A Satisfied Beard

A summer's worth of growth, 77 days in fact, has culminated in the beard you see documented here. We finished our last week of work, completing our water bars and hiking at least three hours every day. My tent at Garland is packed up and it's time to say goodbye to the sheep after a great summer of trails and beards.
This is my beard at the summit of Old Blue, our last work site. The view wasn't spectacular, and it was cloudy, but a summit is a summit. The beard approved.


This is my beard after finishing my last waterbar. Not a sad moment.


This is my beard with Bear's beard. Bear and his wife Honey own the hiker hostel we stayed at the last three weeks of work. They were very happy to have us and spoiled us rotten. We had a lobster and steak feast our last night, which apparently means Bear breaks out his lobster hat.


This is my beard in front of The Cabin contemplating space travel and wondering why someone named Chuckles inspected my helmet. No, really. Chuckles.


This is the beard of the SUMMER, Rob. Rob is a true Maine-ah and lets his beard grow in any season, not just for summer fun. Rob likes rocking out to classic rock (he remembers every lyric), telling stories and jokes, is a Buddhist, and is heading west to California this fall. Rob has been my eccentric but extremely capable leader all summer and knows more about the woods than I could ever imagine.

Quotes of the week:
"One night in Bangkok..." - Dustin, quoting some random song neither of us really know. After he found out I lived in Thailand for a year he liked to say this any time something drug, alcohol, sexual, or crazy came up in our ramblings.

"So two old Maine-ahs are out in the woods and one asks the other if he wants some smart pills. The questioned Maine-ah responds that yes, sure, he'd take some pills that would make him smarter. So his friend gives him a handful of pellets and the old guy eats them. After a couple of minutes he says,'Well I don't feel any smarter', so his friend gives him another handful. He looks at the second handful of pellets and says, 'Hey, this is deer shit!' and his friend says, 'hey, you're getting smarter already.'" - an old Maine-ah joke Rob recently told us.

This week my beard is feeling:

transitional

Bearded Blues

After 72 days of growth my beard was actually referred to as full, not to mention wild. The summer is coming to an end, unfortunately, and there is only one week left of work on the trail. My beard spent its last weekend in Maine enjoying the outdoors, good friends, and a few beers. This past work week my beard hiked more and more every day as we finished work along the trail, making for more hiking than actual work.



This is my beard in front of a car containing license plates from all 50 states and all 10 provinces in Canada, mostly dating from the late 70s. This car was outside the Historical Society in Andover, Maine as part of Olde Home Days, a local festival near our work site. My beard wandered through the flea market and bought a new pack of 1988 Donruss baseball cards. Please note the Wisconsin plate prominently displayed in the front of the vehicle; it's a farm plate.


This is my beard being overshadowed by Henry David Thoreau's distinguished neck beard.

The guest beard this week is Chris. Chris is from Connecticut and is a team leader; team members have been listening to and following this beard all summer. Chris has taught ESL in South Korea, is biking from Maine to California soon after our work this summer is finished, and is going to Vietnam after that to do some hiking. Chris has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, all 2000 odd miles of it. Chris also enjoys playing with dolls.

Quotes of the week:
"What ails you?" - Our crew says this daily, specifically when we do something stupid, and is most often aimed at our youngest member, Todd.

"Thanks for coming in today, we'll keep your application on file." - Our crew member Dustin, said whenever any of us do something that pleases or helps him.

"Your guys are breaking so many rules I don't even know where to start." - Startled and confused Park Ranger

This week my beard is feeling:

Melancholy