Day 270

Day 270 (AT 74): 23 miles

After traveling all day yesterday and not sleeping much last night I started this morning at Daicey Pond to head north to tag the terminus before turning around to head 500 miles to where I flipped trails near Rutland Vermont. Big thanks to @kim.outdoors who I met for 20 minutes in Glacier for driving 7 hours to help me with transportation from the airport. People rock

I was a little nervous about getting my permit to summit katahdin but it ended up going smoothly and I started ascending around 8:30-9. After climbing for a while I was confused why people said the trail up there was so crazy… I soon found out. It was some pretty Gnarley hand over foot climbing that I wasn’t really expecting. My personal least favorite was putting all my weight on an iron bar and hoisting myself up a vertical part. During that all I was thinking about was the vast fall behind me. But all went well and it was a nice welcome back to the fuck you attitude of the AT.

When I started to get near the top there was a little bit of snow and ice. I’m glad I got to summit today and get it out of the way.

Once I reached the top it was an odd feeling. In my head I always pictured reaching that point to be an overcoming of emotions of an epic achievement. But all I felt was the same feeling I had at the end of the PCT and at monarch pass on the CDT: relief that that part is over, but focus on the work yet to come.

After getting back to the bottom I came upon some trail magic and a group of hikers camping to finish tomorrow. Initially I want gonna stop, then I was just gonna stop in for a burger and 2 beers, then I ended up deciding that if I was gonna stay there for a bit I needed to get a good buzz to hike for a while after in the dark. It worked. I’m definitely gonna have to get used to doing a lot of night hiking in the forest like I did early in the year with the short days.

For those that need reference I just started at the northern terminus of the AT and am heading south to where I ended in Vermont. Once I get there, that will be it for the calendar year triple crown.

Song of the day: we belong-odezsa