Yours truly at the summit of Katahdin, 7 September 2014. Finishing what was started only three and a half years earlier.
In 2011, I undertook my first long hike, which was supposed to be a NOBO thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT) starting April 3. A few days after the Fourth of July and in the middle of Pennsylvania, over half-way done, injury struck in the form of a tibial stress fracture. After two weeks' off-trail rest with family in ol' Virginny, I skipped ahead 300 miles to rejoin my friends in Falls Village, CT. With them, I continued on to Monson, ME, only 110 miles from the northern terminus of the trail, at which point I stopped for the year. Back then, I carried a flip-phone and a handwritten journal, which I'm probably never going to bother to transcribe electronically.
I always intended to come back and finish my missing sections, and in August and September of 2014 I got the chance to. Having finished the PCT in the interval, it was a shock to the system to jump onto the AT southbound in Connecticut and stumble through a few hundred senseless, ugly, obnoxious, completely unrewarding miles down to Pennsylvania, and do it starting out in doughy physical shape. I survived and right away caught a flight from Philly up north for the AT's pièce de résistance, the 100 Mile Wilderness and Mt. Katahdin in Maine, finishing my two-year section hike at the same time as many northbound thru-hikers. Below are the journals for those sections, beginning with the mid-Atlantic and ending with Maine.
Cowboy camping (whatttt?) on the Rainbow Ledges looking right at Katahdin (AT mi 2160.0), walked 22.8 miles today
Tenting by the West Foahhk of the Pleasant River (local pronunciation) (AT mi 2096.9), walked 15.3 miles today plus about .8 extra for water at one point
At the infamous Microtel in Hamburg, PA (left AT at SOBO mi 971.7), walked 18.0 miles today
Tenting on the trail somewhere in the Palmerton Superfund site (AT SOBO mi ~928.7) walked ~21.3 miles today
Tenting somewhere in the eastern Pennsylvania wilderness (AT SOBO mi ~907.4), walked ~11.7 miles today
In the Church of the Mountain hostel in Delaware Water Gap, PA (AT SOBO mi 895.7), walked 24.8 miles today
Tenting in the Brink Road Shelter (AT SOBO mi 870.9) like a motherfucking boss, walked 19.6 miles today
Sleeping in the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Vernon, NJ (AT SOBO mi 832.3), walked 14.7 miles today
Tenting a little past NY 17A near Greenwood Lake (AT SOBO mi 817.6), walked 16.6 miles today
In the Fingerboard Shelter (AT SOBO mi 801.0), walked 15.6 miles today plus about one to get water off-trail
In the Bear Mountain Bridge Motel in Fort Montgomery, NY (AT SOBO mi 785.5), walked 24.7 miles today
All alone at the RPH Shelter (AT SOBO mi 760.8), walked 9.0 miles today plus about one to another deli
In the Morgan Stewart Shelter (AT SOBO mi 751.8), walked 20.5 miles today, plus at least one to/from Tony's Deli
Tenting by the Ten Mile River Shelter (AT SOBO mi 731.3), walked 15.7 miles today plus at least two more on the road to, from and around Kent
In the Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter (AT SOBO mi 715.6), walked 19.1 miles today, plus maybe 1.5 extra before and during
On Thursday I packed up and hit the road with two jamokes from Long Island, Scott and Bryan "the Bry-man" on a journey across the country, which will, hopefully, end at Falls Village, CT ...
What ho, world! In about a month, I'll be stepping into the Eastern forests to attempt to finish out the sections of the AT that are still missing for me after my 2011 almost-thru-hike ...