new blog and a new hike - pacific crest trail!

check out my new blog detailing my experience of surrender to the divine where i am currently blogging about my thru-hike of the pacific crest trail: awalkofsurrender.blogspot.com.

day 113 - 07/01 - last day!

i started my hike up mt katadhin at 06:00. i summitted at 07:50. it was easily the most technically challenging climb of the whole trail. from mile 3.5 from the summit to approx mile 1.5, one is basically rock climbing at level just shy of needing ropes at some points. i can't imagine tackling mt katadhin as an out-of-shape day hiker! ouch! i give even more credit to the sobos who have to start out by tackling such a challenging climb. i wonder if i would have had the mental fortitude and discipline to start my hike going south??? especially knowing the miserable, wet conditions that are in store for them as they go thru the 100-mile wilderness. it's just mind boggling.
so i put a video i shot on top of the summit as the first thing even though it was not chronologically, simply because i want everyone to see this the most. i am so incredibly grateful to everyone who supported me. it is just amazing to me! you know who you are and a million thank yous to you for everything!
the rest are pictures of my hike up katadhin. trust me that they do not do justice at all . . . i also included my park permit, showing that i am the 23rd thru hiker to finish this year. there are also pics of me and my rents in the parking area at the bottom of the mountain. i also included before and after pics from when i shaved off my mohawk and beard. vast inprovement, i think.
finally, i just want say that this hike has most importantly reminded me of what is truly inportant in life. please try to remember, thru my hike as an example if that works for you, that most every thing in this dimension is illusion, and that love is really the only important thing there is . . .
in the words of mumford & sons: "in these bodies we will live / in these bodies we will die / and where you invest your love / you invest your life . . ."

day 112 - 06/30

so after a grueling day yesterday, i took off again for another grueling day of hiking. have i mentioned my feet have been soaking wet every day for the last five days. the crazy thing is that they are so tough and caloused, i have no hints of blisters at all. trench-foot, on the other hand, may just be a possibility. my journey ends tomorrow. i  can't believe it. the first pic is of mt katadhin from the rainbow ledges, just 17 miles in to my day. from here it is about 20 miles away. the second pic is from abol bridge over the penobscot river on golden road in millinocket and only 10 miles away. it is still crazy to me that i hiked that much distance since just yesterday morning. insane! 33.1mi from wadleigh to the birches lean-tos at mt katadhin. 2179.1 total.

day 111 - 06/29

so i sadly took off on my own today to do a huge day of hiking. it was very fitting cuz i started my hike on my own and it just feels right to finish it on my own. i made the climb over white cap mountain and caught my first glimpse of mt katadhin from 80 miles away. it seems strange to look upon it and know i will summit it in only two days. yes - i will hike almost 80 miles in the next three days. the pic is from the top of white cap. you can just make out the sillouette of mt katadhin way in the distance, jutting up out of the flatness that must have been a glacial lake at one point in time. i cruised along all day and made it 30 miles at 16:00 where i suddenly felt very ill. i am not sure what it was, but i swear i thought my hike was over for what seemed to be a very long, agonizing 5 minutes. i just sat and breathed in deeply the beautiful fresh air and then went on my way again. i still can't believe how far i hiked today . . . 40.4mi from newhall to wadleigh stream lean-to. 2146.0 total.

day 110 - 06/28

today was the scariest ford bar none! we got an early start and thought nothing of the upcoming wilbur brook. yup, that's right, i wrote brook. as we hiked along we ended up catching up with mule and turtle. it is a funny connection because as i was hiking with them in new jersey and new york, mule kept mentioning ams, then i end up hiking with ams and then we all ended up hiking together for a short while. it was a good thing too, cuz wilbur brook was scary. i have no pictures i think just because we were all so shocked. i'm not joking when i say that these were class five rapids. it was like the pics from yesterday where we had to tie our packs to the rope and push them across ahead of us. the really scary thing is that it took two guys to get each of the women across. so like i wrote above, it was a very good thing that we caught turtle and mule today cuz they felt a lot better with us there i am sure. turtle is so slight of build that if her husband mule hadn't been behind her with his arms around her, her legs would have been lifted right out from under her from the strength of the current. before i get to today's pics, i have some random ones given to me by ams that i wanted to include. the first is of me on a socked in mountain top. then a pic of the three of us at the approximate location of the actual 2,000 mile mark. next is of a beautiful sunset over a pond. then bomber stuck in the mud. the next is a video of bomber getting out of the mud - ruh-row!. next is a picture from today of the five of us up on the barren ledges just a short while after fording wilbur brook. ams and i wanted a pic together cuz we had all hiked together at some point. from left to right it is bomber, me, ams, turtle, and then mule. finally, is a picture of bomber, ams, and i just before our final ford of the day, knowing that we were going to split up the next morning. as we all know, nothing is permanent in maya here on earth, so all things must come to an end. i am so grateful for meeting bomber and ams and now have unforgettable memories of some of the best and most funny moments of my life! thanx guys! 25.5mi from wilson to carl a. newhall lean-to. 2105.6 total.

day 109 - 06/27

no lie - this was a tough day! i still can't believe we did 27.7 miles yesterday including three fords. i've got tons of pics and videos today as it was was very eventful, to say the least. the first picture is from yesterday when bomber and i were crossing ther beaver dam. the second picture is of the easy part leading up to our ford of the east branch of the piscataquis river this morning. the first video is of me fording the river. it was really, really strong. don't let the lack of white water deceive you! the second video is of bomber making his way across. after we forded the river successfully with no casualities (i'm only slightly kidding), we ran into some sobos who were walking down to the river to check it out. apparently they had been stuck in monson for three days waiting for the river to quiet down and were quite shocked that we so determinedly and quickly made our way across. when we got to the road in to monson, they actually drove up and gave us a ride. they had just been to an outfitter where they bought very thick rope and some life jackets for their attempt of the fording. this was also gratifying. ;) we then chilled out in monson for a while, dried out our stuff, ate some luch, picked up resupply from our rents (thanx a million mum and dad!), and the proceeded on our way with the intent of completing another 15 miles. so the next pic is of the warning sign upon entering the 100-mile wilderness. i am holding up 4 fingers because it warns you to take 10 days of food and supplies and we only took 4 because that was more than enough for us! we quickly changed our intent to 10 miles when we discovered the big and little wilson fords! so the next picture is of a beautiful pond on our way to little wilson. the next picture is of the thundering water falls of little wilson. i haven't felt my heart pound in my chest in a really long time as it did when i heard these waters from about a 1/2 mile up the trail. when i got there i almost peed my pants thinking that i would have ford this river right before it dropped off 50 feet! at this point i was alone because i felt like getting my speed on so i had hiked on up ahead of bomber and ams. next i have a rather long (so feel free to skip ahead) video of bomber and ams crossing little wilson. next i have three pics of the finishing of our crossing of little wilson. finally there are two pictures of me crossing big wilson, which actually ended up being less scary than little wilson. 19.4mi from horseshoe to wilson valley lean-to. 2080.1 total.

day 108 - 06/26

holy rain batman!!! the trail in under water. see the video below. we did three fords across a pond, beaver dam, and the west piscataquis river. 27.7 mi from caratunk to horshoe canyon lean-to. 2060.7 total.

- posted using blogpress from my iphone on the appalachian trail

day 107 - 06/25

rain. and more rain all week. i am happy cuz it looks like both of my possible summit days, the 1st and 2nd, are supposed to be clear. schweet! we did 13.6mi of flat terrain in only 4 hours, caught the ferry across the kennebec river, and then decided to get out of the rain in caratunk, me. the pic is of east carry pond on the way. we also say four moose this morning, but the were too fast to catch a pic. :(. 14mi from west carry pond to caratunk. 2033.0 total.



- posted using blogpress from my iphone on the appalachian trail

day 106 - 06/24

today really was incredible. the bigelow range was so amazingly beautiful - i've got some awesome pics for y'all. enjoy! i passed the 2,000 mile mark today. unbelievable. 2,000 miles!!! oh ya, can you find me in the third pic? where's tribhu? 23.0mi from stratton to west carry pond lean-to. 2019.0 total.






























- posted using blogpress from my iphone on the appalachian trail

day 105 - 06/23

just in case no one has gathered from what i've written so far, maine is difficult. the mountains aren't necessarily high, but the grade is pretty tough. today we hiked from spaulding mt lean-to and after tackling two challenging climbs, the threatening thunderstorms were so dark that i actually considered putting on my headlamp at 14:30 in the afternoon! so, after only moments of consideration, we headed in to stratton for the afternoon to avoid the impending storm. the first pic is of a plaque after spaulding mt. the second is of the 1/2lb wolf burger i had at the white wolf inn. it had a 1/2lb patty, topped with a sausage patty, topped with bacon and all the fixins. for those who know me well, it really is quite funny the kind of food i have been eating on the trail. soon it will be back to fresh veggies!!! 13.5mi from spaulding to stratton. 1996.0 total.






- posted using blogpress from my iphone on the appalachian trail