KATAADN today

Time: 5:15 am

Place: Millinocket, ME

Mood: Confident

So today is the day. The hurricane will turn out to be a mixed blessing after all. Two campsites and one lean-to at the park have opened up and might be able to stay in the park after the trip up today. I might be able to stay in the birches tonight if I tell them that I am a flip-flopper meaning that I walked a lot and jumped up to the end so that I could suerely make it to the top of Kataadn then end on some other part of the trail. Often Flip-floppers flip when the get to Harpers Ferry but if people are way back like I was in 2008 then they flip from even further back or skip ahead from possibly Shenandoah.

I hear it's an exhausting trip. 4000 feet over 5.2 miles. The bus leaves town @ 6:30 and I'm at the Appalachian Trail Cafe where I had a delicious parfait and home made english muffin. I've got to get going though so I can get a shower, and make it to the post office early and ask for my trekking poles. Lord I hope they have my trekking poles! Next stop, Monson, Maine. Talk to you again soon.

Ciao!
-Daniel

Time: 7:48 am

Place: Millinocket, ME

Mood: Impatient

It's been at 15 days since I last posted on the blog and I was hoping to have traveled almost the entire length from Palmerton to Vermont through NJ, NY, CT, and MA but alas trouble was brewing on the horizon. Friday August 12 Tess and I hitched to Hershey park just outside of Harrisburg PA which I remind you is the capital of PA. We had a great time hitching and a great time at the park and a great time visiting with my mom and dad (THANKS mommy and daddy!) but in the middle of the night the great time had come to an abrupt end. I caught what another hiker that I met in Bangor dubbed the "Beaver Fever" aka the runs. After a day of torment I decided that it was best to return home to recover. I spent the last two weeks more or less killilng time and all of yesterday traveling.

So 2 planes and 2 busses later here I am in Millinocket, ME and the weather is cloudy and Irene is approaching and there out in front of me just a short distance away lies Kataadn. I asked the other hikers if they felt the earthquake but none of them seemed to know that it happened but then again it seemed that most people in NY didn't know that the earthquake was happening either. I listened into the conversations of the other hikers that were having and it's almost like having nothing in common. "You know, I don't have to hike today" one would say. "I know, isn't it a great feeling" the other would reply. I'm glad to be hiking again and I can't wait to get back on the metaphorical "road" again but the weather sure is foiling my plans.

I was asked to post some mail drop options and I am sure as sure can be that I will be stoping in
Monson, ME after I summit Kataadn and walk the hundred mile wilderness. I think I only have enough food for 6 days but I think I can make it last. Hiker hunger has worn off since Tessa and I did the long 17 right before Palmerton. Send packages general delivery and write on the package hold for thru hikers.

Update you soon.......

Around again...

Time: 4:55p

Place: Palmerton PA

Mood: Enthusiastic!

Mr. Keyboard and I have had a long time away from each other. We haven't spoken much but then again I haven't had much to say to Mr. Keyboard. Just time to tell all again and let everyone far and wide know... we're doing it again. I've been back on the Appalachian Trail since July 16th and am shooting for Kataadn by the closing day on October 15th. I've got a little over 900 miles left and at 20 miles a day for 45 days I can make it but I'm pretty sure that will be an impossible task. As we move into fall, the prime time for hiking will be dwindling as the days shorten and the inside of a sleeping bag becomes more appealing in the cold New England Autumn. Just ahead of me though I need to tackle a obstacle towering close... ZEROS!!!!! YAY!!!!