Date: 2015-08-31
From: The Birches

To: Baxter Peak - Mt. Katahdin
Miles today: 5.3

Awoke at 3:00.After a short time Stretch and Backtrack came out of the shelter. They told me Mouse and Sunflower had already left. I was surprised to learn that someone was actually leaving before me at such an early hour.I was lucky indeed to yogi a coffee from a campsite near the Ranger Station. By 4:15 I was on my way. At 5:00 it was still dark and I came to a sign that read:                        YOU ARE ENTERING                MAINE'S LARGEST WILDERNESS        YOUR SAFETY IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY        SET A TURN AROUND TIME AND STICK TO IT        YOUR DESTINATION IS YOUR SAFE RETURN        TO THE TRAILHEAD        RESCUERS CAN BE MANY HOURS IN ARRIVINGAround 5:30 the first light started coming through the trees. As the daylight arrived, I could see it was a foggy morning. By 7:30 I was above the treeline and starting some serious uphill rock climbing. The fog was thick - no views beyond 100 yards. I put on my winter coat for warmth and my rain jacket to block the wind which was now blowing fairly hard in the exposed places. In fact, I met a couple of men coming down the mountain and congratulated them. One of them said "for what? We are giving up. It is too cold and windy". They had only tee shirts on. I'm sure they were day hikers.Before reaching the relatively flat top of the mountain know as The Tableland, I stopped to take off winter jacket as the climb was causing me to sweat a bit. While doing this, I was surprised by Hoss and England.On the Tableland, I was passed by Mountain Man and Take It Easy. The wind was strong here and the jacket and raincoat were back on.Though I didn't know it at the time, I was walking through Thoreau Spring for a while as the trail became a stream. The trail then took a steeper slope, and soon I'd reached the summit. I was, and still am, numb. I thought I'd feel elation, but the feeling was more like disbelief, maybe even sorrow that the journey was finally over. I was glad to take the long-awaited summit photo.I then hunkered down behind some rocks with my new-found friends and shared some lunch with them. They were a lot of them there, Mouse, Sunflower, Take It Easy, Hoss and England, Mountain Man. Briar and Nettle soon showed up too. Nettle was barefoot! Her sister Briar said she hiked a lot of the trail barefoot and wanted to finish that way. We were all cold. England and Hoss were actually shivering! Before heading down, Mouse offered Hoss her emergency blanket and he wrapped himself in it.After an hour, I knew it was time to head back down. Just as I started down I met Stretch and Backtrack.   Near Thoreau Spring, I saw Chat-Cat and his father as they were on their way up.While crossing the Tableland the wind was so strong it was hard to stay on the trail. I was literally being blown sideways.After noon, just as I was getting off the Tableland, the clouds started to clear and I was able to see down into the woods of Maine. I'm so glad this happened. I wanted to see some of the famous views from this peak!The trip down the mountain was about as long as the trip up. Not using my hiking poles for the rocky bits was a good idea and the descent went fairly easy. I stopped a lot to take pictures.As I entered the parking lot a guy called over to me asking if I needed a ride. There next to them was a smiling England and Hoss. The owner of the truck was a hiker named Vice Grip (for his handshake, which was vice-like). He was in the park solely to give rides to hikers. How very nice! I dropped my daypack off at the Ranger Station and picked up my trusty JanSport. Briar and Nettle were there too and we all piled into the truck for a ride to Millnocket.Well, that is what the day was like. I'll wrap things up in a conclusion entry sometime when I'm ready to do so. Right now I'm just overwhelmed.