I’m on my way! As usual it’s a convoluted trip. Here are the details:

• Ride to airport ✔️
• Fly STL to BWI ✔️
• Fly BWI to PWM (Portland, ME) 🙏🏻
• Uber to bus station ✔️
• Concord Bus to Bangor, ME🕺🏻
• Cyr Bus Bangor to Medway, ME✔️
• Shuttle Medway to AT Hostel in Millinocket, ME ✅

Whew 😰

I’ll update more as the day goes on…

The plane with the duct tape was fine but not the one from BWI to Portland. We got a new plane and now it’s about 2 hours behind schedule. I won’t make the bus from Portland at 2:15 but there’s another an hour later that will be hard but not impossible to make. 😱

Plane got into Portland over 2 hours late, but thanks to a quick Uber driver I am at the bus station with 10 minutes to spare for the 3:15 bus to Bangor! 😉

On the first bus…

And I made it onto the last bus to Medway. Looks like I’m going to make it just fine.

I am beginning to lose my faith in Southwest after flying with them today…

And yes I did finally make it! There are lots of other hikers here too. Tomorrow is a shake down and rest day. Thursday is Baxter Peak; I hope 🤞

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain

Tomorrow is travel day. I’ll be flying from St Louis to Portland, ME and then going by bus onto Millinocket in north central Maine. My pack is ready along with supplies to go through the 100 Mile Wilderness. The weather looks like it will be okay but whether or not I’ll be able to actually summit Baxter Peak remains to be seen. It’s questionable whether or not I’ll be able to get into the park early enough on the 9th to climb the mountain; I need to hike out of the park on the 10th, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed…

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C.S. Lewis

It’s time to finalize preparations to hike Maine and New Hampshire in July-August. I fly east on July 7th and plan to summit Katahdin on July 9th. The ladies at the AT Hostel in Millinocket have been an amazing resource to plan the hike. I’ll be staying there before I start and also getting a food drop from them in the 100 mile wilderness. I’ve got a couple of blue blazes (i.e. short cuts) planned; follow along to see where.

My hikes this spring made me reflect on why I hike. To be honest, there isn’t a burning issue now that drives me to go on trail. What I did realize is that I’m a person who finishes what he starts. When I came home from Tennessee in early May I felt an undeniable need to go back and hike more. So now I realize why I hike. To finish and complete the trail is in fact a compelling reason to hike!

So here’s what is still left:

• Katahdin to Hanover – 442.2 mi
• Great Barrington to Port Clinton – 307.8 mi
• Standing Bear to Uncle Johnny’s – 103.3 mi

So that’s 853.3 miles to complete the trail. If all goes as planned I’ll have 411.1 miles to go at the end of the summer. That’s a big “if” but it is doable. Let the challenge begin.

That’s it for the spring. I’m back home now after connecting up two previously done areas on the trail. My two trips in April/May made a section from Carvers Gap to Boots Off Hostel (US 321) – 48.1 miles, done over 5 days (9.6 mile per day avg). I now have done Spriger to I-40 (Standing Bear) – 241 miles; Erwin, TN to Port Clinton, PA – 876 miles; and Hanover, NH to Great Barrington, MA – 227 miles. That’s 1,344 miles, leaving about 850 miles to complete the trail. Next up is the 442 miles from Baxter, ME to Hanover, NH.

The weather forecast looked Okay for the day, so even though it was raining when I got up, I shuttled up the trail to Dennis Cove Rd (Black Bear Resort) for a slack pack back to Boots Off with Mighty Blue.

The weather was supposed to move east and clear up as the cold front moved through. Liars!! It did get colder but it rained all day…

The hike was basically divided into 3 equal parts. Three miles along the Laurel River, down into the gorge with Laurel Falls, a 3 mile climb into the Pond Mtn Wilderness and then a 3 mile decent to Boots Off Hostel.

The climb was long and slow but I managed just fine. Lots of my new friends passed by during the ascent.

The descent to Boots Off was fast; the trail was well groomed with many switchbacks. It was a great day in spite of all the rain.

AT Thru-Hike Stats
Section Day #3 (5/7/26)
Start - Black Bear Hostel (420.3)
End - Boots Off Hostel (429.0)
Today's mileage: 8.7
Total section miles: 33.4
Section Avg:  11.1
Total miles on AT: 1346.8

If the lessons of history teach us anything it is that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us.