Date: 2008-06-29
From: Hurd Brook Lean-to (710')

To: The Birches (1090')
Miles today: 18.6

It was raining this morning and continued to be on and off until noon. I stopped at Abol Bridge campground and got some food. Their phone wasn't working so I couldn't call home. I'm trying to figure out if there will be food at Ragged Lake or if I need to buy some. It was real easy walking to Katahdin Stream Campground. I checked in at the Ranger Station around 11:30. The weather report said tomorrow will be the same as today, both being not ideal days for climbing Katahdin. The chance of thunderstorms seemed greater tomorrow and since the weather was going to be poor both days I decided to go up today. No point in waiting around for bad weather. The hiking was nice and the uphill early on wasn't as bad as I expected. I took my pack up even though it was unnecessary because I was coming back to the same spot. I felt like I should take though because if I carried it 2,170 miles I can carry it another 5 (10 including downhill.) There was a lot of rock scrambling the more I got above treeline and at that point I was in between the low clouds and the ones on top of the mountain so I had a view and was out of the rain. I was thankful because it was a lot more than I expected. With less than two miles to go I was back in the clouds with some strong winds but no rain, just condensation from the clouds. I filled up a liter of water from Thoreau Spring and was feeling good the rest of the way up. The famous sign slowly emerged from the fog as I approached. I heard french being spoken from below the summit and it was a group of french canadian hikers. I asked if they could take my picture and the girl who ended up taking it was lined up so you couldn't even see the big "Katahdin" on the sign. I had to school her on how to take "the picture" and felt kind of rude because normally when someone is taking your picture you just let them do their thing. I think I weirded her out when I had her take one of me kissing the sign. They started packing up and I took more pictures with my tripod and then headed down. There wasn't any view except the loft radius around me so unfortunately I did not get the beautiful summit I have been imagining. The hike down was a lot less windy and wet but I didn't get as many views as going up. I asked the Ranger a few more questions about how to proceed tomorrow and then I headed to Birches lean-tos which are for northbound hikers only. The Ranger said only 4 people have stayed here this year and that I was the 10th thru-hiker to summit. The first person did it a month ago so its been pretty thin with only 19 thru-hikers within a month of each other. I think I'm supposed to be in disbelief or shock or ecstasy over finishing but it felt like a completely normal day of hiking. I don't think it will hit me for a while now and maybe I'll have some sort of revelation about what this hike meant. I do know that I learned a lot about backpacking and myself. Being alone for so much of the trip not only made me be completely self reliant as far as how to get by day to day while hiking, but spending so much time with just myself has helped a lot in figuring out me. I didn't have others to focus on and emulate and be entertained by, it was just me. Luckily I didn't drive me crazy and I actually had a good time with myself. I guess I'm not having an overwhelming sense of being done because I'm not done. It doesn't make sense that the year I decide to hike the trail its a perfect length for me to be satisfied with. The chances of that are almost zero. Right now I'm excited to be seeing some familiar faces for a while but I'm also excited to use what I've learned on trips in the future and see how my experience will apply in my life in other ways. I'm not sure exactly why I came out here but I'm glad I did. I think I wanted to have a very different experience and put myself in a completely different setting and just see where that would take me. People will ask me, "So how was it?" and I don't think I can answer that. That question is more appropriate when someone returns from the movies or a football game. I'm not sure what the right question would be to ask about my experience and I'm less sure of the appropriate response.