In the words of Bon Jovi "whooa we're halfway there!" Never thought this day would come. I just finished my half gallon of moose tracks ice cream in 26 minutes.
When I first hiked 30 miles or so of the Smokey's in 2009 with Patrick Kimmons and we met a thru hiker, I never thought about what that entailed. 3 years later here I am thru hiking inspiring others to do the same. When I first started the trail on March 4th I thought 1 month would be enough time to have my adventure and want to go home. Boy was I wrong. As I started meeting other thru hikers I felt like one of them even though my plan was just to do a section hike. Eventually I just started telling people I was thru hiking because it was easier than explaining. I never imagined Maine, or even north of Virginia, it all seemed soo far away, it was just words, an idea. Even when I quit my job and decided to continue until I didn't want to be here I never really thought about anything north of VA. Actually from Daleville to the middle of the Shenandoahs I was pushing so hard to get multiple 20+ mile days that I would wake up, hike, eat, then go to bed. It was not fun. When the sun came back out and I started seeing bears and meeting the hikers behind me who were catching up, and I started shortening my days back down to 15s it became fun again. I am glad I pushed myself though because I know I can roll out huge miles if I need to, but like I said before 15 a day and I'll be done August 1st. So in the past week I have once again become enamored with the trail and catch myself frequently saying "I love the A.T.!" Hopefully the second half only brings more smiles and lifelong friends, I know the pictures will be good.
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