Date: 2003-08-29
From: The Birches

To: Mt. Katahdin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We had the BEST SUMMIT DAY EVER!Woke to my alarm at 4:45 am. Ouch. But we wanted to have some time up top before the day hikers came up. Put my things together and stuffed five doughnuts in my mouth, and went down to wake up my dad, who was sleeping in one of the walk-in lean-tos. Unloaded my extra food into the van, and my fuel bottle, since it has been leaking this past week, and rearranged my pack for the climb. We were all at the trailhead before six: me, my dad, Trukin', Iron Toothpick, BobMikeBob, Genesis, and Genesis' dad and dad's girlfriend. It was a merry crew. And we took off. My dad and Genesis' fam were only going as far as they could, and I fell into the gap between the two groups: hikers ahead, family behind. It was a great climb. I didn't think about time, about miles. There were crazy boulders, and I had to do some mad lifts to hoist myself up, grabbing roots and branches wherever I could. I definitely felt the weight of the full pack on my back. Not far above treeline, Genesis caught up, and not long after that, we saw the sunshine creeping over the hills below, pushing the clouds aside and heading our way. The skies opened up blue, and gold glistened on the alpine grasses. Once we arrived on the Tableland, where the mountain flattened out a bit, we could see the silhouettes of our hiking companions up on the ridge, and, judging from the fact that they had stopped, we guessed that that big cairn was Baxter Peak. We found Trukin' and Iron Toothpick waiting for us, a few yards from the summit, not having gone up yet. We all headed up together to join BobMikeBob.I thought before that I would cry, but I didn't. When I first saw it, I bit my lip, but soon that melted away and I was just all smiles. The same way I was going up Springer. The same way I felt on Mt. Washington. I couldn't bottle my elation. My feet did a happy dance. It was just too good. Took bunches of pictures and cracked the bottle of champagne that Lady Walksalot had brought us and passed it around. I placed the rock that I had carried from Springer on top of the sign. We stayed up there a while. Nightmare and Clueless headed down first, followed by BobMikeBob. The other four of us sat behind a rock, out of the wind. Snacked and talked for a while. We had discussed coming down the Knife Edge beforehand, but I honestly doubted that it would happen. I figured I would be too tired from the climb. But as we looked at the blue skies and talked to dayhikers that had come up that way, it was more and more tempting. Even if I do return to Baxter, I might not have a day like this, and so we seized the moment, left our white blazes behind, and began to follow the blue ones. In the first few feet off the peak, we passed some dayhikers going up, and as we passed, a girl asked us, "Are you guys thru-hikers?" We said yes, that we just finished, and her friends applauded us. I felt like a hero.The Knife Edge is a really narrow, steep, rocky ridge. You walked and climbed a path a few feet wide with drop-offs of thousands of feet on either side. People had cautioned us not to do it with a full pack, but as it turned out, it was not so threatening as it looked from afar. I gave my sleeping bag to Genesis to carry, since it was bulky and, at the bottom of my pack, could pitch me forward on a downslide. In only one place did I remove the pack to pass down. On Paloma Peak, the winds were as harsh as those I experienced on Mt. Washington and Mt. Madison, both fun but frustrating. The views were spectacular, and the terrain challenging. I would not consider doing that hike were it any colder or wet, but, like I said, it was the best summit day ever. We arrived down the other side of the mountain a bit after two, and Genesis' dad took us back to Katahdin Stream, where we met my Dad and BobMikeBob. We went into Millinocket and got a room at the AT Lodge, where we had been treated extremely well a few days before, when we hitched in from Abol Bridge. Had a fancy dinner with Iron Toothpick, Trukin' and Genesis & co., and drank some Katahdin Red beer. Worn out, half-delirious and dizzy from the events of this huge day, I slept very quickly.