnight and God bless.

My fingers are so sticky from the nasty rain falling outside that they’re sticking to the tiny little keys on my phone as I type. This makes me about as happy as a vegan @ a slaughterhouse (best I could manage, as its been a long day!). There are several things on my mind that are cause for complaint, so I’ll rattle off a few for you to make you happy you’re there and not here:

It is barely 50 degrees and the rain is beating down on our tent.

The National Association for Stupid Terrible Root Protection (NASTRP) has her headquarters based somewhere along this section of trail (okay, I made up the assc. and couldn’t think of a cooler acronym).

The arches in my feet feel like someone put a little paper cut in the muscle tissue, stuck their fingers inside, and is now slowly pulling my feet apart.

Every idiot we’ve passed who is out for just a couple days, and every southbounder who has come through this section has failed to mention the leg mangling root balls we’ve been stepping over all day.

Due to the rain, all our gear, especially the socks we’ve worn for the past 4 days, is about 6 inches above us in our vestibule, corrupting our nostrils with stenches too foul for words.

Due to our change of schedule and choice not to go into White House Landing for resupply, we’ve eaten less than an Olsen twin for the last 2 days.

My sleeping pad now deflates to the tune of once every 2-3 hours, so I’ve not slept for longer than that in the past 4 nights.

With all of that said though, we have a deep sense of peace and contentment about the end of our journey. We’ve now done 69.1 miles in the last 3 days, and will push that total over 90 by the end of the day tomorrow. The hard miles will hopefully be worth it, as the only window for a clear view from the summit is looking like tomorrow into early in the day on Sunday, which is when we are hoping to finish. Today was long and difficult due to the roots and rocks that often are found exposed along the edge of streams and lakes, which is where we walked most of the day. We also had a tough climb up Nesuntabunt Mountain right after our meager lunch of 1 tortilla, 3 pieces of cheese, and half a packet of tuna. The profile for the mountain looked like a child’s rendering of his trip to the Seattle Space Needle, and reality didn’t disappoint. It was only about 1000 ft to the top, but if not for some cleverly placed steps etched out of granite, we wouldn’t have even been able to make the climb. Our payoff at the top was a foggy view of Katahdin. We were able to catch up to Sunny, Share, Bus Driver, Lady Cluck, and Slightly though, all of whom left this morning at least 45 minutes before we did. In all, we did 22 miles (can anyone tell me where Davenport is?) in 8 hours and 45 minutes. We arrived here at Rainbow Stream Campsite, in the pouring rain, around 4:30 and quickly set up our little waterproof jail cell! After 149 days of hiking (more if you count zero days and such), we’re more than ready to find a more comfortable bed than a glorified air mattress that deflates 3 times a night. 2 more days and counting. We cooked dinner inside our tent, which is certainly against the rules on the little dirt smeared warning label on the side, but I figure when this thing was made for about 3 dollars and 61 cents somewhere in China, they weren’t thinking about pouring rain on cold nights in Maine (yes, that does rhyme!). We made it through dinner unscathed and are now thinking about bed, as it is already 7:13! Oh well, the sooner we’re asleep, the sooner I can uncomfortably wake up to roll over and blow up my pad, the sooner we can stop smelling our rancid gear, the sooner we can have nightmares about roots that come alive and eat our entrails, and the sooner tomorrow can get here and we can do our final 21 miles to The Birches campsite @ the base of Katahdin! Woohoo! Have a great night everyone and don’t be fooled by our sarcasm, we really have loved this crazy trip. God bless.

47.1 miles in 2 days makes for 2 very worn out little hikers! We’ve made the decision though to try and finish on the 14th instead of the 15th in order to avoid bad weather in the forecast. As such, we’ve had to do a couple big days, and we’ve still got a couple more. We were hiking this morning less than 11 hours after we’d stopped the night before and our feet were really paying for it. We were also keenly aware as we woke up that it was colder this morning than we’d felt in a few months. Last night was the first night we were both thankful to have our winter sleeping bags with us, and we both also struggled to get up and out of them! The first 3.7 miles of our day were mostly downhill, and we could tell our legs were going to struggle to make it through. We stopped after that first stretch for a privy break and to prepare for the icy cold waters of the East Branch of Pleasant River (thankfully it was low enough to rock hop across). Fortunately, after that break, and a trip up and over Little Boardman Mountain, the trail took a much anticipated turn for the better. We’d heard we should expect some fairly easy miles in this section, nothing prepared us for just how nice they would be. We actually pulled off 3.7 miles in an hour and 10 minutes one of the times we checked our progress! We took a much needed break @ Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to and cooked the dinner we didn’t have time to make the night before. After lunch, I took a short nap and Stubbs enjoyed some sunshine that was trying to warm the day. We left from lunch @ 2 p.m. and still had 11.4 miles to go. We did those 11.4 miles in 4 hours and 10 minutes! Not only were we happy with our time, we were happy to be done for the day. Our plan for tomorrow morning had originally been to walk 0.9 off the trail to a fisherman’s camp to buy some more supplies, but since we’re spending 1 less day out than we’d planned, Slightly had enough extra food for us to buy that we should be able to make it through to Baxter State Park. Stubbs was so tired from the day that she climbed into the tent before 7 and I cooked dinner out front and just gave her a bowl in bed. Poor thing, she’s been a real trooper the last couple days! I can’t wait to get a couple days to relax for her sake. Oh well, that’ll come soon enough. That’s about all the good details I have from this high mileage but otherwise dull day in the wilderness. 3 more days and counting down! Peace and love.

Here’s an abbreviated version of my original post for today, as it somehow disappeared into cyberspace…grrrr…

We passed several milestones today:

• We’ve hiked over 2100 miles
• We did our biggest day since Virginia
• We hiked over more peaks in one day than we ever have (8)
• We did our first night hike
• We got our first unobstructed view of Katahdin
• I had my first meltdown on the trail (more on that later)
• We had more milestones than any other day (Ok, I made that up)

After a poor night of sleep in the shelter, as SuperChunk actually snores at a loud enough decibel to hurt your ears, we were hiking down the fog covered and slick rock trail by shortly before 7. We did the first 6.7, that we were supposed to do yesterday, at a snail’s pace due to how slick the rocks and roots were. I actually fell 3 times in this section and Stubbs fell at least twice. My final fall was @ our first break, right next to the shelter. I don’t really know what came over me, but I was so angry, I grabbed the first thing I could find and blasted it against the shelter wall! As such, I now have only 1 water bottle. I don’t really like myself when I’m mad, so as Stubbs went for some water @ the spring, I tried to calm down. We packed up and headed back out into temps that couldn’t have been more than low 40’s and had to steel ourselves against the gusting wind. A short time later, after her next fall, Stubbs had a meltdown as well, although her’s involved yelling and crying, not destroying useful belongings! We finally made it down off Chairback Mountain and got to enjoy a decent mile or two of hiking, all the way down to the West Branch of Pleasant River, where we had to ford the icy water, which was less than pleasant. We did meet a Ridge Runner here named Dan, and he talked to/at us the entire time we were eating lunch. Dan was a little too happy to be in the woods…I don’t think Dan gets to be around people too much! We eventually bid him farewell and headed up the next 5.7 miles to Carl Newhall Lean-to (just so you know, the original draft of this blog was full of witty humor and sarcastic quips, so fill those in for yourselves!) with much haste. We did that distance in just a little under 2 hours and got a wild idea in our heads to try and make up the 6.7 miles we’d missed yesterday, as well as the 17ish we had planned, all in one day. This involved going up and over 4 peaks above 3000 over the course of the next 7 miles, and we decided we were young and dumb enough to give it a shot! So, after a break of only about 5 minutes, we pushed up Gulf Hagas Mountain, back down the other side, back up West Mountain, back down the other side, ba…well, you get the point. The final climb of the day took us up the highest mountain in the Wilderness except for Katahdin, White Cap Mountain, and at 3654 ft, it made for a frigid climb in the blowing wind. We reached the summit just as the sun was setting, and were rewarded with the best sunset on the entire trip. To our southwest, we could make out almost every range we’ve crossed since we came into Maine, and to our northeast we could see the menacing profile of what the Indians called The Greatest Mountain, Katahdin herself. It was an amazing time to be where we were this evening. When we couldn’t take the cold anymore, we turned on our headlamps and headed down 1400 ft to Logan Brook Lean-to. The night hike was amazing. Everything looks and feels differently after dark and we’re a bit sad we didn’t try it any sooner. Everyone was asleep when we arrived, so we pitched our tent as quietly as possible and fell into a deep and contented sleep (I can say that with certainty since I’m unfortunately retyping this the night of the 11th, when I very much would like to be in another state of contented sleep!). Have a great day and enjoy the next entry that I’ll be typing as soon as my cramping hands are done with this one! God bless.

What a long strange day today. We woke up shortly before 7 and found the sky overcast and threatening rain. That threat became reality 10 minutes or so later and we had drizzle as our constant companion until we stopped, several miles short of our plan. Our main task today was to get up and over Barren Mountain and try to avoid the majority of the bad weather in the forecast. The first part of that was a success but the second didn’t go so well. We made a quick stop @ the next shelter, 4 miles into our day, and chose to wait out the rain that was falling on our muddy trail (I’ll write more when the vulgar and incredibly annoying southbounder who has chosen to leave his tent and bother us in the shelter leaves and I can actually concentrate again…okay, now he’s gone). Most everyone from the shelter last night was here or arrived shortly after we did and we all took the chance to complain about how badly we hated hiking in the rain. Even though that was great fun, all good things must come to an end. Bus Driver and Lady Cluck left first, and Sunny and Share were out shortly behind them. Stubbs and I waited out the rain and, when we thought we found a break, headed off. Within minutes, it was starting to drizzle again, and by the time we neared the summit of Barren 2+ miles later, it was a steady downpour. The clouds dropped lower and soon we were covered in thick soupy fog to go along with the pouring rain. We were warm enough if we kept moving, but any time we stopped for a break, the shivering caught up to us. When we finally came to the turnoff for Cloud Pond Shelter, it was raining hard and we were faced with a tough decision. The trail was 0.4 from the shelter so we’d have to walk almost 1/2 mile if we went in, but if we kept walking, we’d face getting soaked till the next shelter, 6.7 miles away. We opted to duck out of the rain, and 15 minutes later, we were nice and dry in the shelter. It was only a little after 12, but as the afternoon wore on, the rain continued and it soon became apparent we weren’t going any further today. As the hours ticked by, more and more hikers, all of them soaked to the bone, came stumbling into our cozy dry home. In all, there are 12 people here tonight, and 8 are in a shelter that would only comfortably sleep about 6. Of the 8, 6 are guys and 3 of them easily outweigh me by 40-50 lbs. As such, things are a little tight. Stubbs is sleeping next to the left wall, I’m next to her, and the rest of the order is as follows: June Bug (a southbound sectioner out here with her friend who is tenting), Butters, RockSteady, SuperChunk, Mouse, and a sectioner we don’t know. Since noon, our day has consisted of sitting in our sleeping bags, talking about hating rain, thinking about home, cooking dinner, listening to stories from the same chatty and annoying southbounder who got an earlier parenthetical mention, and trying not to eat everything else in our food bags! Right now it is 7:31 and the rain has finally stopped. The wind is still strong, but it will hopefully force this system past us by morning and leave us with good weather tomorrow. Sunny, Share, and Slightly are at the next shelter so we’ll have to do some bigger miles these next couple days to try and catch back up. If all goes well, only 6 more hiking days until the end! Goodnight and God bless.