Date: 2013-09-29
From: The Birches

To: KATAHDIN
Miles today: 10.0

It was the most amazing day I've had on the trail! Every step I've taken for the past 5 months has been with Katahdin in mind. I finally made it. It felt so surreal seeing the sign at the top. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect summit day. Pretty much every person who I've hike with or around for the last month was on Katahdin today. There must've been like 35 thru hikers celebrating. I started hiking at 7:45am. I ran into Breeze and Fool Hardy so we hiked together for a while. I hadn't seen them in a while, so it was nice to catch up. I stopped to change clothes because I was getting hot. For some reason I was expecting the top to be freezing. But the higher we climbed the warmer it got. The weather forecast at the station said sunny in the 70s with 6mph winds. Perfect!I climbed the rest of the way up with Giggles. We had so much fun. It was such a beautiful climb. The views were spectacular. You're above tree line for most of the way. As we neared the peak we could hear hoots and hollers from our friends as each one approached the infamous summit sign. When giggles and I finally made it, the crowd of hikers yelled, "it's the blondes!" They all cheered as we walked up. I touched the sign with bittersweet excitement. I summited at 11:21.We passed around bottles of champagne while hugging and congratulating each other. I called my mom to tell her I was here. My voice started to crack when I said it. I was HERE. It was overwhelming. I started to cry. I finally made it! We took turns taking pics on the sign. Some people got naked, other people had costumes or banners. I saw two guys propose! It was really neat to see everybody, my trail family, together for the last time. A lot of people were leaving to go home after that, and I knew I might not see them again. It was around 1:20 when Giggles, Turbo, and I looked around and saw that we were the only thru hikers still up there. We began our decent down the mountain via the Knifes Edge Trail. This was the scariest terrain ever! It is pretty much a 2 foot wide path of jagged rocks with a deadly drop off on either side of you. I am not afraid of heights, but I might be now. I could barely enjoy the views because each step I took was so intense. One mis step and you could die. I wasn't planning on doing it, but everybody else was doing it, so I didn't want to get left behind. It took us about 4 hours to get down. My hands were rubbed raw from holding onto rough rocks all day. There was a lot of rock climbing on the way up and down. Towards the end Turbo let me wear his gloves. My legs were covered in trickles of dried blood from scrapes I'd gotten along the way. The decent was hard on my knees. They felt like they were burning with each step I took. I was so happy when we got to the campground at the bottom. We met up with Giggles' mom, who drove from Michigan to pick her up. We are all staying in a cabin at Twin Pines Campground. We're heading there to shower before heading into Millinocket for dinner. It's been TEN days since my last shower. A new personal record!I'll get to see the other hikers in town. Most of them are staying at the hostel there. One last hurrah before everybody starts leaving for home.