Date: 2013-09-09
To: Katahdin
Miles today: 2.2

Hurray! We hiked to Katahdin's Baxter Peak and completed our section hike of The Appalachian Trail after over 15 years! We are so happy that all these challenging hikes are finished! We look forward to easy trails in our retirement, although we'll still hike some AT sections from time to time.We enjoyed staying at Daicey Pond Cabins at Baxter Park last night after having breakfast and lunch at the AT Cafe. We sat at the dock watching the sunset on Katahdin over Daicey Pond. Then enjoyed the beautiful night sky of sparkling stars. The ranger was very helpful in explaining how to light the propane lamp and woodstove, as well as chopping some kindling for us. A neighbor helped us actually start the fire in the woodstove and let us use some special brick that's allowed in the park. We got up at 5am and were on the trail just after 6am. The nice easy trail of roots and rocks eventually turned to boulders before hitting treeline. Then we came to the part where I aborted our first attempt 2 years ago (hence I only put in 2.2 miles in my mileage count because we hiked 3 miles then). The rebar was in a position which I could not maneuver strength-wise on my own. A fellow named Chris helped me and Peace know how to position our hands and feet and with a boost from Peace, I was able to get on top of the boulder. After that it seemed like a vertical Mahoosic Notch combined with Old Speck Mountain. There were still scary parts where there were dropoffs that we had to maneuver around, but with a lot of prayer and encouragement from others, we made it!I thought once we got to the tableland that we no longer had any ups. But there was still an up which was challenging after using all the energy for the rest of the hike. It was wonderful to finally have our picture taken at the Baxter Peak sign by a fellow hiker. Hiking back down was a lot easier except for the times when we saw the dropoffs in front of us and we had to creep to the edge to see where the ledges might be to proceed further. One fellow was resting below and let me know where the white blaze was that I couldn't see from the edge.The views were amazing as always - mountains upon mountains, lakes, sky, alpine tundra. Didn't see any animals - just one bird from time to time. Enjoyed meeting hikers along the way. We gave Hawkeye and his brother Wild Man a ride to Millinocket and chatted with them at dinner at the AT Cafe.Peace and I signed the tile at the AT Cafe reserved for hikers who have completed the entire Appalachian Trail. Since I couldn't have a Summit Sundae because it had chocolate in it (14 scoops of ice cream with snickers bar, donut, syrup, whip cream, banana, etc.), they made my favorite topping and put it over 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream for me. I had given them the recipe I used - brown sugar, butter, milk, and bananas. Jamie called it Bananas Judith and listed it on the specials board as one of the desserts available. I thought that was so cool! And boy, did it taste yummy! What a nice way to celebrate the completion of the trail.Now we're getting ready to go to Quebec, Montreal, and stop by the Baseball Hall of Fame on our way home in another week.Our next adventure will be bicycling in April 2014 from Key Largo to Key West, about 10-15 miles/day, enjoying the turquoise blue water all the way.Thanks for reading our journal. Just remember, the Journey is the Destination.Love and Peace