Date: 2004-08-21
To: Baxter Peak, Katahdin
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: heavy intensity rain

The hike is over.At six this morning Adam and I reached the sign at the end of the trail on Baxter Peak. We left at 2:50 after--for me--a nearly sleepless night, and hiked off into dark forest at the base of Katahdin. The first mile flew by, but when the trail turned up the mountain we slowed. By treeline we were bouldering the longest technical stretch on the trail in a light spattering rain under an overcast blackness (sky). We bouldered and bouldered our way up to the tablelands--a half mile ridge-walk immediatelly before the climb up to the peak. We had picked our way up and around and over rocks in the looming shadow of the mountain; the sky brightened with the slow turning of the earth on an invisible axis. We never saw a sunrise because of the clouds, but rise it did somewhere over the Atlantic in the East. Objective reality comforts me.On the tablelands we took water from the Thoreau Springs and turned the nightlights off. We could see a little of the country through the low clouds below us. We could see Baxter Peak through the light clouds around us. The clouds above us continued to spatter and we ascended the last miles to the sign in gusting cold wind.We are here, and struck dumb: this is it and that is the sign and the hike is over and what now?Adam and I sat in the cold gusting wind for a short eternity. Someone observed, "I think we are supposed to take pictures". I pulled out my camera and fumbled at the buttons with numb fingers. The weather got real worse in the few minutes we spent with the camera, and in a freezing rain Adam made the call, "let's go". We were on top for ten minutes or less, if I had to guess. Which I can't.Wind and rain continued to bite through our thin clothing as we fled Baxter Peak. At the base of the tablelands we made the call to descend the Abol Trail 2.8 miles to Abol Campground. I joked about the trail falling off a cliff--four thousand feet in less than three miles equals steep--and promptly found my words stuck in my throat. We "descended" (fell and slid) the "trail" (rock slide) for two hours, covering only and mile and a half, covering more than three thousand feet. Outside the campground we met dayhikers headed up--these dayhikers are built from tough stuff around here.Abol Bridge is not the same place as Abol Campground--the former was our rendevous with Adam's parents and the later was our present location. The two are four miles apart according to the Abol Campground ranger, but he was headed into the Baxter State Park headquarters in Millinocket and offered us the back of his pickup into his Katahdin Inn. I had my rain jacket off when we drove off.Forty freezing, windy, and rainy minutes later he dumped us out at the front of the inn. I wabbled hypothermically up to his parent's third floor room and didn't warm up until after a soapless hot shower. Adam's parents--his mom and his step-dad--here happy and surprised to see us. We spent time talking before lunch at the AT Cafe and a stop by the post office to pick up my camera gear in its bounce box for the last time. After retrieving some gear from the ranger station at The Birches, we drive down to the Caratunk House for a one night stay.Paul is an excellent host and the quiet night suited us--one southbounder was the only other guest. We ate burgers and shakes sized for hikers, then spent time talking. I made of couple of frustrating trips to the phone working on logistics. I fell asleep next to a sleeping Adam.