In the summer of 2002, my good friends Paul, Herb and Dave and I set out to climb Mt. Rainier. We were blessed with awesome weather and all managed to make it up! Rainier reminds you of your proper place in God's Universe - I have rarely felt so small, but yet so alive. What an amazing, but all too short, adventure.

The day after my 51st birthday, I flew to West Lebanon NH (just S of Hanover) to resume my quest to complete my AT hike. I hoped to finish all 400+ remaining miles, but it was not to be. After hiking, climbing, crawling and occasionally falling up and down the Whites, I limped into Gorham with an upper left hamstring injury. It looks like my 7 yr AT hike plan is now an 8 yr plan. The Whites were as magnificent as I remembered from walks there in '01 and '03, but the walking was a LOT harder than I recalled - age is indeed reminding me of my mortality - but it was so good to see such beautiful alpine country above treeline! As usual, I met great old and new friends - my hiking buddy Larry ("After") walked (and crawled) some of the way with me, and I met many great new friends, including Dan and Debbie, who are headed for a complete yo-yo thruhike and have been walking now for 15 weeks.

After attending the ATC's biennial meeting at Ramapo College in northern NJ (where yours truly was elected to the ATC Board - all input welcomed re how we can make the ATC a better organization for hikers and the conservation of this great national park treasure), I drove up to Vermont, met my good friend Larry ("After"), and started northward again on the AT from North Adams to walk in the green mountains of Vermont. Other than walking with a slightly broken toe from a prior injury, and lots of rain, mud and skeeters, we had a great time!

I took Friday off work to go ski some of the best conditions ever at Tucks. I started skiing about 400 feet shy of the summit of Washington and didn't take off my skis until I got to the parking lot. Then, I headed to Vermont for some easier hiking and a good party with friends.