Date: 2004-08-18
From: Hammocking at Abol Pines Camping Area

To: Katahdin Stream Campground
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Well the end is near. It¢s been near for the past month. Woke today and was second last to leave the busy campsite. Everyone was in a rush to sign up for camping spots at Katahdin Stream Campground. Why the rush you ask? Just waltz in and set up your tent right? Well, not exactly. K-Stream Campground only has 12 spots a night for thru-hikers. If the kind friendly rangers find you camping elsewhere they will gladly escort you out of the park and not invite you back. So the park service provides a signup board near Abol Bridge allowing the first 12 thru hikers to signup for a spot to sleep the next night. For some strange reason a whole heard of hikers were planning on finishing on the very same day as myself. The numbers were far exceeding the number of hikers allowed in the thru hiker area. Why was I not in a rush with everyone else to signup? My kind friends the Camera Crew rented a campsite near K-Stream Campground used by weekend tourists. Thanks guys you made the last few days stress free and highly enjoyable.The hike was really flat. The terrain was so flat it was almost boring. To be honest I was not complaining : ) Hiked alone and tried to imagine what it would getting back to the ¢real world¢ when my parents picked me up the very next day. How would I be different? What have I learned? Ha, that¢s for another entry, you will just have to wait and see. Enjoyed a lazy lunch on some warm rocks next to a stream still bulging with water from rain a few days back.So I get to the K-Stream Campground and we are all on cloud 9. The trip has basically been over for a week. The cat is in the bag and the light is very bright at the end of the tunnel. As I¢m walking to the campground site a van pulls up. I thought nothing of it since this is a campground full of people with cars. When the van gets a little closer I recognize the plate number as my parents van. When they got closer I noticed they were not my parents at all, but a ship full of pirates. My mom, dad, and sister were fully decked out in full pirate gear. Including hats, eye patches, and earrings. My family was staying in a nearby hotel. When they arrived a ranger informed them that the park was still open and would be close till 10pm. So they decided to pay me a surprise visit.I forgot to mention the other tricky rule enforced by Baxter State Park is the daily limit of cars allowed. So after 6 months of hiking on my part, and two full days of driving my family has to wait in line at the gate with all the other people trying to enter the park. After the park is full they close the gates and the park is closed to vehicular traffic for the remainder of the day. Yesterday I called them and made final plans. They said they might stop by tomorrow night, but were not planning on it. So this was a real surprise and I was not expecting them to visit. To be honest I had forgotten all about them coming up since so much was going on. They brought Hotdogs, chips, pop, and salad enough for all 12 of us. It was a great end to the hike. The food was welcomed because we still would have been eating backpacking food since the food supply at Abol Bridge was very minimal. My dinner would still have been Ramen noodles for sure. But instead I downed four massive hotdogs and multiple glasses of ice cold pop. It was a party to say the least. Many left the party early to rest up for the big summit of Mt. Katahdin in the early morning. After everyone went back to their thru hiker campground Arwen, Heather, Camel, Leki Less and myself sat around a campfire underneath a blanket of stars and just watched the wood burn away. Not much was said because nothing needed to be said. We were all pondering what was to be after we went our separate ways.