Day 176 - 23rd Sept - The Birches - Katahdin - Millinocket - 5 miles

We are up early and excited. This is the day we have been walking towards since April 1st. We head over to the ranger's office to listen to the weather report on the two way radio - sunny day with winds at 5-10mph. Great day.

There are quite a few hikers waiting to climb today. We leave our big packs and take a day pack courtesy of the rangers' office. The climb to the summit takes 3 1/2 hours. Above the treeline, large granite boulders make it difficult to negotiate. As I wriggle up through the cracks, I worry about how I am going to descend these boulders. We reach a large plateau, it is quite windy on the lip of the plateaur and then it is protected. We arrive to find about 30 people on the summit. Captain Slick is dressed in his full regalia of formal dresss marine uniform. Stucco and Boss are there with us. This is great as they have walked with us over the last few months. The climb down takes 3 1/2 hours and it is not so bad.

We are picked up by Jamie who runs the shuttle to Millinocket. We share the trip with Masterchief and Backwards, both of whom are up in the air about their future plans. We have a private room at the Appalachian Lodge - a huge rooom with a bay window overlooking the street. We have dinner at the Appalachian Cafe which is packed with hikers.

At last - we have completed the journey! We climbed Katahdin, the climax of the whole AT experience. A towering mountain with huge plateaus above the treeline and a rock boulder climbing approach which is daunting. It was a fitting end to day 176 on the trail. How do I feel? Initially it was relief that I had made it, and that it is over. Now 12 hours later, it is disbelief that we actually achieved it, that we actually did walk the whole way - 2179 miles. This is a major achievement - and by tomorrow it may be exhilaration and pride. But at the moment I still can't believe that we have actually done it.
We have 4 days booked in Boston in a small apartment in Beacon Hill, the historical downtown area, until we fly home on the 29th - Boston - Los Angeles - Melbourne - Cairns, arriving on the 1st October.