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Day 121

Dec 4th, 2009 by athazard

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 121: September 7, 2009
Travel:
From: Hurd Brook Lean-to, ME
To: Katahdin Stream Campground; Millinocket, ME
Beginning: 8:00am
Ending: 2:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 13.4
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 2173.0 cumulative.
Weather: AM & PM: Fridged cold night and morning. Sunny and warm the rest if the day.
People: MATC Ridgerunner Mike?, Nick’s parents
Animals: Mosquitoes!?
Money: .79 bananas, Dinner and hotel room gratis. $2142 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: I woke up to find my watch, which had been reduced to just the timepiece the past couple of months, completely dead. I don’t know if it was the incredibly cold night we had last night or it just had enough of the trail. Either way, today was our last day before our summit and I was feeling great. I was pretty lazy getting ready to go while Nick, who was meeting his parents today, basically said, “I’ll see you guys in Millinocket!” and took off. It took about an hour to reach the sign telling me I was leaving the 100-mile wilderness and had reached Golden Road. The road wasn’t very helpful in figuring out which way to go but then I saw the white blaze painted on the pavement and headed toward Abol Bridge. I was treated to another breathtaking view of Mt. Katahdin from the bridge. I saw Spoon and Crocstar exiting the campstore just on the other side of the bridge so I walked over with a big smile on my face. I couldn’t stop being excited about being here on the approach to the finish line. Crocstar left pretty quickly while Spoon and I hung around and talked to the MATC caretaker stationed at Abol Bridge Campground. He gave us “the talk” warning us of everything we would encounter while in Baxter State Park and on our summit climb of Katahdin. He walked with us for about a quarter mile until we got to the registration station where we signed in to enter Baxter State Park. The mosquitoes, which we haven’t dealt with in a long time, were out in full force biting us relentlessly. The MATC guide had a theory that the extraordinary rainy month of June caused an extended breeding season and a late hatching. This was also a reason for the lack of moose in the area since the mountaintop vegetation stayed greener longer and they didn’t need to come down into the valley. We couldn’t stand around for more than a few seconds without the mosquitoes eating us alive so we had to say goodbye to the MATC guide and get moving. The next 10 miles were super easy as we followed Abol Stream to Katahdin Stream and then gained a little elevation as we got closer to the campgrounds. The closer I got the more I saw signs leading an alternate route to Katahdin Stream Campground other than the AT but being this close and never cutting corners before I had to stick to the trail and literally go the extra mile. I came out of the woods onto a dirt road where hikers spend their final steps on the trail before the climb to the top of Mt. Katahdin and hiked into the campground to sign in at the Ranger station.

PM: The other guys had already checked in making me the 240th northbound thru-hiker to reach the base of Katahdin. The ranger took my information and handed me my permit that would let me reenter the park tomorrow morning without having to pay the gate fee. Spoon was waiting outside and we walked over to the road to hitch a ride into Millinocket. Since everyone that leaves the park almost always go through Millinocket to get to the main highway, people didn’t have too much of an excuse to deny us the 25 mile ride. A pickup truck finally stopped and let us hop in the back after a bunch of people pretty much left us hanging because they didn’t want to give us a ride. Empty cars full of excuses. We got dropped off at the Econolodge and walked in to find the room that Nick told us his parents had reserved. Nick and Crocstar were relaxing in the room with the TV blasting and food spread out all over the place. Nick’s parents had brought us all clean changes of clothes so one by one we got cleaned up and ready to eventually go out to eat. That hotel room built up a funk from all of us so bad that we had to open up windows and doors to get some breathable air flowing. We got to meet Nick’s folks who treated us to dinner at the Appalachian Trail Cafe which featured Katahdin Burgers that resembled the size of the actual mountain. We stuffed ourselves silly while Nick had a salmon fillet since he was already getting back into his healthy eating and living habits which annoyed Spoon a great deal especially when Nick started doing pushups and crunches at the end of each day. Once we were done eating the only thing we wanted to do was to take advantage of the hot tub at the hotel and lucky for us Nick’s parents had brought us all bathing suits as well. Aren’t they awesome? Soaking in the hot tub for awhile, thinking about all the crazy things that got us all the way to this point, I could help but fell an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. All four of us had overcome tons of obstacles and beat the odds to not only get all the way to Katahdin but to do so in record time. The only thing that was left was our hardest challenge yet. Katahdin stands alone as the hardest mountain on the AT packing in 4,000 feet of elevation gain in 5 miles. Our only reprieve was that we could pick up daypacks from the ranger station to use instead of our normal heavy backpacks. Nick wanted us to all be up at 4:30 am so we could get to the park gates when they opened at 5:00 am to beat the crowds. There is limited parking in Baxter and it was the day after Labor Day weekend so it was a good idea to be cautious. Back at the hotel room we watched some more TV, checked emails, and surfed the web on my iPod with the hotel’s Wifi and then passed out in anticipation of our final day on the trail.

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