Date: 2012-08-14
To: Home in Phoenix
Miles today: 0.0

I had a great time on the trail through New Hampshire and southern Maine. I completed about 222 trail miles. Since getting off the trail last Tuesday in Rangeley my wife and I cruised around central Maine, staying in Greenville for 2 nights, then White House Landing for 2 nights, then driving down to Portland for a night. I had planned to hike Katahdin on Saturday, but when I woke up it was raining, very foggy and pretty strong winds coming across the lake. After being dry for a few days my desire to go up (and even more so down the wet rocks) in the wet conditions was not strong. From White House Landing to the trailhead was not very far as the crow flys, but would have been an hours drive on the back roads. I decided to hang out with my brother and our wives. Mid day the rain stopped, so we went for a canoe paddle along the edge of the lake. We saw a cow moose enjoying her lunch - so that was fun.The thing that got me the most on this trip was the humidity. It rained many nights, so the humidity was high in the trees. It was much warmer than I expected as well. 88 in Andover for instance. Even though it is 110 in Phoenix right now, the humidity is 14%, giving a dew point of 50 degrees. In Millinocket right now it is 81, with a humidity of 53% = dew point of 62 degrees. The dew point has a very high correlation to how much you sweat, or more accurately how much your sweat stays on you, vs. evaporating. Even though I am used to the heat, I was not prepared for the humidity of the east.Once I got home I was looking at the distances I did. 220 miles in Virginia, 222 miles this leg. Ohh, and I got off in Rangeley, which is 220 miles from Katahdin. Maybe I will have to go back and do that final leg next summer. Who Knows...At WHL we met several hikers. My brother really enjoyed talking with them. Again it was fun for me to have he and his wife enjoy the company of the hiker community. They helped out a couple young SOBOs who lightened their packs. My sister in law took their stuff and mailed back to the SOBOs homes for them. We named one of the guys "Tarp" since he had a big tarp that he sent home. He has the option of using that name down the trail. My brother also suggested JB for the other guy as he introduced himself as "Just Brian", meaning he did not have a trail name yet. We also enjoyed the company of No Problem and Pacer who are hopefully preparing to go up Katahdin tomorrow. Buzz and Gretal (a very cute pup Buzz got while on the trail) also came through WHL while we were there. They should already be done as they planned a 30 mile day on Sunday. I had mentioned to my brother how the NOBOs are all quite modest and do not take anything for granted. Buzz is 45 miles from being done and when my brother asked him where he started he simply answered "Georgia". Nothing about saying he had done over 2,100 miles. My brother was impressed.I have enjoyed sharing my summer adventures, hopefully you have enjoyed reading about them. There are so many fun stories on the trail, I wish I had the time and writing talent to share more with you. I wish I had had a video camera when I was talking with Billy in New Hampshire. I would love to meet up with him again. Talk more Canadian politics, human intestinal system and footware. It was all great.