Danielle
New member
Snowman (or Trailbiscuit as he's known here) and I set out Sunday, September 14th from Monson to do the 100 mile Wilderness and summit Katahdin - the final stretch in our ongoing four-year quest to finish the AT!
It started to rain on us about three miles into the first day, but it did make the three fords seem a bit less cold. We were wet all over, so what was a bit more water?! We took off our boots for the first two, and then ended up sloshing through the last in our boots. We spent the night with 5 thru-hikers at Long Pond Stream Lean-to.
The next morning, Day #2, dawned foggy and misty, as we headed up over the Barren/Chairback Range. The route was slick and rocky. Things finally cleared in the early afternoon and we did get a few views off Chairback Mountain. This was definitely our toughest day and our 13.6 miles took a long while.
We stayed the night alone at the edge of East Chairback Pond, and awoke on Day #3 to cool, clear blue skies. As we headed down to the Pleasant River at the edge of Gulf Hagas, we had one more ford ahead, and although only shin deep, man was it cold! It was a gorgeous day, and we spent a few miles meandering along Gulf Hagas Brook, before going up Gulf Hagas Mountain where we had our first view of Katahdin! Then up White Cap, with even more wonderous views of the Big K and the flat valley we would be traversing before we got there. We hit a random woods road around 5pm only to find two 2005 thru-hikers who we had hiked with in Georgia setting up to do a little trail magic! How great is that
Day #4 was mostly flat and mellow terrain and we cruised along, passing many ponds along the way. We had the best campsite ever, once again alone, on a sand beach on Lower Jo-Mary Lake. We watched the sun set, and then the next morning, the sun rise, from our tent. A pair of loons floated by in the early morning light.
Day #5 had us heading on a blue-blaze to White House Landing, a wonderful oasis, where hosts Linda and Bill ferried us across the lake in their boat, made us a big pizza for lunch, chatted with us as we all sat in the sun under blue skies, looking down the sloped grassy lawn to the lake. We were more than able to resupply there for the next two days into Abol Bridge, they had all a hiker needed. Perfect. Around 1pm, we finally got back on the trail and pushed to yet another quiet night with just the two of us at our spot along Crescent Pond.
It was 39 degrees in the tent when we awoke on Day #6. Brrr! The trail followed Rainbow Stream and then Rainbow Lake, before taking us up over Rainbow Ledges, with yet again, great views of Katahdin. From there, it was a pretty easy 5+ miles into Abol Bridge. The Bridge itself held even an more iconic view of Katahdin over the Penobscot River. We settled in at Abol Pines, which seems a great state-run campsite. As ME residents, it was only $4 pp/per night. We caught up with 4 of the thru-hikers we had met on our first night out, and all settled in with some beer and food from the campstore across the street.
Day #7 - it was yet again 39 degrees in the tent, but we were in no hurry today. Only a mellow 9.9 miles into Baxter. So we lounged and had coffee from the store in the sun, before heading out. The trail meandered along the Penobscot for 4 miles before turning, and taking us along the Nesowadnehunk, where we stopped for lunch on the rocks in the sun, and enjoyed Lower and Upper Niagara Falls. We started to run into day hikers around the falls - we couldn't have smelled good after 7 days out but everyone was friendly! Then a few more miles along Daicey, Tracey and Eddy Ponds, before we arrived at Katahdin Stream Campground. The place was packed. A beautiful Saturday in September around 3pm - yup, I can see why! We checked in and headed to the 'long distance hiker' campground, the Birches, down the road, where we had a roaring fire on our last night out.
Of course, as is appropriate since we started on Springer in the fog and mist and clouds, it was foggy and misty and cloudy and windy as we headed out on Day #8 up Katahdin. The going was slow and it was cold once we reached the exposed rocks above treeline. When we finally reached the Tablelands, we were so excited to have only 1 mile left! But that mile seemed to take forever. On and on, up and up, we went. We couldn't see a thing. Then finally, the sign appeared through the mist, and we heard the whoops of joy from our thru-hikers friends as they reached the top. Then it was our turn, and we were there! Woohoo! Katahdin!
It was a great moment, and lots of fun to be on top with the 6 thru-hikers we had hiked up with. Lots of laughter and tears and joy and many, many photos! And that was it, on Sunday, September 21, we finished our hike of the AT Done. The End. What an awesome adventure!
We took lots of photos on this trip. It was just so beautiful in the Wilderness, and of course, wonderful to get up onto Katahdin. So, here they are!
It started to rain on us about three miles into the first day, but it did make the three fords seem a bit less cold. We were wet all over, so what was a bit more water?! We took off our boots for the first two, and then ended up sloshing through the last in our boots. We spent the night with 5 thru-hikers at Long Pond Stream Lean-to.
The next morning, Day #2, dawned foggy and misty, as we headed up over the Barren/Chairback Range. The route was slick and rocky. Things finally cleared in the early afternoon and we did get a few views off Chairback Mountain. This was definitely our toughest day and our 13.6 miles took a long while.
We stayed the night alone at the edge of East Chairback Pond, and awoke on Day #3 to cool, clear blue skies. As we headed down to the Pleasant River at the edge of Gulf Hagas, we had one more ford ahead, and although only shin deep, man was it cold! It was a gorgeous day, and we spent a few miles meandering along Gulf Hagas Brook, before going up Gulf Hagas Mountain where we had our first view of Katahdin! Then up White Cap, with even more wonderous views of the Big K and the flat valley we would be traversing before we got there. We hit a random woods road around 5pm only to find two 2005 thru-hikers who we had hiked with in Georgia setting up to do a little trail magic! How great is that
Day #4 was mostly flat and mellow terrain and we cruised along, passing many ponds along the way. We had the best campsite ever, once again alone, on a sand beach on Lower Jo-Mary Lake. We watched the sun set, and then the next morning, the sun rise, from our tent. A pair of loons floated by in the early morning light.
Day #5 had us heading on a blue-blaze to White House Landing, a wonderful oasis, where hosts Linda and Bill ferried us across the lake in their boat, made us a big pizza for lunch, chatted with us as we all sat in the sun under blue skies, looking down the sloped grassy lawn to the lake. We were more than able to resupply there for the next two days into Abol Bridge, they had all a hiker needed. Perfect. Around 1pm, we finally got back on the trail and pushed to yet another quiet night with just the two of us at our spot along Crescent Pond.
It was 39 degrees in the tent when we awoke on Day #6. Brrr! The trail followed Rainbow Stream and then Rainbow Lake, before taking us up over Rainbow Ledges, with yet again, great views of Katahdin. From there, it was a pretty easy 5+ miles into Abol Bridge. The Bridge itself held even an more iconic view of Katahdin over the Penobscot River. We settled in at Abol Pines, which seems a great state-run campsite. As ME residents, it was only $4 pp/per night. We caught up with 4 of the thru-hikers we had met on our first night out, and all settled in with some beer and food from the campstore across the street.
Day #7 - it was yet again 39 degrees in the tent, but we were in no hurry today. Only a mellow 9.9 miles into Baxter. So we lounged and had coffee from the store in the sun, before heading out. The trail meandered along the Penobscot for 4 miles before turning, and taking us along the Nesowadnehunk, where we stopped for lunch on the rocks in the sun, and enjoyed Lower and Upper Niagara Falls. We started to run into day hikers around the falls - we couldn't have smelled good after 7 days out but everyone was friendly! Then a few more miles along Daicey, Tracey and Eddy Ponds, before we arrived at Katahdin Stream Campground. The place was packed. A beautiful Saturday in September around 3pm - yup, I can see why! We checked in and headed to the 'long distance hiker' campground, the Birches, down the road, where we had a roaring fire on our last night out.
Of course, as is appropriate since we started on Springer in the fog and mist and clouds, it was foggy and misty and cloudy and windy as we headed out on Day #8 up Katahdin. The going was slow and it was cold once we reached the exposed rocks above treeline. When we finally reached the Tablelands, we were so excited to have only 1 mile left! But that mile seemed to take forever. On and on, up and up, we went. We couldn't see a thing. Then finally, the sign appeared through the mist, and we heard the whoops of joy from our thru-hikers friends as they reached the top. Then it was our turn, and we were there! Woohoo! Katahdin!
It was a great moment, and lots of fun to be on top with the 6 thru-hikers we had hiked up with. Lots of laughter and tears and joy and many, many photos! And that was it, on Sunday, September 21, we finished our hike of the AT
Done. The End. What an awesome adventure!We took lots of photos on this trip. It was just so beautiful in the Wilderness, and of course, wonderful to get up onto Katahdin. So, here they are!
