Summit Day

As the last of the darkness lifted & the morning light woke us we were so excited to get up & start our final hike. On the trail at 6:30 with our packs empty & only carrying food & water we were traveling light for our final 5 miles.

Our first stop was at Mt Katahdin stream. The stream runs down from the top of the mountain. It was ice cold & beautiful so we drank it straight from the source. 

Our first mile was flat & glorious but that ended quickly. We followed stone steps that were ever so appreciated up to Katahdin Waterfall. We were excited to get above tree line so we took in its beauty, but quickly. 

Pretty soon we were above tree line & had great views all around. Unfortunately the stone steps stopped & the boulder climbing began. But, we had so much addrelian it was more fun than work. 

Paddy Cakes showing you how tall some of the boulders were. 

Me climbing through one of the cracks of the boulders. 

After two miles of intense boulder jumping we had a long steep stone walkway up to the top. 

Warming up in a sunny spot. 

Up, up, up!

Looking back at what we had been climbing up. 

After the stone walkway up we had about another mile of rock hopping till we finally caught our first glimpse of " the sign". The sign I speak of is the Katahdin sign which symbolizes the final spot of this 5 month journey. Once we saw it in the distance it lit a fire under our feet & we ran up to claim our victory over the trail. Paddy Cakes greeted it with a kiss while I simply just wrapped my arms around it & said "hello lovely, I've been looking for you!"

Puddin' in pure happiness! 

After we took it all in & congratulated our fellow thru hikers we started to take our Summit picture near the sign. 

At first we just stood behind it. 

Then we decided we could get a little higher. 

So we did. 

Then we decided we could go all the way up. 

So we did. 

Then we took our true VICTORY pose picture!!!!!!

After that we just started being silly with joy. 

Puddin' showing off her hiker body. 

Just goofing off. 

Paddy Cakes with a face of sheer joy. 

A true Egyptian. 

Paddy Cakea showing off his hiker body. 

The last white blaze we had before the trail ended. 

We were originally going to go down this trail on the ridge called " the knifes edge". But after all the climbing up we had already done we were happy our plans were just to return the same way. 

Our last cairn of the trail. Man it was a big one. 

One of our fellow thru hikers named Hoops. She got her name from always carrying a hula hoop. 

Our final picture on top, next to the Mt. Katahdin plaque. 

View from the top. 

Feeling good! 

Looking down at the return path that leads to the real world again. 

My last picture on top of the world. 

We tagged ourselves as official completed thru hikers at the local restaurant in downtown Millinocket, Maine. It took us five months to the day to walk 2,185.9 miles. 

With all that walking you go through a lot of shoes. Mom was kind enough to bring them all back to us to help us reminisce of all the steps we have taken. 

As we look back over the past few months we have many thoughts & feelings about our journey. We will be posting a few more blogs with some insight as to how we feel & our plans to come. Mamma Merry has been wonderful & drove up from Mississippi to pick us up. She has planned a wonderful road trip through Maine & up to Canada. So the real world will have to wait a little longer.

-Puddin'

Also, just a side note, when we began this journey we knew it would be a difficult physically, emotionally, and on our relationship.  One way we found to combat the difficulty on our relationship was the idea of "me over you" cards.  They were just imaginary cards that we could choose to play at any time (I'm not sure if we mentioned them in any of our other blogs).  The point of the cards were so that no matter what, if someone wanted something bad enough, they could play one of the "me over you cards" if we didn't agree.  They could be good for anything from ice cream, where to eat, or if we needed to take a day off or keep on hiking.  The rule was that once one of them was played they could not be trumped or argued and that the other partner had to go along with whatever decision had been made.  It would be final and there would be no discussion.  We figured that agreeing on these cards before hand would help us in a more frustrating situation and, both understanding and having agreed to the rules, would help to alleviate the stress.  Well, we are happy to say we never had to play a single one!! I can't believe it either.  It just goes to show that I have one of the most amazing women in the world and that we were meant for each other.  I love you so much MerryCline.  

-PaddyCakes

Red carpet to our finish line

Mt. Katahdin is located in Baxter State Park near the town of Millinocket, ME. It holds the norther terminus of the Appalachian Trail and is located 2,185.9 miles north of Springer Mountain. How excited do you think we were to see the sign for Baxter state park.

The hundred mile wilderness really beat us up. Having to do that many miles (100 in 4 days) over that terrain really took a toll on our bodies. When asking each other where we hurt, we used to pick the localized place and explain the feeling. By now the response had become "everywhere from the hip down". 

A cool AT cutout someone had placed. 

We were excited to be entering Baxter because it meant that we were only 15 hiking miles away from the top of Katahdin, but also because we had heard about the easy miles leading up to it. Most of the trails in Baxter are pretty well maintained, and because of them being covered in pine needles and leading up to the final summit, we named it "The Red Carpet".

Easy, flat, beautiful trail. It only took 2,174 miles to get there. We were pretty excited. 

We walked along the river for a while and the rocks allowed you to get right out to where the river would normally be and watch it flow by. 

We could also get up real close to the waterfalls. This one was roaring not two feet in front of me. It was neat to be able to get that close. 

Puddin happy to be at the falls. 

A view of the falls from further back. 

This part kind of sent the water launching off of a ramp that had been carved into the stone. 

This picture is hung up in the ranger station of Katahdin Stream Campground where we stayed the night before our summit. It is a picture of a part moose, part eagle, part man who is the guardian of Katahdin. We forgot his name. The interesting thing about this picture is that it was drawn by the animator for the movie Bambi. Also, the setting for the movie is at a pond down the road in Baxter State Park. 

The land for Baxter was purchased by the once Governor of the state with the stipulations that no new road or changes were allowed to be made to it. It is one of the most remote wilderness areas in Maine. 

A more popular picture of the guardian of Kathadin

PaddyCakes happy to have a flat spot to sleep for the night. 

Our camping area for the night. They keep the hiker trash far away from the rest of the campers. 

We knew that our big push through Maine had caught us up to some of our friends that we hiked with way earlier in the trip. There was a huge summit group of through hikers going up on the 24th. We couldn't make it to summit with them that day, but we caught them on the way back down. Here we are with E.T. and Spanky.  We just missed Fatty because she chose to go down the other side of the mountain.  We basked in their glowing happiness from having made it to the top of Kathadin and their joy of knowing they had finished their hike. We listened to the details of their summit and looked at their pictures and videos. It really never sunk in that tomorrow we would be doing the same thing and our hike was only 5 miles and a big climb from being over. I don't think that there has ever been anything I have ever been so dedicated to as the AT. We have spent 8 to 14 hours a day hiking for nearly 5 months. You dream about the day that you will be done, but when you do something that much for that long, you just never really feel like the end will come. Well, tomorrow was the day come rain, shine, hell or high water. 

- PaddyCakes