Vivian and I summited Katahdin, July 14, 2015 at 2:27 PM. My AT journey is over.
Vivian and GravelBoy, on the summit of Katahdin, on the AT in Maine.
This final section (Caratunk to Katahdin) was as challenging as anything I faced in New Hampshire and Maine. This surprised me a bit as I fully believed I had completed the most difficult sections on the AT. This last section was equal to them.
Vivian, my oldest daughter, hiked 141 of the 151 mile section with me. The only section she did not hike was the 10 miles from Abol Bridge to Katahdin Stream campsite. My wife Hedy walked that section with me-the easiest 10 miles in Maine. The other 141 miles were challenging.
Over the next couple of weeks I will be developing my trip report and going through my photos. I will have a static page for this final section hike, just like for the others. Selected photos will go on Flickr.
Saturday, July 19, I arrived back from my 11th year on the Appalachian Trail. Going into this section I did not know how difficult it was going to be. I had hoped that I had the worst behind me but actually this section was harder than last year’s. The hike began at the summit of Mount Washington on June 26, about 9:00 am. Hedy and I arrived in Portland the day before, picked up our rental car, and then found HQ in Gorham, NH. It rained the entire day and well into the evening. I was uncertain if I would be able to set off on the morning of the 26th but the weather had cleared and we were the first ones to enter the auto road for Mount Washington.
The starting point was 332.5 miles from Katahdin. I crossed into Maine in the early morning of July 2 (281.4 mile mark) and stopped at Caratunk, Maine, July 17 (151.3 mile mark).
New Hampshire/Maine state line, on the Mahoosuc Trail, on the AT.
Every day was a tough hiking day. I took a zero day after perhaps the most difficult stretch of hiking in my life. This was the final New Hampshire section (HY 2) to Grafton Notch in Maine. This stretch was 31 miles and I divided it into hikes of 12, 9 and 9. The last hike included Mahoosuc Notch, Mahoosuc Arm and Speck Mountain. I was exhausted when I exited the trail and thankfully it rained all night and the next day and gave me a perfect excuse for a zero day. This was July 4th. I took a second zero day on July 8th. I had broken my pinkie on my left hand on the first day hiking (Mount Washington) and Hedy and I drove into Rumford, Maine to have it checked. We picked up Vivian and Andrew at the Portland Airport that evening so it seemed like another good excuse for a zero day. Other than that, it was hiking every day. Most of it very challenging.
Like last year I found that while the trail was extremely difficult that the experience and beauty offset that. This was my best section yet, even better than last year. I am nicely positioned to complete the AT next year, which was my goal. Over the next few weeks I will be working on my page providing details of this 11th year and uploading photos.
From June 30th to July 15th Hedy and I explored new territories, experienced adventure and created memories. This was my 10th year hiking on the Appalachian Trail and it was easily the most rewarding one. This section began at Stony Brook in Vermont and is approached by a rough access road. Fortunately we had a local map with a place listed on it called Notown. It does not show on the official AT map but is very close to the marked parking area. Notown happened to be in our Tom Tom so we were able to arrive without problems and get off to a quick start.
Common hairmoss (Polytrichum commune).
The posted page for AT 2013 details the hike. I did better documenting this section then any of the previous 9 hikes. Photos are posted in Flickr and some thumbnails appear in daily entries—just to provide a flavor for the hike.
July 15th I arrived at the summit of Mount Washington. That is where I will begin the AT2014. I will try to squeeze out a few extra days for the 2014 hike. Once I hit the White Mountains things really changed—the trail was so difficult there were days I only managed 8 to 10 miles. The views were spectacular and other-worldly, especially above the tree line. I rued having to stop at Mount Washington. Four more days I could have completed the Whites and been at the border with Maine. I had a rhythm established, my confidence was high, Hedy and I were working well together in planning pick up and drop off points. I was a good 40 miles below my expectations for this hike due to the Whites. Looking ahead, 332 miles to Katahdin, I don’t really see much relief—no easy days that’s for sure. So, divide 332 by 10 and that’s 33 more days on the trail. I really need to get well into Maine in 2014 to complete this in 2015.
I’m back from my 10th year of section hiking the AT. This has got to be my favorite one. Right now I am working on the photos and have a new account with Flickr that I am familiarizing myself with, so this will take a bit of time. Here is beginning of this 10th section hike—
Hedy is poised on the opposite bank of Stony Brook, my starting place for the 10th year of section hiking on the Appalachian Trail. This is Vermont, section 3, about 477 miles from Katahdin. Although the official AT map shows a parking area, there is only a small place on a dirt road to leave a single car. There are no services nearby so this is not a good place to get off or on the trail. The bridge was washed out and I had to begin this section by fording Stony Brook which had a suprising flow of water. This marks the first day of my 10th year on the AT. Vermont, section 3, 477.3 miles to Katahdin.
Fortunately, Hedy and I marked the GPS coordinates of this position when we got off the trail last year. We headquarted at a Super 8 in White River Junction to begin this 10th section. I was concerned about finding our way beck to our Stony Brook exit but—no problem. Our TomTom took us to the exact spot we had left off at. Trip report of. this section hike are posted at https://gravelboy.edublogs.org/at/at-2013-vt-n-h/
We leave for the AT Saturday. Hedy and Nata are both joining me for this 9th leg of the trek. Hedy will provide shuttle for Nata and myself. Nata will hike with me for one week before returning to San Antonio. I last hiked with Nataly in the Grand Canyon in 2003. We hiked down the Kaibab and stayed 2 nights at Phantom Ranch. We also took an extensive side trip on the Clear Creek Trail before returning to the South Rim via the Bright Angel.
This year we will begin the AT at the exact point I left it last year, as always. This will be a spot very near Salisbury, Conn., about 7 miles from the Massachusetts border. We are planning on camping the first night as there is no good exit point. We plan to exit the following day at the 30 mile mark where Hedy will pick us up. That is a pretty aggressive goal but that is basically what I was doing last year and feel that we can maintain it. Nataly is in good shape, not overweight, and has geared herself up for this.
We will be HQing in Duncan, Mass. That is about 60 miles north of Salisbury and Nataly and I plan to make it in 4 days.
I’ll let you know how it goes when I return. We will be on the trail July 1 and our final trail day will be July 16. I plan to be near Rutland, Vermont at that time. We are flying in/out of Logan in Boston.
I’ve been back from the AT for a couple of weeks now. I had to hit the ground running once I returned to work and have not had a lot of time to work with the photos and create the AT 2010 page. However, I do now have selected photos posted from my trek (173 miles) and much of the 2010 page complete, thanks to taking “in the field” recordings.
Lehigh River, on the AT in Pennsylvania, July 13, 2010.
It was quite an accomplishment and I am happy to have Pennsylvania behind me. Next year I should see New Jersey, New York and a piece of Connecticutt. I met many people along the trail this year, more than the usual amount. I believe that is because I am coinciding with the through hikers now. Probably this will happen next year as well.
After catching up with house repairs and trying to get my personal life back in order (it is amazing what 2 weeks away does to one) I managed to get to Government Canyon this weekend. It was very hot and I cut the hike to about 10 miles. I did a skinny loop-Sendero Balcones to Johnstone Trail and avoided the ears (Far Reaches and Caroline’s Loop).
Common sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Government Canyon.
And I’m starting to investigate the possibility of hiking Tanners Trail in the Grand Canyon with Vivian this spring. Starting to prepare early is good.
View from Buzzard Rock on Whitetop Mountain, on the Appalachian Trail in Southern Virginia.
I finished another AT section page a week or so ago. I themed this one Redemption. I didn’t realize until I was putting the page together that I had a very successful section hike in 2006. I completed 180 miles, had just a single zero day, and no major gaffes or equipment errors. This hike took me into Southern Virginia. See the page.
On the Appalachian Trail in the Roan Highlands. Hiking with the left foot in Tennessee and the right foot in North Carolina.
The AT 2005 page is now posted. It took a bit of reconstruction but I had enough information between my meager notes, GPS data, and some earlier work I had done by mapping my hikes in Google Earth.
This section hike was my most unproductive. I drove out to the trailhead (near Erwin, Tennessee) and that cost 4+ precious days of a 14 day vacation period. Then I had two zero days needed to recover from not pacing myself in a rational manner.
But, this was offset by the beauty of the hike, the most beautiful section hike I’ve encountered to date.
In June and July of 2004 I hiked the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Sams Gap in Tennessee. My intention was to eventually make a web site, when I got around to it, but never really seemed to get around to it. Now it is 2009 and I am finally getting the 2004 section up.
This was my first experience with this type of hike and I made all the rookie mistakes—too much equipment, over confidence in one’s own abilities, and underestimation of the difficulty of the Appalachian Trail. It is not an easy hike. I know this first hand.
My first section hike was 30 days and I covered 315.3 miles. The AT 2004 page provides many details about this experience and a link to my flickr album.
Shenandoah River, on the AT in West Virginia, July 7, 2009.
I returned from the Appalachian Trail (my 6th section hike) this past Wednesday, July 15 around 11:00 PM and was back to work the next morning. This evening I created the page (AT 2009) that documents the hike, which was quite a momentous one.
This is the first Appalachian Trail page I have completed. I will be attempting to catch up and document the other 5 legs over the next few weeks.
As I have told many people, there were several milestones achieved during this section. Among those would be the 1000 mile mark, Harper’s Ferry, and the mid mark of the AT. I did very well and hope that section hike 7 will be even better. I can use some things I learned on this hike to hike for a goal, plan my hikes ahead so I hit key areas for washing clothes, showering, etc. without getting surprised, and to pack better food.
