Date: 2015-08-09
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Katahdin
Miles today: 10.0

Finally the big day arrived! See Preparation Entry - Before I hiked Katahdin.I woke at 5:30 am; put my sheets in the basket on the porch; finished packing my backpack and dropped it off next to the van. Off to breakfast at Appalachian Trail Cafe. Even on Saturday afternoon, there were very few people on the street. This morning there were even fewer. I sat at the bar and ordered breakfast.    Next to me was a local man. He confirmed what I had heard about the history of Millinocket. He had been a worker at the local lumber mill. The lumber mill closed many years ago and the pension dried up.    I thought that the van was leaving at 6 and it seemed the waitress was taking her time. I mentioned to her that the van was leaving at 6. She said it usually left at 6:30. She asked the two men in the booth. They confirmed the van was leaving at 6:30.   The two men were Spirit and Newt. They met at The Appalachian Trail Lodge. Spirit, Newt, Giuseppe and I rode in the van that Ole Man drove. Giuseppe started hiking the AT from Katahdin south around this time last year. When he got to Springer, he turned around and started hiking north. He had hiked Katahdin a couple of days ago and was planning to hike the AT south again. Ole Man gave very helpful knowledge of what we were to expect in the upcoming days hiking Katahdin and the 100 Mile Wilderness. We dropped off Giuseppe first. Then we drove to the ranger station. At the ranger station, I showed my reservation for Arbol Campground and checked in. I left my pack there and picked up a free day pack. I packed it with water, light, lunch, first aid kit and my travel plans and papers. The Baxter State Park website has a list of what to bring. I walked across the bridge and checked out the outhouse.   The hike started from the Katahdin Stream Campground sign. I followed the white blazes along the level road through the campground. At the beginning of the Hunt Trail, stood a ranger. It was 8 am as I signed in. The trail started to incline upward. The further I went the steeper it got. There were a few places where I needed to use my hands to climb up a rock. My previous hobby was caving. This came in handy. I would look for small footholds. A foothold a few inches up helped setup the next big step. I paced myself. I met two young men coming down. I thought they must be very fast until they explained one of them injured their knee. Then I came to the cliff with rebarb. There were a few people at the base and a few at the top.    The man at the top was trying to give instructions to the woman at the bottom. She wasn't so sure she could do it. Using my caving/rock climbing skills and the rebarb hand holds, I climbed the cleft in the cliff. The women followed me and then their teenage children. There were many more climbs but after the cliff, none as daunting. It looked like the summit was at the top of this boulder climb.   At the top of the boulder climb was Tableland, a flat walk over stones. See the pictures. We had snacks and water. One of the women asked if I was going to turn around. I said no. The weather was good and I was feeling good. It had taken me three days to get here. If I turned around now, I would have to do this all over again to finish hiking the trail. We continued on.I met Spirit and Newt coming down from the summit.After the Tableland, was another boulder climb to the summit. At times we would get misplaced and have trouble finding the next white blaze. We would backtrack to the last blaze and then we would find the next blaze. The summit was covered in thick fog. People were only 100 feet away but hard to make out where they were. We took pictures and had a quick lunch. It was windy and the fog made it damp and cold. Going down those boulder climbs was daunting.I signed out at the register at 4:45 pm. The family offered to drive me the two miles to Abol Campground. It was the only reservation left for weeks when I made it three weeks prior. I was glad I did not have to hike any more. Katahdin was tough.