Flume Slide Trail Helicopter Rescue this weekend

peakbagger said:

If you have done the Castle trail in NH or Caps Ridge, you have done similar climbing to the Cathedral Trail, there is just a lot more of it. Its a favorite of mine on a nice day, make great loop from Chimney Pond (up Cathedral, across Knife Edge and down Dudley (whneit was open)) Not a nice place to be on a windy nasty day as the trail runs quite close the edge in spots. There are spots where a careless group could knock some rock loose and ruin some ones day. Like all the Katahdin summit trails, not a good place to be with thunderstorms approaching. One hiker died several years ago by getting hit by boulder (no human intervention).

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Well that does sound fun. I love both of these trails. So no extreme ledges, just a lot of ledges. Have to put that on the list for 2017.

There are optional extreme ledges, the two lower cathedrals stick out of the headwall and go to a point with vertical drops on either side. The trail doesn't go onto these "spires" but if you want to go out on them and hang your feet over the abyss you are welcome to it. Sort of the like the infamous rock that everyone has their picture taken on Bondcliff. Don't have to do it but why not while you are there.

My concern about Katahdin's Cathedral Trail was the fact that there have been some serious injuries, and a death, from rocks set loose by hikers above.

We didn't have a problem ascending the north slide on Tripyramid 22 years ago but near the top I got an orange of my snack bag, dropped it and, I believe, it is still rolling down so beware of falling oranges.

My worse slide experience was descending Coe Slide in Baxter. We hugged the edge, slowly and carefully, all the way. It was late in the day after the Brothers and Fort and were getting tired as we neared the last leg of our loop. That may have had something to do with my comparison.

Back to the original topic ... any of these slides are possible in either direction but the weather, traffic, your physical and mental state all can have a serious impact on the outcome and bad outcomes are not trivial.

I didn't find Cathedral too difficult when I hiked it with friends on Columbus Day weekend 2008. Slow, however, and I was glad we were going up it, not down (although we met a number descending). I would rank it a little tougher than Caps Ridge and Castle, however, as the scrambling has fewer breaks.

Stan said:

My concern about Katahdin's Cathedral Trail was the fact that there have been some serious injuries, and a death, from rocks set loose by hikers above.

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That's definitely good to know. That was one of my concerns when I did the North Slide based on feedback I had received about the trail so I did on a Friday and saw no one. (In fact, it was a beautiful July Friday and I did not see a single person on my entire loop from parking lot to parking lot. The only time I have ever done a hike, Summer or Winter, where I didn't see anybody).

Amicus said:

I didn't find Cathedral too difficult when I hiked it with friends on Columbus Day weekend 2008. Slow, however, and I was glad we were going up it, not down (although we met a number descending). I would rank it a little tougher than Caps Ridge and Castle, however, as the scrambling has fewer breaks.

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This looks more like The Fan on Huntington Ravine Trail. I clicked through to your album for this trip and there did appear to be regular ledges as well. What awesome hiking in Baxter. I can't wait to go there again.

There are regular ledges higher up, but nothing as challenging as those couple of narrow ledges on the Huntington Ravine Trail. I love Baxter and try to go at least once every year, with this year's trip still to look forward to.

I've been down the Flume Slide Trail twice, once on dry rock and once on snow. I've also descended Cathedral Trail in the rain. FST definitely seemed the worse of the two. It ranks with the Saddleback Cliffs in the Dacks as one of the most difficult trails I've done.

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Cumulus

NE111 in my 50s: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2)
NE111 in my 60s: 44/115 (34/67, 10/46, 0/2)
NEFF: 50/50; Cat35: 39/39; WNH4K: 39/48; NEHH 81/100
LT NB 2009

"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll

Amicus said:

I didn't find Cathedral too difficult when I hiked it with friends on Columbus Day weekend 2008. Slow, however, and I was glad we were going up it, not down (although we met a number descending). I would rank it a little tougher than Caps Ridge and Castle, however, as the scrambling has fewer breaks.

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Good comparisons I would say. Cathedral is a huge mass of jumbled, large boulders and reminds me of a long Caps Ridge scramble.

I never felt there were any spots on Cathedral where I could have taken a fall easily. It may have been the most sustained scrambling I have done on a trail though - I loved the trail, but go on a really high energy day. It's fun, but it's work. The crux on Flume Slide to me outranks anything on Cathedral in terms of fall potential.

Some of this is all personally based too. One's own physical make-up and abilities as well as preferences all play to some degree into what makes a slide "difficult" or dangerous. Leg and arm length, sense of balance, center of gravity, finger strength, etc can each make a difference in what we each feel is challenging.

I only did the Flume Slide Trail once about three years ago when I did Flume for the first time and I don't remember it being that hard or dangerous at all. I remember several smooth, slick ledges but they were fairly short and only a few were very steep. Most of the other scrambles I remember had large, blocky steps in the faces which made climbing relatively easy. I do recall tree branches overhanging many ledges making it more difficult. On one of the harder ledges I actually got a tree branch through the carry handle of my backpack, effectively getting me stuck where I couldn't go up or down. I had to unbuckle and slide out of one shoulder to free myself up while standing on narrow footholds. And I remember being extremely disappointed with the lack of views. I kept waiting to emerge onto the huge slide you see from Rte 93 and all of a sudden I was at the top at the FRT sign and thinking I just did a lot of work for nothing. Then I did that last tenth of a mile or so and Mt Flume instantly became one of my favorite peaks, especially among the shorter ones.

I guess I'll have to revisit this trail at some point to compare. When I think "dangerous scrambling" I usually think of Huntington Ravine and the North Slide in NH.

I've done the Flume Slide trail a few times in the summer and once in the winter. It's not really one of my favorites, I might do it again who knows. It is on my list of trails that I would not descend. It can be wet, it's slabby and has loose gravel and rock. Could I descend it? yes I could, it would not be that difficult, but I just wouldn't enjoy it much compared to the Osseo or liberty Springs, which are fantastic descent trails. Other trail's on my do not go down list are, Huntington's, North Slide Tri, Great Gully, Kings Ravine Headwall, 6 husbands, Great Gulf, Madison Gulf. There might be a few more, but that gets the point across. Could I descend these trails? yes I could, but I wouldn't enjoy it and that is a good enough reason not to. These trails in comparison to the majority of other trails, present potential pitfalls for less experienced hikers. The guidebook usually makes descent comments on a lot of these, but how well the descriptions are read, or if at all, is subject to debate. This poor guy might have just not had enough info on the trail and if he had chosen one of the other two, he would have most likely been safe and fine.

I did this last year & don't remember it being that bad but it was very dry. I loved it & would def do it again.