The Last Days

Our second to last day we hiked from our stealth campsite near Abol Bridge a beautiful and easy 10 miles to Katahdin Stream Campground where we stayed for the night. Tenzing and her dad, DaV, Dino, Bean Dip, and I all hiked together. Along the way we stopped at Big Niagara where we stopped and sun soaked for hours and had lunch.

 

The last hour or two of our hike that day it rained. It was fitting. The trail has been such an odd mix of bliss and struggle that it only seemed right that on one of our last days it would be much the same. As soon as we arrived to Katahdin Stream campground though the rain let up and the sun came out. There was quite the crowd of hikers hanging out, drinking beer, and playing Frisbee waiting to summit the following day. We joined them and enjoyed some of our last hours with folks we had spent the last 5 months seeing. That night we enjoyed one last campfire and then went to bed early. The next day was a big one.

 

The next morning I was up and packing at 4 and on the trail by 5. The first mile or so was easy and then from there the intensity and difficulty quickly increased. There were tons of big rocks and boulders to go over or around.

  
After 3 miles or so there is a nice reprieve from the hand over foot climbing. It's the Tablelands and it is essentially a large plateau part way up the mountain. It's a rare habitat for lots of endangered plants and animals. Also, it's the home of Thoreau Springs which was a great place to stop for a water break.

 

It took about 3 and a half hours to do the 5 miles to reach the summit of Baxter Peak, the tallest peak on Mt. Katahdin and southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.
We did the whole picture thing, and celebrated, and then hung out for about an hour and a half. It was a bit windy up there, so we didn't stay too long.

 

It's crazy that this is the culmination of 5 months of trekking. The idea of walking from Georgia to Maine still seems as absurd and difficult as it did 5 months, and yet here I am having done it.