For three months I had been picturing this day over and over in my mind. To the tunes of Florence and The Machine’s “King” I had created a clear vision of what would summiting Katahdin would be like while hiking. I had pictured how I would feel, and what I would do standing on top of the sign. But like so many other times before, reality wouldn’t match my daydreams.

I picked up my phone as the alarm went off. Groggy from not getting enough sleep, I looked at the screen.

It was 2.15 am.

We had made in to the last shelter in the 100-mile wilderness the evening before. Making good time, we decided to pitch our tents rather sleeping in the empty shelter. After feasting on freshly picked blueberries – thanks to Tang and Chipotle – I hung my food bag and went to bed.

Now, it was time to get going. The very last push. For the last time on this trail, I let the air out of my sleeping pad, gathered my things and packed everything up. I left the tent to go get my food bag that hung a little ways deeper in the forest. Being in the middle of the night, it was pitch black and on my way back I got disoriented.

It felt like forever, but it probably only took a few minutes before I saw the familiar shape that was my tent. Still, it was enough for the panic to set in that I was lost.

Despite my “almost lost in the woods”-adventure, I was ready to go by the time Tang and Chipotle’s headlamps became visible as they made their way down towards me. Together, we started the approximately 13 mile hike towards Baxter State Park and Katahdin Stream Campground.

Start of the summit

The morning hike went fairly uneventful, and we reached Katahdin Stream Campground right before 8 am. A ranger met up to us to give us our permits we needed to summit the mountain.

– If the weather gets dicey, you can choose to take the Abol Trail down. It’ll get you below tree line the fastest.

We knew bad weather was supposed to come in during the afternoon. Our plan was therefore to be back down at around 2 pm.

We started our ascent from Hunt Trail. The trail started out nice and flat, but pretty soon the trail got steep and the boulders we’ve been so familiar with in New Hampshire and parts through Maine reappeared. but the closer we got to the top, the worse the weather became.

Are we there yet?

As we got out of the tree line, the boulders got steeper, bigger and the climb harder. We started pulling ourselves up with the help of handle bars drilled into the hard stone, meeting other thru-hikers also ready to finish their adventure. After quickly congratulating each other, I quickly continued on my way. I soon got ahead of Tang and Chipotle, and could soon see the top – or so I thought.

At this point the rain, mist and wind had picked up, and there were no views whatsoever surrounding me. I looked at FarOut, expecting the app to tell me that the sign – the big one with “Katahdin” on it – should to be right around the next corner. But according to the app, it was another mile and a half to the top of mountain.

Surely that couldn’t be right? I felt like I was already at the top. And from what I could tell, I couldn’t climb any higher, but the rain and mist made it impossible for me to see the way ahead. Soon a young woman appeared on trail going southbound. I decided to stop her in her tracks.

– Excuse me, do you know how much further it is to the top?

Just like FarOut, she informed that it was another mile and a half of walking along the ridge. I felt my heart sink. A brief thought appeared in my head of what it would feel like to just turn around and head back down, and wait for another day to summit. A day when it was warm and sunny outside. But even though it was a tempting daydream, there was absolutely no way I was doing it another day. And ending the AT in rain and storm somehow seemed appropriate.

As I was plodding along trying to finish the last mile, other thru-hikers came my way in the opposite direction. I tried to congratulate them as cheerfully as I could despite the bad weather, but judging by their response all they wanted was to get down from this mountain.

As the wind and rain picked up, I started to get cold. Too eager to make it to the Katahdin-sign, I didn’t want to stop to put any more layers on. Even though I knew I moved faster than I did when I went through Mahoosuc Notch, it definitely felt like the slowest mile on the entire trail.

As I made my last and final steps across the wet ground and slippery rocks, I finally reached the sign with the word “Katahdin” on it with bold letters.

I’d done it. I had finished the AT in 89 days and completed a Triple Crown.

Daydream vs. reality

I couldn’t recall how many times I had envisioned this moment while hiking, but neither one of those times had I envisioned it the way it actually was. In my daydreams I had pictured myself sitting in front of the sign, taking it all in while enjoying the view. Smiling and celebrating with Tang and Chipotle. I had pictured myself calling home to my family to tell them that I hade made it.

Instead, the minute I got there I immediately reached into my pack and grabbed my puffy. Knowing that I wouldn’t sleep outside that night, I didn’t care if it got wet in the rain. Tang and Chipotle soon caught up with me. When Chipotle came up next to me, he did the same thing and dug into his pack. But instead of grabbing his puffy, he handed me a crown and a sign saying “Terminator – Triple Crowner”. I wanted to savor the moment of gratitude, but all I could do was try and hold onto it so it wouldn’t fly away.

Tang and I posed on top of the sign, while Chipotle took pictures of us. Because of the weather, it all happened at a rapid speed. I had brought a celebratory cinnamon roll, and the minute I took it out of its packaging it quickly got soggy from the rain. I ate it quickly.

It ain’t over until it’s over

My puffy was already soaked but I needed an extra layer and to protect myself from the wind. I grabbed my poncho and considered digging for my gloves to, but decided they were too far down in my pack. Going down wouldn’t take long – or at least that’s what I thought.

We decided to take the trail that the ranger had mentioned to us earlier. My hands were getting freezing cold at this point and I had a hard time moving them. Too late I realized that I should’ve taken the time to dig them up earlier.

Going down the mountain turned out to be more difficult than going up. The trail consisted of rocks and boulders, that were now very slippery from all the rain. Getting down required grabbing hold of the rocks with both hands. But since I was barely able to move them every move was a struggle. By now I was soaked to the bone, and tired from the early start and the climb to the summit.

I was moving slow. The fact that I had just finished my third thru-hike did little to cheer me up. But the fact that I had a lovely room waiting for me in Millinocket, cheered me up a lot.

As I was daydreaming about town, I suddenly slipped on a rock and lost my balance. As I fell to the ground, my left hand that was holding my poles automatically reached out to soften the fall. When I stood back up, my poles were hanging in a weird way. They were broken. Again, I was extremely grateful that I was spending the night indoors, or I’d be sleeping without a shelter.

Without the support of the poles, I felt a sharp pain in my right knee every few steps. Luckily, we were below tree line and would soon reach flat ground and the end of the trail.

Once we got below tree line, and had an actual trail to walk on, it didn’t take long before shelters at the campground suddenly appeared around the corner.

I could’ve jumped with joy.

The last shelter

As we entered the campground, we steered our way to the first shelter we saw. It was empty. We needed to figure out how to get to Millinocket and try and dry up the best we could. I quickly pulled everything out of my pack, got my extra set out clothes out and quickly ran to the privy to get changed.

My pack would’ve been significantly lighter if I didn’t carry as many clothes as I did. But on this trail there had been a lot of times when I’d been extremely grateful for my hiking wardrobe. I’d happily carried the extra weight in exchanged for getting dry and warm at the end of the day (or even during the day).

This would be last break in a shelter, the last change in a privy and the last trailhead.

After changing my clothes, and lending some clothes to Tang, we gathered our things and walked across the campground. Without phone service and a pre-ordered shuttle, we had to hitch to Millinocket. But the chances of cars going there were slim.

As we stood by the gravel parking lot, waiting for cars to pick us up, I realized I still had a tortilla, cheese and salami. In the true spirit of a thru-hike I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good snack opportunity.

The minute I ripped open the salami packet, a car pulled over.

I was going home.