We finally made it to the last mile of our journey!
We were so excited and nervous about the last day - a 4,000 foot climb in 5.2 miles, half of which is exposed above treeline. Southbound hikers had been shaking their heads when they told us about Katahdin: “It’s a butt-kicker for sure”. So we couldn’t sleep too well for the three nights leading up to our last day; we were like kids right before Christmas!
We stayed at the thru-hiker campground in Baxter State Park the last night with some old buddies and some new: Aboman, Half-Ounce, SeatoLand and Snakebait. We carried in S’mores and snacks from the Abol Bridge Campstore we passed ten miles before just as we left the 100-mile Wilderness (which was awesome!) and had a feast. We all sat around the fire reminiscing about our journies, the good, the bad and our disbelief that it was finally coming to an end.
In the morning we were all up by 5:30. We were only carrying food, water, extra clothing and cameras to the top so we packed our other gear in trash bags and left it at the ranger station. The sky was partly cloudy when we started out, looking like there were some winds up on the mountain tops. There’s a mandatory sign in/sign out when you summit Katahdin; we signed out to leave at 7:17am.
The first mile was mostly flat, which surprised me and made me nervous at the same time because if we didn’t gain any elevation in the first mile then we still had the whole 4,000 feet to climb in the remaining four miles - it means a much steeper climb. After we crossed Katahdin Stream, one of the clearest and and coldest streams I’ve seen, we started the climb. It was just like any other mountain in Maine for the next two miles - some rocks, some roots and fairly steep. Then we reached treeline at the Hunt Spur after climbing around and over some boulders. The weather had become less than beautiful; the mountain above the Hunt Spur was covered by a cloud and the wind was blowing harder and making me nervous. No turning back though and we began climbing from the Spur to the Gateway.
This was probably our toughest part of the climb - something like 1200 feet in .6 miles. It was like walking a narrow ridge straight uphill on big rocks with a pushy breeze coming across our left side. Yikes. Looking back, I’m glad I couldn’t see the top of the climb because it probably would have scared me. The Gateway was the top of the steep climbing where we reached the Tableland, the flatter ridge of Katahdin. It was still foggy, windy and rocky, but less precarious. It was still a mile to Baxter Peak, the highest peak in Maine.
Because of the fog we couldn’t see the peak until we were about 50 yards from it. We were so excited to be done, although it really felt like we had climbed just another mountain on the trail. We were taking photos with the sign and celebrating when suddenly the clouds parted and then dispersed, giving us a beautiful view of the mountain. Blue skies! Then we took tons more photos, ate, toasted our finish with some Nassau Royale and just took in the view.
After about two hours we started back down - the first time we’d hiked the same section of trail twice. When we reached the Gateway again the clouds rolled back over the mountain and covered it again. We were so lucky to have had a view! It took us two hours to get back down where we hung out with our thru-hiker buddies, drinking some wine and talking about how we never have to hike again if we don’t want too! Yay!
We got a ride into Millonocket where our buddy Beatbox picked us up and took us to Bangor. We went out to dinner, then got dropped off at the Phair’s home in Levant where we were reunited with Corley! He was so excited to see us, and we were estatic to see him. He looked healthy, happy and pudgy!
Now we’re travelling around Maine a bit and hanging out with the ever so generous and fun Phair family. We’ll head back to the South this weekend and back into the real world.
Check out the photos!
best,
susan, andy & corley
September 9th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Congrats! Good Job!
September 11th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Awesome! Never doubted you guys would make it. Wish I could have been there to enjoy the moment and the Nassau Royale,
September 20th, 2008 at 9:14 am
You guys rock SO HARD, you know that?
I’m so happy I met you and so proud that you finished. I think this means seven of this year’s eight TTYSLC new inductees finished. Pyro’s the only one I know who dropped out.
You guys ALWAYS have a place to crash in Virginia if you’re ever this way. Did you see the video I made of Susan’s Pooh pictures?
April 15th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Понятно, спасибо за помощь в этом вопросе….
Southbound hikers had been shaking their heads when they told us about Katahdin: “It’s a butt-kicker for sure”. So we couldn’t […….