Date: 2005-08-25
From: Katahdin Stream Campsite

To: Baxter Peak, Katahdin
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: light rain

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONOR..........well I have finally caught up so I can finish our story..There was no rain during the night, but it was cloudy. The park ranger told me it would be good by the time we got to the summit..Finally got up at 5ish, before cracked ribs and a broken? wrist we had planned to leave the campsite at 0100 to summit as the sun came up. But we would not be able to do that now, plus the sky was overcast so the sunrise would not be visible.We Told Luna, Stephen, Hardcore and Mike we would see them up the trail. As we were sure they would catch and over take us, and I could not wait any longer.We signed in at 0620 and headed up the mountain. The first mile was a walk in the park, we passed a couple day hiking. It was cloudy but not dull so I was still holding out for clear skies at the top. This would be the biggest climb of the trail over 4100'Then the fun really began, as we only had day packs (we left our packs at the rangers station, they don't like you going up with big packs) it was slightly easier but we still had lots or rock scrambles. At one stage it looked like there was no way up for me as you needed two hands and Slip could not help as he was 5' up ready to pull me up as soon as I got close. So I started to use my hand, I had to. This went on for 2 miles or so.We passed another hiker and one more before we went into the cloud layer that was covering the final 1500' of the mountain. It was very windy at times and we were hugging the rocks as we passed them trying to pick our way up. We passed another day hiker, just as we got a glimpse of sunlight. It would clear, I knew it. My phone started ringing (sorry martin but I could not let go of the one hand that was keeping me on terra firma)We passed one final couple as the climb flattened out. And then the clouds cleared and we could see the sign..Slip stopped to get out the camera and video our final few steps...but the battery was dead............#@#*WE could not believe it, at first we thought it was just cold and would warm up. There was nothing we could do, so we kept climbing. AT 0911 EST (2hours,51minutes) we held each other as we got to the summit and with that our trail was complete.. It was an emotional moment, but the battery thing got in the way. We had the whole summit to our selves, and clear views all around. Its very hard to describe the moment. You are just going to have to find out for yourselves..The couple we had passed 15 minutes before arrived and when we explained about our camera they took our photos.Thank you both so much.Had a celebration drink of Bombay sapphire & Gatorade its the drink of Athletes...try it some time. We had a few while more people arrived.After being out on the trail our brains take a long time to work, and suddenly Slip realised that we could swap our flash card to get some photos on our card..We were still waiting for the others to arrive. We eventually found someone with a battery the same as ours so we got some video, just as Luna, Stephen, Hardcore & (mike) arrived. We were bombarded with questions from other day hikers about our hike, we felt like VIPs. Well we are now in an exclusive group of people that have thru-hiked.Sorry Ironfoot, 3cats, AJ, Tri-guy, Bluey, Naked Sun, Morel, Mellow, Peeps....and the rest that you were not here with us but we know you will all have a fantastic day when you get here (or got here PEEPs).So after a celebration with the other 3 thru-hikers, we headed down the mountain, we may have finished the trail but we still had to get off the mountain.So we finally found out what it was like to walk south, with the sun in our faces, we slid down a scree field, which was tricker than we were told. The sun got hotter as we descended, if you looked back up there were lots of huge bolders the size of houses that appeared to be suspended in mid air and could fall on us at any moment.We got down to the road, but had come down a different route, so we would need to hitch back to our backpacks. Hardcore's mum was there waiting for them to come down and so she drove us back to get out packs, sign off the mountain and back to where she picked us up.We said good bye and within a minute a van of guys picked us up and drove us a few miles to outside the park. Thanks again.I saw a dumpster across the road and took one step to get rid of our rubbish, but I never made it as the next car stopped and took us all the way to Millinocket (17 miles or so) This was a guy that had planned on thru-hiking this year but had to pull out at the last moment, He dropped us to a diner, we must have looked hungery.Thanks and I hope you get time to hike the AT next year .While eating in the diner we saw MASA across the road, so I ran out and he joined us.We checked into a B&B and got some food for our trip tomorrow back to New York.Luna, Stephen and Dozer arrived. We all had a few drinks in a pub chatting to some locals. Tried to get a few messages out to say we had finished.After all this time We still can not believe we do not have to get up in the morning and hike.What a day, after 2174.9 miles we could rest. .Rollon the other side of the world. Thanks to all the trail angels that helped us on our way we would not have made it with out you. And to all those that gave us support and encouragement, sent us packages and put us up..Good luck and safe home to all..Hope to see some of you before we return to work next year..