Katahdin

On June 30th the Maine Winter Sports Center Biathlon, Cross Country, and Youth Development teams hiked to the top of Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest point. The locals don’t call Mount Katahdin “Mount Katahdin” because Katahdin means Great Mountain, so it’s like saying Mount Great Mountain. The hike itself was an adventure. After a fairly uneventful hike to the summit, the descent turned into a bit of an ordeal. At the summit we all took a break and enjoyed the view. During this time my Achilles tendon began to tighten up. I thought nothing of it and began the technical descent down the Knife’s edge, a narrow band of rocks that runs along Katahdin’s main ridge. My Achilles slowed by progress considerably and I was soon way off the pace of the rest of the group. After some rather scary bouldering on the Knife’s Edge I met up with some of the group who where nice enough to wait for me. (Thanks Corrine and Leif) I was also joined by my roommate Ben, who was struggling with a hip injury he acquired on a running adventure the week before. As the trail became easier my ankle began to loosen up and Corrine, Leif and I began to make our way down, assuming Ben was close behind. At a turn in the trail I waited for Ben, while Leif and Corrine continued down. After waiting for about 10 minutes I knew Ben’s hip must be giving him some trouble. When I met up with Ben he let me know that he was going to have to take it really easy on the descent. We walked the rest of the way in, with me helping Ben through some of the tougher sections. All in all it was an eventful 8 hour (yes 8 hours) adventure.