Rainbow Lake Dam 2166.1 to Katahdin Stream Campground 2189.1 (23 miles, 1,163.7 total miles)
I woke up at 5:30AM with my alarm and the lightening sky. The sun was rising over the lake next to Katahdin beautifully, though even sleeping in my tent, everything was wet from the moisture coming off the lake since I’d kept my rain fly off.
I packed up in a hurry, knowing I had another 22 miles to do for the day, and wanted to make decent time to Katahdin Stream Campground to meet Ashley and Jordan.
I got out at 6:30, right before Wicked, while everyone else was finishing packing. They were stopping at Abol Bridge for the day 13 miles in, and I planned on having lunch there with them.
I ate two packages of pop tarts for breakfast while I hiked, and stopped at Rainbow Spring Campsite for the privy, 2 miles and 40 minutes into the day.
I saw Sherbert and a second hiker named Shaggy camped there, and talked with Wicked when she arrived, and an older male NOBO who looked familiar named Leg. He seemed excited for the end of his hike.
I stopped at Doughnut Stream a mile and a half ahead, where I saw Sunshine hike up while I was collecting water. We’d been hiking near or with each other for the entire 100 Mile Wilderness, and she’d joined the new trail family as well, and seemed to get along great with them.
We’d had moments of normalcy between us, but it had been harder for me to act like nothing had happened after ruminating while I hiked all day yesterday. I knew we needed to talk and clear the air, but didn’t think I’d have the time with so many miles to do before Katahdin.
She asked me how I was, and I told her truthfully I wasn’t feeling great. We proceeded to spend close to an hour standing at the stream talking things out, while a few other hikers walked past.
Our conversation got intense at some points, and we both had a lot of emotions about what had happened, but we were able to figure out how our communication had lapsed and where we were each coming from.
It wasn’t that Sunshine didn’t want to hike with me anymore, but she’d needed a few days to herself, and the timing had been unfortunate with Catchup deciding to do the same thing at the same time, and me being caught so unaware.
She’d figured we’d reconvene at Shaw’s and make our plans together from there, but hadn’t been as explicit as I need people to be with me to understand them. I’d been triggered by the whole situation and too emotionally overwhelmed to ask for clarification. We both apologized and realized we’d never intended to hurt each other’s feelings.
I felt the tension I’d been holding on to for the last week leave my body, and we hugged it out. We fell into hiking together, and hiked all the way to Abol Bridge together, a 10 mile journey past a couple lakes, up a mountain, and by the last shelter of the 100 Mile Wilderness.
Rainbow Ledges afforded us another grand view of Katahdin, as we moved ever closer to her. The day was sunny and hot again, and we were both sweating as we zoomed along.
We kept up a really good pace, and I could tell my recovery day had been a success. Bolstered by the renewed strength of my friendship with Sunshine and our constant conversation, the miles went incredibly fast.
We stopped once or twice to filter water, and leapfrogged Leg a couple times, who said we must have rockets on our shoes, and our names should be Rocket One and Rocket Two.
We caught the other hikers who’d passed us before, and met a SOBO at a stream. It was his second day on trail, and I marveled at the juxtaposition that the NOBOs were done tomorrow and the few SOBOs in the area were just starting. I was, of course, right in the middle of the two extremes.
I wondered how fast Nomad the SOBO intended on finishing his hike when he walked away after several minutes of talking with us. Even a five month pace put him at a January end date, which sounded quite chilly to me, but certainly not unheard of.
When we reached the sign indicating the end of the 100 Mile Wilderness, not far before Abol Bridge, Sunshine and I both cheered, high fived, and danced around.
The 100 Mile Wilderness had been a very transformative and challenging time for both of us. Between the rain, the river crossing, going back to Shaw’s, joining a new trail family, re-hiking 6.5 miles of trail, seeing Katahdin for the first time, going through the emotional stuff with our friendship, I honestly felt like a totally different person than when I entered the 100 Mile.
Honeybadger caught up to us while we were chatting with an older couple heading into the forest, and we hiked with him down Golden Road and over Abol Bridge.
It felt like a surreal moment walking down the road, and standing on the bridge. Katahdin was right across the way, and it seemed impossible we would be climbing her tomorrow.
We got to the store just after 12, where we were the first to arrive for the day, through I had a pleasant surprise when I heard Pounder yell across the parking lot and run up to us.
He’d just finished the day before, and had met Second Wind on the mountain for the first time. Pounder seemed immensely happy and I was so excited for him. His family had just arrived to pick him up, so he was leaving right then, but it was very special to have gotten to see him and say goodbye.
We found out the restaurant on premises was closed till Wednesday, and it was Sunday, but they were in the process of making cold sandwiches that we could wait for.
I grabbed a bunch of snacks for the next day, a root beer, a Gatorade, and chips, and brought everything outside to a picnic table to wait for the sandwiches.
I was jealous the others were done with their hike at the campground we were at, but glad I only had to climb Katahdin tomorrow, and would be getting the rest of the miles out of the way.
I did realize then that I had 10 to go, and my day was actually 23, not 22. I was sure it would be fine, though, and hoped to get back on trail by 2 at the latest, figuring it would be about three hours to get the 10 done.
That gave me almost two hours for a lunch break, to spend more time with everyone else, and wait for the sandwiches that were taking a very long time.
The store was run by a few younger people, and there were a lot of car campers and people there paying to raft or tube the river that had already ordered food.
I got a large ice cream cone in the meantime, and hung out while everyone else rolled in including Wicked, Einstein, Cap’n Crunch, Sherbet, Shaggy, and Nude Beach.
Leg went by to get a spot at the Birches, the only place ahead for thru hikers to camp, since the campgrounds generally get booked months ahead of time, and all of them except Katahdin Stream required a car to drive to.
I had gotten lucky with my Roaring Brook reservation, but it required a bit of a drive through the park. There were hikers that booked well ahead of time in closer campgrounds who had people they knew with cars meeting them, but they had to hike to a deadline for possibly months once they were locked in.
There was a 12 person limit at the Birches for each night, and Sherbet and Shaggy were trying to go there as well for the evening, with Nude Beach indicating some interest.
Finally we got the sandwiches at 1:30, and I devoured a roast beef sub with veggies on it. I was worried I didn’t have the ability to feel full anymore, but after all the food and drinks I felt it, and it was great knowing I had so much hiking fuel.
Sunshine let me use her Garmin to text Ashley, and she said they’d meet me at 6:30, which gave me an extra hour and a half to work with. I knew I might want the breaks, so I made myself say my goodbyes till tomorrow to everyone, and make my way down the literal hot, dusty road.
After a bit of road walking and a sharp left turn, I was on my way to the entrance to Baxter State Park. There were a couple more views of Katahdin before the kiosk, where I stopped and teared up realizing this journey had been 8 years in the making since preparing for my first thru hike attempt.
I arrived at the kiosk, where I got into conversation with Collin, the ranger there. He showed me the park map and told me how to navigate getting in and out of the park gate.
The park is rather complicated the way the campgrounds, reservations, parking, and the gate works. I asked Collin if there were any last minute cancellations at Katahdin Stream Campsite, and he radioed over and was told there were not.
I found out Roaring Brook was an hour drive from Katahdin Stream, but there was a cabin at Kidney Pond that was only 15 minutes away, and just $26 more. I switched my reservation over and confirmed the three person reservation still stood.
I’d been at the kiosk for an hour, but it was worth it to save an hour and a half of driving. Sherbet and Shaggy got the last two spots at the Birches for the evening, and hiked up the trail into the park.
I followed a while after, and took my first steps into Baxter State Park. I was immediately surrounded by new growth birch trees, bright green ferns, and tall grasses on either side of the trail.
It felt like a very special place, with a huge river to the left of me that I saw people tubing down here and there. I kept my music off for the first 3 miles, enjoying the silence of the forest and the magical feeling of the park.
I passed Big Niagara and Little Niagara Falls, and saw other mesmerizing, cascading waterfalls on the side of the trail. It was tough to pull myself away, and I wished I’d had time for another swim, but wanted to get to the campground as soon as I could.
There was some mild ascent, and no one else on the trail going north, since all the Birches spots were filled. I saw one hiker going south the whole 10 miles, but other than that the trail was deserted.
It felt right to me to spend this time hiking through the park in my own company, since this hike so far had been such a mixture of time spent with others and times I’ve been alone.
I put on the latest Florence + The Machine album, though I started to feel quite tired when I was halfway through the 10. It was another hot and humid day, and I could feel the humidity making me sluggish, and the accumulation of the miles I’d been doing lately.
I took a couple short breaks, and I went from expecting to get to Katahdin Stream at 5:30 to more like 6:30, which was fine with me. I hiked by a couple ponds in the last few miles, but still didn’t see any moose, and made it to Katahdin Stream at 6:33.
I checked in at the ranger station, and was given my thru hiker pass to make my way up Katahdin. It was an orange card with the registration number 1515, which I thought fitting since I’d first attempted my hike in 2015.
I saw Cowboy and said hi to him, then waited in the park main area for Ashley and Jordan. They arrived ten minutes after I was done checking in, which was a relief. I didn’t have a Garmin to text them on to make sure everything was still good with our plan.
I loaded my pack into the back of the SUV they’d come in, and started to give them the good news about the cabin, but they had more news for me.
Apparently the cabin only held two people, though I’d made my original reservation for three, so they’d been told at the gate they would have to book a tent site at Katahdin Stream for the night, which they’d done, even though I was told there wasn’t anything available at Katahdin Stream.
We spent some time driving to Kidney Pond, where the ranger there was very confused how that had happened, and also said that I wasn’t given the right paperwork for my reservation.
It was a bit of a mess, but we decided to just use the campsite so we could all camp together, though it was a shame to leave the cabin empty. Plus, the tent site was a group site, so we could have brought several more thru hikers into the park if we had known. I wasn’t so impressed with the way the park was managed.
Ashley and Jordan needed to grab food, so we set up fast and drove out of the park around 8:30, letting them know we’d be back before 10, when they closed the gate.
I was exhausted by then, and it was an hour drive to Millinocket, where the only thing open was a gas station that we got cold sandwiches, chicken parm, and snacks for tomorrow.
After another hour drive back, we all passed out pretty quickly around 10:30 or 11. Ashley and Jordan were going to get up early, and get a head start, and I would sleep a little longer and catch up to them a couple miles in.
I also wanted to wait for the crew if I could, since they were getting up very early, hiking 5 miles on the Blueberry Trail, and linking back up with the AT at Katahdin Stream Campground. Poet had recommended that trail for those who couldn’t get into the Birches, since hiking Katahdin was such a big day in itself.
I figured I’d start hiking around 6 or 7, and it was nice that we wouldn’t have to do any driving since we were staying at the one campground where the AT went through.
I was nervous but excited for Katahdin, though it was hard to wrap my mind around the enormity of what I was about to do. It all felt very unreal, but fortunately I was exhausted enough I didn’t stay up too late thinking about it. At this point, I could only take it one step at a time.