Date: 2017-08-17
From: Rainbow Stream campground 

To: The Birches
Miles today: 21.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Left early this morning with Bazinga (pictured) and we had a quick hike to the Baxter State Park entrance. I was personally concerned about getting to the entrance as soon as I could so that I could get one of twelve daily camping spots at "The Birches". This campsite is only for long-distance hikers who have crossed through the 100 mile wilderness. Nothing special about the Birches as it's just two jean-to's and a few spots for tenting. Since all of the other campgrounds were full, if you could not get into the the Birches, you would be required to camp outside boundaries which was a 10 mile hike. Along the way we hiked around several lakes and more bogs. The trail was still full of rocks, roots and mud but overall not too bad. We also forged three creeks one of which I decided to take a quasi-swim in as I misjudged a slippery rock and one foot and shoe went in deep. I was not happy with my self but it happened so fast I am not sure how I could have prevented it. We walked into Abol Bridge store but the restaurant didn't open until 11 and it was only 9:30 so we decided to move up to the Baxter State Park kiosk and see if we could run into a ranger or even better get on the list for the Birches. When we arrived at the kiosk, there was a ranger there that was very helpful and found that there was plenty of room at the Birches, so we signed up. Next stop was the final 9 miles to the Katahdin Stream Campground and the ranger station where I officially got my permit to hike Katahdin. My official permit number was #388 NOBO thru-hiker for 2017. One hiker ahead of us was in a hurry and had been following/passing us all morning, was hiking Katahdin this afternoon as he had a flight out of Boston tomorrow night. I am glad I wasn't in that kind of rush as the 21 miles we hiked today was plenty and I was ready to rest. There was a large group of hikers that came into the ranger station after we had registered.  One of the ladies, Pudge, in that group remembered me from The Notch Hostel in North Woodstock. Bazinga and I hiked to our campsite and started setting up our tents and getting ready for dinner. Bazinga had a different schedule than I did as he was not summiting until Monday (total eclipse day). One of his AT 2013-2015 hiking friends was flying/driving from Virginia to Maine specifically to summit with him since they had spent so much time on the AT and had grown to be good friends over the years. The AT has a funny way of making great friends out of complete strangers along the way. Bazinga and I shared a lot of stories about each other over our dehydrated Good-To-Go meals and I will enjoy celebrating tomorrow night with him after I summit this highest point in Maine and the northern terminus of the AT.  As you can imagine a lot of the last many months of hiking memories are flooding back into my mind tonight and I am anxious for this big climb tomorrow. It's only 5.2 miles from the base of the mountain to the peak but it is very steep (over 4,000 feet of elevation gain) and above the tree line most of the way. We were told by the rangers that it is a 8-12 hour round trip hike for most hikers. The weather forecast is good and hope we get a reasonably clear day for some great photo's. So tonight is the last night on the Appalachian Trail and I have throughly enjoyed every one of the past 110 hiking days. Tomorrow my AT journey will end at the summit and will be in the town of Millinocket by tomorrow evening.