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.

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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.



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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.






























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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.






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day 104 - 06/22

after an awesome night's sleep in rangeley and a great breakfast, bomber, ams, and i caught some awesome trail magic where a guy drove 18mi out of his way to drive us back to the trail. it was a great hike up the saddleback ridgeline to saddleback, the horn, and junior saddleback, which was not so junior of a climb. just some tough climbs tomorrow to get over and then some nice flat stuff where we should hopefully make up some major miles. in case anyone is wondering i have sped up my timeline by nearly a week and may finish the trail around the 30th or 1st of july. my goal was my bday on july 7th, but this is just my pace and i'll celebrate my bday with my family having accomplished this amazing life changing experience. enjoy the pics of saddleback. 18.7mi from rangeley to spaulding mt shelter. 1982.5 total.






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day 103 - 06/21

i forgot to mention yesterday that it was very hot. today was also very hot. we hiked really fast for the first 6mi planning on doing a 28mi day. how quickly plans change! the first pic is by ams of bomber and i paddling a canoe around little swift river pond. we then changed our plans to a 20mi day cuz it was so hot. we then only made it another 4mi to rt 4 near rangeley, me and feeling very dehydrated, we decided to call it a nearo and make our way into town. ams decided to get his hair cut to a mohawk, so i figured, why not?, and joined him, as shown in the second pic. the third is of a sign in rangeley town center. the remaining pics are randomly of the last three days sent to me by ams. 9.4mi from sabbath to rangeley, me. 1963.8 total.
























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day 102 - 06/20

it's naked hiking day!!! so guess what i did today. it helped with hiking up moody mt, which might have otherwise made me very moody! naked hiking day takes place every summer solstice and is a time-honoured tradition amongst thru hikers. no, not just some perverted thing tribhu made up randomly. hilarious and g-rated pics are available upon request. lol. otherwise, it was a tough day of hiking, as has been par for the course in maine, only made bearable by random nakedness on the trail. 21.1mi from hall to sabbath day pond. 1954.4 total.


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day 101 - 06/19

so i guess i forgot to mention that i started hiking with two other thru hikers that i met back at lakes in the clouds hut on the day i hiked with my dad, bomber and ams. i am really grateful i caught up with them cuz maine has been really tough. it is nice to have company at this point in the journey today we tackled baldpate mt. it was very challenging as you can see from the pics. it was basically just rock ledge that we had to walk up while hoping our shoe soles stuck to the rock sufficiently enough so that we didn't tumble backwards towards a premature death. enjoy the pics! we then randomly decided to hitch into andover, me for dinner and a quick resupply. it was then a nice gradual climb up to hall mt lean-to. 20.9mi from speck pond to hall mt. 1933.3 total.





















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day 100 - 06/18

day 100! it is amazing how quickly it has gone by. after an invigorating 25mi day yesterday, today we only hiked a mere 9.5mi over the toughest terrain on the whole trail thus far. i have lots of pics for y'all. the first is of an incredibly steep section. then we entered the mahoosic notch boulder trail. it took 1 3/4 hours to hike only one mile. there was also snow and ice, so we of course made snowmen. it was so difficult but it was so much fun. after hiking 9.5mi over the course of only about 7 hours we called it a day. and now i am going to bed at only 19:00 cuz i am so tired. enjoy to pics! 9.5mi from carlo col to speck pond. 1912.4 total.

































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day 99 - 06/17

i hiked today. i really hiked. i hit some nice easy trail from imp down to rt 2 in gorham. it was so flat and such a nice change from the rest of the whites, i actually started running cuz it felt so great. as i was talking to my dad, wishing him a happy father's day, i met some hikers that i hiked with back in va. it was great to catch up. i then decided to push on and ended up meeting up with bomber and ams, who i met up at lakes in the clouds hut back on thursday. they were pushing on into maine so i decided to join them. the first pic is of the sunset
from the top of mt success. the second is of the nh-me border sign and as you can see from the flash needed to take the pic, it was after dark at that point. i am in maine! my 14th and final state! i also passed mile 1900 today. 25mi from imp to carlo col shelter. 1902.9 total.






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day 98 - 06/16

i had a great night at madison hut last night. i met the first sobo thru hiker this year, so we exchanged lots of trail info. my morning started with a quick, steep climb up mt madison, where i took the first two pics. the first is of the town of gorham in some morning fog and the second is of mt washington from the east side and opposite of my hike up to the top. the third pic is of a simple spider's web just perfectly spun and catching the morning light in such a beautiful way that i had to share it. it's the little things in life . . . i was thinking today how grateful i am to be blessed with such amazing parents. they have both taught me so much. i owe my success in equal parts to my father's determination and will and my mother's patience and intuition. it was so great to see them and i am so thankful they are my parents. 20.9mi from madison hut to imp shelter. 1877.9 total.









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day 96 - 06/14 - special post from my dad

Hello everybody. I am one sore puppy today. Yesterday we hiked from Mt Washington around Mt Adams to the Base of Mt Madison which was 5.7 miles and then another 3.9 miles to route 2 where my lovely wife Patricia met us - thank God! I wanted to kiss her feet when I saw her. This was one of the most difficult things I have done in my life. The rocks we scaled and the hills that we climbed up and down were littered with boulders and rocks. To think that my son is doing 25 miles a day in these conditions is mind boggling. Doing this hike with three artificial joints was making me be very cautious, which was making me slow. I did have plans to do the last 10 days of the trail with Tim, but after the one day with him and the obstacles in which he faces, I am going to call it quits. I know this will relieve a lot of people who were concerned about my safety. I would not trade this one day I spent with Tim for anything. We had a great day and he took me under his wing. To all you thru hikers out there, you are a special breed. I tip my hat to you. To all you people out there who think this is just a stroll through the woods, it's not! It is mentally and physically tough. I am so proud of Tim, and I pray that he stays safe. God Speed. - Tim's Dad, Paul.
tim's hike: hiking with my dad was awesome! i am so proud of him. to think that anyone attempts to hike this portion of trail and then considering his joint replacements and the ridiculous pounding that one takes while hiking is just incredible. he was a trooper and doesn't realize how well he did! he didn't mention it, but he was passing other hikers, including thru-hikers. so don't let him fool you - he rocked! the first pic is of my approach to mt washington, a video of the terrain on my hike up, a quick 360 degree video from the top, a pic of my dad on the mt washington ridgeline, and then a close up of us together - just two wild and crazy dudes. lol. 12.5mi from mizpah hut to madison hut. 1857.0 total.

 

day 97 - 06/15

decided to take a zero today to spend time with my parents. it was so great to see them. they spoiled me rotten. the hotel we stayed at had a jacuzzi, which felt so great after a day of hiking on the presedential range rocks. i got to fill up on pizza, beer, and ice cream, and then today we had a great breakfast and did a little shopping at the outlets in north conway. i hiked back up to the madison hut and tomorrow will finish the presendentials, wildcat, and then get close to maine for sunday. 0mi. 1857.0 total.

day 95 - 06/13

today was so frickin' awesome! the hike up mt webster from rt 302 and over the webster cliffs was so unbelievably exhilarating. it was basically mt climbing where i had to lash my poles to my pack and use my hands to climb up. so great. i stopped at zealand hut for leftover pancakes and made it to mizpah hut for another awesome meal and an easy work-for-stay. i also had an awesome onversation about religion, which always makes me happy. 17.3mi from guyot to mizpah shelter. 1845.2 total.


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day 94 - 06/12

after an incredibly awesome night at lonesome i hit the trail early to tackle the franconia ridge hike. the first pic is of lonesome lake as i was leaving early this morning. when i got to rt 93 i called my rents, who are driving up from florida, and made some plans. i am so psyched! my dad is going to ride the cog railway up to mt washington in 2 days, on thursday, and join me for a 13.5mi hike down to rt 16 where my mum will pick us up. yay! i can't wait to see them. the following three pics are of my hike over mts lincoln and lafayette on franconia ridge. truly amazing day of hiking. i made it to my guyot just as it started raining and am stealth hammocking for the night. 19.8mi from lonesome to mt guyot. 1827.9 total.




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