Jay H
New member
What a perfect winter day, after spending a day in the clouds and drizzle, I was anxiously looking to the expected cold front to pass through and bring clear skies to Baxter. I pushed my planned hike to Sentinel back a day to accomdate the clear skies and boy, was I rewarded or what?
I was looking at an 18 mile day, looking at the maps showing it was 6.0 miles to Daicey Pond via the Foss and Knowlton/Lost Pond trails versus the 7.4 miles via the meandering AT. The trail to Sentinel is about 2.3 miles one way with a .6 mile loop at the summit and then some distance to get from Daicey to Kidney Pond, it was going to be a nice walk in the woods, for sure. Anxious to get out after a dreary day, I got up early, ate a bagel and ran out the door... In doing so, forgot my gaitors, forgot my hiking poles... Oh well! I guess Maine fever hits...
I start down from Abol bridge around 7:45, noticing how nice and crisp the air was and was immediately offered already a stunning view of Katahdin from the AT/Abol Stream trail intersection. In fact, it's the first picture of the day on my photo album.
At this point I was wondering how much of the trail would be barebootable... Another 100ft gave me my answer and that wind blown snow filled in some old tracks just past the bridge on the AT so I stop to put on my snowshoes. Turns out, it is a venerable hiker highway pretty much to Foss and Knowlton Ponds, but between F&K and Lost Pond, it is broken down to some ski tracks. LP to Daicey is completely fresh so I broke the trail to LP, skirted the LP and made my way to a heavily packed Daicey Pond nature trail.... Thanks for the break in breaking! Stopping to take a shot of Katahdin at every lake was fun, stopping to ID the northern peaks, Barren, the Owl, OJI, Coe, etc..
Well, after hitting Daicey pond itself, I thought I'd avoid the windblown path which was pretty solidly snowed in, I'll walk the lake itself. I think I overshot the Sentinal Mtn loop because I wound up on the access road and the libary there. Looking at my old 2003 Delorme BSP map, it shows a small connector trail from the Daicey Pond access trail to the loop that goes around Kidney Pond... So I thought I'd hit that and then head towards Sentinel Landing, only adding a short detour to my intended trip... However, having hit the Tote Road, without any sign of a trail, I scratch my head and wonder what is up... But since I know the access road to Kidney Pond is nearby to the west, I start awhacking off the tote road and eventually meet up with a bridge that leads me to Kidney Pond. The trail around KP was unbroken so I was preparing to break out the trail and to Sentinel which was fun. There's a bit of big blowdown on the lower portions of the Sentinel Mtn trail, before the beaver brook crossing but after the brook crossing, the trail scrambles steeply up the 18xxft peak.
At the loop intersection, I hang a right as per the Maine Mtn Guide and get some more great views of Katahdin's west face and a great day to sit and eat lunch.
I do the loop, past sunset ledge and then back down and this time properly break the trail out back to Daicey pond, meeting with the nature trail again. This time I rewalk the lake and even walk across Lost Pond, cutting probably a 1/4 mile in the hike distance. Getting back to my car around 5:20pm, I knew I was going to miss the alpenglow of the evening sun, so I stopped and took a shot of Katahdin through the birches...
http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslug/SentinelMtn
Jay
p.s. The AMC Maine Mtn Guides map (even my old 8th edition) does NOT show a trail that connects the Daicey Pond access road to the trail looping around Kidney Pond. I don't know where Delorme got that from although I know there is a newer 2007 version of the Delorme BSP map out.
I was looking at an 18 mile day, looking at the maps showing it was 6.0 miles to Daicey Pond via the Foss and Knowlton/Lost Pond trails versus the 7.4 miles via the meandering AT. The trail to Sentinel is about 2.3 miles one way with a .6 mile loop at the summit and then some distance to get from Daicey to Kidney Pond, it was going to be a nice walk in the woods, for sure. Anxious to get out after a dreary day, I got up early, ate a bagel and ran out the door... In doing so, forgot my gaitors, forgot my hiking poles... Oh well! I guess Maine fever hits...
I start down from Abol bridge around 7:45, noticing how nice and crisp the air was and was immediately offered already a stunning view of Katahdin from the AT/Abol Stream trail intersection. In fact, it's the first picture of the day on my photo album.
At this point I was wondering how much of the trail would be barebootable... Another 100ft gave me my answer and that wind blown snow filled in some old tracks just past the bridge on the AT so I stop to put on my snowshoes. Turns out, it is a venerable hiker highway pretty much to Foss and Knowlton Ponds, but between F&K and Lost Pond, it is broken down to some ski tracks. LP to Daicey is completely fresh so I broke the trail to LP, skirted the LP and made my way to a heavily packed Daicey Pond nature trail.... Thanks for the break in breaking! Stopping to take a shot of Katahdin at every lake was fun, stopping to ID the northern peaks, Barren, the Owl, OJI, Coe, etc..
Well, after hitting Daicey pond itself, I thought I'd avoid the windblown path which was pretty solidly snowed in, I'll walk the lake itself. I think I overshot the Sentinal Mtn loop because I wound up on the access road and the libary there. Looking at my old 2003 Delorme BSP map, it shows a small connector trail from the Daicey Pond access trail to the loop that goes around Kidney Pond... So I thought I'd hit that and then head towards Sentinel Landing, only adding a short detour to my intended trip... However, having hit the Tote Road, without any sign of a trail, I scratch my head and wonder what is up... But since I know the access road to Kidney Pond is nearby to the west, I start awhacking off the tote road and eventually meet up with a bridge that leads me to Kidney Pond. The trail around KP was unbroken so I was preparing to break out the trail and to Sentinel which was fun. There's a bit of big blowdown on the lower portions of the Sentinel Mtn trail, before the beaver brook crossing but after the brook crossing, the trail scrambles steeply up the 18xxft peak.
At the loop intersection, I hang a right as per the Maine Mtn Guide and get some more great views of Katahdin's west face and a great day to sit and eat lunch.
I do the loop, past sunset ledge and then back down and this time properly break the trail out back to Daicey pond, meeting with the nature trail again. This time I rewalk the lake and even walk across Lost Pond, cutting probably a 1/4 mile in the hike distance. Getting back to my car around 5:20pm, I knew I was going to miss the alpenglow of the evening sun, so I stopped and took a shot of Katahdin through the birches...
http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslug/SentinelMtn
Jay
p.s. The AMC Maine Mtn Guides map (even my old 8th edition) does NOT show a trail that connects the Daicey Pond access road to the trail looping around Kidney Pond. I don't know where Delorme got that from although I know there is a newer 2007 version of the Delorme BSP map out.
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