INTRO
Have you ever been extremely motivated to do something when laying in bed, but the next morning you have no motivation to do so? The trail was like that except that motivation never vanished from this 18 year old kids mind. Some time in November 2015 the idea popped into my head after reading an AMA from a NOBO thru-hiker. When scrolling through that AMA all i could think was this man is crazy...
The first time I heard of the trail was on my first hike ever, up Mt.Greylock with my two friends, we were sleeping in a cabin and about midnight we heard a knock on the door. "Anyone in there?" the voice asked, we let him in. This guy looks around and asks if he can sit down, he enters and pulls out a book called the "AWOL Appalachian trail guide" I would later get to know this book very well. This guy was a section hiker (one who does the trail in sections instead of all i none year). He was on his last section MA-ME. After he left we all had the same thought, "Who the hell in their right mind would want to walk that far, we barely hiked 5 miles and want to drop dead". My thought process in the next 2 years would drastically change to "Who the hell wouldn't want to walk that far?".
Some day in November 2016 I walked into the cafeteria and sat down next to all my friends, "Hey so i might want to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, who wants to walk ~2,200 miles with me?". They all looked at me like i had 2 heads. A few nights later my buddy Trevor asks "Are you serious about the AT?". Fast forward to June 14th we're all packed up. I said good bye to all my friends, my dogs, my ferret, and my girlfriend at the time for the next 5 months. We piled into my moms car at about 11pm and drove from Belmont MA to Baxter state park.
We arrived at about 7am at the bottom of the Hellen Teller trail to hike up the Knifes Edge to the summit of Mt.Katahdin, The northern terminus of the AT. We reached the summit probably about 5 hours later around 12 noon taking our first official steps on the legendary white blazed trail. Our first night in Baxter I vividly remembering thinking I just made the biggest mistake of my life, how the hell am I going to manage walking miles on miles everyday? I can barely run a mile.
The People
The first 100 miles changed my view on that so much, we met so many amazing people i will never forget in those first 10 days alone. Before I talk about these people you need to know about trail names, on the AT/PCT/CDT most people will earn "Trail names". All it is a name that they earn one way or another, mine was "Ramen King". I lived off of Ramen Noodles for the first month or so, carrying about 2 one gallon bags of it at a time.
Ok, so for the people I'll never forget. Jordan and Eric a young couple from Florida who we would hike on and off with for a month or so, we would later loose contact with them and never see them again after saying "bye, see you in a few days!" in a grocery store in Rangley, ME. Eric would later find my email 5 months later letting me know the trail blessed them with a baby and they decided that wasn't the right place for a pregnant women (can't argue with that logic!) so they decided to take a long vacation elsewhere.
Troll, Jay (later earned the trail name Ser Blue) , and Broadway these 3 people we will for sure never forget. They were some of the funniest people we've ever met. We hiked with them for about 50 miles in the the 100 miles of wilderness all the way to Monson, ME. These people never failed to make us laugh, I remember sitting in a circle at Shaws Hiker Hostel in Monson throwing around a lighter and trying to catch it with two fingers like chopsticks, it may not seem like much but this is one of my favorite memories. Whenever we heard stories from other hikers who met them and had the chance to hike with them all they had to say were amazing things and even their stories were hilarious to listen to. These 3 made it to Damascus, VA before running out of time, Ser Blue and Broadway plan on heading back in May 2017 to finish the trail before their year runs out. On January 3rd I read one of the most devastating things i could've read, Troll, real name was Justin Conn, passed away at the age of 29 in a fatal car crash, he was one of the happiest people I've ever met, reading this just destroyed me, we may have only known him for a few days but out there friends you've only known for a few days makes them feel like you've known them for years. Rest in peace Troll, you'll never be forgotten.
After leaving Monson it was just me and Fuzzy (Trevor, he couldn't grow a beard so he got the trail name Fuzzy). Until after the Saddleback mountain range where we got hit with our first bad storm. We were in the shelter when this 25 year old runs around the corner dripping wet, "What are you supposed to do if you're above tree line and lightning starts striking?! I nearly stopped walking and wrote my will in journal!". This was Walker, we would get to know him very well over the next few weeks. Turns out he lives a town over from us in MA. We hiked with him from the bottom of the Saddlebacks in ME to Imp shelter in NH, during all those miles we hiked together we cooked some of the best dinners i ever had on the trail, we would all throw in some random stuff (i always threw in Ramen) and made a huge potluck, i miss those. He was a little behind schedule to meet someone so he had to leave early at Imp and clock in ~30 miles, Fuzzy and I simply couldn't do that, well a few days later on the Presidential range in the White Mountains i see Fuzzy on a rock sitting next to someone. It was Walker, after not seeing him for a few days we found him again, we hiked with him for another day before he had to get off for a few days for personal reasons. We planned on meeting up with him in a few weeks. Never did, although we did go to his apartment for a cook out a few weeks after the trail to meet some of his friends, catch up and tell stories from the trail while we were apart.
After Fuzzy and i parted ways with Walker it was just us until one night on the CT/NY border around mile 700 we got split up due his headlight dying and us not hiking together (we walked at different paces) He met 2 people, TBD (to be decided) and Mr.Ducks (Ducks for short). The next morning i did 16 miles and they 20 to catch up. The first night meeting TBD he had an ingrown toe nail so he was not a happy camper, we all hiked together to Bear Mountain where Ducks invited us to split a room with TBD and him. That night TBD made plans to go get a doctor to fix his toe the next morning. Fuzzy, Ducks, and I only did 3 miles that day to give TBD a chance to catch up, he never did. Although Ducks stuck with us all the way to Mt.Springer (the southern terminus of the AT). There are too many memories over 1,500 miles to write as you would assume. But one that i love telling is when we were in New Jersey Fuzzy was a little ahead of Ducks and I, and we were just discussing how we haven't seen a bear this whole time, just as he finishes that sentence he stops in his tracks and just hits my chest because i was looking down. "Ramen, RAMEN!" he points at this giant black bear at least 500 pounds, no more than 25 feet away, it turns its head, looks at us, and is gone. It's scary how something that big can just vanish into the woods.
DATA, a triple crowner (Completed all three of the big trails, PCT, CDT, and AT) who would later help me to move out to Colorado, we met at water source in PA for the first time, we talked very little there but over the next few months we would be hiking on and off with him. This guy let us poke his brain about the other trails giving me inspiration to one day also be a triple crowner. He told things from Grizzly bear encounters on the CDT to water sources on the PCT. I'll never forget when we pushed through those smokey trails due to nearby forest fires and we reached Mt.Springer he said "You guys are some of the toughest hikers I've ever met" I don't know what it was but that forever stuck with me.
And finally there was Waker, the first time we met was also in PA i remember him flying past Ducks and I on the trial, "There's no way in hell we'll ever see him again..." we said. Well we didn't, not for long time until we got hit with our worst storm on the trial. The Shenandoah's in VA. It rained 15 inches in 3 days after a 21 mile day in trails that turned into rivers we got to the shelter to see Waker sitting there reading his kindle. He decided to take a zero day (a day where you do zero trail miles) due to the torrential downpour. I don't blame him, the next day it was still dumping raining, there was fallen brush everywhere, massive trees snapped in half fallen blocking the trail. We later learned that there was so much fallen brush the rangers had to take out the snow plows to plow the roads of all of it. Waker would stick with us up until The Great Smokie Mountains where we last saw him in his tent watching the world series because he had service there. We later learned due to the heavy smoke and trail closures he decided to get off in NC and finish it when the whole trail is open.
***Adding this years after i originally wrote this (today is 1/18/2020) and i’m finally updating my website*** This is still the hardest thign to write even after almost 2 years. On my first few weeks on the PCT i received a phone call from Wakers than girlfriend Gaby. She informed Fuzzy, Ducks, and I that Waker was battling some Demons and on April 20th 2018, he took his own life. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about him. Even though I never saw him again we kept in contact and would text a few times a week. If you or anyone you know is struggling I encourage you to seek help or reach out to someone. This is the Phone number for the national suicide hotline. 1-800-273-8255. We all miss you Waker. Rest In peace, we love you.
The Strangers
There are people I'll never forget who I would consider friends, than there are strangers. People I'll never forget for other reasons, some strange, some kind and some who i just done know how to categorize. The first person that comes to mind was hands down the nicest person i have ever met in my life, we (Ducks, Fuzzy and I) hitchhiked into Gattlinburg, TN in The Great Smoky Mountains to resupply and i needed to pick up a new pair of shoes because the ones i currently had were eating the back of my foot. So we went into the outfitter there so i could buy a new pair and in there they had a thru-hiker registry. Inside that registry there was number "Call for a place to stay" so we did, this women picked up and informed us that her house was under construction but we could sleep in their camper if we would like, we declined. About 30 minutes later she called back, offering to buy us a motel room. Her kindness didn't stop there, later that night her daughter and her drove to pick us up and took out out to some of the best food i had on the trail at a really nice BBQ place. We talked and ate until dinner was over where she drove us back to out room. "Ill be back in the morning to drive you back to the trail! You boys want breakfast?"... Yup she went out of her way again the next day to pick us up give us Krispy Kreme donuts and drop us off at the trail. But wait there's more! She asked for us to write what we would like in our resupply. Yup, she even mailed all 3 of us a resupply filled to the brim of Poptarts, tortillas, peanut butter, pretty much what we ate (I'll get into that more). Oh you think it's over? Nope when they close 37 miles of the trail she drove 2 hours out of her way to shuttle us around those fires and get us break fast again.
The next person that comes to mind for their kindness was a trail maintainer who once thru-hiked before and attempted a second. We were at the Fontana Dam shelter which is right next to a road and a parking lot, as Ducks and I (Fuzzy was a few miles behind walking with DATA and his friend) were eating our 2 day old Subway sandwiches that we packed out when this guy comes over, "Hey! you guys want Mexican food?". I informed him i didn't have enough money so i couldn't come along. "What if i told you it was on me, when i thru-hiked so many people did so much for me i'll never be able to pay it back, but ill try". And he does, he maintains the trial and takes out hikers for dinner with his other hiker friend. That is one thing i also learned, I will never be able to payback what random strangers did for me. The generosity from people to complete strangers on the trail is mind blowing. If you ever have no faith in humanity and think people are terrible, you're not looking in the right places.
In the first 100 miles we encountered our first trial magic (defined as an unexpected act of kindness along the trail). We met this older man who had a cabin a few hundred feet off the trail. We slowly approached the cabin not seeing anyone until this man comes out and invites us onto his porch. On this porch he had a grill, seats, beer, soda, hot dogs, and chips. The view from this cabin was a beautiful mountain about 5 miles back on the trail, remember this mountain. We sat and talked for a while with this man and he explained why he did this. His son thru-hiked the trial a few years back before passing away at a young age. He told us that he always thought the thru-hiking culture was crazy until his son showed him some trail magic that he was doing. He learned that you don't need to be a hiker to be part of the culture, and he wasn't he thought we were insane. We kept talking to him and when we learned about his son he pointed to that mountain told us his sons ashes are spread up there and than said "He was supposed take me up there one day, i was't supposed to take him". That shattered my heart, but you can see why he does what he does. He honors his son the way his son would want to be honored.
The past 3 people have been people who exceed kindness, their were dozens of others but those 3 stick out the most to me, random strangers who let us let us stay in their house, there were also people who left water were there was none for miles, people who gave us food, people who talked to us for hours about the trail, and one that i love, 2 ladies who tried to give me 50 dollars in a KFC because we looked homeless (we declined). Than there's Rick, someone who tried to be helpful, Let me tell you about Rick. I forget which town in ME but it was very small and we couldn't find a place to sleep so someone gives us a number for some to call for a place to stay. Walker called an older man (Charlie) answered and he said he would let us stay on his property for 20 bucks. 20 bucks for 3 people? Not bad! Well he picks us up we hop in the back of his truck and he drives us to his property... It's a construction site. Okay, Whatever at least we can set up out tents! He says he can drive us back to the trail head at 7am the next morning, perfect! So the whole night we spend talking to his Fiance (she was the one who gave us the number...) and have a huge bonfire. Fast forward to 7am, we get up and jump in his truck, he drives us and stops, we get out because he says were here. "Where is it?" "About 5 miles that way" he points down the road and drives off... Oh and one of my trekking poles was still in his car. So we got abandoned 5 miles from the trail head AND i lost a trekking pole. Road walked about 2 miles and than someone picked us up.
The last two strangers ill mention we met at the Doyle in Duncannon, PA. One of them drunkenly stumbles into our room and tells us to go to his room, why not? So Fuzzy and I do (Ducks stays behind). We go up to this very tiny room with a desk, hiking gear, bed, and most likely a brown recluse in the corner (the Doyle wasn't the nicest of places). Well this guy and his friend who looks like Santa have thru hiked before and knew a bunch of trial legends, Very close friends with Ms.Jannet, and the one and only Baltimore Jack. They spend the rest of the night telling us all these trail stories, pranks they pulled, and just how to stay positive. One bit of advice that stuck with me and i tell people whenever they tell me they want to thru-hike one day, "You can be wet and miserable, or you can be wet and happy." This not only helped me with the trial but just gave me a better outlook on life. Make the best out of a shitty situation.
The places we slept
I'll start off talking about The Doyle because i mentioned that in the last paragraph. This place we heard to stay away from all the way back in Maine, rumors of bedbugs, brown recluse's, and just how filthy it is all around. How could we not see it? The owner offered us 15 dollars for a room with 2 beds. 15 dollars split 3 ways? Why not. Well let me start off my saying we investigated the beds before putting out gear and clothes anywhere near it, seemed good. Also never saw a single spider (besides in that guys room). All lies you're thinking right? Nope. Definitely a filthy place, showers had mold on the curtains up to your shins, toilets gross looking, and parts of the hallways look like they just dumped their old furniture there. At-least their food wasn't awful and decently priced.
The most common place we slept was in Shelters/lean-tos, Their 3 sides buildings with one side open. Although some are much nicer than others, some have wood furnaces, some have doors, some have porches, some barely have ,mice (most have lots of mice.) These are nice because you can just throw down you sleeping pad, and sleeping bag and get right in after dinner. Not too much to pack up. My worst experience in one was when i woke up to a mouse on my forehead because the guy next to me was sleeping with a bag of nuts in his hand. But you get used to the constant scurrying of paws in the logs and just learn to deal with it.
We also used our tents but towards the end due to the fact it was so dry out and never rained (besides 5 days) we would just cowboy camp under the stars. Much like shelters it makes things easier because you dont have to set up and take down a tent. Most nights we cowboy camped i would actually sleep with my glasses on so i could see the stars.
In the White Mountains in NH there are also the AMC huts, you can ask for work for stay, luckily we got that one time when we desperately needed it. At the bottom of Mt.Madison we slept there the night before and got hit with a huge storm but that ended up passing that night, or so we thought. So on my way up i hear a loud "BANG!" and it starts pouring. At this point Fuzzy is ahead of me, when i catch up i find him and one other hiker, Riley Wiley, taking shelter under a tree because when Fuzzy broke tree line that lightning i heard nearly hit him. Once it died down we thought we were in the clear, most of the clouds vanished and the sun shine hit us, hard so it was really hot so we took off all of our rain gear because it seemed like it was done. Well we get to the first peak and the sky darkens again and the rains worse, much worse. We didn't stop to put on our rain coats i didn't even bother covering up my camera we just ran, and those mountains aren't smooth their all rock so we're running on wet rocks in the pouring rain and we see the hut. Once we reach the hut we can barely see out the windows the storms so thick. We asked for work for stay and they told us no because they already had 5 NOBOS doing work for stay where their really only supposed to have 4 max. But they let us stay they until the storm passes. Well it isn't it just gets worse and worse until finally lightning starts striking all around us and one of the hut mangers runs up tells us we can stay because it's too dangerous to let us go, and it was. There was no way i was leaving that hut in that weather.
Than finally there are hostels and hotels/motels. I feel like i don't need to explain what those are.
The Challenges
First and foremost there was the mental challenge.This was the toughest aspect of the whole 5 months, getting up day after day to walk 20-25 miles a day, not seeing loved ones, dealing with pain, walking in the what seem like monsoons, walking when its 90 degrees and extremely humid out, etc... All of those things are extremely physical and most of all mentally draining. I'm going to categorize weather under the mental challenge as well and you'll read why. At times there were definitely times where i asked my self why the hell my doing this, but those fade and you move one. What never fades are the good times you remember, you'll also remember the crappy times as well but those make you a much stronger person. When it rained for 3 days straight in VA we all stayed together, now i don't know if that was on purpose but it made it a whole lot easier to stay wet and happy. I remember when it first started raining it wasn't awful and i said "i don't think it should get any worse". Well 20 minutes later were walking down a river that used to be a trail and Fuzzy just stops, turns around and goes "Yeah i don't think it's going to get worse!". I don't know why but just made the rain not matter, that was one of the funniest things he could've said at a time like that. To help me take my mind of the rain one storm i remember my phone got so wet i couldn't change the playlist for 27 miles, after a few hours i was able to see how far I've gone by how many songs i went through, i listened to that same playlist 5 times that day.'
Another major challenge is physical pain. Everyone we hiked with, DATA, Ducks, TBD, Fuzzy, and Waker. Everyone got shin splints, bad. To this day i still a few foot pains here and there. I still have to wear compression sleeves for my shin splints when i stand for too long, run, walk, snowboard, or just do anything leg related. Be prepared to mess up your body, your going to experience pain in one form or another. The first 100 miles Fuzzy had too much weight in his bag and his hip straps started to rub into his bones real bad. It looked like he got hit with gold clubs on his hip bones, not fun.
Another large challenge that people run into is gear. Weight is a big one If its to heavy you're going to feel it, if its light, your wallets going to feel it. If you cant afford the ultra light gear choose wisely. Know your gear and know it well. Test and know how to use your gear before you hop on the trail. The first 3 nights i had the hardest time setting up my tent because i never bothered doing it before besides once to seam-seal it, big mistake. My stove also, the MSR whisperlite, only used it once or twice before and it was not a very straight forward stove. Another thing gear organizations, you want to make sure your back packs weight is distributed evenly so that way one shoulder doesn't take more of a beating than the other.
Money, one of the biggest reasons people have to call it quits on their hike is because their funds dry up. I left my house 2,600 dollars planning to spend 100 a week. I was doing great until we reached PA/NY, delis at every road crossing we didn't even bother carrying that much food because we could just resupply so often in the delis. I didn't check my bank account until we got to Shenandoahs, VA i realized i only have 300 dollars left. I made it all the way to Gattlinburg, TN before i ran out of money. Luckily my dad was able to deposit 200 more into my bank account and i was able to finish on that but if you're not careful you can burn through you're money very very quickly.
The worst and the best of days
Like i mentioned before there were plenty of bad days and here i'll talk about some of them. Vermont was without a doubt the worst state we walked through for me. It was extremely humid out and close to 90 degrees some days. I got really sick in Rutland while staying at the Yellow Deli (very interesting place if u can stay there!). Ended up throwing up a few times one of the three nights we were there. Also was extremely home sick and just didn't want to be where i was. Thankfully that passed, thankfully i pushed on. There was also The Priest. Screw that mountain, it was with no doubt no-ones fault but my own we did close to 20 miles that day and i ran out of food, i had breakfast and one snickers. If anyone knows that part of the AT they'll no it's no joke, it's long, and it's a hell of a lot of elevation change in a short time. Not only did i run out of food but my shin splints were awful, the amount of ibuprofen i took that day was probably in hindsight, suicidal. I remember sitting on a rock, taking my bags off, and just sitting there in so much pain. I dug through my back and found a bandage that i just wrapped my left shin as tightly as possible. Kind of like a make shift compression sleeve.
Now for the best days. There are many many more of those, on this trail and in my head, the good out weight the bad ten fold. The first one that comes to mind is the day after the awful storm we got hit with on Mt.Madison. That night we went to sleep to howling winds and pitch black clouds covering the hut. That morning we woke up to the clouds settling a few hundred feet below the mountain range and blue bird skies above. We really couldn't ask for a better day. The other one is sleeping on top of McAfees knob in VA. We were stealth camping, that night it close to freezing and winds up to 40mph, now you may be thinking "how is that good day". The next morning we got to view the most beautiful sunrise on the one trail. Sunrises and sunsets on the trail made all difference, they made all the worry in the world just vanish. Another one was on top of Maxpath, 20 miles before The Great Smoky Mountains. I remember it was so windy that night that it nearly blew my tent down (we had them set up because their were clouds that looked like they might make some rain). Well i tore it down after an hour of trying to sleep. Best choice ever, the stars from that bald patch were amazing.
The food we ate
Another frequently asked question i get is, "What did you eat". Well as i mentioned earlier, Ramen and lots of it, but only for the first month and only for dinner. So let me say what i started out with, every resupply i would fill a gallon bag with oats just to munch on for lunch or as a snack with breakfast or dinner, 2 or 3 bags of oatmeal per day for breakfast with one spoonful of nutella and oats, 2 or 3 Ramen Noodle packs per day for dinner, and a few granola/cliff/nutri-grain bars to just keep in my pocket and eat while i walked, around 3-5 day for those.
Once i realized that i can increase my calorie count and change up the variety this is what i switched too. For breakfast Poptarts (you can mix up the flavors a lot!) their very inexpensive, tasty, and high in calories. Along with the Poptarts for breakfast for break fast because each pack comes with 2 i would put Nutella on one and peanut butter on the other and make a sandwich. That would keep you full for a long time. For walking snacks i would have 4 candy bars in between breakfast and lunch and in between lunch in dinner, each with a calorie count close to 250 per bar. For lunch i would have 1 or 2 whole wheat tortillas with peanut butter and Nutella and make a burrito out of it. Than for dinner i would have 2 Knorrs pasta/rice sides until i got really sick of them, to this day i cant look at or think about them without feeling sick. After those i would go to instant mashed potatoes for dinner.
But everyone is different, and everyone had different food. Some people only used powdered stuff where you just add water. Waker made his own mass gainer to make sure he didn't loose weight and he also had protein powder every night. Ducks and him also had a cook-less set up so they never cooked, they had already cooked meals that they just ate with a spoon.Some people dehydrated their food in advance and mailed it to themselves. There is no right way to eat and there is no wrong way, except for the way you starve or get scurvy.
The gear I used and wore
For my backpack i started off with an old REI crestrail 70L, i didn't need that much room, every. But i carried that until Hot Springs, NC where i replaced it for an Osprey Kestrel 48L. Much better for many reasons, weight, shape, and the frame. When that frame was on my back i tightened bag it just felt right. For my stove i started off with a MSR whisperlite until Delaware Watergap, PA where i mailed that home and bought a Jetboil, very big upgrade, replaced my stove, and pot, saving not only a lot of weight but also a lot of room. For my tent I used the Tarptent Pro trail, I couldn't recommend this enough. My favorite thing about the tent was there was no poles so it saved a lot of weight, you used 4 steaks and your trekking poles (I used the Black Diamond Trail Ergo poles). My sleeping bag I used the Kelty Cosmic down 20 degree. I hated this bag so much, but it was really cheap and lasted me the whole trail, so it may have been worth the money but for the comfort i hated it. My sleeping pad I carried the Therm-a-rest Z-lite. If i could go back I would've used the Neoair for a few reasons. Mostly comfort.
For my feet, I wore smart wool socks, carrying 2 pairs, very comfy and very high quality. At one point i picked up a pair of Darn Toughs, i don't know why but they tore within 200 miles, i personally would never buy another pair (Update:after thru hiking the PCT 2 years later, darn toughs are all i used, i love them now), but i have a few friends who prefer those over smart wool, to each their own. For my first two pairs of shoes i wore Solomon Discovery boots. The first pair lasted me 600 miles from Katahdin to Mt.Greylock. The second pair lasted me until Hot Springs, NC, about 1200 miles i think. I replaced those with a pair of Solomon XA PRO 3D GTX. Those lasted me 70 miles before i had to throw them out because they were tearing a hole in the back of my heel, so we got the Gattlinburg, TN where i walked into the NOC outiftter and picked up hands down, my favorite pair of shoes i have ever put on my feet. La Sportiva mutants, these lasted me until the end of the trail. After these shoes i will never hike in boots again unless its a winter hike. Trail runners are much easier on your knees, comfier, breathed easier, and dried a lot quicker.
For clothes i would wear a blue Eastern mountain Sports Tech-wick t-shirt (i can't find it online so here's a picture of me wearing it) everyday, for pants i wore Eastern Mountain Sports Compass Zip-off Pants. Under wear, i wore Exofficio, extremely comfortable, i carried 2 pairs of those and switched off every day or two. Towards the end of the trip when it started to get colder I found a pair of Northface Windwall gloves. those things were life savers towards the end of the trail when it got a little colder. I also carried my Eastern Mountain Sports Feather Pack Jacket. I would highly recommend this jacket to anyone who seeks a good Down Jacket for a low price.
The memories.
Not a day goes by where I don't think back to those 5 months on the trail and smile from all the memories i'll never forget. Fuzzy chasing a raccoon around a field at 5am because it stole his food, All the people i talked about earlier, sleeping in public bathrooms in national parks because there is the worst storm you've ever seen outside, to of course, the overwhelming feelings of reaching the summit of the Mt.Springer. Going to sleep that night and just thinking about how the past 5 months have been the best days of my life and i'll never forget them. There was sadness of course, but the trail really prove it's all about the journey, not the destination.