August 1, 2025 4 min to read

AT Blog: Day 140 - The Final Summit

Hiking Katahdin and Completing the Appalachian Trail

Day 140:

I wake up at the motel, anxious but mostly ready to go. I dumped my extra gear (stuff like my tent and sleeping bag) and any food I wouldn’t eat for lunch or snacks. I still bring my backpack, because I know it would look good for the photos. My parents drove me back and dropped me off at the road.

I start from Daicey Pond Road, which means I have about 2 miles before I cross Katahdin Stream Campground. My parents walk with me for about a mile, and we get to see loons fly overhead. It is a pretty special moment the three of us get to share. I keep walking after that by myself. The terrain isn’t too bad, with some boards helping out.

At Katahdin Stream Campground, I meet with the ranger to get my summit tag, while also getting a quick debriefing alongside two day hikers. It is funny to hike all this way and still get a safety briefing for summiting. It was nice to converse with the ranger beforehand, about all the beauty at the top of the mountain.

The trail up is daunting, but nice for that next mile. There is Katahdin Falls, with a nice area and the last privy on trail, I don’t end up using it. After it, the trail goes straight up.

After 2 and a half miles of hiking today, the tree line disappears for the boulders. I’ll be honest, the trail has only freaked me out on heights 3 times: in Pennsylvania, the Whites (especially Franconia Ridge), and the first part of the boulders. It was very steep with awkward footholds and metal rods to step on.

The philosophy of the park is to keep modifications to the trail to a minimum, and you can certainly tell that where there’s just a single piece of rebar for a 6-foot-tall rock.

It’s hard to describe the beauty of this hike though. With no trees and few mountains surrounding me, I had a view for miles. The only clouds are way above the mountains, so I take in the sights.

After a mile and a half of walking, I reached the first peak, and the hike gets easier. I was still going over rocks but not as many boulder climbs. I could see the trail extend north and up along the ridge. There are a few dozen hikers I pass on the way up (mostly as people move slow on the rocks) as it is a clear day on Katahdin, after several obscured days.

At 4400 feet the top plateau is reached. It has grass and flower fields, lots of rocks but it’s relatively flat for a mile, then the last 300-foot climb to Baxter Peak, the name for the top. Its beautiful to look over the fields and out into the distance.

There is not much I can say here that can capture what was going through my head. I have been on such a long journey to get to this point, and I thought I would feel changed. I know I’ve changed but I thought I would be reflecting on something epic not “I hope I don’t trip and sprain something on the way down.” Special or not, I take my last steps going north.

The summit of Katahdin, how words cannot describe the emotions I felt at the top. I rarely shed tears, but here, at the northern end of the trail and the end of this journey I bawl.

The summit was busy as there was a youth group up there, but after a few minutes I got my turn to take my photos. I got someone who actually does professional photography for a newspaper to snap my photos on the sign, and the result turned out pretty good in my opinion.

It didn’t feel real at first but after taking photos I cried a bit to myself realizing it’s over and there’s no more white blazes going north. After an hour at the summit, I head back down.

It’s weird to return going south. Back down the mountain, back to my family waiting to see me. Back to Georgia soon after that. Back home. There were so many times these past few weeks that I wanted the journey to end, as I was tired of walking. I knew as I walked back that I would be back, that this was not the end of my through hiking journey.

I say hey to the folks I pass again, still climbing up the mountain, to their destinations. As I get to the bottom once again, I greet the thruhikers back at the bottom, Yardsale and Salty are staying at the camp tonight and plan to summit tomorrow.

I take off my pack one last time, steal a glance at the trail running through Katahdin Spring campsite and head home.

After 140 days and almost 2200 miles, I walked the Appalachian Trail.