June 20
End: Wassataquoik Lean-to, IAT
Miles: 21.7
Total: 4061.4
I woke up to Iceman’s sister leaving the truck and starting the climb up Katahdin. Both she and Iceman’s dad were going to climb Katahdin with us, and I guess that she wanted a head start. After awhile the rest of us got up and started off.
I cannot overstate how nervous I was. The climb was long and steep, and I was carrying about five days worth of food. The other guys were carrying very little as they were just coming back down to the truck after they finished the trail.
I just walked along with the others at the beginning. We knew that Roarshack and Gadget were also summiting that morning. They were supposedly thru-hikers, but I wasn’t so sure. Of course there was no official way to tell, for better or worse.
Pretty soon Viking took off and I attempted to follow. I was able to keep up for awhile, but eventually he went on ahead as I stopped to take a quick break. The trail had become a lot of rock climbing, which took me some time to do. Of course it goes without saying that the trail had also been carefully blazed right on a stream so that hikers could enjoy the possibility of slipping off one of the bigger rocks.
I came across Iceman’s sister at some point, and kept on going. I was impressed that someone who had not been hiking every day could climb as far as she did as quickly as she did, but the worst was still to come. I continued my slow ascent up the mountain and then hit the really fun stuff.
The trail came up out of the trees and embarked on an ambitious climb up large piles of boulders and giant slabs of rock. Of course the wind was howling and this portion of the trail was pretty difficult for someone with a bulging pack. Nevertheless I slowly climbed each rock, determined to keep moving.
At some point Iceman caught up and it was only a minute or two before I told him to go ahead since he could climb much quicker than I. I had no real concept of the mileage on the mountain, but thought that I must be about halfway to Baxter Peak.
The boulder climbing probably reduced me to about a third of my usual hiking speed, but I persevered. I was definitely glad that we were tackling Katahdin in the early morning instead of after a full day. Eventually I arrived at the Tablelands, a pretty flat area of the mountain near the summit.
I pressed on eagerly, counting each footstep as a blessing since I was walking on pretty level ground. I thought perhaps that I would reach the peak soon, but it still eluded me.
Finally I reached Thoreau Spring, which lies just a mile before the summit. I pressed on through the chilling wind and gradually climbed upwards along the stone staircases created by dedicated trail maintainers.
Finally I heard voices and saw the sign at the summit just ahead! I strode up the last few steps and saw Viking, Iceman, and two other guys all huddled behind rocks, trying to stay warm in the cold air and merciless wind. It felt great to be at the end of the Appalachian Trail, but we couldn’t see anything and were a little unhappy with the freezing weather.
Originally we had talked about doing the very harsh and difficult Knife’s Edge together. That plan was booted forcefully aside as we sat at the summit freezing our butts off. We got a few pictures and then Iceman and Viking headed back down the Hunt Trail, which we had just climbed up from the campground. I looked at my trail directions and then opted for the Saddle Trail, which was a familiar name and which eventually led to Chimney Pond, which I knew I was supposed to hike past.
What ensued afterwards was an upsetting event. I tried to follow the directions, but it was too difficult because I wasn’t starting on the Northwest Basin Trail, which supposedly was at Baxter Peak somewhere. I ended up doing a little loop on some sort of Cathedral Cut-Off Trail, climbing back up the mountain, almost all the way to the peak. Frustrated, I just took the Saddle Trail all the way down to Chimney Pond.
And boy was it down from Baxter Peak. The trail was all rocks, and the descent was steep. I took my sweet time, as there was no way that I was going to get injured minutes after completing the Appalachian Trail. It took forever, but finally I got down to Chimney Pond.
From there I walked trails to Roaring Brook Campground, followed by a short road walk, and then the little used and poorly maintained Katahdin Lake trails. There was incredibly deep mud crossable only on flimsy and dated wooden beams, followed by thick and overgrown tall grass. One of the only things keeping me interested was following the blue blazes, which just felt so dirty after having followed white blazes religiously for so long, always shunning the blue-blazed side trails.
I arrived at Katahdin Lake Wilderness Camps, got some water, and then headed out on possibly the poorest trail in Baxter State Park, the South Katahdin Lake Trail. The trail was overgrown up to my head in some places and very muddy. There were hardly any blazes, and after I got out to an old logging road there were no markings whatsoever.
I walked for a mile or two wondering if I was still on the trail, and almost turned back twice. Soon enough I arrived at the edge of Baxter State Park, where I snidely dropped the paper most thru-hikers give to a ranger at the main gate as they leave into a little box meant for some other documentation.
Right there was a sign marking the southern terminus of the International Appalachian Trail! I was happy to see it, as it meant the trail might be well-marked, and at least I was on a continuous trail instead of the many connections leading from the end of the Appalachian Trail to the International Appalachian Trail.
Off I went on the old logging road, and soon found a blaze showing me a turn to another old logging road. Glad to see the blaze, I followed. Some of these old logging roads supposedly had names, but in reality most of them had probably not been driven in some time, and none had any street markings.
I followed the blazes as they wound through several of these roads, then came to a difficult brook crossing. I really didn’t want to ford it, and there was a small tree trunk extending across. I attempted to sit and scoot across it, but couldn’t manage it. I looked over at a different spot, then came back to the trunk and managed to cross the brook by crawling across the trunk on my stomach.
I did more roads, then finally came to the first shelter that is right on the IAT! It was very nice, and I sat inside and then opted for a nap. I was tired and I didn’t feel like pushing myself on the day which started with a summit of Baxter Peak.
Mosquitos and black flies bothered me a bit, but I enjoyed my rest. I just lay there for hours, basking in my accomplishments, but also missing my friends from the AT. I read over the shelter log and was impressed by how many folks had hiked on the trail, though the numbers were nothing compared to the Appalachian Trail, of course. I did dinner and then bed. A few hours rest was my reward for completing the AT in three months.
