I am happy to report that I reached the summit of Katahdin on August 9th with my hiking buddy Titan. It was not easy. We originally planned to summit on the 10th to take our time enjoying the beautiful lakes in the 100 mile wilderness. But the weather forecast called for heavy rain on the 10th, followed by two days of rain. So we decided to move our summit hike up a day in hopes of avoiding the storm. This included a few days of hiking in the 17-19 mile range. Unfortunately, this hiking plan proved too ambitious for our friend Dry Bones, and he fell behind us and was unable to join us on our summit hike.
We camped at Birches on the 8th and set out with headlamps just after 5am. It was overcast and we were hoping to get most of our hike done before it started to rain. This proved to be false as it started to rain when we were about halfway up. Many say that Katahdin is the hardest climb on the entire trail, with a significant section of almost technical climbing. I can’t disagree. It’s a grueling but fun/challenging climb and the descent via a different trail was tough as well.
It was windy and biting rain on the summit ridge, and I think I felt a few grains of ice as well. As you can see below, I’m holding the hood of my raincoat, looking less than relaxed for the typical Katahdin summit photo. As I heard another hiker say near the summit, “We have to get down the mountain lest we die.” So you can see how beautiful and sunny it was in the days leading up to our summit hike, I’ve included a beautiful photo of the mountain in all its glory.
Despite the weather, nothing could dampen our joy and sense of achievement as we had completed the northern section and were more than halfway there. Next we head south.
The 100-mile wilderness
This part of the trail from Monson Maine to Baxter State Park is the most remote section of the trail. No towns, no paved road crossings, but full of beautiful rivers and lakes. We had two great camping experiences at Cloud Pond and Crescent Pond. The trail can be very rooty in many places, but there are also many flat sections that allow for a faster hiking pace. The wilderness also has some river fords that can be dangerous during high water. Fortunately, we traversed it during a low water period and at no crossing was the water deeper than my thigh. And I never once fell into a river. Many of the rivers could be crossed by crossing rock to rock.
We agreed that the 100 Mile Wilderness would be a good place for further exploration, with hikes to places like Gulf Haggis and many more lakes. I’ve included some pictures below.
That’s all for now. I plan to take a week or so off the trail and then head south from Harpers Ferry later in the month.
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