Today was the beginning of a journey that is a once-in-a-lifetime event. As I sit in my bedroom, I am more than a little bit nervous about the next few months. Going from school and work to days filled with nothing but the sounds of nature and my two feet is pretty daunting. All of my gear is prepped and ready to go in my room. I’m excited to get out there and start putting miles behind me.
Despite trying my very hardest to have a really light pack, it’s still much heavier than I had hoped it would be… stay tuned to hear about the gear that gets left behind.
I arrived at Baxter on June 23, 2026. I wound up driving up with my father. During the drive, I decided that I would try not to listen to any music for the duration of the hike. For me, this will be incredibly difficult, as I love music and listen to hundreds of thousands of minutes a year. Somewhat ironically, I do not even remember what the last song that played was before I lost service. I’ve since uninstalled Spotify, effectively burning the bridge to music access. As I sit here in the lean-to at the Katahdin Stream Campground, I am already looking forward to hearing music again in a few months. The drive up to Katahdin was gorgeous, and I may have fallen in love with Maine along the way. Once we got close to the park, Katahdin loomed in the distance and seemed massive and somewhat daunting to think that I would climb to the very top. The current plan is to summit tomorrow morning, then set out onto the trail itself on Thursday morning, the next day after that. All of the rangers that I have met so far in Baxter have been very kind, and I am beaming with excitement to get started with my journey. Dad wound up making an incredible fire at the lean-to, which helped stave off the mosquitoes. The sun has not even set yet, but I am about to fall asleep so that I can get an early start tomorrow morning and get a jump on the day. There is a threat of thunderstorms in the afternoon, so I want to try to get up the mountain first thing.