'05 AT Thru Hike

“Good to hear he is doing well. I have a letter full of his journal entries I need to type in this weekend.”

“He gripped the "oh-#&%!$ handle firmly" as we "speeded" down the road at 30 MPH, approximately 27-28 mph faster than he was used to.

Damn dude! You are going to give him heart failure traveling 15 Nimblefoots like that.
last edited: 9/02/05 10:20:29 AM”

“Some of what MM said may have actually happened, then again...

I'm now in a hostel in Glencliff, NH. My brilliantly designed mail drop to here can't be picked up til Tuesday and this is Sunday (Ithink). One of the problems with the trail is never knowing what the hell day it is. Hope to shop in town for food and bump the other box forward. I really love NH. The weather is cooler(my personal favorite) and my cold weather gear was waiting for me in Hanover. All is good. Many thanks to MM for his hospitality and the free meal (meatloaf and mashed potatoes). Talk to y'all later.

Bit, thanks for your continuing help with the journal. I do appreciate that you have another life. I don't, but you do.”

“Hey Nimblefoot. Let me know where I can send the next goodie box! Glad to hear you are doing well.”

“Send a case of beer to Katahdin. Okay”

“What kind of beer you like?”

“MM - that was hilarious.

Go get'em Nimble.”

“Talked to Nimblefoot for a few minutes today, he called right before I went into a meeting. He is doing fine, although the Whites have slowed him down a little. He is about 15 miles short of the Maine border, and figures on an early October finish.

He sounded in good spirits and was looking forward to the Mahoosuc Notch in a couple days.”

“AWESOME!!

Hike On Nimblefoot!”

“Good news.”

“Glad things are going well. I assume he called from Gorham unless he's got a cell phone.

Some of my favorite backpacking is coming up for him.

Hike on and Good Luck Nimblefoot.”

“Yes, IIRC he was calling from Gorham.”

“Thanks for the report, Bit.”

“Very nice. Keep on truckin!

The weather, at least here in eastern VT, has been outstanding the pastweek-to-ten-days. I bet he had really nice days over Franconia Ridge and the Presidentials. I've really been envying him!”

“He mentioned that the dry weather was making the Whites easier.


OK, actually, he said "possible", lol...”

“gorham to katahdin was 26 days for me. hopefully he doesnt have any more delays. good luck, bro!”

“Yow. Somehow I think 1.0 Crashbangs might be a higher rate of speed that 1.0 Nimblefoots...”

“i doubt it. i was neither a slow nor fast paced hiker. i was about medium speed. i got the impression nf is also, as long as he stays healthy. also, that was with two zero-mileage days.”

“once he gets out of the mahoosucs, itll get a little easier. he'll be amazed how easy the first few miles after old speck seem. gorham to the top of old speck is about 28 miles. shortly after grafton notch are the baldpates, an absolute blast and very remote-feeling, with nice views. nimble, if you stay in andover, stay at a place called "the cabin". this place is second only to miss janets and rustys (ok, so i guess that makes it third) for the amount of raves it gets). actually, it probably got just as much. i wish i wouldve stayed there. people went on and on about their hospitality. actually, it is in east andover, to be precise.

eddy pond, just after rangeley, has a beautiful campsite (no shelter). wingfoot says camping is not allowed there but i think he is mistaken. i didnt see any signs and the campsite looked like it was in use.

shortly afterward is saddleback mountain, with spectacular views. i sat for a long time by myself and soaked it all in.

maine is so terrific because although it is not quite as scenic as new hampshire, it is more remote and feels all the more special because of it”

“Hi, I'm in Bethel, Me at the Chapman Inn. The only hiker here so I am absolutely spoiledd. I'm drinking their coffe, breakfast is in the morning (duh), laundry drying behind me, I've showered and life is great. I did the "Notch" yesterday after sitting out the afternoon of the day before hoping for dryer weather. No dice, so I did it in the rain. I was ready for it and attacked it head on. It really was fun and a most excellent place to end a hike for the unlucky or the careless. After the notch the mile up of the arm was even more daunting, likely because of the toll from the earlier effort. Rather than continue into town that afternoon I stayed at the Spaulding Mountain leanto and ran into 3 weekend hikers who gave me liquor, venison jerky and sausage. Another couple cooked me a great cous-cous stir fry. Everything's going great. I turned down a 3 day voyage off the coast of Maine offered by the above 3 day hikers just so I could finish the trip on time. How noble. That's it, my laundry's dry and that's all you get.”

“coolnesss.......

i would have taken the 3 day cruise. the inevitable will happen anyway, a 3 day cruise off the coast of maine may be tougher to accomplish than a through hike.


glad you're still pumpin them out and sharing with us. i'm anxious to read the story in it's entirety.

best wishes to you”

“yea, i would agree with baume, except nimble is pressed for time right now and cant afford any delays”

“Awesome nimble! I'm gonna at some point go back and read your whole thang! I took 3 weeks to do Maine, finishing on Sept 21. Hopefully your Whites hike was in the sun. Just prior to Mousilock(sp?), I had 7 straight days of heavy rain. But after this first Whites mtn, the sun shone my whole Whites week!! Once my feet dried, 'twas killer.”

“Way to go!

I'd pick land over sea any day.”

“Hi. I'm plunked down in Stratton, Me for a dryout, mail drop and resupply. The weather in Maine has been mostly rainy/cloudy. For awhile I suspected that Maine was being created 50 yards ahead of me and disappearing 50 yards behind...that's as far as I could see. Because of the residual from Hurricane Rita I camped on top of South Crocker last night. Lots of blowing wind and rain, but I stayed mostly dry and comfy inside my tarp tent. Tomorrow it's the Bigelow's and then it seems the biggies are done until Katahdin. I'm not uncorking any champagne just yet, but it seems I have a chance.”

“Alright! Keep on movin!”

“yeehaw! Almost done!”

“Ditto! Keep pushing!”

“Way to go. The Bigelow's are awesome. The clouds are nearly gone here, so you should be having sunny skies soon.”

“You guys! Please let the weary hiker rest at least a day! ;-)”

“I'm jealous nimblefoot.”

“Did you get the package?”

“stratton to katahdin for me was 16 days, including a zero in monson. good luck! i dont remember anything major hard between stratton and monson, but the first 50-60 miles of the 100 mile wilderness got tough, then the last 40 was super easy, flat, but muddy. have you seen a moose yet? make sure you get breakfast at shaws, and say hi to them for me”

“Nice going, Nimblefoot. Hurry and you can come hike with me in GSMNP until November. We could hit the shelters that you bypassed. Then we can visit the Harrah's Casino. You might be able to keep me out of trouble.”

“Gravedancer,

I didn't get a pkg in Stratton. Didn't you send it to Monson? No sweat, it'll all work out. My plan to stop in every Maine town and buy food in order to keep my pack light doesn't seem to be working. I'm stopping in the towns and buying food alright. TOO MUCH FOOD. All I'm doing is eating more. Oh well.”

“So... you'll be back for Flash's Yellow River trip in November?? ;-) Hope so! Keep on keep'n on!”

“Way to go, buddy. Glad to hear you're doing well.”

“Yesterday morning I left my very important tent pole for the rear of my tarptent on top of South Crocker Mountain. The good news: A hiker found it and left it by the sign at the trail head. The bad news: someone else found it and broke it in 2 places. I called Henry Shires and a replacement will be waiting for me in Caratunk. Stratton is a most excellent town (of course this is a beautiful day) and I could move here in a heartbeat. There are lots of great trail towns but this one is just so compelling...small enough and big enough...no traffic lights, combination grocery and hardware store, people reasonably friendly and, of course, nasty cold winters. I may have to live to 150 to do all the things and live all the places I want.”

“ The bad news: someone else found it and broke it in 2 places.

WTF!!!!!??????

im so mad i could kick a puppy. what the hell is wrong with people?”

“The bad news: someone else found it and broke it in 2 places.

I just bit my daughters face I am so mad! What kinda dick would do that?”

“thats the most disturbing thing ive heard in several days, blossom”

“You know I was kidding”

“i know youre kidding.

youre still weird, tho.”

“It took me a sec to realize CB was talking to WK. I thought he was having a flashback to '80's TV programming.”

“Awesome dude, glad you're almost to the end!”

“Good thing the Whites are behind you. It's calling for wind gusts 70-100 MPH today! That's throughout the White Mountains, not just on Washington.”

“Hi, I'm in Caratunk staying at some place that has beer, hot tubs, swimming pool and food. I did 17 miles yesterday, which felt really good...the most miles since early New Hampshire. I forgot what hiking was all about with all those damned mountains (I didn't sign on to be a mountain climber). There's more to the story of the broken hiking pole and it doesn't end that badly. I'd tell it now, but I'm looking at doing laundry, drinking more beer and jumping into the hot tub with my duct tape swimming trunks (while my laundry is being done). I'll write more later...if able. Oh, my tent pole arrived today and the repair job on the old works well.”