Day 4: Acadia to Baxter

...or "Now We are Two"

Sunrise from the summit of foggy Cadillac

5:30am
John and I are up and having breakfast. We're going to drive up to the summit of Cadillac and see if we can see the sunrise (weather permitting, of course), which should be just after 6am. It looks cloudy/foggy, but we'll give it a try. I don't think Eric slept at all last night, and he's staying in the sack. We'll talk to him and decide what to do when we get back.

6:37am
There were a good number of people at the summit, but there was no sunrise to see - it was all clouds and fog. The wind was *whipping* and it was really cold. I went back to the car twice for more layers. We could see a hazy red ball, so we knew the sun was up, but just like yesterday, there was no view of the bay and the islands below.

Frenchman Bay, the Porcupine Islands

As we started to drive down the mountain, we got below the clouds almost immediately after coming off the summit. I pulled off at the next overlook, and we finally did have some good views. It's just gorgeous, and easy to see why this is considered one of the "must see" parks.

7:40am
We're starting to pack up camp. It's clearing - there are patches of blue sky, and the sun is out. It's always a blessing to not have to either set up or break camp in the rain.

Eric asked if we could take him to Bangor airport - he needs to go home. John and I would support whatever he decided, but I think this is the right decision. We offered to come home with him, but he insisted that's not necessary. We're close to the town of Bar Harbor and civilization here, but Baxter is remote and out in the North woods. We'll work the phones when we get out of the park and see what the options are for flights back to PHL.

12:46pm
John and I are on the road to Baxter State Park. Eric got a flight with no problem, and we dropped him at Bangor airport. The rental car was in his name, so we adjusted that so that it's now in mine. Logistically, this really doesn't change anything. John and I can still continue with the trip as planned. We'll still be in Baxter this afternoon. But I think we're both kinda stunned at how things have turned out. We started with four after Phil said he couldn't make the trip this year. Then Ted had to bail at the eleventh hour because of work. Then two weeks ago, I was laying in a hospital bed pretty sure I wouldn't be making the trip. Now Eric's gone home. There's a pall in the air, and we're trying to shake it.

1:51pm
Millinocket, ME. This is the little town closest to the park. We found a laundromat and threw all our dirty/wet clothes in, then found a grocery store to stock up for our time in Baxter. It's turning out to be a nice day, and we can't wait to get to the park, and there should be time for a "stretch the legs" hike.

Lean-to #7, Roaring Brook Campground, BSP

3:03pm
We're at our site: lean-to #7, Roaring Brook Campground. The campground is an 8-mile drive from the entrance station on a rough dirt road. What a fantastic site! It's a log shelter with three sides and a roof. The floor is raised off the ground, as we can set up our sleeping pads and bags. It's not huge, and would have been a bit of a squeeze to get four people in here - but it's plenty spacious for two guys. We have a fire ring and picnic table, and right on the other side of that is Roaring Brook (appropriately named - it's loud.) I love that sound of a swift-running mountain stream, and it's so nice to sleep by. It reminds me of our site by the stream at Elkmont CG in the Smokies. John and I are in full agreement that lean-to's are the way to go, and we should look for the availability of lean-to's on future trips. Especially on a flying trip, if we could find lean-to's, we wouldn't have to bring tents.

We signed in at Baxter's entrance station, and they had a little trouble finding our reservation. Things finally worked out, and we talked to two rangers for a while. They had a 3D relief map of the Katahdin area and talked to us about mountains and trails. John is definitely going to try to summit Katahdin tomorrow - and I'm definitely not. I could feel on the Cadillac hike that I'm still a bit weak, and that wasn't a fraction as strenuous as Katahdin will be. Plus I've promised that I will not overdo it.

Shady Stream Pond, BSP

We lost cell phone service outside of Millinocket, before we even got to the park, which isn't a surprise. I'll turn my phone off until we're out of park again on Monday.

I think the rangers talked John out of trying the Knife's Edge. It's a section of trail high on Katahdin that's about a mile long and has sheer thousand-foot drops on both sides. The rangers said it's three feet wide in some places, can be slippery, and is completely exposed to wind and weather. As someone who passed on the final section of Angel's Landing in Zion, there's no way I would even consider attempting that. There are other trails to the summit, and I think John has a plan for tomorrow. I have a tentative plan for tomorrow too - not Katahdin, but a less-strenuous summit in the same vicinity. We'll see.

Shady Stream Pond, BSP

6:06pm
We're back from a very nice little hike. There's a trail that leaves from the campground and loops around Shady Stream Pond. It's a 2.3 mile hike, and we extended it by a mile by going further up the trail to Whidden Pond. There wasn't much, if any, elevation gain - but footing was a a bit tricky at times, with rocks, tree roots, and some boggy spots. From both ponds, there were great views of Katahdin and surrounding mountains. We could watch the clouds coming over the mountains from the west - very beautiful.

John has the fire going and we're getting ready to cook - hamburgers and sausages. We're also getting our sandwiches ready for tomorrow's hike. We got the standard talk at the entrance station about food handling in bear country - all food, and anything with a "food" smell (like toiletries, toothpaste, etc.) has to be secured in the car where bears can't get into it. There are also moose in the park, and they're much more dangerous than bears - they won't come after food, like bears will, but they're territorial and sometimes aggressive. We both want very much to see bears and moose.

6:37pm
It's going to be a very cold night. I can already see my breath and the sun's not even down yet. The forecast was for a low of 48, but it feels colder than that already. I've been playing guitar, but I'll put it away now. Dinner soon.

9:00-ish
Sack time. Dinner was delicious, then we talked around the fire. John is planning to get as early a start as possible tomorrow, as Katahdin will be a long and strenuous day. I'll see how I feel - if I feel like an early start, great...but if I want to stay in the sack a little longer, that's fine too. I won't have as long a hiking day as John, and I didn't sleep well last night and could use a really good sleep. Nite nite.