Date: 2010-09-16
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Baxter Peak
Miles today: 5.2

At midnight on the sixteenth I had to get up to go to the bathroom. I wriggled out of my mummy sleeping bag and headed to the privy when I noticed the stars. The sky looked like it was painted with diamonds. I have seen many beautiful starry nights and can confirm this one was the best by far. While I was looking at the shimmering sky I realized that I was no longer in my twenties. Gasp! I was 30 unemployed, single and homeless. None of that seemed to matter when I remembered that I was 5.2 miles away from being a thru-hiker. A real thru-hiker. Wowzer. Five months, one week, and one day of hiking and this journey was nearly complete. And I was thirty. And I was about to finish on the date I said I would when I began heading north. Clearly the excitement was building. I became overwhelmed by Katahdin. When I crawled back into my sleeping bag I couldn't sleep. Partly because I could not stop my mind from wondering and partly because I was frozen. The weather had become noticeably colder at night and I was happy that I would no longer have to zip myself into the coffin they call a mummy sleeping bag. Before this trip I had slept in a mummy sleeping bag but I had never slept in it properly. When you wake up in the middle of the night completely zipped in and cinched in and your mouth is the only part of you not covered in sleeping bag it is frightening. I think I can understand what claustrophobia feels like. I always freak out when I wake up and struggle to undo the zipper to emerge from the cocoon. It seems like I can never get out of there quick enough. We all got up around six, packed up and headed out to for our last hike on the AT as a potential thru-hikers. If we made it up to Katahdin we were thru-hikers. I still had a fear that I might injure myself on the way up. The ATC really makes you work for this title. The first couple of miles were cake and then I came to the rock scramble. I was having fun using my whole body to get up Katahdin. And then I came to a spot where I couldn't figure out how to get up. My 22 inch inseam is a disadvantage for rock scrambles, especially on steep slabs of rock. When Powder came up behind me, I told him I thought my thru-hike was over because I could not figure out how to get up. I then determined that I had to throw of my pack and crab-walk-shimmy up the boulder. Success! I had conquered it. Then the fun and games began. Rock climbs, rebars, scrambles and ridgelines were all a part of the final ascent. That is the kind of hiking I have a ball on. On the walk up I thought about how I was more myself during these five months then I probably ever have been. Being in an environment like the Appalachian Trail allows yourself the luxury of being defined only by you. You do not have your name or clothes or cars or houses or accessories or toys that can give people the opportunity to make a snap judgment. It is amazing how easy it is to be yourself when you don't things to define you. I know this sounds preachy and maybe a bit weird but it is true. I think the whole idea of losing your real name first for a trail one allows you to be exactly who you want to be. I think everyone could afford to take an escape from their "real life" and just be. It has made me figure out what I want to be and where I want to go. The next move is Seattle (sorry New Yorkers). It took me 162 days to figure that out and I am so happy I did! Anyway, back to the trail.Then we hit the ledge and the top of Katahdin was in sight. The views of the valley were stunning as Mama K is the lonely mountain. The valley was huge. Full of lakes, ponds, greenery and other natural wonders. I tried to capture it on film but it just is not possible to see the magnitude and awesomeness in photos. You will just have to climb Katahdin. I ran in to Red Bear who told us we were not far from the top and then just over the hill I saw the sign. This was the sign that I had been walking to for months. The sign that I had talked about and thought about and imagined having a photo shoot with a number of glamour shots. I was almost there. I filled up with tears. The walk to the sign felt like I was floating on air. I was proud, relieved, happy, sad, overwhelmed, thrilled, and so many other emotions. I did not have to migrate anymore. I had completed my pilgrimage. Now all I had to do was to pop the prosecco and celebrate!The celebration on top lasted for forty minutes. Lots of photos. Lots of hugs. Lots of jumps. We were lucky enough to have a professional photographer give us trail magic in the form of taking our photos at the sign. Hopefully I will get those photos soon so you can see the joy in my face and the shiver in my body.The hike down went too fast. I felt like I was flying. I think my joints knew that the quicker they get down the sooner they can rest. Powder, Skink and I were talking about potential names for Powder's juice line when all of a sudden Jonathan/Awesome-oh popped out and sang happy birthday over a lit tray of butterscotch krimpets and chocolate cupcakes! I was stunned. I was not expecting that at all. Then he gifted me with a Scary Spice doll which he apparently has had for years. It was a great throwback to my high school fandom of the Spice Girls. Then we hiked down to the parking lot, enjoyed trail magic, said goodbyes and drove off. And that was it. The AT experience was complete. The journey may be over but I will take this journey with me everywhere I go. Thank you all for being a part of it!This is obviously the last journal from the trail. However, I would like to do a post-hike FAQ. Please send me any questions you have and I will answer it in the next week.