The Last Five Miles!

By the grace of God, and with the support, prayers, and encouragement of my family and friends, I finished my Appalachian Trail Thru Hike yesterday, August 30th, 2016.
The weather was great as it has been for many of my summits - sunny, not too cold, and dry. Mary went with me for the first 3 of the 5.2 miles up to the top (Baxter Peak), and she struggled a bit but pushed through. I was glad to share part of the hike with her so she could see what it's been like for me for the past 5-1/2 months.


From Mary: quote of the day by Don...


Mary: "Wow, it's beautiful up here!"
"I'm glad I've been doing Crossfit"
"Is this how the trail always is?"
"My legs aren't sore at all, I'm just getting a bit winded"


Don: "Maybe it would help if you did less talking and more breathing."


And with that, I'll let the pictures tell the story of my final day, up to Baxter Peak and back down.

Dressed and ready to go

Distant view of Mt. Katahdin on the way in, 6AM

Entering the park

Waited in line for 45 minutes!

Heading out, 7:30AM!

Yes, this is the trail

..and this...

...and this.

First view close to the top of the tree line

boulder field, following the white blazes

From a small summit, end of first boulder field...aka, Mary's stopping point
after 3 miles and 2,800 feet of climbing. After her boulder climb,
she took one look at this next boulder climb and said that was it for her.



From this point, 2.2 more miles for Don to Baxter Peak...
up this boulder path to a plateau then one more climb

Another view of the boulder climb

Views from Mary's spot, breath-taking!



Don's view back down the boulder climb.
Mary is on that small space at the end of the line

Plateau, follow the white blazes across

Baxter Peak in the distance, across the plateau

At Mary's spot, the clouds rolled in for a short bit

Views at and from the top

Plateau from the other side

heading back down - Don did the 4.4 mile round trip in 2 hours!
Mary and Don did the first 3 miles in 3 hours

Oh Happy Day!

No, Mary is not resting, she's doing her version of
getting down the mountain

See the very small bar near the top of the picture?
To get down you need to turn around on top of the rock
and grab the bar, then lower yourself down.
This was Mary's biggest challenge...
and meltdown point.
But after 10 minutes and with encouragement,
and help, she finally made it down.

Yes, still walking rocks

Red rock

Thank God the boulders are behind me!

One last look back up the steps.

Almost finished...

10.4 miles round trip, 8 hours and 45 minutes

When in Maine...

I'll end with pictures of friends I met along the way who finished the same day or day after.

Chopper. We started the same day, March 13th,
but didn't see each other except twice along the way.



Mountain Goat, Chopper's brother.

Pteradactyl, summited when I did

Fugitive, we toured Natural Bridge, and hiked for a while in Virginia

Halfway down (picked up Mary)



All done!

Bobbi (Chopper's wife and ground support), Lost and Found,
Mountain Goat, Chopper, Mouse, and me

Stay tuned for a post about my week in the 100 Mile Wilderness...