Better late than never! It’s been about four MONTHS since my last post and YES, I did keep on hiking. I’ve had two somewhat brief hikes since I last signed off and I would like to update you all on my life on the AT.

As planned, my 2016 AT hiking buddy Bill AKA “Adventure” joined my in Cooperstown just after Hall of Fame Weekend and we drove together up to Gorham NH and spent the first night getting ready for our hike at the White Mountain Hostel. We took a 150 mile “shuttle” (cab ride) the next morning to Monson Maine where our real hike began…

It was good to finally get our packs on an start, what we knew would be a tough section of the AT. The woods, rivers and lakes of Maine are some of the prettiest of the entire trail.

First night out, and it seemed my tent still was looking good. (It did leak a bit a few nights later in a hard downpour !). In addition, so far this is the closest I’ve been to a moose in Maine:

Bill hiked with me for the next few days, up and down some of the southern Maine peaks:

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Bill left the AT at Caratunk a small town where the Kenebec River flows. From this point, I was hiking solo for the next several days. The water is too deep to ford, so the only way across is via canoe for a short ride across:

One of the highlights of this part of the trail for me was discovering Harrison’s Pierce Pond Camp. An old rustic lodge where I spent the night right by the river:

Within a day or two I had reached the spot on the AT that was exactly 2000 miles from the southern most starting point in Georgia.

Maine has some of the largest fish I have ever seen and caught: (look closely)

As I hiked on, the hills (now real mountains) were getting higher and tougher. It was slower going than I planned, so I make the decision to call it a “half completed” section that I would come back to next August to finish. I’m looking for a hardy soul to hike this really tough section with me in 2018. Any taker’s? About 80 miles or so which should take about 7-10 days.

It’s now mid August 2017 and Stephanie will meet me back in Gorham to take us both back to Cooperstown. I need to work for a month with plans to tackle northern PA to complete an 80 mile section in October. Look at those amazing mountains in the background: summer 2018.