Thank You

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone both on Redwood's and my (LEGO) behalf. Without the support of our friends and family neither of us would have made it as far as we did. A big thank you goes out to all the trail angles out there who provided us with some trail magic, you make a thur-hikers day. Also a special thanks goes to everyone who gave us direct support by letting us stay in your house, feeding us and or driving us around. We hoped you enjoyed reading our blog.

LEGO

PS. Redwood is considering getting back out there and finishing the trail. I will keep you all updated as to his status.

The End

Going back a little bit, Grad School and I were hiking around two other thru hikers named Peach (from Georgia) and Cologne (from Germany). Since New Hampshire, every time all four of us stayed at the same shelter Grad School and I came in late and Peach and Cologne left early. Or simple they went in to towns that we did not. We ended up beating them to Monson, ME by only a few hours but then they took a zero when we left town. At this point everyone out here has set the big day of when they are summiting Katahdin. Our date was set on the fact Grad School's parent were driving to pick him up on the 25th of July. Peach and Cologne decided to summit on the 27th so this was more then likely the last time we would see them.

Once again we were fairly lazy in leaving town on Tuesday and my pack was the heaviest it has ever been. Not heavy liked I over shopped but heavy like 6 and half days of food (my longest resupply on the entire trail). Most of the 19 miles to Cloud Pond Lean-To was small ups and downs that were not very steep. At times the roots completely engulfed the trail making it harder to move fast. The day ended with one of the last climbs left on the trail. Once again, we needing our headlamps to find the shelter but when we got there we found the shelter empty. That has not happened in a long time.

On Wednesday, the heat and humidity moved back in making it a very hot and sticky day. It felt like we were in a sauna most of the day. This day was mostly filled with more slightly bigger ups and downs before hitting the west branch of the Pleasant River. From there it was a nice slow climb up to the Carl Newhall Lean-To 16.8 miles. The highlight of the day came when we took lunch at the Pleasant River. About .2 miles from the river is one of the few places that is easily accessible for day hikers in the 100-Mile Wilderness. Now in Maine there are no bridges because they would simple wash away each spring as the snow melts and the water levels raise dramatically. In the hour we sat there we saw more then 30 day hikers struggling to cross the river. The water level as fairly low (about mid calf) but the river was lined with rounded slippery rocks. The highlight was a man pushing a stroller through the water. This was better then watching TV.

The next day we started with climbing up our last set of major mountains before hitting Mt Katahdin (the northern terminus of the AT). On a normal day you can see Katahdin from White Cap Mountain but the heat and humidity never left so all we had was a hazy view of nothing. After White Cap the terrain flattened out as we headed to Copper Brook Falls Lean-To. About 4.5 miles before the shelter the skies let loose and pored rain for about 25 minutes soaking us from head to toe. This did not bother us to much (been there done that) and the plan was for a very short day for the next day.

We took a lazy day to the extreme on Friday. We hiked all of the 8.1 miles of very flat terrain to get to Antlers Campsite. After the 2 and a half hours of hiking we went swimming / bathing in Jo-Mary Lake and then hung around all afternoon laying everything out so it could dry (from yesterdays rain). We were very surprised when around 4pm in rolled Cologne. He had found out that the weather was going to be the best on Monday for summiting Katahdin and get increasingly worse for Tuesday and Wednesday. Cologne told us, "I didn't plan to do big miles through the 100 Mile Wilderness but it easy terrain and I didn't want to be done hiking early every day so I kept hiking." The main reason we did a short day was to set up the chance to do a monstrous day. Up in till this point on the trail I never walked all day to see how many miles I could do. So we went to bed at dusk in order to wake up just before sunrise.

Around 4:20am we awoke and packed quickly and then hit the trail just after 5am. At this point my pack was feeling very reasonable (under 30 pounds) so it was fairly easy to more quickly down the trail over the mostly flat terrain. We made it 13.4 miles to Wadleigh Stream Lean-To for first lunch by 10am. For the most part the heat and humidity seemed to finally broke making a pleasant day to hike. After leaving the shelter we had the first of two mini climbs of the day. Once we got to the top of Nesuntabunt Mountain we got our first glimpse of Katahdin. This was very uplifting to see the mountain in which we were going to be finishing this long journey on. Still moving fairly well we got to Rainbow Lake Campsite at 25.1 miles for second lunch. Still with plenty of day light we decided to push on to Hurd Brook Lean-To another 7.9 miles further. We hit the last mini hill of Rainbow Ledges and found it covered in wild blueberry bushes with ripe berries on them. The temptation of wild berries was to great to overcome so we stopped several times to grab small handfuls of the berries. We still got to the shelter before 8pm (dusk) with the day's total mileage of 33.2 miles. The last few miles my feet simply did not want to be in my shoes anymore and I was glad to be there. There was a bit of excitement when I realized that we only have 18.6 miles left of the AT to hike.

Still feeling some of the excitement of getting close to the end we got moving and made it to the Golden Road and crossed the Penobscot River on Sunday morning. When we got there we saw our friend Breeze with his family. He had summited the day before and had tons of leftover food, beer, and a bottle of champaign from their weekend of camping. He had to leave but he left it all on a picnic table for us and all the other hikers around. Once we left the road we entered Baxter State Park and followed a mostly flat with one gradual climb up to Katahdin Stream Campground and the Birches Lean-To (13.4 miles). When we arrived at the campground we went to the ranger station to sign in. I ended up being the 51st northbound thur-hiker this year to sign in. Later that night Grad School's parents came to the shelter to meet Cologne and I.

On the 25th, we meet up with Grad School's parents once again, who planned to hike up with us as far as they could. Because they came with us it was a slow and relaxing time climbing up the first 2.5 of the 5.2 miles to the summit. This is when the climbing became a bit more serious as we had to scramble up and around boulders. Cologne had decided to leave his trekking pole (a decision I wish I had made because the just get in the way) and he carried his ukulele. Every time we had to wait on Grad School's parents to catch up he would play it. Once we reach the tableland (1.6 miles to go) the terrain seriously flatten out. It is very hard to express the feelings that came up as we could see the summit and the famous Katahdin sign approaching. If I remember correctly there was a lot of yelling both by Cologne and I as was walked up. We spent almost 2 hours on the summit, taking pictures of the sign (who cares about the views at this point), drinking champaign, updating the Facebook status, calling the parents, and eating lunch. After the celebration most thur-hikers would turn around and hike back down the AT. However the best way off Katahdin is across Knifes Edge and down the other side of the mountain. So we left Grad School's parents who had back down the AT to their car and the three of us headed across Knifes Edge. This was like a victor mile that was fun and challenging. The 2000 foot drop on either side of the ridge would make anyone a little cautious. The hardest part for me was the last bit where we had to rock climb down a very steep part. My short little legs just could not reach. The rest of the descent was not difficult but for all three of us slightly sobering. It hit us that we were done with the trail and our bodies were confused as to why we were still walking and hurting them. My feet just wanted to stop. We made it to the road about 3 hours faster then we planned to meet Grad School's parents so we hitched to the main gate and then hitched up to the campground where the car was. When we got there Grad School started walking up the trail with a headlamp and 2 liters of water to go meet his parents. Cologne and I simply waited and waited and waited. About 2 hours later we were very nervous that something might have happened however we were useless because both of our headlamps were in the locked car. About 9:10pm a hiker comes out of the wood with a flashlight and he asked if I was LEGO. Grad School sent a message that they could use more water and headlamps. He also gave us an idea of were they might be and luckily that was past the hardest part of the trail. The hiker gave me his extra flashlight so I could go up the trail and meet them. They were no more then one mile from the parking lot and were simply moving slow with the lack of light and being extremely tired. By the time every one got back to the car, Grad School's parents had taken 12 and half hours to get up and down (anyone would be tiered). When I was on the summit I had left a message with a friend's Uncle and Aunt (Albert & Marian) who where going to house both Cologne and I. However after I left the peak I could not call and let them know what had happen. So when Grad School's parents finally got us in to Millinocket I could finally call them again. Even at this late hour they both hopped in their truck and came in the town to get us. When we got to their home in Norcross they processed to serve us a wonderful dinner around midnight. Their daughter thru hiked several years ago and they were so excited to have thru hikers once again in their home. I have been blessed with a whole host of wonderful people who have been so generous that my outlook of humanity has change. I thought these types of people were far and few in between but over the last four months I have met so many of them. I truly believe that people are morally good. I know this may not be an accurate sample of humanity but it still gives me faith.

Wednesday is when we got our showers, did laundry, and hit the town of Millinocket. When in town, we when to the hostel to meet some of our friends like Peach, Indiana Jones, and Redrider who all will be summiting on the 27th. After that Cologne, Peach and I headed to the cafe in town to make an attempt at their ice-cream challenge. For this food challenge there is no time limit but you have to eat 14 large scoops of ice-cream, m&m's, two Snickers bars, a donut, a banana, and the whole thing is covered in chocolate syrup. It was in a large bowl and stood about 10 inches high. Cologne ate like a champaign and finished in 31 minutes. At about 45 minutes and around 70% done, my stomach really became unhappy and I need to use the bathroom (which was against the rules). In the end the Sunday Summit Challenge conquered me and I gave up so that I would not through up. Next we slowly moved over to the library so Cologne could us the internet. At this time Peach's parent arrived in town and so we said good bye and good luck with summiting tomorrow. We then headed back to the house and had another delicious meal. Once again we packed up our everything because we were going to head to Bangor in the morning where I was flying home and Cologne was spending a couple days. His plans were to fly back to Germany in about two weeks. He would rent a car and drive around Maine and part of New England.

In the morning we had breakfast and then hit the road. It was about an hour drive from Millinocket to Bangor. We dropped of Cologne at the mall where we all said our good byes and then I was dropped off at the airport. Albert & Marian where some of the nicest people I have met and there have been a lot of nice people on the trail. They did every thing to make two complete strangers welcomed and comfortable during the stay at their house.

LEGO