ATAE

ACE is a 29 year old designer from New York City with very little hiking experience, attempting to thru the Appalachian Trail in 2016.

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#dreamteam

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And just like that, it's over. 2,189 miles, a 6-month walk through the woods from Georgia to Maine, is done.

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This is it. 2,183.9 miles to get here. We woke up when we normally do, as there’s a bit of a rigamarole you have to go through before starting your climb of Katahdin. We visit the Rangers station to sign in, which is a safety measure, as well as a measure of the hikers passing through in a season. You get your permit and your number, which represents what number northbound thru-hiker you are. I clocked in at 702; for those playing at home I signed in at Springer Mountain 6 months ago at 645. Not bad! We also took basically EVERYTHING out of our bags. Neither Buff or I has slack packed this trip, so this was a new experience. WOW, how cool it is to hike with barely any weight on your back!

We got started around 7:30am, and took off. The first part of the climb was pretty standard–we follow a river for a while, climbing ever upwards, all while still in the tree line. We ran into our buddy Hawk here and caught up with him as we climbed. The views were phenomenal, even at this point. We’re going to have a beautiful day!! 🌞

After about two miles of this up, we hit the boulder scrambles. This is hugely technical stuff, with rebar posts that barely help, and lots of balancing and leaping. And it’s all straight up! Well, they never said it’d be easy, haha. I slipped and got a nice gash on my shin which hurt like a son of a bitch. Left a little of myself on the mountain!

I think the boulder was only about a mile, but it took for-ev-er. From there it flattens out for a bit, and then climbs up, all above the tree line. You’re almost ridge walking to the top from here. Still super rocky, but it was a nice approach; gave you a little breather to contemplate what was just ahead.

The whole time we're being passed by people faster than us, and passing day hikers that we're faster than. Some people got out a few hours earlier than us, so we pass them going down as we go up; everyone's congratulating everyone else, even if you're just up for the day. NOBODY is in a bad mood; the weather is as beautiful as you could want, blue sky, sun shining, barely any breeze. And at this point, it’s just a matter of time.

I wish I could explain what it felt like, to come to the end of something like this. The scale of it, the amount of time and the magnitude of effort, seemed to both expand behind pushing you forward, and shrink ahead of you as it all distilled down into one, earthly, tangible, real piece of wood. I didn’t feel sad for the end of it, or relief that it was over; I wasn’t even gushingly happy. It was hard to feel anything too profoundly, as though feeling any one emotion too much would hit you like a surprise wave, hijacking all your senses and leaving you dazed. Instead I focused on just the moment, approaching the sign as a small crowd of hikers slowly grew from technicolor dots into people, and the A-frame of the sign finally came into view.

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Last night living in a tent...surreal ⛺️

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Bidding goodbye to the 100 Mile Wilderness! This was a huge mental and physical grind. We had about 2 days that were 'normal', and the other 4 really took everything we had. I think it's a mixture of being tired and so close, but we spent most of our down time in here talking about how much we wanted to be done, and fantasizing about just skipping ahead to the end. I know!! C'mon guys, we'd never do it, but it shows you just how brow-beaten we are. I had heard about people getting to Maine, or partway through Maine and quitting, and at the time I could never understand it. 'You're so close, just dig deep and do it!'; but man, when you feel like you're running on your last fumes, it's tough. Our second half/last three days here we had to do 21+ miles every day to get to the base of Katahdin, as Buff had a plane ticket for the 16th, so we're 15th summiting or bust!

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Abol Campground! The AT goes right by this campground, where after 6 days in the wilderness we could get some actual hot food! It was really pricy, which sucked, but they’re 10 miles from the nearest power grid, so have to constantly run off generators (read: $$$). I noticed there that for some reason all the skin on my hands is sloughing off?? It’s…pretty gross.

We also got to trade in these coozies for a free beer!! We got these at 4 Pines Hostel in Virginia, and have carried them ever since. Nothing like pounding a beer before going out and hiking in the rain! …are we done yet? Haha

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So I didn’t get out of Maine without getting a litttttle wet. Buff managed to rock hop across this, but my slightly shorter legs and I think shittier traction on my shoes meant I lacked the courage to try. I had bought my camp shoes as water shoes for just such an occasion, as research had told me you always want to ford a river with shoes that attach to your feet (no crocs or flip flops), and you don’t want to do it barefoot. So, I took the extra five minutes to switch shoes, slop across the river, and switch back. I think it’s a testament to how lazy hikers can be, that even just 5 minutes of stopping for this felt like a stupid chore. Guess we’re extra lucky it’s been so dry!

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We've got SO many of these lake beaches, but being the middle of September, it's just not warm enough to swim...maybe for the best, because one of them we saw some gnarly looking leeches!

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Our first detailed-ish view of Katahdin!!!! We're coming for you~

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Well, I was hoping adrenaline and excitement would power me through these last few days, but DANG, I am tired. We're still climbing over mountains, still scaling up and down on Boulder fields and rolling ankles on incredibly rocky/rooty trail. I guess I should have expected it! My body I think knows the end is right around the corner; my knee problems and ankle problems are compounding 😩 Only a few more days!! We can do this!!!!!

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The 100 mile Wilderness! This is the final push before we get to Katahdin. In Monson we had to decide how many days we wanted to spend hiking the whole thing; most people take around 6 days, so we opted for that. 6 days of food is HEAVY. It stinks because now at the end, our bodies are breaking down and really need some nutrition, but at the same time you really don't want to carry any more than you need, even though you know you'll be exhausted and starving. At least at this point were under a week to summiting; we can do anything for 6 days! The other nice thing is there's a couple of REALLY flat days in here--hoping we can motor through'em! Still got some mountains to finish up though...

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To think, in a week I'll officially get to add my name to the list!

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This lil guy was about as thick as your thumb and as long as your pointer finger! Buff picked'em up, which it was NOT thrilled about. Nature!

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That's pretty neat!

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What's for dinner! 😜

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So Maine actually has a TON of rivers you have to ford; this one is one of the tougher ones, our book saying "this river is typically knee deep, if serious rainfall has occurred consider waiting for the water level to drop as it can be extremely dangerous". So imagine our surprise to walk out to...this! An easy rock-hop across and we didn't even have to get our feet wet! Maine has been unusually dry, let's hope it stays that way for at least another week!

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🙂🙃