This morning I awoke with an intense feeling of anticipation of reaching a long-sought goal. After 9 years of continuous effort (plus many more of casual hiking prior to that), I was within striking distance of the end of my AT Journey! I slept OK, with lots of white noise of water flowing over the dam, but woke up a few times as it started to rain again. Water came in the tent! Somehow, though, I fell back to sleep until 0530, when I had to make the decision to pack up while it was still raining. This task took over an hour because it was so hard to find a dry place - I ultimately had to use some overturned boats to finish (I also used my backpack cover for the first time ever). After that, I filled up on water from the lake/river. I eventually (0645) left my campsite (still in the rain) and hiked back to the AT. I then walked almost two miles, in mud and flowing water, to reach the Rainbow Lake Campground. I'm VERY glad that I didn't try to get there last night! When I arrived, I encountered the only people I saw all day: a mom, dad and little kid who were hiking the HMW southbound. After a snack break there, I continued NOBO (east on the compass) on the AT along the shore of Rainbow Lake. The trail was the worst of the mud, rocks and roots that I’ve been experiencing all around Maine. Meanwhile, the rain continued intermittently... By this point, I was soaking wet and my clothes started chafing - this is something I've mostly avoided over the years but it is impossible to stop when you can't get dry. I stopped several more times for snacks and to relieve my aching shoulders. During this part of the hike, I had to make a lot of more bridge-less river crossing and got quite wet a few times. One thing I didn't have to do all day, though, was to take off my boots (first time in many months of hiking in Maine). I passed several places where the AT actually didn’t cross a little hill for no reason and wondered why the Great Trail Designer had missed the PUD... Otherwise, there were lots of places where I got to the edge of water and then had to climb back uphill. As usual in these conditions, I saw many frogs and toads. Another challenge, I had to maneuver around several huge (one to two feet in diameter) downed trees lying across the trail. Finally, after leaving the eastern corner of the lake, I started a steady climb to the top of the Rainbow Ledges. For most of this ascent, I was in an actual river. Surprisingly (or annoyingly?) the sun came out in time for me to lose tree cover. When I reached the bald top, I wasn’t impressed by the limited views - I will admit that it was possible to see some of the highlands from the previous day but there were also trees in the way in the optimal directions. There was one place with a view of Katahdin but I thought "meh" after the climb I'd just completed. It also started getting hotter and I eagerly sought a quick route back into the trees. Once I was there, I felt much better with shade... During this phase, I started noticing that I was fighting a losing battle with nutrition and hydration - this has been a growing problem over the years and only large amounts of sugar seems to resolve it. Trying to limit intake, though, I tried to find an equilibrium so I'd be able to continue. From the Rainbow Ledges, the AT started downhill towards the Hurd Brook Lean-to. Just before I reached that landmark, however, I had to make one more (major) river crossing with limited stones to stay dry. Somehow, I barely made it across without falling into the deep water - whew! I took a long break at the Lean-to, taking off all my clothes in an effort to dry off (partially successful). By this point, I was shocked that I still hadn't seen any other hikers all day. I'd hoped to have an entourage on my last AT Section but I guess it wasn't meant to be... After about 30 minutes of snacking (including eating the orange I’d brought) and resting, I departed the shelter for the last three miles of my AT journey. This part of the hike involved another climb and a series of roller coaster hills. By this point of the day, I found this rather annoying. Still, I managed to navigate OK before beginning a big descent towards Golden Road. I tried to send a text to my dad when I finally (for the first time since leaving his camper) had cell signal but it didn’t work. Thinking a lot about my nine miles of AT hiking during this phase of the hike - it was really hard to believe it was almost done... The trail conditions improved tremendously as I got closer to the road. The AT had one more surprise in store for me, though: I accidentally stepped off boardwalk, knee deep into the mud! I left lots of footprints on the boards after that... Soon after that, I reached the HMW warning sign and knew I’d made it to the end! I felt even better when I saw the Trail Magic sign that my dad had left at the trailhead. Coming out of the woods, though, I noticed that he wasn’t actually parked at the trailhead. As a result, I had to walk east on Golden Road to find him (1515). I was happy that my 13ish mile day was finished but was even more pleased that the entire AT (2185.3 miles) was completed after 9 years, 3 months and 17 days. My dad was sitting under the awning of the RV and graciously got up so I could rest in his chair. Bonus: he handed me a beer! After a break, I changed out of my wet, muddy clothes. Before long, I was ready to leave for home. I think that surprised my dad, who had to pack up the RV before we could leave. I took Ana for a walk while he was busy and we retrieved Trail Magic stuff - I was glad to see that some of the items were gone. My dad picked me up and we then drove to the Abol Bridge for photos. I'd brought my "Every journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step" AT sign (a gift from sister) and we were able to capture Mount Katahdin in the background. After that, we headed out of the area on Golden Road. After a long, slow drive on the washboard surface (my dad said he'd had lots of trouble when he was driving to meet me), we were able to switch to the Baxter Park Access Road. This was much better and we were able to easily drive into Millinocket. From there, we used ME-11 and ME-6/16 to reach Dover-Foxcroft (arrived at 1830). Parked in the Shaw's again, we ate dinner (turkey sandwich, potato salad, beer) that my dad made for me. I posted on social media that I was finished with AT and got lots of good feedback. Later, my dad drove us further west on ME-6/16 until we could get on ME-150. We ultimately had a good drive (even though it got dark) all the way to Skowhegan. We set up again at the Super-Walmart at 2100 and I spent the rest of the evening reading, playing games and managing social media responses. Bed time was at 2145 after an amazing day! AT Today = 12.0 miles / Grand Total AT = 2185.3 miles / AT Left = 0.0 miles
