Date: 2009-09-14
From: The Birches

To: Katahdin baby
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: overcast clouds

It's the end of the trail as we know it, and I feeeeeeeel fineeeee...Well, here it is, the final leg of this journey and what I have worked so damn hard for. Rocket, Muster and I woke up early, we wanted an early start to allow enough time to meet our shuttle at 4:00. We packed up our tents for the last time and headed out at 6:30, logged in, dropped most of our gear off at the ranger station to slack-pack it, and headed up Katahdin. The morning was cool and breezy, the sun was shining bright. I was so excited for a beautiful summit day, after all, we deserve good weather, right? The first third of the climb was so gradual and easy, I kept thinking, how could this possibly get any harder?! We passed Katahdin Stream Falls on the way up, the water was crystal clear and even blue in some areas below. I couldn't be any happier climbing this mountain. Then, the house-sized boulders appeared out of nowhere, so did the wind and fog. We found ourselves pulling Mahoosuc Notch-like stunts, grabbing rebar and hoisting up boulders with no foot holes. I love this sort of climbing, it's just slow going. We continued onward and upward, straight up a crazy exposed rocky bouldery ridge. That's when things got really slow for a while, but we were making good timing. We stopped to shove down some Snickers bars, I didn't even realize I was hungry until Rocket said she wanted to eat, I think I was just running on pure adrenaline. Once the mountain leveled out a bit and became a gradual climb again, we found ourselves on the Tablelands. Finally the trail was more easily walkable. We were still pretty fogged in, but could see a good ways ahead of us. There it was in the near distance, the sign, the prize. I turned around to Rocket with a huge grin on saying "I see it I see it!" As I got closer I couldn't hold back the tears any longer, a wave of emotion rolled over me as I touched the sign for the very first time. What an incredible feeling to reach the summit and finally see the sign I have seen in countless photos. The fog was thick, it was windy as hell and really cold, and I didn't care. This was my day, our day, and nothing could take that away from us, it was perfect in every way. I summited with 2 amazing women, hiking partners, and life time friends, what could be better? Eventually the fog lifted for a minute or 2 at a time, long enough to see some incredible views and see what the Knife Edge looks like, the sun even poked it's head out for a while. I wouldn't change a thing about this day. We all carried up beer to the summit and celebrated, just until our little fingers started to go numb. I called 2 very important people to my hike to deliver the news, my mom, who is my biggest fan, and Rocket and my friend Persistent. Now it was time to descend back down the trail, back down the way we came up. Once we reached the bottom we signed out, shared some more beer and waited on our shuttle to Millinocket. I just kept thinking to myself, wow, this is it, it's over and it's time to leave the trail, there are no more white blazes to guide me. I can't explain fully how I feel, but it's so bittersweet. This is what I have worked for, but now, do I really have to go home and back to the "slave" world? I need to stop hiking, I am exhausted, but wow, this really is it. I never ever thought this day would come, it felt out of reach for so very long and now it's all just a memory I will remember fondly. So it's official, I am a thru-hiker and part of the Class of 2009. But...now what? Stay tuned, I'll be writing post-trail entries over the next few days or so.