patrickbrusil
New member
What an amazing experience.
For those of you who have hiked this mountain you need no explination of it's beauty and grandeur.
To anyone who has plans to hike it, have not hiked, or are thinking of hiking Katahdin let me be the first to say: GO DO IT!
I drove up with my hiking partner, George Brown, the 4.5 hours from Boston's North Shore to a motorlodge in Millinocket where we would sleep a sparce 2.5 hours before leaving for the entrance to Baxter Park. We arrived at the gate around 4:30am and we were the 4th car in line. Upon entrance to the park we headed directly for the Roaring Brook parking area and after a much needed bathing room stop we appeared to be the first group headed up the mountain.
Our plan was to ascend to Pamola via the Helon Taylor trail, follow the Knife Edge over to Baxter peak, continue arcoss the mountain to Hamlin Ridge, and descend via the Hamlin Ridge Trail.
The going was VERY slow at first. Lack of sleep hit me hard and the Taylor trail was demanding to say the least up the beautiful and glorious Keep(er?) Ridge. 3.1 miles and 5 hours after or 6am start we reached pamola which like every inch of this mountain has glorious views in all direction especially across towards the north basin and it's massive rocks slab walls.
At this point I must mention that the weather was beyond great - sunshine all day with a few passing clouds. The views were never obstucted and I think we must have been surley able to see far into Canada. The wind however made for a rather cold day but one can fight through that when battling the knife edge and heart stealing views.
Now for the knife edge. I nearly pissed myself looking over at it from Pamola as I hate steep stuff and I generally do not do well with exposure. The first thing I could think of when I layed my eyes to the beast was that it should be called the serated knife edge as it constantly went up and down. There was no time to stop and worry at Pamola as the winmd made us could and moving on was the only option. We figured we might reach Baxter Peak by Noon as it was only a 1.1 miles. WRONG!!! WRONG!!
The knife edge was a trecherous 3 hour march/scramble/climb. Moves that I would normally freak out over and think about for 5 minutes I did in a matter of seconds but there was no fast going over this ridge. One had to stop to just catch one's heart and reflect on how close to tumbling farther than anyone would imagine in an accident report if a foot slipped. By the time we reached South Baxter Peak the true summit was in flue view, marked by a massive carin. At this point the sun was out in full force and so was the wind, how ever the last .2 miles from South Summit to Baxter Summit became far easier as it turned into giant rocks that one could easily walk/hop across.
Finally at 2pm - 8hours and 4.1 miles after our start - I rolled onto Baxter Peak about 15 minutes behind George, kissed the Carin with my tongue, and began snaping photos. After a 15 minute lunch and some good conversation with some fellow hikers we marched on as our spirits were high and Hamlin Peak was only 2.2 miles away.
The descent from Baxter Peak to the VAST open table land between both peak was the most gorgeous part of the whole trip for me. For most of the trek between the two peaks we were walking across a vast, open, field that streched as far as the eye could see to the south, while to the north the plain dropped directly into the basins of Katahdin. I felt like it was another world and once we left Baxter Peak we did not see another soul untill the car. We arrived at Hamil Peak (yeah. we got both of them.) the wind was just brutal and after a few quick shots we moved along. It was now 4pm and our car was 4.1 miles away - it did not seem like time or sunlight was on our side as we had forgot our headlamps in the car. Going down Hamlin Ridge was by no means a cake walk and at times was extremly exposed but it seemed that everything on Katahdin was that way. However, it was fairly easy going compared to both the upper part of the Helon Taylor and Knife Edge. The last .2 coming off the ridge I felt like giving up and falling a sleep. We seemed so far away and everything was aching from my neck to my feet.
Eventually we hit the bottom of the ridge and it was a rough walk over mostly level and downward terrain the next 3 miles to the car. By the grace of something we finally arrived at Roaring Brook Campground again a full 13 hours after the start of this journey. It seemed like one of those life changing events - the kind that don't happend very often. Somehow george was able to binge on coffee and drove straight home - which took about 6 hours as it was in the dark and we were far more weary of hitting a moose. To me the fact that he drove the whole way back without stopping to rest was inhuman.
Sorry for all gramatical and spelling errors. I am tired as all hell and I am going back to bed soon. good bye
For those of you who have hiked this mountain you need no explination of it's beauty and grandeur.
To anyone who has plans to hike it, have not hiked, or are thinking of hiking Katahdin let me be the first to say: GO DO IT!
I drove up with my hiking partner, George Brown, the 4.5 hours from Boston's North Shore to a motorlodge in Millinocket where we would sleep a sparce 2.5 hours before leaving for the entrance to Baxter Park. We arrived at the gate around 4:30am and we were the 4th car in line. Upon entrance to the park we headed directly for the Roaring Brook parking area and after a much needed bathing room stop we appeared to be the first group headed up the mountain.
Our plan was to ascend to Pamola via the Helon Taylor trail, follow the Knife Edge over to Baxter peak, continue arcoss the mountain to Hamlin Ridge, and descend via the Hamlin Ridge Trail.
The going was VERY slow at first. Lack of sleep hit me hard and the Taylor trail was demanding to say the least up the beautiful and glorious Keep(er?) Ridge. 3.1 miles and 5 hours after or 6am start we reached pamola which like every inch of this mountain has glorious views in all direction especially across towards the north basin and it's massive rocks slab walls.
At this point I must mention that the weather was beyond great - sunshine all day with a few passing clouds. The views were never obstucted and I think we must have been surley able to see far into Canada. The wind however made for a rather cold day but one can fight through that when battling the knife edge and heart stealing views.
Now for the knife edge. I nearly pissed myself looking over at it from Pamola as I hate steep stuff and I generally do not do well with exposure. The first thing I could think of when I layed my eyes to the beast was that it should be called the serated knife edge as it constantly went up and down. There was no time to stop and worry at Pamola as the winmd made us could and moving on was the only option. We figured we might reach Baxter Peak by Noon as it was only a 1.1 miles. WRONG!!! WRONG!!
The knife edge was a trecherous 3 hour march/scramble/climb. Moves that I would normally freak out over and think about for 5 minutes I did in a matter of seconds but there was no fast going over this ridge. One had to stop to just catch one's heart and reflect on how close to tumbling farther than anyone would imagine in an accident report if a foot slipped. By the time we reached South Baxter Peak the true summit was in flue view, marked by a massive carin. At this point the sun was out in full force and so was the wind, how ever the last .2 miles from South Summit to Baxter Summit became far easier as it turned into giant rocks that one could easily walk/hop across.
Finally at 2pm - 8hours and 4.1 miles after our start - I rolled onto Baxter Peak about 15 minutes behind George, kissed the Carin with my tongue, and began snaping photos. After a 15 minute lunch and some good conversation with some fellow hikers we marched on as our spirits were high and Hamlin Peak was only 2.2 miles away.
The descent from Baxter Peak to the VAST open table land between both peak was the most gorgeous part of the whole trip for me. For most of the trek between the two peaks we were walking across a vast, open, field that streched as far as the eye could see to the south, while to the north the plain dropped directly into the basins of Katahdin. I felt like it was another world and once we left Baxter Peak we did not see another soul untill the car. We arrived at Hamil Peak (yeah. we got both of them.) the wind was just brutal and after a few quick shots we moved along. It was now 4pm and our car was 4.1 miles away - it did not seem like time or sunlight was on our side as we had forgot our headlamps in the car. Going down Hamlin Ridge was by no means a cake walk and at times was extremly exposed but it seemed that everything on Katahdin was that way. However, it was fairly easy going compared to both the upper part of the Helon Taylor and Knife Edge. The last .2 coming off the ridge I felt like giving up and falling a sleep. We seemed so far away and everything was aching from my neck to my feet.
Eventually we hit the bottom of the ridge and it was a rough walk over mostly level and downward terrain the next 3 miles to the car. By the grace of something we finally arrived at Roaring Brook Campground again a full 13 hours after the start of this journey. It seemed like one of those life changing events - the kind that don't happend very often. Somehow george was able to binge on coffee and drove straight home - which took about 6 hours as it was in the dark and we were far more weary of hitting a moose. To me the fact that he drove the whole way back without stopping to rest was inhuman.
Sorry for all gramatical and spelling errors. I am tired as all hell and I am going back to bed soon. good bye
