Date: 2005-10-08
From: Mass

To: Glencliff, NH
Miles today: 380.0

Over 130 miles in one week, through rivers, rain, bogs, mud, and all other sorts of obstacles, but we made it just on time to the base of Mount Katahdin to meet Sunflower¢s father on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Sunflower,Doug (her father), and I climbed Mount Katahdin, along with 25 other hikers we know who were finishing their hikes after completing 2174.9 miles of hiking from Georgia to Maine. However, Sunflower and I were not finishing our hikes at the summit of Katahdin because we still have to go back and hike Northern Mass, Vermont, and Southern New Hampshire. I spoke with a lot of people back home who thought we were done with the trail after summiting Katahdin and trust me, Sunflower and I are ready to finish, but not before completing this last section. The section we have to go back and hike is 260 miles, and we are trying to hike all of it in 17 days, back to where we will be finished in Glencliff, NH, at Sanitarium Road. Anyways, all of the logistics are getting too complicated to explain now without being confusing, so here is a short synopsis one last time, and then on to a new topic; Sunflower and I hiked from Georgia to Massachusetts, and then her parents came and picked us up and drove us to Glencliff, New Hampshire where we started hiking north again to Katahdin. We did this to summit Katahdin in good weather, before the Mountain is closed to hiking. In doing this, we missed 260 miles of trail, which we now have to make up. This is called a flip flop hike. And, now we are finishing our flip by going down to Mass and hiking back to Glencliff.      Today, we are back in New Hampshire after this last 18 day stretch with no breaks, and we were finally able to breathe and take a break for at least two days before we head down to Mass in a few hours to start our dash back to Glencliff which is going to be quite a challenge, but doable. We should be finished on my Birthday, October 25.The last time I talked with my brother he gave me some advice about writing more on the mental trials of the hike and less about logistics, and I would like to do that now and explain a little about why we hiked the way we did and ended up doing a flip flop hike.I started this hike with one major goal, other than completing the journey itself. I wanted to experience new things, and step outside of my comfort zones, in hopes of coming to new realizations, and understandings, all while having fun in the process. I have had to force myself to alter schedules and plans, and be willing to step outside the box, and let go of my ideas of how the hike ¢should¢ be and just go with the flow, and let good things happen. Each year on the Appalachian Trail, thousands of people start off in Georgia with ideas of how the hike should be and will be, and each year most of the people who started in Georgia with those plans drop out. Historically, only about 15% of the hikers who start at Springer finish a complete hike of the Appalachian Trail. Most don¢t even make it half way. I couldn¢t be happier that I have been willing to let this hike lead me where it wants to. Being a large goal setter, it is hard for me to abandon plans when something better comes along, but I done this successfully on the hike, and in return, I think Sunflower and I have had one of the greatest thru-hikes ever. Here is an example; a few weeks ago we were planning on doing a large multi day push through one section in Maine because we needed to get the miles done ASAP. We weren¢t planning on stopping in any towns and we really needed to hurry. We ended up running short on food, and so rather than going hungry, and rationing our food, we decided to hitch into town get some food and then head back out to the trail. I really didn¢t want to do this because I was worried it would alter our schedule and we wouldn¢t make our mileage goal. Hitching into town should have only added an extra hour to the day and not altered our schedule any. Well, we got a ride into town by Don, the owner of the Stratton hotel in Maine. He was extremely nice and after we decided to stay he offered to slack pack us the following day, so we wouldn¢t have to carry our packs over the Bigelow Range the following day. We ended up staying at the hotel, and didn¢t lose any time in the process. We had a gorgeous day to hike over the particular hard Bigelow Range and since Don was slackpacking us we actually did extra miles. This philosophy of going with the flow and letting the trail lead us where it will has been a fantastic way to hike the trail, the whole entire reason Sunflower and I ended up doing a flip flop and altering our hike is because we continually do this and in doing so we took two months hiking through Virginia, and so we realized we would either have to be a slave to mileage and time constraints, to make Katahdin by October 15, or we could just do Katahdin earlier, and not be quite so held down to mileage requirements and we could keep experiencing all the trail has to offer . It has been wonderful, and this philosophy has led Sunflower and I to the end of a fantastic hike. In nearly two short weeks, we will hike into Glencliff, NH, and complete a journey of over 2174.9 miles on the Appalachian Trail, and be in the elite few who can say they hiked the entire trail, and experienced all it had to offer.*Bottle-RocketPS- Excuse the poor writing, I am in a hurry, and don¢t have time for grammatical perfection.   Take it easy everyone!   pps- CLICK THE PHOTO LINK TO THE LEFT TO SEE ALL THE NEW PICS, THEY ARE DATED 10/8 !!!