We’re almost finished

Katahdin Stream Campground
Day 160 (9/17/19)
Miles 11.4
Total miles – 2160.9

Today was a short day. We just needed to get to our reserved camp site at the base of Katahdin. We ate our very small breakfast, packed up, and headed out. With only 3.5 miles to food we made quickly. Thankfully, they were still serving the breakfast buffet so we all had pancakes, fruit, sausage, eggs, muffins, yogurt and juice. Mama Raven alone had six pancakes, one egg and sausage bagel sandwich, a muffin and at least six bowls of fruit salad. Great Scott, who we have been bumping into ever since Virginia, was there before we were and he was still going back for thirds, fourth, and fifth servings of everything. At the end of a thru hike, it is amazing how much food we can consume. We then stopped in at the store to resupply for today and tomorrow’s hiking. From the store we hiked on to Katahdin Stream Campground and our lean-to. Home for the night. We registered with the ranger for our assent of Katahdin tomorrow. We also picked up two day sacks the forest service provided for hikers who do not want to carry their heavy packs to the top. Most thru hikers slack pack to the top of Katahdin. However, there are those who want their backpack in the final AT photograph. For the Ravens, we are eager to not carry our packs up such a strenuous climb. We have been trying to figure out when we should leave tomorrow morning. We have a shuttle ride at 4:30 in the afternoon, thus we need to be up and down by then. The consensus of those who have done Katahdin say we should go up the AT (the Hunt Trail) and come down the Abol Trail. This would mean we will cover 11 miles tomorrow. We probably will leave six or six thirty in the morning. At the campground we bumped into Slim. We were so happy to see her again. She simply dropped off the trail and we had no idea what happened to her. We have not seen her since mid Pennsylvania. After talking to her, we found out she badly damaged a knee, which required getting off the trail for a while. She recently was well enough to hike again. She began again with Maine, and once she summits Katahdin, she will southbound to where she got off. Meanwhile, tomorrow she will be doing Katahdin along with Sketch, Great Scott and The Ravens. We are excited to be with Sketch because he too is a triple crowner like we are. In fact he hiked the PCT and CDT the same years we did. Later in the afternoon, we greeted the thru-hikers that were returning from summitting Katahdin today. Unfortunately, we missed Slerner, Shortcake, Letters, Broadway, and Jeopardy. We are sorry we could not congratulate them on their amazing journey and completion of the AT first hand. Instead this message will have to work . . . We so enjoyed your friendship and laughs along the way. You helped make tough moments not so hard. THANK YOU! Today’s summitters had a tough day by having to climb into a bitter, cold, cloud for their ending day. Knowing the character of these guys, they were not disappointed by the poor weather conditions they had. They took all in stride and embraced what ever came their way. That’s what a thru hiker does!