About three weeks ago, on September 5th, I, with the help of you, ended my 161-day trek on the Appalachian Trail. The only bitter part is that once you summit Mount Katahdin and reach the sign, you have to turn around and hike back down to the parking lot at the campground. Other than that, the day was sweet! Here’s how the week went leading up to the final day.

Final week/100-Mile Wilderness

Rocket and Daddy Long Legs

While the 100-mile wilderness was truly remote–as in, we crossed a few logging roads, no paved roads, and only saw one car during the five days–it wasn’t lonely. Several thru-hikers all entered on the same day, and there were plenty of section hikers as well. This section wasn’t without challenge and strife. Upon leaving town I was a bit worried about my stomach. I’ll spare you the details only to say I’m glad I carry Pepto Bismal pills. Thankfully the problem went away after a few days. But it messed with my energy level…attitude…it wasn’t easy.

However, the weather during the final week couldn’t have been more beautiful. There were still a few big hills to climb, but none that would compare with Katahdin at the end. A few days into the 100-mile Wilderness, you catch your first glimpse of Katahdin and it is breath-taking…probably cause I first saw it from a smaller mountain about 70 miles in and I was out of breath. But it was still an amazing sight!

Snarky

There were several familiar faces during the last week, including Daddy Long Legs and Rocket. Snarky Snarkerson surprised us all by catching up to us around midnight a few days in while we were all sleeping. We had hiked ahead of him upon leaving Gorham, NH, because he needed an extra healing day. But he is crazy and caught up to us somehow. It was good to see him!

Final Day
The last day of hiking started out like any other. Wake up before 6am, pack up my sleeping pad and bag, eat some breakfast, and get dressed for the day. It had been quite chilly at night for the past week, so I normally started out the day in several layers until I worked up a sweat while hiking.

Like I mentioned in the previous blog, the trip to the top of Katahdin and back is no walk in the park. However, because it was a holiday weekend, there were lots of people out to hike the mountain on our day. The climb involves more boulder scrambling than any other section of the trail. In some sections, rebar hand-holds have been drilled into the rock face. I can’t imagine how people make it up and back on a day with less than perfect weather; if it would have been the least bit wet, it would have been treacherous!

You can first see the sign from about 30 yards away. 2,200 miles later and the finish line is in sight. Of course I was mostly exhausted, but I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear those last 20 feet. And then as I touched the sign, I couldn’t help but shed a few tears of joy/exhaustion/being overwhelmed/completion/thankfulness. All of this was caught on film, of course, as Jason the producer had hiked ahead to catch the moment.

We proceeded to hang out on top of the mountain for about half an hour to take in the view and the moment. The view from the top is probably the most beautiful of all the mountain top experiences on the trail, yet the moment is really hard to explain. All the depression, doubt, exhaustion, injury,  loneliness,  uncomfort, and worry that were working hard to end the hike early ceased to be an obstacle anymore. Relief. Success. “Vincerò!”

And then we hiked 5.2 miles back down and stopped hiking for good.

Transition
I’m not going to lie. It felt amazing to sit in a car and be whisked away from the park. It added to the relief and realization that it was all over and time to return to civilization. Myself, Jason, and several other hikers all stayed at a hostel in town, and then Jason gave Snarky and me a ride to the Bangor airport Sunday morning. It was fun to look out the window as the connection flight headed towards Laguardia and not only cover 1/3rd of the trail in about an hour, but see the expanse of Manhattan, all its inhabitants, the 9/11 vacuum, and the Statue of Liberty. Back to civilization, indeed.

Another short flight to Columbus, OH, and I walked off the plane and into the hugs of my family who were there to pick me up. Home, sweet, Ohio home. They promptly drove me to Chipotle where I inhaled a burrito, and then onto good ole Ross County, average elevation 700 feet, highest point 1,200 feet.

I had already scheduled appointments with my doctor and dentist to make sure 5 months of living in the woods didn’t create any coliforms or cavaities. The doctor’s appointment revealed that I had lost almost 40 lbs since January of this year! Wow…and my blood pressure dropped from 150/100 to 130/80. Yeah, neither are perfect…but that’s a big change!

I’ll post “before and after” pictures soon (should have taken the “after” picture before I started this tour as there is a LOT of food to eat back stage…and bus food at night…), but burning calories for 5 months shaved off inches from the waist, as you can imagine. Not much gain on the calf muscles…I may be doomed to chicken legs my entire life.

The dentist visit didn’t reveal such positive information. No cavaties. However an x-ray revealed that not only did I need all FOUR wisdom teeth removed…I also needed my first root canal. YIKES. While there was no pain during the procedure, the pain proceeded to increase over the next several days…and weeks. I had to go for Round Two of higher power painkillers and antibiotics. TBD whether or not I’m all better. But it took a strange toll on my energy level upon returning to Nashville…I didn’t feel like doing anything! Thus, a very late blog and stacks of mail on my desk yet unopened.

The Road Ahead

On the road with Casting Crowns

So I hopped on a tour bus on Wednesday, September 16th, just shy of a week of my return to Nashville and will be on this bus for the first 3 weeks of tour until returning home to Nashville. I’m sitting in a Starbucks in Roseville, CA, on our day off and for the first time in over a week I don’t feel as though I could lay my head down on the table and immediately begin napping. While I’m not walking 15-25 miles a day anymore, I’m also not getting 8-10 hours of sleep a day. More like 6 or 7. So this has been a different kind of tired. But I am VERY thankful to have such a great job with people I love being around. This tour will primarily be 3-4 days on, 3-4 days off after this first 3-week run is over. So I’ll have several days a week in Nashville to put that part of my life back in some sort of order.

As far as the website, plans are underway for a small renovation and turning the corner on version 2.0. The main goal is to have the site appropriate for first time visitors who may hear about my site through the TV show that will air this fall on Jason’s Comcast network, but only in the DC area. (I’ll let you know if a purchasable or online version becomes available.) Also up and coming will be one last gallery from the last several weeks of hiking, more reflection and summary blogs, as well as the highly anticipated beard growth time-lapse video…yes, get excited.

Finally, many people have had great questions about the trail and my thoughts about finishing. It’s really too soon for me to have a lot of profound thoughts or realizations. However, the main feeling or thought I want to convey is that of thankfulness.

First and foremost, I’m thankful for God’s faithfulness to me as demonstrated by the constant prayer of friends and family as well as provision and safety while hiking.

Secondly, I like to thank my web team again for an OUTSTANDING job. If it hadn’t been for Brian’s building and web-know-how and Allison’s…well, Allison possibly put more work into the success of the website than it took me to finish the trail! So a word to the wise, if you ever want to attempt a thru-hike of a long trail, you’re going to need an “Allison” to get you through. Someone who can not only logistically keep things in order with mailings, emails, and blogs, but who can encourage you and remind you that you’re not totally insane for attempting such a long hike. Just partially insane.

Thirdly, thanks to anyone who gave me the chance to share my story, including newspaper articles, online articles, as well as radio interviews on CDR!

Lastly, thanks to YOU, friends and family. I’ve said it before, but if it hadn’t been for your encouragement and prayers, I WOULD NOT have finished this trail. Certainly not this year, possibly ever. While there were “lonely” moments in the woods, there were not hopeless moments. I knew who was cheering for me and waiting for me when I returned. Thanks for being there for me.

While the banner may not reflect this, our total sponsorship is up to 14 as of the end of August! What a cool achievement! If only we could get 14 more by the end of September…September is the end of our fiscal year…28 is such a cool number…oh, and I happen to have turned 28 today… That would be an awesome present, to find out 14 more have been sponsored!!!

Being on tour has freshly reminded me that a great need for sponsors still exist. On our tour alone we will be attempting to get 1000s of kids sponsored, 100s every night. In a recent email from our president Richard Sterns he reminds us at the end that there are currently 24,000 girls awaiting sponsorship. The number for boys is surely higher. Our work is long from over, but we are reaching our goals everyday by reaching out to one life at a time.

Speaking of goals, here’s one last Trail Report to break down the last week of hiking! See you again soon!

Trail Report
8/30 15.1 miles. Not a bad day. Nice sun. Still tired from the 35.4
8/31 20.8 miles. Windy, chilly day. Stomach is not good. I feel terrible.
9/1 18.9 miles. Stomach still uneasy. Big fall today. Head first, pack kept me going down hill. Saw the Big K from White Cap.
9/2 21.5 miles. Energy is a little better as is appetite. I hike onto the last page of my guidebook tomorrow!
9/3 23 miles. As usual, long hard day. Nice short day tomorrow. Snark, DLL, Rocket, and I were hoping to hang out tonight but the mosquitos are horrendous. Thankful stomach is mostly back to normal.
9/4 9.9 miles. Beautiful last day of hiking towards Katahdin. I feel like I’ve been too tired to take it all in. I’ll meet Jason in the morning to do the final hike!
9/5 5.2 miles. (+5.2 miles back down) Beautiful day, couldn’t have asked for better weather. Done hiking! WOOT.

As of 11:50am on September 5th, Feed Bag finished his thru-hike by summiting Mount Katahdin!

While Feed Bag is as exhausted as he has ever been, he is excited to be done hiking, possibly forever, if not for a long time.

A full blog to sum up the end of the hike, as well as the final day, will be produced in the next few days.

-Team 2200miles.com

Yes, I did set a new distance record of 35.4 miles in one day! (It was 33.4 trail miles and 2 blue blaze miles into town. Which, the blue blaze used to be the actual AT, so I’m going to skip those 2 white blaze miles in the woods and pick back up at Rt. 15. Purists won’t agree. But at this point I think the AT had it best when it was mostly road walking through Maine. Not that Maine isn’t beautiful in the woods, but it remains wet and boggy even days after it has rained. And now that it’s raining all day here on 8/29 I can’t imagine how muddy the trail will be these next few days.) I wasn’t alone for those 35.4 miles. It was myself, Daddy Long Legs, and Rocket. There was rumor of a hurricane coming our way. So what was supposed to be an 18-mile day, lengthened to a 27-mile day, and then onto a 35-mile day with the drive to seek actual shelter. Why not? For the last 3 hours we were using head lamps and walking long after the sun had set. Total walking time was from 8:30am to 10:30pm with several breaks thrown in.

So now I’m lounging around all day, letting my legs recover, and working on this, my final trail blog! Again, I’m a little too exhausted to take it all in, but I’m truly looking forward to the end! While these last few miles are gradually easier, the actual ascent of Mount Katahdin at the end is no child’s play. Here’s what the park website has to say:

“The white-blazed Appalacian Trail up Katahdin is arguably the most difficult climb on the entire AT. Allow for a full 8-10 hours for a round trip hike of Katahdin. Following the AT up Katahdin requires rock scrambing and the use of hands in some places and can be a frightening climb for those with even a mild fear of heights. Though you will likely be visiting us in the summer or fall, bare in mind that is has snowed on Katahdin every month of the year and temperature extremes and high winds are the norm.”

Sweet. Save the hardest part for the end. You begin the climb from the last shelter which is at 1,070 feet above sea level. 5.2 miles later you’re standing on top of the Baxter Peak of Mount Katahdin, northern terminus of the AT, which sits at 5,268 feet. Yikes. Then, and here’s the really fun part, you get to walk back down to where you started. 5.2 miles of backtracking. Anyone own a hellicopter and want to meet me at the top?

My plan is to try and stick with Daddy Long Legs and Rocket until the end, mainly because I enjoy their company, but also because when we leave Monson tomorrow we enter what is known as the “100-Mile Wilderness.” Doesn’t that sound inviting? That’s basically 100 miles of walking without a major road crossing, nay, not even a secondary road crossing. So it’ll be nice to have some company through there until we reach Baxter State Park where Katahdin is located.

Finally, upon scrambling back down Katahdin, the plan is to get a ride from Jason (the producer of the show for which I’m filming) to the town of Bangor, ME, where I’ll pick up a rental car and drive 1,000 miles to Ohio in the amount of time I normally hike 30 miles. Unless anyone knows someone who works for an airline and can get me a “buddy pass” so I can fly home stand-by out of Bangor? I should have asked for that sooner. Oh well. It’s too risky to have bought a plane ticket not having 100% certainty that I’ll be able to summit on the day I’ve planned.

I’m going to attempt to get another 10 hours of sleep tonight because that sounds fun. Cell phone service has been increasingly more difficult as you can imagine. Seriously, you should google-map Monson, ME. Not a whole lot going on out here.

I’m thankful enough to have made it this far that I could happily go home now. But I guess I’ll push on since SOMEONE decided the trail needed to end on Katahdin. But seriously, and more on this later, I know I wouldn’t have made it this far if it hadn’t been for your prayers and encouragement. Especially since I was praying for a way out, and you instead prayed for perserverance, strength, and a way through. Even if you’re not a blog-commenter, if you’re reading this now, which I assume most of my friends are, I appreciate you coming along with me.

I’ll also have some closing thoughts on not reaching my goal of 2,200 kids sponsored in the days and weeks ahead, but that’s not to say we can’t finish strong. Maybe we should make our goal 100 kids by the end of September. Then when Oprah or Good Morning America picks up my story, we’ll push for the 2,200 again. I’ll probably have the total up through the end of August by the next time I write. (Banner update, ahem, Brian?) We’re up to 11 as of the end of July! That’s 11 kids who now know someone in the United States who has a big enough heart and a little extra in the pocket book to send help and hope to them. 11 more kids who know without a doubt we care for them, even if we never meet them face to face. The stories are true. Their first breath had them on a path that stacked their odds against them. But your first breath, presumably here in the US, has you on a path that is able to intersect with and redirect the lives of others. Thank you for being willing to give!

Lastly
Ohio friends: Tentative party on September, 8th at Frankfort Pizza in Frankfort, OH, for dinner. YES.
Tennessee friends: McCrearys or Mellow Mushroom, date and time are TBD.
Holland friends: Ik mis u kerels en hoop om u spoedig te bezoeken.
Trail friends: Mi casa es su casa if you ever pass through Franklin, TN.
All other friends: I’ll try and see you ASAP. Or…come visit me on tour!!!

Trail Report
8/19 17 miles. Tough day, saw 2 snakes. In Maine now, last state!
8/20 16.4 miles. Completed the notorious Mahousuc Notch and Arm. Tough miles.
8/21 18.1 miles. Exhausted myself on the last mile. I was spent.8/22 13.3 miles. Slack-packed with Jason, started too late, had to hike w/headlamp in the rain to finish. Yuck. Saw 2 MOOSE (moosen? meese) while driving back from the trail. HUGE.
8/23 14.9 miles. Not a bad day but ready to get Maine over with.
8/24 16.9 miles. Food doesn’t taste normal. Maybe I’ve dehydrated myself.
8/25 13.5 miles. Short day into Stratton, ME. Staying at the Stratton Hostel.
8/26 16.7 miles. Slack-packed south over the Bigelow Mountains. Completed cloudy, didn’t see anything, yet experienced hardest wind yet on the trail
8/27 19.9 miles. Nice, easy terrain. Ferried across the Kennebec River, the largest unbridged river crossing on the AT. Free ferry service because it’s too difficult and dangerous to ford.
8/28 33.5 miles (+2 blue/old AT). Had two decent climbs. Also had to ford 2 rivers = wet feet. Hiked from miles 16 on with Daddy Long Legs and Rocket. Decided to try to get to town to avoid the rain.
8/29 0 miles!!! Sitting in a nice hostel called the Lake Shore House. Avoiding the rain, contemplating an early dinner and an early bed time.