Before we could be SOBO, we had to become NOBO. Right. Above.

Dominating Mount Katahdin

Well, here we are. Officially on Day 1 of Operation Appalachian Trail 2026. I must tell you, in retrospect, no mountain can be “mastered.” We were blessed. We had a perfect day getting to the top, but I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s back up and go back to the bottom where the day started.

Another quick compliment to Jen and John. They filled us with fresh-off-the-grid flapjacks to fill our energy reserves to navigate this crazy climb.

First white glow

There it is. What I consider our first guide to our hike on the Appalachian Trail. This is the mark we will follow during the 2200 miles of our journey. The AT is a «guest» at Baxter State Park and the official trail to the summit is the Hunt Trail. It was a round trip, so we had to go to NOBO to start our SOBO.

marital happiness

What could go wrong on day 1? Well, thank goodness more than anything. Aside from the fact that it was very difficult, we’ll talk more about that later. Let’s take a look at our first steps into epic uncertainty…

This was our final warning that we were about to enter Maine’s «largest wilderness.»

Wait, when are we going on a hike? This is not hiking. It’s climbing mountains.

For the record, we volunteered to HIKE the Appalachian Trail. That’s what the brochure said: «Come join us on an epic adventure and hike the AT.» I guess I forgot to read the fine print that included mountain climbing and possible death. (More on that in a moment)

Yes. This is part of the trail we “walked” up (and down) Mount Katahdin.
A common thread throughout this will revolve around “this was hard”, “this is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life”, “I can’t believe how hard this is”, “Oh dear Lord, why is this so hard?” etc…

But at this point I would like to let some pictures be worth a thousand words. Enjoy a few of them before reaching the top…

Yes, that’s snow in June. Lisa and I thought it looked like a heart or maybe we were just hallucinating from being so exhausted.

After all, it’s a small world

Something strange happened on the way to the summit. Well, actually a couple of weird things, but this one topped them all. Let me introduce you to the first of our “tramily” (trail family for those of you who didn’t read the previous blog). This is “Spotter,” and boy, boy, let me tell you how well God provided in powerful ways when he gathered us together on Mount Katahdin.
Spotter is from Michigan and before we left, Lisa had “met” her on a Facebook hiking page. What are the chances that we will reach the summit on the same day? There’s more about what the tram stand looks like along the way as we head into the 100 Mile Wilderness, but let’s return to the top of Mount Katahdin first.

we made it

Anyone who has looked at Mount Katahdin has probably seen photographs of people holding the famous «Katahdin» sign. Ours is at the top of this blog, but a short distance from that sign is a plaque mounted on the mountain that tells the story of «Mount Katahdin» that was given as a gift to the people of Maine. The story is so cool.

So, we hung out at the top, hugged and high-fived. We met a few other people who were starting their SOBO with us. The bugs were a bit depressing so we didn’t want to stay too long. Plus, we were about to smash our personal time record for the trip. There were some NOBOers who were just finishing their AT quest. It was an honor to be there seeing the victory on their faces.

However, for us it was day 1. Have I mentioned how difficult it was to ascend Mount Katahdin? If I didn’t do it, it was. And now? We had to descend the same mountain. I’d like to take a moment to go down a rabbit trail that Lisa won’t approve of, so if you’ve read this far, don’t tell her. Long before I left for this trip, I researched whether a helicopter could be rented to drop off at the summit and begin the hike. Just for the record, there are laws against it, so we had the pleasure of doubling our first few miles on the trail.

The descent is a lie…

…straight from the bottom of hell. Whoever coined the phrase “it’s all downhill from here” has never come down from a mountain. The peak of Mount Katahdin is approximately 5,269 feet. So in 5 miles you gain/lose 4188 feet of altitude. Here is a visual representation taken from the FarOut hiking app.

Once again we thought that going down was even more difficult than going up.

Burning and confused

We were tired and that’s why it took us longer to go down than to go up. Let’s be real though: going down like that was more of a controlled fall of sorts.

I usually suck at videos, but I wanted to capture a part of the moment. If you are curious, feel free to watch or continue.

The llamas can sometimes be a little confusing or hard to find. In the mountains they were painted on the rocks. Let’s say Jeff changed a little and thought he was on the right path. This is the moment I first realized that you can actually die doing this. To say I was terrified would be an understatement.

I decided that going down that little chimney was «the way.» Mistaken. This photo was taken after my little panic attack when breathing returned to normal. I know it doesn’t look like much from this angle, but just past the rock on the left was a crack about a foot wide that dropped 20 feet. At the bottom of the crevice, some poor soul who did the same stupid thing lost his water bottle. That bottle will remain there for eternity. Oh, and the best part? That sunny, brightly lit rock in the background? It was about 4 feet wide and at the end was a steep cliff that dropped 75 to 100 feet down. I stopped breathing for a minute. I was paralyzed. It took me several minutes to just turn around. He was sure that one wrong step meant a painful death. I know I sometimes go into hyperbole when I tell stories, but to tell you, I was less than terrified that I was lying. I made it back to the top where I took that photo. My knees were scraped, my palms were a little raw and sore, but God brought me through. Since then I have been very cautious in EVERY step I have taken. After that I sat for about 15 minutes to recover.

By the way, this is the flame that I missed to lead me down that dangerous path…

So we continued down the mountain. We didn’t really stop to smell the roses, but we did have a mountain flower moment. Lisa likes to read most of the informational signs we find. I took this photo at the foot of the mountain that same day:

And here we get to see the flowers:

It really was an interesting juxtaposition to have something so fragile live in such a harsh and harsh environment.

We had to stop and get water at one point. I’m not sure I mentioned this, but we were very tired from how hard this day had been. We were also very thirsty. Fortunately, the part of the “trail” we were “walking” decided to flow like a stream. I don’t think this was the exact place we got water, but it would have been pretty similar.

Below the tree line there was some real hiking that occurred even though it was still steep. When we arrived at Katahdin Stream Falls, we knew our day would soon come to an end.

The bridge behind us was the boardwalk back to what I would call the closest to civilization we would get for the next nine days.

Well, we managed to return and in record time. What was that record time you ask?

Can you say 12 hours and 23 minutes to travel a total of about 11 miles? That includes breaks and lunch at the summit. It’s no lie that it is OUR best record. Chances are we’ll never get over it again because as these words are being written, I can’t think of any reason to do this again.
He. Was. Hard.

rock background

After all that hard work our feet needed a good icing on the cake. Fortunately God provided…

My God, it was cold. I’m not sure if my expression says that or not, but the ice could have been a little warmer.

You already know all about the delicious cheeseburger dinner that finally ended our day before a well-deserved night of sleep.

Just the beginning…

Thank you Mr. Mt. Katahdin for not killing us. You should be highly respected by all those who choose this challenge. Congratulations to all those who have done this before us and who will come after us.
The Hunt Trail is the first part of the AT and it floored us, but we got up the next day and headed into the 100 Mile Wilderness.

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