They’re singing happy birthday! – The walk

Hello! It’s been a while. My goal with the blog for the rest of the year is to document some things I wish I knew beforehand, or about some other details I think are missing from the internet. For a life update, I moved to Seattle, WA, and I’m working at a local startup! I plan to start getting familiar with these East Coast trails now that I’m here. No, I have no desire to attempt the PCT. But at least I’ll be in the area! So… maybe a hint of Wonderland is coming. Anyway, about what “regularly scheduled programming” would be.

No one actually publishes posts documenting how to get down from Katahdin or how to get home.

On the way down, I passed a few people with small backpacks and AT hang tags, but they were people who finished their hike earlier this year. They also congratulated me before I started heading back to the Table Lands. A point of pride for the AT was taking only 5 ibuprofen on the trail, but that sometimes also feels like a masochistic endeavor I went through. I just didn’t want to mask the pain I felt during the hike as I was wary of masking it too much and hiding a potential injury from myself.

There are a few ways to get down Katahdin. Of course, there’s the return via Hunt Trail, which I climbed, or there’s Knife’s Edge and Abol Slide. While many people choose to rack up bonus miles at Knife’s Edge (after all, it’s a trip to get to Katahdin!), I was ready for the day. Or for the year. My little feet need a rest. So, I opted for Abol Slide! Which… necessarily isn’t much easier. While it is technically a mile shorter than the Hunt Trail, three of the miles are TREACHIOUS. The trail originally followed a landslide from the summit, but now must cross it several times due to erosion. Still, we have to go down the same elevation we went down for 4 miles in 3…so it was a little slow. One day, the hikers and I were helping each other down, doing our best not to fall. Luckily, we all made it. It was about 2:30 and I saw a guy trying to get in… and I asked him if he had a turnaround time. I know I shouldn’t be the mountain ranger, but I just wanted to make sure he was safe! Luckily, I knew the dangers of Katahdin and was determined to turn back if I didn’t reach the summit within half an hour.

In the last kilometer the trail smoothed out a lot, which was very appreciated. When I reached the sign marking 1 mile left to the trailhead, I started running at full speed. During the final part, I was listening to Aaron Copland’s “Ballet for Martha/Appalachian Spring” over and over again. It’s been a long time since I heard my favorite piece of classical music and it’s the gift I’ve been keeping for myself all this time.

At the bottom, I ran into Comeback, Just John, Wizard of Ghee and a few others again, just as the shuttle to the lodge stopped. At first I thought I would be late for the ferry and was ready to hitchhike, so this was a pleasant surprise. I had the opportunity to chat with Poopfeather, our shuttle driver, about future plans. When I mentioned I was moving to Pittsburgh, her jaw dropped: apparently she had lived there for a long time and was a big fan of the community I was moving to, Shadyside! Honestly, I probably wasn’t the best conversationalist… I was still in complete shock at what me and everyone in the car had just accomplished. Even Comeback, who had “only” completed the Northern Half. We reached the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. How can I put into words what I felt?

Even now, reading my blog posts, they are just a juvenile attempt to capture the sensations of hiking. My voice recording diaries make me seem annoyed all day. My writing talks about objective challenges or how I think I felt. But there is no way to capture anything correctly. I think that’s what made writing this post the hardest thing so far. Although I am comfortable, in an apartment, in front of my perfect keyboard, on a computer that I own and not just on a library computer in the middle of some mountain town… what do I say? That’s what also makes hiking here so special. There is no way to convey what the trail means to me or anyone else. That is something that only hiking can convey.

At the Millinocket hostel, I went up and checked in with Moses. To my surprise, Skyball and Man from the day before were still around! They were both also leaving for Bangor tomorrow and I really appreciated having friends join me for much of the trip here at the end. They started at a restaurant while Poop and I went to the nearby supermarket to buy me a birthday cake! I quickly got something and also some food for the bus ride tomorrow. It’s nice to be able to grab… whatever now. No more nuts, tortillas, tuna packets, none of that. For me there is fresh food on the menu!

I put the cake away and joined Skyball and Man at the Scootic Inn for a bite to eat while learning about their adventures in Katahdin. Skyball showed me some photos of him at a summit with his friends Cosmo, Away, and Sidequest, while Man… was having an adventure. Apparently he only made it off the mountain in the dark around 9, so he had a great time going to Millinocket, walking back to the Abol Bridge in the dark. Ah…man. Skyball jokes that when the Man finally walked the southern half of the trail, all he would have to do to be a trail angel was provide some food and shelter, since that’s what the Man always lacked. Some truth in that.

We had some ice cream and then headed back to the lodge to celebrate! I had a small team of about 10 people, including Betty, Sakura, Bamboo, and many of those mentioned above, and they sang Happy Birthday to me. Normally, I have birthday anxiety. My birthday didn’t used to be something I celebrated until I left home, but I’ve decided since then. was worth celebrating, the question was… what do I do with it? But this year I had an answer. I was surrounded by people who knew me, who understood me.

And that’s it! In a nutshell, that was my 156 day hike. It took me 60 days to post this, but I’m trying to get used to writing more again now that I’m settled (i.e. my life isn’t all in boxes…again).

There is no book, YouTube channel, sponsorship opportunity, team building or anything else planned. Just me writing a little more about my opinions and experiences. Yeah, I’ll probably talk about my pack shakedown and the other things I mentioned in the banner for this post. The other day I talked to a guy at a running club who also hiked and I think we both agreed: I’m leaving this life behind. I will definitely be backpacking again and am already looking forward to sleeping outside again and seeing some amazing views. But hiking? I don’t even know. Sitting here, three months later, rereading all of this, nothing seemed real. I didn’t feel like 2025 had happened, and at the same time, I felt all of 2025 more than any other year in my life.

Here’s to a successful rest of the 25th.

(title lyrics: 30/90, Jonathan Larson)

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