On the AT - Katahdin!

September 21, 2008 | Miles: 5.2 (plus 5.8 non-AT miles)
Start: The Birches, Baxter State Park
End: Katahdin

Despite the fact that it was THE day, it did not get off to a good start. We had planned to get up and on the trail extra early, around 7am. Snowman was not in a good mood. But everyone was up and the positive energy must have turned things around, as we were off at 7:15 with the rest of the pack, heading up the Hunt Trail in a single-file line, chatting and laughing along the way. It was quite a change from our previous days in the Wilderness, where the two of us would hike along, sometimes not seeing anyone. But this was a fun group of hikers, and we were glad to be in their ranks. Hell, we would have been glad anyway, we were going up Katahdin, but it was fun. As the trail got steeper after Katahdin Stream Falls, we separated from the group a bit, slowly making our way up and over the boulders, with Snowman having to give me quite a few boosts as we got into exposed terrain and onto the stretch I remembered from our previous journey 9 years ago up this mountain – lots of big rocks with few handholds. As we neared treeline, we were in a cloud. It was cold and windy. No views from the top today. But oh well, we had had grand views of Katahdin on our way through the Wilderness. And who cared, we were going to the top, to the end!

Finally, after climbing and climbing and climbing, we reached the Tablelands. Only 1 mile to go! But it had to be the longest mile yet. I was practically running, wanting to get to the top. We couldn’t see much, we were in the swirling clouds and mist. We could see the other hikers a short ways ahead, and we just kept going, until finally there were shouts of joy and then we could see it. The sign! The top! We had made it.

The next 30 minutes were a mix of tears, smiles, whoops of joy, laughter and a whole lot of photographs.

It had taken us 4 years, but we were there. We did the whole trail, together, all 2174.9 miles, northbound past the white blazes, and this was it. The End. Done. Woohoo!

We took a blue blaze down. After all, we weren’t hiking the AT anymore :-)

P.S. Our friends Mindy and Pete rock! They met us down at Katahdin Stream campsite, fit us, K-Bomb and Mocassin and our stinky packs into their car, dropped K-Bomb and Mocassin off in Millinocket and then drove us the 2 hours back to our car in Monson. They did not complain about our hiker smell. They wanted to talk trail. We laughed and joked and had fun chatting. They were awesome and it was just an awesome thing for them to do. Thanks guys!

P.P.S. Special thanks as well to everyone who made this hike what it was, a great journey! We couldn't have done it without help from our family, old friends, new friends and those who helped us along the way. Thank you!