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.
