My TRail blog

Baxter State Park & Escape FRom the AT

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:48:00 -0400

The Hike into Baxter was both fun and aggravating. Just as before in the whites, the possibility of being turned away had made me and the guys on edge. It was ten dollars to get into the park, an amount none of us had to spare. We were there at Abold Bridge and good weather on Katahdin is hard to come by, waiting wasn’t an option. The hike in was beautiful, the waterfalls inviting, and the river fords tough. Tattoo Joe Made it across the last one with some considerable skill and was rewarded with watching both Dumpster and I get claimed by the river. And so with wet boots we made our way five miles to the foot of the last mountain.
We made it to the designated campsite for thru-hikers undetected, after finding the rangers station empty. Once set up we gathered firewood and started a roaring fire with witch we would cook our steaks. It was at this moment that the Ranger made her appearance. She was cold eyed and stern, scolding us for thinking we’d just camp for free as we had done for the previous 2173 miles south of us. It was a battle of wits and semantics that allowed us to stay without paying, under the condition that we break camp and move to the unoccupied handicapped site.
The Steaks were delicious, tender, simple and above all a week or so old.
The Hike was the hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Katahdin is tough, damn hard, and interesting/tricky to climb in a light rain. The Summit was what I wanted it to be, but not what I expected. We had to wait an hour to get the fabled sign to ourselves, in actuality the trail stops 100 yards from the official summit of the mountain. It is a 13 foot kiern and the knifes edge, a formidable trail down the 3ft wide ridge-line that lay beyond the end of the AT, a challenge left for some other adventure. The trail for us ended at the sign and there was nothing left to do but go home.

Some day I’ll go back and hike Katahdin again. It was 12:30 when We summited and about 4:30 when we reached the ranger station again. Then came the escape from the AT.
The Park is designed to make it almost impossible to get in and out of without paying a toll or a fine , so we tried our luck at hitch hiking and got to town in two hitches. We went straight for the “Hiker Bar” in town and had the bottomless fish and chips. Full to the brim , exhausted from months of weariness we found a hotel and soon after slept.
I am happy. Contented to let things “ride”, calm and tired and above all eager to get on with my life. I am headed Home hungry and with too much beard.

Not so wilderness

Mon, 6 Sep 2010 22:44:29 -0400

My first quarter century came to a close on September 4th in Greenville ME, the start of the hundred mile wilderness. That was the best part - the hundred miles fell short of our expectations. If we hadn’t heard the highway all the time, or saw monstrous logging machines, or stepped over the refuse of day hiking tourists, the hike might have been OK. It just didn’t have the wilderness isolation, knowing we were only 2.5 miles from that highway. We did feel smart that we packed in real food, not trail fare, and cooked over an open fire. Even though our packs were as heavy as when we started back at Springer, it was so worth it.

Next, Baxter, Katahden, then ?

The Whites

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:22:18 -0400

The Whites were some of the best hiking of my life - I will gladly go back and do them again. We waited for good weather and it paid off. Moosilauke was incredible for the views but really windy. It felt exaulting to get back to real mountains again. At Beaver Brook shelter, we met trail maintainers doing maintenance. Sitting there having lunch Dumpster and I happened to mention what a shame there were these new growth pines were blocking the view. One of the crew heard us and called over her friend with his chain saw. ZIP ZIP ZIP - instant vista. When Klarity joined us she was impressed with the view, not realizing how new it was.

Beautiful ridge running was so enjoyable. Then the caretaker at Mizpah got us all riled up by claiming the folks at Lake of the Clouds hut would turn us away and force us to hike Mt Washingon late in the day. Boy were we mad - boy we we fooled, cause the Lake of the Clouds staff couldnt have been nicer. We did work for stay in Lake of the Clouds, Greenleaf, and Zealand Falls. We swam in fridged Lake of the Clouds and enjoyed our stay there so much more than the tourist blighted Mt Washington summit. We did some stealth camping by a river in Crawford Notch

Fratboys at Dartmouth

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:06:50 -0400

We had all heard on the trail that there was a frathouse at Dartmouth College friendly to hikers. Not wanting to miss out, we all got a ride in. Dumpster, Tattoo and I decided after arriving that we would rather camp in the woods because the frathouse was full of southbounders, leaving us the porch to sleep on anyway. We went out looking for a stealth campsite. After finding one we went back for our gear. What we didn’t know was that it was pledge night and that meant the campus cops were out on patrol. Between the police and pledgers running through the woods, we found it safer to go back to the porch. We went into the Phi Delta Alpha basement in search of NOBOs , only to get trapped by the entire frat converging on the basement to begin their rites of passage. No sleep for us till we got back to the porch.

Mary is just Great

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:52:18 -0400

My college friend Mary Urban runs Woodstock Coffee and Tea in, of all places, Woodstock VT. She put me and 5 other hikers up for three days. We just had a nice time relaxing, getting in touch with people, and cooking. One of Mary’s friends is a hunter, and he gave us a number of venison steaks. Joe made venison gumbo and we packed out the rest.

Vermont is just Great - 1666 miles

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:29:50 -0400

Got through Bennington VT on the 7th. Enjoying ourselves, and my foot is much better. Some of the most beautiful camping was around White Rocks north of Bennington on the 9th. Now the Rescue Squad has 5 members with Not Bad joining us. It was a side trail down to a spectacular site, out of the norm camping. At this point on the trail we really starting to ignoring Awol’s guide to shelters and started camping where our senses brought us. Water was no problem.