Date: 2013-09-28
From: Baxter State Park ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ the Birches

To: Baxter Peak ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ Northern Terminus of AT
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: clear sky

THE BIG DAY!   Another wonderful day that the LORD has made:Doing many things for the last time! Last time to get my food off a bear cable. I wasn't thinking of bears recently ¢ haven't even seen one in person since Virginia ¢ & no other campsite in Maine even had a bear box (most do from NJ thru NH). The boxes are nice in the rain & when there are not too many people trying to share them. Cables are common in the South, but these in Baxter SP seemed much better built. Especially in Maine, it is difficult to hang your own bag out of the reach of bears because the trees grow so close together & have no good side branches to throw a rope over. Actually, for the last month or two most of us have just been hanging food bags in shelters out of the reach of mice & other varmints. Contrary to my experience on past hikes, I really haven't seen "shelter mice" activity this whole trip. As usual, I woke up before 5:00 & took an unreasonably long time to get packed (especially considering that I had decided to just toss everything in my pack & re-pack while I ate breakfast). I found a picnic table near Katahdin Stream, where I could see Susan when she arrived at the day-use parking area. I started boiling some water for my last Mountain House meal ¢ sweet & sour pork has become my favorite, tho I can't tell much difference in flavor between that & their chicken teriyaki. Unlike a lot of people, I haven't begun to get tired of the dehydrated meals till very recently. While waiting for that, I filtered 2 liters of water for the last time (I've been consistent in filtering all water, & I haven't got sick, but the filter is beginning to get plugged, so it takes a while), ate some granola, & fixed a peanut-butter-&-jelly bagel for the hike. Arguably, this was my only day of "slack-packing" on the whole trip: just using a day-pack & no cooking or sleeping equipment (It was, however, everything I needed for the rest of the hike, so is it really "slack"?) As I ate, I packed a few extra clothes (in case of cold or rain up there, which didn¢t seem likely), headlamp, & the lunch & snacks I¢d been getting together. Susan brought a few more edibles that I tossed in as well. We decided I¢d take her iPhone, which was almost fully charged, to take pictures. After tossing my pack into the trunk, I was finally ready to go. I signed the Trail register at 7:40.The first mile or so is a nice walk thru the woods, so Susan accompanied me up to the bridge over Katahdin Stream. Altho not many thru-hikers were summitting today, the Trail was pretty crowded with day-hikers in various-sized groups. I passed many of them on the way up; most passed me on the way down. The Trail kept getting rockier, & the rocks kept getting bigger, all the way up to the tree-line. Some places the rocks above there involved delicate climbing, tho nothing beyond what we¢d seen in the last 400 miles. Some places the blazes are a bit indefinite, so we got to pick what looked easiest; in a few places, they¢ve put steel bars in the rocks to assist the climb. After a couple of miles of rock-climbing, mostly on an exposed ridge, we came to a more horizontal part of the Mtn, called the Tableland. They try very hard to keep people on the Trail & off the fragile alpine vegetation. In the middle of that area is Thoreau Spring (named for the author and early back-country enthusiast), which keeps the Trail wet for some distance before just disappearing into the rocks. The last mile is walking over smaller boulders, somewhat like the approach to Mt. Washington. I could see lots of people at the top. I didn¢t count when I got there, just before Noon, but it must have been more than 60. When I got to the top, Grey Wolf took my picture by the sign. Then I found one of the few flat rocks to sit for lunch & enjoy the scenery. I got someone else to take my picture up there with the apple I got from Crowd Control & the hiking pole made by Wally Leno back home. After 35 minutes, I started down.On such a beautiful clear day, I was taking pictures all the way up & as much of the way down as the battery lasted. I wish I had a better idea which lakes & mountains I was looking at. Besides Grey Wolf & Red Tail, I saw Ursa Major (her dog, Ursa Minor, didn¢t get to go up), Skeeter-Feeder & Cornflake, & Gigs & 2 guys coming up, who thanked me for the ride Susan had given them just this morning. Otherwise, I don¢t know if there were any thru-hikers, other than Bearfoot, who hurt his leg & turned back just short of the summit. I felt going down was difficult enough without any particular injury. My legs, which have hated knee-lifts over rocks since the Whites, didn¢t complain at all on the way up. But coming down they were miserable. Knees & feet in particular obviously thought they¢d had enough already: ¢We carried you 2,186 miles ¢ that was the contract ¢ what¢s this extra 5 miles that don¢t even count for completing the AT?¢ I took 4:15 going up & 4:30 coming down. Even the more level portion didn¢t seem all that easy once I got there. The bottoms of my feet felt sore from hitting rocks, even tho I had tried to improve my insole padding in the last few weeks. I guess this all means that I was ready to be done. I¢d met the challenge in pretty good shape, & that¢s enough for a while. God has given me lots of good days for hiking, & the strength to do it, & now comes the gift of some days for resting. I¢ll take it!