Date: 2015-08-31
To: summit
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I never really described my summit experience and sort of promised I would, so here it is.Thursday evening, at the hotel, Rob was summoned via phone to some business issues he needed to deal with. Meanwhile, I discovered via text that Count and Lavender, who had just summited that day, were staying at the same hotel, just upstairs. I was very glad to go up and visit with them for awhile, catching up with how their hike had gone, and future plans. Before we knew it, it had gotten late, so we said our goodbyes, with urgings to stay in touch. Back downstairs, Rob had wrapped things up...we settled our plans for the morning, and went to sleep. 5am came far too soon, but an early start was needed, as there is limited parking at Baxter. Though we held a reservation, our spot was in jeopardy if we didn't make it to the gate by a certain time. We first stopped at a convenience mart for coffee (got snagged there a bit, plus Rob ended up with cream and sugar in his black coffee, yikes), arrived at the Park, and soon were waiting in line. Off to the right, there was a clearing in the trees through which the Mountain could be seen, so I hopped out quickly and snapped a couple photos. Not long after, we were waved through, and headed up the gravel road to Katahdin Stream Campground, where I had left off the previous week. In contrast to that day, I was now starting out with clean, dry clothes, a very light day pack, and absolutely perfect weather. Near the beginning of the trail was a sign-in kiosk, to register ourselves to go up, so we did that, noticing names of other thru-hikers ahead of us. It was fairly easy walking at first, with Katahdin Stream bubbling alongside. The climb began early, while still in the woods...dirt and rock trail gave way to mostly rocks, with water running through, as a stream. Then the bigger boulders rose in front of us, emerging from the trees. It was heavy lifting, going up and over them...a couple of times aided by some rebar. Ahead of us, the ridge rose like a long, narrow spine of boulders, gradually growing smaller in size. Then we reached the tableland, which wasn't entirely flat, but much less of an incline. The clouds hung below us, blanketing the sky like a puffy quilt. The colors became sharper as the morning progressed, and deepened to richer blues and greens...the whites purer in contrast, as we made our way across towards the far end and the summit. We tired a bit before we got there, and pulled out snacks to eat while walking. It wasn't long before we were hearing whoops and cheers from the direction of the summit, as thru hikers celebrated their arrivals. Just as we approached the top, a few of the early ones, Silent Force, Red Panda, and Iso, started down. Remaining were the Aussie ladies, Bud and Bud Light, Apple Cider, and a couple others I didn't know. We had group shots taken, following my summit photo session. Rob and I pulled out our pizza left from dinner the night before, much to the envy of the other thrus...and I had my bottle of Moxie, which I "chugged" while perched back at the sign once again, and then coaxed Rob up for a "buddy" shot of the two of us. The longer we stayed, the more people arrived, including section and day hikers. We decided this was our cue to leave, and began our descent. It was tough to want to go down, as the views of knife edge and the surrounding peaks, valley and lakes were breath-taking. I was a bit nervous about the descent at first, but found that retracing our steps through the tricky sections wasn't too bad so long as I crouched down often to steady myself with my hands (at the advice of other hikers, I had left my poles in the car...the only day I didn't carry them of the entire trip). Once back below tree line, it was a typical hike, although without poles and now with sore knees, I wasn't moving at my normal quick pace. We started the hike at 6:45, taking 3 1/2 hours to summit. We spent about an hour on top, then arrived back at the car by around 2:30, well satisfied with a great climb/hike and ideal weather to complete my journey. I was thrilled to have shared the experience with Rob, who truly went way above and beyond to make Maine enjoyable and wonderful for me.