Date: 2006-07-12
From: Birches Lean-to, Me

To: Roaring Brook Campground, Baxter SP, ME
Miles today: 5.2

I got in my tent just in time last night because it started raining almost as I was getting in and I think it rained a long time...I fell asleep. :-)))I slept pretty good. I woke up at 3am thinking about how excited Frogcaller must be to be finishing up her 5 year section hike of the entire AT today.I got up at 5am and made my coffee and had one granola bar.Zulu, Lew and Frogcaller were supposed to take off about 4am heading towards the summit of Katahdin and Mrs Gorp and I planned on leaving later, but catching up to them before they got to any rock scrambles.I packed up a wet tent and walked over to Katahdin Stream Campground and put the stuff I didn't need for the day in Lew's car.Mrs Gorp and I started walking towards the trail and saw three hikers getting ready to climb Katahdin. They were Pinky, Captain Kangaroo and Moses. Moses said he started at Damascus, Va, so he still has some trail to do, but the other two were finishing up their thru hikes.We congratulated them for their accomplishment and talked a short while.I signed in at the trailhead at 7:05am and saw that Zulu, Lew and Frogcaller had signed in at 4:15am.Not long into the walk, I ran into Star Light '81 and then Mandingo who I had hiked around back in Va. He flipped up to Maine also and is walking south now.A little while later I ran into Wayah '96 who was taking a group of young girls up to the summit.Mrs Gorp and I caught up to the others at about 8:30am and ended up walking the rest of the way up the mountain with them.We got to the summit at 3:30pm after a very nice day to be on the mountain.We were in the clouds most of the way up and every so often, they would clear a little and give us a nice view of where we were.Frogcaller is one determined person. She hasn't been feeling 100% lately, but she hung in there and made it to the summit!! :-)))Once we got to the summit, the clouds lifted and we had fantastic views all around.I told everyone that I always have beautiful days on that mountain and it was another one. :-)))Walking in the clouds worked out well because it helped keep us all cool.It was supposed to be a hot and humid day, but we had no problems with the heat.I got some great pictures of Frogcaller, then got some of Mrs Gorp for her summit photos.I got some comical ones of Zulu trying to get on top of the Katahdin sign. I'm sure he'll love those. :-)))When we were done with all the pictures and the congratulations to Frogcaller, I took off back down the Hunt Trail at 3:50pm.It was getting late and they were going down the Saddle Trail which is on the other side of the mountain. That's about a 50 minute ride from where Lew's car was parked even though it's only about 17 miles. You can only drive 20 mph here in Baxter State Park.I saw a doe in the trail on the way down the mountain.I got back to Lew's car at 6:40pm and after polishing off the last two pieces of fried chicken that was left over from last night, I headed to Roaring Brook Campground.I saw about a 300 pound bear cross the road in front of me near where I slept last night at The Birches.That's the first bear I've ever seen in Maine. :-)))I got over to Roaring Brook Trailhead and parked. I was listening to some music when the ranger came over and told me the ranger from Chimney Pond said that the group I was waiting on decided to stay there tonight.He asked what I was going to do and I asked if it's OK to set up my tent here at Roaring Brook.He took me over to a tent site and didn't even charge me. :-)))I set up my tent and it started raing just before I had all my stuff in it. It rained most of the night.This was a great day. I am so happy that I was able to work out my plans so I could climb Katahdin with Frogcaller. It was all worth it to see her touch that summit sign. :-))) Oh yeah, Lew didn't do too bad climbing that mountain either. :-)))