Date: 2022-08-21
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Baxter Peak - Mount Katahdin
Miles today: 4.2
Weather: broken clouds

We finished Maine today on top of Mt Katahdin! After 8 days in the wilderness and 115 miles of trail I¢m now laying in a bed wearing clean clothes after taking a hot shower and eating a large pizza. Glorious. The boys smashed it. Joni rocked it. We hiked Katahdin in 2018 with the Skogmooper crowd. Six adults set out from Katahdin Stream Campground (KSC) with 9 kids ages 2 - 14. Our boys were 7, 9, and 11 years old. That crew left KSC at 6 am. After several turned back on the 5-mile climb up, we summitted around 12:00. It took another 6 hours to get back down to the campground.We were fairly certain that we could do it faster this time. We knew that Katahdin was difficult but also knew that we were in much better condition mentally and physically. We planned, in the days leading up to the hike, to leave KSC around 7:00 and meet the afternoon shuttle at 4:00. After arriving early at the campground yesterday and talking with Jay, Pocket Rocket, and Hey Squirrel who had all summited that same day, we decided to leave much earlier than 7am. All three said it was a difficult climb. They had left before 5:00 for their day. Ours would be a clear day, full sun with highs in the 80s and a 10-15 mph breeze from the southeast. We settled on a 5:30 leave time hoping to be at the summit before 10 and well down the mountain before the afternoon heat. We slept well and woke up to a campground doing the same. The light was just starting to give color to the forest. Several campers, including Great Dane, Hot Sauce, and Mark Trail were already passing our camp headed north. We packed up camp and stowed all but the days essentials in a lean-to near the ranger station reserved for that purpose. Coffee, oatmeal, and pop tarts were breakfast fare. We walked out of camp with nearly empty packs about 5:45 and started north. Katahdin Stream is as cold a creek as nearly any I¢ve been in. The air temperature is a full 10 degrees cooler at its surface than it is 15 feet up the bank. It keeps the forest cool and fresh and helped the first mile roll off quickly. We started the 4000 foot climb almost immediately. We passed Katahdin Steam Falls and soon gained a view of the Owl and Barren Mountain to the west. The shadow of the former was creeping down the face of the latter as the sun rose. We passed the last water for the day at mile 2.2 and drank our fill before topping off and continuing upward. We gained the tree line in a jumbled maze of boulders. Most of the morning fun was recalling this hike from 2018. The boys remembered much of what was said or done at certain places. We talked about our friends and wondered what they were all up to in this Sunday morning. The sun finally caught the tops of our heads at 8:20. We were climbing a ridge headed northwest and there was no looking up towards the next blaze for 10 or 15 minutes; the sun was right in our eyes. We had views to the northwest of Barren Mountain and of the South- and North Brother peaks now rising behind The Owl. Distinctive Doubletop was to the west northwest. Some sleuthing with the map allowed us to pick Daicey Pond out of a group of 5 to the west. To the south we could see the 4 Chairback Peaks with Whitecap just in front of them. Moxie Bald Mountian, from which we got our first glimpse of Katahdin, was out there somewhere. The Bigelows, The Crockers, The Mahoosucs- they were beyond view. We have walked from beyond the horizon to get here. We gained the tablelands about 9:00. Thoreau writes this about his visit to this same place, a short 180 years ago:The mountain seemed a vast aggregation of loose rocks, as if sometime it had rained rocks, and they lay as they fell on the mountain sides, nowhere fairly at rest, but leaning on each other, all rockingstones, with cavities between, but scarcely any soil or smoother shelf. They were the raw materials of a planet dropped from an unseen quarry, which the vast chemistry of nature would anon work up, or work down, into the smiling and verdant plains and valleys of the earth. From the point at which the trail gains the tablelands, the summit cairn can be seen 1.3 straight-line miles away. There is nothing between but these knee-high boulders everywhere.We met Great Dane and Hot Sauce on their way down from the summit. I fist bumped Great Dane. With a grin he said, ¢I¢m not Great Dane anymore. I¢m Morten now, and I¢m going home.¢ We said goodbyes for now knowing that we¢d probably meet again waiting on shuttles at KSC. The Summit cairn and it¢s accompanying sign are visible from a long ways off. We finally stood before them just before 10:00. Maine was finished! We took pictures and enjoyed the views of The Knife Edge to the east and Chimney Pond to the South, 2000 feet below us in the South Basin. The vast wilderness - true wilderness - of Baxter State Park stretched out 20 miles to the north and beyond into the ¢crown¢ of Maine.Rolo and Bumblebeast finished their NOBO thru hike, started in February, while we were there. We gave them ¢the tunnel¢ welcome. Their raw reactions at finishing such a huge task were a reminder that we have a lot to experience and learn. ¢I nearly quit so many times! ¢¦so many times.¢, said Rolo loudly, to no one in particular. We ate a strange combination of food for lunch: tuna, chicken, SPAM packets; leftover tortillas; Nutter Butters, Builder¢s Bars, Great Value brand pulled pork packets (a widely-acknowledged delicacy on the trail this year), pop tarts, Pro Meal Bars, and Moon Pies. Water to drink. We left the summit close to 11:00 and headed back to Thoreau Spring on the tablelands. The Abol slide trail meets the AT here. We had decided to return to KSC by way of Abol as a change of scenery. Abol descends the same 4000 feet that the Hunt Trail does but uses 2 less miles to do it. It is an ancient rock slide that makes a natural path between valley and summit. It was brutally steep. The trail drops 1600 feet before the first mile - this far exceeds our ¢steep¢ definition. There is no easy way down from the summit but we were all pretty wiped out when we finally got back to tree line and out of the slide proper.The trail meets the tire road after 2.3 miles. KSC is another 2 mile walk west on the road. We were hoping for a hitchhike that would save us the walk. We were on pace to arrive at 3:30 but we all had relaxation in mind before the shuttle ride to Millinocket. As Baxter and I approached the road, he noticed a familiar car parked across the street. ¢Buddy!¢, he yelled to the now-familiar character (we met 3 times in the 100-mile while crossing roads). ¢Hello, friends!¢, he smiled. He was here from Monson fetching some hikers off Abol Trail. When he heard that we hadn¢t seen them on the trail and that we needed a ride to KSC he jumped at the chance to drive us. Grayson was more relieved than any of us. Katahdin Stream was still ice cold when Baxter and I laid down in it at 3:00. Joni and Grayson lounged in the shade. Jasper sat at a picnic table - a hiker luxury. We repacked all our gear at 3:45 just before Gail, from the 100-mile Wilderness Inn, arrived in the shuttle van. We all piled in and headed to Millinocket.Gail let our family have the whole bunkhouse for the private room price - a very generous offer. She is a Maine-ah from her roots. Her father was the district ranger at Baxter State Park. She grew up in the ranger cabin at Katahdin Stream Campground where she met us. ¢There are trees on that forest I¢ve known longer than any of my friends.¢We finalized plans to get to Lebanon NH tomorrow, showered, laundry-ed, talked with the grandparents, and then walked into town to Angelo¢s Pizza. Now we¢re all in bunks reading and looking forward to rolling over in the morning and going back to sleep! What a day! This will be another etched in memory for all 5 of us.