Before Shenandoah  Days 96, 97, 98, and 99, miles 1172.5 to 1229.2 (56.7 miles total).  I took the train from Washington DC out to Harpers Ferry. On the train I ran into Geisha Girl who was planning on spending the night in Harpers Ferry. I then neroed out 4 miles to a campsite. Since I had just come from Maine where there was never ending water. I forgot that water was some thing that needed to be kept track of, and I learned that lesson hard when I got to the campsite and there was no water. I hiked from Harpers Ferry to Front Royal, averaging around 20 miles a…

This post can originally be found on The Trek, here. Emergency Room visits! I am lucky enough to know someone in Maine who was able to pick me up from Baxter State Park. Remember how I mentioned that I noticed a swelling, hot, and painful feeling in my cheek in one of my last posts? Well by this point, I was convinced it was an infection. So instead of heading home, I was taken straight to the ER from Katahdin. The doctor in the ER diagnosed it as an abscess which needed to be cut opened and drained.  The now hole-in-my-cheek was then stuffed with a packing and bandaged Two…

Day #: 89 Miles Since Last Update: 5 mi. Total Miles Hiked: 1,173 mi. Miles Remaining: 1,025 mi. This post can originally be found on The Trek, here. Going up Katahdin As I wrote in my previous post, my tramily was placed in the Abol campground in Baxter State Park. This campground is ~2 miles from the Hunt trailhead (the official AT trail up Katahdin to Baxter Peak).  Most thru-hikers will opt to slackpack Katahdin, leaving the majority of their things at a ranger station, and climbing Katahdin with a daypack, typically taking the Hunt trail up, and the Abol trail is trail known for basically being a  giant boulder…

Day #: 88 Miles Since Last Update: 112 mi. Total Miles Hiked: 1,168 mi. Miles Remaining: 1,030 mi. This post can originally be found here, on The Trek. It was here. The 100 Mile Wilderness. The 100 Mile Wilderness stretches from Monson, ME to Abol Bridge, which lays on the outskirts of Baxter State Park, where one finds Mt Katahdin. It is called the 100 Mile Wilderness because it is 100 miles in which there is no option to resupply. 114.7 left to go until we reached the base of Katahdin. For me, this marked the beginning of the end of the northern half of my Flip-Flop; 1068.1 miles down.…

Day #: 83 Miles Since Last Update: 37 mi. Total Miles Hiked: 1,058 mi. Miles Remaining: 1,139 mi. This post can originally be found here, on The Trek. In comparison to the tough terrain of southern Maine, I was told that northern Maine would be easy. And… well.. yes… in comparison it was easier. But I would not define it as just plain ol’ easy. It was flatter, but that didn’t mean you were any less focused on watching your feet as you rock or root hopped around inundated trails that had simply become muddy swamps. It was beautiful to hike past lakes and rivers and not have to worry…

Even before entering New England, amidst conversation of The Whites and Mt. Washington, I would hear snippets of hikers saying "southern Maine is the hardest part of the trail."