sli74
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This trip report is very long, so read at your own risk 
Back in September, as my winter weekends began to fill up, I realized that there had been no rumblings about another winter Baxter State Park trip. And since last winter a group of 10 VFTT hikers had successfully climbed Katahdin and Hamlin, I figured there might be some interest in the peaks on the other side of the park. So, a quick succession of emails later, we had 8 of the original 10 hikers on board for the winter trip. The extra 2 spots allowed Garret and I to add our significant others to the roster bringing the trip total to 10 once again. Due to other climbing commitments, we decided on a New Year’s trip spanning Dec 28 - Jan 1.
Garret obtained our permits for a 4 night stay at the Kidney Pond camps by sleeping outside the BSP gates on Nov 1 and the trip was planned with 2 hiking days and 2 rest/bad weather days built in . . . with the hopes of climbing North Brother and Fort one day and South Brother and Coe another day. We also planned on welcoming the New Year with a party like Kidney Pond has never seen in winter.
Brian and I finished re-building our sleds (which had both broken on the last winter trip in March) and packed the car with all our gear and food and got on the road very late on Tuesday night, Dec 27 . . . by the time reached the Gateway Inn in Medway it was past 1 am but Donna, BoB, Arm and Sean were still awake and in great spirits. We dropped our sleeping bags on the ground and eventually got a few hours of sleep.
In the morning, we met up with Garret (Valerie had decided to stay home), Frodo and Nadine at the McDs in Millinocket. We ate a hearty breakfast in town before heading to the Abol Bridge parking area where we all packed our sleds full for the ski into Kidney Ponds. Garret had brought his snowmobile and offered rides to anyone interested. Most of us decided to ski in so our hikes, if we had any successful ones would “count” for our winter lists/patches.
I was a little nervous about my sled because Brian had decided that mine would be the “experimental” sled design he came up with . . . but we donned our skis and started down the road headed towards the Foss and Knowlton trail, which was supposed to be the quickest and easiest way into camp. Well, needless to say, it turned into an epic adventure.
Frodo and Arm were up ahead breaking trail, followed by Donna and Nadine and finally Sean, Brian and myself. The skiing was easy and fun and we made pretty good time all the way to Foss and Knowlton Pond. I only had one issue up to that point . . . I crashed at a bottom of a steeper section and took my skis off and decided to walk a few steps to get my sled straight before putting my skis back on and since I was preoccupied with falling, I failed to notice that I was walking through a beaver pond. I quickly found out as I post holed up to my shins and COLD water rushed in over the top of my ski boots filling both boots with frigid beaver pond water. I was swearing a blue streak and so upset with my stupidity that I just wanted to get the skis back on and keep going.
My feet warmed up eventually in spite of the water squishing around in there. Upon reaching F&K pond, we all took in the gorgeous views of OJI, Coe and the Brothers. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were all so happy to be there and pleased that we had decided to take the F&K trail instead of the tote road, which was 3 or 4 miles longer. Well, THAT would be the last time we would be pleased with that decision.
We then decided to skirt the edge of the pond since it looked pretty well frozen. Being fourth in line, behind Frodo, Arm and Donna, I could tell already that the pond was not frozen solid, their sleds were leaving slushy prints and after stepping into a spot too soft for my comfort level, I stepped over a couple of feet and broke my own trail figuring maybe that would help some. In no time at all the snow was sticking to my now wet skis and forming snowballs the size of baseballs. By the time we got off the pond and onto the trail again, the snowballs on the bottom of my skis were so big and plenty that I couldn’t even stand up straight on them. As we waited for the others to show up, glances down the trail looked ominous for there were rocks and roots galore. I decided as I finished scraping about 70% of the snow from my skis that it might be time for the snowshoes since my skiing leaves much to be desired. As I was stashing my skis, Arm who was about a 100 feet ahead of us yelled back that he was switching to snowshoes as well. This convinced Frodo and Donna to put theirs on and we began our hike down the trail.
At this point, we still had some hope that we would be getting to camp in a couple of hours until we came across our first real obstacle of the day, a small stream crossing that might have been nothing except of the 90 pound sled behind me. Arm barreled through the stream, pulling fast enough that the sled went over the water and the rocks and up the short steep pitch on the other side. Frodo chose another route that kept him off the water but put him in the trees for a bushwhack that looked mildly painful. I can’t remember what Donna did because by this point I was too nervous and focused on my trip across. Brian, Sean and Nadine were still behind me changing to snowshoes. Finally, with Arm righting the sled behind me, I also barreled across the stream as fast as I could go and made it to the other side without any major mishaps.
However, with all the waiting and analyzing and time spent in one spot, my wet feet and boots were turning into blocks of ice. As I watched for the others, I realized that I was shivering and felt like my whole body was uncontrollably shaking. This was enough for me to decide that it was time to switch to warm socks and boots. I made the switch while Frodo and Arm and Brian helped the others cross the stream. I cannot describe how wonderful it felt to have warm and DRY socks and boots on my feet.
Frodo and Arm went on ahead and soon most of us were at Lost Pond, though the trip there could only be described as trying . . . we were all sick and tired of pulling and pushing our sleds up and over the rocks and roots. It seemed that I would go 10 steps only to have to unclip the harness and walk back to the sled to lift the front end over whatever obstacle was snagging me, to reclip the harness to hike 10 steps, to unclip and do it all over again. There were moments where I wanted to smash the stupid sled to bits.
As I got to Lost Pond, Arm, Frodo and Donna were just putting on their headlamps and so I dug mine out and we waited for the others. Frodo scoped out the trail and the decision was made to skirt the edge of the pond again as the going was too slow over the rocks and roots of the trail. We decided that Arm and Donna would go on ahead and try to get to the cabins ahead of the rest because we knew by this time, Garret would be extremely worried about us as we were already hours overdue. Frodo was to play sweep with the rest of us in groups of 2 in the middle. Brian arrived just as Arm and Donna were taking off and soon behind him was Nadine. She had pulled a muscle and after a short rest she, Brian and I left the shore to follow Arm and Donna’s tracks. Sean arrived shortly and he and Frodo were within sight behind us. Once back in the woods on the rocky trail again, I got a second wind and that combined with my growing anger at the rocks helped propel me faster forward. I was hungry and getting cold and feeling generally ready to just be indoors sitting by a woodstove eating. Soon, it was just Brian and I somewhere in the middle of the pack. We got into a rhythm and it didn’t actually seem too bad until we reached the shores of Daicey Pond.
continued . . .
Back in September, as my winter weekends began to fill up, I realized that there had been no rumblings about another winter Baxter State Park trip. And since last winter a group of 10 VFTT hikers had successfully climbed Katahdin and Hamlin, I figured there might be some interest in the peaks on the other side of the park. So, a quick succession of emails later, we had 8 of the original 10 hikers on board for the winter trip. The extra 2 spots allowed Garret and I to add our significant others to the roster bringing the trip total to 10 once again. Due to other climbing commitments, we decided on a New Year’s trip spanning Dec 28 - Jan 1.
Garret obtained our permits for a 4 night stay at the Kidney Pond camps by sleeping outside the BSP gates on Nov 1 and the trip was planned with 2 hiking days and 2 rest/bad weather days built in . . . with the hopes of climbing North Brother and Fort one day and South Brother and Coe another day. We also planned on welcoming the New Year with a party like Kidney Pond has never seen in winter.
Brian and I finished re-building our sleds (which had both broken on the last winter trip in March) and packed the car with all our gear and food and got on the road very late on Tuesday night, Dec 27 . . . by the time reached the Gateway Inn in Medway it was past 1 am but Donna, BoB, Arm and Sean were still awake and in great spirits. We dropped our sleeping bags on the ground and eventually got a few hours of sleep.
In the morning, we met up with Garret (Valerie had decided to stay home), Frodo and Nadine at the McDs in Millinocket. We ate a hearty breakfast in town before heading to the Abol Bridge parking area where we all packed our sleds full for the ski into Kidney Ponds. Garret had brought his snowmobile and offered rides to anyone interested. Most of us decided to ski in so our hikes, if we had any successful ones would “count” for our winter lists/patches.
I was a little nervous about my sled because Brian had decided that mine would be the “experimental” sled design he came up with . . . but we donned our skis and started down the road headed towards the Foss and Knowlton trail, which was supposed to be the quickest and easiest way into camp. Well, needless to say, it turned into an epic adventure.
Frodo and Arm were up ahead breaking trail, followed by Donna and Nadine and finally Sean, Brian and myself. The skiing was easy and fun and we made pretty good time all the way to Foss and Knowlton Pond. I only had one issue up to that point . . . I crashed at a bottom of a steeper section and took my skis off and decided to walk a few steps to get my sled straight before putting my skis back on and since I was preoccupied with falling, I failed to notice that I was walking through a beaver pond. I quickly found out as I post holed up to my shins and COLD water rushed in over the top of my ski boots filling both boots with frigid beaver pond water. I was swearing a blue streak and so upset with my stupidity that I just wanted to get the skis back on and keep going.
My feet warmed up eventually in spite of the water squishing around in there. Upon reaching F&K pond, we all took in the gorgeous views of OJI, Coe and the Brothers. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were all so happy to be there and pleased that we had decided to take the F&K trail instead of the tote road, which was 3 or 4 miles longer. Well, THAT would be the last time we would be pleased with that decision.
We then decided to skirt the edge of the pond since it looked pretty well frozen. Being fourth in line, behind Frodo, Arm and Donna, I could tell already that the pond was not frozen solid, their sleds were leaving slushy prints and after stepping into a spot too soft for my comfort level, I stepped over a couple of feet and broke my own trail figuring maybe that would help some. In no time at all the snow was sticking to my now wet skis and forming snowballs the size of baseballs. By the time we got off the pond and onto the trail again, the snowballs on the bottom of my skis were so big and plenty that I couldn’t even stand up straight on them. As we waited for the others to show up, glances down the trail looked ominous for there were rocks and roots galore. I decided as I finished scraping about 70% of the snow from my skis that it might be time for the snowshoes since my skiing leaves much to be desired. As I was stashing my skis, Arm who was about a 100 feet ahead of us yelled back that he was switching to snowshoes as well. This convinced Frodo and Donna to put theirs on and we began our hike down the trail.
At this point, we still had some hope that we would be getting to camp in a couple of hours until we came across our first real obstacle of the day, a small stream crossing that might have been nothing except of the 90 pound sled behind me. Arm barreled through the stream, pulling fast enough that the sled went over the water and the rocks and up the short steep pitch on the other side. Frodo chose another route that kept him off the water but put him in the trees for a bushwhack that looked mildly painful. I can’t remember what Donna did because by this point I was too nervous and focused on my trip across. Brian, Sean and Nadine were still behind me changing to snowshoes. Finally, with Arm righting the sled behind me, I also barreled across the stream as fast as I could go and made it to the other side without any major mishaps.
However, with all the waiting and analyzing and time spent in one spot, my wet feet and boots were turning into blocks of ice. As I watched for the others, I realized that I was shivering and felt like my whole body was uncontrollably shaking. This was enough for me to decide that it was time to switch to warm socks and boots. I made the switch while Frodo and Arm and Brian helped the others cross the stream. I cannot describe how wonderful it felt to have warm and DRY socks and boots on my feet.
Frodo and Arm went on ahead and soon most of us were at Lost Pond, though the trip there could only be described as trying . . . we were all sick and tired of pulling and pushing our sleds up and over the rocks and roots. It seemed that I would go 10 steps only to have to unclip the harness and walk back to the sled to lift the front end over whatever obstacle was snagging me, to reclip the harness to hike 10 steps, to unclip and do it all over again. There were moments where I wanted to smash the stupid sled to bits.
As I got to Lost Pond, Arm, Frodo and Donna were just putting on their headlamps and so I dug mine out and we waited for the others. Frodo scoped out the trail and the decision was made to skirt the edge of the pond again as the going was too slow over the rocks and roots of the trail. We decided that Arm and Donna would go on ahead and try to get to the cabins ahead of the rest because we knew by this time, Garret would be extremely worried about us as we were already hours overdue. Frodo was to play sweep with the rest of us in groups of 2 in the middle. Brian arrived just as Arm and Donna were taking off and soon behind him was Nadine. She had pulled a muscle and after a short rest she, Brian and I left the shore to follow Arm and Donna’s tracks. Sean arrived shortly and he and Frodo were within sight behind us. Once back in the woods on the rocky trail again, I got a second wind and that combined with my growing anger at the rocks helped propel me faster forward. I was hungry and getting cold and feeling generally ready to just be indoors sitting by a woodstove eating. Soon, it was just Brian and I somewhere in the middle of the pack. We got into a rhythm and it didn’t actually seem too bad until we reached the shores of Daicey Pond.
continued . . .
