Act Three

The final act of my AT journey is finishing the sections I had to skip on the way north. This includes 300 miles from Branchville, NJ to Harper's Ferry, WV and 250 miles from Glasgow, VA to Marion, VA.

The two weeks leading up to and immediately after Katahdin were a flurry. I never hiked less than 10 miles a day and never slept in the same place twice; shelters, tent, bunk room, RV, roach motel, and sleeping bag under the stars.

Pickup's family gave Strider and I a ride to the train terminal in Boston, where we ran onto our trains at the last minute after rushed goodbyes. I rode south to NYC, where I treated myself to a hotel room and a trip to our favorite house of ramen. The next day I stopped at REI for my fourth and final pair of hiking shoes and took a car to Branchville.

I will be a solo hiker again, for the first time since Georgia in early April. I've been hiking and traveling with friends ever since. There is a chance I can befriend some SOBOs, if they travel at my place, but they will be much more sparse than the NOBO bubble we started in.

I see this as an opportunity to find other means of happiness. If nothing else, a more gentle let down from the friendship hiking of the past six months. In northern Maine, we were just beginning to really appreciate the luxury of camping in the wilderness night after night. Now is my chance to dive into the solitude.