It's done. The hiking is finally over. I have officially thru-hiked the AT, so this will be my last post. My Dad and I summited Katahdin with Hazard, Spoon, and CrocStar on Tuesday, Sept 8th. So that makes for 121 days on the trail; a little under four months. 109 days of actually hiking and 12 days off. Which is almost exactly 18 miles a day counting days off. Not too bad.
I've taken the last week or so to adjust back to normal life. It was pretty weird at first. Waking up and realizing I don't have to hike 20 miles is something I haven't yet fully gotten used to. I have so much time on my hands and I'm sure what to do with it yet. When there was free time on the trail, you tried to do as little as possible. The less you moved, the better lol. Every day, there was a job to do. Now, I come home and I'm unemployed and not going to school so I'm just bouncing off the walls all day. I have to say, I kinda miss it.
Finishing the trail was bitter-sweet. A couple months ago, I never would've guessed I would miss it at all really. But as time went on and I came closer to finishing, I realized there were a lot parts of the trail and the lifestyle that I would miss. The hiking itself wasn't that great, but living in the woods was pretty freakin cool. There's a simplicity to it that is liberating.
I think my favorite thing about the whole trip was the people. I met a lot of great people. The hiking community is relatively small so most of the time, everyone knows everyone. I found that hikers are typically very friendly, warm, outgoing people. What was even more uplifting, were the generous people I met who weren't hiking. Several times, I was brought in by strangers who gave me a bed, good food, a shower, and laudry and expected nothing in return. The trail really helped me developed more faith in people.
When I wrote in Monson, I mentioned hiking with Hazard, Spoon, and Crocstar. I hiked the last 3 weeks or so with them and it was a great way to finish the trip. I love those guys. They're some really fun people to be hiking with. We had a lot of good times together. I plan on seeing them next year at Trail Days (a hiker's reunion in Virginia).
There's a million things to talk about but I dont want this to get out of hand lol. I want to thank everyone who followed me and gave their support on my hike. It helped me keep motivated. I especially want to thank Dan for hiking with me for the first 7 weeks. You definately made that part of the trip more enjoyable for me. Thanks man.
And if anyone is ever thinking about hiking the AT or anything nearly as absurd, well; I won't tell you not to, but I'm not really gonna recommend it. Its a pretty dumb thing to do. Just go car camping lol. Thanks for reading!
-Nick

Dont have too much time to write but we're in Monson, ME, which is the last trail town before Katahdin. I'm hoping to summit on Sept 8th but as with everything else on the trail, we'll see how it goes. For the last couple weeks I've been hiking with three guys I've known since pretty much the beginning. Spoon, Hazard, and Croc Star are some really fun guys and we've been having a blast hiking together. I think they'll stay friends for while. anyways gotta go. see everyone soon.

So I stayed last night in a frat house at Dartmouth College here in Hanover, NH. I hiked into town with a few people and one of them was a brother in the same frat so he got us in. It was pretty cool. The place was trashed from one of their parties and we helped clean it up as kind of a thank you for letting us stay. They set up a bunch of leather couches for us in their living room and we slept on those. We were woken up a few times by their very loud party that was happening downstairs but it was still pretty sweet lol. Hanover seems like a really fun place to be. I plan to stay pretty late today but I still wanna get going at some point because a zero in this town probably wouldn't do well for my motivation.

So that makes 12 states down, 2 to go! New Hampshire should be fun. I'm pretty psyched for the whites coming up even though I know it could be miserable if the weather's bad. I'm hopin for the best.

I have no idea how many chances I'll get to use a computer from here on out. I'll do my best but I can't make any promises. Take care everyone.

After a whole bunch of time off I've been back on trail now for about five days and I'm feelin' good. I'm starting to get back into the rhythm of things. My body feels strong and I'm actually enjoying my time out here. Vermont is pretty cool. The scenery is starting to pick up and the hiking has been pretty easy. Its also starting to get cooler, which has been really nice. The nights can get kinda cold but it makes the days a whole lot better. The best thing about the cooler temps is the lack of bugs. In Mass, the mosquitos were brutal but the last few days have almost been mosquito-free, which has been awesome!

I just found out yesterday that I have lyme. I started feeling crappy way back in Waynesboro, VA. I didn't bother going to the doctor, I just started taking the meds, but apparantly that didn't kill it. I was still feeling a little sluggish when I came home for those few days so I got a blood test done. Got the results yesterday and now I'm back on the meds. But like I've said, I've been feeling pretty good so I'm not worried about it.

Right now I'm in Wallingford,VT. I met a really cool family (Doug, Cathy, and their two daughters Amelia, and Izzy) last night at the shelter and they invited me over their house to clean up, get some food, and sleep in a bed. They even slacked me 9 miles! (they took my pack while I hiked the next 9 miles then they picked me up down trail). Doug and Cathy own a very nice house thats sitting on 73 acres. They even have a pond, tire swing and a 100ft zip line. I think this is my dream house lol. They're great people and they're very fun. I feel right at home. All the hospitality and kindness of strangers on the trail is something I'll never forget. I really look forward to paying it forward someway or another. Good stuff. Well desert is on the table and its almost hiker midnight so I'm out. Take care guys.

Yesterday was my second day back on trail after taking three days off vacationing in Vermont with my family. It was awesome seeing everyone, playing with my little cousins, spending some time on the lake and eating a whole bunch of food.

A bunch of my friends came and visited in Kent last week. That was great too. Everyone was there. Dan, Dobi, Blake, Harris, Thurman, Webster, Dave, Jackie, Hilary, Lauren; even the Bolt made an appearance. We all got lunch and they didn't even let me pay! We even found a field and spent a couple hours playing wiffleball, frisbee, and kickball. It really reminded me how great a bunch of friends I have.

After all that time off with my friends and family, these last two days back on trail have been really tough. It's really made me question why I'm doing this. Before I got to CT I was enjoying my time on trail more than ever but lately I've been pretty homesick. For the first time I've thought about leaving trail. I always thought the best part of this adventure would be getting to Katahdin but now I think the best part might be learning to fully appreciate everything and everyone you have at home. At this point I dont feel like I have much to prove but there's still part of me that wants to know what it feels like to get to that stupid mountain in Maine.

Anyways, my new boots have torn my feet apart the last two days and I decided I wasn't gonna hike another mile in em for now. To give my feet a rest and to switch boots I thought it would just be easier to come home for a couple days. So I caught a train into Hartford today and I'm chillen in Naugy for a couple days. The plan is to get the spirit up and then get back to the tail to finish the job.

Hey everyone. I am in Unionville, NY. Got here yesterday after a long day and I'm staying at "The Outhouse" AKA "The (former) Mayor's House." This is one of the best hostels on the AT. The people are awesome. When I got here, I was told, "This is your house, and you will act as such. If you dont, we will bust your ass. If you do, we'll probabaly still bust your ass. We expect you to bust our asses right back. We'll let you know if you go too far." lol. They do your laundry, feed you dinner and breakfast, and showering is a requirement (which isn't a problem). They even have a bunch of movies to watch and a computer with internet fore hikers to use. All this and they dont charge anything. They do accept donations so I'll definately be giving them one cuz this is just too nice of a place. I wasn't really planning on taking a zero here but my feet could use a day off and this place is the perfect place to take one.

I finally got my trail name. One of the other thru-hikers here gave it to me yesterday. It's "UCOC." Pronounced "you-cock," it stands for Uconn Outing Club. Its written on my shirt and some of the other hikers think its funny so thats what they started calling me. I'm sure anyone from the club will find it amusing. People have started just shortening it to "cock." I cant' help but laugh when someone greets me. I think its a good one lol. I'm just glad to have one.

So the last couple days in Pennsylvania were brutal. Just 30 miles of pointy/jagged rocks. It was either walk on the rocky trail or walk on the brush to the side of the trail but the brush still had rocks underneath so it was no better. There was very little dirt to be found and it took a toll on everyones feet. I'm sure they'll feel better through the next couple states.

So I'm coming up on CT and theres some people asking when I'm gonna be at different places. I think it would be cool if we all met at the same road to keep it simple. We'll just have a little party on the side of the street or somethin. Right now I plan to cross CT 55 very early on Sunday the 26th. About 7 or 8. Or the better option would prolly be CT341 that goes by Kent. I should be crossing that one around maybe 1130-1230 the same day. If Monday is a better day then I should be crossing CT 4 near Cornwall Bridge, CT around 8 or 830AM on the 27th. Those are my best guesses right now. If I think thats gonna be a lot different, then I'll do my best to post before that and let everyone else know. Maybe you guys can talk it over on the facebook group. For those of you planning on coming out, I'll see you soon. I look forward to it. Take care.

My parents have to come to visit. We're staying in Mechanicsburg, PA at a pretty sweet hotel. So I've been living the good life since mid-day yesterday. Mechanicsburg is about 30min from where they picked me up. Their original plan was to pick me up in Boiling Springs but I was a little ahead of schedule so we met at a road crossing. So far I've done about 1,145 miles, while leaves me with something like 1,035 to go.

For those of you who dont already know, Dan left trail in Waynesboro. We knew that was the plan a couple weeks beforehand but I couldn't post about it because he wanted to surprise the guys. I was glad to hear that went well. I definitely miss him. He hiked 850 miles with me and there were a lot of good times. I'm already looking forward to our next adventure lol. He'd planned to hike to CT with me but he knew he wouldn't be able to go the whole way since he had to get back to uconn for the fall semester. We both agreed that if you cant go the whole way, then whats the point. The trail can be mentally and physically stressful. If your not going the whole way, anything more than maybe a week long trip just seems pointless to me. I would've done the same thing.

Spending some time in front of the tv with some real food and sleeping in a bed can do wonders for the spirit. I think I'll be ready to hit the trail tomorrow morning. Looking forward to seeing more people and taking some more time off when I come through CT in a couple weeks. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. And remember not to take any of the small things for granted (like a hot meal, a real bed, or a shower lol). You really learn to appreciate them when you dont have 'em for a while. Take care.