Date: 2015-07-01
From: Mt Katahdin

To: Abol Bridge
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

Actually I walked about 20 miles -- you have to climb Katahdin before officially starting the AT. Might as well have stayed up & done some journaling. There were enough interruptions, in addition to my usual getting up multiple times in the night. Got up at 5:15 to head for the AT restaurant. Got to check the ceiling tile I signed last time. After a good breakfast, 6 of us got in the van to head for the park. We picked up another hiker along the way, who appeared to be walking into the park.Forecast is 60% chance of rain, but no thunderstorms. After a lengthy check-in process, 3 of us headed for the mountain -- the others were camping in the park & hiking tomorrow. I started at 7:53 am & felt good. I passed 3 people early on; later I found out that they turned back as soon as the rain started. The guy we picked up passed me in the boulder field (the part where they provide some assistance with steel bars in the rock), & I didn't see him again till a half mile from the top, when he was coming down.  It started to rain as I went up the Hunt Spur, which also involves a lot of climbing over rocks. I looked back & saw Patrick from NY just beginning the section. He caught up with me near the top. There we found a couple of day hikers who were trying to decide whether to turn back. Most of the rock-climbing is above tree-line, but beyond this point it seems much more exposed. And the wind was increasing along with the rain. Hearing no thunder, Patrick & I decide to continue. The terrain is flatter & the rocks smaller from there on. There were a few times it was hard to step from rock to rock because of the wind. Would have been much worse with a large pack. In contrast to the 75 people or so on a sunny day in September, 2013, there was no one at the summit (We had met one hiker coming down from the top just ahead of our arrival), & no views. A miserable day to start. I got my picture with the sign & was ready to leave. Just then a group of international students arrived via an easier trail from the other side of the Mtn (I had wanted to come up that way, to see if it reminded me of our family hike in 1959, but I couldn't get a ride around to that part of the park). They seemed woefully under-dressed for the conditions, but I guess teen-agers don't mind being cold in groups. So the AT journey begins! (11:45). When we got down to the relative shelter of the Hunt Spur, we stopped for lunch. Then Patrick went on ahead. It had been nice having someone to hike some of the difficult parts with. Almost immediately, the pole I had borrowed from the ranger station broke. Then it wasn't much help, but I had to carry it out. In the big boulder area, I met a couple who had just begun to turn back. By then the rain had stopped, but the wind was still annoying till below tree line. I met Patrick again at the waterfall (He said he hadn't been there long), & we went the rest of the way down together, arriving at 3:34. I had decided to push on to Abol Bridge (another 10 miles) if I got down by 3:00 or 3:30. Close enough. I told the ranger to give my lean-to to someone else, & I set off. Soon it started raining again. First part pretty slow in the rain -- speeded up after the "high-water trail". After my falling in & messing up my camera last time, it didn't take much suggestion from the ranger & one of the owners at the AT Lodge for me to take the alternate. It seemed like nicer trail anyway, following the river along several rock flumes. At Great Niagara Falls, I stopped to eat the rest of my sandwich & met Merry & Pippin, my first North-bounders. They'd started 28 Feb: 124 days!!I left the park 8:50, but not without first getting all wet in a very minor ford. I slipped on a log & backed out of it, only to fall into another little stream with rather smelly water. I'd have been much better off just walking thru that first ford -- only my FEET would have gotten wet!I got to the store just as the operators were leaving. So I proceeded across the road & found the last lean-to empty. Tried to hang up stuff to dry -- asleep by 10:00.