Date: 2011-08-04
From: The Birches

To: Katahdin (Baxter Peak)
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: light rain

Today, August 7, I will enter the final 4 journal entries ¢ August 1, 2, 3, & 4, as well as a final entry at home. ¢ MaryAs morning drew near I still could hear rain on my tent and was getting discouraged. Around 5:20 the rain pretty much stopped and I could hear some movement in the shelter. We had planned to leave at 6:00 so I dragged my pack to the shelter to eat. Fig & Duck were up getting organized and soon Mammoth joined us. Everyone¢s thoughts were the same, this is the last time we will be packing, making tea on the trail, deflating our mattresses, and all the other routine things we¢ve been doing every day. After breakfast everyone did the same, made piles of stuff to bring to the summit in their pack, and piles of stuff that won¢t be needed and will be left at the base. Everyone had friends and family meeting them so we headed off in different directions. My wife had driven out this morning to meet me to wish me luck, and walk a short distance up the trail. Comanche was there promptly and ready to go. We signed in and started the final ascent. The trail was mild at first, and then became more steep and rockier. We chatted for a while and then Comanche started to drop back a little. We decided it was best to hike our own hike as Mammoth and I had 4 12 months of constant hiking and Comanche has been of trail for a while. As Mammoth and I pulled away the chatter died down except for comments about the trail here and there. I think we were both alone in our thoughts about the journey. It soon began to rain and the trail got very steep, and you were basically rock scrambling. As I was a little quicker on the rocks, I soon found myself hiking alone. After about 12 hour of rock scrambling I reached a plateau and could see what I thought was the summit sign through the fog. I decided to wait for Mammoth so that we could summit together. When I saw him approaching below I hollered out to him that we were there. When he got up to me he informed me that we hadn¢t done the tablelands yet, so we were not approaching the summit. He was correct; as we approached the sign it was informing us to stay on the trail in the tablelands. I got so cold waiting that I hiked very hard just to stay warm as it was raining pretty good now and the wind was blowing with some strong gusts. I hiked onward again, leaving Mammoth a little behind lost in my own world thinking back over this incredible journey. Suddenly I looked up and the sign was 200 feet away, now visible through the fog. Mammoth was close behind and thanked me for waiting. We strode the final steps together approaching the sign and each laying our hand upon it. Both of us were so choked up we couldn¢t speak. I¢m sure the group of teens and twenty somethings on the summit wondered what was up when they saw two grown men stride out of the fog with tears in their eyes and practically worship the sign. In a few moments we gathered ourselves and took several shots of each other at the sign. Soon the group realized we were so happy because we were completing thru-hikes, not that we had just hiked up Katahdin. Soon they were congratulating us and asking questions. We answered quickly and politely, but mostly Mammoth and I wanted to be alone in our thoughts contemplating what completing this adventure meant to us. We didn¢t linger long as the weather was nasty, so I finally put on my rain jacket and headed down. On the way down we met Comanche in the tablelands still heading up. I was astounded, I figured for sure he either turned around or would wait for us down lower. His determination is really amazing. On the way down we also met Fig & Duck along with Fig¢s mom heading up. Redbull and his family, along with the 3 Amigos, were also heading to the summit and finishing their thru-hikes. Of course we took the time to extend congratulations all around. Soon we were heading back down the rock scrambles and on to the flatter parts. As we got lower the weather started to clear, and by the time I reached the falls, and met Mary and Kyle, the weather was partly sunny and much warmer. We continued down to the campground where my parents were also waiting. My family had prepared a picture board for Mammoth and I and had even gotten a cake and champagne to celebrate. Mammoth and I had brought a couple of bottles to celebrate on top, but after seeing the terrain we had to descend we thought it best to wait until the bottom as we would need all of our faculties to hike down. So we had our shot, popped the champagne, and had cake and accepted congratulations. It was nice to have family at the end to celebrate with. Mary had a special T-shirt made for the occasion, and Chilly Willy, who has been following my journal and has hiked much of the trail, sent me a beautiful cross-stitch wall hanging to celebrate my completing the hike. Soon Comanche came down and after more pictures we decided we¢d better wrap things up as we still had a long drive home to go. We stopped in Millinocket at the AT Caf© for dinner and to sign the ceiling tile. We made a quick stop at my mother-in-laws and brother-in-laws to say hi before heading to Bangor to drop Mammoth off. Mammoth needed to go to the post office for his bounce box and his flight home was to leave from Bangor so we dropped him at the motels near the airport. We said our goodbyes and started our 4 hour drive home. It was a fitting end, yes we would have liked beautiful weather, but we decided that this was probably the way it should be, the AT challenging you right up until the end. I¢ll be back to climb Katahdin on a good day, but today the only sight I was concerned with was the sight of that brown wooden sign.