Terra Nova checked in with an update. Since last fall our friend has hike the Appalachian Trail through Pennsylvania (230 miles), New Jersey (72 miles) and New York (88 miles). He’s now off trail getting his monthly checkup, which means a few days at home. He’s feeling strong and up for the rest of the trail.
Ahead of him are Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, for a total of about 740 miles. However, Terra Nova’s plan ever since he completed PA was to hike one day at a time. That said, the campground Maine’s Baxter State Park closes October 15, and hikers are strongly discouraged from trying to hike up Mount Katahdin after that date. So while we have full confidence our friend will stand on the summit, we don’t expect it to be this year.
We’ve discussed with Terra Nova offering support for him this fall if he wants to add Maryland’s 41 miles and West Virginia’s 4 miles to the total. The advantage of hiking the southern portions of the trail in fall and winter is that he avoids the heat, which can be brutal for a person with MS. Further south the logistics get tricky, as Virginia has 550 miles of the AT in it, and Terra Nova needs to return home each month for medical treatment.