Date: 2013-08-27
From: Mt Katahdin Summit

To: Final Thoughts
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Final Thoughts: Hiking the trail from start to finish has been an amazing adventure. The most challenging and difficult but exhilarating and rewarding journey I have ever pursued. Life affirming, it has changed me, I believe for better and forever. When I said that I wouldn't have taken the first step off Springer Mt in GA if I didn't believe in my heart that I would touch the sign on Mt Katahdin in ME, I was was on the level. From the beginning I was all in and just assumed that if I got up every day and walked it would just be a matter of time before I reached the finish line. I now realize that reaching the end is so much more. If I knew then what I know now, I may not have taken that first step and for that reason alone I am thankful that I was blissfully unaware of the challenges and sacrifices that lay ahead when I left Springer on that cold March 4th morning. To cover the entire 2186 miles it takes an unrelenting determination and undying belief that what you are doing is worth putting your life (and those of your loved ones) on hold while you experience everything the AT has to offer, highs and lows. The trail amplifies and accelerates life events. Deep (and I have no doubt lasting) friendships are made within days. Emotions, good and bad are exaggerated and often fleeting. Slogging through a cold rain, miserable and alone only to look up and see a beautiful rainbow stretching over a mountain pass into the horizon is quintessential AT. The physical demands were daunting for sure and there were times that emotions ran so high that I thought I would crack but through the encouragement and support that I received from my fellow hikers, FB friends and especially Jan, I always found the strength to soldier on. All great journeys have a turning point and mine came about 800 miles in when my feet hurt so bad that I had decided to quit. When I called Jan from the hotel about my decision, I felt nothing but sadness and remorse. Before I left on my hike I had told Jan that she and she alone could pull the plug on my trip at any time and I would come home, no questions asked. When I told her I was coming home I had given her the perfect opportunity to send me packing, guilt free, my decision not hers. What she told me next blew me away. Rather than assuring me that I had given it my best shot and that I could return with my head held high, she told me to give it a couple more days. ¢Elevate your feet, soak them in Epsom salts and see if you can¢t get them right¢. It was right then and there that I realized that I was hiking for the both of us and since that moment, she never left my side. As Jan explained to me later, she desperately wanted me to come home but didn¢t want me living with regrets and what ifs years from now if I had indeed quit the trail. Am I a lucky guy or what? My neighbor Mimi said perfectly. ¢you have the best wife....ever!!!¢. I have talked to a number of married guys on the trail and we all agree that we have awesome wives. To a man we also agree on this: no matter what our wives want to do or where they want to go, we will follow without question. If Jan wants to attend a night of poetry readings I will show up an hour early just to save her a seat in the front row. If she wants to take up ball room dancing, I will make every class and practice my moves every day. If she¢¦..well you get the idea. And here I am 4 days off the trail happy to be home but also missing the AT and everything it has given to me. Memories that will last a lifetime, a host of interesting and colorful characters, friendships made and renewed, trail magic that gives renewed faith in a sometimes troubling world and natural beauty that can take your breath away. During my adventure I saw bears and moose and a newborn deer. I came face to face with a rabid raccoon in the light of day and peed on a skunk under the cover of darkness. All part of that magical crazy place known simply as the AT. Flashback, who completed the trail in 2009, told me when I reached Katahdin that I would forget all the bad and only remember the good. I liked that but in many ways it has been the difficulties and challenges, that made reaching Katahdin so much more rewarding. From the bitter winter cold, snow and ice in the Great Smoky Mountains to the blistering summer heat and swarming mosquitoes in the MA swamps, facing the challenges and pushing through only enhances the high of achieving the final goal. But Flashback maybe right. Four days out and whenever I think about my life on the trail my thoughts are happy ones. The cold doesn¢t seem so cold, the heat not so hot, the mosquitoes a fading memory. Again I want to thank all of my family and friends who were such a huge part of this endeavor and all of the trail angels and fellow hikers who reached out with a helping hand when I needed it most. If the Appalachian Trail has taught me anything it is that the world is a good place filled with good people and if you let down your guard, open your heart and mind, and return it in kind, the good is all around us and there for the taking.