Three weeks from today I will be leaving Maine and heading to Jersey to see my sister, before I start my trek northward. For it has been seven years since we last saw each other, face to face and I don't know when I will get back to see her again; hopefully it will be a lot sooner for the next time.
I cannot wait to start hiking as it has been many years since I last stood on top of Springer Mt. on my last trek northward, that was 1996. I know that things have changed since then and I will not recognize some of it at all, but there will be some of those areas that will bring back great memories from before.
  Everything is in place with contacts from here to GA and I have just about all of the food needed for my drops ready to go also.
Over the past weekend, I checked out all of my gear and it is ready to go, from the water bottles, to the stove, to the tent, to the sleeping bag and most of all my clothes for the first part of the trip.
 The first part of the trip is the toughest for clothes, because you don't know for sure what the weather is going to do until you get out there. Today it is 38 degrees during the day and ten days from today it is predicted to be 64, so go figure.
  That is why they have the US Postal service, just for us when we need them. I will send everything back to my contact person as soon as possible, everything that I don't need or want; to lighten that pack all you can whenever you can. That is my motto. for this and all trips.
  Enough for today, till next time,
    Remember, Keep your Boots on the Trail.
      Grizzly Bear from Maine