Bushwhacking Up Maine's Baker Mountain

[Daniel Eagan]

This was in the New York Times Travel Section two weeks ago, curious what the response would be here to the story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/travel/maine-mt-baker-hiking.html

 

[Biji]

So for a mere $450 you can eliminate a 10 mile approach hike and all but 1,000 ft. elevation gain? Credit card bushwhacking at its best. I suspect it's just this sort of thing motivating that vandal in the Whites who inscribes a dollar sign on the AMC's trail signs.

 

[Papa Bear]

I rolled my eyes at this article. Spencer and I did it back in 2005 (here) and I remember it well. There were 3 peaks and they each had some kind of canister -- Spencer replaced one with a Gatorade bottle. Erik Schlimmer was the last peakbagger in each of the canisters. Remember him?

And the way the diss'ed Andy Martin, one of the best highpointer in the US, and who could undoubtedly bushwhack circles around these guy (in fact he was bushwhacking circles around them ) was laughable.

Richard

 

[JimC]

Geez, give me a break.

Bushwhacking? I think not.

Jim

 

[Stan]

I enjoyed the prose of the trip report, more descriptive of the scene and less about GPS waypoints, up until the part about hiring a guide. Now, I have a Maine Guide's license and think more people should hire one to gain experience and a local vantage point (I don't pretend to have one) ... Thoreau had a native American guide ... but the perspective of a seasoned bushwhacker would have been much more entertaining and informative. This was another marketing piece for the AMC but what's wrong with trying to get people out into the woods?

I didn't read it as dissing Andy Martin ... more like a confusion oscillating between "what the hell, where'd this guy come from?" and a begrudging respect. He didn't quite fit into the storyline but was too impressive to omit.

Haven't been in this area in years but did "bag" Baker Pond about 20 years ago. After the AMC took over they closed a lot of formerly ungated logging roads and that made much of the area less accessible. KI Road was often open straight through the winter. But there's a lot of hiking and worthwhile peaks elsewhere in the Moosehead Region.

 

[bryan]

If nothing has changed in the last couple years Baker is readily approached from the west via prong pond and various other roads that were well maintained courtesy of atv corridors. Got my sedan to the western slope of Bakers main peak with no issue. Just below the western sub bump is a talus field which alone is worth the hike owi ng to the big view. Enjoyed the article but chuckled at the notion of paying that kind of money to swim in spruce.

 

[peakbagger]

AMC has been inviting any journalist that can get published to the 100 Mile wilderness project for a visit. I have seen several puff articles on the 100 mile wilderness project over the last few years. They really needed good PR after their "little problem" where they wiped out all the fish in a trout stream by running it out of water . I would speculate that the journalist got a free or substantially reduced rate for their trip. Nice excuse for a couple of days in the woods. It is rumored that they are not getting the traffic they expected. Maine Huts and Trail is lower cost and closer to southern New England.