Baxter State Park, ME

I summitted Mt Katahdin!

It was quite a climb, which started out in the pouring rain. The main effect of the rain, other than making wet hikers, is that the trai, which is generally the lowest point in the immediate area, becomes a stream. In the case of the ascent of Mt Katahdin was steep mountain boulder filled stream.


By the time we reached the treeline the rain had slowed to a drizzly mist with occasional heavier outbursts. But the weather wasn't the problem at this stage,it was the rocks. The rocks that I had to climb up and over on this thing they call a trail up the mountain! They ranged from huge slabs of slickrock that had iron rungs to assist clambering up them, to steep cliffs of rough limestone, to boulders of all sizes.
The mist obscured the mountain we were climbing, and mainly we could only see the next outcrop to be climbed. For several hours my utterances were mainly "there is no way they're expecting me to climb THAT" and "this has got to be the last one" and "we must be at the top after this", but there was always another steep pile of rocks waiting for me in the mist.

Maybe it was a good thing that the mist was there. This mountain was high - over 4000 ft of elevation change from the campsite at the bottom to the summit, in a little over 5 miles of hiking. The top, when we got there, was cold, wet, misty, and totally worth the hike!

The sign at the summit is the official start of the Appalachian Trail for me. Apparently the five mile uphill slog doesn't even count in my mileage. We spent a short while on the summit, during which time the sky brightened for a few moments and it seemed to get warmer. Of course, as soon as I had removed a few outer clothing layers the mist turned to hail and I immediately bundled up again.

As we descended down on the the plateau below the summit the sun did actually break through briefly. Even better, the hole in the cloud revealed the landscape below, far below us. It is very high up! Fortunately the cloud closed up again for the descent back down to the treeline. I think not being able to see around and below me during the descent was probably easier.


View more photos in my Picasa album