Date: 2015-07-28
From: The Birches

To: Mount Katahdin
Miles today: 5.2

I didn't sleep much last night. The other hikers in the shelter couldn't either (SweetBlood & Smasher). It could have been the nervous excitement about climbing Katahdin. It could have been the current weather situation...it was raining. At midnight it started pouring and brought thunder and lightening with it. We were up every hour hoping the rain would stop. We were planning on getting up at 4:00am to get up the mountain early. Unfortunately it was still not letting up.At 4:00am I was a bit nervous about summitting. It was still raining and it puts the possibility of summitting in jeopardy. If it was raining at 1,100 feet, what would it be doing at 5,200 feet? Would I be able to safely summit?At 5:00am the rain slowed down and I started to pack up. I took a walk down to the park Ranger Station to leave my gear before hiking. With the rain making the rocks slick and the challenge of this final climb, I chose to only carry important items: food, first aid, lighter, headlamp, rain jacket, phone, hand-written journal (probably my most precious personal item), etc.Smasher, SweetBlood and Big Ben had already left to start the climb. I was the last one to leave and really enjoyed the quiet hike by myself. It gave me time to reflect on the trip a little bit. I thought of the people I met at the beginning, people along the way, ones that are no longer on the trail, or ones that I haven't seen in many months. They are all very important to my trip in their own way.As I hiked, the sky was decently clear. When I started to get up in elevation I could see clouds in the distance. It wasn't raining so it was a small victory. The hike started off mild but within a mile or two became a bit more difficult. The trail started to follow an exposed ridge line of huge boulders. They were very grippy, almost like very coarse sandpaper. It was extremely helpful in the process of climbing up and over them. It just beat my hands up from having to pull or push myself up at many points. The trail turned into hand-over-hand rock climbing instead of hiking. The sky soon cleared up and the sun came out. I continued hand-over-hand climbing but there was one point where I nearly hurt myself. As I was pulling myself up a set of rocks, I was pushing myself up with my legs. Then...I slipped. I fell backwards, in between two large boulders. My legs got pinched between them and my upper body fell backwards. The only thing I could do was put my left arm out as I fall, hoping it would stop me from hitting the rock below. I eventually stopped falling back when my hand finally touched the ground, when my body was just beyond horizontal. My legs were still wedged between the rocks. I have to say that if my legs didn't get wedged, I may have continued to fall backwards. This was as close to getting seriously hurt as I have come on this entire trip. Other than a few scrapes, I was luckily okay though. Nothing left to do but just keep hiking.Around 9:15am, I saw Smasher and Big Ben about 100 yards ahead of me. They were standing around, just watching me hike up towards them (SweetBlood ended up being just a bit behind me now). It was at that point when I realized they were standing at the top of Mount Katahdin and I was almost there. I had to stop for a minute though. I needed to compose myself at that point. A whole world of emotion came over me at that point.I took a minute and some deep breaths and continued walking to the famous sign on the mountain. As I approached, trying to keep myself composed, it was quiet. Completely quiet. When I walked up and was able to place my hands on the sign, I cried. They were tears of joy. It was knowing how far I've made it. It was knowing how difficult this journey has been. It was knowing the sacrifices I had to make to get to this point. I put my head on the sign and just tried to fathom what I just accomplished. It was surreal to see the sign, let alone touch it and take my picture with it. I always knew that someday I'd see the sign in person. I just never knew when, and surely didn't think it'd be now. It was truly an unbelievable feeling.I took a bunch of pictures on the summit and then tried to get service to call Nikki. She was so excited and proud for me and of me. I am proud of myself too. I called my parents too. They were just as excited and proud. I tried making a few more calls but service was spotty so they just had to wait until later.Big Ben, SweetBlood and Smasher all headed back down the mountain but I stayed up there for a bit. I really just wanted to enjoy the moment. I knew that if I ever returned to the summit, it would never be the same. I just sat and reflected, relaxed and enjoyed the time on the mountain. After an hour on top, I knew the time had come to head back down the mountain. There were tons of day-hikers now coming up the mountain but it was really nice to have it to myself for a little bit. As I was hiking down I was on cloud nine. I just kept thinking "I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail". I ran into another thru-hiker I know, Drifter, coming up the mountain. We wished each other congratulations and the best in the future.I finished the hike down Katahdin and I hit the ranger station to pick up my gear I left. Heg then showed up to drive me home. We had a couple important stops to make before though. We met Nikki's uncle, Jim, who drove nearly two hours to meet us at the Appalachian Cafe in Millenocket, ME. We had a congratulatory beer and I signed a ceiling tile. The cafe lets thru-hikers sign a ceiling tile and at the end of the year it gets hung up. It was great to see tiles from years past. Now, my name will be on there for years to come.We then took a quick drive down the street to get some much-needed dinner at a local restaurant. There, Jim gave me a very special, hand-crafted gift. He is an extremely talented woodworker and carved a small hiking boot. He put much time into the carving and even the packaging. The box was wrapped using dated newspaper clippings and specific words as it related to my hike. It was such a nice gesture and a gift that I will cherish. We then finished dinner and then it was off to Erik's sister's house in Blue Hill, ME for the night. Tomorrow morning I head back home.I soon will post one more follow-up journal entry. I'd like to have a little bit of time to process this experience and relax a bit. Give me a bit of time and you'll hear my final thoughts. In the mean time, thank you so much for following my journey!