[at-l] 1st & 2nd NOBO thru-hikers

["FannyPack - David Atkinson" <at_l96@hotmail.com>]

Mr D's journal July 1 entry excerpt below

http://trailplace.com/cgi-bin/miva?index_tp.mv+mode=Index&fileid=946540681
July 1 ~ Daicey Pond Campground ... in Maine
at milepoint 2159.5 north, 145 days since start of hike, averaging 14.9miles 
per day
>>>snip<<<
When I arrive at the ranger station in Daicey Pond Campground, I am taken 
back when Sally, a park ranger, says to me, "Let me guess who you are; 
you're Mr.D." I have the biggest smile of surprise on my face. She hands 
over a photograph of me sent to her by Ms. Gray, the Naturalist at the 
Mizpah Hut in the Presidentals of New Hampshire, asking that the photo be 
passed along to me when I arrive. The trail is full of unexpected niceties.  
I sign in, the second north bound thru-hiker from Georgia. Mile Slave, the 
first, is an eighteen-year-old with a deadline who left Springer on March 
9th and climbed Katahdin on June 9th. He traveled with only a daypack, 
experiencing freezing nights huddled in shelters with only a fleece blanket
and no sleeping bag; among hikers who have met him, he has a reputation of 
being a "little strange" and even "crazy." Only someone so young can torture 
himself like that.
>>>>snip<<<

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