Enter Sobos...

A rare moment in time when Sobos outnumber Nobos! Lakes of the Clouds Hut, White Mountains National Forest, New Hampshire. 

Yesterday was a short hike to the Northern Outdoors. We crossed the Kennebec River using the official AT route -- canoe! The crossing is the biggest crossing of it's kind on the Trail. It is over 100 yards across a wide river with swift and unpredictable currents. Thus, the ATC provides a free ferry across for all thru-hikers. The canoe is even properly marked with a white blaze on the hull.

As Shelby said in the previous post, I was interviewed for a documentary about thru-hiking. It is an independent film being shot under the working title "Thru-Hikers" by a group of Southbounders (SoBos). The filmmakers interviewed three Northbounders (NoBos) Jack Rabit (back row, yellow shirt) as well as J.C. (back row, HUGE BEARD) and I. Their questions were pretty standard, nothing too outrageous. If all goes according to plan J.C. and I might give the group of SoBos hiking under the group name of Dirty SouthBounders, some trail magic on Springer Mountain in December when they finish. Hopefully my interview does not end up on the editing room floor, I'll keep you posted on the release date.

Over the last few weeks we have been running into tons of SoBos. The more north we hike, the less experienced Southbounders we run into, simply because they have been hiking less miles. It is great to have someone to exchange information with about the trail ahead, hostels, upcoming side trails, or swimming holes. It's also fun to mess with SoBos. We enjoy beating them in Uno games at campsites and telling them completely false statements like "Oh yeah! Virginia is totally flat!" -- It's just good clean fun : )

I can't believe this journey will be coming to an end in less than 155 miles. My Katahdin ETA is July 31st or August 1st, (it's hard put things in stone when using foot travel) which is weird to think about... being able to put a date on the end of this hike. It seems like just a few weeks ago I was standing on a foggy mountain in Georgia called, Springer. The trail is calling my name, time to get off this internet machine and get to walking. Hope all is well!

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