Day 167 - Final: 9/14/12

"Ain't no mountain high enough,
Ain't no valley low enough,
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you..."
- Marvin Gaye

Miles today: 5.2
Total miles: 2,184.2
Miles remaining: 0.0

Today was one of the greatest days of my life. Started at 2:00am to head up the mountain for sunrise. It was a 4000-ft climb up to 5,267 ft, so we needed an early start. Night hiked up some demanding hand-over-hand climbs, then took a short break at about 4:00 for an above-treeline stargazing session. Then hiked up to Baxter Peak, the highest point on Mt. Katahdin, where the trail meets its northern terminus.
Coming up the final ridge just before sunrise was surreal. You could start to make out the surrounding views very faintly.
Then, the summit. What a feeling. Such joy, such relief, such satisfaction. We had that mountaintop to ourselves, having gotten there at dawn, long before any day hikers showed up. So it was our private celebration up there. Champagne, whiskey, beer, cigars. My breakfast was two pop tarts, two candy bars, and two tall boys of PBR. We partied and took lots of photos, then called it and went back down. A very sad moment, coming down from the summit. Not because my thru-hike is over, but because those hours at the top were some of the most meaningful of my life.
Made it back down to the base of the mountain and hitched a ride into Millinocket, where the Trail's End festival is happening this weekend. Perfect timing.
I've just completed an epic journey. 2,184 miles through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. I'm sure in time the gravity of what I've accomplished will occur to me, but for now I'm just going to enjoy the moment. And once that's done, I'm coming home. After brief stops in New York and Michigan I'm headed back to my CITY BY THE BAY!

It's an incredible feeling. I've done it. I hiked the Appalachian Trail.