Date: 2016-07-19
From: AT Lodge

To: Mt Katahdin Summit
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

The day was filled with expectation. I knew what the sequence of events should be. The hour long shuttle out to the park. Registering to climb the Hunt trail up the mountain. The relatively benign first mile or so past the falls thru typical forest. The first indication of a climb as the rocks came into play but still in the woods. The sound and coolness of the strong wind as it sometimes filtered thru openings in the forest. A few views of the lowland lakes. The changing of tree typed as the trail entered the alpine portion of the tree line. The slope of the trail continually increased along with the size of the rocks. Soon it required climbing over them or thru crevices. The change to weather gear just before breaking out of the tree line. I put on my long sleeve shirt and my rain shell, today used as a wind shield. I stuffed my hat in my pack to keep it from blowing away. The first sight of the rock scramble ahead, too steep to see anything other than what was directly ahead. The seemingly never ending scramble up, amidst varying groups of hikers all trying to find the best way thru the rocks while watching for blazes. Each step an adventure in itself; taking a calculated step to move from one stable position to another higher up. The cresting to the inflection point which showed the next significant portion of the climb. The ridge to be traversed was just narrow enough to be a problem with the gusting wind throwing me off balance. Seeing the next 500 feet of climb was worse than not seeing it. It seemed each step was trivial and would never add up to getting to the top. First sight of the sign. Oh no. Wrong sign. Didn't look right. Not the summit. Not even close. Just the rocky plateau. Rocky but relatively level. View of summit after another 15 minutes of hiking. Movement that could be people all along trail to the top. 1000 feet more. Not quite as steep. Could use sticks again. Had put them away while climbing the rock face. The final walk up seeing the real summit sign. Lots of people sitting around taking pictures. Made the summit and stared at the sign. Smiled. Took someone's picture. Had someone take mine. Sat down and looked around the clear view of everything. By far the highest point in local world around me. Got up to leave after a few minutes. The AT hike was over after a four hour hike but there was another just as long effort to get back down and limited time to get it done. Stood up to leave. Talked briefly to a group of people and mentioned having finished the AT. Many of the people up there were day hikers. Mentioned having to hitch hike out of the park once down. Got lucky. Two girls offered me a ride, then walked down the mountain with me, protecting me and talking with me the whole way. They were much appreciated. Anna and Harley were camping at the Katahdin Stream Campsite and were driving back to the Maine coast. The climb down was tedious; harder than climbing; harder on the feet and knees; more dangerous, more wind. Better company though. The young women were great company and definitely s help in staying on and navigating the scramble down. Everything got easier, the inverse of going up. My mood slowly relaxed as we hit the forest section and later the level trail. The car ride back was casual and filled with good conversation. I didn't really think much about finishing until they dropped me off at the hostel. We exchanged emails and these two loquacious girls left to continue on their own adventure. Not much talk about finishing at the hostel. I felt it was a personal achievement and had already watched many others do the same hike and tell their own stories. Still smiled every so often though. Slept well with no early schedule the next day. Just a shuttle to blow town on the bus. The end.