Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 1 - Old Mumma K
27th July 2023
Katahdin Stream Campground - Summit - Katahdin Stream Campground (mile 5.2)
Daily miles: 10.4
Total miles: 10.4
I went to sleep and woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go and looked at the time, it was only 11:30pm. I had been asleep for about an hour and a half.
I drifted in and out of sleep checking the time about once an hour until I finally got up just before 5am. I spent a while talking to a hiker who just finished up the AT for the triple crown – I forget his name, and another hiker – a Canadian guy – who is hiking the ECT (the Eastern Continental Trail). He started in Newfoundland and summited Katahdin yesterday and is getting the shuttle with us to continue hiking southbound. Maybe I’ll see him down the trail, maybe I won’t.
This Guy just completed his triple crown but I don’t remember his name
L-R: J13, Log, Rabbit Foot, Lesley, Kevin
Rabbit Foot
I was packed up and ready to go well on time, we all were, but our shuttle driver was late. There was rain in the forecast so a small part of me was hoping they messed up enough to allow us to go tomorrow instead! But he came running along the road at about 6:20am.
The drive to the ranger station in Baxter park took about an hour. The ranger at the gate asked how many hikers and wrote down the license plate; that was as far as the checks went. We signed in the log book at the rangers station and grabbed day packs so we didn’t have to lug all our kit up the mountain. There was no sight of a ranger so we we just helped ourselves and left the rest of our stuff in a lean-to next to the ranger station.
I stored all my stuff in a day bag and used my own pack to climb with. I felt more comfortable with my own bag and I didn’t want the smell of hundreds of other peoples funk!
New friends! UK 3 : USA 2
We set off just after 07:30 and it was hotter than hot! Overcast, so not directly sunny, but the humidity was next level. It was 5 minutes before I was sweating profusely and already a bit damp. We set off at a fairly quick pace and, having done absolutely nothing to prepare for this, it was quite the baptism of fire. We were drinking a lot and I was worried I hadn’t packed enough water but I would most likely just exist in a state of dehydration as per usual.
About a mile in I had a bit of a panic that I hadn’t stored my kit properly in the lean to – we didn’t hang any of our food, which we probably should have done, but more worryingly at the time was that I thought I had put my bag right on the edge and it would get wet if it rained. I just had to push the thoughts away and not worry about it because there was no way I could walk an extra 2 miles to go and check.
Katahdin Stream
J13 leading the way
We alternated who was leading and everyone had a nice pace. My Scottish friends said I was quick which is something not many people have said to me before! We never discussed hiking together, after all I had only known these people for about 12 hours, but we all just stuck together, already united by what we were doing. It’s always better to share the experience with people. That’s another thing, there are a group of 5 of us and 3 of us are from the UK, we outnumber the Yanks 3:2!
We just took it easy, didn’t rush and took a few short breaks to let our legs recover and stop sweating so much. It’s a long climb up Katahdin and I remembered the sections from last time: nice; forest; rocky and rooty; big boulders; some scrambling; long and flat; a bit more uphill to the summit.
Tree line
Casual bit of rock climbing
Some helpfully placed rebar
Hot and sweaty!
Looking up to the summit
Rocks rocks and more rocks
Looking back at the way we came
The misty view over Baxter park
The climb up was fun, until we got to the long flat bit. It had been drizzling since we left the tree line but still really warm; the climbing uphill kept us warm too, but if we stopped for too long we would get a chill so we moved along slowly and steadily. We navigated our way up the big boulders and rocks and my hands were sore because the rocks were rough - that’s something I should have remembered from last time.
We saw a few other people. A few AT NOBO summiteers and we leapfrogged with a couple of guys most of the day.
Baxter Park peaks
The long flat bit
Big rocks with a tiny Lesley
Lesley disappearing into the mist
When we finally reached the flatish part I put on my waterproof jacket because I was feeling the chill and the further up we got the worse the rain got, and then the wind picked up and it was whipping over the ridge. You could see the cloud being blown across and the rain was pelting down.
A sign of things to come!
We got to the summit and spent about 90 seconds there taking some photos and then I literally ran down to get out of the awful weather. I thought the weather would improve when we got lower but it just rained continuously for the whole descent which was totally brutal.
It doesn’t look like it’s raining but it was pouring down
Recreating my summit picture from 2018
Everything was so wet and the fear of slipping and falling was high. We became 2 groups; me and Lesley, and her husband Kevin with J13 and Log. We keep going and some parts were so sketchy. A lot of it I did on my bum and a lot of it we climbed down backwards facing the mountain.
Lesley wanted to wait for her husband and we found a big boulder to shelter behind but I was starting to get cold and when Log caught up he wanted to keep moving so I went with him while Lesley waited.
Still raining, looking out towards the Knife Edge
Looking back towards the summit
Very very wet but still smiling
I was completely soaked, my waterproofs had soaked through. When I was moving it was ok because it wasn’t too cold out but when I stopped the wind chilled me really quickly. My hands were getting more and more sore as I was leaning on the rocks so much and swinging myself down.
The downhill was just relentless. I was glad to be with another person because there were a few times where Log helped me get down a few of the sketchy parts. Ok for him as he’s tall with long legs. Some parts were quite a stretch for me. I bashed my shin really hard on a rock a one point so that was pretty sore.
On and on and on the decent went and getting back into the trees meant we had tree trunks to hold onto instead of rocks which was slightly better. Still raining though, and every time I knocked a tree it shook all the water from the trees too.
I found a trekking pole in the middle of the trail so I picked it up and walked until I came across a couple of ladies and it belonged to one of them. They had a son with them, who I later found out was 11 years old, and she told him to move out the way but he didn’t want to. I told him it was fine and he didn’t have to move unless we caught him up and tagged him. This turned into a game where I was racing a child down the mountain. I kept shouting at him (because he was so far ahead) that he had to be careful as I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt!
He was so nimble and quick. I came within a couple of meters of him at one point but he pulled this ninja move where he slid down this big rock and he got away from me. He slipped over a couple of times and I shouted to make sure he was ok but inside I was like – yes! I’ve got a chance of catching him!
It made me get down the mountain a bit quicker even though my knees were screaming at me; the quicker I get there the less my time my knees will hurt. I caught up to him when he was sat on the side of the trail and he said I had to wait and I wasn’t allowed to come and tag him; he said he need to stop to take his inhaler.
Oh god!
He had a drink and some food and he was like “right I’m refuelled now” with a glint in his eye. But it was getting a bit dangerous (and I was knackered) so I told him I conceded and he won. It took me a while to convince him I wasn’t going to double cross him (I can’t deny that didn’t cross my mind!) and we sealed the deal with a fist bump. I asked him if he was enjoying himself and he said he was having a great time which was nice. One of his people caught up and Log and I moved on while they waited for him mum to catch up. Honestly I was grateful of the break, I am too old now to race 11 year olds!
We just carried on and on and my legs felt like there were going to collapse underneath me. I was so wet, soaked through to the skin, but the temperature was getting warmer as we went down. It was about 21°C / 70°F (it was about 14°C / 57°F at the top but the wind made it feel colder)
We came to a mile to go and it was the longest mile EVER. It just went on and on and on. I had barely eaten anything and my hunger really kicked in, I had survived on Welches fruit snacks all day which I grazed on from my fanny pack.
Log and I were regularly shouting “ARGH!” and “UGH!” and “I’M SO OVER THIS!”
We arrived back to the rangers station at about 17:15 to get our kit (not wet and not eaten by bears so that was good news). There were 3 NOBOs there having just completed their hike, and the shuttle was an hour and a half late already to pick them up. Another hiker they knew drove up to the rangers station and gave back his day pack. They asked him if they were going to Millinocket - and they were in a massive car with space for them all - but he said he couldn’t give them a ride because his wife was pissed off with him!
That’s a shame. However pissed off you are with someone, can you leave 3 people stranded? (They did eventually get picked up by the shuttle.)
J13 had booked a campsite and Lesley and Kevin had booked a shelter, shelter number 8, so we decided to go and check out the shelter because it was still raining. It took ages to find it, we were even right next to it at one point but didn’t realise. When we eventually found it my absolute priority was to get all my wet clothes off. I could literally ring the water out of my shorts and top. I don’t think they will be dry by the morning.
Everything is throbbing.
I put on my sleep top and new fleece and sat in my underpants. Knelt on my knee and quickly discovered a massive bruise on my knee which make me yelp.
Everything is throbbing.
My feet - all the skin was falling off as I built up a fair amount of callous on the Isle of Man hike – maybe I’ll write about that one day – and now the skin was just falling off in chunks. Nice.
Battered and bruised and it’s only day 1
People pay good money for this kind of content
There was a massive spider in the shelter, as long as it stays there it will be fine.
I had a dehydrated meal; a Pad Thai from Good To Go. I wanted to love it and have it as my new favourite, but it was just ok, why do they make these meals with so much spice in?
The massive spider
Good To Go Pad Thai
I went to use the privy which was a very ripe one; I hadn’t had a wee since about 8 am this morning, I was so dehydrated.
I’ve got my fluffy socks on which I got last minute from target and they were so cosy. It’s about 21 degrees so it’s not cold, but after being wet all day it’s nice to feel soft and dry clothes on my skin.
The others came along at 18:30. It was a relief to see them, I was getting worried. J13 struggled with his knees on the way down, he feels like he didn’t do well, but he did amazingly well - there were several people who attempted the summit today and turned around so they didn’t make it.
Home for the night
I’m pretty pleased with today, up in 5 hours. 1 more than it took to go up in 2018. It also took 5 hours to get down which I wasn’t expecting but I’ll blame the weather for that. Having a nice dry shelter at the end of the day was also a nice bonus, thank you Lesley and Kevin!
If you start the trail without a reservation you have a good chance of being able to stay on someone else’s campground. We met a group of people who had set up camp for a few days and one of them had hiked the trail last year (also from the UK!) and they would have happily shared their campsite.
The alternative is to hike on another 9 miles to Abol Bridge and camp there, but that requires starting the trail with a good level of fitness which I didn’t have so that would have been quite the push for me on that day.
One other thing to note is that often people go up Katahdin via the Hunt Trail and descend via the Abol trail which is a bit steeper but flattens out a lot quicker. As we were SOBOs we decided to go up and down the Hunt trail because that’s the official route of the Appalachian Trail. However, if I were to do it again (LOL) I would go up Hunt and down Abol.
