August 27, 2017
8:01 PM
Total Miles: 2185
Day 148
Today we woke up with energy. We had 15 miles to get out of the 100 mile wilderness. 15 miles to Abol bridge where there was a store for resupply and a restaurant.
Town food… Yum yum yum!
Planner and I hiked together and spent the morning moving quickly over the flat terrain.
Around 11 we hit the top of a small climb that showed us a wide opening of the glorious Katadhin.
There it is.
Holy Toledo.
We sat and had a snack while taking pictures and then our motivation to move fast completely diminished.
So we sat for a longer break than intended..
Finally we headed on for the last 6 miles. As we were heading down the hill to the road we saw a blue cooler peaking out.
Could it be??
We neared and saw two coolers and a car and then a woman smiling at us.
Yep. Trail Magic!!
We talked with the lady and found out she was Summer Breeze’s mother. She came out to do trail magic and hike the last part with her daughter. How neat is that?!
From there we headed on to the restaurant to eat burgers and fries and to resupply.
Our resupply we decided was going to be different.. Pure junk food.
For me… I packed out a bag of Doritos something I should have done the whole trail.
To our delight a man came up and told us he was a part thru hiker and they had a camp site set up a little down the trail and that we could join them for since trail magic.
Wow. This day couldn’t get better.
So we ventured down to an amazing camp spot and had free food and beer and great conversation with the couple.
Their trail names were boots and jay bird. We all had a blast talking about the trail.
“You are going to fly up Katahdin.” Jay bird said. She was so excited for us.
Ive met some pretty incredible people on this trail. Its crazy to think there are only two days left.
Day 149
Sleep didn’t come peacefully last night.
I have found my mind racing with thoughts. Thoughts about these last few days of trail. The thoughts of missing these people and this life.
Thoughts about all the things I need to get done when I get home.
I woke up groggy but still ready for the easy ten mile day.
Ten easy flat miles into Baxter State Park to the bottom of Katadhin.
The sign up only allows 12 of us to enter and we were first on the board.
The terrain was flat and gorgeous.
I could feel my strong legs contracting, my mind swarming with thoughts, and my chest full of emotions.
This is it.
The trail was like a red carpet laid out leading to the big finish.
Day hikers were congratulating me on almost being done.
I felt like the trail was saying
“Good Job young one…you did it”
I walked slower than usual and took long breaks at waterfalls enjoying the rays.
I feel like for the first time since I have been on trail the forecast since the past few days has called for sunshine and zero rain every day.
Like mother nature was congratulating us.
We made it to shelter around one and hung around waiting to see what remaining 8 thru hikers were going to arrive.
Some showed up who we didn’t know and around dinner time Sasquatch showed up.
We all were filled with such happiness.
Someone Planner and I have leaped frogged with since North Carolina.
I hadn’t even taken a picture of him yet so I told him he had to take one with me. Thankfully he obliged.
We sat around the fire talking about this and that and now Alex, Planner, Woodpile, and I are all in a small four person shelter getting ready to sleep before the big day.
I don’t know if words can describe how I feel.
Such a mixture of feelings from exhaustion to sadness to happiness to a sense of accomplishment.
Tomorrow this dream I have had for years will come to a finish.
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 