[at-l] Art Made it!!!! Bad Knees and all!

[janl2 at mindspring.com (Jan Leitschuh)]

Our newest thru!

 From "Gabby's" Oct. 25 journal:

"Some of the scrambles were scary. I was concerned about how difficult 
the descent would be. We continued up the mountain as the clouds began 
to clear near the summit. We were able to look down on the clouds 
below and blue sky above.
When we reached the Table Lands some of the peaks on neighboring 
mountains began to appear through the clouds.
We reached the summit at 1:00 PM. Poptart had been there for 1.5 
hours. We ate lunch after doing pictures. In the distance we saw a 
hiker approach. Bryan, a day hiker, is on a year long vacation with 
his wife. They had planned on camping in Baxter but decided to settle 
for a day hike when they learned the park was closed to camping for 
the season. He was excited to find 3 thru hikers on the summit.
We headed down around 1:30. We made good time across the Table Lands 
but soon got bogged down with the very steep climb down the rocky ridge.
Every step down rattled my knees. Eventually it got painful. Some 
swelling made it difficult to bend my knee as far as I would like on 
many of my maneuvers. It was extremely slow going. Some parts were 
scary. We made it down to the clip board to sign out at 6:08 PM 
exactly 10 hours from when we started our hike.
Sue was waiting in the parking lot with Sheila, Pokey's mom. Bryan and 
his wife Dawn waited for us to come down to congratulate us on our 
successful thru hike. We rode into Millinocot stopping for a quick 
dinner then back to the hotel. A shower made me feel a lot better.
Now for a little rest and relaxation. Tomorrow we head for home. Life 
Is Good!! "Gabby" aka Art Cloutman"
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=83828
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     	AT Journal:
	http://www.trailjournals.com/Liteshoe/
	Jan Leitschuh Sporthorses Ltd.
	http://www.mindspring.com/~janl2/index.html

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