Date: 2005-09-18
From: White Mountains New Hampshire

To: Maine
Miles today: 200.0
Weather: light rain

The Whites are INCREDIBLE~!Sunflower and I have been cruising ever since entering New Hampshire and we are now officially in Maine!Last night, SF and I got off of the trail on a rainy day in Andover Maine, where her father, Doug, picked us up for our last ZERO day! So, we don¢t get any more days off until we are finished with Maine.We are taking our last day off in Conway at SF¢s home, and relaxing as much as possible after our push through the Whites. We had a lot of fun in the whites, and the weather was spectacular, it couldn¢t have been better, and it¢s definitely the most memorable part of the entire hike for me, especially since this is where I will be living this winter! This place is amazing. SF and I got to hike a lot of the trail in short day sections and then sleep at her home which was such a nice break from the monotony. It was so nice to be spoiled a bit by cotton and civilization for a bit, but now we are ready to hit the trail again for a while! SF had the opportunity to invite back several hikers one night and it was so much fun, we all relaxed and ate a fantastic lasagna dinner that was prepared by SF¢s mom, Kathy and her aunt, Pauline. We all needed the respite after tackling a 15-mile day after the famous Mount Washington, which is, ¢The home of the world¢s worst weather¢, with a recorded wind speed of approximately 231 miles per hour. Here¢s the scoop on what¢s happening logistically; Sunflower and I are getting back on the trail tomorrow, 9/18, in Andover Maine and hiking non-stop to Mount Katahdin, the trails northern terminus. We hope to summit Katahdin by the 2nd or 3rd of October . A very generous member of SF¢s family will be picking us up at Katahdin that day where we will drive pack to Conway, take a day off, and then drive back down to Massachusetts so we can finish the stretch we flipped at, which includes mainly the state of Vermont, which should hold gorgeous fall foliage for us. We will hike from Mass to Glencliff, NH , where we flipped or jumped up to originally and then we will be done. We have to do all of this by my Birthday, Oct 25 because we have plane tiks to Louisville for Oct 27. Basically, to make it simple, we are hiking to Katahdin and then going back to finish Vermont because we skipped it.The weather is cold and glorious, it even got down to the thirties one night and so SF and I are rejoicing in the splendor of cold days once again, and I am dreaming of snow already.I have bitten the bullet and applied for jobs too, I am applying for Snowboard Instructor positions at various resorts here near Conway and I also applied for a Rental Shop Manager position at the closest resort to SF¢s home, which is called Cranmore. At Cranmore there is a weekly downhill and x- country ski racing series called Meisters that SF partakes in and I have been excited to enter ever since hearing about it, so hopefully I can get the job at Cranmore, which also houses an athletic club that I am trying to get a job at. This place is right up my alley!Anyways, all is sweet, Thank God for the cold weather finally!Take it easy everyone!Too much to say in too little time has resulted in a random stream of consciousness feel to this journal entry¢¦*Bottle-RocketPS- Special Thanks to Doug and Kathy Burnell for their hospitality over the past few weeks! It is greatly appreciated! PPS-A lot of people I have spoken to who are following this online journal missed a few entries, You can all hit and use the "previous and next" links above on this page to scroll through past and present journal entries!PPPS- There are more pics up! The only recent one is the one in cotton, but check them out!@