#ataelol

#dreamteam

And just like that, it's over. 2,189 miles, a 6-month walk through the woods from Georgia to Maine, is done.

I wish I could explain what it felt like, to come to the end of something like this. The scale of it, the amount of time and the magnitude of effort, seemed to both expand behind pushing you forward, and shrink ahead of you as it all distilled down into one, earthly, tangible, real piece of wood. I didn’t feel sad for the end of it, or relief that it was over; I wasn’t even gushingly happy. It was hard to feel anything too profoundly, as though feeling any one emotion too much would hit you like a surprise wave, hijacking all your senses and leaving you dazed. Instead I focused on just the moment, approaching the sign as a small crowd of hikers slowly grew from technicolor dots into people, and the A-frame of the sign finally came into view.

Last night living in a tent...surreal ⛺️

Bidding goodbye to the 100 Mile Wilderness! This was a huge mental and physical grind. We had about 2 days that were 'normal', and the other 4 really took everything we had. I think it's a mixture of being tired and so close, but we spent most of our down time in here talking about how much we wanted to be done, and fantasizing about just skipping ahead to the end. I know!! C'mon guys, we'd never do it, but it shows you just how brow-beaten we are. I had heard about people getting to Maine, or partway through Maine and quitting, and at the time I could never understand it. 'You're so close, just dig deep and do it!'; but man, when you feel like you're running on your last fumes, it's tough. Our second half/last three days here we had to do 21+ miles every day to get to the base of Katahdin, as Buff had a plane ticket for the 16th, so we're 15th summiting or bust!

We also got to trade in these coozies for a free beer!! We got these at 4 Pines Hostel in Virginia, and have carried them ever since. Nothing like pounding a beer before going out and hiking in the rain! …are we done yet? Haha

So I didn’t get out of Maine without getting a litttttle wet. Buff managed to rock hop across this, but my slightly shorter legs and I think shittier traction on my shoes meant I lacked the courage to try. I had bought my camp shoes as water shoes for just such an occasion, as research had told me you always want to ford a river with shoes that attach to your feet (no crocs or flip flops), and you don’t want to do it barefoot. So, I took the extra five minutes to switch shoes, slop across the river, and switch back. I think it’s a testament to how lazy hikers can be, that even just 5 minutes of stopping for this felt like a stupid chore. Guess we’re extra lucky it’s been so dry!

We've got SO many of these lake beaches, but being the middle of September, it's just not warm enough to swim...maybe for the best, because one of them we saw some gnarly looking leeches!