Back in the late 80s when I was still in college, a friend and I drove from Vermont to Maine in order to do some ice climbing on Mt. Katahdin. Conditions were terrible so we hiked up instead. I snapped this photo. My friend asked if I wanted to be in the picture too and I said, “No, not until I have actually hiked it.” And now, this year…my dream begins!!! Less than 100 days until I start my hike!!!
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“Dear Fourteeners–
This is OUR YEAR! Finally!
This is why we’ve been obsessing over base weight.
This is why we’ve been getting strange looks for wearing a full backpack at the local park.
This is why we’ve been working overtime at a sucky job.
This is why we go to the gym at 5:00 am.
This is why our REI dividends have been so big.
This is why we own a kitchen scale but have never weighed any food with it.
This is why we pay $17 for a pair of socks.
This is why we post silly questions on White Blaze.
This is why we read nothing but Trail Journals all day.
This is why we eat Mountain House meals for dinner after cooking them on an alcohol stove on the kitchen counter. “Just to try it out”
This is why we can talk about bodily functions with complete strangers.
This is why my den looks like garage sale day at REI
This is why we hope and pray that we have an easier time of it than the Class of 2013 did.
This is why we spend hours and hours making plans and schedules that go out the window before we’ve walked the first 30 miles.
This is why we go to sleep dreaming about places like Max Patch, McCaffee’s Knob, Franconia Ridge, and Mt, Katahdin.
This is why we worry about blisters, Norovirus, Lyme Disease, and if we’ll be able to get a wifi signal.
This is when we’ll finally get to meet Ron Haven, Miss Janet, and Bob Peoples.
This is when we’ll finally get to play croquet with the Ice Cream Man.
This is when we finally find out if Pennsylvania is as miserable as everyone says, and if the White Mountains are as tough as advertised.
This is when WE are the main attraction at Trail Days.
This is when we find out if we can eat a half gallon of ice cream.
This is when nobody cares if we shack up in a seedy motel with somebody we just met.
This is when we grow epic beards and eat candy like an unsupervised six-year-old.
This is when we get a Polaroid taken in Harpers Ferry.
This is when we finally figure out how to hang a bear bag.
This is when all these names become faces, and faces become lifelong friends.
This is our year.
This is what we’ve been waiting for and obsessing over for so long.
Let’s do this.
Cheers to the Class of 2014, and Happy New Year. This is gonna be the best one ever.
Blueberry”
~~~~~I was given permission to repost this letter here–thanks Blueberry aka Mikey Boegh!~~~~~
This photo is of Bear Butte, a laccolith on the South Dakota prairie, reflected in a thin sheet of ice on Bear Butte Lake. I took it last winter while doing some running nearby. This Butte is sacred to many indigenous tribes of the Plains and it shows, just a little, of where I am coming from when I begin my journey!
Meadowlark Song On the AT 