Sadie
New member
Trip to Baxter State Park 8/4-8/7/2010
I had big plans of hiking 3 4Kers + 3NEHH over the course of 2 hiking days, it didn’t exactly work out that way but was still a great time! And it will be my pleasure to go back there to “complete the list” (as well as explore more!) With a 2 and 4 year old at home, we couldn’t impose on family for childcare any more this summer, so my husband could not come and was nice enough to take on the boys solo for the long weekend! Instead I went with my younger brother who is in good shape, but not a lot of hiking experience.
Wed. 8/4 Settling in to Baxter
We got to BSP gate ~4PM, even with just 2 cars in front of us, we had to wait ~10 m to get in. We had one of the walk in campsites at Roaring Brook—still only about a 3 minute walk to the car. A nice campground great to hear the brook in the background—convenient car camping! We set up camp and then went to explore—I wanted to see a moose!! We headed to Sandy Stream pond and were not disappointed! A moose was eating on the far edge of the lake. I think he is a regular in that pond in the evenings! We then did the Roaring Brook nature trail loop just over the bridge. At the very end, it reaches a bog with impressive patches of carnivorous pitcher plants that looked just barely past blooming time!
Thursday 8/5 Baxter/Hamlin attempt
The plan was to go up Helon Taylor, across knife’s edge and across the whole ridge over Hamlin and back down Hamlin ridge! Weather report was 50% chance of showers and the feel of thunderstorm weather—hot and humid. We got on the trail about 8AM.
Helon Taylor is a fabulous trail, steady climb and quickly becomes open with great views. It gets rockier and rockier the further along, with my scraped hands and knees I would consider bringing knee pads and gloves next time! As the trail got rockier and rockier, I could see that my brother had not had experience on this sort of trail before and was not comfortable with the rock hopping, so we took our time and still got up Pamola in about book time, a little over 3 h. The whole time we could see black clouds coming and going and Baxter was totally in the clouds.
The view from Pamola to the start of the knife’s edge is quite intimidating; it was an “Oh my God” moment for both of us!! Black storm clouds continued to blow into the valley. It was definite it was going to rain and possibly thunderstorm sometime that day, but not sure when. I did not think we were moving at a pace to beat the weather and didn’t want to try! I was caught in a Thunderstorm at the top of Jefferson before (terrifying!) and certainly didn’t want to put us at risk for that!!
We decided to head down the Dudley trail to Chimney Pond. This trail is extremely steep—pretty much a stack of large boulders. A lot of bum scooching and lowering down—being careful not to fall into the mini “boulder caves”. Impressive views of Chimney pond and the Katahdin range the whole way. It is only 1 mile but took us 2 hours to get down and was exposed the majority of the length. It started to rain for a short time (thought we saw some sleet or maybe hail remnants too) near the bottom.
I couldn’t resist checking out the Pamola caves while we were here too, so we went down there. I was feeling a little rock hopping/ climbing tired, so we didn’t go all the way through—but it looks like it goes on for quite a while and worth exploring. I went through at least 1 major tunnel and heard the echo of boyscouts exploring ahead, but never actually saw them. Now a place on my list to bring my boys when they are a little older!!
We got to Chimney pond and sat on the shore for a few minutes enjoying the beautiful location and seeing some hikers we had seen on the top of Pamola who did the Knife’s edge—they got rained on coming down Saddle, but nothing major. I was still happy with the decision we made, save the ridge for a better weather day!! We headed back to camp via Chimney pond trail.
At the campground, there is a small path along the river that goes to a small access point/”beach” to swim and my brother braved the frigid water to cool down after the hot day hiking. I was hot, but that water was too frigid for me!
Next time attempting Knife’s edge, I would definitely go for a much earlier start (say 6 AM instead of 8) and make sure hiking companion is comfortable with rough rocky terrain—but the Knife’s edge is certainly not for everyone, it is quite a shock seeing it up close and imagine many change their mind upon seeing it up close!! Pamola was an impressive destination by itself and a great time and was glad we got to check out Chimney pond and the caves which were not originally in our plans!
Brothers & Coe 8/7
The day after our Katahdin hike, we left the campsite and headed ~10 mi out of the park to a cabin where my brother had previously planned to meet with friends and my other brother to go Whitewater rafting on Saturday. I decided to crash their cabin and take on North and South Brother peaks by myself on Saturday while they were rafting. It was great to have a chance to clean up and chill for the day with a great view of Katahdin over Lake Millinocket.
I got to the gate a little later than planned Saturday morning--~7AM, waited in line at the gate for 45 m, then took another 45 m to get to the trailhead. I got on the trail ~8:40 (lesson learned: staying in the park I think is key to hiking in Baxter!!). Weather was fabulous today—in the 60s and not humid!
I reached the pond along the Marston trail and bumped into a woman who was also solo, we decided to team up. I’ve hiked alone a lot, but it really made it more fun and enjoyable meeting someone new and hiking together! This was her ~65/67 of the New England 4Kers. Marston trail was much easier than I expected from the map (and I also still had Dudley in my head as a reference point so this seemed like a cake walk in comparison!!). We made great time and was up at the summit of N. Brother ~2.5 h total. There was a downright frigid wind at the top! But we hid behind some rocks for a snack! I had it in my thoughts to go over and do Fort Mt while I was there, but decided to save it for another time after I develop my orienteering / bush whacking skills a bit (guide book says there is a trail, but the description of it included “obliterated”, so that was enough for me to hold off on this one for a while!). At the base of the N Brother spur trail, my new hiking companion and I parted ways—I wanted to go to S. Brother and Coe and she didn’t.
I did the loop on Coe Mt trail. Both S Brother and Coe had fabulous views. The trail is narrow with a lot of tree stumps and dense pine forest. Immediately below Coe summit is start of the Coe slide whichvwas mostly ledge, but a lot of the areas looked like they were constantly wet and had thick slippery wet moss growing. The slide is pretty short and wasn’t too bad except for the few areas the wet mossy ledge couldn’t be avoided—wet bum scooching required! I got back to the car ~3 PM, so it was 6 h 20 m for the ~11 mi RT.
I was happy for the nice weather and making good time, so I decided to head home so I could sleep in my own bed that night! From the trailhead, it was ~6 h 15 m with only 1 stop for gas to get home to Waltham, MA (thankfully no traffic!). A long day for sure but it felt good to be home after a great getaway! Baxter is really a special place and I look forward to going back many times! This was #57/67 NE 4Kers & 63/100 NEHH for me.
I tried to include some pictures, not sure if I did it right... Pictures are of pitcher plants on the Roaring brook nature trail, Knife edge view from pamola, Coming down Dudley trail and the Coe Slide.
I had big plans of hiking 3 4Kers + 3NEHH over the course of 2 hiking days, it didn’t exactly work out that way but was still a great time! And it will be my pleasure to go back there to “complete the list” (as well as explore more!) With a 2 and 4 year old at home, we couldn’t impose on family for childcare any more this summer, so my husband could not come and was nice enough to take on the boys solo for the long weekend! Instead I went with my younger brother who is in good shape, but not a lot of hiking experience.
Wed. 8/4 Settling in to Baxter
We got to BSP gate ~4PM, even with just 2 cars in front of us, we had to wait ~10 m to get in. We had one of the walk in campsites at Roaring Brook—still only about a 3 minute walk to the car. A nice campground great to hear the brook in the background—convenient car camping! We set up camp and then went to explore—I wanted to see a moose!! We headed to Sandy Stream pond and were not disappointed! A moose was eating on the far edge of the lake. I think he is a regular in that pond in the evenings! We then did the Roaring Brook nature trail loop just over the bridge. At the very end, it reaches a bog with impressive patches of carnivorous pitcher plants that looked just barely past blooming time!
Thursday 8/5 Baxter/Hamlin attempt
The plan was to go up Helon Taylor, across knife’s edge and across the whole ridge over Hamlin and back down Hamlin ridge! Weather report was 50% chance of showers and the feel of thunderstorm weather—hot and humid. We got on the trail about 8AM.
Helon Taylor is a fabulous trail, steady climb and quickly becomes open with great views. It gets rockier and rockier the further along, with my scraped hands and knees I would consider bringing knee pads and gloves next time! As the trail got rockier and rockier, I could see that my brother had not had experience on this sort of trail before and was not comfortable with the rock hopping, so we took our time and still got up Pamola in about book time, a little over 3 h. The whole time we could see black clouds coming and going and Baxter was totally in the clouds.
The view from Pamola to the start of the knife’s edge is quite intimidating; it was an “Oh my God” moment for both of us!! Black storm clouds continued to blow into the valley. It was definite it was going to rain and possibly thunderstorm sometime that day, but not sure when. I did not think we were moving at a pace to beat the weather and didn’t want to try! I was caught in a Thunderstorm at the top of Jefferson before (terrifying!) and certainly didn’t want to put us at risk for that!!
We decided to head down the Dudley trail to Chimney Pond. This trail is extremely steep—pretty much a stack of large boulders. A lot of bum scooching and lowering down—being careful not to fall into the mini “boulder caves”. Impressive views of Chimney pond and the Katahdin range the whole way. It is only 1 mile but took us 2 hours to get down and was exposed the majority of the length. It started to rain for a short time (thought we saw some sleet or maybe hail remnants too) near the bottom.
I couldn’t resist checking out the Pamola caves while we were here too, so we went down there. I was feeling a little rock hopping/ climbing tired, so we didn’t go all the way through—but it looks like it goes on for quite a while and worth exploring. I went through at least 1 major tunnel and heard the echo of boyscouts exploring ahead, but never actually saw them. Now a place on my list to bring my boys when they are a little older!!
We got to Chimney pond and sat on the shore for a few minutes enjoying the beautiful location and seeing some hikers we had seen on the top of Pamola who did the Knife’s edge—they got rained on coming down Saddle, but nothing major. I was still happy with the decision we made, save the ridge for a better weather day!! We headed back to camp via Chimney pond trail.
At the campground, there is a small path along the river that goes to a small access point/”beach” to swim and my brother braved the frigid water to cool down after the hot day hiking. I was hot, but that water was too frigid for me!
Next time attempting Knife’s edge, I would definitely go for a much earlier start (say 6 AM instead of 8) and make sure hiking companion is comfortable with rough rocky terrain—but the Knife’s edge is certainly not for everyone, it is quite a shock seeing it up close and imagine many change their mind upon seeing it up close!! Pamola was an impressive destination by itself and a great time and was glad we got to check out Chimney pond and the caves which were not originally in our plans!
Brothers & Coe 8/7
The day after our Katahdin hike, we left the campsite and headed ~10 mi out of the park to a cabin where my brother had previously planned to meet with friends and my other brother to go Whitewater rafting on Saturday. I decided to crash their cabin and take on North and South Brother peaks by myself on Saturday while they were rafting. It was great to have a chance to clean up and chill for the day with a great view of Katahdin over Lake Millinocket.
I got to the gate a little later than planned Saturday morning--~7AM, waited in line at the gate for 45 m, then took another 45 m to get to the trailhead. I got on the trail ~8:40 (lesson learned: staying in the park I think is key to hiking in Baxter!!). Weather was fabulous today—in the 60s and not humid!
I reached the pond along the Marston trail and bumped into a woman who was also solo, we decided to team up. I’ve hiked alone a lot, but it really made it more fun and enjoyable meeting someone new and hiking together! This was her ~65/67 of the New England 4Kers. Marston trail was much easier than I expected from the map (and I also still had Dudley in my head as a reference point so this seemed like a cake walk in comparison!!). We made great time and was up at the summit of N. Brother ~2.5 h total. There was a downright frigid wind at the top! But we hid behind some rocks for a snack! I had it in my thoughts to go over and do Fort Mt while I was there, but decided to save it for another time after I develop my orienteering / bush whacking skills a bit (guide book says there is a trail, but the description of it included “obliterated”, so that was enough for me to hold off on this one for a while!). At the base of the N Brother spur trail, my new hiking companion and I parted ways—I wanted to go to S. Brother and Coe and she didn’t.
I did the loop on Coe Mt trail. Both S Brother and Coe had fabulous views. The trail is narrow with a lot of tree stumps and dense pine forest. Immediately below Coe summit is start of the Coe slide whichvwas mostly ledge, but a lot of the areas looked like they were constantly wet and had thick slippery wet moss growing. The slide is pretty short and wasn’t too bad except for the few areas the wet mossy ledge couldn’t be avoided—wet bum scooching required! I got back to the car ~3 PM, so it was 6 h 20 m for the ~11 mi RT.
I was happy for the nice weather and making good time, so I decided to head home so I could sleep in my own bed that night! From the trailhead, it was ~6 h 15 m with only 1 stop for gas to get home to Waltham, MA (thankfully no traffic!). A long day for sure but it felt good to be home after a great getaway! Baxter is really a special place and I look forward to going back many times! This was #57/67 NE 4Kers & 63/100 NEHH for me.
I tried to include some pictures, not sure if I did it right... Pictures are of pitcher plants on the Roaring brook nature trail, Knife edge view from pamola, Coming down Dudley trail and the Coe Slide.
