In two short weeks, I will be packing all of my belongings into a U-Haul and moving away from the Northeast, the place I’ve called home for the past 2.5 years. Looking back on these years, I realized that I have yet to dedicate a post (or a few posts) to the Northeast and figured that it was damn well time to change that.

Moving out here was an adventure that I didn’t quite expect. I came here for my job with a desire to venture outside of the Midwest for the first time in my life (in a “long-term living” sense, not inclusive of the other international adventures that you may have read about). When I arrived in JFK airport in July of 2016 (fresh off a flight from China and a 6-week jaunt in Asia, only 18 hours before starting my job), I knew no one and close to nothing about the area. I feel thankful and proud by how immensely that has changed.

I have discovered an outdoorsy-er side of myself while living here, partially due to the accessibility of nature in the Northeast and probably partially due to other factors in my life. Regardless, the hiking opportunities in the Northeast have been an absolute delight that I never could have expected. From my first solo hike in 2016 to random weekend trips with friends, the variety and proximity of hikes out here is something I have grown to immensely cherish. In the first hike of this series of posts, here is my favorite hike that I’ve completed during my time in the Northeast:

Mount Katahdin (Maine)

Katahdin was something that had always been on my bucket list – partially for the allure of Central/Northern Maine, and partially for its title as the Northern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Luckily I have a few high school friends who are as crazy as I am (shout-out to Thomas Rob and Andy!) and were up for the 8+ hour drive through Maine traffic and wilderness to hike this amazing mountain.

The reason why Katahdin is at the top of my list is because it truly is an experience unlike any other. The mountain can be summited from a number of different campgrounds, although each campground has a small and limited number of parking spots. Most people plan ahead and reserve a spot, but other people (professional procrastinators, like ourselves) have to drive up to the park entrance before 6:00AM to wait and see if there any spots available. Although we were there on a busy Saturday summer morning, we got lucky and got a parking spot! After all was said and done, by 7:30AM, we were making our way up the mountain.

The hike up was steep, but doable. We were lucky we had started early as the temperature slowly climbed to 90 degrees. And then, in what felt like no time at all, we found ourselves on the top of Maine’s tallest mountain.

We found ourselves sitting on top of this mountain for quite some time, taking in all the views around us and soaking up some sun (which turned into sunburn for 3/4 of the group). The top of Katahdin had both views and memories which are some of my favorite from my time in the Northeast.

After basking in the sun for long enough, we begin our hike down. Our adventurous selves decided to take a different way down, along the Appalachian Trail. We assumed it would be a relatively similar difficulty level to the hike up, which was steep but manageable. However we soon realized that the hike down was to be spent scrambling along rocks on a somewhat narrow ridge with no tree cover in the day’s peak sunlight. How fun!

It was long, it was hot, it was mentally tolling, but man was it beautiful. After a long few hours in the sun and a mild water shortage, we made our way down to tree cover to refuel on water and get some rest before making our way down to the trailhead. Although Katahdin kicked our butts, we wouldn’t have had it any other way. The mountain is truly unlike any other I’ve ever hiked and one that I would highly recommend during any trip to the Northeast.We love you, Katahdin.