Date: 2006-08-28
From: Katahdin Stream Campground,ME

To: Baxter Peak
Miles today: 5.2

At 1:21 PM I crossed the last Northboud whiteblaze and kissed the famous Northern Terminus sign along with the Energizer Bunny aka Betty from PA. I used to be a Thru-hiker but now I'm through hiking.It rained all night last night and I had my doubts we would be hiking today. I awoke a little after 5:00 am and was very hesitant about hiking today. I got up and started a big pot of coffee and heating the sausages Sue brought. The rain started to quit and the gloom started to lift in my head. We had invited the other thru-hikers who were going to summit today to join us for breakfast. They were Enengizer Bunny, Grits, Silver Foot, Salt, and Mud Diver. We also had Jason from Colby College and one of his buddies there too. We adopted Jason because he hiked the wilderness from Monson with us. Everyone seemed to enjoy their last trail breakfast with us. The discussion started on whether we should go up today or wait. Just then a number of day hikers started to go up Katahdin. That settled it we were going we weren't going to be shown up by day hikers we were going.The hike starts fairly easily as the trail rose to Katahdin Stream Falls. We didn't stop to look at the view as we were on a mission. Soon afterwards the trail became steeper and the climbing more difficult. We were still in the tree-line and we were climbing. According to the map profile we were climbing 3000 feet elevation in the next 2 1/2 miles.The fun really began once we left the trees behind. We then had to climb straight up on the rocks for quite a while. Nothing was easy for the next two miles we had to climb, claw and walk on some narrow ledges. Eventually we reached a plateau called the Table Land where the top of Katahdin is reletively flat. That allowed us to catch our breath and compose ourselves for Baxter Peak where we had one final but small uphill climb.The final climb went easy and once I crested it the Appalachian Trail northern terminus sign came into view. As soon as I saw it I became a bowl of jelly. My eyes started to tear and I almost fell apart. I was so full of emotion at that moment, I had reached the end of my journey. The journey no longer counted, the destination was in sight.As I walked up to the last northbound white blaze I was full of joy and emotion. I'd done what I set out to do on that March 15th date, I thru-hiked the entire Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain Georgia to Mount Katahdin Maine. Energizer Bunny and I were like two little children the way we whooped and yelled for the next ten minutes. We were DONE we did it, we hiked the Appalachian Trail end to end. Sue and Chris had brought up a bottle of champagne and plastic glasses. We toasted our success with everyone that was up there and celebrated our achievement.I am so grateful for all the support and encouragement Sue has given me in this adventure. I am so grateful she was there at that moment for I probably would not have been there had she not supported me. She really is my better half and I am not whole without her. I am also grateful that my son Chris was there too as he too was a big part of my support team. Chris helped get us up that mountain as he analyzed the climbs and assisted Sue and Bunny as they climbed. There were many people who were there in my heart when I reached the peak. There was Snowhoe, DieHard, NEFFA, Cayotebec, Gumby, Tinkerbell, Hinds Feet, ber Dude & Soren, Sleeper, Cookie, Sputnik, Little Engine & Gotta Go, and the numerous people I hiked with these last five and a half months. I enjoyed hiking with all of you and I cherish the friendhips we established. Reaching the summit was great but being out on the trail with great people was fantastic. Thank you for sharing your trail experience with me, I certainly enjoyed sharing mine with you.I would be remiss if I didn't thank all of the people who sent messages of encouragement thru my Trailjournals Guest entries. Sue read them to me whenever she could and I'll reread them once I'm home on the computer. You have all said so many kind and wonderful things that helped in keping my spirits up and my vision positive.I will be keeping this journal up with post hike entries. I want to help future thru-hikers by sharing my knowledge with them. As I've said before I took what the trail gave me and now I must pass it on.Thanks to everyone. Old Goat More details to follow, the missing days will be entered as soon as I settle down.