Pitt Stains, Wet Socks and B.O.

Day 1
I realized today just how hard it is to leave town and get back on the trail after having such a good time. The Lakeshore House was an amazing experience. The food that Rebekah made for us was wonderful and her hospitality was second to none. We only hiked in 9 miles today, but with a pack weighing close to 30 pounds it felt a lot longer. It will be nice cause I will be eating a lot better now! I only took one picture today and one yesterday so here they are. Tomorrow is a 15 mile day I think so it'll be bed time soon so I'll say goodnight now.
Day 2
We woke up at 3:30 to the sound of thunder and rain. I've found that hiking in the rain is actually fun. I hiked about 6 miles until I caught up with Stitch. We did the last 7 together. He's good company. The shelter is nice, but we have quite a few people in it tonight. It'll be an early night. Tomorrow we'll be hiking by 5 in the morning. Here are the pictures
Day 3
We started hiking today at 4:40 in the morning. Right now I'm sitting on top of Pleasant Pond Mountain soaking up some sun before our 7 mile descent into Caratunk.
We made it into town and stopped at the post office before hitching into the white water rafting lodge. It was a beautiful lodge with a pool and hot tub and it was only 12 bucks to stay at! I ate a huge plate of Mac and cheese and a burger and went to bed a happy boy :)
Day 4
We hitched a ride back to the trailhead this morning. The first thing we did was cross the Kennebec river. We had to use a canoe because the water is too deep. It was fun though!
Today I was reflecting while walking and listening to music. I was thinking about how fortunate I am to be able to be living out my dream. I am 13 days into my hike and I'm having the time of my life. The people are always nice and it's just always so peaceful out here. The downside is that I'm always hungry now and I miss my family quite often. I got kind of a wake up call today thinking about the northbound thru hiker who drowned this past week on the trail. It really reaffirmed the thought that life is truly finite and can end at any time. It got me thinking about what if something happened to a family member and I wasn't there to say goodbye. I wasn't there to enjoy there last moments with them.
Anyways it started raining about 12 miles into our 15 mile hike today. We got to the shelter and it was completely full with other SOBO thru hikers that only did 10 today so I had to set up the hammock for only the second time on the trail so far. I forgot how comfortable this thing is! Well, it's time for bed. We have only a 10 mile day tomorrow, but it's through the Bigelow mountains so needless to say it will be tough. Here are today's pictures.
Day 5
I woke up to it raining. Luckily the rain stopped and it turned out to be a beautiful day. We hiked 12 miles today to a campsite. During the day we hit the supposed 2000 mile mark. It doesn't really help us SOBOs, but it was still cool to see. We climbed over Little Bigelow mountain then down about 2 miles to the campsite. Here are today's pictures.
Day 6
I woke up to rain. :( not cool at all. We finished up the Bigelows today on a cloudy, rainy and cold day. Were sitting in a lean-to eating lunch and waiting a bit to go our last miles into Stratton. Sorry no pictures today. I don't really want to ruin my phone :/
-I want to send a big thank you to Steve Willis. He is currently housing 4 hikers including me in a cabin. He has fed us which for hikers is a lot of food and is currently making brownies for us. I can't thank you enough for your hospitality and your willingness to house and feed 4 stinky, hungry and tired hikers.

The 100 miles from hell

The trail has really surprised me. The trial is a lot more rugged than I thought. The first day we did 15 miles and today we did 19. Needless to say I'm a little tired. Here are some things I've learned over 2 days.
-mud is not my friend
-rocks are not my friend
-uphills and downhills are not my friend (yet)
-seeing a shelter is such a moral booster
-I have never thought about food that I don't have as much as I have now
-people are really nice when you reciprocate
-Maine is beautiful
I am doing fine and plan on staying in monson for a night when I get there. Right now my group and I are a little under half way there on our second day. If all goes well we might just finish early. That's all for now. I'll update soon.
Day 3 and it's been raining all morning. Luckily we have a shorter day today of 15 miles to the campsite. We also pass Whitehouse Landing where there are burgers and such. Maybe a small pick-me-up like that will help get us through the day. With the miles we do today we will be over halfway through the 100 mile wilderness and heading down the home stretch in monson where a warm bed and a home cooked meal await.
We got into the campsite tonight around 530 and it was right on the lake. I set my hammock up facing the lake and we made a fire. We picked up two more guys to our group at wadleigh lean to yesterday. The group now consists of landon, momma(Lizzie), Darrel, bill and I.
Day 4
This is what I woke up to:
We started around 9 today and only planning on going around 8 miles today. The terrain starts to get pretty steep after today so we don't wan to push out any big miles today. We also got our first trail magic. I've never been so happy to see a soda can in my life. It is certainly the little things in life that make you happy out here.
We just got to the shelter and it's about 2:00. It sits right on a river with a big waterfall to the right of the shelter. I'm on my way to the privy right now then down into the water to cool off. Today has been a perfect day to hike. It's about 70 and sunny without a cloud in the sky. Lets hope that the weather keeps up until monson. By the way when I get home or see you next time remind me to tell you about Ant Man. That's all for now. I'll update tomorrow.
Day 5
We woke up to 45 degree weather. My alarm didn't go off at 5 this morning do we're running a little late. We have a 17 mile day today, but we go over 4 mountains to climb including the tallest one in the 100 mile wilderness. I'm starting now and am prepared for a very long day.
-literally almost ran into a 6 foot tall moose not 20 minutes into my hike today. Scared the poop out of me! That thing was huge! It stared at me for a couple minutes then walked off the trail. Later I came into a unusual forest of birch trees. They all looked the same and it was hard to make out where the trail was, but at the same time it was so mysterious and beautiful.
-I just made it to the Logan brook shelter where I'll probably take lunch. It was a really tough climb up here but I can tell my conditioning and my legs are getting used to it. My feet are kinda sore and I stubbed one of my toes pretty bad earlier, but other than that I'm doing fine. I can't believe that after today it's only 2 and 1/4 days till monson. We're supposed to get in on Monday morning and have the whole day to enjoy ourselves in town. Plus some good food will be greatly appreciated.
- side note for Josiah: I was listening to Tomahawk on a tough uphill and it made me think of the completely insane faces you made listening to them. Good times!!
- I did an 18.9 mile day today over 4 mountains. To say it was hard would be a severe understatement, but the view from on top of white cap mountain took my breath away. I'm now at carl newhall shelter and I ha a nice chat with a northbound thru hiker who is only 70 miles from finishing. His name is Gadget and he passed on some good knowledge for my thru hike. It's 7:30 and I'm ready for bed. More updates tomorrow morning.
Day 6
I just finished the day. It's about 12:45. The next shelter was 7 miles away and I had already done a tough 11 miles today already. My feet are really sore from literally scaling rocks and walking on balds all morning. The view from on top of chairback mountain was amazing though. I couldn't see Katahdin anymore, but White Cap was clearly visible. I'm now only 2 and a fourth days away from being in Monson and that cheeseburger has my name written all over it. It will be nice to have a bed to sleep in and a shower and some laundry. Plus on the morning I leave I get an all you can eat breakfast!!!! Well I think it's nap time now. I expect my group to meet up with me here after falling short yesterday due to Lizzie's pace being slower that the guys. Goodnight!
- met up with everyone tonight and we had a good night at camp.
Day 7
Stitch snored all night! He is literally the loudest snorer I've ever met. Louder than you dad! We had a pretty rough 10.9 miles today to long pond stream lean-to. Landon and I made it here a little after 3 and now were gonna go take a whores bath in the river. It's gonna feel soooo good! Well it's time to read the shelter log. Here are some pictures from today
Day 8
We underestimated today severely. There were more puds(pointless ups and downs) that I have ever seen on any trail. I started today with Stitch and ended on my own. There's one guy with us who is very arrogant but pretty out of shape and it was funny trying to see him show me up with his pace. My legs and cardio are much better than his and he finally had to concede after gassing out on an uphill. Slow an steady wins the race I guess :) well we just got to the lean to and it's about 6:15. We only have 3 miles tomorrow so we're all waking up really early tomorrow so we can try and get into Monson in time for AYCE (all you can eat) breakfast. Boy does some pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage sound good! Here are today's pictures and also we had some trail magic late today in the form of coolers filled with beer, soda, slim jims, and snickers. That made the last mile to the shelter bearable. Well goodnight and I'll pos from Monson tomorrow.
Day 9
The picture says it all.

Summit Day

Quite easily the hardest thing that I have done in my 20 year life, but the reward far outweighed the pain I went through today.

The day started at 4:30 this morning. We got to the park a little after 6:30 and I began my ascent right at 7:15. The beginning started out pretty easy. The trail was smooth and there were few stones to step over. I thought that it was going to be a great day. Boy was I in for a rude awakening....

Then came the section above tree line. This is where it really got hard. The rocks on the trail became boulders that I had to climb. Big boulders the size of cars.

The table lands came next and the views only got better. The trail continued to be strenuous,  but by the time I was above tree line the views made the boulders well worth it. 

The summit was everything I could have asked for. The views were completely breathtaking and I couldn't have asked for a better day to summit. Now begins the the first week on the trail. I'm starting out with the 100 mile wilderness. Lets hope everything goes well and I hope to be out of the woods and in Monson in 7-8 days. Thanks again to all of you supporting me and I'll post again as soon as possible. 

Last leg

Saying goodbye to my big sister.

Deleted Post

Sorry I deleted my shaved head post. I'm still trying to get used to this new app on my phone and it's not necessarily being completely cooperative with me. Here's a basic repost of the last one.

Starting weight: 172lbs
Starting shoe size: 12
Starting resting pulse rate: 73bpm
Starting pack weight: 23-24lbs

My next post will be from Baxter State Park on Sunday which is my summit day.