Hurd Brook Lean-to to The Birches---July 10th

An hour's walk in the woods and I popped out on Golden Road for a little road walking to Abol Bridge.  Standing on the span above the Penobscot River, I saw Katahdin looming in the distance, towering over the surrounding landscape.  Passing the campground, I stopped by for a short chat to get directions to where the A.T. once again connects with the road.  The campers told me I should just continue straight up the road past the store and, after a while, the trail would be sign-posted on the left.
Most of the remaining ten miles was spent on trail following the banks of rivers/streams or slicing through the woods.  Emerging from the trees on Tote Road, I'd reached my destination---Katahdin Stream Campground.  Crossing the stream to the ranger station, I checked in and paid the $10 fee to stay at The Birches.  I was told that I was thru-hiker number 25 for the year, not bad considering I was in the mid-hundreds at the ATC in Harper's Ferry.  I also checked the register and confirmed that Snorkel had finished on the 4th.  Congratulations on setting the new record!!!  Afterwards, I carried my pack down to The Birches and deposited it in the nearest four-man shelter.  Took some time to have a nice celebratory lunch and then returned to the picnic tables at the main campground.  Spent a bit of time reading and then checked the information boards, looking at the maps and elevation profiles of the trail up to the peak.  It's only 5.2 miles, but the trail between miles three and four looked extremely steep making me seriously question whether or not my father would be able to make the climb with me tomorrow.
The weather was so perfect that even though it was early afternoon, I went back to speak with the ranger to see if it would be feasible for me to summit.  The information on the boards says the average hiker will take about eight hours to complete the round-trip.  In the ranger's experience, a thru-hiker will usually cut this time to five hours.  With this in mind, he didn't have any problem with me trying.  In the end, I decided not to, though I was sorely tempted to take those first steps on several occasions.  As it got later in the afternoon, the idea became too impractical. 
Some time about four, Ali Baba, a nobo I'd met in the shelter before Stratton, came into the campground with his aunt and uncle, who'd climbed with him that day as he finished off his thru-hike.  He was really happy, beaming from ear to ear, and looking forward to a lobster dinner.
Saying good luck and goodbye, I went back to The Birches to bed down for the night, but sleep was hard to come by.  Tomorrow's a big day.

At Abol Bridge