Spongebob on Katahdin -- The lists are done!!

[LauraM]

Congrats to Spongebob!! He finished his New England 100 Highest and his Northeast 115 Highest lists this past Monday at Mt. Katahdin. All this one week after he finished his ADK 46. I was happy to be there!! What a great day, with great weather, to be at the top of Maine.

Labor Day it was -- After getting to the gate at 3am (#3 in line!), we did the big loop from Roaring Brook (Babbling Brook??). We first walked the boardwalks to Chimney Pond, just to check it out. We had met Harry K, Dawn, Tom, Patty, Jean and Natalie in the parking lot -- we hooked up with them to hike up to Hamlin, Spongebob's 114th and Harry K's 115th (see related thread). We left the crew to party on Hamlin (Not that Harry likes to party or anything....or needs an excuse!) and headed up to Baxter Peak for the crowning glory. Beautiful views greeted us -- what a mountain!! After a quick jaunt across the Knife Edge (in Japan, the hand can be used like a knife -- but not on a 25 cent brownie!) we headed back to Roaring Brook.

Way to go, Adrian, so glad I was along for the trip. I'm glad, too, as a fellow Mainer, that you saved the best mountain for last. Words escape me, so I'll just say, "Congratulations, Sucker!"

Laura

 

[hikethe115]

Congratulations Adrian! I'm glad we could help you celebrate once again. Of course Spongebob was celebrating a little early on Hamlin in anticipation:

 

[MichaelJ]

I've said it before ... I'll say it again ...

[size=large]Congratulations![/size]

Way to go - that's an awesome accomplishment.

The Sponge Bob, on the other hand, looks like he needs some help...

 

[SherpaKroto]

Adrian, Well done. hope to run into you again soon. I'll need help on my 115, so let's got out there.

Now Laura, I was shocked to see that as a Mainer you referred to Katahdin as Mt Katahdin. As I'm sure you know, it's Katahdin, "Greatest Mountain", plain and simple As your punishment for this social gaffe, you get 2 demerits and must climb it again

 

[donna]

Way to go! Congratulations to all and sounds like a really fun weekend.

 

[spongebob]

Can I cut and paste on what I wrote last week about the 46 in the Adirondacks or say ditto?? Darn it all right............

Thanks Laura!

Even though you and HarryK are in the cool group of VFFT’ers. It was fun seeing HarryK, Tom, Dawn, Patti, and I guess Laura. I thought it was smart to piggyback on to Harryk’s celebration to get some people up there, so it looked like I had some friends.

I will say that was the best hike I have done period. Going to Chimney pond then up to Hamlin. Celebrating with HarryK for his 115 on Hamlin……(Even though I did have to carry my own beer from Hamlin to Katahdin HarryK since you were on the hiking disabled list from the North Brother pole incident)…Scooting over to Katahdin. Near the summit feeling my legs getting tired. Going over knifes edge to Pamola and down Helon Taylor trail. That is an awesome hike. Oh and finishing the New England 100 highest and North East 115 at the same time in two years and a month is pretty neato too!

Boring background info……………

I will say this has been the coolest adventure I have gotten myself into. Well besides that whole Swedish Volleyball team summer tour back in 1994…..But hiking is cool. This all started for me back in on the July Fourth weekend on 2002. My brother Andrew who hiked the AT back in 1996 and I drove up the Auto road of Mt Washington. It was super windy on the summit and fogged in. We hiked over to Eisenhower and back to Washington. I got no views and I was totally ruined physically for about a week. But I thought it was fun. (Of course later on I found out it wasn’t legal to count those peaks as climbed.) I did Old Speck in Maine about a month later with my friend Eric.(it probably took my out of shape body to recover.) I remember this guy on the summit he was doing this list, and he was a 63. That seemed like a ton of mountains to me. I went on another hike, but this time by myself.(Lincoln & Lafayette), and my brother Andrew kept on talking about how he wants to climb this mountain and that mountain. And then I said to myself I am going to do the New England 100 highest in two years. I had no idea how hard or easy it would be. So there it was….A goal that I set for myself. Of course that first fall of hiking entailed hiking in my running sneakers and a book bag stuffed with fleece and safety gear, and my usual junk food. Hiking to Owlshead with a flag on the 48 for the September 11, 2002 (on 09/14) remembrance with a family members beat up American flag who very recently passed away of cancer. This made my Mom happy. Over the winter my brother started talking about the Adirondacks in New York and this North East 111(115) list. So being stupid I threw that list into my arbitrary two year goal time frame. Yet again not knowing what this entailed. I did a sick amount of mountains in May to November of 2003, and loved every minute of it. I got to see some awesome countryside just from the drives. My skills as a hiker improved. The hikes were awesome. My Honda civic went places that it should not have gone and made it thru. I came across some people along the way that called me a peak bagger(being derogatory). All I know is I enjoyed this adventure the whole way. All the small injuries, getting lost finding trailheads, exploring four states, seeing interesting wildlife, getting to buy gear were all fun things. But luck struck again and I went to Alaska to see my Brother Andrew and his girlfriend in early summer of this year. Changing all my plans I laid out for hikes this year. Because I met some really nice people near the end of these hikes that made it feel good. Saving Katahdin for last seems so right now, as it was a build up to everything I had done before.

Thanks,
Adrian

 

[PJS]

Oh Sponge!!! Err... I mean Bob!!!
Well, whatever it is... Adrian!!
Another hearty congrats to you! So glad to share the celebration even if it was a few feet shy of the summit. We were certainly with you in spirit.

Quite the feat to set and complete the goal so diligently. Thanks for sharing your tale of growth and love of the hills. It's been great to get to know you VFTT folks. I'm becoming a believer. (Any more of that Boo beer around?)
Hope to see you out there some more now that I TOO have committed to the 4k footers!
-Patti

 

[Blue]

more!

Yeah Spongebob - great mountain to finish on!

Now, can we talk you into Winter NH48?

come on, you know you want to... the woodstock inn is calling!

-Liza

 

[Tuco]

Hey Adrian, nice job. What will you do next year??

Perhaps you can go into further detail later on the whole Swedish volleyball thing.....

 

[JimB]

Congratulations Adrian, you are one hiking machine. The day I hiked with you and Laura you were doing a death march that wasn't even on the list Way to set a goal and go for it.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Congrats to all of you for finishing various lists in BSP; Katahdin rules!

 

[LauraM]

Thank you, Sherpa, I stand corrected!! It is the Greatest Mountain -- and, of course, it is in Maine, the way life should be!!

Laura

 

[twigeater]

Congrats!

but what does this mean?

We first walked the boardwalks to Chimney Pond, just to check it out.

did you mean Sandy Stream Pond?