The final mountain of the Appalachian Trail -Mt. Katahdin

Wow! This thing was HUGE!!!!!

August 17th- The day before...
I didn't sleep last night. I arrived in Baxter State Park in the morning pretty early. I got to the base of the mountain at the ranger station to see that a few of my friends were actually climbing as I was signing in......wow its really almost over.

I asked the ranger for my "2,000 Mile Application" to prove that I actually hiked from Georgia to Maine. After filling out the form I sat down to read a book......all day. Once my friends came down I chatted about the climb and weather and congratulated them on the accomplishment. As the sun was starting to set I got to the Birches lean-to for the night and started my last camp fire on the A.T.......sad.

Just as I got it going a few nice section hikers came into the campsite with....congrats cake and ice cream, yummmmmmm!! Trail Magic at its finest! My great friend Rob from Keep America Beautiful showed up just in time to hang out before bed time. We had a big day tomorrow.....climb Mt Kathahdin!

August 18th- The Day

Well its been 5 months on the date since I left Springer Mountain, and it has been a heck of a journey. I was up at about 4am giddy like a child in toys-r-us with excitement. Rob and I had agreed to meet around 6:30 to get everything ready, and we set off...and up at around 7am.

The first mile of the hike was peaceful and flat....and then we hit mile two. Hand over hand rock climbing for about 2 miles. No joke, it was the most technical climb of the whole trail, but so well worth it.

As Rob and I slowly made our way over the steep part of Katahdin we had a table top stop for the last mile and a half to the summit of Katahdin. With about a quarter mile to go I had the sign in sight....I could see the end of the road ahead. So what did I do? Run. As fast as I could to the top. Full of joy I reached the sign and gave it a huge hug and kiss. (Yes I know it is an old wooden sign, but I had walked from Georgia for this very moment). It was one of the happiest moments in my 25 years of life.

I posed for pictures and enjoyed the scenery for half an hour, just as we were finishing up the clouds were starting to roll in again. I got to summit Mt Katahdin with blue skies and beautiful views of all of Maine.

Next Blogs-
Thank Yous
and Final Thoughts