Date: 2005-08-15
From: The Birches Campsite

To: Opa's House - Baring, ME
Miles today: 10.7

Miles hiked today : 10.75.2 AT miles + 0.3 mile of side trail + 5.2 backtrack milesI woke up this morning at 4:45 a.m., packed up, ate breakfast, and headed to the ranger station, arriving at 6:00 a.m. I secured one of the many available daypacks and transferred my raingear, fleece, snacks, as well as a treat for the summit. I left the ranger station at 6:10 a.m., reached the Hunt trail registration board at 6:20 a.m., and signed in for Opa, Michael, Sean, and myself.We began hiking as a group of 4 and, at 6:45 a.m., I reached Katahdin Stream Falls. A bit further up the trail, as the incline steepened, Michael and I pulled ahead of the pack. There weren't many landmarks to watch for, though I reached treeline around 8:00 a.m., which revealed an outstanding view of the surrounding mountains, which were partially bathed in thin clouds.At 8:40 a.m., I arrived at Thoreau Springs, which is named for Henry David Thoreau, who summitted Baxter Peak, the summit of Katahdin, in 1846. Thoreau Springs is 1.0 mile from Baxter Peak and at 9:00 a.m., I caught my first glimpse of the summit sign. 5 minutes later, I was actually slapping the summit sign and being congratulated by my fellow hikers. I was the fourth to summit today and commenced posing for and taking photographs.The treat that I had packed up to the summit of Katahdin had also been in my pack through the entire 100-Mile Wilderness. As I'd not consumed a single drop of alcohol during my hike, I wanted to have a PBR on the summit. In Monson, I was made aware that beer was available for sale at the Abol Bridge Campstore, though I wasn't sure whether they'd have PBR for sale. As such, I purchased a single 16 ounce can of PBR in Monson and carried it for just over 1 week. It had been over 5 months since I'd had a beer and it was quite tasty indeed. I got a bit of a buzz once I finished, though I wasn't going anywhere for awhile.Michael had reached the summit moments before me, while Frenchie and El Jefe showed up after 15 minutes, followed by Opa and Sean after another 15 minutes. More congratulations and photograph taking ensued as each set of hikers arrived. Hike-ku had been the first to summit, and the last of our group was Dr. Chickadee, who had had to wait until 7:30 a.m. for her mother to meet her at the Katahdin Stream Campground. Once Dr. Chickadee hit the summit, she pulled out a bottle of champagne, plastic cups, as well as salmon, cream cheese, and crackers, all courtesy of her mother. I popped the cork, watched it sail for close to 20 feet, and poured cups of champagne for our group of 8. We then had a dayhiker take a group photograph with each of our cameras.Upon my arrival, the summit was very clear with beautiful blue skies. Once in awhile, clouds would roll in, though they never stayed for long. The climb up had been a little cloudy, though close to the top, especially as I was climbing the Hunt Spur up to the Tableland plateau, the sun had begun to burn off the clouds.The temperature on the summit was in the low 70s, which felt perfect. As I sat there, I thought about how I felt, though nothing profound came to mind. I wasn't exactly glad to be finished, though I wasn't upset either.Opa, Sean, Michael, and I departed the summit at 10:45 a.m. and reached Thoreau Springs. The walk across the Tableland plateau seemed much longer on the descent than it had on the ascent, though it was just as easy. The descent down the Hunt Spur was trickier and required quite a few backside slides down sheer rock faces that I had earlier scrambled up. Around 12:00 p.m., I reached treeline again, which is where the terrain became a bit easier, and at 12:45 p.m., I observed graffiti on a rock stating the distance to the summit as being 3 miles, meaing I had 2.2 miles remaining. 30 minutes later, I passed Katahdin Stream Falls again and at 1:35 p.m., I signed out at the registration sign. 5 minutes later, I arrived at the Katahdin Stream Campground ranger station. It had taken me 2 hours, 45 minutes to climb Katahdin and 2 hours, 50 minutes to descend. Arriving at the ranger station concluded my 155 day AT thru-hike and as the saying goes, I'm now officially a thru-hiker because I'm through hiking. GA->ME complete. "GAME OVER." Michael had been the first to arrive at the ranger station and I was second, followed shortly by Opa and Sean. Opa's son, Alex, picked us up at 3:30 p.m. and drove us to Millinocket for lunch. Before heading to Opa's house in Baring, I made a few quick telephone calls home to let loved ones know that I was finished with my hike. I napped in the back of the truck on the ride to Opa's and we arrived at 7:50 p.m., began laundry, and headed to the grocery store. I updated my trail journal with the final days of this hike, though I'm sure I'll be posting a post-hike entry upon my return to the West coast. I'll also be posting photographs from my digital camera.On Wednesday evening, I'm catching an overnight bus to New York City to meet Ammo and Mason, where I'll spend 5 days doing the tourist thing, then I'll fly back to Seattle. I plan on visiting my Mom for a couple days, then returning to Portland, where I'll be staying with Ammo and Mason until I get situated. I highly anticipate seeing my cats, Maggie and Skipper and also look forward to taking my motorcycle out of storage to take advantage of the summer weather while it lasts. My father just returned home after driving around the country for a month and I will be very happy to see him as well.This trip was difficult, both physically and mentally. While I can't say that I ever entertained the thought of quitting, I would be untruthful if I said that the thought hadn't crossed my mind. There were a few techniques that I used to battle such thoughts. I'd tell myself, "You wanted to be out here, you put yourself out here, now stay out here." I'd think about how proud I'd be to have a Katahdin summit picture hanging on my wall, as well as the people along the trail I'd promised to send a summit picture. I'd think about people, disabled or otherwise, who would love to be out hiking for 5 months. Lastly, I'd focus on a day on the trail when I was ecstatic. The day with the ponies in the Grayson Highlands was a frequently consulted memory.It would be naive of me to say that anybody can thru-hike the AT. It is a long difficult journey and I've been told it takes a special type of person to finish it in a single shot. I don't know about "special," though I would agree with "stubborn." I do, however, highly encourage people to try to thru-hike or even dayhike the AT. My time on the trail was fun more often than not and I had a smile on my face at least once a day.Bedtime at ???