Milan Wanderings.....

September 7: Today, my goal was just to walk around Milan and see some of the sights. I can't say that anything really happened--I just walked around, admiring the architecture and people watching, so I'll just post some of the photos I took and let you enjoy them. More of a "show" post rather than a "tell" post. =)

I was surprised to see a Car 2 Go here. You mean I could actually get a CAR to drive in? (I'm a Car 2 Go member.) I didn't get one, though. Not only did I not need one, just the thought of driving around in such a foreign, unfamiliar city would have terrified me! =) (And I bet the car was a stick, which I've never learned how to drive. Seems like all the cars in Europe are always sticks!)

The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Which is probably a name you aren't familiar with, but you've certainly heard about what you can find in it: The Last Supper. One of the most famous paintings in the world, created by Leonardo da Vinci from 1495-1498. I thought about paying the cost to get in to see it, but eventually decided not to. I'm a little jaded on artwork like this. It's been damaged so badly and restored (sometimes badly) over the years, I kind of wonder if there's even anything left that da Vinci actually painted! But I could still look around the grounds and architecturally, it's still an interesting building! =)

Inside the church

A different church. Or something. I'm not actually sure what this building was, but I liked it anyhow. =)

Milan Cathedral

I just loved this glass-ceiling atrium!

Entrance to Sforza Castle

Arco della Pace ("Arch of Peace") -- notice Sforza Castle visible through the right arch? =)

Under the arch, looking upwards.

I love weird stuff like this. I don't know what it means, but that's what I like about it! =) I hope it has no meaning!

I've heard of cars being stripped for parts, but a bike?!

Hey--Milan is the fashion capital of the world, right? =) Speaking of which, the locals seemed dazzled and amazed by my fashion. I caught them staring at me more than once!

To Milan!

September 6: I had three major items on my to-do list for Europe. Tour Mont Blanc was the first, and I had checked it off. Item #2 was a trip to the World's Fair, currently being held in Milan, Italy. I'd been thinking about hitting it for a few years now, ever since I read The Devil in the White City. The book was about the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, and while reading it, it occurred to me that the World's Fair used to be a really big deal. I see evidence of it almost every day I'm in Seattle when I look across the water from West Seattle and see the Space Needle towering above the city skyline--built for the 1962 World's Fair right here in Seattle.

The first of four buses I'd be riding today I caught here in downtown Les Houches, France.

The Eiffel Tower.... also built for the World's Fair. The Ferris wheel--invented for that 1893 World's Fair in Chicago to one-up the Eiffel Tower. Ice cream cones--another World's Fair invention.

So while reading this book, I got to thinking... when was the last World's Fair? I don't ever remember hearing about them in my lifetime... do they even still happen? So I did a little Google sleuthing and quickly learned that yes, the World's Fair does still exist, although it's now usually called the "World Exposition" (or Expo for short), and the next one would be held in Milan, Italy for about six months in 2015. This captured my attention for a couple of reasons. First, I'd never been to Italy before and I want to go! Now I had another reason to do so! And second, I'd been wanting to hike the Tour Mont Blanc, which happens to be located conveniently close to where the World's Fair would be running. I could do them both at the same time! And third, Italy! Really, do I need any other reason than that? =)

So I had checked off the Tour Mont Blanc, and now it was time to check off the World's Fair. I went online where I purchased tickets for the expo. I waffled between whether I should buy one-day tickets or two-day tickets and eventually settled on the two-day tickets. The second day was considerably cheaper than the first day, and if it turned out I didn't want to go a second day, I wouldn't cringe too badly at the wasted money. =)

I also searched for lodging in Milan. Hosting an expo that millions of people were expected to attend, I was a little concerned that lodging could be difficult (and perhaps expensive) to find. While I'm certainly okay with camping, living like a homeless person in a downtown park didn't strike me as a wise idea. Being September, and a weekday, I hoped this counted as the "off-season" and lodging wouldn't be difficult to find. The hotels were all crazy expensive, so I settled on a hostel a few miles from the downtown core that had space available.

And finally, I needed to get myself there. Milan was, roughly speaking, about 150 miles (250 kilometers) to the east. As you might imagine, there are not many direct buses from Les Houches, France, to Milan, Italy.

My favorite sight in Chamonix was this mural on the wall. Pretty much everything on that wall is a painting except for two small windows. The detail is absolutely stunning and incredibly life-like!

With a little help from the tourist office, I figured out a route. I took a shuttle bus from Les Houches to Chamonix--which was free for me because the hostel I had stayed at provided the bus ticket at no extra cost. But that only got me about 5 miles.

In Chamonix, I had a several hour layover before I'd catch the next bus of my journey. I could have arrived in Chamonix later, but I wanted the several hours to nose around the town and sight-see. I stopped in a bookstore looking for Nancy Drew books in French for Amanda (didn't find any), but I did find a guidebook for the GR 20 through Corsica which I picked up. After the World's Fair, that was next on my hit list. I already had one guidebook for the GR 20, but I liked this one better because it had better maps. (It was also written in French, so it really was just the maps I wanted.)

And I just wandered around town admiring the views and scenery.

That same mural, but a close-up of the bottom part of it. It looks like you could just walk right into that building, but you'd really just walk right into a solid wall!

I really liked the idea of a climber goofing around under the balconies of the wall, but both the climber and balconies are just painted onto a solid wall! Even the shadows are painted on! That light in the bottom corner--just a painting! Even that street sign is just a painting! This is really one of the most remarkable murals I've ever seen!

At the allotted time, I caught the next bus of my journey, which would take me over the French border and into Courmayeur, Italy. If Courmayeur sounds familiar, that's because it's the very same town I walked through on day 4 of my Tour Mont Blanc hike.

It didn't cover a long distance--a mere 21 kilometers (about 13 miles)--but most of it was entirely underground in the Mont Blanc Tunnel. (11.6 km, or about 7.2 miles). I had done a little more research about the tunnel, fascinated with it. Construction on it started in 1959 and the tunnel finally opened to traffic six years later in 1965. At the time of its construction, the tunnel was three times longer than the world's next longest highway tunnel. It runs under the Mont Blanc Massif, passing almost directly under one of the summits. At that point, the tunnel is 2480 meters (over 8000 feet!) below the surface. Over a mile of rock and granite crushing down on this tiny little tube through which I'll pass. It has been the world's deepest operational tunnel ever since. (I should note, according to Wikipedia, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, when it's expected to open on June 1st of this year, is slightly deeper--but it's not open yet at the time of this writing and therefore doesn't count!)

More shocking, however, was the tragedy that occurred on the morning of March 24, 1999, when 38 people died in the tunnel after a truck in it caught fire. (Most of what follows comes from Wikipedia--there's a lot more detail there, though.) A Belgium transport truck carrying flour and margarine caught fire. It wasn't the first vehicle to catch fire in the tunnel (16 other trucks had done the same during the tunnel's history), but those fires were quickly extinguished.

This fire, however, grew out of control and the driver wasn't able to put it out. Eventually, the smoke pushed him away and the fire continued to grow in intensity.

Some of the smaller passenger vehicles in the tunnel were able to turn around, but they were hindered by the dense smoke, and the larger trucks couldn't even turn around. Most drivers rolled up their windows and waited for rescue. The ventilation system became an issue as well, pushing the smoke down the tunnel faster than anyone could outrun it. The fumes quickly filled the tunnel and caused engines to stall due to lack of oxygen. When the engines on the fire trucks sent to the scene also stalled, the firefighters had to abandon the trucks.

The growing fire caused other problems as well. The fire had melted wiring plunging the tunnel into darkness. In the smoke with abandoned and stalled vehicles blocking their path, emergency vehicles could not get in.

After fire crews abandoned their vehicles, they took refuge in emergency fire cubicles, from which they could hear burning fuel roll down the road's surface popping tires and exploding fuel tanks. They were rescued five hours later. Of the 15 who were trapped, one died and the other 14 were serious condition.

The fire burned for 53 hours up to temperatures of 1,000 °C (1,830 °F), mainly because of the margarine load in the trailer, equivalent to an oil tanker, which spread to other cargo vehicles nearby that also carried combustible loads.

In all, 27 people died in their vehicles while another 10 died while on foot trying to escape to safety. Of the initial 50 people trapped by the fire, only 12 survived.

And that was the tunnel my bus would pass through. I certainly hoped my trip through would be less eventful! The tunnel had been closed for three years after the fire, both to repair all of the damage and to build additional safety improvements so an event like this never happened again, including a parallel escape shaft and a fire station (an entire fire station!) in the middle of the tunnel. Each entrance for the tunnel now has safety inspection areas and all trucks are inspected before they can enter the tunnel.

The trip through the tunnel was, I'm happy to report, was uneventful. The bus dropped me off in Courmayeur less than an hour after we left. I'd made it to Italy!

Lots of hang gliders in the air! A beautiful day for it, too!

I then switched buses yet again in Aosta. Strictly speaking, I didn't have to do that. The next bus out of Courmayeur would have stopped in Aosta then continued directly on to Milan. The earlier one I took would go no further, so I had an hour or two to bum around Aosta to catch the next bus which would have been the one I'd have been on if I'd just waited for the next bus out of Courtmayeur. But I figured, hey, when will I ever have the chance to walk around Aosta again? I'll take the extra layover! =) It won't get me into Milan any later--may as well!

This shop allowed you to sign up for hang gliding, but alas, my layover in town wasn't long enough for me to try it myself. Next time, though! Definitely next time! =)

The town was someone disappointing, though. I arrived near lunch and the streets seemed eerily deserted. Very few people walked around and almost all of the stores were closed. It was an industrial kind of town--at least the area where the bus dropped me off was--and nothing I saw I'd consider 'scenic.' And it was hot! Out from Courmayeur, the elevation dropped rapidly and temperatures warmed. On the air-conditioned bus, I didn't really notice the change, but walking around Aosta, I certainly felt it. Eventually I found a shady spot to wait for my bus and read my Kindle.

My bus soon arrived, and I boarded the last bus--finally the bus that would take me the rest of the way to Milan. I stared out the window, watching the countryside blow by. I was amused when, while navigating through one town, I saw a pizza place promoting "New York style pizza!" I kind of wished I could stop and go, if for no other reason that to tell people that I went all the way to Italy to try New York style pizza. =)

A couple of hours later, I exited the bus. I was in Milan!

But I wasn't done with navigating the transit systems just yet. Nope, now I had to figure out how to get to my hostel. I wasn't even entirely sure exactly where in Milan I was, but the large transit maps hanging around the station helped me figure that out quickly. I figured out both where I was and where I needed to be, and found a subway line connecting the two locations just a few stops away.

I fumbled around with a ticket machine. Fortunately, there was an English button, which I pushed. It took a couple of tries, but eventually I pressed the right sequence of buttons that spit out a ticket. I found the subway entrance, and made sure I was on the correct side to pick up the train going into town. I made a mental note of everything--I'd have to ride the subway again later to get to the World's Fair. And maybe use it to get downtown, although the hostel was close enough downtown that I'd probably just walk it.

I love subways--so fast and efficient, cutting through traffic like it wasn't even there because, it isn't! When I reached my destination, though, it's confusing at first. I come out of the subway like a groundhog poking his head out of the ground, and in a city I've never been, nothing looks familiar. Which way is north? Even when I see a street sign--ah! Yes, that's the street I need to follow! But which direction? It took me a good five minutes to get my bearings and figure out which way I needed to walk to my hostel.

And late in the afternoon, I finally checked in. I was put in a room that could fit six people, and the room was full. I got a top bunk, and the guy who set up in the lower bunk looked like he had created a fort with towels wrapped around the edge of his bed as a privacy screen. Which seemed kind of weird to me, but I didn't really care.

I went out to a nearby grocery store to grab some snacks for dinner and for walking around in Milan, then spent the rest of the evening at the hostel catching up with emails and messages on my laptop again. =)

Views around Chamonix are gorgeous!

Entrance to the Mont Blanc Tunnel, the scene of a horrific tragedy in 1999.

In the tunnel! Buried by more than a mile of granite!

Still in the tunnel.....

Still in the tunnel.... did I mention that the tunnel was over 7 miles long? It takes a while to get through!

Finally--the light at the end of the tunnel! And Italy! We're now in Italy!

My chariot from Courmayeur to Aosta.

The bus would stop in multiple towns along the route, winding its way through the narrow streets. This is one of the churches it drove past, but I couldn't tell you which town we were in at the time. (The photo isn't very good because of the reflections in the window of the bus. Most of my "in the bus" photos had a lot of bad reflections like this.)

In Milan, I had to figure out how to navigate subway system to get to my hostel! =) I took this photo of the giant transit maps so I could refer to it in case I got lost. (My hostel was located almost exactly halfway between the LOTTO Fieramilanocity and Amendola stops. I decided to get off at the Amendola stop because it looked less confusing once I got above ground again!)

Waiting for my ride in the subways of Milan! =)

The After Action Report

I have one last follow-up post about my 2015 Appalachian Trail thru-hike. A quick update on some of the characters I met along the way and what I did immediately after getting off the trail.

I spent a couple of days in Millinocket, the closest town to the end of the trail in Katahdin. The town seems like its a bit down on its luck, a shell of its former self, but I rather enjoyed the town. It was small and quaint. It had strange signs like the announcement of a grand opening of the Family Fun Center.... in 2009. I'm left wondering if it really reopened at all. Who knows?!

Watch out for moose in Millinocket!

It was also fun spending a couple of extra days in Millinocket watching hikers I knew arrive and catching up with them one last time. I knew Bearfish had to be close behind me, and he was the one I was looking forward most to seeing again, and we did catch up in Millinocket. He had started his hike from Waynsboro, VA, and the last I talked to him, still hadn't decided if he was going to go back down and hike the rest of the trail. New Hampshire and Maine took a lot of the energy out of him. But in any case, he was definitely going to take an extended rest for a little while.

Bionic Woman, the one-legged hiker I first met hiking up the Approach Trail on my first day--she did succeed in her thru-hike. She finished on December 30th, nearly 10 months after she finished. She certainly didn't set any speed records, but that was never the goal! Just completing the trail in a single year is an amazing accomplishment and last I heard about her, she had started writing a book about her trail adventures. I have no idea when that will be available but perhaps I'll post again when it is.

The Four Horsemen finished the trail a couple of weeks before I did and scattered their separate ways. Bostrich finished first, while Superman, Heavyweight and Blueberry summited Katahdin together on August 1st. They didn't have good weather at the top, but Superman has the best summit photo I've ever seen. His pathetic hand-stand attempt at the top of Katahdin is wonderful as well. =)

I heard a rumor about some of the Four Horsemen getting together for a short backpacking trip somewhere out east. I'm trying to get in on that deal. I think it would be a lot of fun to catch up with some of them again. =)

The movie for A Walk In the Woods came out shortly after I finished the trail, and--of course--I had to go see it. It was okay, I suppose, but not nearly as funny as the book was. I didn't think it would translate into the big screen very well. It did so better than I expected, but at best... I considered it an okay movie. I'm very curious how much of an impact it has on the AT hiking community next year, though.

I wasn't brave enough to order the Summit Sundae at the Appalachian Trail Cafe, but these hikers did. I took this photo of their photo on their cell phone since it was mostly gone by the time I had arrived. It's a gluttonous sundae enough to fill a dozen people.... or two thru-hikers. =)

Oh, I set a new AT record myself.... So far as I know, I'm the first person named Ryan Carpenter to hike the trail in 160 days flat. It's a record I'm proud of, even if I didn't try particularly hard to set a new record. (The previous record, in case you're curious, was 162 days.)

I say that in jest, of course, although it is true. I finished the trail two days faster this time around than I did last time. What I find more interesting, however, is that I took 22 zero days this year--about a week more than I did my first time around. I needed more zero days to write these constant blog posts, check up on Atlas Quest and Walking 4 Fun (neither of which existed during my first thru-hike) and these things definitely slowed me down. But I averaged more miles each day I did hike more than compensating for the difference--especially in the beginning.

Also an interesting side note: My longest day of hiking this time around covered 23.7 miles. During my first thru-hike, it was slightly over 24 miles. So my longest day on the AT is still part of the 2003 thru-hike.

I counted 21 official "rain days" in my logbook. A rain day was generally any day when it rained long enough and hard enough that I got wet. There were some days when a trace of rain would fall, but I didn't count those as rain days because I never really got soaked. The rain that fell dried faster than it fell! Other times it rained, but if I was safe and dry in a shelter or town and otherwise unaffected by the rain, it didn't count. So it rained a lot more than 21 times, but only 21 days did I have to actively hike in miserable rain. By comparison, during my 2003 thru-hike, I probably hiked that many days in rain in May alone. This trail this time around was a heck of a lot drier!

Really? A grand opening? The date on that was more than six years ago! Yeah, I have a question....

Here are some other interesting numbers I counted during the hike:

• Snake count: 36
• Bear count: 3 on trail,  5 off trail (the two in the Bear Mountain Zoo I'm not counting because that would feel like cheating)
• Moose count: 1 on trail, 1 off trail
• Porcupine count: 1
• Interstates passed: 17
• River fords: 5
• Photos taken: 24,995

I didn't get all of the photos processed and added to Walking 4 Fun until December, but you can now virtually walk the trail! I wound up using 9,657 photos for the virtual walk, or about 4.4 photos per mile. A lot more than you've seen on this blog!

I left Millinocket a couple days after my arrival, getting a shuttle ride to Medford, Maine, where I caught a bus that took me to Bangor, where I caught another bus that took me into downtown Boston where I met up with my cousin and spent a week.

I didn't loaf around for a week, though. No, I still had work to do. I spent the week pounding out blog posts to last at least through the end of September and getting some of my digital affairs in order because I wasn't quite done hiking yet. I was heading to Europe!

I love small towns. That's the only place I see "business hours" written like this.... =)

I had three major checkboxes I wanted to hit while in Europe:

1. Hike the 110-or-so miles on the Tour Mont Blanc through France, Italy and Switzerland. It's a gorgeous trail around Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe. It would be my first time in both Italy and Switzerland as well. 
2. Then I'd take a bus to Milan, Italy. I wanted to check out the World's Fair. They call it an "Expo," but a World's Fair by any other name is still the World's Fair. =) I'd heard so much about them--in Chicago, in Paris and even in Seattle (the Space Needle was built for the World's Fair, after all), but I'd never been to a World's Fair and by golly, I'd been waiting for years to see one. If I was just a short jump away from it while hiking the Tour Mont Blanc, I may as well stop for this too.
3. Then fly out to Corsica--a French island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Italy. I intended to hike the 120-or-so miles of the GR 20, a difficult and strenuous trail crossing the spine of Corsica. I'll have company on this trail as well--Karolina, who hiked the West Highland Way with me last year--will be returning to my blog for a limited time!

So I spent the week in Boston writing blog posts and organizing my whirlwind trip through Europe booking flights, buses and accommodations. The week would also give my banged-up knee a chance to rest and recuperate.

So this blog hasn't come to an end. The Appalachian Trail is done, but stay tuned. Next post, I'll be flying to Europe and taking my first steps on the Tour Mont Blanc. You won't want to miss it! =)

Best summit photo ever! Gotta love Superman.....

A less than impressive handstand at the top of Katahdin! That's Blueberry (L) and Heavyweight (R) holding up Superman.

Don't think that Superman can't do a real handstand, though. This is him doing one on Dragon's Tooth back in Virginia. INSANE!

Not impressed with Dragon's Tooth? How about his handstand on McAfee Knob?!

Mural in Boston

Another mural in Boston.

Elevators are evil!

An exclusive sneak peak at the Tour Mont Blanc! Where the mountains are bigger than ever!

Then a quick jaunt to the World's Fair in Milan, Italy!

And finally, my grand tour of Europe will end with a thru-hike of the GR 20--renowned around the world for being among one of the toughest trails out there.

But the incredible scenery along the GR 20 makes it totally worth it! So stay tuned... there's a lot more coming to this blog!

Day 160: Summit Day!

August 14: It was summit day! My last day on the Appalachian Trail. After 160 days, I was finally at the end of the trail. Bittersweet, but glad it would soon be done.

It suddenly occurred to me that I could quit right now and honestly say that I've hiked the entire Appalachian Trail twice. I hadn't summited Katahdin yet, but after I reached it during my first thru-hike, I had to turn around and hike the 5 miles back to the trailhead so, technically, I've actually done these last 5 miles of trail twice already. I suppose that would have made me a section hiker. Complete 5 miles in 2003, and 2,195 miles in 2015. =)

The ranger station where I checked in as thru-hiker #252 to finish the trail.

No, I was going to summit Katahdin again. It wouldn't be right not to! Anyhow, I still needed the photos for Walking 4 Fun. I didn't take enough during my 2003 thru-hike which was the whole reason I was out here a second time in the first place.

I took my time packing up camp, giving the morning time to burn off some light morning fog. I was in rush--I had a mere ten miles to complete. Granted, it's a tough ten miles, but even at a measly 2 mph--I'd be done in five hours. Maybe six hours if I take an extended break to savor the moment at the top.

So it wasn't until 7:00 that I was finally packed and ready to go.

From the shelter, I walked the 0.2 miles to Katahdin Stream Campground. I carried two packs--one on my back, and one in my hand. The second pack was borrowed from the nice rangers who provided them for thru-hikers to slackpack up Katahdin. I picked it up the evening before when I checked in at the ranger station. No reason to carry gear I wouldn't need when I'd just be walking back down to here!

When I put on the day pack, however, it absolutely reeked! All thru-hikers stink, but good grief--the stench about knocked me out. I rearranged my gear again putting stuff I didn't need in the day pack and decided to use my own backpack as the slack pack. It smelled too, but at least that was a tolerable smell. =)

So I was carrying the borrowed pack in my left hand back to the ranger station where I'd store it until I returned. My trekking pole was in my right hand, but I wasn't using it since the ground was a dirt road that was completely and utterly smooth.

And somehow, my trekking pole got twisted up my legs and tripped me. I crashed to the ground on Tote Road in a most spectacular fashion, totally face-planting into the road. Both of my hands were full so I couldn't catch myself. My immediate sensation was pure shock. What the hell happened?!

And yet, no warning signs on Tote Road! =)

I picked myself and looked around, but nobody appeared to notice my fall. Nobody was around to notice my fall. My right knee throbbed with pain--I had banged it pretty hard. I took a few steps and the knee throbbed even more. So much so that I worried if I'd be able to summit Katahdin after all. I knew what the trail ahead was like. A jungle-gym of boulders that required a great deal of scrambling, and it was a less than ideal place for an injured knee.

I hobbled over to the ranger station and set the pack down and decided to hike up Katahdin anyhow. Or at least I'd try to. I could always turn around early if I had to--although I certainly hoped it wouldn't come to that. I couldn't believe it. On completely flat and level ground, on the friggin' road for crying out loud--and I'd injured myself so badly that I was wondering if I could make it to the top now. Well, rescue from here would be a heck of a lot easier than from the summit of Katahdin, but it was ridiculous! "Yes, I needed rescuing from Tote Road!" No... I wasn't going to do that. Damn it, I'd rather hike halfway up the mountain and then tell people I injured myself and required rescue. It would look more dramatic at any rate. =)

The first mile or so, the trail climbed gradually and I soon caught up with Salty Dog and met his wife who had come out to join him for this last section. I also caught up with Red Titan and her dad. Her dad I'd seen numerous times waiting for her at trailheads since Vermont, but it was actually the first time I met Red Titan who I'd heard so much about.

The injured knee definitely slowed me down some, but I was still in considerably better shape than most of the day hikers going up and I passed people quite regularly. Katahdin is a very popular destination and I started counting the number of people I passed. I lost count after about 30, though. It was a busy, busy trail!

And it was an absolutely beautiful day for it! Mostly clear with a few high-flying clouds to give the sky some character. The summit of Katahdin--for the time being--was actually clear of clouds. The stars had aligned well!

Katahdin Stream Falls is perhaps my favorite waterfall of the entire trail!

A little over a mile later, I reached the beautiful Katahdin Stream Falls, and admired it for a few minutes. I didn't linger too long--I could linger on my way back down. I had Summit Fever and just wanted to get to the top at this point.

Now the trail became even stepper, but it wasn't until the trail popped above tree line that the trail becomes spectacularly difficult and a giant maze of boulders that needed to be navigated. Progressed slowed to a crawl. The throbbing in my right knee increased dramatically as well, but I pushed onward and upwards.

Maybe three hours into the hike, I started passing people I knew already heading back down the mountain. Axon and Shrugged--the French Canadians I kept seeing in the 100-Mile Wilderness--had already reached the summit and were coming back down. Near the top I passed Loon who was also heading down. These people must have gotten some seriously early starts in the morning!

And at around noon, I approached the summit. It was swirling with what seemed like a hundred people. I took photos--lots of photos--and admired the commanding and dramatic views. Absolutely, jaw-dropping beautiful views and among the very best of the entire Appalachian Trail. I had missed these views my first time up in 2003 due to fog, but I made up for it this time around.

I didn't want to leave. It was so amazing up there! Other thru-hikers arrived soon behind me. Some of them I knew, some of them I didn't. I was surprised when Young Blood walked up shortly after me, hollering with joy upon his arrival at the summit. Nothing subdued about his summit, but I was surprised to see him at all. Last I knew, he had camped near Abol Bridge last night, and he told me that he started hiking at 2:00 that morning or some ungodly hour to summit today while the weather was good. Tomorrow, he said, the weather was expected to be a lot worse so he pushed himself hard to reach the summit today.

Salty Dog had the same concerns about the weather tomorrow and actually skipped the trail between Abol Bridge and Katahdin Stream Campground completely. His plan was to summit today with the good weather, then go back and finish that section he missed tomorrow when rain was expected. So technically, Salty Dog had yet to finish the trail. He'd finish tomorrow--but I think he made the right decision. Today was the day to summit, no argument there!

Eventually I moved off to the side where I pulled out my cell phone and checked to see if I got a signal. I wanted to tell both my mom and Amanda that it was official--I had finished the trail. I still needed to hike back down to the trailhead, but I was done. It was time to leave this trail. I talked to my mom, but Amanda was presumably flying because my call went to her voicemail. I left her a message. I also tried using the weak Internet connection I had to post a photo of the summit to my Facebook account, but it was too much for the feeble connection. I'd have to post photos later.

After about an hour of lingering at the top, I started heading back down and was surprised to see Good Man nearing the summit. He too had started hiking at an ungodly hour to make it from Abol Bridge to summit today. So we high-fived each other and chatted for a few minutes. He pointed down the trail to a specific person on the trail. Just a dot from our location, but he described him as a bit chunky, wearing a certain color shirt and hiking by himself. But he said he knew that person. They crossed paths completely by accident, but they had gone to school together years ago, and this guy was just starting the trail, planning to hike southbound to Springer Mountain. This was his first day on the trail.

"Poor guy," I said sympathetically. Good Man seemed to think that was funny, but he was getting to a point.

"This morning," Good Man continued, "he put sunscreen on his face. Or rather, he tried to. But he accidentally used toothpaste instead."

I laughed.

"So he rubbed toothpaste all over his face thinking it was sunscreen. When he realized what he did, he tried to wipe it off, but there's still bits of it you can see in his beard and on his face. His trailname is now Sensodyne."

Oh wow, that was funny. Which had a strange symmetry with the fellow I met who had just started thru-hiking the Long Trail in Vermont who had tried to brush his teeth with sunscreen. What is up with people confusing their sunscreen with their toothpaste? Take a lesson people: If you pack sunscreen and toothpaste in your own containers, make sure the containers look different! =)

So I learned these interesting tidbits from Good Man, but what he really wanted me to do, he told me, was to do my whole "thing" about "Save yourself! Quit the trail while you still can!" Scare him a little bit. I nodded. Yeah, I can do that. =)

We gave each other a fist bump and continued on our separate ways.

Above tree line, the trail became a lot more difficult and slow!

Maybe ten minutes later, I reached Sensodyne. When we approached each other, he stopped briefly on the side of the trail to let me pass. Actually, I think it was a convenient excuse just to stop and rest. He looked sweaty and exhausted, hurting from the steep climb up.

"You're almost there!" I said to him. "Just a little bit further!"

And I could clearly see some bits of white toothpaste in his beard. It was very difficult for me to keep a straight face. It could have easily passed as sunscreen that he didn't rub in very well, but I knew better.

"Hey," I said, "you missed some of the spots of sunscreen on your face," I commented innocently.

He smiled, in an embarrassed sort of way. "Oh, that.... that's toothpaste," he told me, launching into an in depth explanation of how he had mixed up his toothpaste and sunscreen earlier. I laughed, no longer having to keep the straight face. And he said he was just starting his south-bound thru-hike. Today was his first day on the trail.

Taking that as my cue, I launched into my spiel: "Don't do it! Quit! Quit while you still can! It's not worth it!" I said with conviction.

Synsodyne looked surprised, and I toned down my rhetoric. "Here's the thing," I confided. "Katahdin--this is the most difficult most beautiful part of the entire trail. It's all downhill from here. Literally and figurative. Save yourself. Once you've done Katahdin, you have nothing to prove. This IS the hardest part of the entire trail! And it's the most spectacular! You've already done it all! You can quit now and save yourself all that heartbreak you'd otherwise have!"

The man looked like he might be taking my advice seriously, contemplating my words. Then I popped the bubble.

"Oh, screw it! It's an adventure! What else are you going to do for the next five or six months? Go for it! Do the whole trail! Have a blast!"

My sudden turn-around seemed to surprise him as well, so I confided even more. "Good Man told me to say that," I whispered.

Then  you could see the wheels in his head clicking. Ah.... he knows Good Man.

"Wait a minute.... so you already knew about the toothpaste fiasco?"

I smiled. "Yes, yes I did." =)

We talked for a few more minutes then continued on our separate ways.

On the way down, I walked first with Red Titan and her dad, then later with Salty Dog and his wife. They were all relatively slow hikers. Well, Red Titan wasn't particularly slow, but her dad was so she'd stop to wait for him regularly. I wanted to walk with some slow people, though, because by now my knee was absolutely killing me. This rock scrambling was causing a lot of trouble with it, and I wanted some slow hikers to check my speed. I didn't tell them that, but I was limping pretty badly at this point.

At one point along the strenuous descent, I lost my grip on my trekking pole and dropped it--right into a narrow crack of two large boulders. @#$#!!!

I took off my pack and tried squeezing myself down the crack to retrieve the trekking pole. I could see it, but I couldn't quit reach it. It did, however, appear that light was entering the cavern from the side, so I scrambled down the side of the boulder to another (larger) entrance and was able to squeeze in far enough to retrieve my trekking pole.

I needed to be more careful with that.... you could lose gear permanently in some of these cracks. I was fortunate to loose my trekking pole down a crack where I could retrieve it from another direction.

And in the mid-afternoon, I finally reached the Katahdin Stream Campground. I headed back to the ranger station to retrieve the rest of my gear from the smelly pack I left behind, then tried hitchhiking back to civilization.

Well, hitchhiking isn't an entirely accurate term. I'd approach people who were just finishing Katahdin asking if they were heading out of the park and back through Millinocket. Katahdin is a destination. People to there, then they go back home. I didn't have to stand on the side of the road hoping a passing stranger would stop for me. I just had to ask people as they were getting into their car for a ride.

But I struck out. One woman was picking up a bunch of hikers from the trail and wouldn't have room in the car. Others were camping nearby and not heading back into Millinocket.

But sometimes, you had these metal bars stuck into the boulders to help with the scrambling. Not enough of them, but I'll take what I can get!

Eventually, Salty Dog and friends took pity on me and gave me a ride out of the park. They dropped me off at a campground that they were staying about a mile short of Millinocket, not wanting to take the one-mile detour into town to drop me off.

A mile walk into town normally wouldn't have bothered me too much, but I was exhausted and my knee was still throbbing painfully. I was a little annoyed that they wouldn't drive me the extra mile into town--it wasn't that far away. If our rolls were reversed, I'd have driven the extra mile in a heartbeat.

But I had another idea for how to avoid walking the last mile into town or trying to hitch a ride from a passing car: I pulled out my smartphone, called the hostel I'd be staying at and asked if they could send a shuttle to pick me up. My guidebook did say that they regularly shuttle people to the trailhead for Katahdin--my requirements were considerably shorter than that! I just needed a ride for the last mile!

The woman I talked to on the phone said that wasn't a problem, asked me exactly where I was located. I told her the name of the campground and that I was the only person standing outside by its entrance so I'd be hard to miss. A few minutes later, a van pulled up and I hobbled into the front seat.

"Looks like Katahdin really beat you up," she said, noticing my heavy limp.

I grinned. "Actually, I got this injury on Tote Road before I even got on the trail." And I told her the story of my fall. She seemed to think it was hilarious. Lots of people have gotten injured climbing Katahdin over the years and needed rescuing, but apparently I was the first person she'd ever heard of injuring themselves on Tote Road before even starting the climb.

"I made it, though!" I said with pride. "But my knee is going to pay for it for awhile. I'm just glad I don't have to hike anymore. Not for awhile, at least."

I soon checked into the hostel in Millinocket. For dinner, I headed to the Appalachian Trail Cafe with a group of other hikers to celebrate our completion of the trail. Well, for some of us, it was our completion. We were a mix of hikers. Some were flip-flopping and had started at Harpers Ferry so were now only half done with the trail. One of others had just started the trail, climbing Katahdin, but hurt so bad afterwards he got off the trail to recuperate before returning to the trail later. But all of us had summited Katahdin that afternoon and regardless of whether it was our first day on the trail or our last, we all felt like we had something great to celebrate.

The ceiling of the restaurant is filled with those perforated ceiling tiles that are so ubiquitous everywhere, but this restaurant--the Appalachian Trail Cafe and owned by the same people who ran the hostel--had a tradition that thru-hikers who finish the trail can sign the ceiling tiles. As of today, I qualified. =)

The "active" ceiling tile--the one currently being added to--was lying on its side against the wall along with a basket of colored markers one could use. Naturally, I had to stamp my stamp on the tile, but I also wrote out "I ♥ Green Tortuga" (I in black, ♥ in red, and Green Tortuga in green) like Amanda would do in chalk on the sidewalks. She was with me in spirit, after all. =)

Red Titan's dad, whose name I now forget. Everyone just tended to call him Red Titan's dad!

From front to back: Red Titan's dad, Red Titan, and Salty Dog.

The end is near! The AT follows that ridge of boulders right to the top.

Red Titan scrambles up the trail. This really is the trail. See the white blazes? On the boulder to the right, and the other by her raised foot? They call this a TRAIL?!

The air is getting thin up here! =)

What is that strange contraption alongside the trail?

There you have it--it's part of a cable system to move rocks.

There were a heck of a lot of people at the summit--but what a beautiful day for it!

All of the thru-hikers at the top at this time did a group photo. That's Young Blood sitting on the sign, and the older fellow on the left is Salty Dog. The woman in front... I forget her name, but she was from Norway or something and spoke with a really thick accent. I had met her very briefly in Monson. The other two... I didn't meet them until here at the summit!

The end of the trail. The sign looks a little worn--they should replace it with a new one. *nodding*

I spent about an hour at the top savoring the views.

Of course, the end of the trail doesn't mean the hike is over. We still have to get back to the trailhead five miles and 4,000 feet down. (From foreground to background: Red Titan, Salty Dog, and his wife.)

Salty Dog and his wife navigate a particularly tricky spot down the mountain.

I checked in at the Appalachian Trail Lodge for the night and introduced myself to Gomer who likes to hang out in the front. =)

Good Man admires the ceiling tiles of the Appalachian Trail Cafe.

Then we signed the current ceiling tiles ourselves. We'd earned it! =)