Actually, it's kind of cool having those 3 miles to make up... maybe someday, when i'm 75 or something, I'll do that climb and get that silly little certificate.
Actually, it's kind of cool having those 3 miles to make up... maybe someday, when i'm 75 or something, I'll do that climb and get that silly little certificate.
Look at it this way: if your only purpose in life is to hike the whole AT, then you'd want to put off those last three miles for as long as humanly possible, so as to laugh in the face of Death.
Does anyone know what Steve the Ferryman's numbers are for 2006 NOBO's? As TJ notes, his info has always been more accurate than the ATC's.
When the male dino and I summitted Springer in early March of 2004, the ATC guy was up there taking down names, but he completely ignored us. He also completely ignored a couple that hiked up with us who were thru-hikers. They had gotten dropped off on the forest road by a taxi about the same time we had arrived at the parking area .9 miles from the southern terminus. I asked them if they would like to leave their packs in our vehicle and hike up / down with us - they took me up on the offer.
On our way back down, the lady asked me about the fellow taking down names on top. I explained he was from the ATC and there was a patch available for those who completed the trail. She and her husband didn't seem interested in this. I've kept in touch with them via email and they completed the thru - and were never registered with the ATC. My guess is the ATC fails to count quite a few thru-hikers every year.
Being registered with the ATC, getting a patch and being in the book isn't important to some thru-hikers. There is guy whose wife owns / runs a restaurant here. He and his brother thru-hiked in 1988 and he didn't know what the ATC was - two more people the ATC didn't count.
FD, this is from Oct 22nd by the ferryman
490 Northbounders reach the Kennebec River!
Starting to put the numbers together that were generated from over 1,100 hikers that passed thru the Kennebec River Ferry Service in 2006. Mind you that there are still quite a few hikers trying to connect all the dots to complete their thru-hikes. So far, 490 northbound hikers made it to the Kennebec River and there is still the possibility that some hikers did not make the final 155 miles to Katahdin, but it's a good bet they did make the final leg. There were also 48 hikers who flip-flopped to accomodate hyoh style. 155 southbounders had every intention to hike all the way to Georgia but some may have fallen by the trailside. Congratulations to all in the class of 2006 for a job well done! ferryman
So for what it's worth the ferryman's numbers are very close to the same as the rangers at Katahdin Stream. If they were all NOBO thru's that's a pretty good number, yes?
I met a guy at Abol Bridge who was section hiking each year but always did the 100 Mile Wilderness then summitted Katahdin and he said he always signed in.............as a thru hiker because that is what he considered himself. I agree he should HYOH.