Knife Edge

I thought it was called the “Knife’s Edge,” but after looking at my picture I realized I was mistaken. Regardless, the Knife Edge was the trail that we took after we summitted Katahdin. Before we get into that, I must say I am feeling so frazzled and ancy that I needed to sit down and focus on something. I’m in a bit of a limbo in life right now, and I feel many things are about to happen, but there are logistics that need to be worked out. Let me explain…I applied for a job in childcare at Stratton Mountain Ski Resort in Southern Vermont. I drove up to Vermont for the interview and it went very well! In fact before I left to return to Maryland, the manager told me she was ready to make me an offer as soon as she got my third reference to return their form. I was excited as I drove home feeling I had the job for sure. I still feel good about the job and although I haven’t had the “official” offer, she told me she’d like me to start asap. I know my reference turned in the form today, so the official offer should be very soon. I’m so excited to move up to Vermont, but housing has been harder to find than I expected. There are plenty of places to rent, but most are very expensive. I also have two Chihuahuas, and most rentals don’t allow pets. I have been contacting real estate companies, posted and looked on craigslist, and I am doing everything I can to try to move by the end of the month. On top of all this uncertainty, I decided to go to a consultation appointment for lasik surgery to see if I was a good candidate for the procedure, and hey it turns out I am. So, I decided to get that done before I leave because he is giving me a great deal. I’d feel much better about this once I have that “official” job offer and housing locked down, but I will make it work. I’m excited and scared of the surgery. I booked it for next week and pray it goes well. On top of all of this, I received news last night that my stepfather’s brother passed away from a sudden heart attack. I feel awful for him and my stepsisters. I understand what it’s like to lose an uncle, and I believe we are all going to Pittsburgh to be there for support.

So as you can see, I needed something to distract me from all these uncertainties so I figured it was a good time to write about the Knife Edge. When we summitted Katahdin, we spent about forty minutes at the top hanging out and being in the moment. I remember my first view of the Knife Edge, and I was a little worried.

Knife Edge

My mom and stepdad, Scott tried talking me out hiking the Knife Edge before I climbed Katahdin. They had watched YouTube videos about it, and were very concerned. This made me more nervous because I’d never seen any videos or knew what to expect. In my mind, I expected to be walking across a 3 foot wide path with 4,000 ft drops on both sides. Thankfully, this is not what it was.

Kevin and Yeti

View from Knife Edge

The Knife Edge is a mile long rock scramble that follows the ridge. I liked to compare it to the trails in Pennsylvania, but on top of a 5000 ft mountain ridge. It almost looked like we were hiking on top of an old volcano. It was slow going, but not too scary for me. I do know it was terrifying for anyone afraid of heights, but there were very few times I felt nervous. A couple of times I hugged the wall of a rock face because there was a drop a few feet from where I was walking. However most, of the time I was concentrating on not rolling my ankle or getting my feet stuck between 2 rocks. The last part of the Knife Edge was Chimney Peak. This was the hardest part for me because it was a steep drop down and a steep incline up. I had to stretch my feet and scoot on my butt most of the way down this.

Yeti and Kevin climbing down Chimney Peak

End of Knife Edge (for us)

I was pretty tired once we got to the intersection of the Knife Edge and Helon Taylor Trail. The Helon Taylor Trail is the 3.3 mile trail down that would take us to the backside of Katahdin where we would meet our families. This was the longest 3 miles of my life. I wanted to fly down the mountain, but it was so rocky above treeline and my knees were really sore. Yeti, Boston, and I hiked most of the way down together. It was hard determining how far we’d gone since our trail guide didn’t cover this trail. It felt like we were hiking blind. There were no trail landmarks for us to gage how far we’d gone. We knew once we hit treeline we’d gone 1.4 miles, but even determine what is treeline was a struggle for us. We’d come upon some shrubs and wonder “is this treeline???”

We were all VERY happy to be done when we got to the parking lot. Reunited with our families, we made plans to meet up at the famous AT Cafe in Millinocket. It is very hiker friendly and we even got to sign our names on the ceiling tiles.

We all went out to one of the local bars, and celebrated our accomplishment and being together one last time. Several games of pool were played and songs on the jukebox were sung. It was a fantastic ending to an amazing journey!

Next week, I’ll be posting about my side trip to Acadia National Park with my mom and stepdad. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thank you for reading : )