Date: 2003-09-10
From: Abol Bridge Campground (590ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ) 

To: Katahdin Stream Campground (1090ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ)
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: clear sky

Aloha! It's 5:30am and I can't stay in bed any longer. Mt Katahdin, less than ten miles away as a crow flies, has been calling me all night through my north-facing window. I'm now sitting here on Don Quixote's dock waiting for the sun to rise on that monster Katahdin across the lake. Supposedly Katahdin is the first place the sun hits in the United States. The sky and scenery are breathtaking; there isn't a cloud to be seen anywhere, it's absolutely one of the most gorgeous mornings I've had to date. The mountain looms, and I mean looms, huge in front of me sending tingles down my spine. There are bolts of excitement and yet there are also flashes of melancholy. A mallard has just landed beside the dock and is circling the boat, dock and me hoping I'll toss a snack or two. It is truly a perfect morning.6:15a: Old Corpus, Don Quixote and Crista joined me dockside for a short and have since returned to the house. I'm still here on the dock. In the quiet of the lake I get to watch Katahdin change as the sun rises higher in the sky. I'm tracing my route, one step at a time, up the almost 4200' climb I'll make tomorrow. For the first time on this journey, I can see myself at the top - for the very first time. I've not tried to envision myself there until now because I tend to see this Grand Adventure as a series of four-day hikes, only looking four days down the road. I'm now into the final four-day hike to the top of Katahdin so it's possible for me to "see" the end. Sitting here staring across the lake at the end spot makes it even more real. I will be there tomorrow. I will end a many year journey tomorrow. As I said, there is excitement and melancholy, both equally strong.Before I get too melancholy about it though, a breeze is coming up off the lake and it's becoming quite chilly. It¢s time for me to go take a few pictures of the place and join the others for Don's home-cooked breakfast and pack up. The final ten before the final five-mile assault begins soon. It's time to go prepare. I just wanted you to see the sights this morning. Hope you enjoyed it also. See you later.10:00p: ¢¦ what a day. What an absolutely wonderful day. You know how it started, so let me tell you about the rest of it. While enjoying breakfast at the camp, I had the opportunity to once again meet the other ¢Aloha¢. We had briefly met at Antler¢s Campsite when she and husband Shaka (hang loose) had heard I was there and came to introduce them selves. It was fun to finally put a face to the other Aloha. Sweet kids. Anyway, Don had also recently met them and offered his next-door camp as a place to relax with Aloha¢s family after their summit. They took 14-hours to go UP and come down Katahdin yesterday due to going slowly with their family members. Today, Aloha is barely walking. Her feet are shredded. Not so much from climbing Katahdin but from doing major big miles through the Wilderness trying to bring this trip to an end. It¢s funny what different people find in this adventure. Anyway, they joined us briefly at the end of our breakfast. I enjoyed listening to their summit tales.Knowing that we were only doing 9.9 miles today, there really wasn¢t much of a reason to hurry back to the trail. We didn¢t get back to Abol Bridge until around 1030a this morning. I¢m glad we didn¢t get there any later though for we would have missed Thirsty Boots and Tom who were just departing for the day also. They had camped with Wench and Hotdog at Abol Campground last night. They, like us, had plans for a bit of canoeing later in the day and were hoping for a little warmer weather in which to do it. They joined us in our ¢day hike¢ to Katahdin Stream Campground.I believe it was Don Quixote that stated that our AT hike basically ended when we reached Abol Bridge. I didn¢t quite understand that statement since I still had 15.1 miles to go at that point but I do now. Today¢s hike was a ¢day hike¢. It was a lovely meandering down a trail with no ¢long distance¢ hike feeling to it. It felt like we were out for a day of fun, pleasant walking, a little paddling, and everything else that makes a day hike a day hike. The packs were with us of course but they didn¢t hold nearly the weight that they had been since we only needed a day¢s worth of food. It was slackpacking without slackpacking. Don Quixote was correct in that today was a day hike and a lovely one at that. Coffee, Old Corpus, Thirsty Boots, Tom and I began our ¢day hike¢ by entering Baxter State Park (BSP) together. (Don has already hiked this portion, Gutsy is saving her knee for the final assault tomorrow, and Wench and Hotdog had already started hiking.)The northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail is Baxter Peak on Katahdin, Maine¢s highest mountain. Katahdin, along with the surrounding landscape is part of a 204,733-acre wilderness sanctuary and forest preserve donated to the people of Maine by former Maine Governor Percival Proctor Baxter, with the stipulation that it remain a pristine wilderness. Consequently, the park has no paved roads, no electricity, no showers, no stores, and no telephones. It is self-supporting; in large part due to Governor Baxter¢s trust funds and design. Overnight stay is permitted only at designated camping areas and by reservation only except for thru-hikers, who have been provided a special reservation system to reserve overnight camping space at ¢the Birches¢, a thru-hiker-only facility near Katahdin Stream Campground. In this case, a thru-hiker is defined as someone who has hiked the AT through the 100-Mile Wilderness to enter the park at Abol Bridge. This means southbounders starting at Baxter do not qualify as thru-hikers under the Baxter definition and need to call ahead to reserve overnight camping space. It¢s definitely nice to being going north at this point! The hike officially started at the information board where NOBOs can sign up to reserve on of the 12 overnight camping spaces available to thru-hikers at ¢The Birches¢ campsite. Coffee had taken an earlier opportunity to reserve one of the small shelters located directly on the trail for those of us hoping to summit together vice staying at The Birches. Thirsty Boots and Tom joined Wench and Hotdog on The Birches list. Our day hike began.We crossed Katahdin Stream, Foss-Knowlton Brook, passed Oxbow Lake, took a peak at Nesowadnehunk Falls and stream, and enjoyed lunch with our feet in icy cold water while lounging on warm, sunny and toasty rocks along the way. We hiked a little, rested even more and chatted up a storm. It was all topped off with an afternoon of canoeing at Daicey Pond Campground, another gorgeous pond. If you want an unobstructed view of Katahdin, the dock at this pond is the place to go. It was another gorgeous view. We definitely practiced the art of meandering and sauntering to the fullest today! I can only repeat what I¢ve said many times throughout this trip and often in the last several days, it was wonderful! Perfect weather and even more perfect hiking companions made this day extra special.Not long before coming into Katahdin Stream Campground Coffee started speaking Spanish, or something, to this young man coming toward us. It didn¢t take but a moment to realize that the handsome young man grinning from ear to ear was Coffee¢s son Matthew. He had come to join his father for the final assault on Katahdin. Now how awesome is that! With Matthew leading the way, we arrived at the campground in no time where Ma and Pa Wench also greeted us with sodas and sweet snacks to top off the hiking portion of the day. The Wenches have become the latest definition of Trail Angels. Mahalo Ma and Pa Wench!Following Matthew, we found our reserved shelter, the very last, or first depending on how you look at it, at the base of the climb UP and down Katahdin. Gutsy was already there and had reserved the campsite across from the shelter. She and I have opted to pitch our tents one last time vice sleep in the shelter. This keeps in tact Gutsy¢s record of never having slept anywhere besides her tent. Good on her! Coffee, Old Corpus and Matthew have the shelter all to themselves since Wench, Hotdog, Thirsty Boots and Tom have elected to stay at the thru-hiker site, The Birches. Along with Hotdog¢s wife, Sherry, they did join us for an evening of eating, chatting, and laughing though. Thanks to Matthew, we¢ve had tons of good food, beer, drinks and whatnots to keep us going for days. Mahalo Matthew, you¢re a saint! What else to tell you about today? Only that the last several days of perfect weather made today¢s hike a little harder for me. Once again, anyone climbing Katahdin today got an absolutely gorgeous and cloud-free day. Part of me wanted to run ahead and climb that mountain. There have been many cloud-free perfect hiking days recently and I didn¢t want to risk waiting one more day and losing them. Of course I wasn¢t going to but there certainly was a piece of me that was haunted by the thoughts of possible cold, rain and/or wind for tomorrow. I guess only time will tell and I have my fingers crossed for another, fifth, day in a row of perfect hiking weather. Cross yours too, okay?It¢s quiet now. Everyone has gone back to his or her respective sleeping bags. I believe Old Corpus was asleep before the gathering even ended. Coffee too as a matter of fact. The only light I see besides my own is Gutsy¢s. People are tired. I¢m tired. Will any of us be able to sleep tonight? I don¢t know but I think it¢s time I tried. Tomorrow will be here in no time. And part of me thinks ¢finally¢ and another part thinks ¢no, wait¢¦ it¢s too soon!¢ What will the ending bring? I don¢t have the foggiest. Will topping that mountain tomorrow be any different than any other? I guess we¢ll see. Let¢s sleep on it tonight though. See you tomorrow.Blood, Sweat & Tears: noAches & Pains: noMoans & Groans: no¢¦ Critter count: lots of squirrelsCountdown: 5.2 miles