Date: 2012-08-29
From: 2179.1 The Birches Shelter

To: 2184.2 Katahdin, Baxter Peak, Northern Terminus of
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: overcast clouds

THE day has come! Sunny ¢ Yes! Windy ¢ Yes! Still windy and all night too. I didn¢t feel much different as I got up today and carried out my routine. Butterfingers walked over as we ate breakfast on his way back to KSC to start his final climb. Off and up we go at 7:45 signing in at the trail head. The Hunt Trail is a strenuous ascent over 5.1 miles with some scrambles and handholds. Not bad except for the wind that hits you just as things get ¢interesting¢ going up. High clouds with the summit in them. Not a day for enjoying the views. We were at the peak within three hours. ¢I see the sign!¢ I yelled over the wind. Soon I was there- that famous AT destination ¢ THE destination for NOBO thru-hikers such as my-self. Then I walked over to the cairn ¢ DONE! We started back down first over The Tableland. Katahdin has a flat top look (at least the Baxter Peak side) due to the exposed alpine Tableland. Thoreau Spring is in this zone which inspired his Maine writings. We came upon the director of Baxter State Park and the plaque installer working to replace the long missing plaque at Thoreau Spring. You can read the director¢s account on the state park web site. The plaque was one of only about three that governor and founder Percival Baxter wanted in the Park. BSP is an interesting park dedicated to preserving wildlife ¢ humans in the park are secondary. The AT in the park is not part of the AT conservancy and it is a privilege for AT hikers to use the park. Having it and Katahdin to hike as the completion of the journey is really stupendous ¢ a grand finale for sure! I had abandoned the notion of climbing Hamlin Peak after Baxter. I will visit again to climb it and the other N.E. 100 Highest in the Park.Then back at KSC and another 5.1 miles. We saw others who completed their NOBO thru-hikes that day ¢ all quietly happy. Then we were off to the AT Lodge in Millenocket for the night ¢ about an hour¢s drive in the Lodge shuttle. I feel like the journey hasn¢t stopped and am looking forward to tomorrow¢s trip to Acadia National Park. This is a finish at the ocean, just as I had finished the Camino at ¢The End of The World¢ in Finisterra and more movingly in Muxia. But no rush ¢ that is for tomorrow.Tonight at the AT Lodge Caf© with its delightful AT ¢vibe¢ we met AT section (100 mile wilderness) hikers and people active in train maintenance and working to make Millenocket an AT trail town just as Duncannon is for example. I have fun signing the ceiling tile and see others I know who have finished ¢up on the ceiling¢ for 2012 thru hike completion. I am smiling remembering my interactions with them and the places where we met.I am mindful of a feeling that I have internalized these months on the trail that the following quote captures:¢We have only this moment sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.¢                         Sir Francis BaconI am happy to have had my moment in nature on the AT and to have shared it with others along the way.                                                            Ascent 4,162 Descent 4,162 Duration 6 hr 00Mins