Date: 2015-09-01
To: The Journey Ends
Miles today: 0.0

We woke very early this morning, donned our hiking boots and backpacks for the first time since summiting. We were heading to Pennsylvania. We took a short walk to board the train from Portland.    As we rode on the train, a woman asked where we were going. We said we just finished thru-hiking the AT. After our short conversation with her, we realized, even though it has only been 4 days since summiting, it feels a lifetime ago. And so, this entry will be our last entry.    The day of summiting seemed surreal. We started hiking at 6:38.   We were carrying our own backpacks but they were very empty. We were slack packing at its best. We each had a bottle of water, a pack of crackers, our rain gear and a headlight. Count also carried our lunch. The sun was shining. It was going to be a great day to summit!   The first mile was an easy trail. What we called a "tourist" trail. It was basically, rockless, rootless and well graded. We crossed the Katahdin Stream via a log foot bridge. There was even a privy on this trail. This trail soon turned into the trail we had become accustomed to - roots and rocks - no mud but instead a stream. We climbed over rocks sloshing in the stream as we climbed. The stream was flowing fast and many waterfalls were apparent. It made us laugh as our adrenaline pushed us onward. We came to the dreaded above treeline climb. Although the sun was shining, there was a chilly breeze. We put on our rain jackets to protect us from the wind. Shortly afterwards, we came to the rock climb. The first obstacle was pulling ourselves up about 5 feet with rebar. Count was first. Followed by Lavender. Of course, Count helped pull Lavender up. The trail builders must think all hikers have long legs. Not so much for Lavender.    The boulder scramble was the next section of trail. We put our trekking poles away for this section. They would be of no use to us and we needed our hands to grab the boulders. For nearly a mile, we picked our way around, up and over a steep boulder field.   The white blazes were hard to spot in this section and sometimes when you did spot them you were like "really, they want us to go over that boulder?"   It was slow going and the rocks were very rough causing our hands to hurt from holding on to them. We finally made it through the boulder field and came to the table land section. This section was an easy section with the trail having only a slight elevation gain. It was here that we got our first glimpse of the peak of Katahdin.    We picked up the pace as we were getting excited to be nearly finished with our thru-hike.   We started the last part of the climb and caught our first view of the famous sign at the top. Since the beginning of our hike, nearly 5 months ago, we had often talked about what it must feel like to hike all that way and finally see that sign.   Now after hiking over 2189 miles we were nearly there.    Our pulse and pace quickened and we hiked hand in hand and embraced that famous sign representing the end of our thru hike. The feeling is indescribable.   We were overwhelmed with emotions as we just stood there and hugged each other and the sign. The other thru-hikers at the top cheered and we gave a big hurrah.   We of course had someone take our picture with the sign and then we had a day hiker take a group picture of all the thru-hikers.   All the thru-hiker's talked about the journey and how it had changed us all. We had the privilege of being at the summit with Turbo. We have leapfrogged with him since New York. Today was his 32nd birthday. He had brought cookies to the top to celebrate. We enjoyed the cookies with him. (16 years ago, Lavender's daddy had passed away. This was one of the reasons we wanted to summit on Aug 27.) We were extremely happy about finishing but at the same time we were all sad about the adventure being over. We had all made lots of friends on the trail that we may never see again.    After an hour at the top we started the long 5 mile descent back down. These miles didn't count towards the miles on the AT but they had to be hiked. Our adrenaline was gone. Now, it was pure physical ability to get us down. Down we went. Our hands became more sore from the rocks. We pushed on and finished these miles. As we came into the camp ground, the 5 section hikers we had met 3 days ago were there. They clapped for us. It was certainly an unexpected greeting that was very much appreciated. We made it to the ranger station.   Turbo and Bad Hiker were there. We sat for a while embracing the moment. Of course we talked alot. We ventured to The Birches campsite. This is the Katahdin Stream Campground lean-to for thru-hikers. Iso, Silent Force, Red Panda and Aussie Legs were there. We chatted a bit. Then, we said goodbye with a few tears and lots of hugs. We wished them well with their summit.   We made plans to meet for dinner with today's summiters. We head out of Baxter State Park with Katahdin behind us. Our venture was over. As Papa Lou said "we are one of them now." We are, we are indeed. But, we will always be AT thru-hikers - well, Lavender will be an over 2000 mile AT hiker.