Day 176 – Summit Mount Katahdin 

“I’ve paid my dues

Time after time

I’ve done my sentence

But committed no crime

And bad mistakes

I’ve made a few

I’ve had my share of sand

Kicked in my face

But I’ve come through

And we mean to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions, my friends

And we’ll keep on fighting till the end

We are the champions

We are the champions

No time for losers

‘Cause we are the champions of the World” – Queen

Up at 4:00 a.m. Shuttled to Baxter Park entrance at 5:30. Huge line to get in. Tons of people without passes attempt to get in. At 7:00, anybody who has not shown up that had a reservation forfeits their reservation. Everyone gets a chance at the forfeits one at a time.

Today the line is particularly long due to bad weather yesterday and more bad weather after today. We got in the park gate at 7:00 to drop off only and not park. That was not a guarantee.

I had a backup plan that would have me    hike in from Abol Bridge and then hike 5 miles up Blueberry Ledge Trail to get to the start of the Hunt Trail. Would have made a long day, but it was a guaranteed plan. 

Foggy, mid-40s at base, not getting above 41 at the summit. 

We arrived at Katahdin Stream Campground at 7:10. Got registered with Ranger Don and headed out on trail at 7:25.

YouTube video starting up Katahdin 

Very, very hard ascent. First 3 miles are below tree line and gradually get very steep near tree line. About 2 miles of  incredibly steep nearly technical climbing from tree line onward. Crossed into the fog and clouds a little before ascending above tree line. Then a long ridge walk sloping upward to the summit of Katahdin.

YouTube video ascending Katahdin 

I reached the summit of Katahdin about noon. There were a lot of people summiting today. One decent weather day sandwiched between rain days. It was very windy and cold. The sun was slowly trying to burn through, but not being very successful.

YouTube video at Katahdin summit 

Polar and 23 were already on the summit when I got there, and the cousins, Newt and Glass, arrived about 5 minutes after me. The official summit is the big rock cairn. 

We waited our turn to get our pictures taken at the famous Katahdin sign.

Newt and 23

Newt

Glass 

The Cousins Newt and Glass 

Polar

Me and The Rascals (Polar, Newt, 23, Glass)

As we descended the long steep ridge from the summit to The Gateway, the sun finally came out and we got some good views.

Getting down the mountain was also very hard. Very hard descent: 1.5 miles of super steep butt sliding and rock scrambling. Fell a couple of times. 

Still another 2 miles of hiking after the nasty part back to the ranger station and parking area. 

YouTube video descending Katahdin 

Finished the descent at 3:45. Met up with 23, Polar, Glass, Newt, and Polar’s parents at a picnic shelter and celebrated with candy bars and champagne!

Shuttled back to the hostel and had dinner. Then walked down to the saloon to have a few celebratory drinks with some of the other folks who summited today.

Today was the hardest day on the trail. Harder than Lehigh Gap and harder than Mahoosuc Notch. If you slip on either the ascent or descent, you are going to get hurt very badly. That was scary and exhilarating all at once. 

None of the emotions or mental retrospection or regrets have hit me yet. I’m surprised about that. I’m sure it will all hit me tomorrow. 

I can’t describe how happy I was to summit with The Rascals. All the alone time in New England really gnawed on me. More on that in my upcoming Epilogue post.

Now I just have one more piece of this adventure. Getting home!