Date: 2003-09-22
From: The Sum of All Fears - Mt. Katahdin

To: The Sum of All Fears - Mt. Katahdin
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: broken clouds

The sun isn't even up yet, but all the thru hikers who are summitting Mt. Katahdin today are. It's 5 AM and the rustle of sleeping bags, the zipping of tents and the general morning noise is mounting while the hikers quietly chat about climbing to the end of the journey - Mt. Katahdin - a 4,000 foot climb up and 4,000 feet down the same way in one day. Even Fly & Smoothie are up and about by 5:15 AM and I set to the task of making the coffee for Fly & I, hot chocolate for Smoothie's pre-trip breakfast. 'Guana just wants her breakfast bars before departing. It is beginning to get lighter and by 6:10 AM we put our feet to the path, on what will be the last of the Appalachian Trail for many of us. It's only 5 miles to the summit, but a challenging one we have heard. The sky looks cloudy as we set off but the weather is promised to be good. 'Guana and I hit the trail a little bit before Fly & Smoothie, but we know they will catch up. We all want to summit together and decided to wait for each other just before the summit if weather permits. The first two miles are usual climbing. Snap happy hikers are taking pictures right and left. At every turn it seems we all brought film to burn and likewise we want to burn the memory of this day into our minds and hearts. The real fun started after we passed the Katahdin Stream Falls. Boulders greeted us and we knew that like Mahoosic Notch, we were not going to get out of this unscathed. Fly & Smoothie caught up with us here and joined us for the climb. Up another mile, still not too bad but the sweat starts. Dark clouds pass across the top of Katahdin shrouding it's top.The fourth mile proved to be the toughest - huge house sized boulders challenged us to crawl, scramble and stretch beyond our usual climbs. Iron rebar assisted us at some of the tough junctures, but mostly it was between us and the boulders. That mile took the longest and we have a snack and rest about 1.5 miles from the top of Katahdin. The top was now in view, but still looked a long way away. The clouds cleared and we got a wonderful view of the valley below us. Journey, another thru hiker, had joined our foursome. All were eager to press on after lunch and the last mile was by far the easiest! We were on top almost running to the finish. A mix of emotions faces every thru hiker summitting Katahdin - a cheer of joy of completion along with a panic of "now what?" Regardless of how rough the journey or what lay in front of us after the journey, it is an emotional experience to summit this mountain. The view - breathtaking on all sides and the weather cooperated wonderfully for us with the sun coming through the clouds for the rest of the afternoon. Fly, Smoothie, 'Guana and I had planned for the event and so a rush of photo taking first, then we cracked open our four cans of beer Fly had toted up and the cigars which I surprised them with. Ah, success is sweet!! Another hiker cracked open a bottle of champagne and shared it around. We all sat around the mountain looking at the views like children who had just opened all their Christmas presents and had nothing to do but enjoy them. We eagerly ate our lunches and chatted excitedly about finally reaching the end. Time seemed to pass quickly at the top and we were about to head back down, but we knew there was a surprises that had yet to be sprung. Trying to assist Fly in carrying out his surprise we decided on one last photo before leaving and go the group of thru hikers to pose in front of the cairn (the rock pile which marks the top of a mountain). After the photo we all got our cameras ready for what happened next. It was there that Fly got down on one knee and proposed to Smoothie. He offered the ring - the Moose ring we had gotten at the Abol Campground, but 'Guana and I knew he had the real ring hidden. We snapped photos as a shocked Smoothie accepted the Moose ring with a confused look until Fly whipped out the diamond ring and asked her to marry him. Smoothie overwhelmed with emotions said "Yes!" and asked amidst her tears, "Now how am I supposed to get down off the mountain like this?" We all chuckled and amongst the hikers there was not a dry eye to be found. It had been a secret that Fly had told us about since Hanover, NH. WHEW! That was a long time to keep a secret!!! We are so glad that we could be present to summit with our good friends and to share in their special day. Once everyone could clear the tears from their eyes and breathe normally again, we started back down the mountain. We never did that before - went down the same way we came up so that was unique. We thought that it would take us longer to go down than to come up the mountain so we wanted to leave by 1 PM. To get up the mountain took us 4 hours, so we could spend 2 hours at the top before heading down again. We lingered as long as we dared, none of us really wanting it to be the end, but inevidently we started the long descent. After the first mile Fly spotted an animal in the distance, our hearts lept, we were still hoping to see a Moose. It was pretty far away so were weren't sure but it turned out to be a big black bear. Not a moose, but that was pretty special to be on Katahdin and see a big bear, so we felt pretty good about that. After we saw the bear, Fly & Smoothie went ahead as Fly's parents were awaiting us in the parking lot. 'Guana stayed with me and helped me re-find the path down that we had taken up. As we figured, the way down was tougher and our hands ached from having to suspend ourselves and drag our bodies over the rocks. We did a lot of butt sliding though, which was fun. It took us 4 hours to get down to the bottom miraculously. Once there we met Fly's parents who were generous enough to give us a ride and house us in their home in NY for a night. As we entered the parking lot we got cheers from other thru hikers who had finished and from other thru hikers just entering the park for their climb the next day. Tipporary was there and we were once again reunited...and it feels so good. So more photos ensued and as all good things...the day came to an end topped off with dinner with Fly's parents in Millinocket.