Date: 2013-10-15
From: @ The Birches Lean-to

To: @ Katahdin, Baxter Peak
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I did it! Half a year and a couple thousand miles later, I completed the Appalachian Trail on a northbound thru-hike.I reached the summit at 9:54 AM, the first thru-hiker to finish today. I was greeted by a few college students who had night-hiked up a different trail. One of them offered me a Pro Bar with the caveat that I hold it up in front of the summit sign (her dad owns the company). I expect much fame and fortune to come my way.When I woke this morning, even without my glasses, I could see stars, so I knew it was going to be a blue-sky kind of day. I packed my bag tightly, making sure to leave nothing on the outside as I expected to be doing a lot of climbing. All told, even with two liters of water, it probably weighed around 25 pounds.I was out of camp by 6:45 AM and on my way to the trailhead feeling very excited to start the long day. The Hunt Trail to the summit started off like any other nature trail, but it slowly increased in difficulty. The rocks got bigger, the trail steeper, use of handholds became a necessity, and eventually hikers do well to put their trekking poles away and use their hands to navigate the exposed boulder climb that precedes the summit plateau.It was the most entertaining hike of my whole trip. Certainly the fact that I was climbing Katahdin played a part, the fact that I was completing a 2,186-mile journey. But the trail, the climb, it required the use of all the skills I had acquired over the previous miles. And having hiked so far for so long, foot placements and handholds were like a second nature, as was following that glorious beacon, the white blaze.Now that I'm sitting here thinking about what I've just done, I know I'm going to miss it. Not all of it. Not the cold, the wet, the need to hike 100 miles a week, but the feeling of waking up in the dark silence, stars overhead, knowing that ultimately I have a very simple day in front of me. I will miss mountain spring water, which has ruined my taste for the treated city stuff. I'll miss my comfortable hammock and the cocoon of my down sleeping bag. I'll especially miss the faces of friends I've made and the way they light up after a long time apart on the trail.There's a lot to look forward to as well. My future is wide open and I have no commitments. There are so many trails I've never even heard of yet and I can see myself hiking them someday, returning to a simpler life. I can't wait to eat some of my favorite foods and to finally satisfy the cravings that have been with me for months. I'm also going to take up running - to stay fit, to fill time in my day, and to continue ensuring that I can eat whatever I want.After I reached the summit and relaxed for a while, other hikers started trickling in. I stayed for three hours and watched at least a dozen others reach their goal. As Titus finished his trek, we hugged and our mutual smiles of joy said all that we needed to.Inevitably, I had to start thinking about the descent, a prospect I didn't really want to face. The company of others made it fun though - Titus, Quindi, and a German girl named Raven. Going back down the mountain had an advantage as well - the view. As I climbed up, I was facing east and my view was filled with rock face and cloud. The hike down faced me west and I was awed by the western range and all the basins that opened up below, all of it made even more majestic by the way the ridge fell away, giving me the feeling that I wasn't on a mountain, rather up in the sky looking down.It took several hours to climb down. But before I walked out of the final stretch of trail, I made an excuse that I needed to relieve myself and as the other three passed by, I stood for some moments, simply taking in the beauty of the late afternoon in the pine-shrouded trail. I slowed my pace and enjoyed the last quarter of a mile of wilderness. I didn't want it to end. I didn't want to get on the shuttle to town. I didn't want to think about my hike in the forests and the mountains coming to a close.Tomorrow, I'm catching a ride with T & Q and we're heading for Boston. Another good hiker friend, Enoch, will join us. In that sense, the hike isn't completely over yet. We've got plans for dinner tomorrow and then each of us will finally head in our own direction.I've learned so much about myself on this trip and I hope to apply the benefits - self-confidence, self-reliance, perseverance - to my daily life as I move forward and search for the next adventure.