2024

Today we hiked our last mountain before Katahdin and we’re camping by a lake tonight.   I slept pretty well last night. We woke up around 6:30 AM and were hiking just after 7:30.   Since we camped on the ridge last night, we didn’t have a ton of climbing to do to hit the peaks for the day. Two of the three peaks on the ridge were wooded and had minimal views. These peaks were West Peak and Hay Mountain. However, the third peak called Whitecap Mountain, had fantastic views. We could clearly see Katahdin about 30 miles away as the crow flies. From this point, we still had about 80 miles of hiking to do. The trail is usually about twice as long as the straight line distance between two points. The first picture is Katahdin, and the other pictures are looking back towards the Bigelow Mountains, and the 100 mile wilderness behind us. We hung out at the peak of whitecap for a bit, then did our final major descent of the entire trail. From camp to the end of the descent was about 7 m...

Today we crossed 2,100 miles and had an amazing sunset to end the day.   I slept really well last night. We were next to a large stream that gave excellent background noise. We woke up at 6:30 AM and we’re hiking just after 7:40 AM.  We began the morning by climbing Barren mountain. At the beginning of the ascent, we crossed the 2100 mile mark. It’s crazy that this is our last 100 mile marker. There was a short fire tower on the top of Barren Mountain with only a ladder. They had removed the top structure due to safety concerns. We climbed about halfway up the ladder and enjoyed a nice view. Unfortunelty I forgot to take pictures. After Barren mountain we walked a ridge that had great views of the 100 mile wilderness around us. The woods between the views were very nice as well. We walked through a bog that was notable for containing a carnivorous flower called a purple picture plant. The bog itself was a cedar bog, which was pretty cool.           ...

Today we began the 100 Mile Wilderness, the most remote section of the AT. I slept incredibly well last night, with AC, no bugs, and a real bed. We slept in and my mom made us a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and an orange glazed pastry. Real food was fantastic. Thank you so much! Shelby and my mom dropped us off at the trail just after 9:15 and we began our 17.6 mile day.  It was incredibly hot today, reaching over 90 degrees with a ton of humidity. Very quickly into our hike we decided to see if Shelby and my mom could meet us again at a road crossing 3 miles into the day. This way we could eat lunch in air conditioning and maybe get ice cream. It worked out! They picked us up around 11 and we went to the Monson General Store where we got sandwiches for lunch and ice cream for dessert. Just being out of the heat for an hour was fantastic. Shelby and my mom dropped us back off at the trail at around 12:15.   After lunch we began the 100 mile wilderness, a stretch of trail with...

Today we forded 4 rivers and hiked 26 miles in 90 degree heat.   I slept very well last night, pretty much straight through the night. We woke up at 6:30 and started hiking around 8.  We had a couple decent views from the Pleasant Pond ridge before dropping down into the valley.  We spent most of the day just hiking through the woods. Occasionally there would be mud or roots or rocks, but overall it was pretty simple.  Before climbing our only mountain for the day we passed Moxie Pond.  Then we climbed up Moxie Bald Mountain. On the way up the trail went through some really cool rock formations and caves.  The top of Moxie Bald had a couple good views.  After Moxie Bald we spent pretty much the next 18 miles hiking through woods.  The only remaining excitement for the day were the river fords. None of them were dangerous, but we had to walk through the river to get to the trail on the other side. We forded Bald Mountain Stream, Marble Brook, and t...