Date: 2014-08-18
From: Abol Bridge

To: Baxter Park Inn via the Birches
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Only 5.2 miles of the AT left - glad to be walking this last bit with Big Dawg and other familiar faces! Big Dawg passed the first test for his foot by doing ten miles on flat nice terrain - tomorrow will be the real test when we climb up Mount Katahdin! Hopefully he can make it up - it is the only appropriate ending to our journey along the Appalachian Trail!A small breakfast at the hotel and then we headed out to pick up Hoss and DFI - Stef stayed around the hotel so we wouldn't be crammed in the car like sardines. Plus she had to run anyways as part of her marathon training. So everyone had a real seat in the car and we headed back out to Abol Bridge to start the day.From town the road is fairly nice and paved until you get to the split between the park gate and the Golden Road. Abol Bridge is along the Golden Road and it is in a little bit of rougher shape - it is heavily traveled by logging trucks and rafting companies so it is a bit potholey and unpaved at times. But we made it to the camp and even saw a fully loaded wood truck pass us - neat!And so begins our walk in the woods - turned out to be some of the nicest trail that we have encountered in Maine! The trail was a flat and smooth as promised in the guidebook with only a few tough spots of rocks and roots - a great trail to test out Big Dawg's foot! If his foot couldn't handle that really nice terrain there is no way he would conquer Katahdin - but as mentioned earlier he made it successfully so a great day!The hiking today turned into a leisurely stroll since we didn't have any real deadlines or rush - made the trip much nicer. We walked along the Penobscot River for a long stretch and saw some cool rapids and rock features in the water. It was a pretty big river too! The trail here was filled with pine needles and minimal roots so there was a lot more time looking up than at the trail!Eventually we peeled away from the Penobscot and headed along the Nesowadnehunk Stream for another stretch - leading to Big Dawg's first ford of the trail! We arrived at the lower branch of the stream and didn't have an easy rock hop path so we decided to ford it. I went first to find a good way through the stream and after screwing around looking for an easier way for Big Dawg to cross we went back to the same spot and I navigated him across. Felt great on the feet and it only went up over the knees in two spots so not a bad ford. Cool walking along water most of the day - really enjoyed the sound of flowing water and falling water! Meandered along the stream until we crossed it again further upstream - this time we were able to rock hop it so we didn't get wet again. Shortly after the second crossing we ran into Park Ranger John talking with Hoss and DFI along the trail. A nice guy we chatted with him some more about Katahdin and the park and the trail and he gave us a preview of the Katahdin climb so we know what to expect. He also told us to stop at Big Niagara Falls and it seemed like a good time to stop for lunch.A great spot for lunch! The falls were really cool and flowing a lot of water through them and we found a good spot to sit overlooking the falls! And it was definitely great not worrying about rushing to get to a destination at a certain time - we were taking our time but still moving at a good pace so there was no rush.From lunch we had a couple of ponds to walk along before we arrived at Katahdin Stream Campground and the base of Mt. Katahdin - let's do it! We had to travel a little more carefully through this part because the trail was a bit more rocky and rooty than the previous miles but still not really tough. Also Big Dawg's foot was getting sore so we didn't want to push it hard yet. It was a mostly uneventful walk here to the campground and we made it to the camp easily!At the camp we waited for Trail Mamma to pick us up and while we were resting we met The Machine - she was finishing up her NOBO hike tomorrow and offered us trail magic soda - nice! She was an older lady and my hats off to her for hiking so far - it is a major accomplishment for ANYONE to make it this far, and I can imagine it would be even more so being a little older!Mom and Stef arrived to pick us up and we all piled in to head back into town - Hoss had to sit in the trunk but we were all able to fit in reasonably comfortably! A long eight miles out of the park followed by a faster 16 miles into town made for a decent drive but not too bad. After dropping Hoss and DFI off we went back to the hotel to clean up and prepare for dinner - I was feeling pizza tonight!Back in town we ate at Angelo's Pizza - a little place that made a pretty good pizza! Decided to follow up the pizza with ice cream so we walked down to the AT Cafe and ran into a group of true thru-hikers! Rosie, Pyro, Cape, Zachsquatch, Dr. Zoom, and Naked Ninja were all eating and celebrating their successful summit of Katahdin and have truly become AT thru-hikers, making it from Georgia to Maine! We congratulated everyone and it was great seeing them all before they headed out with family or friends - soon we will be celebrating with other thru-hikers on OUR successful summit of Mount Katahdin tomorrow!After delicious ice cream we went back to the hotel so we could relax and prepare for the big day tomorrow - finishing up the AT with the long and tough climb up Mount Katahdin! I can't really describe how excited I am to climb the mountain - it has been a long time coming, five months in the making and 2180.1 miles of walking! Super pumped!