Waking up I was in a good mood, that was until Earthling spoke. She had noticed a hole in my tent and I was furious. I knew immediately what it was from, a red squirrel. That little shut had chewed a nickel size hole in my tent while I was sleeping.  What made the injury so grave was this had been the last night I would use it on the trail. What kind of luck is that, two thousand plus miles and on the last day I get a hole. Aaaaargggh I was so irritated as we packed up for our hike to the ledges.

For a change we all hiked together, talking more of our final climb.  This time it was more about what we would do after.  We, well Flailing and I were decided we wanted Five Guys after and that was all we could really focus on.  The last climb for a day was technically a mountain but we called it a hill.  So we set 9ur eyes on that.  Still heavy from our resupply I limped forward with my injured leg. I hoped still that I had enough left in me to get me to the top.

Each time we conquered a mountain,  a river, anything, we set a new objective to get through the day. Our next spot was Rainbow Ledges and I focused on getting there. We needed to get a call out to rendezvous with Earthlings father, watching my cell signal we pushed on.  As we neared the top of the open rocky my service came in and we called the ark for weather immediately; hearing the report we set our day to climb Thunder Mountain as Friday.  The weather calling for low temperatures and clear skies sounded great and we set our day to summit.

Reaching the end of the ledges we came to a view, a large ice covered mountain standing alone through the trees, our mountain.  Sitting down, it was hard not to respect the sheer size and power that it had.  This large behemoth standing by itself, daring you to come and conquer it.  Staring at you, looking into the deepest parts of yourself, the hard edges frozen in time issuing up the last challenge of the AT.  I sat there in awe, questioning my entire journey, the past six months.  Breaking me from my thoughts the others joined me and we called Zen, hearing his voice made me smile.  He wished me luck and ushered some choice warnings for us.

We left soon after the call and proceeded to head the last bit towards the next road. On our way out to the road we crossed a sign, marking the end of the hundred mile wilderness, smiling and high fiving, we walked past it and to the road.  This dirt road, oddly named The Golden Road,  in 20 miles would lead us to toen,where we were meeting her dad for better winter gear.  Passing Abol Bridge we unexpectedly got a ride all the way in to town.  Setting up ina pizza place we looked for lodging over dinner.  Taking our last night in a bed we waited for her dad to arrive.  The two of them were excited,like Christmas Eve excited, none of them could sleep.