Biggest regret from their thru

[ChinMusic]

I was very happy with the way my thru played out but there is one thing that nags at me.

I was breaking down physically and my mental game was shot while I was in Maine. I just wanted it to end and go home. I regret not being able to enjoy Maine. My loss........

[Honuben]

Hey Chin, maybe a section hike of Maine would do you some good. Healed up physically and mentally could be nice.

[rafe]

I guess section hiking has its advantages. I loved hiking Maine. All except for those PUDs along the river just south of Monson. It was hot as hades and I sooo wanted to be in that river. That's about the "negativity" I recall from Maine. My first trek through the HMW was damn nigh religious. I was spellbound.

[canoe]

Hey Chin, maybe a section hike of Maine would do you some good. Healed up physically and mentally could be nice.

Hope its in the cards for you.

[Meriadoc]

None! Moments I could regret were all learning moments. Some of those moments were very difficult, some of the most difficult moments in my very easy life. (I know I've been handed a pretty privileged slate: I am fortunate enough to not be hungry, to have shelter, and to have a piece of paper from university.) But I wouldn't be who I am today without those moments. One of the biggest and longest learning moments was how to let go of control and to let the trail come to me rather than force the trail to conform with my preconceptions.

[rafe]

One of the biggest and longest learning moments was how to let go of control and to let the trail come to me rather than force the trail to conform with my preconceptions.

Ah now we're getting to the heart of the matter, yes indeed. Not really a "moment" -- more like a lifetime to get it, and I still have to remind myself from time to time.

[Dogwood]

I was very happy with the way my thru played out but there is one thing that nags at me.

I was breaking down physically and my mental game was shot while I was in Maine. I just wanted it to end and go home. I regret not being able to enjoy Maine. My loss........

That sounds like possible cause to hike the Maine AT again.

Just going through the motions on a hike, or in LIFE, is not hiking nor is it fully living.

[Dogwood]

That was beautiful Meriadoc.

[CELTIC BUCK]

I've done sections at both end of Maine with my wife in the past ; this is why I want to start my thru in Maine in 2016 I'll be fresh to re enjoy all of Maine. with my hiking partner Celtic Walker who will be a vigor filled 3 yr old Labrador then.

[WingedMonkey]

No regrets. Never wanted it to end, never wanted to go home.

[Dogwood]

Not really a regret but rather an awareness that I recognized in southern Maine going NOBO, I had to remedy if I was to be honest with myself and others, was that I had intentionally not given my BEST effort to hike the trail. I kept a fairly accurate personal AT Trail Dairy. I was astonished when I added up all the mileage I had missed amounted to almost 200 miles almost 10% of the AT. I had skipped big chunks - 37 miles here, 40 miles here, 70 miles there, etc. I wasn't trying to be legalistic or puritanical about the mileage I simply knew that I couldn't in my heart state I had honestly done my BEST to hike the AT. I would have been lying. My conscious nagged at me. As I was in the back seat of the car being driven back to NJ by my two brothers who had driven up to Maine to summit Mt Katahdin with me I told them I'm not finished. They let me off in Killington VT in mid Oct in the snow thinking I was crazy but I picked up those miles I had missed in 3 different states scattered about in 5 different sections of the AT in 3 additional weeks of hiking. I know I'm a better hiker and person because I chose to do that.

It was quite memorable being on those sections of the AT in the snow with no leaves on the trees basically alone with precious few other hikers, and no thru-hikers, no one else at lean-tos, doing those miles compared to being in the same area about 6 weeks earlier on a crowded very different AT. That sealed my fate. That's when I fell madly in love with long distance hiking. That's when I knew the AT wouldn't be my last long distance hike.

[moytoy]

All I can say is I wish I had your problem Mr Music. I don't know if I'll be able to walk to Maine.

[ChinMusic]

All I can say is I wish I had your problem Mr Music. I don't know if I'll be able to walk to Maine.

I do feel privileged to have sustained my health throughout the season. I may take Dogwood's suggestion and add a Maine revisit to my future plans.

So many trails, so little time......

[rickb]

That I didn't introduce myself to Charles Bronson and ask if I could buy him a beer as I hiked past him sitting on a bench in Hanover.

[ChinMusic]

That I didn't introduce myself to Charles Bronson and ask if I could buy him a beer as I hiked past him sitting on a bench in Hanover.

This is the leader in the clubhouse.

[HikerMom58]

I do feel privileged to have sustained my health throughout the season. I may take Dogwood's suggestion and add a Maine revisit to my future plans.

So many trails, so little time......

Yes sir... you better get on it!

Hey Chin... when Shelby & I get to Maine, I would be honored to hike ME with you if works out that way... deal? I promise I wouldn't push those big miles on you! You can set the pace! I wish B-rocket could join us too. She might.#ilikedreaming.

[rickb]

This is the leader in the clubhouse.

What's weird is that I had just ended a relationship with a girl who must have been his biggest fan. We were living in Bogota and the movie theaters there had showed every (and I do mean every) one of his movies, and we saw them all. I can't say that I thought about Bronson on my way south to Hanover, but I sure thought about the girl.

Seeing Bronson was so unreal I could not make sense of it.

Years later I learned he had a farm in the area.

[vic_doom69]

I was breaking down physically and my mental game was shot while I was in Maine. I just wanted it to end and go home.

I kinda felt the same way at the end of my hike. Even though I was burned out I knew I'd miss it as soon as I was home. Can't wait til I get to do it again someday.

[Don H]

I was very happy with the way my thru played out but there is one thing that nags at me.

I was breaking down physically and my mental game was shot while I was in Maine. I just wanted it to end and go home. I regret not being able to enjoy Maine. My loss........

I felt exactly the same, I just wanted to be done. I plan on doing Maine again in sections and in a better frame of mind.

Other regrets; not taking more pictures and maybe not taking more time to enjoy the trail.

[Starchild]

#1 Not seeing a bear (no the zoo does not count).