Baxter State Park

Baxter State Park is unlike all the other parks. Most of the land was donated by Percival Baxter, and he also set up a trust fund which means that the park does not rely on any outside funding. The park was set up to allow for the protection of the environment to be more important than allowing people access. As thru hikers we were able to enter without the normal out of state charge, but it became the one and only campsite that I had to pay for in the entire trip. It was also the only night I started a fire. We had been given some marshmallows and graham crackers, so after the acquisition of chocolate we made s'mores.
The next morning we started off nice and early to try and beat the Labor Day Weekend rush. Hangman was on the trail at 6:30 with his friend, while Rocko, Philly and I started at 7am. We quickly caught Hangman, his friend and the other 7 people who had started earlier than us. We had left our packs at the Ranger Station with notes for the people picking us up on where to meet us. When we hit tree line and started rock climbing, we were very happy to have left our big packs behind. After about a mile of tough rock scrambling and some views we made it into the clouds. From there it was an easy walk to the summit, although we were unable to tell how close we were until we reached the summit.
It is hard to describe the mixture of emotions. I had been hiking toward this destination for 5 and a half months. Now I was standing at the sign. I had seen pictures of people in front of this sign throughout the trip. Now I was there. At times it had seemed so far away, too far away to contemplate. Then in the 100-mile Wilderness it finally felt reachable. There is a mixture of happiness that you have attained your goal, and sadness that you no longer have that goal to strive for.
We spent close to an hour up there, taking pictures, drinking beer and talking to people. Hangman's friend had turned around at tree line and Hangman caught back up to us at the summit. Everyone on the summit had climbed up themselves, and everyone knew about the trail. It was obvious that we had just completed the whole thing and we were almost celebrities. Finally the cloud and the mist and cold got to us and we started to make our way down.
We went across the Knife's Edge Ridge. The 1.1 miles took us an hour and a half. We were in a cloud most of the way so it was harder to appreciate the shear drop offs on either side. This was 1.1 miles of boulder scrambling with a path that at times was only 3 feet wide with 1,000 foot drop offs on either side. A truly impressive way to come down off the mountain.
From there we went down the Helon Taylor trail and arrived just about the same time my parents did, who met us with fresh fruit and cookies. When I tried to hug them, I was turned away with a handshake. No more physical contact until I had showered. The drive to Bangor was cold since we had to keep the windows down the whole way.
After a shower and my long awaited hugs my parents took Philly and me out to dinner. We went to a brew pub with great beer and seafood. I was able to have the meal I had been dreaming about, clam chowder, mussels, lobster, fries and a brownie sundae. We even ran into several people we had seen hiking that day who bought us beer. I was able to enjoy my 15 minutes of fame.