brobichaud
Member
Peaks: Pamola, Chimney, South, and Baxter
Trails: Chimney Pond, Helon Taylor, Knife Edge, Saddle
After climbing Katahdin twice in 2000, I had not returned to Baxter State Park since. This was a grievous oversight. A few weeks ago, my buddy asked me, "hey, do you want to go climb Katahdin?", to which I responded, "yes please". The plan was to climb Katahdin via the Knife Edge on Friday the 13th. Fitting? I think so.
We managed to reserve a spot at Nesowadnehunk Field, and set out late morning from Portland. The drive went by quickly, as I think I'd overestimated the distance and time. Amazing what 12 years can do for perspective. We arrived by mid-afternoon, and set up camp, our only neighbors being rabbits and chipmunks. After a delicious dinner, and a couple of beers, we retired to our tents and set the alarms for 3:30.
Upon waking, we started a fire, made coffee, and had some cereal. On the tote road by 4:45 or so, and made our dusty way down towards the gatehouse and Roaring Brook. Arrived at Roaring Brook and found parking at 6am. After booting up and signing in, we made our way up Chimney Pond Trail. We had an aggressive day planned, but knew we could bail out if the extended trip wasn't in the cards. A short distance up the trail, we hung a left onto Helon Taylor and headed up towards Pamola. The heating of the day began to be felt as the climb became steeper, thankfully the views open up not far up the trail, so we were treated to wide open (but hazy) views whenever we stopped. The climb up Helon Taylor, while steep, was very enjoyable.
Once we reached Pamola, the wind was gusting out of the northwest, but it felt good with all the heat. Looking across to Baxter, I thought to myself, "this doesn't look as bad as people say it is". That was the case the whole way across the Knife Edge. The crux, I felt, was the climb from the base of Pamola up to Chimney. It wasn't insanely difficult, but it was pretty much straight up, but with good hand/foot holds. That section was something I would not want to go down. There were some sections of exposure while heading across, but I found it nothing like the exposure you get going up Huntington Ravine. We stopped on the knob directly after South Peak to have lunch, and watched the crowds on Baxter, and groups headed across Knife Edge. Then we made our final push to the summit, which was quite crowded, and featured a boy scout and girl scout troop swarming the summit sign, making getting a picture of it difficult to say the least. Views would have been incredibly far reaching, but the haze limited them to points within the park. Just after reaching the summit, a group we had talked to just prior called to us. There was a man that we had seen in the parking lot, and passed coming off the summit, that was cramping headed towards South Peak. My buddy went to find the ranger, and I headed over to check him out. He had climbed up Cathedral, and was going to descend via the Knife and Helon Taylor. He had already had 2 liters of fluids for the day, and said he had plenty more. The ranger came by (ended up being a volunteer, not a ranger), and she offered to hike down Saddle with him.
After a short break back on the summit, we headed down the Saddle Trail. The amount of time we spent hanging out on the Knife and the man we helped out, had made us somewhat short on time, and we were pretty exhausted and running out of steam (and water). The decision was made, halfway down to Saddle Slide, to not go out and hit Hamlin today, and descend instead.
There was one section on Saddle Slide that had some pretty slippery rocks, even though they were dry. It was amazing to me how the rock differed from the Knife to the Tableland, from solid boulders, to loose scree and talus. We made our way slowly down to Chimney Pond, stopping at the one running stream crossing to cool off, and then made the final turn to head down to Roaring Brook. We both ran out of water about a 1/4 of the way down, and ended up filling up from a small waterfall on Pamola Brook, the only running stream crossing.
Back to the car about 10 hours after we started. A quick ride to the nearest store to get more ice, then back up the tote road to Nesowadnehunk. Our fire gave us trouble, and it took quite some time to get coffee going, and get dinner cooked. After dinner, we were both too tired, and sacked out immediately afterwards.
The next morning, we awoke late (8:30-ish), had a leisurely breakfast, packed up, and made our way out and back to civilization. It was the best hike I've done to date, and a fitting return to the birthplace of my hiking "career", if you will.
Pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.466456660033372.115375.100000071269072&type=1&l=9457752a65
Cheers,
Bill
Trails: Chimney Pond, Helon Taylor, Knife Edge, Saddle
After climbing Katahdin twice in 2000, I had not returned to Baxter State Park since. This was a grievous oversight. A few weeks ago, my buddy asked me, "hey, do you want to go climb Katahdin?", to which I responded, "yes please". The plan was to climb Katahdin via the Knife Edge on Friday the 13th. Fitting? I think so.
We managed to reserve a spot at Nesowadnehunk Field, and set out late morning from Portland. The drive went by quickly, as I think I'd overestimated the distance and time. Amazing what 12 years can do for perspective. We arrived by mid-afternoon, and set up camp, our only neighbors being rabbits and chipmunks. After a delicious dinner, and a couple of beers, we retired to our tents and set the alarms for 3:30.
Upon waking, we started a fire, made coffee, and had some cereal. On the tote road by 4:45 or so, and made our dusty way down towards the gatehouse and Roaring Brook. Arrived at Roaring Brook and found parking at 6am. After booting up and signing in, we made our way up Chimney Pond Trail. We had an aggressive day planned, but knew we could bail out if the extended trip wasn't in the cards. A short distance up the trail, we hung a left onto Helon Taylor and headed up towards Pamola. The heating of the day began to be felt as the climb became steeper, thankfully the views open up not far up the trail, so we were treated to wide open (but hazy) views whenever we stopped. The climb up Helon Taylor, while steep, was very enjoyable.
Once we reached Pamola, the wind was gusting out of the northwest, but it felt good with all the heat. Looking across to Baxter, I thought to myself, "this doesn't look as bad as people say it is". That was the case the whole way across the Knife Edge. The crux, I felt, was the climb from the base of Pamola up to Chimney. It wasn't insanely difficult, but it was pretty much straight up, but with good hand/foot holds. That section was something I would not want to go down. There were some sections of exposure while heading across, but I found it nothing like the exposure you get going up Huntington Ravine. We stopped on the knob directly after South Peak to have lunch, and watched the crowds on Baxter, and groups headed across Knife Edge. Then we made our final push to the summit, which was quite crowded, and featured a boy scout and girl scout troop swarming the summit sign, making getting a picture of it difficult to say the least. Views would have been incredibly far reaching, but the haze limited them to points within the park. Just after reaching the summit, a group we had talked to just prior called to us. There was a man that we had seen in the parking lot, and passed coming off the summit, that was cramping headed towards South Peak. My buddy went to find the ranger, and I headed over to check him out. He had climbed up Cathedral, and was going to descend via the Knife and Helon Taylor. He had already had 2 liters of fluids for the day, and said he had plenty more. The ranger came by (ended up being a volunteer, not a ranger), and she offered to hike down Saddle with him.
After a short break back on the summit, we headed down the Saddle Trail. The amount of time we spent hanging out on the Knife and the man we helped out, had made us somewhat short on time, and we were pretty exhausted and running out of steam (and water). The decision was made, halfway down to Saddle Slide, to not go out and hit Hamlin today, and descend instead.
There was one section on Saddle Slide that had some pretty slippery rocks, even though they were dry. It was amazing to me how the rock differed from the Knife to the Tableland, from solid boulders, to loose scree and talus. We made our way slowly down to Chimney Pond, stopping at the one running stream crossing to cool off, and then made the final turn to head down to Roaring Brook. We both ran out of water about a 1/4 of the way down, and ended up filling up from a small waterfall on Pamola Brook, the only running stream crossing.
Back to the car about 10 hours after we started. A quick ride to the nearest store to get more ice, then back up the tote road to Nesowadnehunk. Our fire gave us trouble, and it took quite some time to get coffee going, and get dinner cooked. After dinner, we were both too tired, and sacked out immediately afterwards.
The next morning, we awoke late (8:30-ish), had a leisurely breakfast, packed up, and made our way out and back to civilization. It was the best hike I've done to date, and a fitting return to the birthplace of my hiking "career", if you will.
Pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.466456660033372.115375.100000071269072&type=1&l=9457752a65
Cheers,
Bill
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