Monday, September 28 7:25 pm 21.3 mi
AT 2166.5 Rainbow Springs → AT 2187.8 Abol Slide Campground
Weather: Muggy and warm
Trail Conditions: Pretty flat, but rocky and rooty
My Condition: Can’t believe tomorrow is the day! Bittersweet. Body is ready for a break, spiritually not ready for the experience to be over, but open to whatever is next
The Birches was off the table – some folks we had been expecting to finish today must have slowed down, the folks who picked up and pushed ahead when we arrived to camp the past couple of nights kept working to stay ahead of us, and there was only one spot left. We opted to get a lean-to at the Abol Slide campground and will be summitting via that trail, instead coming down the Hunt (official AT) Trail SOBO. I will be the 253rd NOBO thru hiker this year, about 80% down from their numbers at this time during a normal year.
Post Trail Analysis
The logistics of it didn’t matter one bit to me - we made it all the way here from Georgia in spite of all the challenges we faced, and we would figure it out! We wandered in to Baxter State Park from the store next to Abol Bridge, and a group of employees was doing trail maintenance. One of them let us know there was only one spot left at the traditional thru hiker shelter, known as The Birches, but that he may be able to find us a spot elsewhere in the park. That was fine by me! He radioed in to HQ to see if they had any sites available. They did! I didn’t care that we weren’t staying at the Birches. I didn’t care that we wouldn’t be taking the normal thru hiker route up the mountain. I didn’t care that the Abol Slide campground was a long walk up the road – we hitched a ride pretty easily anyways! We were at the base of Katahdin, and although I had not yet climbed the mountain, I was already on top of the world. We couldn’t find any rangers to fill out our permits with at either of the stations we checked, but left our information and they came to our campsite and found us in the early evening. Rather than fight against the current and stress about the obstacles that kept popping up, I went with the flow and embraced the idea that it would all work itself out, and it did. We ate our last family dinner and had our last campfire of the trail, with a palpable sense of excitement, solemnity, and reflection in the air. Hummingbird set up her tent for the last time, and Puddles, Blue, and I squeezed into the shelter. I had one of my most restless nights of sleep on trail, second only to Tuesday, March 24, when I agonized over the decision to get off trail per the ATC’s request. This night, I felt like a kid the night before Christmas. Tomorrow was a day that I had dreamed of for such a long time, and it was mere hours away! Tossing and turning all night long, I hope I didn’t disturb their sleep too much!
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