Date: 2014-08-21
To: Big Dawg's AT Reflections
Miles today: 0.0

Big Dawg's Reflections on his AT Journey, after having to leave the trail for his second (and final) time:Hello to everyone. This is Big Dawg. As you know I had to leave the trail again. I hurt my foot a second time while we were climbing through perhaps the toughest section of the trail¢¦. The Mahoosuc Notch and Arm. You may have seen the pictures Indiana Jones put up but here is a link to a you tube video of how rough this terrain can be Mahoosuc Notch ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07yfO5CX-4A ).   Here is the final stats for me: I hiked to the 1920 mile mark (out of 2185) at the time of the injury. We crossed into Maine at 1902. In total I walked almost 1800 miles (counting for the time I lost for the first injury). I finished everything but one section of Vermont and the balance of Maine from where we got off. We were averaging 15 miles per day and right on track to finish per plan. Of course I am disappointed that I could not finish the whole thing but I am glad and proud I did as much as I did.The experience was a great one especially doing it with my son, Indiana Jones. That was the thing that kept me going. I don¢t think I would have done this by myself. We had many really cool high points on the trip. We got to see and experience things that very few will ever be able to do. Not only from a landscape and scenery standpoint but from a mental and physical toughness standpoint. Here are a few of the things that we had to deal with that made the physical and mental part so challenging: rain, ice and snowstorms, rocks (slides, boulders, scrambles, on the trail, slippery, you name it) extreme mental and physical fatigue, dehydration, sore body parts, illness (Shawn was very sick one day and I battled Lyme disease, and passing a kidney stone) and lots more. My least favorite thing to deal with was cold rain (40 degrees) and having to wear rain gear while climbing which resulted in lots of sweat. Then of course you get cold. My hands were frozen on those days too. But we got through it. One of the greatest things was all the fantastic people we met. Literally hundreds of them as we worked our way north. People from all walks of life and all around the world. It was an international trail for sure. We developed some friendships I am sure will last for a long time even after the trail. The other thing that blew me away was the kindness and generosity of people who provided trail magic for the hikers for free and at their own expense. Very awesome and we saw lots of it!I must say that I was quite surprised about how the trail wore me down eventually. I really thought that once I got through the initial weeks of pains and soreness that I would get to a point where it would be no big deal to get up and hike everyday. It seemed like that was the case until just before Harpers Ferry, the half way point. I had a few days there that were so physically exhausting that I didn¢t think I would be able to go on. As we went north from there I was able to keep up but it was clear that the effects of doing this everyday and would be accumulative on the body over time. After I hurt   myself in Vermont, I came back in less than 2 weeks to enter the White Mountains. One of the big highlights of the trip, not to miss. I am sure the foot was not totally healed but we went on anyways. The Whites are very tough but I made it through but at a slowed pace. Just before Maine we were in Gorham, NH. I remember leaving there wondering if I would be able to go the distance. The next few days proved really challenging. The pace was slow and I was very tired on the climbs as we were now in the Mahoosuc range. Turns out this is probably the hardest trail to do. I started thinking that I was slowing the trip and might cause us to not make it on time. A couple of days later in the Mahoosuc notch I then re injured my foot. I had to finish it (1 mile of huge boulders and rocks) then climb 1500 feet almost vertical, and another 700 almost vertical. From there I had to walk down the other side with a 3000 foot vertical descent. All of that on the torn tendon. By the time we got to the Andover road my foot was that much worse. I didn¢t want to admit it to myself but the trip was done for me. The next morning I could hardly walk. End of trail. I knew Indiana would want to go on and I supported him doing that. It is just tough for a father to send his son on in this case knowing that he will be going alone and into some very remote areas. The only comfort was knowing how the trail works and that he really wouldn¢t be alone. After 1900 miles I was much more comfortable with that then I would ever been having not done it. Still it was sad and emotional parting ways at this point. We had done all of this together and wanted to finish it together. The foot had other plans. But I will meet up with him again about 10miles from the final climb to Katahdin and I will make the climb with him even if I have to crawl up there! The summit is the ultimate end to the journey and we have to do it together.Finally I must give my son a lot of credit. It was not easy for him, I am sure, to do all the stuff he had to do to help me out to get through the journey. The extreme physical stress lead to emotional extremes for me sometimes, especially near the end of the day hiking. You can guess who got the brunt of that. We walked slower and changed plans a lot in the last couple of weeks, mostly to help me to continue on. I can tell you it is very frustrating walking slower than you normally do waiting for someone else. I had to make a lot more stops too. So the bottom line is we just couldn¢t run the show anymore unless it revolved around what I needed day by day. Indiana hung in there and took it all in stride. He certainly deserves credit for having a lot more patience than his dad. Glad he was my hiking partner¢¦someone else may have shot me!I am debating now what to do about the parts that I missed. In the mean time I am looking forward to the summit of Katahdin on August 20th. It will be a great day! Thanks for all the support for the tremendous following of people we had. So many were tracking our progress and trying to help where ever they could. We do appreciate that! Thanks for all of your support.Big Dawg