Final Preparations

With any luck I will have touched this sign with my own hands by this time next week. The trail up to the northern terminus is supposed to be one of the hardest on the trail. We are budgeting an entire day to go up and back down to our campsite in Katahdin Streams Campground. The next day we will need to cover around 10 miles before entering the 100 Mile Wilderness. From there, we will be carrying five days of food and will have a treasure hunt for to find the food drop we have organized with the Appalachian Trail Lodge in Millinocket.

I haven't really started feeling nervous about the trip yet. I am still a little nervous about the health of my foot. We went on an 8 mile hike on Sunday and my foot has felt surprisingly good ever since. There has been a little bit of tingling in my feet the last few days (or is it just in my head) that I am more concerned about than anything.

I have been giving some thought to some things I hope to accomplish on this hike. I'm not talking about gaining enlightenment or inner peace (though those would be wonderful to find along the way). I'm talking about little things that I feel I would regret not experiencing at some point along the journey.

• The Half Gallon Challenge! (eating a half gallon of ice cream at the halfway point)
• Spend a zero in a shelter 
• Hitchhike at least once and not get killed
• Cowboy camp on a cliff (no tent, just sleeping under the stars)
•  Fly a kite on one of the balds down south
• Get an awesome trail name

This is by no means my complete list. It probably isn't even all that I have thought up so far, but these are the ones I remember for now.

I remember when my countdown clock on my phone said 100 days. 

Now it only says 7!