arm
Well-known member
just got back from a fun week exploring Baxter State Park
started with a hearty breakfast at the Appalachian Trail Cafe in Millinocket on sunday morning - drove through Togue Pond Gate to Roaring Brook, then started our backpack out to Russell Pond
swung around Sandy Stream Pond and spotted moose in the Pond - foliage was kicking in pretty good, and the fall air was crisp and clean
turned right onto Wassataquoik Stream Trail, and had to remove our hiking boots to wade through the Stream just after passing the WS Campsite - a short while later we were settling into our Russell Pond lean-to when the Ranger walked over to greet us
ate dinner and hung out on the dock checking out views while the sun set and the bright moon came out on a clear starry night - Sean tried to brighten the night by leaning over a candle and lighting himself on fire - Skimom broke out a food bag large enough to resolve World Hunger, and we hung our food bags before settling in for the night
started monday morning with a walk up to Lookout Ledge, with scenic views into the valley we had walked in to - packed our bags and treked on to Wassataquoik Lake, where we threw our gear into canoes and paddled round the island, located the Cabin on the island where we'd be staying that night
dropped gear, headed back to shore to walk up to Green Falls - a scenic waterfall that Donna checked out up close
headed back to the island and ate dinner around a cozy campfire, then checked out the stars on the lake - snow flurries blew in before we called it a night
cooked breakfast tuesday morning and headed back past Russell Pond, turning right onto Northwest Basin Trail, which had several tricky crossings over Wassataquoik Stream - a few dunks had Skimom and Donna changing their socks and adding ziploc baggie liners to keep 'em dry
snow squalls filled the air as we made our way toward Davis Pond, coating foliage, which really added to the scenery - nice contrast with snow covered leaves
ate lunch at Davis Pond lean-to, discovered the new Thunder God Throne, then started our steep ascent up to Northwest Plateau - rime ice covered rocks and alpine plants across the Plateau as we treked over to Hamlin Peak
we descended down Saddle Trail to Chimney Pond, where a quick dinner chased us into our sleeping bags on a cold, windy night
we decided to hike up to Baxter Peak wednesday morning, so we packed our bags and ditched them behind our lean-to, as the Ranger suggested, and hiked up Cathedral Trail on a windy morning
snow squalls blew in as we climbed past the second Cathedral, as we considered our options - a few minutes later we were in the clear and headed towards the summit
we reached Baxter Peak under partly cloudy skies, then started down Saddle Trail - we spotted a few moose feeding just off the Saddle Trail on the way down to Chimney Pond
packed up and hiked down to Roaring Brook - Skimom and Donna headed home from there - Sean and i extended the trip for a few days so we could explore the rest of the Park
we set up camp at Katahdin Stream Campground that night, then woke up thursday morning and met one of the Rangers who was on the crew that cut the new Travelers Trail - he seemed excited about it, and told us about creating the new trail (three days cutting, four days piling cairns, blazing, etc)
from there, Sean headed off to hike North Brother, while i stopped by Nesowadnehunk to see if a VFTT friend would stop by for a Barren bushwhack - waited a while then decided to hike Doubletop on a warm morning
peaceful solo hike up Doubletop rewarded me with incredible Views From The Top - warm weather invited black flies out, so i hiked to Doubletop's southern summit, which was more open and breezy
hiked back, then went for a scenic drive along the Tote Road to our next basecamp, at South Branch Pond - thought about going for an afternoon hike, but the foliage became more colorful as i neared SBP, and it was really nice just to hang out on that dock and enjoy the views
gathered firewood and set up basecamp at our site, then chowed dinner when Sean arrived from hiking North Brother - a fox visited us a few times before we crashed for the night
woke up friday morning and geared up for the Travelers loop, which just "opened" in August 2004 - bushwhacking Traveler had been on my wish list for years - when we heard that they had opened a new trail traversing Travelers' three main summits, we were psyched to check it out
we wandered past South Branch Ponds along Pogy Notch Trail, turning onto the steep Center Ridge Trail - after resting on a rock, i started up the trail and heard a sound behind me - a coyote who had been laying low right behind me as i sat there, crossed the trail as i walked away
a short while later, a beautiful large hawk flew over our heads as we made our way up to the First Viewpoint, where we got a good look at the scenic ridge circuit we'd be treking across
a while later we were eating lunch on the Peak of the Ridges, where the trail used to end - from here, we began exploring new trail, treking across the "Little Knife Edge", descending across a mossy meadow, then ascending fresh cut trail through heavily pine-scented coniferous forest, up scree slopes toward The Traveler
we reached Traveler's summit, the highest volcanic mountain in New England, checking out the map lichen and rhyolite talus
we descended across Traveler Ridge, dividing time between bare rock and coniferous forest, until we reached the surreal dwarf birch forest in the col heading up towards North Traveler
treking over North Traveler, we made our way down the scenic ridge, checking out views into the foliage filled valley surrounding South Branch Ponds
cruised out to Matagamon Wilderness Campground when we reached our site, so we could grab coin-op showers - figured our hair could use an oil change after no showers all week - one shower a week, whether we needed it or not, seemed to hit the spot - ate dinner around the campfire with a few more visits from the fox before we crashed for the night
saturday morning, we jumped in a canoe and paddled around South Branch Ponds for a few hours - seemed like a fun way to wrap up a great week in BSP
awesome trip with fun friends ! foliage was incredible - wildlife was cool - saw pretty much nobody the entire week
pics are up on the web: http://community.webshots.com/user/armmon
started with a hearty breakfast at the Appalachian Trail Cafe in Millinocket on sunday morning - drove through Togue Pond Gate to Roaring Brook, then started our backpack out to Russell Pond
swung around Sandy Stream Pond and spotted moose in the Pond - foliage was kicking in pretty good, and the fall air was crisp and clean
turned right onto Wassataquoik Stream Trail, and had to remove our hiking boots to wade through the Stream just after passing the WS Campsite - a short while later we were settling into our Russell Pond lean-to when the Ranger walked over to greet us
ate dinner and hung out on the dock checking out views while the sun set and the bright moon came out on a clear starry night - Sean tried to brighten the night by leaning over a candle and lighting himself on fire - Skimom broke out a food bag large enough to resolve World Hunger, and we hung our food bags before settling in for the night
started monday morning with a walk up to Lookout Ledge, with scenic views into the valley we had walked in to - packed our bags and treked on to Wassataquoik Lake, where we threw our gear into canoes and paddled round the island, located the Cabin on the island where we'd be staying that night
dropped gear, headed back to shore to walk up to Green Falls - a scenic waterfall that Donna checked out up close
headed back to the island and ate dinner around a cozy campfire, then checked out the stars on the lake - snow flurries blew in before we called it a night
cooked breakfast tuesday morning and headed back past Russell Pond, turning right onto Northwest Basin Trail, which had several tricky crossings over Wassataquoik Stream - a few dunks had Skimom and Donna changing their socks and adding ziploc baggie liners to keep 'em dry
snow squalls filled the air as we made our way toward Davis Pond, coating foliage, which really added to the scenery - nice contrast with snow covered leaves
ate lunch at Davis Pond lean-to, discovered the new Thunder God Throne, then started our steep ascent up to Northwest Plateau - rime ice covered rocks and alpine plants across the Plateau as we treked over to Hamlin Peak
we descended down Saddle Trail to Chimney Pond, where a quick dinner chased us into our sleeping bags on a cold, windy night
we decided to hike up to Baxter Peak wednesday morning, so we packed our bags and ditched them behind our lean-to, as the Ranger suggested, and hiked up Cathedral Trail on a windy morning
snow squalls blew in as we climbed past the second Cathedral, as we considered our options - a few minutes later we were in the clear and headed towards the summit
we reached Baxter Peak under partly cloudy skies, then started down Saddle Trail - we spotted a few moose feeding just off the Saddle Trail on the way down to Chimney Pond
packed up and hiked down to Roaring Brook - Skimom and Donna headed home from there - Sean and i extended the trip for a few days so we could explore the rest of the Park
we set up camp at Katahdin Stream Campground that night, then woke up thursday morning and met one of the Rangers who was on the crew that cut the new Travelers Trail - he seemed excited about it, and told us about creating the new trail (three days cutting, four days piling cairns, blazing, etc)
from there, Sean headed off to hike North Brother, while i stopped by Nesowadnehunk to see if a VFTT friend would stop by for a Barren bushwhack - waited a while then decided to hike Doubletop on a warm morning
peaceful solo hike up Doubletop rewarded me with incredible Views From The Top - warm weather invited black flies out, so i hiked to Doubletop's southern summit, which was more open and breezy
hiked back, then went for a scenic drive along the Tote Road to our next basecamp, at South Branch Pond - thought about going for an afternoon hike, but the foliage became more colorful as i neared SBP, and it was really nice just to hang out on that dock and enjoy the views
gathered firewood and set up basecamp at our site, then chowed dinner when Sean arrived from hiking North Brother - a fox visited us a few times before we crashed for the night
woke up friday morning and geared up for the Travelers loop, which just "opened" in August 2004 - bushwhacking Traveler had been on my wish list for years - when we heard that they had opened a new trail traversing Travelers' three main summits, we were psyched to check it out
we wandered past South Branch Ponds along Pogy Notch Trail, turning onto the steep Center Ridge Trail - after resting on a rock, i started up the trail and heard a sound behind me - a coyote who had been laying low right behind me as i sat there, crossed the trail as i walked away
a short while later, a beautiful large hawk flew over our heads as we made our way up to the First Viewpoint, where we got a good look at the scenic ridge circuit we'd be treking across
a while later we were eating lunch on the Peak of the Ridges, where the trail used to end - from here, we began exploring new trail, treking across the "Little Knife Edge", descending across a mossy meadow, then ascending fresh cut trail through heavily pine-scented coniferous forest, up scree slopes toward The Traveler
we reached Traveler's summit, the highest volcanic mountain in New England, checking out the map lichen and rhyolite talus
we descended across Traveler Ridge, dividing time between bare rock and coniferous forest, until we reached the surreal dwarf birch forest in the col heading up towards North Traveler
treking over North Traveler, we made our way down the scenic ridge, checking out views into the foliage filled valley surrounding South Branch Ponds
cruised out to Matagamon Wilderness Campground when we reached our site, so we could grab coin-op showers - figured our hair could use an oil change after no showers all week - one shower a week, whether we needed it or not, seemed to hit the spot - ate dinner around the campfire with a few more visits from the fox before we crashed for the night
saturday morning, we jumped in a canoe and paddled around South Branch Ponds for a few hours - seemed like a fun way to wrap up a great week in BSP
awesome trip with fun friends ! foliage was incredible - wildlife was cool - saw pretty much nobody the entire week
pics are up on the web: http://community.webshots.com/user/armmon
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