Climbing Katahdin

Some years back, after I got my job with USPS and actually found myself with some leisure time on my hands and some money in my pocket, I decided that it was time that I visited Maine to climb Katahdin.

Katahdin is the highest peak in Maine. It's not the highest mountain on the east coast, and it's not even the highest peak in New England. But at just a few feet shy of one mile above sea level, it's still an impressive peak by the standards of the east coast of North America. In addition, it was raked so thoroughly by glaciers in recent geological history that it more resembles a western mountain than our typical eastern ones.

I'd wanted to climb it since I first read of it as a teenager. So I flew up to Boston, met up with my nephew Chuck who works for Defense Intelligence, and we drove on up to Millinocket Maine to climb Katahdin.

Unfortunately, this was in the days before digital cameras, so all of my photos were made on film and I haven't transferred them to my hard drive. The weather, also, did not cooperate so we hiked largely under dark clouds and--once we reached the summit--rain.

But we did it. Almost thirty years after I'd first read about that mountain, I climbed it. It was an amazing experience--maybe the highlight of my hiking days. But I want to go back and do it again, this time in better weather.

Katahdin, the East's unlikeliest peak.