Last Friday's hike started out pretty much just as it had for the prior 14 days: Hoist the pack onto the back, strap on the camera, grab the trekking poles, and head on up the trail.

Hiking the last couple miles of the Cohos Trail. That's Canada up ahead on the ridgetop.
Carey Kish photo

But the finish to the day a few hours later would be anything but normal.

Because when I walked out of the woods early that afternoon, lo and behold, there were about 50 people gathered at the US-Canada border station at Pittsburg, New Hampshire! It was quite a heartwarming sight after 162 miles and 15 days of trudging along on the magnificent route that is The Cohos Trail.

Officials from a number of northern New Hampshire towns, several Canadian towns, members of The Cohos Trail Association, the Sentiers frontaliers, news media from both countries, various and sundry trail supporters, and members of the public turned the scene into quite a celebration.

An international party at the US-Canada border crossing, Pittsburg, NH.
Photo courtesy Carey Kish

And we all had much to celebrate!

Besides my completing the Cohos Trail fundraising thru-hike, Canadian hiker Eric Lacoursiere had also just completed walking the 80 km of the Les Sentiers Frontaliers, a new and mostly complete hiking trail extending thru Canada from the border at Coburn Gore, Maine to Pittsburg, NH. And by doing so the two trails have been conceptually and physically linked, thereby creating a continuous 220-mile long hiking route, a monument to international cooperation.

Additionally, thanks to dozens of generous donors, something close to $2,000 was raised for The Cohos Trail and its mission to complete, maintain and improve the trail.

If you'd like to make a $$$ gift to support The Cohos Trail and this hike you can still do so. Send to: The Cohos Trail Association, c/o Peter & Lainie Castine, 266 Danforth Road, Pittsburg, NH 03592.

And that's just a start.

I say that because through the extraordinary dedication and perserverance of TCTA and its leadership I believe we have, through this hike and the associated public relations campaign, generated a new and considerably higher level of awareness of this tremendous recreational resource called The Cohos Trail. And that, I trust, will pay big dividends as this trail moves forward toward completion in the near future.

It's an exciting trail project that I'm betting you too will want to be a part of in some way big or small.

That's me on the left and Kim Nilsen, Cohos Trail visionary on the right. Lainie Castine, secretary/treasurer of The Cohos Trail Association, presented us each with CT cribbage boards that she custom made herself.
Lainie Castine photo

Cohos Trail founder Kim Nilsen leads us up the border swath toward Fourth Connecticut Lake after the gathering.
Carey Kish photo

The official end of the Cohos Trail at tiny Fourth Connecticut Lake, the source of the mighty Connecticut River, high on the US-Canada border.
Carey Kish photo

My two-week experience was an incredible one and, as you might well imagine, I've got plenty of tales to tell. But first (yes, I've taken a shower, thank you very much!), I still need to unload the car, sort out the gear, do some laundry and so forth before I get to story-telling...