Date: 2013-10-20
To: Afterword
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Having had some time to reflect on our time on the trail, I'd like to offer up what may or may not pass for some useful information, some tips, some lessons learned and some unsolicited advice. Your mileage may vary.What surprised you the most? - Hiking the AT involves a lot more than walking a footpath. We went in expecting a trail and found stretches that resembled rock piles, creeks and boulders. When I say stretches, I mean miles. All in all it was much harder than we ever thought it would be. Telling a potential thruhiker this doesn't help them. This part you just have to experienceWhat was your favorite part? - Climbing Katahdin. Is it intimidating? Yes. Is it intimidating? Definitely. Is it exhilarating? More than anything I've ever done. Advice - wear gloves, leave your hiking poles behind, try to yogi a ride on the way downWhat was the hardest part? - No big surprises here- The White Mountains and for a lot of reasons but mostly for the daily feeling of impending death. You just have to put your foot down, hope for the best and God help you if it rains. What was the most beautiful part - Franconia Ridge in the White Moutains, a 2.5-mile section above tree line justifies the agonizing climb up from The Flume. The day before we saw the ridge from Lonesome Lake Hut. It looked a long, long way off. When we on top of it looking down on the lake it demonstrated the scale of what we were doing and the progress we were making. What would you do differently? - No question here, we wouldn't get mail drops. It didn't take long for us to get tired of the food in them. Other things in the boxes were readily available: stove fuel, baby wipes, gluten free food. We always had to go to the store anyway. It was super stressful getting them from post offices and after the debacle of  Woods Hole Hostel being closed EVERY box was stressful. We eventually told my daughter to stop sending them. Did you ever want to quit? - No, but I really wanted to skip New Hampshire and Maine. New England was so hard and we'd been wet for weeks. We hadn't been having fun for awhile. The next day we climbed Mt. Moosilauke. The second we got above tree line, I started to cry. It was the most overwhelming feeling of accomplishment of my life. Not even finishing the trail felt like that. That would be my wish for any hiker. Did you two ever fight - yesWhat was the nicest place you stayed? - We stayed in a lot of great hostels run by hiker friendly people but the Green Mountain House in Manchester Center, Vermont stands out. For $25 each we got a private room, linens, wifi, free soda, free Ben and Jerry's, laundry, coffee and a shuttle to the trail. The owner was so nice he made my teeth hurt. Were you ever scared of people or animals - Never. We never left any area to get away from an annoying hiker. Sure, we met a few people we wouldn't want to go fishing with. We met some people who obviously were living on the trail because they didn't have another place to stay but they were still hiking. They hadn't turned a shelter into a private cottage. As for scary bears, oh please. True confession, unless a bear box or cable was provided we just slept with our food. I never hung a bear bag - ever. Would you do it again? - No, not a thruhike of the AT. I'm  glad we did it but once is enough. We were challenged. We met the challenge. The end.