Date: 2008-10-08
From: Katahdin Stream Campground, ME

To: THE SUMMIT OF KATAHDIN, ME!!!!!!
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: clear sky

I woke up, I climbed Katahdin, I'm done. That's all I'm going to write today.Well, I'll talk a little more about this ordinary day..................WHEN I BECAME AN '08 THRU HIKER!!!!!!!   :-)I will start off saying to please go into my photo section and scroll down to 10/8/08 and look at about 85 pictures that I took today starting at Katahdin Stream Campgrond in the parking lot, all the way up the mountain to the summit, and back down again. I can't believe I took so many pictures, but it was a gorgeous day! One more note while I'm at it....This is the last journal entry of this year's walk, but I do plan on writing one more entry in the next couple of days and posting it. I'm not even completely sure what it will be about, but as you've probably noticed by now....I can usually find SOMETHING to talk about. Ha!! :-)I woke up early at about 4:30am just like I had wanted, but it seemed to take longer than I thought it would to get ready...and I thought I was ready and packed pretty much last night. I didn't even make coffee and there was no coffee in the lobby when I walked by to take my first load of stuff out to the truck. I got the second load of stuff (I never have this much stuff when I'm out walking on the Trail) and took it out to the truck, then went back one more time just to make sure I wasn't leaving anything behind.I started heading towards Baxter State Park and stopped at the first gas station and got two large coffees and some pre-packaged honey buns for breakfast. I would have loved a regular sit-down breakfast, but it was already 5am and I wanted to make sure I got to Baxter as early as I could. I wasn't sure how many cars would be there waiting because of the mountain being closed for the last six days. I got to the locked gate at 5:30am and there was only five cars in front of me. I turned off the truck and just sat there waiting and thinking in total dark. Gotta say that the young park ranger that was checking people in at the gate was promt...he showed up right at 6am and opened the gate. I was at Katahdin Stream Campground about 36 minutes and 17 seconds later. :-)I got out of the truck to a bustle of activity. The people that drove in from town were all getting their gear ready for the climb and the people that slept in the campground were mostly sitting around waiting and talking.I had my pack ready to go, so I headed on when one hiker said that the ranger that was here last night told them not to start climbing till 7am. I sat and talked to a few of the people I knew before heading on to the logbook to sign in.I got there just before 7am and by the time I signed in and found a smiley face sticker to use, it was just after 7am. I handed the logbook to Certain who I had just met. She had a big smile on her face....heck, everyone had smiles on their faces this morning. :-)I walked a short way with her and her friend Incessant, then headed on. I got to the Katahdin Stream crossing very quickly. It's a mile in from the campground. I must have been thinking of something that was distracting me today. ;-)I caught up to Smiley and Homeward Bound there. I took a few pictures and kept walking. I passed by Katahdin Stream Falls and took a quick picture. I ran into Troutbum who I had heard about, but hadn't met before. We walked together for a while, climbing and talking. I kept walking when he slowed down.I caught up to Longwe Tru and Willow just above treeline. Longwe Tru let out a whoop and holler. Not sure what she was so excited about today. ;-)   I got a couple pictures of them and talked for a few minutes before I passed by and kept climbing.The weather was perfect!! It was a crystal clear morning. There was some strong winds that were gusting up to maybe 35mph at times and it was probably 40 degrees out. I wasn't even working up a sweat with this longest single climb on the entire Appalachian Trail. I was surprised when I got to the Tablelands already. I saw snow on Katahdin too. I had been seeing little patches of snow along the Trail below, but there was a few inches of snow left up top.I kept walking and taking pictures and before I knew it, I was just 1/3 of a mile from the summit. I could see lots of hikers up there already. They were all celebrating the fact that they had just walked almost 2200 miles through the mountains to get to the top of this mountain called Katahdin and touch that famous sign. I got to the summit and went over and touched the sign....and that quickly, this 10 month and 8 day adventure was over.   That was the only sad part of this beautiful day. :-(I stood around talking and celebrating and taking pictures for about 45 minutes. I looked around and could tell that no one was even thinking of heading back down the mountain yet. There were too many bottles of champagne being opened up. I decided to head on down the mountain and go get something good to eat. :-) The thing I noticed most about today's climb was just how easy this mountain is for someone who has walked all the way from Georgia to get here...over all the mountains along the way. When I climb this mountain as a southbounder or as a day hiker, it just about kills me!   It just seemed like another little bump today. :-)I descended down the mountain, talking to a view friends along the way and taking lots of pictures. It was 1:20pm when I was done. I signed out in the logbook and went into the ranger's office and signed the register there before getting into my truck and heading out of Baxter State Park.That ends this year's walk. Like I said in the beginning of this journal entry, I still plan on writting and posting one more entry on this 2008 Appalachian Trail journal. I'm still not sure what it will be about....just some kind of wrap-up or ramblings of ANOTHER GREAT YEAR ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL!!!!!! :-)