9/7/2023: Mt. Katahdin

On September 7th, 2023, at 4:30 am, I woke up in the Birches shelter in Baxter State Park. I stuffed my sleeping bag; I deflated my sleeping pad. I changed into my hiking outfit for the last time. And, for the first time, I put on a certain bracelet.

Way back in Georgia, in the days before I started my thru-hike, my cousin Ava had made me a bracelet on her Rainbow Loom. She had specifically told me I didn’t have to wear it because it would get dirty. But I had carried it with me all the way to Maine, and now, I was going to wear it up Katahdin.

As I packed everything up, I separated my gear into two categories: everything I was going to carry up the mountain, like food and my raincoat, and all of my overnight stuff, which I put in a separate pack that the BSP ranger had provided. The vast majority of hikers, even us strong, grizzled NOBOs, slackpack Katahdin, since it’s a very difficult climb and because we can. There were no more overnights to prepare for; this was essentially just a day hike. But what a day hike it would be. Katahdin had been repeatedly described as the single hardest climb on the AT, and I didn’t doubt it. We’d be finishing with a bang. As for just how hard it would be…it was time for me to find out.

I left the Birches at 5:15 am, my earliest start ever. No time like the present! There were thunderstorms in the forecast that afternoon, and I wanted to give myself plenty of time to summit and get off the mountain before those came in. When I dropped my bag off by the ranger station, I was shocked to see that all the other folks staying at the Birches and Katahdin Stream Campground had left already! I was the last to start (except for Peace Pipe, a notoriously late riser). Oh well. I figured that I would be able to catch up to some of them.

Headlamp on, I started up the Hunt Trail, the AT’s route up Katahdin, at 5:30 am. The first mile of the trail was a super chill approach trail paralleling Katahdin Stream, and leading up to Katahdin Stream Falls. The falls were more spectacular than I could’ve imagined! It was a powerful, satisfying waterfall for the last one on the trail.

I made sure to use the final privy on the AT near the falls. You don’t want to chance anything before you go above treeline for so long! Then it was time to climb for real. It got a lot steeper after the falls, but still wasn’t too tough, with relatively smooth terrain. I knew it would get much, much harder once I hit treeline. I passed a couple of intrepid day hikers, giving them encouragement, but there was still no sign of my fellow thru-hikers.

Then, all of a sudden, I came face to face with some giant boulders. I was still among the trees, and the rocks took me by surprise! It took some thought and effort to scramble over the boulder problems. It made for a good “warmup” – a tougher one than I expected!

The sun was rising as I reached treeline, and I was greeted with amazing views of the peaks to the northwest in Baxter. I couldn’t believe how many beautiful mountains there were! In my head, it had seemed that BSP was Katahdin and then pretty much flat around it, but no. The other peaks I could see had such character. I wished I could identify them all, but I wasn’t familiar with them going in! The only one I could recognize was the Owl in the foreground, which I had seen on the map and had seen trail signs for. It looked pretty big itself, although it was amusing how much it receded as I continued to climb and it was dwarfed by Katahdin. The weather was awesome so far; it was pleasantly cool, and it was clear enough to see everything, including some interesting and intermittent clouds among the peaks. And it was about to get a lot more fun.

In addition to sweeping views, treeline also greeted me with some more BIG, BIG rocks. I was awed to see the boulders and rock faces before me, and feel the true scale of this mountain. I was looking forward to fun scrambles, and rebar ladders. Some people had talked about the “no rebar challenge” going up Katahdin, so I expected to see a lot of it, which I fully intended to use. I didn’t think I needed to make the climb any harder than it needed to be. Plus I think climbing rebar is really fun.

It’s always a fun sign when you get to stow your trekking poles. As I was putting them away to start scrambling, I heard someone say, “Shaggy…” Finally, another thru-hiker! It was Ellie. I had met her the previous morning. She is a multiple-time AT thru-hiker who was finishing her third(!) thru-hike 25 years after her first one. However, she’s also seriously afraid of heights. She had confided the previous night that Katahdin had always posed a major difficulty for her for this reason. When I ran into her, she was clearly not having a good time. Ellie let me go ahead, and we both set off on the craziest, scrambliest, final climb on the AT.

Soon, I reached the first rebar ladder. That might be overstating it; it was really just a single piece of rebar jammed into the rock at a particularly large, tricky ledge. It was indeed a tough problem even with the rebar, and I felt both excitement and apprehension for what I was getting myself into. I had gotten myself up and over and was continuing on when I heard Ellie behind me, below the rebar.

“This might be it for me, Shaggy…I might have to turn back,” Ellie said.

Oh no you don’t, I thought. The thought of someone coming this far, being this close to summiting Mama K and finishing their (third!!) thru-hike, and giving up now, didn’t sit right with me. I didn’t want that to happen at all. I wanted everyone to make it; we were all in this journey together! Immediately my plans changed. I had wanted to catch up to more of my friends to summit, but this felt much more important. “Let me help you,” I told Ellie. “We can do it together!” It meant slowing down a lot, I knew, but I was more than happy to. Making sure we both made it to the top, to the end of our thru-hikes, rather than me getting there an hour earlier or whatever, was the easiest choice in the world.

I took Ellie’s pack up first, then gave her a hand as she made it up the first rebar. Together, Ellie and I set off up the tough miles of the Hunt Trail to the Gateway. It was a great bonding experience to share the climb with Ellie! I had a really good time talking with her about our lives and work and more as we climbed. Ellie said I had a “calming energy.” I was so glad to be both moral and physical support as we went. She also said, unprompted, that I would make a good dad someday :’) That really meant a lot.

I love a good rock scramble. The climb had its tough moments, but on the whole, it didn’t feel thaat hard. I was expecting a lot more rebar; in fact, there were only a few instances, right at the beginning of the climb. Those were the hardest parts, though. As it turned out, that first rebar problem ended up being the trickiest spot of them all. I took Ellie’s pack a few more times, and provided handholds many times. I had to take my own pack off once to squeeze through a particularly narrow passage. (I didn’t even have to do that for the Lemon Squeezer in NY, and that was with a full pack!) The climb would have been a lot worse with a full pack; I was glad to have left most of my gear back at the bottom. The good weather conditions also helped; I can imagine it would be terrifying and miserable in poor weather. Is Katahdin the hardest climb on the AT? Objectively, probably. Considering the circumstances, though, I had definitely had tougher climbs on my trek.

Ellie and I stopped for a snack break on the Hunt Spur, a flat section in between the two tough parts. It was a perfect place for a reprieve from the steep miles. Geo caught up to us and passed us; it was great to see another familiar face! As we continued on, we even found one last patch of wild blueberries to snack on. We also saw at least five slugs on the way up; Ellie helped relocate them to safer areas. We saw a couple pretty birds too. It all felt very appropriate for Maine – this was indeed still another Maine mountain!

But what a mountain it was. The whole time, I was completely caught up in the beauty and glory of this mountain and the surrounding views. It was hard to even think of this as the end of the AT journey. I was very aware as I climbed that I was not thinking about my hike as a whole, and my thru-hike coming to a close, and processing everything that came with that. But I was totally fine with this. I was so happy to just take it all in, and loved reveling in Katahdin. Katahdin was well on its way to becoming my favorite mountain ever.

As we ascended from the Spur, the fog came. A huge fog bank starting rolling up from the valleys. I couldn’t believe how fast it was moving. It was awe-inspiring and cool to witness, but it was disappointing, too. I didn’t want it to cover us and obscure this beautiful day. It seemed my luck had finally run out. So much for a sunny Katahdin summit.

Then, as quickly as it arrived, the fog receded. It never quite reached our level, and I was relieved to finish the major climb in the clear.

There we were, at the Gateway. The Tablelands stretched out before us, a majestic plateau that made it hard to believe how far we had just climbed. The hard part was over. Ellie and I had made it together. Ellie was so, so grateful for my help on the climb. “The only reason I made it up Katahdin was because of Shaggy,” she said later :’) It was the least I could do. I truly had such a good time hiking with her and sharing such an amazing experience.

Now, I set off at my own pace. The Tablelands reminded me a lot of the Presidentials, with their terrain and alpine vegetation; really, the whole mountain did. After the big climb, the Tablelands were flatter and easier, but there were still one and a half miles left until the summit. Only one and a half miles left. At this point, since I wasn’t focused on climbing, I could in fact think about the end of the AT. It started to sink in a bit. It was bittersweet, for sure. I was so excited to reach the summit of this amazing mountain, but I knew that would mean it was over. Six incredible months had led up to this final mile, and it was worth every step.

While the thick fog had not risen to the level of the Tablelands, we were in and out of light clouds at this elevation as I traversed across the plateau. The clouds raced by, reducing my visibility to only fifty feet or so, then completely opening up to reveal the surroundings, and a group of people I could see clustered near the summit. It felt like a coin toss whether I’d have any views when I reached the top. Oh well. At this point, I was more than satisfied with what I had gotten on such a beautiful, wonderful morning.

I passed by Holy Shit, Terry, and Juno as they returned from the peak – newly minted thru-hikers!! I was so excited for them. Now it was my turn. There was one more little climb, a few more boulders to hop up, and then there would be the summit.

I had long wondered what emotions I would be feeling as I summited Katahdin to finish my thru-hike. Would I cry seeing the iconic summit sign? How would it feel to climb atop it? How would the final steps of the 2,200-mile journey feel? I certainly expected a mix of emotions. As I crested the final ridge and caught my first clear view of the sign in the distance, my breath caught too. There it was! It was time.

I was not as emotional as I expected as I joined the group of people spread out around the summit. All I felt was excitement and exhilaration. Geo was up there already, and besides him, a bunch of day hikers who had taken various trails to the top. I was impressed that so many people were already there. Amazingly, the clouds had cleared and the sun was shining for the big moment. Before I approached and faced the sign, I collected myself and my thoughts.

At around 10:30 am, I summitted Mt. Katahdin. I was officially an AT thru-hiker!

I paid my respects to the summit sign. I clambered aboard. I raised my arms in triumph. Then I took a bunch of classic pose pics. I even let loose my Shaggy impression that I had been workshopping for this moment. It felt awesome. Again, I barely even processed it as the end of this massive trek, just the top of an amazing, beautiful climb. It did feel pretty cool to finally see that sign, and be on the other side of the pictures after seeing so many Katahdin pics in the past.

In the meantime…WOW. The views from the summit were spectacular. Looking down into the Great Basin to the northeast was jawdropping. The iconic Knife’s Edge stretched off to the east away from the summit in intimidating fashion. It looked so sick!! I was very tempted to do it with the weather seeming so nice, but for all I knew, there were still thunderstorms in the forecast for the afternoon, and I did not want to get caught. Plus, I had made a plan to get picked up at the bottom of the Abol Trail, and I wanted to stick to it. I’ll have to do Knife’s Edge someday – it just gives me a reason to come back! Not that I needed another reason. Katahdin means “greatest mountain” in Abenaki, and it absolutely lived up to that moniker. It is definitely my favorite mountain of all time now.

I stayed up at the summit for an hour, eating lunch and enjoying every second of it. What were my emotions like throughout this time? Nothing but elation. I was on top of the world!! While I was up there, I met no fewer than FOUR thru-hikers that I hadn’t met yet, at the eleventh hour. Part of me couldn’t believe it, but in a way, it felt very fitting. I met someone new almost every day on the trail. Why not meet some more folks right at the end of our journey? There was Finder, a couple from London named Darren and Sarah, and Dimwit. Remember when I thought I was done meeting new people at Shaw’s? Ha!

But finally, it was time to head down the mountain. It was hard to leave the summit. It felt more real then, that my thru-hike was truly over, that this was it. Plus it was so beautiful that I didn’t want to go. I said my silent goodbyes to the summit sign, and in that moment, as I put my hand on the sign to pay my respects one last time, I finally did feel a little emotional. The whole weight and meaning of this amazing, dramatic experience, half a year in the making, hit me. Ok, that’s not even close to true. But I felt like I got an inkling, a hint of what it was like to reckon with the AT, all 2200 miles, all the wonderful and difficult and unexpected experiences, all at once. That was the hardest moment for me, as I prepared to leave the summit I had traveled so far to reach. Then, I started down the mountain.

The moment passed quickly and I was in great spirits as I hiked on. Not long after I left the summit, I ran into Dimwit. He had left the summit before me, but now he was heading back in the opposite direction. “Uh oh,” I said. “What happened?” I fully expected that he had forgotten something at the top. The truth was much, much better. “I need more vert,” Dimwit said. Huh?? Dimwit explained to me that he and his brother had a thing where, if they did 20 miles of distance and 1 mile of elevation change in a single day, it was a “big boy hike.” So he had gone back half a mile and was returning to the summit to get the extra elevation he needed to make his day a “big boy hike.” This was the most delightful, whimsical thing I had ever heard. The idea of going to all the trouble to do a “big boy hike,” on the last day of thru-hiking the AT(!!) – the biggest-boy hike of them all! – was soo funny to me. Dimwit was quite the character. The people were always the best part of my thru-hike, and it was such a treat to meet such dynamic, memorable, and inspiring people in the trail community.

I traversed back over the Tablelands, passing Peace Pipe on his way up. Now it was me celebrating my completed thru-hike, and Peace Pipe on his final mile. He was so excited to be finishing and thrilled about the beautiful climb, just as I had been. I congratulated him and encouraged him for the final steps! It was cool to be on the other side of that interaction.

Finally, I reached Thoreau Spring, where Henry David Thoreau had reached and written about when he climbed Katahdin – prior to any of the modern trails, which must have been quite the feat. (The spring is more like a small pool coming up from under a rock. Drinking the water is not recommended; use only as a last resort.) But more importantly, it represented my turnoff to take the Abol Trail down rather than continuing back on the Hunt Trail. It represented leaving the AT for good.

I found my final white blaze by the spring, and said my goodbyes to the AT. I am so thankful for all the trail gave me. Then I turned left.

Soon it was time to begin the descent in earnest. I found Ellie again right before the steep drop-off of the Abol Trail. She was feeling a lot better about the descent, and we were both in good spirits as we set off down the trail together. The Abol Trail seemed possibly even steeper than the Hunt Trail as it went straight down the side of Katahdin. It was breathtaking, and pretty intimidating! The trail seemed easier than Hunt in the end, though. There was a lot of butt-sliding down rocks, tossing trekking poles down ledges first, and getting confused about where the trail went. Compared to the AT, the blue blazes here felt a lot harder to follow!

Ellie and I again had a good time chatting as we hiked. She told me about her family’s numerous connections to Harvard, and I said I had gone to school just down the street at MIT. Right then, a voice called out from above: “Wait, did you study physics and linguistics??”

It was Dimwit, who had caught up to us after getting his requisite vert. I was shocked. “Yeah, I did!” How did he know? At the summit, Dimwit had looked really familiar to me – but that was a very common experience for me on the trail, and I had learned not to even ask. My facial recognition had gone completely haywire in the relative isolation of the AT. This time, did I finally actually know someone without realizing it?

But alas, Dimwit was not a fellow MIT alum, and I had not met him before. The truth was perhaps even more unlikely. First of all, Dimwit had also studied physics and linguistics in college! And waay back in Harper’s Ferry, he had also spoken to the “humans of the AT” guy doing interviews with thru-hikers. The interviewer had remembered that unusual combination of fields and told Dimwit about me. I was so impressed that he had remembered that about me weeks after I had been there, and that Dimwit had remembered it himself up until we met, on the last day of our hikes, months later! It was so serendipitous. Dimwit was so excited to meet me and never expected to cross paths. I was so excited to make this miraculous connection with him!

We had a lot to talk about. We chatted about physics and linguistics and how they’re really not that different; it was so refreshing to meet someone else who intuitively understood this and shared my feelings about the confluence of the two fields. (Tl;dr: they’re both about discovering the underlying rules and structure of systems of our world.) As we hiked together, I realized I had gotten ahead of Ellie, and felt bad about leaving her behind. I doubled back to get eyes on her, but she was doing just fine. She gave me a big smile and thumbs up, and with the all clear, I continued on with Dimwit.

Dimwit and I ended up hiking the whole rest of the way together! Naturally, we chatted about our hikes, reminiscing about the 2,200 miles that came before. We also talked about hiking in the Whites. Dimwit has also hiked a bunch in the Whites, and we compared notes about some trails. It made me very excited to get back to my favorite mountains. Now that my thru-hike was over, it felt like the hiking world was my oyster, and I couldn’t wait to explore new trails! Dimwit was super cool, and it was special to share the last descent with him. It was awesome to spend most of my final day hiking with brand new friends in Ellie and Dimwit! It felt very appropriate to my whole AT experience.

The descent on the Abol Trail was actually pretty easy after the first scrambly mile going straight down. We went through a section that was clearly recently rerouted, and it was interesting to see the terrain and new growth of a relatively fresh trail. Soon enough, we were fully under the trees again, and the trail really chilled out. At about 2:45pm, I caught a flash of silver up ahead. “I think I see cars,” I told Dimwit. We stopped and embraced. “Dude, we did it! We’re thru-hikers!”

Mt. Katahdin absolutely blew me away. Mama K was the perfect climactic finale to my thru-hike. It goes without saying that it was one of my favorite days on trail. It was one of my favorite days of my life! And there, waiting for me at the bottom of Katahdin, was Macy. That was a very happy reunion.

This is not the end of this blog, believe it or not. Keep an eye out for both quantitative and qualitative retrospectives about my thru-hike. Finally, I will of course document what has been a very interesting transition back to the “fake world.” I’ll take this opportunity to offer a heartfelt thank you. Thank you to all my family and friends and especially Macy for your unending support before, during, and after this journey. Thank you to all the trail angels that fed me, housed me, and raised my spirits along the way. Thank you to all my fellow hiker trash, the wonderful friends I made on trail. Finally, thank you to you all for following along.

I DID IT!! I am an AT thru-hiker!!!