Date: 2019-10-01
From: Katahdin Steam Campground

To: Katahdin/ Baxter Peak / Finish Line
Miles today: 9.9

We woke up at 445 in the hotel and got ready. McDonalds opened at 5 so we stopped and got some coffee. We picked Mr. President up at 530. The drive to Baxter State Park was 25 minutes and once in the park it¢s another 25 minutes to the parking lot. We arrived at the park boundary ay 6, right as the gates opened. We were third in line. At the trailhead parking lot the day was starting to get illuminated. We were taking some pictures with Katahdin in the background. A few hikers walked by. One was Fastball. I hadn¢t seen him in a month. I weighed my pack at the Ranger station. Eighteen pounds, I am normally carrying 30-35 lbs. It is normal to empty everything out of your pack you don¢t need, or the leave your pack at the Ranger station and borrow a day pack. I wanted to summit with my pack on, just lighter. We were on trail at 645. The first mile was a re-route because a bridge had washed out. It was new trail so it was nice and relatively flat. A mile in is the last privy on the trail. I stopped to use it and I could hear Mr. President chatting with someone. When I got out of the privy I found him talking to Gossip Girl, I had not seen her since the Shenandoahs. The hike from the parking lot to the summit is only 5.2 miles but it¢s 4171 feet at 15% grade. At mile 2 we started going up. At mile 3 it really started going up. We were climbing boulders and we entered the clouds. We knew the weather was not going to be great but we were hoping the rain would hold off. Mile 4 was more climbing a times it seemed straight up. You could see ahead but not very far. We just kept going up. Finally the trail kind of leveled off. It was now misting, we were above tree line, and the wind was blowing 20+, if not 30+ at times. At the mile to go marker we saw Gossip Girl coming back down. She said the last mile was long and it was very cold. I was thinking, can it get much colder? At this point on trail there are several options for your decent. We had decided our decent would be the Abol trail, so we had t0 backtrack to this point after we summited. We continued on. The last mile wasn¢t particularly rough but it did go up, and the mile did seem long. We arrived at the summit and the sign appeared out of the fog. I immediately went and touched the sign. A feeling of relief, knowing the hike was done, came over me. That was quickly quelled as it was so cold and windy and we had summit pictures to take. Mr. President had difficulty getting his phone out because he was so cold. There were two other hikers up there that took a picture of the three of us. Mr. President and I then took turns getting the full compliment of pictures we wanted. I took several different poses including one with my shirt off. It took me a long time to get re-dressed because it was so cold. We started our decent and had the retrace the AT for a mile to get back to the Abol trail. Once on the Abol trail it was another 3 miles down. The Abol trail is shorter going down but more steep as you have to descend the same 4171 feet but, in less distance. The Abol trail is blue blazed. It is weird following blue blazes for that long after following white blazes for so long. Mr. President volunteered to walk ahead and get the car. The car was another 2+ miles from the bottom of the Abol trailhead. Seaneen and I took our time getting down. The decent was a boulder scramble with small loose rocks mixed it. It was a slow go. Seaneen was done and she was hurting. We finally got under the clouds and the trail finally leveled out a little. When we got to the Abol trailhead Mr. President was there with the car. We had a celebratory beer and then left the park. We stopped at the first bar and warmed up a little, and had a drink. We all decided we were starving so we left there and went to dinner. Dinner was really good, or we were just really hungry. I was still chilled and tired. At the hotel I took a HOT shower and went right to bed before 8 pm.Thank you to everyone for following along.  Your love and support was a big part of my being able to complete this incredible journey.PLEASE check back in the future as I may have some closing thoughts I will share here.