mavs00
New member
Yup, it’s long
We (my son in particular) have been looking forward to hiking this peak for a few years and we knew that given the 700 mile drive to the trailhead and our busy lives, that we’d have to have more than a few chips fall in our favor in order to summit. Due to other obligations, we had about a 36 hour window to spend in Baxter with either Monday (8/1) or Tuesday (8/2) being hike day. A few days out, both days looked crappy, but Monday looked worse. Plans were set.
We arrived in Millinocket, ME on Monday evening in the midst of horrendous t-storms and our planned campout turned to a stay at the Econo Lodge. The next day called for some clearing early AM, late AM showers turning to afternoon severe T-storms (65%). Not so great, but a brief AM window looked possible for a run at Baxter summit.
We arrived at the South gate at 4:45 AM and were #2 in line. We paid and quickly made our way to Roaring Brook. We hit the trail at 5:50 and made our way to Chimney Pond. It took a slow 1.5 hours to cover the 3.3 miles (damn those rocks). The weather looked grand. A few wispy (fast moving) clouds around Baxter summit, but mostly sunny (even better than they said). We arrived to find out that today was a Class 2 day and severe storms were expected after noon with clouding and some rain expected before that. High winds were expected in any T-storms and extreme caution was advised on exposed trails after noon. Decision time: Goal #1 had always been Baxter summit and goal #2 was doing the Knife Edge. We stuck to that plan.
We chose to go up the fairly benign Saddle trail as we knew it would get us up top quickest. From there, if the weather still looked to be a ways off, we’d discuss descending the Knife edge to Pamola then down. Off we went and we were able to get some great views along the way up to, and just above the saddle. The clouds moved in at about 4500-4600’ feet. We made the summit at just about 9:40 AM. My -Kestrel 3000- showed winds were at about 13-14 MPH with gusts over 20. Decision time again. We were in the clouds, it was windy, but we still had a few hours before the “extreme caution” time. It was right there before us and we’d come so far (who knows when we’d get back), but in the end, we turned our backs and decided that we’d head back down to the saddle. Conditions were not real bad at the time, but “it didn’t feel right”. We left the summit around 10:30. Nick was bummed, but even at 14, he knew it was the right decision. While we were there, we saw at least 3 groups venture out on “the edge”, without so much as a second thought. One group came back minutes later though and said “no way”.
As we headed back down, we passed hordes of other going up in a long parade. We made our way uneventfully back down to the saddle and the clouds got even lower and noticeable denser. Hamlin beaconed us briefly as her summit darted in and out of the clouds, however, we knew deep down going up was not in our best interest, so we headed down the “Saddle Slide”. Still more hikers were headed up, smiles and all.
The first booms of thunder came at about 12:15 PM and we were about 5 minutes from Chimney Pond. We arrived at the ranger station and the skies above looked angry. Through the in/out clouds we could see people far out on the knife edge. The ranger was very worried (and actually voiced his concerns to us). There were A LOT of people still up there, some with NO PLACE TO GO. As we headed out (back to Roaring Brook) the T-storms came in over Hamlin Peak and the thunder booming off walls of the Great Basin was downright incredible. Torrential rains followed and continued for about an hour. We were soaked (even in raingear), but by the time we arrived at our car at 2 PM, the clouds were clearing. I do not envy anyone stuck up there during that storm. Had we would have gone for the Knife Edge, or Hamlin, it would have been us FOR SURE.
So it’s true that we did not meet all our goals, but we were able to use our best jugdement in order to take advantage of the small window that the Katahdin spirits gave us. We (wisely as it turns out) chose not to get greedy and go for more that what she offered us. Sure it’s hundreds of miles away from our home and it’s likely to be awhile before we get back, but the Knife Edge, Hamlin and the rest of the park will still be there, ready to let us climb later.
As we chatted as we got near the car, we talked about the hike and the events of the day, and we pretty much agreed that the more we’ve hiked, the more we understand and are better able to think clearly when we need to (before things get bad) and how important that is. Wisdom is by far the most important piece of “gear” needed when attempting to summit these big ones.
Thanks for listening and sharing your wisdom over the years with us
We (my son in particular) have been looking forward to hiking this peak for a few years and we knew that given the 700 mile drive to the trailhead and our busy lives, that we’d have to have more than a few chips fall in our favor in order to summit. Due to other obligations, we had about a 36 hour window to spend in Baxter with either Monday (8/1) or Tuesday (8/2) being hike day. A few days out, both days looked crappy, but Monday looked worse. Plans were set.
We arrived in Millinocket, ME on Monday evening in the midst of horrendous t-storms and our planned campout turned to a stay at the Econo Lodge. The next day called for some clearing early AM, late AM showers turning to afternoon severe T-storms (65%). Not so great, but a brief AM window looked possible for a run at Baxter summit.
We arrived at the South gate at 4:45 AM and were #2 in line. We paid and quickly made our way to Roaring Brook. We hit the trail at 5:50 and made our way to Chimney Pond. It took a slow 1.5 hours to cover the 3.3 miles (damn those rocks). The weather looked grand. A few wispy (fast moving) clouds around Baxter summit, but mostly sunny (even better than they said). We arrived to find out that today was a Class 2 day and severe storms were expected after noon with clouding and some rain expected before that. High winds were expected in any T-storms and extreme caution was advised on exposed trails after noon. Decision time: Goal #1 had always been Baxter summit and goal #2 was doing the Knife Edge. We stuck to that plan.
We chose to go up the fairly benign Saddle trail as we knew it would get us up top quickest. From there, if the weather still looked to be a ways off, we’d discuss descending the Knife edge to Pamola then down. Off we went and we were able to get some great views along the way up to, and just above the saddle. The clouds moved in at about 4500-4600’ feet. We made the summit at just about 9:40 AM. My -Kestrel 3000- showed winds were at about 13-14 MPH with gusts over 20. Decision time again. We were in the clouds, it was windy, but we still had a few hours before the “extreme caution” time. It was right there before us and we’d come so far (who knows when we’d get back), but in the end, we turned our backs and decided that we’d head back down to the saddle. Conditions were not real bad at the time, but “it didn’t feel right”. We left the summit around 10:30. Nick was bummed, but even at 14, he knew it was the right decision. While we were there, we saw at least 3 groups venture out on “the edge”, without so much as a second thought. One group came back minutes later though and said “no way”.
As we headed back down, we passed hordes of other going up in a long parade. We made our way uneventfully back down to the saddle and the clouds got even lower and noticeable denser. Hamlin beaconed us briefly as her summit darted in and out of the clouds, however, we knew deep down going up was not in our best interest, so we headed down the “Saddle Slide”. Still more hikers were headed up, smiles and all.
The first booms of thunder came at about 12:15 PM and we were about 5 minutes from Chimney Pond. We arrived at the ranger station and the skies above looked angry. Through the in/out clouds we could see people far out on the knife edge. The ranger was very worried (and actually voiced his concerns to us). There were A LOT of people still up there, some with NO PLACE TO GO. As we headed out (back to Roaring Brook) the T-storms came in over Hamlin Peak and the thunder booming off walls of the Great Basin was downright incredible. Torrential rains followed and continued for about an hour. We were soaked (even in raingear), but by the time we arrived at our car at 2 PM, the clouds were clearing. I do not envy anyone stuck up there during that storm. Had we would have gone for the Knife Edge, or Hamlin, it would have been us FOR SURE.
So it’s true that we did not meet all our goals, but we were able to use our best jugdement in order to take advantage of the small window that the Katahdin spirits gave us. We (wisely as it turns out) chose not to get greedy and go for more that what she offered us. Sure it’s hundreds of miles away from our home and it’s likely to be awhile before we get back, but the Knife Edge, Hamlin and the rest of the park will still be there, ready to let us climb later.
As we chatted as we got near the car, we talked about the hike and the events of the day, and we pretty much agreed that the more we’ve hiked, the more we understand and are better able to think clearly when we need to (before things get bad) and how important that is. Wisdom is by far the most important piece of “gear” needed when attempting to summit these big ones.
Thanks for listening and sharing your wisdom over the years with us
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