There is no spoon.

9:20am @ AT Lodge & Inn in Millenocket

Made it to Baxter State Park today. Got to the ranger's station at 2:30pm. 1 hour early for the shuttle into town. It's going to be rainy and cold tomorrow so a Katahdin summit is not a good idea.

Today would have been ideal for a summit. But alas, my legs could not have made it here any sooner. A zero here in town sure beats a cold zero in a shelter at Baxter.

The MTN looks huge & scary. Hard to believe I'll get up an down it in a day. The weather for Sat is predicted to be nice & sunny again (if not a bit cold)!

Met Winston here at the Inn. She was writing post cards at the table when I walked in. Nice to see her at the end. She was the first person I met on the trail...750 miles ago!

She scoffed at my nonchalance and not doing a thru hike, I guess it's simply not that important to me to walk the whole trail. I only wanted to be in the woods and remember the trees for a bit.

I like the way I walk the trail. Thru hikers shun me. One even aggressively said to me the other day: "Hike your OWN hike man!" which is a strange thing to say to a super laid back slow moving guy.

When I am alone in the woods I feel great, at home, peaceful & happy to be there. But the other hikers make me feel bad frequently. Because I walk less miles, I don't deserve to be out there with them or something. Because I am not strong or traveling 'ultralite' I'm not a backpacker somehow.

Maybe they are correct. Maybe not.

Nothing is perfect. I made compromises on the trail to accommodate my body (which is not fond of backpacking). All those small concessions were not weakness or failure as maybe it appeared, but choices I made so that I could keep walking. Keep moving forward. Keep enjoying the forest, and mountains and the peace they had to offer.

One time I was lamenting my plight to an older hiker. A day hiker. Telling him how I was on my own. Thru hikers looked at me like a reject, and abnormality or basic failure.
He says to me. "Is there prize when you reach Katahdin?"
"uh...no." I replied.
"Well, if there is no prize, then there is no winning or failing is there!? Enjoy your woods and don't give a damn what they think." He finished.