We made it. We never thought we would see the day, but we finished the trail. 2,175 miles, 14 states, and almost six months have gone by and we have emerged victorious. We summited Mt. Katahdin, Maine, which is the northern terminus of the trail, at 12:20 on August 31st. We had set the last day of August as our goal for finishing, and miraculously we actually managed to pull it off, finishing four weeks ahead of our original itinerary.
The last 300 miles have been quite remote, becoming more so the farther north we went into Maine. After we left Gorham we had to get through Mahoosuc Notch, which is considered by most to be the single most technical mile on the entire trail. That one mile of trail alone took us 1 hour 45 minutes to complete, and it took most other hikers even longer. Mind you that this is not something I consider to be hiking; this was horizontal rock climbing. The trail remained mountainous and tough, driving us to get up earlier and earlier every day so that we could complete a full day of hiking before dark. By the time we finished we were at the point of hiking just before sunrise every morning. Soon we came across the illustrious Mr. Warren Doyle. We met Warren as he is completing his fourteenth thru-hike, having done so more times than any other hiker (and I thought once was bad enough!). Warren imparted expanses of knowledge upon us, without which we would undoubtedly still be on the trail. He was not only helpful, but took it upon himself to make sure that he remembered to tell us everything that he could think of. Many times he would come and find us to make sure that we knew something in particular, and even sat down at one point and hand wrote directions for the easiest route out of the park when we finished. It is amazing to think about how blessed we were to have come across him at just the right time,as his help was invaluable. Of course another invaluable item we had was the camera, that amazingly survived the entire hike. Going over Saddleback Mountain in the rain I tried to turn it on to take a picture and was greeted not with a green light, but instead a small plume of smoke from around the power button. I was certain it was toast, but once it dried out it worked fine! However, the LCD gave up in the rain after the last picture we took on the top of Katahdin. It served us until the last step, held on until the end, and then let go. Canon makes an absolutely terrific camera.
The last portion of the trail is referred to as "The 100 Mile Wilderness" and that is no understatement. There is nothing but wilderness and logging roads all the way through until you reach Baxter State Park, which is home to 14.4 miles of the Appalachian trail and the highest peak in Maine at 5,267 feet, Mt. Katahdin. We started putting in some bigger miles and moving quicker again which felt great and really reassured us that we could be finished soon. We had our fun, our excitement, our adventure, and we were ready to wrap it up. On the 31st we got hiking at 5:30 that morning through the rain. We started up from the base of Mt. Katahdin at 9:00, tackling the tallest and toughest climb of the trail. Starting elevation was 1,080 feet, going for 5.2 miles and peaking at 5,267 feet, a climb of almost 4,200 feet! Treeline is at ~3,400 feet and runs for over two miles to the peak. It rained all the way, and the wind became quite scary at points easily hitting 40mph. The weather absolutely abused us, but once the sign on the summit came into view nothing hurt anymore. Dad and I joined hands and touched the sign together, a monumental landmark in both of our lives. We both smiled, speechless, no longer feeling the frigid rain or the blustery wind, or the horrible exhaustion and pain throughout our bodies. Not only had we made it, we made it every step of the way together. Despite every obstacle that stood in our way we overcame insurmountable odds and could now officially say that we are thru-hikers. After the moment passed we went about taking a few pictures and consuming our "celebration" that we brought to the top with us. Dad had his Yukon Jack and I shared my keg with him. I carried a keg up that mountain, although only a keg can. Then we got off that mountain as quickly as possible and headed straight for my sister's house in Rhode Island. I have the pictures from Katahdin hosted
here, and I will get more up soon.
It feels good to be done, and to have actually accomplished what we set out to do. Now it is back to everyday "civilized" life, a much less abusive way of living. It will take some time for the body to recover from the prolonged pounding it took, but all things considered we came out of this in pretty good shape. We feel great and are in great shape, although many of our joints (knees especially) are going to take some time before we can put any major use on them again. It was a long journey, and now it is complete. Thanks for being there with us through it all. I hope you have enjoyed our hike. I know we have.
Regards,
-MacGyver
GA -->ME
