No Mailing Address

In the past few days we have caught 6 north bound hikers that we had not met before. We also have met hikers that we knew early on and they have now flip-flopped to head for warmer weather. The have already summitted Katahdin and will finish their hikes farther south. One asked us today if the trail was less of a challenge for us because we were so fast! I assured him that it was as challenging for us...that it has been work at times.

After lunch we saw the beautiful 60' waterfalls, Little Wilson, complete with a skinny-dipper. Jan Liteshoe was slacking south so we saw her at the half way point of our day and stopped for photos and a chat. In addition to the ever present small, scolding red squirrels, we heard loons crying, coyotes howling and crickets chirping on the sun-warmed black slate.

We met a hiker late in the afternoon who was having trouble with his heavy pack. His backpack was chafing his hips and was obviously to heavy for him to manage. He asked us for advice on lightening his load. He looked and sounded familiar. Then he said, " Didn't I meet you at the CN/MA border?" Yes, he did and he was still carrying the same huge backpack.

Late in the afternoon we were on the shadow side of the hill chasing the sun that stayed ahead of us. We gave up, then got sun back at the gorgeous stream. The last few minutes of our day were sun, great rocks and the stream. We were going to tent at the shelter but were the only ones there so actually stayed in the shelter. The spring was dry so Ken had to walk back to the stream. We are using iodine to treat water for the first time on the AT. We switched from a filter to save weight.

Trail was hard today when we went over Barren Mtn, 4th Mtn, 3rd Mtn, Columbus Mtn and Chairback Mtn. with our food laden packs. We stopped for lunch at an overlook with a couple backpacking for their honeymoon.

We only saw two other hikers (another couple section hiking) all day.

A moose snorting and stomping through the woods near our tent woke us at 11:30pm. The moon was full and I am sure the snorts were showing displeasure that we were there. We were relieved as he passed us to go to the pond. We looked for him this morning to take a photo but didn't see him.

This was another day of big ups and downs. We climbed nearly 3000 feet to get over White Cap Mtn. On the way we climbed over progressively higher peaks of Gulf Hagas Mtn, West Peak, and Hay Mtn. These peaks added almost another 1000 feet to the climb. The views from several were great. We got a good view of looming Mt Katahdin from the backside of White Cap Mtn. The views of Maine's lakes and ponds continues to interest us.

As we started our last climb up White Cap Mtn we came to a trail junction and met two section hikers we had seen earlier who had taken a break. A few seconds later another hiker came down the trail from White Cap. Then a day hiker arrived from the side trail. Within one minute we had six hikers arrive at the same point on this remote mountain using three different trails.

We found the lean-to and surrounding campsites pretty full when we arrived. We met several of the hikers for the first time. A couple were solo thru hikers who had a friend hiking the Hundred Mile Wilderness with them. This is a popular practice for solo hikers. We decided to go down to the river to camp. We found a nice campsite behind several blown down trees just after we rock hopped the river. It was a comfortable site.

As we left this morning the rising sun cast a red glow on the trees and water. The trail today was nearly flat and we made good time all day. We thought about going into White House Landing, a back country resort. We would have to hike off-trail for 1.6 miles and then sound an air horn. The owner then comes across the lake in a boat to pick us up. It has very good reviews along the trail. We decided that we would eat the food we have been carrying and get ourselves into better position for summitting Mt Katahdin.   

Early today we saw two fishermen pushing a small boat toward Nahmakanta Lake. We wanted to ask if they had pushed the boat all the way from Georgia, but we refrained. They were excited about going fishing all day.

Just before noon we climbed Nesunabunt Mtn and got another good view of Mt Katahdin. We also saw campers on the other side of the lake and the small boat with the fishermen. Hiking in ME is so rewarding because of all the different views and, of course, we are really excited about getting to the grand finale.

Wow, this is a beautiful hiking day. The weather feels like summer with sun and blue sky. Then a breeze blows leaves down, covering the trail and fall seems to be in the air. We are seeing more red and gold in the forest as we pass ponds, streams and falls.

We had a great wildlife sighting of two small, rich brown weasel-like animals called tree martens. They zipped quickly across the trail and up trees near us. As I snapped pictures one ferociously hissed and growled at us, an we could see sharp teeth in his small triangular face.

Mt Katahdin is tomorrow.

We continued up the mountain. The weather report said 20% chance of showers, probably in the afternoon. The sky was perfectly clear now.

We climbed up to an area small boulders and slab rocks. We had to climb over and around the rocks. We figured we had been in training for this in recent weeks. As we got higher the boulders got bigger and the climbs steeper. Now we were climbing through the boulder field we had seen below Hunt Ridge. We found another large boulder field near the top of the ridge that required us to climb up by pulling with our hands.

Finally we crested the ridge to find the Tablelands. It is nearly flat, beautiful trail for most of the next mile through open alpine tundra. We were greeted with the familiar signs to stay on the trail and off the tender plant life above treeline.

We climbed to Baxter Peak. What a reception! Most of the other 16 thru hikers were already there and we got a standing ovation as we headed for the sign we have seen in so many pictures. Mt Katahdin, the end of a very long journey.