Finish Line

August 28

Miles: 10– 5 up, 5 back down (2189/2189!)

Location: Mt. Katahdin, and then Millinocket, ME

Weather: For weeks experienced hikers have been telling me that I need to do what I could to summit Katahdin in good weather– it would be worth the wait, and summiting in bad weather could be dangerous. My response was always that I was going to finish as soon as I physically could– as long as the weather was good enough that I could make it to the finish line without significance medical risks I was going to do it. It turns out that I didn’t have to worry. The weather was absolutely perfect. I could not think of anyway that it could have been better. 

Complaint of the… Nope. Not today. Won’t do it.

Done. Finished. Completed.

The hike up the mountain was not easy at all. There was a bunch of rock scrambles and legit bouldering on the way up, but it almost didn’t matter. I was too pumped with adrenaline to really care. 

I could not have asked for a better way to end my hike. As I walked up to the summit, up to that iconic sign, many other hikers were there offering hand shakes, fist bump, back slaps, and hugs. I walked over to the sign and got my absolutely mandatory photo with it. And then I was just there. Enjoying the moment. Enjoying the day. Appreciating all that I had accomplished. I generally prefer to experience my wilderness areas in solitude, but this time I was so happy to have so many other hikers around. There must have been 15-20 other thru-hikers up there I at the summit. People like Planner, Brown Sugar, Wood Pile, Alex, Scout, Switchback, Nails, Calves, Rex, the Swiss guys, and many others. Some were hikers that I have known for months, others only a few days, others I hadn’t met until we got to the summit together. But all of them played a role in my hike and I was thrilled to share the experience with all of them. 

I sat up there, enjoying the view, enjoying the sun, and simply enjoying the moment for over an hour. It was all I could ask for. 

…………

Coming down off the mountain was quite difficult, both physically and mentally. It is such a weird experience working so long to “finish” my hike only to have to follow it up with a grueling 5 mile hike down an extremely steep mountain. By the time I got back to the campsite I was completely exhausted. I was able to get a hitch into the town of Millinocket pretty quickly and got a bunk at the hiker hostel in town. 

After a good night’s sleep in a bed, it still hasn’t totally set in yet. I haven’t quite mentally processed all that I have accomplished. I haven’t figured out that I am finished. I hiked the trail. All of it. I imagine that I will have more deep, meaningful thoughts about my hike in the days and weeks to come as life slowly returns to normal. I might even put some of those thoughts here in this blog. But now I mostly just want to nap. 

Today I am sitting around the hostel in Millinocket before taking the shuttle to Bangor tomorrow and heading home to Anchorage, back to the adventure that is my normal life.