Date: 2008-09-20
From: The Birches

To: Mt. Katahdin, Maine
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up at 5 am, not wanting to disturb Jon because then he would make me get up. Too late. He and Animal both popped up and were acting like kids on Christmas morning. We all got packed up and I decided to go ahead and take the tiny little LL Bean pack they provide at the ranger station. It felt like there was nothing on my back. Jon, Animal, and Thoughtfoot opted to carry their fully loaded packs all the way, but I knew I wouldn't regret my decision on the rocky climb back down the mountain. We were on our way up the trail by 6 am, the first to sign in to head up the mountain this morning.The first mile was easy and I was pleasantly surprised to see a privy on the trail. Woohoo! Good timing. We all stopped to go to the bathroom since we would soon be above tree line (meaning, no privacy protection from trees) for most of the day. We kept saying we were headed above PEE line. Day hikers began passing us after our little break. Darn, we wanted to be the first up the mountain. Later we realized there was a shorter trail up so the summit was already crowded when we got there.There were some really tough climbs, lots of giant boulders to maneuver but we made it to the summit by 10:30 am. What a view! I was so glad we pushed those extra miles to get here on a clear day. There were a few people at the sign but they were very polite and let us take our hundred pictures with the sign. At the summit we saw Daisy and Wookie. Daisy kept asking the kids getting their picture taken with the sign if they hiked all the way from Georgia. When they told him no, he said, Well get outta the way!Duck and Animal wanted to walk down part of the Knife Edge, the spine of the mountain range that was rocky and had sheer drop offs on either side. Thoughtfoot and I decided we would stay where we were. We sat with Daisy and Wookie on some rocks overlooking the knife edge. On that side of the mountain we were protected by the wind and it was actually warm. Duck and Animal came back and we all just sat around telling stories and laughing.After about an hour we decided to head down, which was harder than going up. We made it to the bottom of the mountain at 3 pm and signed out on the registration sheet. Our names were on the first sheet and there were about 5 more pages of names after us. I couldn't believe how many people were on that mountain today. They had even stopped letting people into the park at some time this morning.The Animal, Thoughtfoot, Duck, and I began scouting rides from the day hikers heading to Millinocket. We finally scored a ride in the bag of a pickup truck. He dropped us of in the middle of downtown. We could smell food so we followed our noses to the Appalachian Trail Cafe and had some burgers. Jon's dad showed up at the restaurant and there were some awkward goodbyes and smelly hugs. It was a strange feeling knowing that we may never see our friends again.Jon's dad took us to a hotel in Bangor, Maine where we got cleaned up before yet another dinner. He had brought us a bag of tshirts and sweats to wear as well as heavy duty trashbags to quarantine our packs for the remainder of the trip. The first thing we did was throw our shoes and socks away.We went to dinner at a restaurant called Buggaboo's Steak House. There were moose and buffalo heads on the walls and it had a rustic feel to it. What we didn't realize were that the animal heads were fake and motorized. The buffalo started to move and then he loudly began to talk to us about the daily specials. This happened several times during our dinner and really freaked us out. We were about ready to run back into the woods!There were so many mixed emotions today. Happy to be done, take a shower, eat real food, sleep in a real bed. Sad to leave our home of 6 months and our friends who understand us.