Date: 2013-07-28
From: The Birches Lean-to

To: Katahdin Summit
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: light rain

In spite of my excitement about the final day on the trail, I ended up sleeping fairly well. As usual, I woke up shortly after 5, packed up, and was on the trail by 6:15. Dragonstick wasn't quite ready to leave, so we made a plan to meet at the summit of Katahdin.It was a pleasant morning and it felt so good to be hiking with only a daypack. My shoulders felt achy at first, and I had to intentionally relax them to send a message to my body that no, my back would not be carrying a heavier load that day.Katahdin ended up being unlike any of the other mountains I'd climbed. It started out as one of the typical rocky uphill hikes that I've grown accustomed to, but then switched into more of a climbing adventure. We'd heard from other hikers that Katahdin requires some upper body strength, which turned out to be true. There's a stretch that people refer to as the "monkey bars" that involves some rebar and hoisting oneself up. My hiking poles were more of a hindrance by this time, so I'd collapsed them and they were riding in my daypack. It was all a bit of a steep puzzle, and I was glad to be tag teaming my way through the rocky uphill jumble with a father and son from Montreal. The three of us were the only ones on the trail at that point.Once I successfully made it through that challenge, I eventually reached The Tableland, a huge rocky but relatively flat plateau. Whenever I'd seen Katahdin from below it looked as though the summit of the mountain was a plateau, although once reaching The Tableland it was clear there was more to come.By now, the hardest part was behind me. As I neared Thoreau Spring (named for Henry David Thoreau who hiked the mountain in 1846) a group of day hikers arrived via the Abol Trail and they headed up the final ascent in front of me.I felt incredibly blessed to have such a beautiful day for this hike. There was little wind and nice sunshine, and I was quite comfortable in my shorts and hiking shirt. I wasn't sure where the actual AT northern terminus sign was located, but as I walked up I finally saw it above me. At that point the tears started, although I held it together as I crested the top with the group of day hikers looking on. One of them said "congrats, you made it", and that's when the tears started again. I told them I'd come from Georgia and this was the end of a long journey and then there was lots of cheering and questions. One of them said "did you bring a beer to celebrate on the top?", and I told them I hadn't, but I had carried up a Maine whoopie pie!By this time it was 9:45. I sat on the summit and called Easy Rider and texted some friends and family. Ah, the wonders of technology... Once Dragonstick arrived we took the classic pictures of each other from the summit and by this time the top was loaded with day hikers. I was sure people were watching me stand on the back of the Katahdin sign thinking "isn't that pose a bit over the top for someone just hiking 5.2 miles here?", so I ended up telling people that I'd just finished the whole shebang. Dragonstick and I sat at the summit for a long time, savoring the moment. It was a very satisfying few hours and just the right way to end the final miles.By that time we were fantasizing about a zip line to take us off the mountain so we wouldn't have to descend over all the rocks again. Alas, no such luck, so we started the long trek down. There were lots of folks on the trail by then, so we followed a long stream of people down the mountain. I was pleasantly surprised that the downhill portion wasn't too bad, and by about 3 p.m. I'd safely reached the bottom. I walked to the ranger's station and switched my gear from the daypack to my big pack, and Dragonstick arrived and did the same thing. We walked back across the bridge to the parking area and waited for Easy Rider (aka John) who showed up by 4. As we made the long drive out of Baxter State Park, Easy asked us if we'd met a hiker named Inchworm. As many of you are probably aware, Inchworm is missing, and hasn't been seen in a week. I crossed paths with Inchworm, her hiking partner Samson, and her husband George briefly near Glencliff, NH. Dragonstick had hiked around Inchworm as well. When we reached the gate out of the park a ranger questioned both Dragonstick and I about any information concerning Inchworm that we might provide. My heart goes out to her friends and family as search teams continue their rescue efforts.We drove to the booming metropolis of Millinocket (actually the only metropolis in those parts), and dropped Dragonstick off at the AT Lodge. From there we went down the street to the AT Cafe, where I had a most excellent chicken parmesan dinner and polished it off with a slice of raspberry pie. The AT Cafe has ceiling tiles for hikers who have completed the AT to sign, so I added my name to the tile. It was fun to see so many names I recognized on the tile and simply gratifying to add my name.From there it was on the road to Bangor where we checked into a motel and crashed for the evening. What a wild and wonderful adventure this has been...Today's highlight: the entire day. So satisfying!