TrailDad Roy's 2002 AT Hike |
Posted 9/11/02 TrailDad is home! The last of his journal entries appear below. Congratulations dad! Flyin' Brian Robinson brian_a_robinson@hotmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Posted 9/11/02) 8/29 Wilson Valley Lean-to, 6:30PM 13.7 miles today after an 8:30AM start. I considered going on to the next shelter another 4.7 miles but the hazy morning turned into a heavy stratus layer by mid-afternoon. It looks like a good chance of rain tonight. The trail was rougher than I expected and I got in here at about 4PM. Going on would have got me in pretty late. The breakfast at Shaw's was wonderful. I had the "3 of everything." They are great people there. Mr. Shaw senior drove me back to the trail this morning. Saved me a two-mile road walk. Bamboo Bob and his wife Judy are staying at this shelter with me, plus two southbounders. B. Bob's wife joined him in Caratunk and will hike with him the rest of the way to Katahdin. I hiked with Bamboo Bob down south but he's been a couple days ahead of me lately. He and Judy were also at the Shaw's last might. 8/30 Chairback Gap Lean-to, 6:45PM 15.6 miles today. It did rain last night but not a whole lot. Another hard up-and-down day, and more of the same tomorrow. So far, the "flatlands" haven't been flat at all. I'm in the 100-mile wilderness. Not my idea of a wilderness area but there are some pretty spots, and view of Katahdin from some of the high points. This is Labor Day weekend. I've already seen several weekend hiking groups today. I'm kind of concerned about crowding in the shelters if the weather gets bad. There are only 4 of us here tonight but there's no water at this shelter. I half expected to have it to myself. I carried 3.5 liters of water almost 2 miles so I would have enough for tonight's dinner and a start for tomorrow. 8/31 Logan Brook Lean-to, 7PM. Another great hiking day! Sunny but cool, and I'm on the downhill side of White Cap Mountain, the last significant mountain 'till Katahdin. The view of Katahdin from the top of White Cap this afternoon was spectacular. It was our first really clear look at it. That's going to be a climb, all right. More than 4,000 feet from base to summit. 17 miles today, but an easy day tomorrow. I have to pick up my last box at White House Landing. It's too far to get there tomorrow but easy to reach on Monday. So, I'll take my time tomorrow and get as far as I get. Maybe I'll finally see a moose? 9/1 East Pleasant River Lean-to, 10AM Stopped for a snack. I got a later start than usual. Been on the trail about two hours. I'm in a dream walking along a wooded trail in the cool morning. My pack is light and comfortable I've been carrying it long enough so that it feels a part of me. A grove of birch trees is showing off ahead in the early sunlight. I stop and listen. There is no sound except a few insects weaving their patterns in a beam of light. It's Sunday and the distant noise of chainsaws and branch chippers is absent. Later it will get warm and a cooling breeze will be welcome. If the afternoon clouds pile up, there may even be some thunder rolling around upstairs. But this is an easy day. Some days are not so easy. I scramble up a rocky path to stand on top of a mountain and look back at all the other mountains I have crossed in the past few days. But today I feel I'm getting a full day's pay for half a day's work. The trail today happens to be in the Maine wilderness in late summer, after the bugs and before the rains. Just about a perfect day. But I could be anywhere Anywhere there's a trail heading around the next bend or over a pass to an unknown vista or new experience. I'm living in a dream. It's been a great hike. The end is in sight. Happy? Sad? A good bit of both. 6PM Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to 11.7 miles today. Another 13.7 tomorrow will get me to White House Landing and my last resupply box. I got in here before 4PM, cooked dinner and hope to get a good night's sleep and an early start in the morning. It looks like there will be 4 people in the shelter tonight. One, a section hiker named Willy, is a nonstop talker. I hope he shuts off when the sun goes down. I spotted another bear today, about a half-mile before I got to this shelter. It was fairly small & didn't see me as it crossed the trail about 50 feet ahead of me. I clicked my hiking poles together a couple times and it woke up and took off through the woods. 9/2 White House Landing, 7:30PM. A super spot to get a burger 'n beer and spend the night. (Bring money.) Most of the northbounders here are planning to finish on the 6th of September and I will do the same. Greg will meet me on Thursday afternoon at Abol Bridge Campground and we will hike up Katahdin on Friday. I saw a moose today! Just a silhouette moving through the trees. Didn't see any antlers but it might have been a bull. Just couldn't see it clearly enough to tell, but it was certainly a moose. 9/3 Rainbow Stream Lean-to, 6:30PM. 15.9 miles today, and we're only 30 miles from the end! It was misty all day so everything is a bit damp. The sleeping bag will feel good tonight. We had a good stay at White House Landing (a beautiful location) and a big breakfast before starting down the trail at 9AM. 9/4 Hurd Brook Lean-to, 3PM. 11.5 miles to here this morning in the rain. It's stopped now and the sun is trying to peek through. More rain is in the forecast so I'm staying here tonight. Tomorrow I'll hike to Katahdin Stream Campground, another 13.4 miles, where I hope Greg will find me and pick me up. That will be about 10 miles of trail that Greg and I won't have to do Friday. It's only 5.2 miles from Katahdin Stream Campground to the end of the trail. Another hiker here, Blaze, let me use his cell phone to call Greg and give him the new pickup location but so far all I've been able to do is leave a message on his answering machine. 9/5 Katahdin Stream Campground, 1:30PM. I did talk with Greg last night, so he will meet me here as soon as he can. It's 5.2 miles from here to the top of Katahdin and the end of this trail. We'll do it tomorrow. Weather prospects are good. In the meantime we celebrated Nacho's finish. He and two other hikers just returned from the top, and 5 members of his family were here waiting for him. They had driven up from New Jersey, a 12-hour drive, they said. An exciting day for everyone! 9/7 On a CRJ (Canadian Regional Jet CL-65, Greg's plane) flying from Portland, ME to Washington Dulles, 10:45AM. Greg's in the seat next to me. Goodbye Maine! All done, going home! Greg and I climbed Katahdin yesterday, Sept. 6th, completing my thruhike of the Appalachian Trail 2,169 miles in 152 days. We started up the mountain a little before 8AM and reached the top before noon. After congratulations from and by several other thruhikers Little Bob, Blaze, Roosevelt and 3 or 4 others, we returned to Katahdin Stream Campground by 3:30PM. The climb was quite difficult, worse than I expected and harder than any other part of the trail even in good weather. Very steep and rocky, but fun. The morning was cold and windy. But clear. The views were spectacular in all directions as we got higher much different, Greg said, than the Oct. 27 climb he did with Brian last year. We took plenty of photos so Brian can see what he missed. Coming back down, relishing the completion of my hike and looking back at the miles of mountains and wilderness I had crossed in the last few days, I thought how much those people miss who travel only on the paved roads of this life. My fellow hikers have been young and old, rich and poor, successful and unsure about their futures, but each one has attempted something he wasn't sure he could do and learned something about himself in the attempt. I hope they have all enjoyed themselves on their journeys as much as I have. It's been my privilege and great pleasure to get to know them. They have helped make my hike a wonderful, memorable experience and I wish them well. It's been fun! |
