Mile 2176.2
Baxter Peak, Katahdin (5267)
Other thru hikers who summited today: Sojo, Conan, Recurve, Whitefish, Allgood, Me to Maine, Foot Machine (2nd thru hike, 1st in 1984), Singer and Landsurfer (father and son doing a flip flop - half way done)
How can I possibly describe all the emotions and feelings of that day, especially since I am writing this 2 days later from the airport. What a difference this is. I've been in a whirlwind ever since we left Baxter State Park. The people all look strange, dress strange, wear strange boxes in their ears and talk incessantly to themselves. No one makes eye contact, they don't greet me when I walk by and they smell too perfumey. Seriously, it feels wierd and uncomfortable. But back to Katahdin.
I didn't sleep much the night before from excitement and none after 3:00am. At 4:30 I could finally get up and could hardly contain myself until the 4 of us began walking toward the ranger station at around 5:30. Most people slackpack or empty their own packs, but I wanted to carry all my gear up the mountain. My pack is already very light and I wanted to carry a full pack the whole way. Though I did drop off a few miscellaneous items like bug spray, the camera charger, and the pocket mail device, I carried all my essential gear up the mountain.
Filled with excitement and adreneline, I practically ran the first 2 miles before the hand over hand rock climbs. If Katahdin isn't the toughest climb on the trail, it is certainly in the top. I can't think of a more difficult one off hand. When I reached the exposed climbs, the wind was blowing a gale. I had a few scary moments as I climbed up and over the rock face with what seemed 40-50 mph gusts. Scary but exhilerating. (I wish I was there right now.) On the tablelands, the wind was strong enough to actually blow you over and I was pushed off the trail a couple times. Conan and I reached the summit at 8:30, just 2.5 hours after we began. How do you describe the feelings after reaching your goal 2176.2 miles later through rain, snow, sleet, cold, heat (though according to some day walkers, I had no idea how hot it was), humidity, insects, mud, rain, hail, more rain, something like 410,000 ft of elevation gain, stream fordings, more rain, constant hunger, so so ma!
ny wonderful experiences, meeting myriad great and intersting people, a few nut cases, and on and on. As might be imagined, as all the others arrived (Whitefish was already there), there was much emotion. Others went through more hardship than me and deserve greater accolades. Sojo and Recurve endured the most difficult kind of trial; being away from their wives and family. They lost more weight than they could afford, Sojo endured the kidney stone experience which certainly left him weaker, Recurve endured blistered and raw feet most of the trip along with a painful hip and bruised rib later on.
Anyway as all the others arrived, we began to celebrate together. As I mentioned before, I am honored that I could share the experience with Sojo, Cona, and Recurve. Words are simply failing me as I try to describe the experience that we all shared together on the mountain, so I will stop trying. I thank God for the opportunity. The weather couldn't have been more perfect on the summit; sunny and cool with not a cloud in the sky. The wind even died down after we reached the top. Allgood played his mandolin a while. What a picture perfect thru hiker experience. As I expected, it was hard to leave and I had to go by to touch that fabled sign one more time. One more picture next to the last white blaze and we're off. The climb down went more quickly than expected and, thankfully, there was no wind.
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Have a spare PocketMail laying around, sell it back to us and help those in need.
