Date: 2005-09-24
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Mt. Katahdin - Abol Bridge
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: clear sky

miles 10.4 We woke up just after 6:00am.It was really cold.I felt like I had not gottenany sleep whatsoever.Papermaker snore to beat the band all night,and even thoughI punched him off and on all night long,he kept on snoring.Of course thismorning here maintains that he got no sleep whatsoever because I kept punchinghim! I was fixing breakfast when Africa comes back from the ranger's station.Hehad the biggest grin on his face.The ranger had posted the class for hikingKatahdin today.It was a class one day.The first class one day they had had inweeks!I didn't know if I should laugh or cry!!I knew that there were ten hardmiles ahead of me today versus staying in my sleeping bag all morning!! It was 7:30 when we signed the board at the trail head.There were already over25 people ahead of us.We would have plenty of company today on the summit. Thissummit was totally different from the last time I climbed this mountain.Nothingwas covered with snow and ice.You could see the white blazes on the trees! Weclimbed and climbed,each step takingnus closer to the top of Katahdin.There werea stream of people in front of us and in back of us,winding slowly along thetrail.When it was no longer useful to carry my hikingpoles,I tried to collaspethem to carry.One would not collapse,so I laid it along the side of the trail topick up on the way back down.Before long we were passing small stacks of hikingpoles as people realized the poles were of no use in scrambling over boulders.Wecame to the ledge that was ice covered before and it was just a simple climb upand over the ledge.The sky was a beautiful blue with a few white clouds here and there.It was thewind that was difficukt to deal with.It was cold and the gusts made walkingdifficult at times.My hand and fingers were numb,as were my toes.We foundshelter from the frigid wind behind a huge boulder and ate a snack.We were usingtwice the energy as our body tryed to maintain some warmth.I sat down andpulled my long underwera out of my daypack and put them on.I would bre a truefashion statement today! Thoreau Springs was another sign we were getting closer to the top.Thoreauclimbed this mountain back in 1886,and subsequently this spring was named afterhim. Next came the Gateway to the Tablelands,a rocky winding trail that has a everso slight incline towards the peak.You could look aead and see the people whowere already on the summit. I could not beleive the number of people that were on the summit.There musthave been at least a hundred people there.Only about a dozen of them looked tobe thru hikers.I touched the faded wooden sign that signifies the terminus ofthe trail,put my head against it and cryed. Finally I had the moments to relishin this accomplishment.We took picture after picture.Each thru hiker we saw weoffered our congradulations to.A part of me still felt like I had failed in myinitial attempt to hike this trail in one season.I didn't let that thought lastlong.My accomplishment was mine,in the way it had tobe done.We found a place toeat lunch and watch the crowds come and go. We headed back down the trail.It wasmore fun to me to go down those precipices than going up.I loved it.I foundwhere I had stashed my hiking stick,but it was not there.I could not beleiveit!Someone had taken my stick! I searched and searched in vain al the way backdown the trail.It was no where to be found.A! n otherwise near perfect day was marred by the fact that someone had taken myhiking stick.I was attached to that stick.It had ben with me for over twothousand miles,held up my tent,kept me from falling numerous times.It was like aextraset of legs.And it was gone.It was hard for e not to focus on this badevent and forget the good.It took some effort.I held out untl the end that maybesomeone took it to the ranger's station,but when I turned the day pack in andgot my pack,there was no stick there. As we repacked or bags,Africa mananged to yogi us a ride to Abol Bridge,thussaving us a ten miles hike and giving us an extra day to hike south.We decidedto camp at the Abol Campground. We were all exhausted. O think the fact thatthere was readymade food at the campstore helped us make our mind up. A premade hamburger heated in the microwave tasted wonderful.Papermaker couldnot stop eating.Finaly the clerk just let him run a tab until he was full.I leftand picked us out a tent site and put up our tent.I could not get warm.All Iwanted to do was crawl into my sleeping bag.I had gotten sun and wind burnttoday and I know I did not drink enough water.I felt like I was frozen from theinside out.Our site faced the lake and there was a small part of the sunsetvisible.Papermaker built another fire and we heated more rocks for our sleepingbags.I was going to take a long hot shower until I found out that the showerhouse was unheated,and it cost a quarterfor three minutes.I took some TylenolPM, crawled into my bag,put a warm rock under each knee and went to sleep.I have32.5 miles to go before I can say that this journey is complete.I am glad Ihiked this mountain againI have a totally different view of it to add to mymemories.   Bumpkin                           5 Million Steps for Polio