Baxter State Park, Aug. 19-22

[Artex]

They're going to write songs about this trip. Absolutely amazing views, especially of the most sinister and bizarre looking cloud formations I've ever seen as he got above treeline on the Helon Taylor. Check out some of the pictures I snapped... they're insane.

Views from South Turner and North Brother were also incredible. Special thanks to Spencer for his advice on the latter. That was one great hike, and it made me realize that I've just barely scratched the surface of what Baxter has to offer.

We also saw a bald eagle, moose, and a mama bear and two cubs, but all were either too far away or too quick for me to get a picture.

Check out the trip report and pics on my website. I definitely don't claim to be a ninja photographer, but some of these are my best yet.

Direct link to trip report and pictures


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[bobandgeri]

Artex - wow, what an exciting trip you had! We want to go with you next year! Wonderful pics!

 

[king tut]

As expected, great pics!

 

[yam]

This was truly a great trip!
As far as weather...we lucked out as we were able to hike every day. On Friday the weather was incredible and we got in a hike to South Turner. Saturday we snuck in the Helon Taylor but experienced tremendous wind on Knife Edge and then a lot of moisture on our hike down Saddle Trail. It rained Saturday night and Sunday morning, but ended up clearing up enough for us to hit North Brother. This particular trail I found to be incredible! I loved it. And we only encountered 2 other people on it, so it was as if we had the whole mountain to ourselves.

Baxter is such a wonderful park. I can't wait to return.

Baxter Pics

 

[spencer]

Great shots, Artex and Yam! It sounds like you had a quite the trip! I was down on MDI all weekend and was thinking how nice it would have been to be on the K instead of in the fog on the coast...

Sorry I couldn't join you for breakfast. let me know next time you come back up.

spencer

 

[sapblatt]

Cannot wait!

Incredible trip and report...hope I get some nice weather up there for Labor Day weekend! Pics are incredible!!

 

[dr_wu002]

This was truly a great trip!
As far as weather...we lucked out as we were able to hike every day. On Friday the weather was incredible and we got in a hike to South Turner. Saturday we snuck in the Helon Taylor but experienced tremendous wind on Knife Edge and then a lot of moisture on our hike down Saddle Trail. It rained Saturday night and Sunday morning, but ended up clearing up enough for us to hit North Brother. This particular trail I found to be incredible! I loved it. And we only encountered 2 other people on it, so it was as if we had the whole mountain to ourselves.

Baxter is such a wonderful park. I can't wait to return.

Baxter Pics

Lucky! I was at work!

-Dr. Wu

 

[Brownie]

Atrex,
I guess we just missed your party coming up the Knife.
Those clouds were incredible, really tough to explain or photo but you said it well by stating every moment was in awe with new sights.
These were fast moving clouds and the strange formations lasted briefly then drifted away only to watch a new weird one form in seconds.
What was so strange was the clouds would form over summit and ramparts rather than watching them advance from afar.
Very ghostly indeed.
How does that new song go anyway?

The summit was not a place to hang around too long either.
Great pics and report on your site!

Brownie

 

[Artex]

Thanks everyone!

Brownie - I still can't get over what those clouds were doing. I've seen some interesting formations in the Whites before, but never anything like what we saw. They were morphing in almost supernatural fashion. Pamola must have been upset about something! I feel very lucky to have seen that, especially up close. Glad your group did as well. We also didn't stay on the summit for terribly long. Maybe a half an hour, and tucked away in the rocks on the western side of the mountain to stay out of the wind.

 

[EarthNsky]

a most outstanding trip it was

great trip reports Artex and Yam and super awesome pics..

The weather gods threw a lot at us this weekend, wind, fog, clouds, rain, thunder and lightning, but we still got in a great deal of hiking. Baxter exceded my expectations. What an amazing place and Katahdin is quite an amazing mountain. It was a bummer to not get to traverse the Knife Edge with open views, but it was still great to finally do it and I will be back to Baxter for sure!

It was really great hiking with Artex, Yam and Pennsy. Spending time with great company and good friends is my favorite part of camping and being in the back country. Yam, thanks for the hospitality and for showing us around Portland. Artex, thanks for organizing this great trip. Looking forward to next time.

 

[EarthNsky]

pics

here are my pics from Baxter SP

 

[Artex]

Great pics, Earth! Glad you could come along and I hope you come up again for some more.

 

[yam]

loved your pics, ENS. and it was great hiking w/ you again. see you soon!

 

[MarkJ]

morphed clouds

We also witnessed those clouds on Baxter peak between 10:30,11 a sight to behold........over to Hamlin 30 min later,it was socked in.........MJ

 

[twigeater]

Sounds like a great trip!
We were at Chimney Pond (transferred a trip we couldn't make earlier this month) sorry we missed you!

 

[Pennsy]

Great trip report, and sweet pics, Artex, Yammy and EarthNsky. It was a great trip despite the weather and I had a blast. One can never get enough of Katahdin, but the North Brother hike was especially nice.

My trip pics

 

[percious]

Artex,

Nice report. I too experienced similar clouds on our trip. See here:

http://www.percious.com/hiking/HP - ME - June 2005 - P2/17 - Tabled Lands.jpg

Although they are not as extreme a case as yours, I believe they are formed the same way. They are mountain formed Lenticular, I believe.

Warm moist air blows up from the valley, and hits the cooler air flowing over the mountain. The moisture condenses, forming a cloud that is shaped very similarly to the basin. Pretty cool stuff.

-percious

 

[EarthNsky]

Here is a link to my trip report on my new blog page

http://earthnskyadventures.blogspot.com/

I'm jumping on the blog band wagon, but it's a cool way to do trip reports!

Artex, your website is really cool.

Hey Percious, how's it going?

Hey Pennsy, thanks for driving! Be nice to my hat!!!!