Date: 2004-07-25
From: The Birches

To: Katahdin
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I hate my sleepingbag. Even on my last night, I still froze. This morning went by soo fast. i had just sat up in my bag at 5:15 when Sunshine popped around the corner to inform me that Quincy Girl was in her car just behind the shelter. Man it was so good to see Sunshine and Quincy again. I packed my gear in the fastest time of the whole trip. I put all my sumit stuff in my foodbag and wore it like a backpack. Everyone was so excited this morning. As if you could feel the excitement in the air. Quincy Girl had brough along her friend Lori. I had met her briefly back at my stay at Quincy's. I threw my pack in the back of the Audie and off we went. At 6:15, Sunshine, Numskull and I were on the trail, and man were we hauling it. I've never hiked so fast up a mountain. We passed Curious hiking with his parents so it'll probably be a while before he gets to the top. Once the trail got above treeline we definatly slowed down. Forget the Mahoosic Notch, Katahdin has the hardest mile on the trail. There were huge rocks with rebar steps that we had to pull ourselves over. It was a ton of fun though. Once we got over the steep ridge and up past the Gateway it flattened out in a place called the Tableland. From there we could see the top. What a felling! We raced up the rest of the way that turned into a sprint in the last 100 yards. Numskull got to the sign first with me close behind him.The feeling was undescribable. We just kept patting and putting our hands on the sign as if in disbelief that it was real. We couldn't stop laughing and smiling. We were finally here 4.5 months culminating in this one moment and we could not stop laughing. It was atually more of a loud giggle. We were so tremedously happy that's not even describably in words. Sunshine caught up. He had sumitted on the the 22nd with Red Dog, Foggy Bottom, and Waterfall but it was so cloudy that he didn't get a view so he wanted to do it again. We had a perfect view this morning. It was the best clear day for a view that I'd had in all of Maine and it was just the three of us up there to enjoy it. We started getting photos and took tons of them. Sunshine inflated his gater "Alberta" and i got photos with my Sigma Chi and Auburn flags. Hikers did eventually trickle up to the top but in all we had it to ourselves until around eleven. I smoked my victory cigar and Numskull chunked his Springer rock off the side. Aussie John came up, then went straight down. Around eleven, Curious, Quincy Girl and Lori got to the top. Quincy and I popped open the champagne and drank it while taking photos of the various signs we made with Sunshine's poster board. At twelve we started heading down. We'd been up there since 8:45. We kept stopping to look back over our shoulders at the sign, still in disbelief. It was a weird feeling. For 2000+ miles we'd been walking towards something, it seemed against nature to now walk away from it. When ever a day-hiker asked us if we were Thru-hikers, we'd reply "not anymore". Sunshine thought it'd be fitting to take a different trail down than the AT so we decided to take the Abol Trail instead. Curious and Numskull wanted to go down the AT one last time, so i said my goodbyes to Curious. The Abol Trail sucked.   There had been a rock slide down the side of the mountain and the park made a trail our of it. It was straight down with lots of loose rock. Sunshine and I beat the girls down and Numskull drove the car around. We dug into the drinks and sandwhiches Quincy had brought. About an hour later we were on our way out of Baxter. We saw two huge Moose in a pond next the the road and Sunshine finally got a photo of one. Numskull drove the first half and it was pretty uneventfull. We did have a lot of fun though tiwh the looks we got from passing cars. I sat in the back with the two girls and man did my legs hurt. NI all, it was a six hour drive. Eventually sunshine drove and Numskull sat in the back while i got shotgun. We had a lot of fun including taking a wrong turn and getting caught behind a slow train and Numskull read aloud from "The Vagina Monalouges". We made it to Moultonborough around 9:30 and dropped Lori off. we were starving so we stopped at a bar/grill, "The Bad Moose" and got burgers and beers. Maureen and Colleen came by. They certainly are identicle wtins but i could tel the personalities apart. We got back to Quincy Girl's at 11:30 and everyone was pretty pooped. The twins and the three of us stayed up for awhile talking but eventually everyone headed off to bed.What a day! The scope of what i finished today is uncomprehensible and will probably take a few days to sink in. I wanted to call Tracy so badly but held true to my plans of suprising her. I guess what i feel most is relief. No more mileage, no more resupplies, no more worrying about getting sent home from an injury. All day i kept saying "Hey Numskull, we just hiked the AT". i still can't believ it. It's very refreshing and relaxing to be back at Quincy Girls' fro my post trip days. I loved my stay here so much the last time. I can't explain how happy it made me to have Sunshine, Numskull and especially Quincy Girl with me on my finish. I would have had it no other way. What a day!P.S. The Kiwis finished either the 23rd of 24th. Bone Dancer and Dave will finish the 26th.