Patrick M

Home sweet home! I QUIT! Well, I have returned to my homeland, New York State, land of my birth and my forever home (so far), except for a 2-year stint in Cape Cod, MA. And since I am home, I have decided that I have seen enough, so I am done with the AT…ha, psych! Did you really think I was serious?! Right off the bat, New York does not disappoint. Today’s 12-ish miles was filled with magnificent views! ...

6/7/26 8am-2:30pm; 11.3 miles No early start today, since it is a short mileage day. There just aren’t any shelter/camp sites that line up well, for doing 15 miles per day hiking. So today was short and tomorrow is long – 18+ miles planned. Luckily it is supposed to be in the low 70’s. Today was cooler & breezy, which was great for keeping the bugs at bay (yesterday was buggy!). Some hills today, but not too bad. ...

6/12/26 8:30am – 4pm; 13.5 miles My first full day of Vermont hiking! Rained a bit this morning, while I was packing up camp. Luckily, I chose to sleep in the shelter. Coach was also taking his time, so we chatted some more. Then the rain stopped and I hit the trail. It was pleasant temps to start. Passed by a beaver pond or two (photo), and then the trail was more down than up, including a long rocky descent to Route 9, ...

6/18/26 Afternoon Monsoon! The morning was fine, but we knew there was potential for some after rain showers. Let me just point out that, to me, showers are defined as enough to rinse the shampoo from Ms. Acorn’s hair (not mine, as I have so few hairs on my head). What we got this afternoon was a full on dousing, sort of like Forrest Gump “sideways rain”, accompanied by a VERY stiff gale. My rain jacket & kilt put up a courageous fight, ...

6/23/26 About 16 miles today. The trail was beautiful, with a lot of variety. We thought that it might be a dry day, until we sauntered through a couple of open fields…wet grass/weeds = soaking feet & legs. Mike and I chatted about anything and everything, and the miles rolled by. Soon enough, we crossed the bridge over the White River, and stepped into New Hampshire! Then it was onto Dartmouth. We picked up Mike’s vehicle. ...

Only 2.5 miles hiked down into Gorham, NH today, for a Nero at the Libby Hostel. The usual town tasks occurred, including shower, laundry and food resupply.

We stayed at The Cabin hostel last night. It was “Honey's” 94th birthday ( same as my sister's!), so we had cake and ice cream. Honey is an AT legend, having hosted AT hikers for decades. We also heard some good stories and viewed the memorabilia in the dining room, including all the hiker signatures under the table top. The most famous being, Earl Shafer, the first AT thru-hiker!

Third time is a charm…I slack-packed again, for the 3rd time. My four other hiking peeps (Wind Walker, Gray Fox, Birdman & Pole Dancer) were going north to South, over the Bigelows (mountains), the last big peaks before Katahdin, or so we are told. I was in…I have been losing too much weight and needed an “easy” day.

I set out for the Ranger kiosk, about a half mile away, to sign up for a spot at The Birches Campsite. There are only 12 spots available each day. We all managed to get a spot, and then returned to our campsite to leisurely eat breakfast and pack up. Pizza left first, and I headed out about 10:30am, to hike the 10 miles to The Birches.

After an AT hiker survives Katahdin, he/she generally needs to find a way home, or their next destination. For me, it was home, sweet, home for less than a week, before heading back to Harpers Ferry for the southern leg of my journey. First, the shuttle from the Appalachian Trail Hostel picked us up in Baxter State Park and brought us to the hostel in Millinocket. The next day, Birdman, and I were catching the bus from Medway to Bangor, and flying out later in the day.