Thoughts from Springer

Arriving at the top of Springer Mtn after saying goodbye to Tera and hiking 7.5 miles just to get there, it felt strangely enough as though I had "arrived." All the months (and years) of anticipation now had a tangible expression: a small green plaque and the first white blaze painted beside it. And after being the 34th hiker that day to sign the logbook tucked inside an iron box tucked in turn inside a rock, I stood by the plaque -- with images of the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy starting the yellow brick road -- and took my first step. Someday soon I hope to have a second arrival moment, only this time atop Katahdin.