Date: 2010-10-13
From: Millinocket, ME

To: Knoxville, TN
Miles today: 5.2

Back home in Knoxville after an amazing 5 month adventure on the AT. Summitted Katahdin last Friday (10/8/10) in some pretty nasty weather conditions. Seemed to be the theme of our trip, to climb the toughest mountains in the worst conditions. Received word from the rangers the morning of Summit Day that they had declared a Class 3, meaning that hiking above treeline (50% of Katahdin) was not recommended and some of the trails to the summit were closed. We were also warned that we should prepare ourselves for the possibility of having to turn around and try again another day. At about 9 am Lefty, SkRabbit, DB and I started our climb. Weather was good at the bottom but once we were above treeline the wind picked up and about a half mile later we were in the clouds and the temperature started dropping quickly. A mile from the top sleet and snow started blowing in hard making the rocks very slippery and the trail difficult to find. White blazes tend to blend in well with snow and ice, so we followed other hikers footprints to the summit. Lefty and SkRabbit had gotten ahead of DB and I and we met them headed back down when we were a few hundred yards from the summit. They turned around and came back with us to get a few quality pictures with the sign. Seeing the sign at the summit was incredibly emotional and my first reaction upon reaching it was to drape myself against sign and just soak up the moment. Temperature up top was around 20 degrees with 20 mph winds and blowing snow but that didn't stop me from stripping down to my Jolly Green Giant costume and taking my picture on top of the sign. I had really looked forward to spending alot of time on Katahdin but it was way to cold to stay on top more than 15 minutes. After a few more pictures and sips of champagne we headed back down. There was quite the celebration at the bottom, about 10 other people had summitted that day and more were waiting to go up the next. DB's mom was waiting for us with food and beer. I had told my dad to pick us up at another trailhead, but the trial was closed so we had to come down the way we went up. Had to enlist the rangers help to track him down once he got into the park and send him to our location. After one last night of hanging out with hiker trash we headed south back to Knoxville. Ended up picking up 4 extra hikers and giving two rides to another road to hitch from and drove two all the way to Logan International in Boston.The next day we stopped in NYC for a stroll over the Brooklyn Bridge. Also cruised thru Manhattan, Central Park and Times Square to get the full NYC experience. DB and her family met us on the bridge (she's from Queens) so we had a mini hiker reunion two days after ending the trail. Another day of driving and dropped the last remnants of hiker trash (Lefty) off in Asheville and headed home.Being off the trail and in Knoxville is very surreal. Feels like i woke up from an awesome dream and would very much like to go back to sleep. I met so many amazing people on the trail, many of whom I'm sure will be friends for life. It feels good to be home but I do miss the adventure of the trail and the simplicity of having nothing to do every day but put one foot in front of the other.http://derek.ohlgren.com