DavidNH
10-04-2006, 13:33
Hi folks!
I just want to spread the word here.. and appolgies in advance but I am gonna break protocol just this once to shout it from the rafters...
I DID IT!!!!!
I summited Mount Katahdin Baxter Peak on Saturday September 30, 2006. I began the hike at Springer Mountain Georgia on March 21, 2006.
Katahdin is one of the most beautiful and impressive mountains I have seen.. and I have seen a lot of mountains! I really love how wild and alpine it is. Temps where in the 30's and there was frost on all the grasses.
So the trip took me 6 months a week and a day which includes about two weeks of zero days. I carried 40 pounds plus or minus (got as high as 50 when I really loaded up on food like after Monson). I experimented with various light weight gear (sneakers, tarptent, alcohol stove) but in NH and Me I went back to my tried and true (boots, free standing all weather tent, whisperlite stove).
Weather for the most part was in my favor.I did hit plenty of mud but ME was not half as bad as it would have been had I been there in June...just ask any southbounder!
I never slack packed (well except for climbing Katahdin) and always hiked north. I tried to hike at my pace but found it difficult to not get swept up into the obsession of miles and speed that so many hikers have. I have tons of pictures. What fabulous scenery the trail runs through.
Parts of the trail I would love to revisit:
the smokies
the Grayson Highlands
Shanendoha Natl Park
Vermont..little rock pond and stratton pond
the whites.. my stomping ground but even so.. they are gorgeous!
Maine.. the 100 mile wilderness, BSP, and the Bigelows and Saddleback MTN.
Parts of the trail I really don't care to visit again:
Georgia during peak thru hiker season: what a circus!
PENNSYLVANIA! I will forevermore maintain a passionate dislike of this state. Will those trail clubs ever stop pouring small rocks on the trail??? and why intentionally route the trail over a rock garden? and why so many small no name type clubs?
The Mahoosics. Yes they are gorgeous, but honestly.. couldn't someone lay out a descent trail? why straight up and down and through and across boulder fields??
So all in all.. I think I can feel pretty good about things. I completed in one year..thru hiked the AT..one of the harder trails in the US. No cutting corners and though I was surely one of the slower hikers, I don't feel that lessens my achievement in anyway. One still has to keep going and get there.
I was probably not one of the more popular hikers out there..but that's ok.. for one.. a thru hiker in his mid 40's is a rarity and for another my hike was more about me and my hike than what other's may of thought of me. I avoided the smokers and drinkers as much as I could which I am sure did not endear me to many folks. But as I said before..its ok.. it was my hike my rewards and my challenge. So to that end..all is good!
Oh.. my weight went from 255 +- at start of the hike to just under 200 pounds at the end. I have never lost so much weight over a 6 month period ever. Now if I can only keep it off now that I am not backpacking!!!!
I wonder if that December Billeville feast in Hanover will happen again this year? I unfortunately missed the feast in Caratunk this year...I was already in Monson at Shaws (one of my favorite AT hostels.. the breakfasts are killer!) and was not about to retreat south!
Best wishes to all,
DavidNH (trail name Snickers!)
I just want to spread the word here.. and appolgies in advance but I am gonna break protocol just this once to shout it from the rafters...
I DID IT!!!!!
I summited Mount Katahdin Baxter Peak on Saturday September 30, 2006. I began the hike at Springer Mountain Georgia on March 21, 2006.
Katahdin is one of the most beautiful and impressive mountains I have seen.. and I have seen a lot of mountains! I really love how wild and alpine it is. Temps where in the 30's and there was frost on all the grasses.
So the trip took me 6 months a week and a day which includes about two weeks of zero days. I carried 40 pounds plus or minus (got as high as 50 when I really loaded up on food like after Monson). I experimented with various light weight gear (sneakers, tarptent, alcohol stove) but in NH and Me I went back to my tried and true (boots, free standing all weather tent, whisperlite stove).
Weather for the most part was in my favor.I did hit plenty of mud but ME was not half as bad as it would have been had I been there in June...just ask any southbounder!
I never slack packed (well except for climbing Katahdin) and always hiked north. I tried to hike at my pace but found it difficult to not get swept up into the obsession of miles and speed that so many hikers have. I have tons of pictures. What fabulous scenery the trail runs through.
Parts of the trail I would love to revisit:
the smokies
the Grayson Highlands
Shanendoha Natl Park
Vermont..little rock pond and stratton pond
the whites.. my stomping ground but even so.. they are gorgeous!
Maine.. the 100 mile wilderness, BSP, and the Bigelows and Saddleback MTN.
Parts of the trail I really don't care to visit again:
Georgia during peak thru hiker season: what a circus!
PENNSYLVANIA! I will forevermore maintain a passionate dislike of this state. Will those trail clubs ever stop pouring small rocks on the trail??? and why intentionally route the trail over a rock garden? and why so many small no name type clubs?
The Mahoosics. Yes they are gorgeous, but honestly.. couldn't someone lay out a descent trail? why straight up and down and through and across boulder fields??
So all in all.. I think I can feel pretty good about things. I completed in one year..thru hiked the AT..one of the harder trails in the US. No cutting corners and though I was surely one of the slower hikers, I don't feel that lessens my achievement in anyway. One still has to keep going and get there.
I was probably not one of the more popular hikers out there..but that's ok.. for one.. a thru hiker in his mid 40's is a rarity and for another my hike was more about me and my hike than what other's may of thought of me. I avoided the smokers and drinkers as much as I could which I am sure did not endear me to many folks. But as I said before..its ok.. it was my hike my rewards and my challenge. So to that end..all is good!
Oh.. my weight went from 255 +- at start of the hike to just under 200 pounds at the end. I have never lost so much weight over a 6 month period ever. Now if I can only keep it off now that I am not backpacking!!!!
I wonder if that December Billeville feast in Hanover will happen again this year? I unfortunately missed the feast in Caratunk this year...I was already in Monson at Shaws (one of my favorite AT hostels.. the breakfasts are killer!) and was not about to retreat south!
Best wishes to all,
DavidNH (trail name Snickers!)