September 12 (Day 135)

I went to bed extremely early last night, because I was bored and because it got dark very early because of the rain. I was probably in bed by 6:30. It rained all night long as far as I could tell.

Because I went to bed so early, I was also up very early, but sat around until it was light enough to see. I got going on the trail and had some miles to make up because I had stopped walking early yesterday.

First, I went up and over Nesuntabunt Mountain, probably the last climb of any significance before Katahdin. After that, the trail winds around a few lakes.

I made really good time, and just before I got to the short climb up to Rainbow Ledges, I ran into my dad and uncle. They had come farther than I expected, but it was good to see them regardless.

So, we turned around and headed back the way they had come, taking a break up on the Ledges to have some lunch.

The original plan had been to stay at the next shelter north, but it was still so early in the day that we pushed on the extra 3-1/2 miles to Abol Bridge and the campground there. It's a decent campground with showers and a camp store.

There have been a lot of dark clouds in the sky today, but no rain. It's been extremely gusty, and I imagine it was unbelievably windy for anyone climbing Katahdin today. The rumor is for good weather on Friday, which I would greatly appreciate.

September 13 (Day 136)

Last night was certainly one of the colder nights on the trail. It might have gotten into the 30s last night, and it's supposed to be well down in the 30s tonight.

We didn't have far to go today, so we took our time at the campsite. We even had some donuts for breakfast that we'd gotten from the camp store.

Once we started walking, it was still pretty chilly. The trail followed the river for the first few miles, and it was very easy walking. The trail from our campsite to the base of Katahdin was almost 10 miles, even though the straight-line distance would probably be less than 5 miles. The AT curves around and goes by a few more small lakes before it gets to Katahdin.

We reached the Katahdin Springs Campground a little after noon [and] had lunch. ...

The weather is still supposed to be really nice tomorrow. And it looks as though there will be at least seven other thru-hikers going to the summit tomorrow, if not more.

September 14 (Day 137-the northern terminus of the AT)

We got up early, as was the plan, because we wanted to have as much time as possible to get up and down the mountain today. This was obviously most people's plan, and there were several people who started hiking even before we did.

After breakfast, we packed everything up and went over to the Ranger Station. They have day packs there that hikers can borrow for the day instead of having to carry their large, heavy backpacks to the top of Katahdin. We filled two day packs with water bottles, some food, and some warm clothing.

Then we walked to the trailhead to sign in and saw that there were already several people on the trail, including four or five thru-hikers whose names I recognized.

The first mile of the hike was very easy, and the trail paralleled Katahdin Stream and continued until we reached Katahdin Falls, which are some fairly large waterfalls with about a 50-foot drop.

From there the trail gets rockier and a little steeper, but not bad. Then, for about a mile or mile and a half, during the transition from below to above treeline, the path gets very steep, and it becomes a rock scramble over huge boulders. Everyone was going slowly, and there was a lot of hand-over-hand climbing.

At the top of the ridgeline, the trail flattens out for over a mile, before kicking up one more time to get to the summit. As soon as we got on the ridge, the wind picked up, and as we approached the summit, the wind got stronger and stronger, until it was enough that it could blow you off balance if you weren't careful.

All along the ridgeline we had clear views in every direction, but there were some clouds hanging around the summit, which made it just a bit colder up there.

After a little over three hours of climbing, we reached the windy summit. There were a couple other thru-hikers up there, and we took all the necessary pictures before starting our climb back down. We had about as good a day of weather as anyone could hope for, especially considering that the weather is supposed to be fairly awful tomorrow.

The climb down took almost as much time as our ascent. Climbing down those boulders was not easy.

At the bottom, Mom was waiting at the campground to take us home. We collected our packs from the Ranger Station, got in the car, and headed out.

And so it goes.