The Summit

On the 12th I did 16.4 miles and camped at the Barren Ledges. On the 13th I did 21.3 miles and camped at the Sydney Tappan campsite. On the 14th I did 17.1 miles and stayed at Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to. On the 15th I did 23.4 miles and camped on top of Nesuntabunt Mountain. On the 16th I did 21.2 miles and stayed at Abol Bridge. On the 17th I did 9.9 miles to Katahdin Stream campground. On the 18th I did 5.2 miles and summited Katahdin!

Well, since the obvious big thing this post is that I summited here are a group and solo summit photo.

As you can tell I was mildly excited despite the less then fantastic weather. The hike up was extremely cloudy, foggy and windy but it didn't start raining until the way down. Then it rained and sleeted a bit just to get the point across that the weather could of been better. Despite that it was a fun summit. There was general excitement to not have to hike anymore but also most of us were sad that it was all over. Now a bit about the last week even though that information seems a bit insignificant at this point.

The 100 mile wilderness lived up to what is expected of it. It rained everyday and the trail was extremely muddy. Anywhere the trail wasn't muddy it was just covered in slick, wet roots. Even the bog bridges that are supposed to be there to help are so slippery they are actually the most dangerous part of the trail. Here is a little example of what the trail looks like.

Some of the days it just sprinkled on us a bit and that wasn't too bad. This did not hold true for the night of the 13th into the next day. During that 24 hour period Baxter State Park received 7 inches of rain. While the majority of this came down at night so it wasn't absolutely terrible, it did rain consistently the whole next day. This meant that the trail was very flooded with water, most things I owned were at best damp and the streams I had to ford were running a bit deep. Many of the bog bridges that are designed to keep you out of puddles and mud were roughly a foot under water that day. Here is Doctor Zoom fording a stream behind me, it's probably not the safest thing ever.

Eventually it wasn't raining and I even sort of got a view of the mountain I was about to climb. Still a bit cloud covered though.

All in all the 100 miles was enjoyable. I like the feeling of remote Maine woods. The moss covered boulders strewn through the woods just make me feel at home yet also like I am hiking through something from a previous time. It would have been better with less water everywhere but you can't get everything. By the end my feet were in the worst shape of the entire trail but I was still smiling.

Now I guess it's time to go back to a world most people live in all the time. It feels like I have to plug back into the matrix. I have no idea on some basic things like where I'm going to live. The concept of the amount of space in an apartment seems completely ridiculous. Everything I need fits in a backpack, why would I need more then a small room? Even then where exactly do I want to live? These are questions I don't even have an idea of an answer. I guess I kind of have to come up with something soon.

I am also thinking about what my next adventure or big "thing" will be. Should it be another long distance hike? Should I try and design and build a small house somewhere? Should I focus on job related things (weird)? These are again questions I haven't answered yet. I don't think I'm done with long distance hikes but I don't know if I want my next thing to be one or if I want to mix it up. I guess all I know is I have to go back to work in the relatively near future and in the worst case scenario a "house" that I am very comfortable in can be carried on my back. Everything else might just fall into place. Or not, who knows? Not me and that's just fine.