Preparation for a Winter Trip in Baxter

[Tom_Murphy]

I am in the early stages of planning a winter trip to BSP. Ideally, it would be two nights at Chimney Pond [no summiting] with a night at Roaring Brook on both ends as well. So the mileage looks to be ~8.5 miles to from Abol Bridge to Roaring Brook and ~3.5 miles with ~ 1500 elevation gain to Chimney Pond. I would be snowshoeing rather than skiing.

What would be a similar trip in the WMNF? The closest I can figure would be Garfield from LW with 13 Falls standing in for Roaring Brook.

Is it difficult to get a permit for such a trip? Does my practice trip sound comparable? Has Baxter truly open the door to solo winter trips?

Thanks.

 

[MichaelJ]

You still need to have reservations, your first night must be at RB, then you are allowed to go to CP the next day. You're allowed to go all the way out at the end if you want (though you say you don't). So your hardest part ahead of time is going to be getting the facility reservations. After that it's just long mileage and conditions that could be anything from lovely to brutal. I hope that you're planning to pull a sled, it will make your life a lot easier, especially carrying 4 nights of food.

Your proposed practice is a little different, because the trek from Abol Bridge to Roaring Brook will be on the Tote Road, which while not groomed, does see snowmobile traffic and gets packed down between your entry and the Togue Gatehouse. It's also a road, not trying to follow a trail through a wilderness area, so even if you're breaking trail from Togue to Roaring, you don't have to give any thought to navigation or crossings.

I'm far from an expert on this, I only did one trip and I wasn't the planner. There are people here who really know their stuff about winter Baxter trips.

See also:
BSP Winter Policies and Procedures

 

[Brambor]

Get long and fast skis for the tote road section. Make sure your ski boots don't blister your feet for such distance (test first). Get thermosses with hot drinks/soup.

 

[RoySwkr]

Is it difficult to get a permit for such a trip? Does my practice trip sound comparable? Has Baxter truly open the door to solo winter trips?

It can be very hard to get reservations at Chimney Pond especially weekends.

Your proposed Whites trip is much more difficult as it is far less likely to be tracked out particularly 13F to Garfield and many fewer people around. I would say maybe a night spent near Zealand Hut with next night near Zealand summit would be closer.

As Baxter winter trips go, yours is fairly benign and I can't see why the park should object (but who knows with them)

 

[focusonbalance]

Great trip Tom. We prepped for our trip by hitting Hale from Zealand Rd to the Hut, then over Zealand to Guyout, stayed at the shelter an hit the 3 bonds out LW to a spotted car.

I did an Owl's Head BP from LW over to GArfield the next day out to rte 3, we had absolutely no consolidation after Owls Head all the way to GArfield, snow to our hips at times, not many go in there, the trail is not very easy to follow, no trail markings till boundary lines then they disappear before 13 falls. Good luck with your plans, I hope you can get in and the weather does well by you. I think that trip is definitely a good prep for BSP.

 

[cyohman]

Don't hesitate to PM me. Here's the synopsis.

See: http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?47323-Baxter-State-Park-in-the-Winter

Also, it's turned bitterly cold up there: http://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=car&wwa=wind chill advisory

Northern BSP Trip Summary, 2012.12.29-2013.01.01

The trip was 25.2 miles of ups and down along the tote road mostly.

Day 2 was into South Branch. The tote road was in good shape even in the snow. Temperature and wind were tolerable, because we kept moving.

2 skiers came into South Branch that day from Matagamon and went back out. They had planned on ice climbing Horse Mountain, but there was not enough ice. They mentioned bicycling into the Katahdin Stream campground a few weeks ago to hike The Owl to ice climb. They found none and bushwhacked over to the Hunt Trail side to climb 600 feet of low angle ice.

After the skiers left, one party member and myself broke trail around South Branch. The views of North Traveler, Peak of the Ridges, Pogy Notch, and South Branch (Black Cat) were obscured, but neat that day. The Pogy Notch trail was unbroken and we decided to leave it that way. Next we headed back up the South Branch Road to see where two other group members had gone.

They ended up at South Branch Falls. They broke trail to the Falls on skis. On the way back out, they found it difficult to ascend and had to take their skis off. When putting their skis back on, one had trouble with the bindings because of the snow and ice. We proceeded to reach him, while the group member with him went back for snowshoes. No big deal. He was able to urinate on the binding to unstick it and ski back on his own.

Day 3 brought clear skies. We headed up to the Ledges from the trailhead closest to them (.2 miles). Trail was broken up to the ledges. 3 on snowshoes and 1 on skis. Great views of the aforementioned peaks and northward.

Afterwards we packed up and headed back to Trout Brook. Saw a Downy Woodpecker on the way back.There were some snow drifts, but overall the road was in good shape. The worst drifting was between the Trout Brook Bunkhouse and the outhouse. Tolerable, but noticeably different from the first night. One skier (according to the register, two skiers, but we could only see one headlamp) came through around 7p. They went to the Five Ponds area and back out on the same day. We decided to celebrate New Year's by heading to bed @ 9p. One slept outside and another slept on the porch.

We all awoke in the morning to a mixture of snow, clouds, and sun. We left around 8a. Tote road was in good shape. Some minor drifting. Saw some coyote tracks possibly and no other soul- animal or human. Some great pictures because of the weather.

Pictures are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/chance...&authkey=Gv1sRgCNW_g57mnvi9aw&feat=directlink

I am in the early stages of planning a winter trip to BSP. Ideally, it would be two nights at Chimney Pond [no summiting] with a night at Roaring Brook on both ends as well. So the mileage looks to be ~8.5 miles to from Abol Bridge to Roaring Brook and ~3.5 miles with ~ 1500 elevation gain to Chimney Pond. I would be snowshoeing rather than skiing.

What would be a similar trip in the WMNF? The closest I can figure would be Garfield from LW with 13 Falls standing in for Roaring Brook.

Is it difficult to get a permit for such a trip? Does my practice trip sound comparable? Has Baxter truly open the door to solo winter trips?

Thanks.

 

[bobandgeri]

You no longer have to spend the first night at Roaring Brook - you can go all the way to Chimney Pond if you so desire, but keep in mind that since you have to make reservations well in advance you may be hiking in crappy weather - that last 3 miles has the most elevation gain and if it's been raining all day you might be pretty unhappy. On the way out, would suggest going all the way out in one day - all downhill so fairly fast.

You can hike solo - there is a special form to fill out.

Baxter no long "requires" any special equipment - they just "recommend" what you should have.

Feel free to ask us any specific questions via email.

http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/camping/WinterPolicy.htm