whoa. WHOA.

"That's almost as good as all-you-can-eat foodbag night"-Moc
Ah, it's most definitely the simple things in life that are the most rewarding.
Well, folks, I'm done. I finished my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail on Monday, September 22, 2008. At the moment, it's still overwhelming to think it's over, yet I have this urge to hike more.(*gasp*) We'll see how that turns out.
Our day on Katahdin couldn't have been more beautiful, it had almost no clouds and we almost got sunburnt again. I'll figure out how to post pictures here, so you would get more of an idea. On our way down, we could see Cadillac mtn., which is in Acadia NP along the coast of Maine.
I'm not sure what else to write so I'm going to make a few lists, which'll hopefully explain how I feel a bit better.
Thing's I'll miss: having something to do every day, living outside, knowing you have everything you need on your back, the awesome people, the views from the tops, the challenge, the inside jokes, not seeing someone ahead of you for a month but still knowing where they are, the sun, running down mountains, zero days, commiserating, the twix bar, peanut butter, and cheese diet, finding foods that you'd never combine off-trail actually taste quite delicious when you're hungry(mac + cheese +peanut butter + chocolate protein powder, anyone?), getting to know people so much faster ("hi, i'm Neon, the privy's that way, the water's that way, you can sleep next to me in the shelter."), trail magic!, random acts of kindness, being somewhere new and different every day, simplicity, the feeling of accomplishment after your first big mileage days, the shower after not bathing for multiple days

Things I won't miss: Not having anywhere to go inside during inclement weather, running over mountains during thunderstorms, smelling bad because I haven't showered in 5 days, sore muscles, sore joins, getting sick and still having to hike, carrying too much on your back, chaffing, losing your appetite for food because you need to consume so much of it, uphills, the people who snored in shelters, mud, being so worn out I'm not coherent anymore (that only happened a couple of times)

Things I'll try to never take for granted again: ice, hot water, the indoors, the beauty in just about everything outdoors, people I love, the kindness of strangers

Thank Yous go out to: Dad, Gretchen, Mom, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Don, the Post Office workers along the trail for only losing one of my packages, the hundreds of people who put out trail magic for people they don't even know (we really do appreciate it!), everyone who put out water in NY, Freefall, K-Bomb, Enoch, Moccasin, Orangedust & Bea, Sprout (and her friends in Kent, Ct), C.C. Rider, Circumstance, Butters for entertaining me with his cartoons, Uncle Kevin, all the older people out there on the trail('If they can do it, so can I'), anyone who owns a hostel along the trail and runs it properly, all the people who picked us up while we were hitch-hiking, and that's all I can think of right now....sorry if I missed you.

I'll see if I can post some pictures up here soon, stay tuned!

I would walk 1,000 miles, then I would walk 1,000 more....

Conversation between two hikers on the way into Glencliff, NH at the end of two 20+ mile days:
me: "I think my feet are starting to revolt"
wookie: "My whole body's revolting"
I laughed for about 5 minutes, either from delirium or actual funniness, I'm still not sure which. We then made it to the hostel, and promptly shared a 1/2 gallon of moose tracks ice cream, which makes everything better :)
The above anecdote seems to epitomize my journey thus far- everything hurts, then you get to camp, hang out with awesome people and eat something- it always makes you feel better no matter how crappy things are.
We (CC, Freefall, Circ, and our new addition: Uncle Kevin) are currently in Caratunk, Me. We will be in Monson on Friday night for a hiker feed sponsored by whiteblaze.net-check out their site!
We reached the 2,000 mile marker yesterday, it's spray-painted in the middle of a road- so much for not playing in traffic. We've made it through the whites, the Mahoosics- which contain the alleged hardest mile on the trail (Mahoosic Notch only took about 1.5 hours to get through), and just finished up the Bigelows. The only thing to do now is not break myself from here til the end. I've made it this far, right? Then it's home to figure out the rest of my life...?
Also, I ate 12 pancakes for breakfast this morning, can't wait for the sedentary life again so eating won't be such a chore- good thing they were delicious.