WAHOOOOOOO!

Summit Sunday!!! We were so grateful to have an absolutely beautiful bluebird kind-of-day!!!! 

Felt like it was Christmas Eve and could barely sleep last night. (Perhaps because I was too excited or perhaps because I was feeling too grimy. Not sure which :). 

Murphy's friend from the beginning of the trail, Opie, joined us for the hike. We were hiking by about 6:30. Had some beautiful sights on the way up. 

Katahdin Falls

Walked for awhile and then it became a total rock scramble which was SO FUN. Challenging, but since it was our last scramble, I loved it all. We were hiking on pure adrenaline!

Murphy and I summitted together which was so great. We have hiked together for almost 1000 miles! She's been the perfect hiking partner for me. We have the same work ethic when it comes to the trail. We are 'purists', in that we were determined to hike every inch of this trail and not miss a single blaze. We also happen to have the exact same sense of humor, so we crack each other up all the time :). And we are both lovers of diet coke. :)

Our first photo on the summit was with our diet cokes (with 'friends' and 'family' on the bottles please note) because we could never have completed this crazy adventure without the support and help from our friends and families.(and an occasional diet coke ) 

There are so many people to thank and you will all be hearing from me soon!!!!

THANK YOU!

Got to the summit around 10, and sat with several other thru hikers at the top and enjoyed the moment.

A few of them brought champagne up for the celebration and as we got a group photo, they surprised us all, shook them up and we all got doused in champagne. More photos of that later. It was hysterical. I have a hilarious video, but not sure I can post it on here.

Pictured are Shivers, Sauté', bagheera, Sharp knife, Shortcut, Hiccup, Kalpaca, Timone, Pumba, Murphy and I.

It was hard to leave, knowing that this journey was over. (Even though we still had to hike down off the mountain:) 

I am spending a few days here in Millinocket to get organized and then head home.

In an ironically cruel, yet funny, twist of fate.... when we got back to Millinocket, hungry and tired, there was a statewide power outage so all restaurants were closed!!! Seriously! How does that even happen! We laughed at it being just part of the adventure and I dined on cold chicken tenders from the IGA. 

Tonight, I am showered, wearing jeans and my favorite, softest cotton shirt. Met up with a few at the Blue ox for a few beers and then to bed. 

I have a lot to process and so many notes to go through before I post my final thoughts on this incredible journey. It is life-changing indeed. Again, thank you all for your support and encouragement. Quitting was never an option, but on those days when it was hard to get myself out of my tent and moving, knowing that I had so many people who believed that I could do this, got me going. My intention when I started this trek, was to get up each day, put on my pack and start hiking north, and i feel like I stayed true to that. 

Final thoughts in a few days. Thanks again!! So WEIRD that I will not be going hiking in the woods tomorrow!!!!

Signing off tonight as a through thru-hiker. Ahhhhhhh.....