Date: 2010-10-02
From: The Birches

To: Katahdin
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Warning¢¦ this is gonna be a long one folks!So it turned out that the mountain did end up closing- for 2 days! Was frustrating the first day because the weather was actually really nice all day until nighttime (when the serious rain began) and the next day was understandable because there ended up being a massive rain/wind storm. As frustrating as it was to feel ¢trapped¢ at the base when we were all so ready to head up Big Momma K (as Klarity always called it) it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My parents were lifesavers to those of us who were stranded, bringing food and drinks to the stranded hikers (it¢s a wonderful but very primitive campground and to get to the nearest town of Millinocket it was about a 45 min/hour drive) and though we were frustrated and eager to climb- it was actually very nice that we all got to spend those couple days together bonding and saying our goodbyes with the people we¢d been hiking with for the last couple states. It was a bit of a shock how after you climb Katahdin, everyone goes their separate ways and disappears so quickly.Okay, summit day itself- we were all up super early (to check if the mountain was open when the rangers get the call at 7- we didn¢t care if it was a good or bad day- if it was open we were going!) and ready to head up that last mountain and finally officially become thru hikers! Thought I¢d give everyone in camp a little inspiration so started the day by playing a little Queen off my phone/ipod thing (¢we will rock you¢) for all to enjoy! After we got the official ¢ok¢, we were off. Serenitina had decided to stay behind a little longer and hike up with Listener (78 year old woman). LJ, Unicroc, Scat Tracker and I signed in at the register at the bottom and nearly ran up the first few miles just from the excitement of it all! All the rain that we¢d gotten recently had turned the trail in one big river so we were wet and couldn¢t have cared less really. There were also about a million day hikers out (because it was a Saturday and the first day the mountain had been open in a few days) which was slightly frustrating getting stuck behind people who weren¢t aware of hiker manners of letting those coming up behind you at a faster pace than you are pass you. It was also a little tough to get used to the crowds after just coming out of the wilderness and just not being used to this amount of people along the trail at any point really.We got to the part in the climb just when you start physically climbing up the big rocks and go above treeline for about 2.5 miles before the summit.   There was a massive bottleneck of hiker- some going up, others trying to get down- and LJ and I joked that it was like our ¢Hillary Step¢ (or whatever that section is on Everest where it always bottlenecks). As we were waiting we started talking about how much we wished Tina was with us and that we wanted to summit with her (as we had all basically traveling together since Harpers Ferry). So we wedged ourselves between a couple rocks and out of the wind and decided to wait for a while. As we were there, we saw many hikers climb up the rocks only to come back a few minutes later and say no way were they going to the top- it was too windy and the weather was too bad. Now some of these people obviously weren¢t season hikers (in jeans and cotton sweatshirts) but some really looked like they were kitted out in all the proper gear and knew what they were doing- and they were turning back too! So that started to worry me a little bit, and I started thinking- what if I can¢t do this? I don¢t want to die up there, but will I ever be able to forgive myself if I can¢t summit Katahdin after coming this far? I might have even shed a tear or two¢¦ but luckily LJ was there to knock some sense into me. He told me to pull myself together, I¢d walked nearly 2200 miles to get here over worse stuff than this- so I¢ve got this covered. Phew- that was all I needed to hear and then I snapped out of it! After about 30 minutes of waiting we were getting pretty numb and realized that we had to get moving to get the blood pumping so up we climbed.Well, it sure was windy up there but after a little while you kind of got used to it (aside from some loose straps slapping me in the eye every now and then!). And the physical exertion of climbing uphill helped to keeping us warm. And I actually really enjoyed the climb itself! We were in a cloud the whole time but that didn¢t matter. There were massive bolder that we literally had to climb up, then the trail flattened for a while (and we were just trying to rock hop to avoid the flooded path!) before going uphill for a bit longer. And before we knew it, the clouds parted slightly and we could see a massive group of people hanging out and realized this must be the summit! It was an exciting moment to reach the end, and was glad lots of people were there to celebrate! A nice guy came over to us with a bottle of champagne and said something to the effect of ¢I enjoy this more when I share it with others¢ and gave us a celebratory swig! Turns out the guy was another thru hiker- Sly- whom I had met once staying at Woods Hole Hostel in Virginia! I love how random the AT can be! Also, at the top, in addition to all the folks we¢d been hiking with the last couple weeks (as well as about 40 day hikers) was Marine Corps Joe! Was a real surprise and great to see him at the top!So LJ and I hunkered down, ate our last trail sandwiches and tried to kill time hoping Serenitina and Listener would turn up at the top. After a while though, we were beginning to literally freeze sitting up there so we start walking down saying that if we met Serenitina and Listener, we¢d head back up again with them. Well, we probably descended about a mile and saw them, so me and LJ turned right back around for a second summit! It was a little later in the day now, a little colder, still plenty of wind and no more breaking in the clouds anymore- the mountaintop was just socked in. So we snapped a couple quick photos and turned right back around to quickly descend- to below treeline at least. Well things were going great for probably a mile or so, when all of a sudden Listner¢s knee started bothering her and she wanted to sit down for a rest. We tried telling her it might be best to get below treeline first but she said she just needed a minute. So we found a couple of rocks to block the wind, and got her some food, water and a bathroom break- LJ also gave her his warm coat and Serenitina swapped gloves with her because Listener¢s were just hunting-type gloves. I decided to pop around a rock as well for a quick pee break but I was really having trouble fastening and unfastening my clothes, as my body was responding in sort of slow motion and my hands still hadn¢t thawed out. I knew this wasn¢t a good sign but had some water and figured once we got moving I¢d be fine. Well I got back and Listener still wanted a few minutes but Serenitina was urging her to get up. Around then, my body started shivering as well and I realized just how long LJ and I had been exposed above treeline. Serenitina and LJ saw this and basically told me to get lost and get moving. I was reluctant to leave them though, but LJ basically told me to get out of here and I knew that I was going to be no help to anyone if I started having trouble too so I began walking down on my own.After about a half an hour or so I was quite a bit further down, warmed up and feeling much better. So then I was torn as to what I should do- should I climb back up the mountain again to make sure everyone was alright? Or should I run down and warn the rangers in case things were really bad to get help up there as soon as possible? I decided that might be the most helpful thing, so I literally nearly ran down the mountain in record time and at a much different pace than I¢d normally hike- passing many of the people I had met on the summit the first time around. It¢s amazing what adrenaline will do and I was just so worried¢¦ those were my people up there and I was kicking myself that I wasn¢t still with them! I was imagining all kind of terrible things happening- them still stuck up there above treeline and everyone going nearly hypothermic- so I just kept running down and running down.When I got to the bottom, the weather was cold but lovely and I saw a big group under a picnic table and warming themselves by a fire. I saw my parents with big smiles and my mom came towards me to hug me, but I was nearly in tears and put my hand up to tell her to wait one minute as I shot right past them to go to the ranger¢s house. I went in and told the ranger the situation and he basically said ¢yup, we¢ve got Listner¢s name here so we know she might be a little later coming down¢. This was kind of a let down- and I felt quite stupid like I was overreacting (and hoped I was meaning everything would turn out just peachy)- so I went and sat with everyone at the picnic tables but was still anxiously awaiting them all to appear through the trees. It might have been an hour or two, but the three of them finally came out below, I started smiling, crying and literally jumping around because only then did I feel like I could celebrate what we had accomplished. All was right with the world and we had just completed the Appalachian Trail! So summit day had turned out slightly different than I had imagined it these last few months, and a bit more dramatic, but everyone was safe and successful in the end and that is the important thing! We are all pretty tired and we weren¢t able to reserve another campsite for the night as the place is booked out, so my parents, myself, LJ and Serenitina all went to town and ended up staying at the Baxter Park Inn. We had wanted to head to the AT Caf© and get one of those sundaes and sign their board, but it was closed by the time we got back into Millinocket so we just ordered a pizza and hung out at the motel (Scat Tracker, Unicroc, Red Oak, Buttercup, Dr Rock and Kit Kat are also here so got to see them a bit too for a final farewell!). Tomorrow morning the 5 of us are headed to Acadia for a couple days of car camping (to ease back into this civilization thing! and nope- I¢m still not sick of camping) and then back down to Boston for a few days where Serenitina and LJ will head to their respective homes from there.Bit surreal that the whole thing is finished and might take a while for it all to kick in. And wow- such a range of emotions today! Feels a bit like we are just headed for a couple of zeros- the not heading back to the trail thing will be the tough part. For now though I¢ll just have the memories of the trail to take away with me- the way the bird¢s sing for the rising sun each morning, the feeling of finally glimpsing a shelter after a long, hard day of hiking, sitting with friends around campfires enjoying food and good conversation, a nice hot shower after days of walking in cold dampness, the easy, random conversations you get into with people just walking along, walking on your own and listening to all of nature¢s noises and most of all just the joy and contentment of living a simple life!Big thank you to you all for reading this journal and following my adventures this year! Keep in touch!