LUNENBURG – For Matthew P. Charpentier, humanity really proved itself on his 2,700-mile journey that was supposed to end at Mount Katahdin in Maine until his determination sent him further into Canada, where he didn’t stop until he couldn’t walk any farther.

The 22-year-old, who grew up on Hickory Hills Lake in Lunenburg, began his hike Feb. 28 on Springer Mountain in Georgia, the southern end of the Appalachian Trail. He finished his hike Friday on the Gaspe Peninsula on the International Appalachian Trail in Quebec, where the trail runs into the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

He initially planned to end the hike at the northern end of the Appalachian Trail at Mount Katahdin in Maine. However, he decided to continue along the International Appalachian Trail into Canada. He overshot his original hiking goal by about 500 miles, he said, adjusted for 80 miles of canoeing and 150 miles of hitchhiking on part of the trail that was continuous pavement.

Mr. Charpentier, known on the trail as Mowgli from "The Jungle Book" because of his long hair and love of nature, shared his journey on Facebook, telling stories and sharing pictures of the many hikers and adventures he encountered along the way.

Monday, the day after he returned home, he shared with a reporter tales of his adventure while relaxing on his deck overlooking the lake with his proud father, Peter G. Charpentier, and his uncle Bruce P. Teittinen from Fitchburg sitting by his side. Both are avid hikers.

Matt had already hiked a lot with his family in the White Mountains and, when he got older, with friends.

“I would end up by myself because no one could keep up with me,” he said. “I like to hike fast. I enjoy myself, but I don’t take too many breaks.”

But hiking the Appalachian Trail was something it took about a month for him to decide to do after graduating from Massachusetts Maritime Academy a year early in June 2014.

Mass Maritime was too regimented for him, he said. He had to wear a uniform, keep his hair cut short and shave every day. Though he said he enjoyed being there, it was something he wanted to finish. So, he took extra classes every semester and volunteered while also a member of the sailing team and managed to get out a year early, he said.

“I got home and I didn’t really want to go straight to work,” he said. “I wanted to spend a year doing something I enjoyed. It took about a month to get in my head hiking the Appalachian Trail. I thought about doing it before, but it didn’t set in my mind that I was going to do it until after I graduated. And I wanted to do it alone.”

It would be the longest hike of his young life.

“My longest hike before this was three nights,” he said. “I went from three nights to 167."

Though he felt he hadn't done enough research, in February he hopped in the car with his father, headed for Georgia, determined to learn on the trail what he didn’t already know and slowly get his body used to hiking hours upon hours, day after day.

His parents supported his decision, his father said, adding that his son “can do anything.”

“It was something he wanted to do and he got out a year early so it was not really costing me anything,” he said. “I was happy to go drop him off in Georgia. I drove 20 hours straight and that was it. It was snowing out, he said goodbye and he just walked away. He was gone.”

Matt had studied botany, plant biology and edible plants, and became known for that on the trail, he said. He was frequently shown plants and berries and asked if they were edible.

In Virginia, he met a group of hikers that he hiked with for about 1,000 miles in two months, he said.

“We hiked together every day and got really close,” he said.

They parted ways at the New Jersey line in May after he met two Canadians in their 20s from Quebec who seemed to never slow down. They invited him to hike with them into Canada. Only seven people a year do the entire trail into Canada, he said.

“Normally people take days called ‘zeroes,’ where they don’t hike and let their body recover, but these guys started a month after me and had already caught up,” he said. “Their trail names were Ashuap, the name of his favorite river in Quebec, and Chicken, who was a diva about little things, but big things didn’t really bother him.”

He immediately connected with the men, he said, because of fond memories from his childhood of his pepere (French Canadian for grandfather), Lawrence Lincourt of Fitchburg, whose stories of adventures about hunting and fishing in Canada are ingrained in his mind. He left the other group and hiked 38 miles the next day to catch up with the Canadians, who were hiking 25 miles a day.

The men hadn’t shaved at all on the trail. They decided on a group name, Moosestache.

“We chose to shave off all but our mustaches and call ourselves Moosestache,” he said. “We'd sign every log book we came to with a pair of moose antlers and a moustache below with our names around it.”

Matt hiked nearly 500 miles more than planned with them. The International Appalachian Trail through Maine to Forillon National Park where he ended his journey is 710 miles, but he doesn’t count the distances spent canoeing and hitchhiking. The trail runs along ATV trails, he said, and on pavement. The men decided to hitchhike to the Canadian border for 150 miles along the trail that is on the road. In Kedgwick, New Brunswick, they rented two canoes and paddled 80 miles on the Restigouche River for three days, he said, taking their time checking out bald eagles and migrating Atlantic salmon until they started hiking again in Quebec. He hiked more than 400 miles in under a month, sometimes alone, with only footprints to guide him where to go, he said.

“The trail isn't a just a walk in the woods,” he said. “It’s over mountains, across and sometimes through rivers, and a hiker has to endure the rain, heat and possibly snow and hail to successfully complete it. Waking up in the morning when it's pouring rain there's nothing else you can do but suck it up and hike. You’re carrying your food and can’t afford to sit around and wait for the rain to go away. Sometimes it rains for days and everything you own is wet. It was the hardest part of the trail for me.”

The international trail was harder to follow, too, he said.

“The AT is well-marked with white blazes on trees every 30 feet,” he said. “I would very rarely find myself wondering where I was. But the IAT doesn’t have much money and is not well-marked.”

“Quebec was my favorite place on the entire trail,” he added. “We walked along the coast on massive cliffs, saw seals, diving birds and whales. It was very different from the rest.”

On Saturay, he jumped on a bus, and he arrived home Sunday.

“It was like a full-time job, but one you really enjoy,” he said. “I feel amazing. I would hike 20-plus miles a day. My biggest was 52 miles a day and overnight - 23 hours of continuous hiking."

He said he plans to look for a job now, but wants to plan for another long hike someday, after he takes a little break.