sapblatt
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The place I have never managed to get to…Baxter State Park has finally been visited. About a year ago Eric (Tuco), Paul (Rols) and Larry (LarryD) began discussing the possibility of getting a good chunk of time off to head up way north to BSP. After talking about a lot of things we decided that four people was the right amount for what we wanted to do – a little peakbagging and a lot of backpacking to see some remote areas of the park. I guess this as a good as place as any to say this, but I really do not think this trip would have gone off nearly as well if it was not for the incredibly generous help of SherpaKroto – if you talk to him for about one minute about Baxter you will get a good feel of how special this place is – his advice and tips made the reservations and planning process fun – thanks a ton – we owe you!
If anyone does not want to plow through all of this, and just wants to see the best pics (in my opinion) here is a link
BEST OF THE TRIP BSP PICTURES http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKKRY
I also broke this down into two reports and I have separate links for each days pictures - if I get around to it I will try to upload the videos I shot to YouTube and I will add them later.
Day One – Nesowadenehunk Field Campground and Doubletop Mountain
We had decided that four people and two vehicles would allow us to traverse a large section of the park and would be great except for the actual car spots which took forever – the Tote Road is long and slow – but there are worse places for scenery in the world! Both cars left the southern lands at 3 AM on Saturday and we were all at the gate by about 8 AM – Larry and I saw a huge buck moose on the side of the highway about 10 miles south of the Medway exit. We got through the gate and on our way to Roaring Brook to drop a car and we managed to get over to the Nesowadenehunk Field Campground and were on the trail for Doubletop Mountain before noontime. The trail form the north starts out very easy, does a moderate stream crossing and then hits a pretty steadily steep uphill mountain where most of the elevation is gained – after that, it gets easier again on the way to the north summit. The views from here are great, but today they were limited – but I would say they were very interesting with the low cloud cover and ever changing views. We spent a little time there and moved on over to the rougher south summit. We did not find the trail between the two peaks to be as “flat” as described! We had a nice dinner, enjoyed brownies that Larry’s wife Cathy sent with him and had a raging campfire – a great night!
PICTURES - http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKKCQ
Day Two – Wassataquoik Lake Trail to Little Wassataquoik Lean to
Today the backpacking portion of the trip begins. The ranger warned us that this trail and its hundreds of bog bridges would be wet, slippery and slow going. It really was not that bad – the stream crossing took a bit of thought (I think Rols wished he had a lighter pack at this point), but did not require the boots to be removed. The trail is wild, remote, full of moose and deer scat and absolutely beautiful – elevation gain is minimal – forest is thick, streams are scenic. On this trail we had the only incident of the entire week when next thing I knew, Larry was on the ground in a good deal of pain. He managed to roll his ankle going down a hill fell – he knew right away it was not a big deal, but it would be sore for a while. We took our time and Larry got back on track shortly. We later crossed Trout Stream and Center Pond and made our way to the Center Mountain Lean to area for lunch. The area was in use by a trail crew that was making more bog bridges further up the trail. We cooked hot lunches and then continued on towards Little Wassataquoik Lake and the lean to.
PICTURES – http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKKEI
Day Three – Little Wassataquoik Lake Lean to to Pogy Pond Shelter via Russell Pond
Rain threatened a bit at the lean to, but never materialized. We had heard the remnants of Hurricane Ike were coming thru that evening, but it never materialized. Just the same we were happy we got in and settled. Larry had some fly fishing at the lake and we all had dinner and crashed early. Sleeping (or at least being in our sleeping bags) early was a recurrent theme on this trip. After dinner, when it is cool out there is not much to do, so we found ourselves crashing early. We also figured out on this trip that the “Z” in “Z-Rest” must stand for zero – we all got close to zero sleep on those pads all week! Funny thing – almost every night around 3 AM one of us would be muttering a stream of profanity under our breath about how we could not sleep – we were being quiet about it so we would not wake anyone – well, everyone was always awake for the same reason! The lack of comfort led to early starts – we were usually packed up and ready to roll by about 7-7:30 AM. On this morning we started out along the trail after a brief stop at the lake. The next five miles to Russell Pond were beautiful – winding around the lakes and ponds and Green Falls were an incredible highlight – one of the higher falls I have seen in the east. We continued onto Russell Pond were we got a weather update from the ranger and cooked our lunches at a tent site before heading north on the Pogy Notch Trail.
The Pogy Notch Trail is a real moderate route through a valley up to the pond (it continues on to the South Branch Campground.) We all ate tons of blueberries along this route and marveled at how it was an ever changing trail. Rocks, conifer, deciduous, berries, ferns, streams, a river – it was never the same for more than a few hundred yards. A very easy route – it only took us about 1 ½ hours to cover the 3.5 miles to the shelter. A few had told us what a great spot this was – words cannot describe how remote and scenic this area is. We got in as it started to sprinkle a bit – Larry did some more fishing near the lean to and we settled in for another night – the rain never really amounted to much.
The next morning was spectacular. The fog over the pond, the rising sun and the setting moon made for an incredible setting. This would also be the first time on our trip we could actually see Kathadin and the Knife’s Edge. When I finally packed up and left for Russell Pond a little ahead of everyone else, it took me 20 plus minutes to get to the trail as I stopped so many times to take pictures!
PICTURES - http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKKGA
If anyone does not want to plow through all of this, and just wants to see the best pics (in my opinion) here is a link
BEST OF THE TRIP BSP PICTURES http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKKRY
I also broke this down into two reports and I have separate links for each days pictures - if I get around to it I will try to upload the videos I shot to YouTube and I will add them later.
Day One – Nesowadenehunk Field Campground and Doubletop Mountain
We had decided that four people and two vehicles would allow us to traverse a large section of the park and would be great except for the actual car spots which took forever – the Tote Road is long and slow – but there are worse places for scenery in the world! Both cars left the southern lands at 3 AM on Saturday and we were all at the gate by about 8 AM – Larry and I saw a huge buck moose on the side of the highway about 10 miles south of the Medway exit. We got through the gate and on our way to Roaring Brook to drop a car and we managed to get over to the Nesowadenehunk Field Campground and were on the trail for Doubletop Mountain before noontime. The trail form the north starts out very easy, does a moderate stream crossing and then hits a pretty steadily steep uphill mountain where most of the elevation is gained – after that, it gets easier again on the way to the north summit. The views from here are great, but today they were limited – but I would say they were very interesting with the low cloud cover and ever changing views. We spent a little time there and moved on over to the rougher south summit. We did not find the trail between the two peaks to be as “flat” as described! We had a nice dinner, enjoyed brownies that Larry’s wife Cathy sent with him and had a raging campfire – a great night!
PICTURES - http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKKCQ
Day Two – Wassataquoik Lake Trail to Little Wassataquoik Lean to
Today the backpacking portion of the trip begins. The ranger warned us that this trail and its hundreds of bog bridges would be wet, slippery and slow going. It really was not that bad – the stream crossing took a bit of thought (I think Rols wished he had a lighter pack at this point), but did not require the boots to be removed. The trail is wild, remote, full of moose and deer scat and absolutely beautiful – elevation gain is minimal – forest is thick, streams are scenic. On this trail we had the only incident of the entire week when next thing I knew, Larry was on the ground in a good deal of pain. He managed to roll his ankle going down a hill fell – he knew right away it was not a big deal, but it would be sore for a while. We took our time and Larry got back on track shortly. We later crossed Trout Stream and Center Pond and made our way to the Center Mountain Lean to area for lunch. The area was in use by a trail crew that was making more bog bridges further up the trail. We cooked hot lunches and then continued on towards Little Wassataquoik Lake and the lean to.
PICTURES – http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKKEI
Day Three – Little Wassataquoik Lake Lean to to Pogy Pond Shelter via Russell Pond
Rain threatened a bit at the lean to, but never materialized. We had heard the remnants of Hurricane Ike were coming thru that evening, but it never materialized. Just the same we were happy we got in and settled. Larry had some fly fishing at the lake and we all had dinner and crashed early. Sleeping (or at least being in our sleeping bags) early was a recurrent theme on this trip. After dinner, when it is cool out there is not much to do, so we found ourselves crashing early. We also figured out on this trip that the “Z” in “Z-Rest” must stand for zero – we all got close to zero sleep on those pads all week! Funny thing – almost every night around 3 AM one of us would be muttering a stream of profanity under our breath about how we could not sleep – we were being quiet about it so we would not wake anyone – well, everyone was always awake for the same reason! The lack of comfort led to early starts – we were usually packed up and ready to roll by about 7-7:30 AM. On this morning we started out along the trail after a brief stop at the lake. The next five miles to Russell Pond were beautiful – winding around the lakes and ponds and Green Falls were an incredible highlight – one of the higher falls I have seen in the east. We continued onto Russell Pond were we got a weather update from the ranger and cooked our lunches at a tent site before heading north on the Pogy Notch Trail.
The Pogy Notch Trail is a real moderate route through a valley up to the pond (it continues on to the South Branch Campground.) We all ate tons of blueberries along this route and marveled at how it was an ever changing trail. Rocks, conifer, deciduous, berries, ferns, streams, a river – it was never the same for more than a few hundred yards. A very easy route – it only took us about 1 ½ hours to cover the 3.5 miles to the shelter. A few had told us what a great spot this was – words cannot describe how remote and scenic this area is. We got in as it started to sprinkle a bit – Larry did some more fishing near the lean to and we settled in for another night – the rain never really amounted to much.
The next morning was spectacular. The fog over the pond, the rising sun and the setting moon made for an incredible setting. This would also be the first time on our trip we could actually see Kathadin and the Knife’s Edge. When I finally packed up and left for Russell Pond a little ahead of everyone else, it took me 20 plus minutes to get to the trail as I stopped so many times to take pictures!
PICTURES - http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKKGA
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