Hi Everyone, today is Saturday, August 18. I DID IT, I completed the Appalachian Trail as a Thruhiker, yesterday, Friday, August 17 at 9:30 A.M. I summited Mount Katahdin along with "Metric" and "Sticks" who were a few minutes ahead of me. We were joined shortly by "Gorp", "Hawk", "Peeper", and "Gumpy". We celebrated in grand fashion with yelps  and cheers.  Some day hikers came along behind us and gave us congratulations and watched our celebration.  Also finishing today, (but arrived at the summit after I started my climb down - they were hiking up with family members at a slower pace) were "Teflon" and "Sparrow".  It was a grand feeling to finish and words cannot convey the emotions.  However all I could think of on top of the mountain was the scene in the movie of "Forest Gump", when Forest is running in the desert and stops and turns to the crowd behind him and says "I'm tired, I think I'll go home now." - that is  how I felt.  Since my last blog entry on August 9, I will give you the update of events.  I had planned on finishing on August 15, but Denise had August 17 off from work and suggested that I finished on that day.  I thought it was a grand idea.  I was stuck in this weather pattern of rain and pushing off my finish date by 2 days allowed me to take an extra zero day in Monson and sit out day 2 of 3 days of rain.  Plus it would allow me to slow down and take 5 days to go through the 100 mile wilderness instead of 4 days and give me a chance to enjoy the hike through the wilderness rather than just hiking to finish.  I am glad I took the extra couple of days because it gave me added rest before I started the 100 mile wilderness section, and I had a wonderful experience of enjoying the last section.  I left Monson and hiked a short 15 miles and held up before I had to go over the 1st of my last 2 mountains (Chairback Mt). The day was muggy and I was soaked from sweat. I started bumping into the last of south bounders and a lot of flip-flopper's (flip flopper's are north bound thruhikers who decided to get off the trail and fly north to Katahdin and start the hike south). On day 2 it rained and going over Chairback Mt was a very slow hike because it wet and slippery (only fell twice).  The next 3 days were a mix of extreme mugginess and rain.  Needless to say that I, and all of the other hikers, developed an extreme case of "hiker funk" (foul body odor).  I tried to bathe in ponds and streams every night but my cloths and gear were constantly wet and smelled as bad or worse than my body.  On my 5th day in the 100 mile wilderness, I bumped into "sharky" who was heading southbound.  I last saw "sharky" in Gorham, NH - he completed his northbound thruhike 5 days earlier and was now heading south to complete a southbound thruhike (this is called yo-yo).  I was getting a lot of congratulations from flip-flopper's and section hikers.  Although this felt good, I was cautious and getting a little superstitious that a premature acknowledgement of completion of the trail would cause me some reason not to finish.  I began to walk more slowly and navigate every step through rocks, roots, and mud with caution so that I would not break a leg or ankle, or cause some other injury that would keep me from finishing.  The last night on the trail at the Birches shelter (reserved just for thruhikers) we were all sharing the same feeling that we are all so close and feeling paranoid that some injury would keep us from finishing.  After the 100 mile wilderness I came out to the Golden Road at Abol Bridge on the Penobscot River at the Abol Bridge Convenience Store and Campground.  This is just outside of Baxter State Park. This is the unofficial marshaling area before thruhikers make the last 10 mile hike into Baxter State Park.  We stop here to resupply, and for most, spend the night and hike the 10 miles into the park, then once in the park start up Mt Katahdin the following morning.  It took me forever to fall asleep Wednesday night because I was so excited to get to this point and couldn't stop thinking of my last 10 mile hike into Baxter and then the 5 mile hike up Mt. Katahdin.  At 6:30 A.M. on Thursday morning "Teflon", "Sparrow", and I were waiting at the Abol Store to open at 7:00 so we could get a hot breakfast.  It started to rain (down pour with thunder and lightning).  We sat under a canopy at picnic tables for a couple of hours eating breakfast and having coffee when "Metric " and "Sticks" arrived, followed by "Hawk", "Peeper", and "Gumpy".  By 10:30 the electrical storm had stopped and the rain slowed from a heavy down pour to a steady rain.  I had itchy feet, and knew I'd be wet no matter what, so I decided to hike out to the Birches.  I was soaked, and the trail was full of water in sections.  It was a grand last ten mile hike (even with the rain). I followed the Penobscot River for 4-5 miles and the trail was flat and no roots and rocks to navigate.  Eventually the trail became muddy, rocky, rooted, and just one big puddle inches deep.  I slowed down so that I would not injure myself.  I arrived at the Ranger station by 2:00 P.M. checked in (I am thruhiker #203 to complete) and then went to the Birches Lean-To and settled in for the afternoon and evening.  Everyone else started trickling in.  We all got into dry cloths and proceeded to eat enormous amounts of food that we packed in from the Abol Store (subs, chips, etc), then we all had lunch, we proceed to cook supper (chili, hot dogs, etc).  We sat up until 8:30 remembering the events of the last 5 months and sharing stories.  We had a lot of laughs.  We all went to bed and were up by 5:00 and all on the trail by 6:00-6:30.  I can't tell you how fast we all hiked up that trail.  I completed the first 1.25 miles in 20 minutes and completed the 5 mile hike to the summit in 3 hours.  I went up the Hunt Trail (the AT trail) and came down the Abol Trail.  "Hawk's" father was waiting for him at the base of Abol Trail, and told me that Denise just drove by a few minutes ago on her way to the Katahdin Stream Campsite, and he gave me a ride so I didn't have to walk the 2 miles down the road to meet up with Denise.  I was so Happy to see my lovely wife.  We celebrated our reunion, had lunch, shared lunch with another (flip flop) hiker, I took a bath in the brook, changed into street cloths and we started the 5 hour trip home.  I am so grateful to everyone who supported me in this little adventure.  I am especially grateful to all of the trail angels who gave me soda, food, rest, rides, shelter.  I am grateful to my extended family who along the way came out to pick me up and host me at their homes and camps.  And most of all I am grateful to my lovely wife Denise who encouraged me to take advantage of this window of opportunity in my life to continue on with a thruhike; her coordinating of getting me new and replacement gear, her managing the home front alone and doing all of my chores, enduring my absence, her words of support and encouragement when I was emotionally spent, her rescuing me in Andover and nursing me back to health when I was sick.  I could not have done this without her.  I love you Denise -
Thank you so much.  I hope all of you have enjoyed following this adventure.  I will post the last of pictures in the next couple of days.  I will have to delete some old pictures to make room for new pictures.