Date: 2006-09-22
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Mt. Katahdin
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: scattered clouds

3:45 pm EDT - UPDATE!Got a call from Bama. Her first words were, "Houston, Bama has landed!"I am more than proud to say that Bama has successfully completed the Appalachian Trail - four days short of her sixth month on the trail.She is on her way with Professor, his wife Pat and Professor's grandson, Jesse James to a B&B in Millinocket to celebrate! She and I will have our celebration here in Birmingham tomorrow evening.Again, our sincere and heartfelt (and emotional) thanks to all the wonderful people (family, friends, hiker buddies and total strangers) who followed Bama's quest. This is Bill - signing off . . .*Hi everyone, this is Bama. Here is my account of my last day on the trail to Mt. Katahdin.We all woke up to a frosty fall morning, but it was ¢a go¢ for the summit from the rangers. We had all been very concerned about the possibility of the summit being closed today. Brainfreeze, Chris (Brainfreeze¢s friend), Professor, Jesse James, O2beehiking and I would leave at 7am. Pat was going to hike to Katahdin Falls and return to the campground to await our return which we thought would be around 5 pm.The first part of the trail was rocky, but not too bad. Then the trail got progressively worse with higher, steeper climbs. What we encountered was not more difficult than anything we had already experienced, but the difference was the length of the total climb up the mountain. Some of the climbs were vertical and required steel bars drilled in the boulders to form a ladder to make the climb up possible. It was very scary.We finally reached tablelands and our hearts and minds were able to calm down a little as we continued to hike to the summit. The winds toward the top were so strong that I was swaying on my feet. The temperature was in the low 30s and there was still ice and snow from the day before. Lord knows what the wind chill was. I had on everything I owned which included a long sleeve shirt, down jacket, two pairs of gloves, wool toboggan and my rain suit to cut the wind. My plans were to take many pictures and relax at the summit, but it was too cold.River Weasel was the only NOBO thru-hiker at the top. He had arrived at 10 am and been waiting until 11 am when we arrived for someone to take his picture ¢ he was freezing. When I took my gloves off the wind almost blew them away and my hands got so cold I could hardly put them back on. But we all managed to swap cameras and take the ¢required¢ photos. Our total time on the summit was only 15 minutes! I wish the weather had been warmer so I could have spent more time at the summit reflecting on my 6-month journey, but at least we had the sun and no rain, ice or snow. I doubt there are many perfect days at this elevation ¢ I was lucky enough to catch one of them. Before I left, I reached in my pack and found the small rock that I had picked up at Springer Mtn. on March 26th and dropped it at the Katahdin sign, completing the thru-hiker's ritual. It took us 4 hours to reach the top and 4 hours to hike down. We were really concerned (frightened actually) about the climb down. Brainfreeze and I had talked earlier about hiring a helicopter to pick us up on top, but decided it would be too expensive. It went better than we had feared, but it included crawling on all fours, scooting on our butts and any other way we could manage - including crawling backward on our bellies - to keep from falling. I didn¢t hike over 2000 miles to get hurt SOBOing down Mt. Katahdin!Heading down off the mountain, I saw Otter, Cohiba, Rusch Hour, Fiddlehead and Rising Sun coming up. They decided to skip ahead on the trail and summit today too since the rain was moving into the area tomorrow morning and the mountain could be closed for a couple of days.I reached Katahdin Campground around 3:15 pm, earlier than the 5 pm I had predicted. The Bruiser¢s parents, John & Jane, had provided Trail Magic food for everyone. Wow! Thanks Trail Angels! River Weasel, Pi & K¢ache, Birkenstock, Baldylocks, She Bear, 42, Pi±ata, G-Man and many more were there. The Professor, Pat, Jesse James and I talked to everyone for about 30 minutes and would have stayed longer but we were cold and tired and ready to drive to Millinocket to check into Katahdin B&B. We settled into our rooms then went to dinner at Scootic¢s to celebrate with some seafood. Afterwards we went to our B&B to enjoy our nice warm beds. Mary Lou, the owner, loaned me some cotton pajamas to sleep in since everything I owned was dirty and stinky. What a nice hostess! I highly recommend staying with her while in Millinocket.I want to thank everyone for their support and prayers! I couldn¢t have done it without all of you - the ones who hiked my adventure with me; the ones who lived my adventure thru the Internet and sent me wonderful guest book entries; the ones who sent me cards and gifts in the mail; the ones whose homes and hospitality they shared; the ones who gave me rides to town; the ones who offered me food, drink, encouragement and prayers thru their Trail Magic; the ones in my family (children, sisters, brother and sweet in-laws) who sent their love from afar; and especially, the one who stayed at home and tracked and monitored my every step and made my adventure possible, my loving husband, Bill.* Also, a big thanks goes to hiking club trail maintainers, US Forest Service workers, National Park Service workers, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the Appalachian Mountain Club, many state park service workers and all volunteers. I couldn't have made it without your hard work maintaining the trails.