Imagine...

... two beleaguered, sweaty, tired hikers sitting atop an old wooden frame sign which itself rests upon the upper most crest of a towering mountain in the northern woods of Maine. Put our faces on those hikers, lots of blue sky in the background, and many other friendly hikers up there and you know what occurred last Thursday, the 20th of Sept... we finished the AT!!! YAY!!!! It was an amazingly beautiful day, and we were accompanied only by our fellow thru-hikers.

We exited the 100-mile wilderness the day before, where upon Roxi Roxtar was picked up by a local kennel as she is not allowed in Baxter State Park (we did however bring someone else along to take Roxi's place and assure her some glory atop the mountain!). The rest of the day was spent leisurely hiking 10 more miles to the base of Katahdin past roaring waterfalls and glass-covered ponds. Our last night on the trial west punctuated by a feast of epic proportions consisting of ramen noodles with tomato and cheese sauces as well as veggies... yum! We awoke early on Thursday and started up the trail around seven in the morning. The climb was very steep and involved much hand-over-hand bouldering and rock-hoping. It was however magnificent in scale and color; the leaves are in full bloom in Maine! At 11:05 EST, TrailDogs summited Baxter Peak on Mt. Katahdin, tapped the sign designating the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, and officially became Thru-Hikers!

It has been a dream two years in coming, and after everything that you all have done for us, we have done it: hiked from Georgia to Maine. Its done now; no more walking to do. Tomorrow morning we wake up and start unpacking completely: washing and drying clothing and gear, dividing up what belongs to who, storing gear away for the long term, attempting to reintegrate into regular life...

We'll probably be seeing most of you in the coming weeks. We need to say hi to our families and friends!! We will however be preparing and then hosting a slide show, hopefully with-in two months from now. We will be sure to publicly announce the slide shows, and there should be one near you.

For now, we are done! Huge thanks go out to the families that hosted us, the friends that took care of us, and all that simply followed our journey! We hope to see you all again soon!

~TrailDogs

100 miles and a pointy bit...

....is all that is left for the three of us to traverse. It had been a while since we've posted (there aren't too many towns in northern Maine) but rest assured that we've continued north. After leaving Ranger Doug and Sparky in NH, we we're rained and blown off of Mt. Washington, spent a week averaging only ten miles a day through the toughest terrain we have yet seen, walked to Maine (yay!!) spent another week nailing down well over 120 miles, and have arrived here in Monson, the gateway to the final chapter of the AT. Buy this time next week we will be at the foot of Mt. Katahdin about to ascend ourselves back into civilization. Its been over 2100 miles of walking since we've have seen most of you, and though we love and adore these woods, the urge for home and friends is strong. We will charishe the next week, our last, and look forward to our final meal. Our ascent date is tenatively the 21st, next Friday, so if any of you happen to be in the north woods of Maine...

Remember, however, that this walk is for the Dessin Animal Shelter. We have raised over 10,000 dollars now, but we need more. Please, if haven't already, click on the link to the right and help Dessin find good homes for as many animals as possible.

And I apologize; blogger is failing me right now and wont upload any more pictures. Will of course post more later on and hope to do a slide show when we return home, so look for the soon!!

~TrailDogs