Month: August 2021

Start: Rainbow Stream Lean-To (AT mi 2163). Stop: Katahdin Springs Campsite (AT mi 2187.9). Today’s miles: 24.9 miles. Total AT mileage: 1162.9 miles

Y’all! I’m in BAXTER STATE PARK!!! I’m so flipping excited! I’m going to summit Mount Katahdin tomorrow and finish part one of my journey: Making it to the Top of Maine! Wow.

Ok, so, this morning I got up at 5:35 and started packing up as quietly as I could.. which isn’t quiet at all really. But as I was, the only other 2 hikers there started to do the same. We all had that same urgent “must get to Baxter” feeling going on apparently.

I was on trail by 6:05, impressively. I made good time even while trying to force myself to choke down my probar. I sat down to slowly eat this morning instead of eating while walking like yesterday, to see if I’d have a better result. I still gagged the whole time eating it, so I’m not really sure what’s going on with that.. I used to love those things! And I need the calories and energy they give. The other protein bars have me so hungry within an hour of eating them.

Anyway, the miles cranked out quickly. It wasn’t smooth trail per say-there we’re roots mangled and tangled and intertwined all over the place, with rocks here and there, too.. so while it was mostly “flat” my feet continued to take a beating. Even still, I pushed on, too excited to exit the 100 mile wilderness, figure out my fate for the rest of the day and tomorrow.. ahhh! So much was swirling around in my head to even give the terrain a serious thought. I stopped for water sometime around 9am and realized I had already gone over 9 miles! It was only 15.5 total to Abol Bridge! My back up plan for tonight if I couldn’t get into Birches!

At 10 am I made it to Rainbow Ledges and turned my phone’s airplane mode off. I waited and waited for enough reception to make a call to reserve a bed in Millinocket for tomorrow night, and for the shuttle from Baxter to the hostel. It took 2 dropped calls and a lot of repeating myself to make it happen, but happen it did! I sent my mom and uncle Keith a quick text, but I didn’t have time to wait for replies.. within 5 minutes I was already back in the “No Service” zone. Damn.

I put it back into airplane mode and kept going. I won’t have any more service until I get down to town tomorrow evening. It looks like that’s when I’ll be playing catch-up on my posts and whatnot. I passed several people hiking SOBO with ginormous packs on their backs. Clearly this is their day one, and man oh man, I remember my day one. I could feel for them! Their backs are going to be so sore tomorrow morning!

When I came out of the 100 Mile Wilderness to the road to Abol Bridge, Water Queen was set up doing trail magic!! There was practically everyone I had been camping around the last few days hanging out, eating hot dogs and chatting. She had pictures up of all the thru hikers she’s done magic for this year and “congratulations class of 2021” signs and banners! I know it’s sappy, and I’m not technically almost done, but I choked up a bit.

I sat and had hotdogs and my beloved Mountain Dew. Everyone was chatting about their plans for summiting. Water Queen told me the sign up sheet for Birches is already full for tonight. Birches is the Lean-To for thru hikers only-they only allow 12 people per night, and it’s first come first serve at 7am the day of only. The reason people want to go there is it’s 10 easy miles from Abol Bridge to Birches, and it’s right at the base of Katahdin, making the climb the next morning 5.3 miles.

There’s also a campground, Katahdin Springs Campground, next to Birches, but it gets sold out months in advance by people driving in to visit the park, and securing a spot there is pure luck and usually unlikely. So, the only option really besides those two is to pay to camp off this road, right outside the state park and be in line first thing to sign up for Birches the next morning and summit a day later, OR get up super early and hike from here into the park and up Katahdin all in one day, which is ~20 miles.

The trick with that is, you have to be at the ranger station by Birches to get your permit to summit no later than 11am or they won’t let you go up Katahdin. So, that’s 10 miles before 11, plus 5 miles straight up a 5000+ foot mountain, 5 miles back down, and the shuttle to take you out of the park leaves at 3pm. Haha-no pressure.

So, as we’re sitting around talking, I’m realizing that this last option is what I’m going to be doing tomorrow. I mention that I was going to start looking into campsites nearby as everyone was getting up and starting to walk. Sunny mentioned they have a campsite they snagged, but sadly there’s no more room because they already have 8 people staying.. no worries I tell her. It’ll be ok.

While we’re all walking the quarter mile to the store, we cross the actual bridge over the river-we see Katahdin standing proud out past the water.. and then see a bald eagle flying! Seriously!? It was phenomenal, and such a perfect piece added to an already awesome day.

Then, when I get to the Abol Bridge store, everyone from that group meets up with Cactus and Cousin Eddie. I go in and buy a beer, and when I come out they yell for me.. Cactus and Cousin Eddie have signed up at Birches already for tonight, but they’re going to stay at the campsite with all their friends (they’re part of the 8 and no one realized they had signed up) so they offer me one of their spots! I was ecstatic!!

I finish my beer and start walking the mile to the sign up kiosk thinking a ranger would be there.. there wasn’t. So, I signed in anyway and looked over the log ins.. Poptart was on there!! She is at Birches tonight!! TieDye has a campsite at Katahdin Springs!! He’s there tonight, too! How in the world!!?! I headed up the trail, praying like hell that they would believe me about Cactus not coming and giving me her spot, and wouldn’t turn me away after hiking 10 miles to get there. I was also so dang excited that I’d be seeing my friends. If not tonight, tomorrow somewhere on Katahdin! It’s all going to work out!! The trail provides!

The trail was beautiful and followed along a river for a long time. It eventually got rooty and painful, but I think down feather pillows would be painful after hiking 50 miles in 2 days. I stopped and got water 5 miles in, and turned on some music to keep me motivated. And at 5:25 I passed the sign to take me to the ranger station at Katahdin Springs Campsite, and moments later I saw a man through the woods getting water-with a tent set up back behind him. It took me a nano second to register and yell out a “TieDye! Is that you!?!”

I’m not sure if it’s luck or Devine intervention.. but it was indeed TieDye, and I’m thinking it’s more on the side of the Devine than luck. He got a campsite by finding a cancellation last night in town when he and his wife stayed in a hotel! He and his new friend, Rippin Riles had room for me to share their site with them!! WHAT!? I was so happy I jumped around a bit and squealed! I dropped my stuff and they told me how to get to the ranger station to register so I could get my permit to summit and not have to wait to get it in the morning.

I headed that way and signed in, got my permit, had all my questions answered. And, then like a crazy person, I walked an extra half mile to Birches campsite to surprise Poptart! I hung out with her a bit, she actually gave me a Poptart for tomorrow after I told her about my gagging business. Lol. I’m so dang thrilled I got to see her, she steadily keeps me laughing and is always in such good spirits! This day has seriously left me speechless when it comes to the gratefulness Im feeling.. for getting the chance to spend these moments with people I’ve come to care about. I said my byes and then got back to the campsite to set up my tent, do my chores, and eat my dinner.

It was so hard getting it all done, I’m pretty wiped today. But it had to be done. Today all worked out better than I could have ever planned for it to! Now, all that’s left to do is get some sleep and then summit that big ole mountain tomorrow.. and then start the second part of my journey: Heading Home. Goodnight, y’all. Prayers for good weather tomorrow.

Start: Katahdin Springs Campsite (AT mi 2187.9). Stop: Summit of Mount Katahdin (AT mi 2193.1). Today’s miles: 5.3 miles (10.6 round trip). Total AT mileage: 1168.1 miles

ITS SUMMIT DAY!!!! I cannot believe I actually pulled it off! Making it to this day specifically, summiting with TieDye and Poptart, completing the first part of my journey! Y’all. I’m so overwhelmed with emotions right now! I’ll try my best to get it all in here, but please know, words will never do today justice. Ever.

I got up at 5:30 and started packing. TieDye, Rippin Riles and I headed towards the ranger station to exchange our stuff. There’s a spot at the ranger station to leave behind some of your gear that you won’t need, so you can slack pack up Katahdin to make it a quicker and safer journey. We ate breakfast there and once our stuff was bagged and labeled, we started down the trail together.. it was 6:35. From the stuff left behind, it looked like several others already got started today.

The first mile was mild and went along a stream. As the trail traveled up, the stream had waterfalls to gawk at. The trail had stone steps and roots and some easier areas. It was beautiful, and the weather was fantastic so far.. not too hot, not too cold, hard to tell how the sky would turn out but it was just slightly hazy out.. no big storm clouds yet.

As the trail continued to get steeper, sections turned into more of the rock climbing jungle gyms of southern Maine and the Whites of New Hampshire. When I crossed a tiny trickling spring I panic chugged my water and filtered an extra liter. The guys got ahead of me while I was doing this, but I just felt the need to have more water so I got some and then carried on.

Just before 8am I took a fall after twisting my ankle.. I think I fell technically because of trying to take the pressure away from actually hurting my ankle. It hurt, but I was moving again within a minute without issue. About 5 minutes later, people from the big group that gave me my spot at Birches (which ultimately is the only reason I was able to see and stay with TieDye) started passing me. I’m always so impressed with how fast people traverse this climbing crap. I just can’t make decisions that quick or something.

The second I came above tree line, I was in a the boulder scramble of all boulder scrambles! It was a “put your poles away” type thing that required hands, knees, every muscle in your body to get up and over. There were parts with random rebar loops sticking out of rock face just close enough to grab and then pray your feet meet some traction to keep you moving in the correct direction. There were sharp edges and long drops. I actually ended up passing some day hikers.. which tells me I am stronger than I think I am.

There was a brief flat section before the trail continued steeply up more scramble. Once I reached that point and pulled myself up.. Poptart was sitting on a rock taking a break! I thought we didn’t have much farther to go to summit, so seeing her made me think she already summited and was heading back down now.. lol she just laughed at me and told me she had only gotten started a little before me.

She was trying to get enough service to book a room at the hostel for tonight, so I turned my phone off airplane mode to see if I’d have better luck.. I ended up having one bar of service so she used my phone to make her call. When finished, we hiked the rest of the day together. She had me laughing all day long.

We did the crazy straight up rock climb to get to the false summit. When we finally made it to trail that allowed you to actually stand all the way up and mostly walk or rock hop vertically instead of bending and reaching and doing a whole lot of praying, I was beyond relieved. The views were unbelievable! The clouds were below us but not obstructing the views.. the sun was shining, the summit was just ahead. I was stunned.

Even while looking at it, we still had over a mile to walk on top of that mountain and a little bit more of a climb to get to the top. When I got to the sign, TieDye and Rippin Riles were there, along with that 8 person crew and a few others I met last night when visiting Poptart.. and they all did a little “PBSSSSSS!!!” Shout out and some “congratulations! You did it!” And, y’all, cue the tears. I did some joking bows to hide the emotion a little but man it was overwhelming.

I walked past the sign and gave it a little tap, then found a spot to put my pack down and hug TieDye and Poptart. We all took our pictures, soaked in the realization for each of us of what this day means for everyone.. for many it was the end of a journey, the “I made it” and for a few of us it was the half way.. for me it was a moment of complete happiness as I’ve envisioned myself standing on that specific sign since reading a book in 2016 about the trail. I knew I’d be standing up there someday. And it’s just really something special that today is that day.

To think it took me 5 years of dreaming and planning for this moment, and others.. like TieDye have had this dream far longer, decades longer.. and to be standing there next to him on his day of reaching his dream is honestly so surreal. I will have memories of the top of that mountain for all my years to come. It was something so beyond special and more than I could ever attempt to explain with words alone. It was a feeling I pray each of you find in some way in your own lives somehow. Maybe not necessarily in the standing at the top of Katahdin, but having something you’ve dreamed of come to fruition. The feeling of, “yesssss.. this.. finally I’m here!” I hope that makes sense.. and I want it for each of you.

We all ate at the top and then starting making our way down. I was anxious about the descent of those rocks, because of the impending rain and because one slight shift in weight the wrong way and it’s so much easier to fall-and fall hard.. fall dead. That feels dramatic now, typing that, but in the moment it’s easy to see how one wrong move could seriously end your life, or at the very least-your life as you know it. Poptart and I took our time, laughing and cursing and making our way. Ok, the cursing was me-whatever. I liked following her lead, because with her being shorter than me, whichever way she chose to go would end up being a safe bet I’d be able to get down the same way.

It took us 4 hours to reach the summit and the same time for me going down because once I got out of the jungle gym I started to pick up my pace to try to meet my shuttle on time. At 2:15 I still had almost 2 miles to go. I went as quick as I could, and in the flatter sections I started to jog. The last half mile I actually ran.. and it felt soooo good to just-run. I miss running. I passed Rippin Riles and a woman at a picnic table at the bottom, but raced past them because I thought I saw my shuttle van.

I got to the meet up place at 2:57pm. A whole 3 minutes to spare! I caught my breath, got my stuff, put on my camp shoes. The others waiting for the shuttle said the driver told them she’d be back in a “few” so I went back to the picnic table area, used the bathroom, and then went to see Rippin Riles and meet the woman he was sitting with. I wasn’t sure if this was someone named Biscuit I’d heard of, or if it was Tiedye’s wife, Kathy. It ended up being Kathy! I hugged her and we chatted while waiting for either my shuttle to appear around the corner or Poptart and TieDye to appear coming down the trail.

It was perfect timing because once they came through, I had time for more celebratory hugs right before my shuttle appeared. We made plans for dinner and then I ran back over and hopped in the van. To my complete sadness.. the van did NOT go straight to the hostel. We went to Abol Bridge to get other hikers, which was fine, but then we sat around for 40 minutes waiting for more hikers. Like-we didn’t leave that area until 4:30pm. I raced down a mountain to be there by 3, to wait an hour and a half in a van before being driven to town. I was annoyed. But whatever-nothing I could do about it so no point in complaining.

I met some people I didn’t know, one being RamChop who has the record for the Half Gallon Challenge back in Maryland-which is pretty badass, also, today is her birthday! How epically awesome is it to say “I summited Mount Katahdin on my birthday” ?? Pretty cool.

We got to the hostel, I quickly showered, put my stuff in my awesome private room (named the Springer Mountain room-how perfect since that’s where I’m walking to next), and started my laundry. The others showed up and showered too.. then we headed to a pizza place a block down, the only restaurant in town open today. TieDye and Kathy met us there from their hotel. The five of us ate and chatted and relished the incredible day. Before my food came out I ran back to the hostel to put my clothes in the dryer.. haha

I had a steak and cheese sub, which was massive and so damn good. I devoured all of it and a beer, too. When we got back to the hostel, I got my clothes from the dryer and promptly made my way to my bed. It felt like laying in the clouds. My head was still floating in the clouds from today anyway. It was only 8:30 but it felt like 3am. Even still, I got started on uploading the first couple days of the 100 mile wilderness before calling it a night and getting some shut eye. Some very comfortable, very much needed and appreciated shut eye.

I woke up before my alarm, it was set for 7 and I was coming out of the bathroom at 6:45. So strange for me.. lol I am the opposite of a morning person for sure.

I quickly packed and stripped my linen. I left my pack (packed for travel not for walking.. so the inside is smack full and nothing is in the pockets), outside of the hostel and walked down to the only restaurant open for breakfast to snag a table for 5. I was able to get the cool AT table in the corner, and sat talking with another hiker for a little while. When Poptart arrived I went ahead and ordered my food.. my shuttle left at 8:45 and I still had to settle my bill, so I couldn’t be late.

Rippin Riles, TieDye and Kathy all showed up within a few minutes. They ordered and we all talked plans for the future and all that. I’m going to miss these people. TieDye and Kathy live in Virginia, so they say I’ll be seeing them again with trail magic! I hope so!

I hugged everyone and scooted out at 8:40 and rushed back to the hostel to pay and catch the shuttle. It all went off without issue. When we got to another hotel to pick up 2 more hikers, it was TweetyBird and Arrowhead!! They did a night hike of Katahdin to get there at sunrise with a group of 7 other hikers! When TweetyBird was getting on the sign for her picture, Arrowhead kneeled down and proposed! The picture is freaking epic and still brings tears to my eyes when typing this out! What an amazing story they’ll have the rest of their lives to tell!

Anyway, we got to the bus station, got our tickets and got on a big coach bus to take us to Bangor. There were close to 10 of us in total. TweetyBird, Arrowhead and I all ended up booking the same hotel, so we hung out awhile after arriving.

Speaking of arriving, when I got off the bus, I heard my name being called… I turned around and there was DoubleDecker and Smiles!! They were boarding their bus to Portland! What are the odds that we’d get to cross paths like this!? It was hugs all around and quickly catching up before they had to get on their bus. Man, I really can’t say how much the people on this journey have meant to me.

After saying bye to them, the three of us went by McDonalds and ate a little something, then walked around a shopping plaza next door. We ended up going separate ways when I had to head to the grocery store to resupply for the trail. I could wait til Harper’s Ferry, but this grocery store chain has what I like for certain, so why not? There’s still a couple things I have to get there, so this makes it easier I think.

I walked the almost mile to the hotel and got to check in immediately. It’s connected to the airport and the room is gorgeous. I laid around, took a bath, ate some sushi. Honestly I just relaxed and let the day pass by. Now it’s almost 10 pm and I’m going to get some sleep. The bed is so cushy I don’t think I’ll want to get out of it tomorrow! Lol
Goodnight y’all