It rained a good bit overnight and I had trouble sleeping. As a result, I was awake (still at Super Walmart in Skowhegan) before 0400 and passed the time with games on my phone - I also answered lots of congratulatory messages on social media. Dad didn’t get up until almost 0630 and then ate breakfast in the RV. After we had packed up the camper (0725), my dad surprised me by saying that he wanted to go to McDonalds (across the street) to pick up more food! After eating, we got gas at the nearby Irving (0730). From there, we used side streets and US-201A to reach US-2. As we drove west, we passed a few Amish buggies and navigated through some construction zones. Just before arriving (on US-2) in Farmington, we got on ME-156 and toured through some smaller towns before arriving back at US-2. We continued finding more construction all the way to the border of New Hampshire but never really had to slow down a lot. I thought we might stop in Gorham but my dad was feeling energized. We encountered more construction on US-2 before we reached NH-116 but had an uneventful drive to Littleton. After that, it was easy driving on US-302 and NH-10. We finally stopped for gas at Citgo Station in Piermont (1445) and then continued (on NH-10) to Hanover. We arrived at my condo at 1330 and I quickly unloaded the RV. I thought Dad was going to stay until dinner time (we'd talked about going to a celebratory dinner at Jesse’s Steakhouse) but he surprised me again by saying he wanted to drive home to the Cape. Of course I thanked him for all the help he'd given me during the previous few years - telling him I'd never have been able to reach the end-goal without his assistance. After he was gone, I thought about what I'd accomplished: AT finished! Lots of weekends, vacations and "I'm nearby so I'll just try to squeeze in a hike before I have to leave." Got myself in better physical shape, exorcized some personal demons, got quality "me time", encountered amazing animals, saw some spectacular views and met many wonderful people. I also recovered/returned after some especially bad hikes - fortunately, I was successful in taking each small section as though it was the entire trail. It took me 304 hikes (average about 7.2 miles), mostly heading outbound from my car and then returning the same distance inbound. As a result, I probably hiked an extra 2000 miles of AT - but I also saw lots of things during the backtrack that I’d missed earlier in the day. For most of the first seven years, I was an all season hiker and often had the Trail all to myself in leafless areas or deep snow. It’s much harder (though not impossible) to hike all year in NH and ME… Towards the end, I did more shuttles and backpacking but there were really only a few places where I couldn't have stuck with day hikes. With all the logistical challenges I faced (I didn't hike the trail in order), it feels strange to no longer have some gap of mileage that I need to close... Other people thought I was crazy to even try this but I wouldn't have missed this experience for anything!
*****
AT Stats for "Workaround":
- First step on the trail: Summer of 1976, Mount Washington (NH)
- First section hike on the trail: January 20, 1992, Shenandoah NP (VA)
- Started counting AT miles: October 30, 1994, Great Smoky Mountains NP (NC/TN)
- Pre-2014 mileage = 4.5 miles
- Published AT distance in 2014: 2185.3 miles
- Began concerted effort to finish AT in sections: May 3, 2014 on Blue Ridge Parkway near Roanoke (VA)
- Summited Springer (GA): May 14, 2014
- Summited Katahdin (ME): October 7, 2014
- Completed entire length of AT in sections: August 20, 2023 near Abol Bridge (ME)
- Published AT distance in 2023: 2198.4 miles
