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Flip-flop, Leapfrog, NoBo… the AT choices
On the trail you are often defined by your hike; NoBo, SoBo, Flip-flop, Section, or Leapfrog, but you cannot allow these definitions to determine your hike. When things get tough you must be willing to reevaluate and even redefine what it means to be on trail. The trail is a place of challenge, growth, and awakening. Every day provides some new obstacle and right now my hiking partner and I are faced with the time crunch. How do we make it another 1,094 miles in less than three months, when the first 1,094 took us almost 4 months? This discussion has been ongoing for the past 3 weeks.
The AT is all about HYOH and we have decided to do just that. We are going to do the most amazing “leapfrog.” This is a wonderful way of saying we are packing up our gear, getting in a car and driving north. We will get back on trail in New England and continue on towards Katahdin. Once we summit we will drive back south to where we got off trail and finish our hike completing the section we “skipped.” 
The top three things which changed my thinking:
1) I’m no longer fighting the clock at Baxter State Park – I live in NH I know what autumn nights are like.
2) We escape the heat of PA – it’s taken a toll on all of us including the dog. 
3) For the first time since I started this hike I can actually finish it with my best friend – No Shame and I can walk the final miles together.
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