Appalachian Trail Experience 2006: 6/27/06 Tuesday: Ten Mile River Campground to Caesar Brook Campsite (22.3mi)

Appalachian Trail Experience 2006: 6/27/06 Tuesday: Ten Mile River Campground to Caesar Brook Campsite (22.3mi)

Appalachian Trail Experience 2006: 7/02/06 Sunday: Dalton, Ma. to Mt. Greylock, Bascom Lodge (17mi)

Appalachian Trail Experience 2006: 7/02/06 Sunday: Dalton, Ma. to Mt. Greylock, Bascom Lodge (17mi)

8/06/06 Sunday: AT...Mount Katahdin: The Final Ascent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(5.2mi UP)

PICTURES:
1. Taking a moment to look back during the ascent up Mount Katahdin on the AT
2. Thats Brian on what we hoped was the push passed the Gateway onto the Table Land...
3. Brian and I taking a break at The Gateway, a transition point from the steep 3000' climb the walk levels off for a mile before a final ascent to the Baxter Peak...
4. Thats Brian, alias "Speedy Gonzalez" at the summit a bit ahead of me.... He was #2 atop the Mountain... I was #3...
5. Our Portugese friend snapped this shot of Brian and I at the summit...
6. Brian with Baxter Peak in the background while I'm standing on South Peak...
7. Chiminey Pond from South Peak
8. Thats me with Knife Edge and Pamola and the background taken from South Peak...
9. Thats me again with the Table Land in the background... Thoreau Spring was producing quite a bit of spring water there...pretty amazing at that altitude...
10. Thats me again standing on a 13' cairn which makes Baxter Peak a full 1 mile high...
11. Mac and his boys at Baxter Peak
12. More than 200 hikers would summit this day... This is one of the groups... I was up there for about 4 hours and witnessed many hikers passing through...
13. Mac, Brian, Shawn, Me, and Kevin at the famous sign atop Mt Katahdin
14. The gang heading down the Saddle trail back to Chimney Pond Campground and then out to the car at Roaring Brook Campground...
15. Taking a break before heading down the steepest part of the Saddle Trail.
16. Descending on the Saddle trail... Tricky footing and kinda steep too..
17. Picture taken at Chimney Pond Campground with Katahdin in the Background

The big day was finally here... Brian and I were up at dawn and had a snack for breakfast before heading to the Ranger Station to drop off our packs and pick up some lighter day packs for the ascent... We started at 0630 and walked at a brisk pace up the 1 mile high mountain... This would be an initial 3000' sustained climb for 3 miles with a one mile walk across the table land before the final 1000' climb in the last mile... In all the highest sustained climb along the AT with bonuses... You get to do some "bouldering" that having to climb up and over large boulders sometimes on rebarb... Lots of fun... Brian and I made it up to the top by 0900 and were the 2nd and 3rd people atop the mountain on this day... We met the first gentleman, from Porgtugal who now lived in Quebec... After pictures were taken we all chatted a bit and watched the throngs of day hikers aproaching from 5 different trails... Within an hour 40 hikers were up there in the clear blue of the morning sky, all admiring the excellent views, possibly out to the Atlantic some 100 miles to the SE... Brian and I decided to tackle South Peak which leads to the knife edge and Pamola... We were thinking of walking out there too but I had planned to meet my brother in law at Baxter Peak at 1100... We arrived at South Peak about 1030 and decided to leave knife edge for another day. We returned to Baxter Peak and witnessed a different and larger group of up to 60 hikers milling about admiring the views and taking pictures... By 1200, Brian and I decided to head back down since Mac had not yet arrived. We took different trails, Brian went back the way he came and I decided to head down a side trail that passed the Cathedral Trail, the one Mac was suppose to take with his 3 boys. I caught a hiker just coming to the top of the Cathedral Trail and ask if she had seen an adult and 3 kids hiking... She said they were about 30min behind and listed the boys by name... I decided to stay at the head of the trail there at that point and wait for them... I waited an hour and returned to the summit to chat with some of the other hikers before heading down to the bottom. As I reached the summit I came across Mac and the boys having lunch... According to Mac, they had all taken a short cut to the summit... Anyway they had some extra snacks that they shared with me and we took some pictures before heading back down the saddle trail and back to Macs van around 1400... Kevin, Brian, and Shawn, had never hiked Katahdin before and were feeling the effects of the 4000'ascent and the subsequent 4000' descent... We all reached the car at about 2000 and drove over to get my pack and gear at the other Ranger Station, finally leaving BSP around 0845... We stopped for burgers in Millinocket before getting on the I95 for home...

8/05/06 Saturday: Rainbow Lake (west) to The Birches Shelter, Baxter State Park (23.9mi)

PICTURES:
1. Scene from Rainbow Ledges, site a the tremendous crop of blueberries
2. Just a shot of some of the blueberries that we harvested...
3. Katahdin from one of the Rainbow Ledges as we begin our descent toward Abol Bridge...
4. One of the more pleasant trails encountered north of Rainbow Ledges...
5&6. View of Mt. Katahdin taken from the entrance trail to BSP (Baxter State Park)
7. Largest catapillar I've ever seen!!!
8. Brian on one of the better "groomed" trails inside BSP
9. Interesting tree and root formation over large boulder...
10. View of Katahdin from Elbow Pond
11. View of Katahdin from Tracy Pond inlet..


I really hate putting on wet socks and boots, especially in the morning... Last night I had given up rock hopping, and just walked through the puddles, thankfully the water never went over the top of my boots... Anyway, I wrung out my socks again as I had done last night and slipped them back on, put my damp clothes back on and hoped for clear skies and warm temps... When I exited the tent at 0630, I noticed the sky was blue and another beautiful day was donning... I was instantly energized and fininshed packing and once again headed north to our base camp in Baxter State Park. I stopped at the first spring I noticed along the way to replenish my water supply, and while treating it Brian walked up... He had stayed at the campground with the boyscouts the previous night and had difficulty sleeping with all the late night commotion... We were happy to meet again and began moving north again... He pulled ahead again and I spent some time fixing some water bars on the trail until we met up again on top of the Rainbow Ledges... Here, with plenty of sun, was a tremendous bluberry crop... Brian was busy picking blueberries and already had half of his 1 liter bottle full. I decided to join him and we both decided to remove our boots and socks and put them in the sun to help them dry some... We stay up there for over an hour until we had both picked 32Oz of blueberries and eaten an unknown quantity in the process...;)... At this point it was 1000 and we were 16 miles from our shelter for the night. We both made great time walking at nearly 3.0 on dryer more level terrain... We also knew the trail inside Baxter State Park (BSP) would be a nice walk. We stopped next at the Abol Bridge Campsite store to get some lunch and buy some snacks for tonight and the ascent of Katahdin tomorrow. It was 1300 and we had only 10 relatively easy miles left, so we relaxed and finished drying our boots and socks while we carb' up with all sorts of stuff only hikers would eat... Little Debbie products, cookies, ice cream, sandwitches, pizza, snickers, and a whole host of other packaged products...:)... When your burning 5-6000 calories daily you can eat just about anything I suppose... The local ridge runner dropped by for a chat and mentioned there were no other thru-hikers at the birches yet tonight and that the following days weather looked excellent... We were psyched and by 1430 we were off to finish the last 10 miles to the base camp, The Birches... The walk through BSP was nice and for the most part smooth, but did require one ford... I arrived at the Birches at about 1630, and met up again with Brian who had arrived 30 min earlier... We decided to eat in the common area near the Ranger Station, which had plenty of sun to help dry some of the rest of gear, and warm us too... Our camp site was nestled in a white birch grove with little sun penetrating through... We finished our lunch and moved to the camping area where we were joined later by one more thru-hiker before we all retired for the night...

8/04/06 Friday: Maher Tote Rd (White House Landing) to Rainbow Lake east (20.3mi)

PICTURES:

1. We had to walk along the Nahmakanta Stream for 6 miles... It had not overflowed its banks and the walk was pretty nice...
2. One of the sand beaches along the way... This one was at Pemadumcook Lake... These lakes have no buildings along their banks...
they are all pristine just like the land.
3. I had the pleasure of meeting this group from the MATC (Maine Appalachian Trail Club) and MCC (Maine Conservation Corps) I had passed their camp about 30min earlier, set up near my second picture, a lovely location. They were busy placing rock stairs on Nesuntabunt Mtn., a pretty big operation as I would come to see... Its hard work but this group like the others I had met along the way are quite a team and I could sense the camaraderie among the members. When asked how much longer they would be out here working, many responded by saying they had signed up for another 3 weeks...
4. Thats me taking a break on the top of a nice rock... I had a chance to chat with my wife and brother from this point before nodding offf for a short, late morning snooze..
5. Views of Nahmakanta Lake from Nesuntabunt Mtn
6. After leaving the Wadleigh Stream Lean-to, I came across this unusual rock formation with its rock roof...
7. View of Katahdin from Nesuntabunt Mtn.
8. Nice trail encountered just after leaving Rainbow Stream Lean-to and before the T-storm hit. No other pictures were taken after this due to the rain...

Breakfast was served at 0800 and was quite filling with eggs, bacon, toast, coffee, juice, and AYCE blueberry pancakes. Breakfast concluded about 0900 with all the hikers paying their bills and finally the boat ride back to the dock for the walk back to the AT. We hit the dock at about 0930 and started making our way back to the swamped road and the AT... I had decided to bushwack just to the north of the swamped road where there use to be a trail according to the owners of White House Landing... Brian chose to keep his Crocks on and walk through the muddie waters and wash his feet 100yds down the trail in todays first streem crossing... I was putting my boots on at the dock when the second boat load was arriving with the boy scouts and they yelled at me to stop; they had found a camera they thought was mine... It was Brians and since we were hiking together for the next few days I took it. He was already 10min ahead of me so I started moving with the extra camera... When I arrived at the swamped tote road I entered the woods as I had planned and did find the remnants of an old trail... I followed it, with the tote road in site, and just as I reached the AT Brian called out for me... "You dont happen to have my camera do ya??" I replied: "You mean this thing" showing him the camera... His anxiety level fell and a big smile appeared on his face... He thanked me and I told him that the boy scouts had done a last walk through and found it on the ground and handed it to me just as I was about to leave the dock. I had arrived at the dock with my crocks on but decided there to bushwack instead. So I changed and put my dry boots back on... An interesting series of events....
Anyway I started heading north on the AT while Brian cleaned himself up at the stream just north of the tote road... He passed me a short time later, showing me his 3.0 mph walk which was near impossible for me to match... I took a break around 1330 on a rock outcropping above Nahmakanta Lake and phoned Jackie... I didnt realize it at the time but the day was slipping away due to the very late start.. I pushed on to the Wadleigh Stream Lean-to just in time to avoid the most intense rainfall I had seen on my entire trip on the AT... It lasted about an hour and allowed me to rest unfortunately only after finishing 8 miles with another 12 to go I was getting a bit concerned... As soon as the rain slowed I was headed north again an 4 hours later arrived at the next shelter covering another 8 miles... I stopped there for dinner and chatted with a southbound couple who were there for the night. They mentioned the trail north of the shelter was swamped in many places and I was sorry to say the trail south of there wasnt much better... I finished my dinner and decided to continue for the campground just 4 miles north, my original destination of the day... I would arrive at dusk, but completing these last 4 miles meant I would stay on schedule for a Sunday ascent with Brian and pick up by my family. I picked up the pace a bit shortly reached the west end of Rainbow Lake just in time to hear the sound of thunder. It wasnt long before the skies darkened and the rain began to fall. At this point I was wishing I had stayed at the last shelter... I pushed on for the campground but the trail was getting much worst... It was actually worst than what I had already passed through and in a short time my feet were soaked. The days light was quickly extinguished and replaced with the strobing light from the lightning... The rain wasnt falling too hard so I continued and finally reached the campground about 2100 to find it completely full of boyscouts... There were only 2 designated camping sites here but as I walked through the campsite I noticed 8 tents set up with at least 16 boys, all walking around and talking, most congragating under a tarp with a large lantern glowing. There were no spots to pitch my tent...:(... so I got my headlamp out of my backpack and continued on in the rain looking for a tentsite besides the trail... The trail was in very poor shape, much of it turned to small streams. This was the 3rd storm of the day and everything was waterlogged... I walked for about an hour and around 2200 I finally came across a rather nice spot under some fir trees... The rain diminished some as I set up my tent and soon I was inside removing my wet clothes and climbing into my sleeping bag... All my gear was dry thanks in part to the pack cover and in large part to the individual waterproof stuff sacs I started using in Virginia... It wasnt long before I fell asleep reminding myself I would conclude this trip in only 2 days.... :)

8/03/06 Thursday: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to to White House Landing, Maher Tote road (13.8mi)

PICTURES:
1. Cooper Brook Fall just 50' in front of the Lean-to I stayed in last night...
2. A look again at the pool below Cooper Brook Falls from the shelter...
3. The trail was pretty nice for the most part wide and dry...
4. Another beach this time on Lower Jo-Mary Lake...
5. Thats me sitting on the dock waiting for the boat from Whitehall Landing to come pick me up... Only took 10 min from the time I sounded the air horn...
6. Cute outhouse at the hostel at Whilehall Landing.. No electricity out here, everything runs on propane including the icebox and lamps...
7. View from the porch of Whitehall Landing of Pemadumcook Lake
8. From the front of the Office/dininghall looking at a small rental cabin and the shower facility which is also hiding the bunkhouse where I stayed...
9. Pic of Whitehouse Landing office/store/dining hall from the docks
10. Picture of Mt. Katahdin taken from the other side of the Lake. I paddled over with a boyscout to get another look at the big Mtn...
11. While paddling back to shore after taking the Mt. Katahdin pic, I stopped to get this sunset pic.

Well the race was on to arrive at the White House Landing no later than 1300 for lunch to sample their 1lb burger...:)... I was on the trail by 0630 and with rather level terrain and the hopes of a dry trail I was off... The morning was overcast and the trail quite muddy leading to a lot of rock hopping to avoid the ankle deep mud and waters of the trail... The mosquitoes were quite ravenous as they had been for days and I thank God again for having purchased the 30% Deet repellant in New Hampshire... The bottle was nearly empty now and I only hoped that I had enough of the stuff to finish the trip... I arrived at the tote road leading to White House Landing around 1145 and saw in was under 1 to 2 feet of water... There was no way to pass through it without getting your boots wet... And I had spent the morning rock hopping successfully and had arrived here with relatively dry boots...:(... Well I still had about a mile to go and wasnt about to mis out on my burger...:/... So in I plunged with a few steps leading to water entering through the tops of my boots, I was soon through the worst of it and the trail dried up considerably... I continued on down to the dock and sounded the air horn one short blast as directed by the message there... Soon a boat was headed in my direction and I was wisked away to a more comfortable resort type environment... I went straight for the restaurant and placed my order at 1245, plenty of time to spare...;)... I decided to spend the night there leaving me with 2 twenty mile days to the base camp of Katahdin... The owners showed me around the place and I set myself up in the bunkhouse with another through hiker-Brian... Brian was a 19y/o young man from the Allentown, PA area... We hit it off pretty well at dinner that night and by breakfast we had made plans to ascend Katahdyn together on Sunday... Later that evening a group of boyscouts joined us in the bunkhouse and after dinner I went for a canoe ride with one of them to get a picture of Katahdin from the other side of the lake... I slept well that night and was packed and ready to go for an early morning departure after breakfast which was to be server at 0800 sharp...

8/02/06 Wednesday: Carl A. Newhall Lean-to to Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to (18.9mi)

PICTURES:
1. Took my picture at the summit of Gulf Hagas Mtn...Not very high as you can tell from the size of the trees there, but a unique sign did prompt a picture...
2. Largest, reddish mushroom I had seen on the trail near the summit of Gulf Hagas Mtn.
3. Clouds were beginning to break again when I reached the last major summit before Katahdin... Still 73 trail miles to Katahdin but all those miles would be done below 2000'.
4. A picture north from White Cap Mtn of Katahdin in the mist...
5,6,&7. Came across this work crew on the NE side of White Cap Mtn installing rock stairs to help alleviate the erosion problems so common with many mountain on the trail... The rocks are just under the surface of the trail or near the trail and with the pulley system they hoist them up and into place. Touch work by some dedicated people from the MATC and MCC..
8. Heres Slowpoke and Spindleshanks having lunch with me at the Logan Brook Lean-to, about half way down the North side of White Cap Mtn. The are section hikers from North Carolina focusing on the 100 mile wilderness. They tented last night at the Sidney Tappan Campsite on near the summit of Gulf Hagas and were swamped in their tent during the 2 hour downpour... They were in remarkably good spirits inspite of waking up wet and the few falls and minor injuries already sustained along the first 1/3 of the trail up here...
9. Some tricky footing encountered with plenty of rocks and roots. Here I'm passing through a hardwood section of forest with a clearing
10. Here is the predominant forest trail in Maine through a stand of pines..
11. Fording the East Branch of the Pleasant River was not for the faint of heart... strongest current and worst footing of all the fords... I made it across without incident not walking on those trees but slightly downstream from them... Some hikers use those treetrunks across the stream to hang on to as they cross...
12. One of many beaver dams along the trail... This one was daming Crawford Pond.. The trail is noticably lower than the level of the pond...Im glad the beavers do good work...:)...

We rose to blue skies which clouded over by 0800 for the day...The previous nights severe t-storms left many sections of the trail there muddied or just plain swamped... We were fortunate to be spending much of the day at the higher elevations, away from known swamps and lowland regions... The summit of Gulf Hagas was cloud covered, but the temperature was perfect for hiking, about 68 degrees... I walked through the Sydney Tappan Campsite and noticed many of the tentsites were swamped. This was the primary destination for my hike yesterday and I was quite happy to have stopped short at the Newhall Lean-to... I proceeded along toward White Cap Mtn which has tremendous views in every direction, including views of Katahdin, on clear days...:/... So I was hoping for the weather to improved and some of these clouds to go away... Well, my prayers were answered... I reached the top of White Cap Mtn and the sun finally broke through. The clouds began to thin some and the views were fantastic, including that of Katahdin... I couldn't get cell reception on the summit but a few minutes later on the descent I called Jackie to check in and let her know I was thinking of her... I continued on to the Logan Brook Lean-to for lunch, 1.5miles from the summit and 7 miles from the start of my day... After taking a 1hour break for lunch, I returned to the trail and continued north to the next challenge of the day... The East Branch of the Pleasant River needed to be crossed... This was to be the most difficult for yet due again to the boulder like rocks and subsequent crevases, uneven bottom, and strong current... I did make it across without incident and after putting my boots back on continued north... A few hours later, I was able to phone Jackie again from some open ground on Little Boardman Mtn. The late afternoon walk looked good on the map and with ample time left to the day I decided to take another break. Just relaxing on the open rock face of the mountain in the sun, giving my boots and socks time to dry from the puddles of the morning was quite nice... Often when you reach the shelter the sun is so low in the sky that nothing dries... Of course, you can't help by hope that the rest of the days terrain would be well drained, not too swampy...;)... I arrived at the Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to at 1900 and had it all to myself all night... Shortly after my arrival the clouds formed overhead and the rain started again... It rained most of the night but would again clear in the early AM...:)... I fixed myself some dinner and retired early, looking forward to tomorrow that would include lunch at WhiteHouse Landing and possibly an overnight stay there too...