Wonderful but tough

Top of Mt. Katahdin, in Maine, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

''Maine is wonderful. It can be very hard. I mean, if you look at the profile maps it doesn't look it, but somehow when you get out there it's really steep and hard.''

-- Bill Bryson, author of A Walk in the Woods, about his bizarre hike along the Appalachian Trail.