Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood

After 1803.5 miles and 3 agonizing days in a hotel waiting out weather and injury I have decided to leave the trail and finish the last 370 miles in the future. Having wrestled with feelings of guilt and failure I did not come to this decision easily but also suggest that it was a decision made for me.

It has not stopped raining in weeks, literally. I have been hiking through endless rivers of runoff and mud, at times knee deep, sometimes waist high. Entering the White Mountains in New Hampshire I was excited for the legendary views awaiting me and the challenging rock climbs above treeline but was instead met with freezing winds, horizontal rain, slippery rock walls and a feeling of foreboding as I summited under thunderstorms. What was supposed to be the highlight of the trail became a race over peaks, through lightning fields, and across rising river waters. A couple locals in North Woodstock, informed me that the farmers almanac predicted constant rain until September. News casts reported deaths from flash flooding across New England and 7 day forecasts dashed my hope of relief. I didn’t want to get trench foot and thought a lightning bolt across my forehead might not leave a scar as indiscreet or charming as Harry Potter’s. This coupled with failing knees which have become more painful with every mile decided that continuing in this manner was inviting disaster.

I am very much looking forward to being clean, and burning the clothes i’ve been wearing everyday for 4 1/2 months which are at this point closed eco-systems of bio-terror. I am excited to see my family and friends and a familiar mattress though I will miss my tent and the freedom of erecting my home wherever and whenever I desire. I will miss the quiet solitude, stories around camp fires, reaching mountain summits right at lunch time, random acts of generosity and falling asleep every night at 8:15 in the pages of a book.

I wish that this final post was coming from Maine, from a hiker stuffed with lobster but alas Katahdin will have to wait. Despite leaving the trail with 370 miles remaining I feel as though I have achieved what I wanted to gain from this experience which is not limited by mileage but perhaps was guided by a desire to go to the woods “in order to live deliberately,” as Thoreau writes. I look forward to completing the last miles in the future but am content until then with all that I have accomplished.

I want to thank Kate Klonick for making these posts intelligible, my family for their love and support, my friends for always making me laugh even when it was difficult, Tracey Sperry and the Scleroderma Foundation for helping make this fundraiser a success and to anyone reading this for your comments, your prayers, and your attention (even if divided between American Idol). It has been quite a trip and I am glad I had the opportunity to share it with you. May all of your paths continues to surprise you and may your dreams continue to inspire.

Early on in North Carolina I met three 60 year old men who had all hiked the trail the year before, having met on the AT from disparate corners of the US to develop a lasting friendship. I called them the “3 wiseman” though the “3 Stooges” might have been more accurate. I asked them, as a novice thru-hiker, for some sage advice or nugget of wilderness wisdom and what they offered I would like to share with you as sound advice for all mankind.

1) Don’t pee into the wind!

2) Never make a decision going uphill!

3) Never let the truth get in the way of a great story!

Best Wishes and Happy Trails

-Newt