Thursday July 4, 0mi/0km

I slept in, knowing my friends had a long drive from Boston and wouldn’t arrive until 1pm. Toni, Katie, and Sarah arrived first, and set up camp in our site #21. Lilly & Chris arrived a little while later.

Alice, Nick, Cailigh, Alexa, Kalmia, and Victor arrived also, and setup on a nearby campsite. All 12 of us were here! It was hot, so we went for a swim in a nearby river.

After a couple of hours in the river, we returned to camp and had dinner, and did some colorful sparklers for the July 4th holiday!

Friday July 5, 10.4mi/16.7km

Katahdin Stream campground (2186.8) to Mt. Katahdin summit (2192.0) (ME) + 5.2mi return hike to camp

We all left camp at 7:30am (Kalmia and Victor started earlier), After a mile, we took a quick break near a stream (and a privy!)

The trail gradually started climbing up and up, and it was very humid and sweaty. But all smiles on a beautiful blue sky day!

As we got higher, the trees disappeared and there were amazing views.

Looking up the Hunt ridge trail:

Looking back down from where we came:

The walk along the table lands was pretty amazing.

The last white blaze on the trail!

We got to the summit at 11am, and took many photos of the finish, including the classic Katahdin sign pose.

And since this is the completion of my “Triple Crown” – hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (2015), Continental Divide Trail (2016), and Appalachian Trail – I had to do a photo with three crowns!

The summit was pretty crowded, but there were also some beautiful views.

Looking down on Chimney Pond:

Cailigh, Kalmia, and Victor arrived half an hour later, and we took more photos!

The summit of Katahdin has a benchmark and a Plaque. It 5,267ft/1605m high, and it was a surprisingly exhausting climb for being only a moderately high mountain.

The view of the Knife Edge, an alternative descent route, was an intimidating sight.

Most of the group hiked out to the Knife edge a little ways, but I stayed on the summit and took a nap! I got a little sunburned… oops. At 1:30pm, we started down back to camp. It was an uneventful hike, and by the end we were very tired, but excited to be done hiking!

We arrived back to camp at 5:30pm, and we ate all the foods – sausages, potatoes, mac& cheese, salad, beer, and brownies! What a great way to finish a long trail, surrounded by friends and food!