Woody
New member
I've always wanted to get up to Katahdin, but never took the time. Finally, my brother Alan and I decided it was time to take the six hour drive to Baxter State Park. We both took Friday Aug. 4th and Monday Aug. 7th off from our jobs so we could have a nice four day weekend.
Alan met me at my house at 9 am on Friday. We loaded his gear into my truck and we headed to the grocery store for our weekends supplies of steaks, burgers and beer. We then headed towards I-495 to I-95 and up to Maine. Since my wife was already up in Maine at her mother's beach house we stopped in Wells for a quick lunch and then headed back up the Maine Turnpike. Just to the north of Portland Alan spotted a Ford Explorer with a VFTT sticker in the back window! I pounded on my horn a few times and getting no reaction I sped up and continued on our way to Millinocket. (Turns out the Expolorer was being driven by Mad Townie on his was to SherpaKroto's and his tunes were too load to hear my horn!)
We got to Millinocket and found the Hidden Springs campground where I had made reservations a couple of days earlier. I tried to get something at Roaring Brook or Chimney Pond at the last minute hoping there had been a cancelation, but no such luck. Alan and I set up our camp and had dinner and turned in early.
The alarm on my pager went off at 3 am! I wanted to be sure we got a parking spot at Roaring Brook! We headed for the gate at BSP. We got to the gate at 4 am and we were the fourth car in line. We napped until the ranger came by and opened the gate at 5 am. By the time we paid our fee and drove to the Roaring Brook parking area it was 6 am. We ate a quick breakfast and put on our boots and headed out. We took the Helon Taylor Trail towards Pamola Peak. The trail starts our fairly easily and then gets into a fair amount of class III scrambling with fantastic views. The clouds were still hanging over the summit of Katahdin, but it looked as though they were clearing! We stopped a couple of times to adjust our layers as the sun was getting warmer and then towards Pamola the wind was picking up and cooling us off again. As we got above treeline the wind was blowing steadily at what we estimated to be between 20 and 25 mph. Not bad but enough to keep a wind shirt on.
We reached Pamola and had a break and a good snack while we checked out the views down towards Chimney Pond and across the Knife Edge. I tried to take a few pictures of Baxter Peak as it came in and out of the clouds. I was hoping the clouds would clear before we headed across the Knife Edge.
I'll have to admit that I had done quite a bit of reading about the Knife Edge Trail and seen as many pictures of it as I could find in books and on line. I was a bit apprehensive about the trail.
As we finished our snack and got ready to head across the Knife Edge the clouds cleared away completely so we had good views all the way across towards Baxter Peak. I felt better that we could see the whole way across! I don't think I could have done this trail a few years ago. I was glad that I had a bit of technical rock climbing experience over the past few years because the trail immediately starts with a steep class IV down climb and then another steep class IV climb up Chimney peak. Most of the hike across the Knife Edge is not too bad except for a short section that is literally only a few inches wide just before the climb up to the South Peak. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this section. With the wind blowing, I was focusing on just walking across to where it was a bit wider! I was glad to get across, but what an incredible experiance that bit of trail is. I've never experienced anything quite like it before. What a wild place!
Alan and I then hiked on over to Baxter peak where I felt like I was standing on the summit of Monadnock. There must have been almost a hundred people there. We had our picture taken at the Katahdin/AT sign and then ate lunch. The wind was blowing pretty biskly and chilling us off pretty well while we hung out on Baxter. The views from Baxter across the Knife Edge and across the Tableland were incredible. We lucked out with perfect hiking weather. After lunch, Alan and I headed out on the Saddle Trail and then onto the Northwest Basin Trail on the way over to Hamlin Peak. Most of the crowds were taking Hunt Trail/AT. Once we left the Saddle Trail we had the mountain to ourselves. The foot tread wear on the Northwest Basin Trail and on the Hamlin Ridge Tail was very light. We could definately tell the crowds didn't bother heading over to Hamlin. There is a nice spring at the intersection of the Northwest Basin Trail and the Hamlin Ridge Trail. It is called Caribou Spring on the map. It was nice to have a good water source while on a long ridge walk. We then had a short walk up to Hamlin Peak where there were nice views down into both the South Basin and the North Basin. The hike down the Hamlin Ridge Trail was a lot of tiring class III down climbing. Just as we thought the climbing was getting easier the boulders would get big again. We had to be very slow and careful now since we were getting pretty tired. We were glad to get down to the bottom to the North Basin Trail. We then headed south towards the Chimney Pond Trail. We felt like we were done but we still had the three mile slog back to Roaring Brook and the truck. This was an absolutely incredible hike in great weather. I can't wait to go back. Hopefully we can get reservations for a winter climb out of Chimney Pond.
On Sunday, we decided to just see some of the other views in the park so we rented a canoe and paddled around Daisey Pond for a while.
Here are my pictures
Alan met me at my house at 9 am on Friday. We loaded his gear into my truck and we headed to the grocery store for our weekends supplies of steaks, burgers and beer. We then headed towards I-495 to I-95 and up to Maine. Since my wife was already up in Maine at her mother's beach house we stopped in Wells for a quick lunch and then headed back up the Maine Turnpike. Just to the north of Portland Alan spotted a Ford Explorer with a VFTT sticker in the back window! I pounded on my horn a few times and getting no reaction I sped up and continued on our way to Millinocket. (Turns out the Expolorer was being driven by Mad Townie on his was to SherpaKroto's and his tunes were too load to hear my horn!)
We got to Millinocket and found the Hidden Springs campground where I had made reservations a couple of days earlier. I tried to get something at Roaring Brook or Chimney Pond at the last minute hoping there had been a cancelation, but no such luck. Alan and I set up our camp and had dinner and turned in early.
The alarm on my pager went off at 3 am! I wanted to be sure we got a parking spot at Roaring Brook! We headed for the gate at BSP. We got to the gate at 4 am and we were the fourth car in line. We napped until the ranger came by and opened the gate at 5 am. By the time we paid our fee and drove to the Roaring Brook parking area it was 6 am. We ate a quick breakfast and put on our boots and headed out. We took the Helon Taylor Trail towards Pamola Peak. The trail starts our fairly easily and then gets into a fair amount of class III scrambling with fantastic views. The clouds were still hanging over the summit of Katahdin, but it looked as though they were clearing! We stopped a couple of times to adjust our layers as the sun was getting warmer and then towards Pamola the wind was picking up and cooling us off again. As we got above treeline the wind was blowing steadily at what we estimated to be between 20 and 25 mph. Not bad but enough to keep a wind shirt on.
We reached Pamola and had a break and a good snack while we checked out the views down towards Chimney Pond and across the Knife Edge. I tried to take a few pictures of Baxter Peak as it came in and out of the clouds. I was hoping the clouds would clear before we headed across the Knife Edge.
I'll have to admit that I had done quite a bit of reading about the Knife Edge Trail and seen as many pictures of it as I could find in books and on line. I was a bit apprehensive about the trail.
As we finished our snack and got ready to head across the Knife Edge the clouds cleared away completely so we had good views all the way across towards Baxter Peak. I felt better that we could see the whole way across! I don't think I could have done this trail a few years ago. I was glad that I had a bit of technical rock climbing experience over the past few years because the trail immediately starts with a steep class IV down climb and then another steep class IV climb up Chimney peak. Most of the hike across the Knife Edge is not too bad except for a short section that is literally only a few inches wide just before the climb up to the South Peak. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this section. With the wind blowing, I was focusing on just walking across to where it was a bit wider! I was glad to get across, but what an incredible experiance that bit of trail is. I've never experienced anything quite like it before. What a wild place!
Alan and I then hiked on over to Baxter peak where I felt like I was standing on the summit of Monadnock. There must have been almost a hundred people there. We had our picture taken at the Katahdin/AT sign and then ate lunch. The wind was blowing pretty biskly and chilling us off pretty well while we hung out on Baxter. The views from Baxter across the Knife Edge and across the Tableland were incredible. We lucked out with perfect hiking weather. After lunch, Alan and I headed out on the Saddle Trail and then onto the Northwest Basin Trail on the way over to Hamlin Peak. Most of the crowds were taking Hunt Trail/AT. Once we left the Saddle Trail we had the mountain to ourselves. The foot tread wear on the Northwest Basin Trail and on the Hamlin Ridge Tail was very light. We could definately tell the crowds didn't bother heading over to Hamlin. There is a nice spring at the intersection of the Northwest Basin Trail and the Hamlin Ridge Trail. It is called Caribou Spring on the map. It was nice to have a good water source while on a long ridge walk. We then had a short walk up to Hamlin Peak where there were nice views down into both the South Basin and the North Basin. The hike down the Hamlin Ridge Trail was a lot of tiring class III down climbing. Just as we thought the climbing was getting easier the boulders would get big again. We had to be very slow and careful now since we were getting pretty tired. We were glad to get down to the bottom to the North Basin Trail. We then headed south towards the Chimney Pond Trail. We felt like we were done but we still had the three mile slog back to Roaring Brook and the truck. This was an absolutely incredible hike in great weather. I can't wait to go back. Hopefully we can get reservations for a winter climb out of Chimney Pond.
On Sunday, we decided to just see some of the other views in the park so we rented a canoe and paddled around Daisey Pond for a while.
Here are my pictures
