Day 171: Most Epic Birthday

Hiked 5.1 miles (and 5.1 back down), The End

It was an epic final night last night.  It poured rain all night with booming thunder and lightning.  I was a little worried that the storm wasn't going to clear up before the morning and that I would have to delay another day.  The storm passed in the early morning and by the time I got out of my sleeping bag the rain had stopped for the time being.

Clevergirl celebrates the fact that she is awake at 5 am by doing a little dance

This is what the trail looks like after last night's heavy rain

Whistle as always is a blur of motion

The clouds are starting to rise a little as we climb

Grim, Whistle, Clevergirl, Dumptruck and I all wanted to get a very early start to the day.  Katahdin often  has the best weather first thing in the morning and we wanted to maximize the possibility of getting a good view.  It was very early even by thru hiker standards but Dumptruck broke out a case of soda and we all caffeinated up.  We got on the trail just as it was getting almost light enough to see without a headlamp.

The middle section of the climb requires clambering over huge boulders

Whistle and Grim

The trail ahead is still in the clouds

Everyone was excited and between the caffeine and adrenaline we started out the day at a blistering pace.  This was made easier by the fact that the first mile gains less than 1000 feet, so it is relatively flatter.  This initial burst of energy waned a bit as the mountain got steeper.  After the torrential downpour that we got last night the trail was a river.  For the entire second mile the trail was never less than ankle deep water racing down a steeper and steeper slope.

We got to "The Tableland" and all of a sudden the clouds just lifted up

The day was foggy and overcast when we started but as we got higher and higher the cloud deck slowly but surely also rose.  Every so often we would get glimpses of the surrounding landscape.  It was never completely clear but it was a heck of a lot more than any of us expected!

Clearest view of the day came while walking across the tableland

The third mile of the climb is by far the toughest of part of the climb up Katahdin.  At this point you are above treeline and are climbing up and over enormous car sized boulders.  It is definitely a technical climb and you are using your hands the entire way through this section.  It is a really fun finale to a 2000 mile hike.

Whistle strikes a pose to celebrate only one mile of the AT remaining

The Tableland

At the end of this section we climbed up onto "The Tableland".  Katahdin is very flat on top and if going up the Appalachian Trail you must traverse this large plateau before climbing the peak.  At this point the hard work is over and it is only another 500 feet up over the next mile and a half to the top.  When I reached the tableland all of a sudden the clouds cleared up a great deal and gave a fantastic view.  It wasn't the clearest day that I've been up here (this is my third time climbing Katahdin) but I will definitely say that even that partial view was way more powerful after hiking 2000 miles to get there.

Knife's Edge

We walked the next mile and a half in relative silence, each in our own thoughts until all of a sudden I caught sight of the summit sign only a few hundred yards ahead.  At this point Clevergirl and Dumptruck had slowed down and dropped back but I was still hiking with Grim and Whistle and we all yelled loudly and picked up the pace.

Whistle is a bit giddy about reaching the top!

At the end of my journey

At just after 9 AM on Friday the 13th of September, 2013 I reached the summit of Katahdin.  Today is my birthday and I can think of no more epic way to celebrate turning 30 than putting my hands and face against the summit sign of Katahdin after hiking 2,186 straight miles to get there.  Never in my life have I felt a stronger dichotomy of emotion at exactly the same instant time.  On the one hand I was so ecstatic and proud of what I had just accomplished.  To have walked so far through all the adversity is something I will be proud of for the rest of my life.  This trip is totally about the journey and not the destination though and you have to love that journey to make it this far.  Reaching the summit is heartwrenching in the finality of end of that journey and that is very tough.

Whistle can't figure out how to pop the champagne cork

This is my favorite picture of Whistle for the day

I got to be the very first thru hiker to summit today with Grim and Whistle right on my heels.  Because we got up there so far ahead of everyone we got a lot of time to get pictures with the sign and celebrate.  I had picked up a small pebble in Georgia and carried it the entire way here and I ceremonially placed it on top of the cairn next to the summit sign.  Dumptruck and Clevergirl were not far behind the rest of us and the five of us broke open some champagne and beer to celebrate.  I was on top of the peak for over two hours, despite the clouds rolling back in.  At this point as much as a great view would have been grand, it just didn't matter that much to any of us, we were all just really excited to be there.

Had to get into my birthday suit for my birthday

Why Not wearing her triple crown!

Why Not, Srocket and I

Over the course of the next two hours more and more thru hikers reached the summit.  Why Not made a huge accomplishment today by successfully completed her triple crown, having hiked over 7000 miles through 22 states over all three major long trails in the country.  I've hiked the most on this trip with both Srocket and Why Not and getting to be on the summit with both of them was awesome.  As people trickled in we ended up with a large group of 14 thru hikers.  It was so cool to be able to celebrate with so many close friends on the top of the mountain.

Top row: Noodles, Still Here
Middle: Apollo, Candypants, Whistle, Grim
Front: Wilson, Dumptruck, me, Why Not, Beetlejuice, Srocket, Soulshine, Clevergirl

Having one last big hiker hangout on the top of the mountain

Headed back down

Finally it started to drizzle and everyone took that as a cue that we needed to hike back down eventually and we all started down the mountain in one long train.  There were still more thru hikers going up as we went down and we stopped and exchanged hugs and high fives as we passed them.  From a half mile away you could hear their shouts of joy as they also reached the summit.

Srocket needed to really get in touch with her inner hobo one last time

It was a long climb down but the rain held off long enough for everyone to make it down the mountain.  We hung out in the campground for a while as people came back down.  A couple people had friends and family with cars joining them and we piled everyone into them to head out of the park and over to Millinocket.  Srocket, Beetlejuice, Apollo, Still Here and myself all got a room at one of the motels there and went out on the town to celebrate.  Given that we are all used to being asleep by 9 pm and the fact that we all got up extremely early it was a relatively short lived celebration before we were all ready to head back and pass out.

I hope you all have enjoyed reading this blog for the last few months.  I may do one more post after I get back, but if not this will be my last post.  I want to take the opportunity to thank my friends and family for their support, my work for letting me take six months off to do this journey and all of the trail angels and people I met along the way for their incredible generosity.  Most importantly I want to thank all of the other thru hikers who I met along the way who shared such an incredible journey with me, you guys are all awesome.