Phone Update - Day 14

Hey Folks-

Sorry for the lack of updates last night and this morning. I just talked to Jonny on the phone and am sending this update from command central in Park City, Utah. Jonny said the Internet access has been not so good the past day, and they've had more crew stops, so getting to towns to update the blog hasn't been super easy. So I'll post up the basics until he has a chance to  give you the whole story.

Changeover

I'm sitting in the Manchester airport on my way back to SLC. Bummed to be leaving the crew and Karl, but happy to be headed home. To bring you up to speed on yesterday, Karl did 36 miles total taking him to the bogs of 25A. Made sense to keep going as the trail was much less technical and mostly downhill. We met him at Glencliff as well for a quick stop after Mt Moosilaukie.

Day 8 Recap

OK folks, here goes...

Marit out. Tommy in.

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1:45 p.m.

I'm headed back to Utah tomorrow. Tommy Chandler is joining Senior as the Backcountry.com crew guy through next Saturday. He'll be keeping you up to date on Karl's progress. I'll still be blogging, so please feel free to send any comments or questions my way. I'll be back with Karl from September 15 through the end of his journey. (It will be interesting to witness the difference.)

Please keep sending me your beards!

Love to you all.

Halfway through Day 5

Karl Sr. and I caught up with Karl and Matt at the base of Flagstafff Lake at about 2:30 p.m. They had just come about 18 miles from Caratunk where we left them this morning. They were in great shape, and so happy about the sun. They have a gnarly section ahead, up and over the Bigelows to HWY 27. Another 17-18 miles. We're hoping to see them between 7:30 and 8 p.m. there.

Crew To-do Today

Friday, Aug. 8, 11:10 a.m.

I have the rig today. I needed to get online to talk to you all and run some errands, so I drove backwards from the direction Karl is running to the biggest town around: Guilford. It’s not so big.

Senior’s got the Kia. He's on trail duty for the boys.

Ain’t no service

Whoa. Sorry for the lag here. Finding cell phone and Internet access in deep woods Maine is about as likely as running into a teal-clad transvestite prostitute on a unicycle in deep woods Maine. No, exactly as likely.

Today before tomorrow

"Karl Meltzer? I know about you. I've heard people talking, and I read about you on the Internet." 

The ranger was sitting at his desk with a layer of papers covering it like a table cloth. We were crammed into his little cabin office, checking in at our campsite at the Katahdin Stream campground in Baxter State Park. We weren't sure what was going to come next: a smile or words of discouragement.

He chuckled.

"Yeah, people are saying that they want to run along with you and I tell them all: You aren't gonna be able to catch him!"

Cool.

He was charming and helpful and smiley and generally, from what we've experienced so far, Maine-like.

So now Karl's all registered as an official through-hiker. Good. Because tomorrow's the day!

"Let the Games Begin"

Check out Karl's post today on KarlMeltzer.com: "Let the Games Begin."

Matt Hart and I are headed to Mass. today to join up with Karl and his mom and dad. First thing tomorrow morning, Karl, Karl Sr., Matt and I are driving the rig up to Baxter State Park, where we'll scope the distance between our camp site and the start, check out the first Karl/crew intersection, and get all set up for the start on Tuesday.

Apparently, the rain in Maine falls mainly on the the Appalachian Trail. Well, ok. Not really. But it is raining like crazy up there right now. Keep an eye on the weather. It'll be top of our minds for sure. Heavy rains and flood watches are in the forecast, but it looks like it's supposed to clear on Tuesday.

Two days. Two days.