Goodbye, Maine… You were beautiful.

We’ve completed 298 miles of the trail, and hiked at least 312 miles including side trails and accidental wrong turns. We’ve also finished four milestones. 1) Katahadin – the largest peak in Maine and one of the most revered of the trail; 2) The 100 mile wilderness – the longest stretch of trail without towns and resupply points; 3) Southern Maine in general – a notorious maze of huge boulders and rocks and roots and climbing up and down old, crumbling mountains; 4) Mahoosuc Notch – the “most difficult mile on the trail” because it’s a climb over and under and around an enormous boulder field. We found it more like a giant adult playground…

Maine presented a beautiful and magical landscape… We hear New Hampshire is also rigorous with a lot of climbing ahead of us the next 7-10 days… it also holds our next (and last two milestones)… 5) The Whites in general (a lot of climbing and high mountains); and 6) Mount Washington specifically – the highest peak in the NE.

After that, and these next 100 miles, things are supposed to get “easier”… we’ll see…