Having completed a northbound hike of the Appalachian Trail, Caterpillar, who is known as Andrew Conrad off the trail, came into the Magic City Morning Star & Hard Drive Cafe to get online.
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| Caterpillar, also known as Andrew Conrad |
Caterpillar is from Baltimore, Maryland. Except for a couple of shorter hikes, in preparation for taking on the AT, he hadn't done any hiking before.
Leaving Springer Mountain, in Georgia, on April 3, he made it to the top of Mount Katahdin five months and fifteen days later. While he doesn't plan on doing it again, he has no regrets. Like many other thru-hikers, he will probably do some section hiking in the future, but he has already met the challenge.
He carried a tent, and his favorite part of the trip was camping outdoors, and in particular the part of the trail that leads through Vermont.
Between the Connecticut River and the Green Mountains, in Vermont, the AT passes through high, rugged country with woods and overgrown farmlands.
From “Maine Junction,” the AT follows about one hundred miles of the famed “Long Trail” along the rugged crest of the Green Mountains. In this section, road crossings are few. The terrain includes dense evergreen forests, picturesque mountain lakes, boggy areas, forests of paper birch and white pine, wooded mountains, and farm valleys.
Asked what we could do to make things easier for thru-hikers, Caterpillar suggested that a hostel would be nice; and having information available that would tell thru-hikers where they could find things in Millinocket.
As for the Magic City Morning Star & Hard Drive Cafe, he thought that a snack bar, expanded from the prepackaged foods we do have, would be nice.
