Please Send Us Cookies!: July 2013

We're still alive! It has been two weeks since we have seen a tv screen, computer, used a real bathroom, took a shower, eaten a prepared meal, been in a car, sat on something besides a rock or log, had ice in a beverage, or felt air conditioning. But here we are here in the mythical hiker town of Monson and have had a healthy dose of civilization and small town hospitality!

This has been an incredible two weeks through the 100 Mile Wilderness in Northern Maine. We've waded waist deep through mosquito-infested bogs, climbed boulder fields that are nearly vertical, walked down trails steeper than a sliding board, and worked our way over rocks, roots, and mud for 114.5 miles. It's been tough, but truly amazing. We've camped in some of the most beautiful places we've ever seen. The silence and serenity is only broken by an occasional plane flying overhead. We've seen deer drinking and feeding on the bottom of pristine ponds, loons calling to each other in the dead of night, a surprised fox that walked right into our camp, frogs leaping out of the way of our giant steps, an enormous hare coming within ten feet of our tent, and many interesting varieties of bugs that don't try to suck your blood!

Right now we're at the Lakeshore House in Monson, ME. It's a hiker hostel with a restaurant underneath that sits on the shore of a huge lake. We're here with some hikers we met on the trail and a bunch of people heading northbound who are about to finish their thru-hikes. Here's some pictures we've taken so fa-

Penn Station Baltimore, MD 10:30pm

Our hiker registrations at Baxter State Park before we summited Katahdin

View from the Abol Slide "Trail" going up Katahdin. We had to scramble over car sized boulders for a few hours to get to the top!

The Tablelands of Katahdin. After climbing steeply for 3 miles it gets to about 4500 feet and then levels off into a rocky moor. The summit is where the clouds are. Led Zeppelin lives here also.

Approaching the summit.

At the top and the official start of our Thru Hike

A view from the "knife edge" near the summit.

Then we had to come down the Hunt Trail which is the official Appalachian Trail. This was at the bottom of the rock scramble on that side of the mountain. If you can see how small the people at the very top are you'll have and idea of how big this is!