Victory Lap

A mere few steps off the summit, in turning to descend I caught a hitch all the way to Allentown PA, departing Millinocket in the morning. With 3 friends I easily reached the base, at Katahdin Streams Campground, before said ride departed for Millinocket, and spent the evening of my summit day with them in the last trail town of the AT. Thus began the full-circle conclusion of my journey.
Allentown was just a few hours and a few friends from Emmitsburg MD. Thus I was returned to the point at which I’d left my car, and thus I continued …
To Frostburg, the alma mater, and where I’d lived just prior thru-hiking
To the James River, in glorious central Virginia, which I will touch on later.
To Hot Springs where I did 2 weeks of work for stay and got my hike back on track
To Atlanta where I stayed a few days with my brother and sister-in-law before they dropped me off at the trail head
To Dahlonega, the first trail-town, which I actually had yet to see and now discovered thoroughly as I now have a friend from there.
All completely unexpectedly by way of just about every trail town and half the points of interest south of Harpers Ferry

But back to the James River. I’d been thinking ever since I crossed it on foot in early May, that when all this was over I’m going to take a really long…canoe trip. I had a few friends that were going to “aqua blaze” Shenandoah but I wasn’t going that route. I really had no regrets about all the hiking I was and would be doing. Didn’t want to quit before Katahdin. Canoeing just sounded fantastic. Like the glories on even the rigors of hiking, only not on your feet. It also in all practicality, was not likely to happen, given I would have to start pulling in some viable employment, get to ranger school, and friends in the normal world would certainly their vacation plans previously arranged. Entirely unexpected however, a best friends brother beat out the rest of the family in response to my passing through Fredericksburg and I got invited on a Labor Day weekend float trip with a bunch of his friends. It totally fit the bill. I was looking up at all the gorgeousness I’d looked down from 4 months earlier.

My Victory Lap proper took place on a 34 mile stretch oh the AT, from Davenport Gap to Hot Springs, over Max Patch. Max Patch being the key feature. I set aside 2 ½ days to do this, expected I may in fact do it quite nicely in 2 and actually accomplished it in 1 ½ on a luxuriously relaxing pace and schedule. I didn’t know it back when, but Tennessee trail is heaven. Coming off thru-hiking, coming out of the Whites and Maine, 20 miles was almost nothing. So by early afternoon on the first day I knew I would only be spending one night in the woods, and decided my site of choice would be Walnut Mountain Shelter. Last I checked, it didn’t have a roof and was all in shambles, but thanks to McGyver, I also knew that the pieces laying about could be rigged into something of a makeshift to better protect me from the impending weather. (MacGyver, if you’re still following this please post me an email address in the comments and I just wont publish that one.) Much to my surprise the roof had been replaced over the summer, leaving me a snug and care-free night all to myself. Inspite of the torrential rainstorm that slowed my arrival and persuaded me to sleep in my car the night before, and the overcast light rains to come throughout the night and morning, I landed the most fantastic glorious day on Max Patch, breath-taking, and unforgettable. I also found a geo-cache by sheer accident. The venture was far more than successful. And I say that not only for the Victory Lap but for the entire trek from Georgia to Maine in all its epic, euphoric, accomplished, rigorous, occasionally dismal, and entirely unglamorous glory. I loved it. I miss it. I think about it every day. Epilogue soon to follow.