It’s been about 5-6 weeks since we finished and I’ve been thinking about the journey. A lot of people have asked, “What was the most memorable part of the trail?” That’s easy. The people we met were absolutely amazing. This hike has restored my faith in humanity. There are so many good people out there, both on and off the trail, who touched my heart and I’ll never forget them. Examples are: the great friends made along the trail, the amazing rides when we hitchhiked (people turning around to pick us up and drive us 10 miles out of their way), the trail angel’s free food, anonymous benefactors paying for our meals while we ate in diners, the elderly southern gentleman who came up to us in a diner in Tennessee, introduced himself and very warmly welcomed us to his town. These people all made the trip magical. Of course, the scenery was breathtaking, but you can see most of that on a day-hike, and I highly recommend that if you can’t make the time for a thru hike. However, a day-hike won’t expose you to this kindness. The kindness flows to the thru hikers and they get submerged in it. It’s called magic and I scoffed when I first read about it, but now I believe.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Finally Done!
Steve and Sam came to meet us late Friday evening and we all stayed at an inn near Baxter State Park. Sooo good to see them again. They picked us up at the Katahdin Stream Parking lot (where we would return Saturday morning early to summit Katahdin together). The AT actually goes through this parking lot.
We woke early so that we'd be starting our ascent by 7:00 am. Katahdin is perhaps the most challenging mountain on the trail. It's "only" five miles from the parking lot to the summit, but you climb about 4000 feet and a lot of that is very difficult rock climbing. It took us seven and a half hours to go up and about the same down. Ouch! I am so impressed by Steve and Sam. They never complained and went right to the top with us:
We saw many day hikers turning back during the climb without making it all the way up. It was much more difficult than Mount Washington in New Hampshire.
Approaching the top, it was very wet and windy. Here we are on the relatively level last mile of the Tablelands, just yards from the summit:
And then, Done:
Sun and blue sky above us for just a moment. It was glorious.
Location: KATAHDIN!!!!
Very, very happy and tired Nory and Doc leaning on the Katahdin sign at the summit.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Almost to the Tablelands
Afterwards, I'm kicking myself for not taking photos of the rock climbing ascent of Katahdin. We were all so focused on just getting up there (and back down before nightfall) that it never occurred to me. After climbing for just over 5 hours and the rocks ahead seeming to only keep going up into the mist, we decided to check where we were using a GPS enabled iPhone app.
The red line showed us our position and that we were almost up to the much easier Tablelands and that we had climbed 3000 of the 4000 feet. It still took us just over 2 hours to complete the ascent from there.
Location:Mount Katahdin, ME
High Water Stream Fording
September 13
We forded quite a few streams in Maine. Most not deeper than your knees and easy to traverse. Not the bother you might think it is, it was a nice, refreshing break for overworked, tired feet. It felt so good to remove heavy hiking boots and heavy socks and walk in cold water for a minute or two. Putting the warm, dry socks and boots back on afterwards felt good too.
Last night it poured down heavy rain all night. It stopped by morning so we were enjoying our last day of hiking in great weather. Just two more streams to ford. They looked menacing. Fast moving, crotch-deep, angry sounding water. We made it across, but we both admitted to being a bit unsettled by the experience.
Afterwards, we saw this sign on the north side of the second ford directing people around the ford during high water. Oh well. We had the experience and in retrospect, loved it.
Our First Look at Katahdin
Steve and Sam picking us up tonight and we will all climb this beast tomorrow. It is an awesome mountain.
Leaving the Hundred Mile Wilderness
September 13
The sign on the northern end of the wilderness warning south bound hikers of the length of the hike and lack of supplies ahead.
