Date: 2011-08-14
From: (129) The Last 50 Miler, Neowadnehunk Stream

To: (130) Katahdin
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: broken clouds

Alas, my last day¢¦I woke up at 2am to rain drops hitting my face. Having regenerated some from the 50, I was able to stand and string my tarp over my gear by tying one corner to a nearby tree and staking down the sides to make a diamond. Then I fell back asleep on top of my sleeping bag, exhausted and still in the middle of the trail.DAWN OF THE FINAL DAY. 9 MILES REMAIN.I woke again at 6:30am and began cooking and packing. Gingerly, I started to hike and found myself to be in a pitifully weak state. The only good thing was that the blisters on my feet had turned rock hard during the night and were no longer an issue. Slightly over 9 miles remained of my 2181 mile Appalachian Trail thru hike, and I intended to finish them.Still early in the morning, I exited the woods into a dirt parking lot (The Birches), and was dumbfounded to see a man walking towards me saying, ¢Lemur?¢ A few days back in the hundred mile wilderness Tridub and I had sparked up a conversation with a section hiker named Nimble. I have no idea how or why the conversation happened, as I had blown past countless other hikers that day while saying little more than a polite ¢hello¢, but for whatever reason I started talking to Nimble, and learned that he was from Greencastle Pa, only a stone¢s throw away from my own hometown! I told Nimble jokingly that he should give me a ride home, and he said that the friend he was with had driven them, and that it was a possibility. Then he told me that after they finished the wilderness they were going to return to Baxter to hike the park and summit Katahdin, so they might be there around the same time as me (They were hiking the wilderness South Bound and then driving back to hike the rest). I told him that I would take him up on that, and then we went our separate ways without exchanging contact information or even telling each other our real names. My time and experience on the AT had left me with solid confidence that I would ¢See him down the trail¢, and I was absolutely right. The man who was now calling out to me in the parking lot was none other than Nimble! Nimble exclaimed how surprised he was to see me so far down the trail, and that he had thought they would be long gone before I ever arrived. He told me that if I had shown up 5 minutes later, he and his friend would have already left for their day¢s hike through Baxter, and that I would have never ran into them. I told him, with a smile, that I had done a 50 mile day. As always, my timing on the trail had been impeccably mind blowing. Nimble took me over to a car to meet his friend, Mr Starbuck, who seemed more than happy to give a thru hiker a ride home, especially after finding out how close I lived to them and how random and lucky our meeting was. He told me that it was fate, and I had to agree. Considering the size of the world, the woods, the trail, and the fact that I was able to run into them a second time that morning, 5 minutes before they were going to leave and only thanks to the successful 50 mile day that got me there¢¦ What were the odds? Mr Starbuck and Nimble told me that they were planning on hiking through Baxter Park today, summiting Katahdin the next, and that if I was willing to wait a day or two they would give me a ride home. Thrilled, I exchanged phone numbers with them and thanked them for everything. As I resumed my hike, I smiled. I had never made any real plans for how I would get home. Like finding water on the trail I had a lot of faith that everything would work out, so why worry? Ironically, doing nothing had actually worked! But do not call this luck. The world is full of good people, and as long as this is true, there will always be a ride home.5 MILES REMAINI do not know when I started to go up Mount Katahdin. I never even saw a marker or a sign. One second the trail was flat, and the next I was climbing almost vertically and thought, ¢Huh, guess this is it.¢ I was still very sore from the 50, and was not excited about such a notoriously difficult mountain, over 5,000 feet tall and over several miles. I intended to take my time¢¦The beginning was tough, and Katahdin soon proved itself to be the most technical climb of the entire trail, full of cliffs and boulders that could not be avoided. It was slow going with my weak body, and I had to rest often. Steadily, I pulled myself up rock faces by grabbing onto roots or nearby trees for help, having strapped my poles to my pack as they were of no use on the steep incline. Despite my pace I passed several other groups of hikers, families who were struggling to move themselves along and some of whom were actually turning back, unable to climb the increasingly complicated terrain. As I reached an especially dangerous spot, I nearly got myself killed at a gap in the trail. A family was stuck there, arguing with each other about turning back, and as I arrived on the edge I saw that it was a long drop that would probably end my hike if I fell, but on the other side I saw a piece of metal rebar sticking out so I figured it was the trail. Without considering how weak my body was, I ran and tried to jump the distance (I am pretty sure you are supposed to climb around). I landed short on the edge of the other side and began to fall backwards down the gap, but managed to grab the piece of rebar and save myself. The family gasped as I hauled myself up by the rebar, and then continued on as though nothing had happened (The family turned around). If my pack had weighed an ounce more, I probably would have fallen.As I broke the tree line reality set in, and I knew the day was mine. I began to climb faster, loving the challenge. The air grew cold as I rose, and as I went higher I could see over Baxter and into the endless wilderness from which I had come. Somewhere far in the distance, I knew, was Georgia. Adrenaline rushed through my veins and all pain and weakness left me. I leapt up the mountain on all fours, soaring past countless other hikers. I was unstoppable; no amount of exertion could wear me out! Faster and higher I went! I could see where the last rock touched the sky, and I climbed to it, only to be shocked to discover a vast flat area sprawled out before me! (I later learned that this place is called ¢The Tabletop¢ and that Katahdin is an extinct Volcano). It was a mile long flatness, and far on the other side I could see one last hump of mountain to the Summit. I never knew how I would feel this close to the end, but I felt overwhelming joy. It was like a fantasy, a place I¢d read existed but never actually believed I would see. I took off running. Legs burning beneath me, I ripped my poles from the back of my pack and used them to help push me along. I crossed the tabletop and sprinted up the last stretch towards the summit of Mount Katahdin. A large crowd of day hikers was at the top, and they began clapping and cheering me on as I neared my goal. The crowd parted for me, and I saw the sign, ¢KATAHDIN, NORTHERN TERMINUS OF THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL.¢ I reached out and tagged it with my hand. It was over! I had finished, I was free!!! I let out a triumphant cheer. Somebody asked where I had come from. ¢Georgia!¢ I cried out, laughing. People began clapping and cheering again, and I posed for their pictures. I had done it! I was there, standing in a dream, one of the elite few¢¦I stayed on the summit for an hour or so talking to all of the hikers. I answered their questions, and in return was treated like a celebrity. I had a hiker take my picture with my phone, I called my folks, I texted my friends, and I paced around the summit like it was the top of the world. At last, tired, I sat down facing south towards home. The view was farther than the eye can see.Now what they don¢t tell you about the Appalachian Trail is that after you finish, you still have to find a way back! I had not been blown like dust into the wind, I had not been spirited away, and I did not tap my shoes together three times while chanting ¢There¢s no place like home!¢ I was stranded on the top of a mountain, and so (As it became blatantly obvious to me while I sat) I was going to have to climb back down!My descent down Katahdin was slow and painful. Having stiffened up a great deal, I wobbled my way down the rocky mountainside, all the while in denial that despite having finished my hike, I was still hiking! But what had I been expecting at the top, a glass elevator? (In truth I had been counting on an easier route such as a tourist road, or the world¢s longest slip n¢ slide, but no such luck). As I neared The Tabletop I saw Tridub hiking up towards me, and I congratulated him on (Assuming he didn¢t quit 200 yards from the summit) his successful completion of the Appalachian Trail. Tridub had been hiking fast for fear of afternoon rain, and had nearly closed the ten mile head start I had had on him. I was happy to see him again, and told him I would meet him in the nearby town of Millinocket at the local hostel, as we had planned before the 50 miler.Crossing The Tabletop, I continued hiking down the mountain, hopping from boulder to boulder while using my hiking poles to break my fall. The pain from each jolt was unbearable, and I began to realize how beat up my legs and knees were (I do not recommend climbing Katahdin after a 50). As I hiked I passed several groups of tourists who knew me by name (Lemur) as they had seen me summit, and I even got lost with one family when we took a wrong turn at some unnamed cliff.When I finally reached level ground my legs were killing me, and I sat down several times with only a mile or two to go. Finally, I reached the dirt parking lot that I had talked to Mr Starbuck and Norm at (The Birches). Clueless as to what to do next, I asked two ladies who were sitting on a nearby picnic table if they knew how to get to Millinocket. They pointed to a dirt road, so I stood on the side of the parking lot and stuck my thumb up. I didn¢t know anything about getting to Millinocket, only that it was 20 miles away, by far the longest hitch I had ever faced, and that this dirt road is where I would have to start. Minutes passed before a hiker in a truck picked me up. He did not take me to Millinocket, but he did take me .2 miles down the dirt road to another dirt road, where he dropped me off before turning in the opposite direction. Coincidentally, a Park Ranger was working on a project along the side of the road where I had been dropped off, and he asked me if I had just finished a thru hike. I said yes, and he then asked me if I had signed in, and I said no. As it turned out, I was supposed to have registered my completed thru hike at the Ranger Station by the parking lot. I had not registered, but thanks to the ridiculous dumb-luck and unparalleled timing that seems to bless me everywhere I go, I had stumbled upon the very Ranger with whom I was supposed to register with! (Needless to say I was no longer disappointed that I had been dropped off in the middle of nowhere!). The Ranger took all of my info for the official records, and told me that I was the 120th person to complete the trail in 2011 going North. Then he gave me a receipt. It was official.Seconds after parting ways with the Ranger, I stuck up my thumb alongside the road and was picked up by the same family that I had gotten lost with while climbing down Katahdin, a mom, dad, and two kids. They congratulated me again and told me that they could take me half of the way to Millinocket. I accepted, and rode with the kids in the back seat down bumpy dirt roads until we were finally out of Baxter State Park (We stopped several times to look for Moose but didn¢t see any). After wishing me well the family dropped me off at a gas station, where I saw a guy filling up his truck and asked if he could take me into Millinocket. He said no, and explained to me that he was only going a few miles in that direction before turning. I thanked him anyway, and then went over to the side of the road to try and hitch. A few minutes later I was offered a ride by the very same guy. He told me again that he could not go the whole way into town, but that he would take me most of it, so I hopped into the back of his truck. Despite what he had said, the man took me the rest of the way to Millinocket. I was very grateful. After being dropped off in town, I started to walk. At the first house I came to there was a lady sitting on her porch, so I said ¢Hi¢ and asked her if she knew which way the hostel was. She gave me directions, and then I walked a few more blocks before I started to make a wrong turn. A man in his 30¢s, who had been walking towards me down the sidewalk, stopped and started up a conversation with me about my hike. At first I was annoyed by him, but then the man corrected the error of my wrong turn, and gave me a new set of directions. And so, I reached the hostel in a very good mood, having been treated so well by virtually everyone I met. I had gone 20 miles, a distance that would have taken me all day if I were hiking, in good time and without breaking a sweat and it was all thanks to the helpfulness of others. Tridub, who had reached the dirt parking lot in Baxter after me but found one ride for the whole way, beat me to the hostel, and was laughing at me as I arrived. And that¢s it. That¢s how the last day of my hike ended ¢ cotton sheets and a hot shower. What more could I ask for?THRU HIKE COMPLETED!Now I just have to get back home, and the journey will be over.(I will be posting two more journals for how I got home, and then possibly a third for life and thoughts after the trail. Thanks all for reading!)