I'm writing this post on my 5th day home, after summitting Katahdin on Saturday! It's been a slow, but good week, at home. I spent a couple days with Pixel and Shazam, showing them around the coast of Maine on Sunday, and then just hanging out here in Winthrop on Monday, before they went back to Houston on Tuesday.
I'm going to write mostly about the last month or so on the trail though, in this post, and then I'll follow it up with a post about life after trail in another week or so. Here are some of my pictures from New Hampshire and Maine:
Andy Pellett came and hiked with me for a few days in eastern VT, and we stayed at this cabin called "The Lookout" on our first night out:
Some cool steps "in mixed media", as I like to say:
I stayed in the Smarts' Mountain Fire Warden's Cabin one night in NH, and watched the sunset from the top of the fire tower:
My cousin Jason came out for a few of the hardest days on the trail, starting with Mt. Moosilauke:
A sign warning us about the trail we just used to come down from Moosilauke:
At the edge of Lonesome Lake, just before Jason headed back home:
A view of Franconia Ridge, NH:
The Booty Club making its way up Franconia Ridge after a LONG break for Hurricane Irene:
An attempted panorama of Franconia Ridge:
After sting #6 of the trail, the whole back of my hand was severely swollen:
A sweet blue-blaze I took to climb up onto the Presidential Range:
The crowd on top of Mt. Washington (most of them drove):
I think this one speaks for itself:
Climbing down from Mt. Madison in a nasty storm:
FINALLY:
I made friends with a spruce grouse, who wouldn't run away; I guess that's why they're protected, because they're too friendly to run away and would all get killed:
Andy came out again for Bigelow:
Hitting the 2000-mile mark between Avery Peak of Bigelow and Little Bigelow:
Hiking along the shore of Flagstaff Lake, just north of Bigelow:
The final leg of the journey, the 100-mile wilderness:
On my second day in the 100-mile wilderness, I fell and slammed my wrist into a rock:
On the third day, my outlook on the 1MW was much improved by walking along Pemadumcook Lake:
However, some jerk left about 10 pounds of junk in a shelter, which I carried for 3 miles to White House Landing, which is NOT very hiker friendly:
Finally reached the end of the 1MW at Abol Bridge, where I had a fantastic view of Katahdin:
Honeybee, Chickadee, Shazam, Pixel, Gravity, and some lady who was off-her-rocker excited about making it to the top, and couldn't believe we had hiked all the way from Georgia to get there:
The shot that took 2181 miles and 192 days for me to take:
Thank you for following and supporting me on this adventure!!
