{"id":3327,"date":"2020-10-18T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-18T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.springfieldfarm.org\/?p=3327"},"modified":"2020-11-01T10:15:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T15:15:39","slug":"appalachian-trail-conquered-by-patrick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.springfieldfarm.org\/?p=3327","title":{"rendered":"Appalachian Trail Conquered by Patrick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dropped him off in Georgia on February 26th and picked him up in Maine on October 16th, its been one helluva trek for him. We’ve seen pictures and heard stories of: ice storms, snow, bears, tornadoes, falling trees, deep stream crossings, and finally finishing it right as they close Mt. Katahdin due to snow, likely the last through hiker to finish in 2020. But then, that is the Patrick way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are all so proud of him, many have talked, but only Patrick has done it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When me and Patty got to the park and the approach trails to Mt. Katahdin, we hadn’t heard from him in at least 2 days, so it was unclear if he was going to summit that day or not. We checked the check-in log but no Patrick, we almost left and went back into town but turned around and decided to go for a short southbound hike, thinking we might meet up with him. When we came back to the trail head we checked the log one more time and there it was, Patrick signed in about 10 minutes before we got back! Now to wait the 4 hours until he got back down, weather noticeably deteriorating with mist, rain, and then heavy rain at the base. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We met up with a few hikers when we returned about 3pm to wait for him. They had just finished and all knew ‘Cliffhanger’. There was Zebra, Hot Pants, and Trotsky, at least those were the trail names. As their shuttle arrived and they were almost gone Patrick appeared out of the pouring rain. Couldn’t believe it but he was wearing shorts and was soaking wet. Said the rain was horizontal at the peak. We were so happy to see him!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We drove him back to the trail head to get his finish tag and the rangers were just putting up the signs to close the trails to the summit due to expected 5″ of snow that night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We drove from there to a hotel in Bangor where we had a great meal and started our long drive back to Virginia the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are a few pictures of the final day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n