Photos at My End Points

It's traditional for A.T. 2000-milers to send their "finish" photos to all those who supported them during their hike. If you happen to be in a trail town along the A.T., stop in at a motel, hostel, outfitter, or restaurant and look for a bulletin board with lots of these photos posted. Most show someone at the sign on Mt. Katahdin, as most 2000-milers finish at Katahdin. As my hike was in 5 sections (counting the final 3.8-mile section), I have five finishes, though two were at essentially the same place.

On 03 June 2007, I finished the section from Damascus, VA to Springer Mtn, GA:


On 20 Sep 2007, I finished the section from Killington, VT to Mt. Katahdin, ME:



I finished in the Port Clinton area twice. I hiked south from Killington, VT, and got to Port Clinton, PA on 28Nov07. An impending winter storm encouraged me to get a ride south 50 miles to Duncannon, PA and hike the section northbound back to Port Clinton. (It would put me in a better place to sit out the storm, if necessary.) I hiked one day northbound, but on the second day, the wind chill was too cold. So, on 01Dec07, I got off-trail at a remote road crossing between Duncannon and Port Clinton. As I sat out the storm, I decided to stop hiking until spring, as the constant eye on the weather was not how I wanted to spend my hike. I don't have a photo of that unexpected finish.

This spring I set out northbound from Damascus, VA. Two days shy of Duncannon, I was hit with food poisoning, which made me very tired and unable to eat much. But I had less than 100 miles to go, and about a week to do it. So, I rented a car and "slackpacked" the rest of my hike. That means I carried just a daypack during the day, and slept indoors at night. Each day I parked the car at the end of the day's hike and got a ride back to the start of the day's hike. I skipped the day-and-a-half section I'd hiked out of Duncannon. This worked really well, and, other than being ill for five days, was a terrific way to end the journey. My last three nights were spent in the 501 Shelter, pictured here. I finished this section on 06 June 2008.

I finished the entire journey by hiking a gap I left last year: 3.8 miles in the Smokies, from the Fork Ridge Trail up to the summit of Clingmans Dome. Here's a photo of me near the summit on Independence Day, 2008:


My little green and blue friend is Hike Monkey, who hiked the trail with me.

Happy trails,
Em