Date: 2011-08-17
From: Monson, ME

To: Katahdin
Miles today: 114.4
Weather: clear sky

Well, after almost four days off, and then a slack pack of the first 15 (relatively easy) miles north of Monson, it was time to actually carry a full pack again.The weather lined up just as I hoped it would, with good weather forecast to last long enough so that I could get over the mountainous part of the 100 Mile Wilderness without rain to make things tougher. I managed about 16 miles the first day, getting past Chairback Mountain and down to Pleasant River. I had been told by a SOBO 'Don't hike Chairback Mountain in the rain.' as there is a boulder scramble involved. Indeed there was, a short steep one, on the north side. But all in all it did not turn out to be as bad as my excessive over-anticipating made it.Next day was a longer one, mileage-wise, getting White Cap Mountain out of the way. One confirmation that this is definitely not 'wilderness' came from all the day-hikers heading up the mountain on this beautiful day. I managed to cover 25 miles for the day, getting all the way to Cooper Brook Falls lean-to.Now the trail went flat as a pancake, and for a good bit it is free of constant rocks and roots. One can make decent time through here, even when the rocks and roots reassert themselves, so I managed a 29 mile day to Rainbow Falls lean-to. Rain was supposed to hit that afternoon, and had looked like it was ready to come at any time, but nothing much happened...From there it was just 14 miles to Abol Bridge and the Beginning of the End. The sky was still overcast but nothing more than a few sprinkles materialized. I got to Golden Road around 1300. The local park ranger was actually hanging out on the bridge, waiting to explain the sign-up process for the summit staging campground ('The Birches') and other niceties. I asked about the forecast. It turned out that the next day was still going to be crappy, but then clear skies the following day. I decided to spend the rest of this day and part of the next hanging out at nearby Abol Pines Campground, moving on to the staging campground later in the afternoon, and then summit on the blue sky day. It all went off as planned. Next day, the clouds finally moved off during the evening after periodically spitting all day. I moved to The Birches with half a dozen other folks. (The ranger station where you check in labeled me as the 132nd thru hiker of the year.) Next day, I got started at 0545. The day dawned with not a cloud in the sky, and pretty much stayed that way all day. The trail up to Katahdin turned out to be like all the other hiking of recent times - rocks and roots, then just a bunch of tough boulder scrambling. I was passed by nearly everyone else from the staging campground, who all had started much later. After a long hard effort, you eventually reach a huge plateau, and after some time traversing this, get to the last bit of a climb to the summit. There were several others already there, and not just thru-hikers. This is a popular destination on a beautiful day. OK, we're done, so let's go home! Of course there is still the remaining task of hiking the five miles back to the campground, and then hitching out to Millinocket. Hitching is not so easy. You have a limited number of day hikers that have to come down off the mountain before you can hit on them. Apparently mid-afternoon was too early to see many returning yet. There is also some traffic on the road that runs by the campground, but not much. I tried hitching here and got lucky - after just a few minutes a couple of off-duty park employees picked me up. Many thinks to Swiss Cheese and Bone Lady :-)!And thusly, on August 17th, 2011, my hike was over.