Day 5: Hamlin Peak (Going Up)

8:24am
I'm finished a quick breakfast and I'm dressing and prepping to go. John was up at 6:00 and left for his Katahdin hike before I was out of the sack (around 7:30.) It was a cold night - I had my sleeping bag fully zipped up and had a wool cap on. I slept really well and really needed it.

I have a tentative plan for today, but I'm going to stay flexible in case my plan is too ambitious, or my body decides it's had enough. I'm going to follow John for some of his hike. The first leg is 3.3 miles to Chimney Pond. This looks innocuous on the map, but the rangers told us there's 1,300 feet of elevation gain. The next 1.1 miles is up The Saddle, with the last half mile (called The Slide) being a very steep rock climb. Once up onto the ridge, John will turn left and climb 0.9 miles to the summit of Katahdin. I will turn right and climb 1.1 miles to the summit of Hamlin Peak, which is 500 vertical feet shorter than Katahdin.

My hope is that this will be less strenuous, but will still have some good hiking, good climbing, and good mountaintop views. If I get there, I can come down the Hamlin Ridge Trail, which the ranger said offers great views, plus the possibility of wildlife sightings. We'll see. It looks like a nice sunny day, and I'm in long hiking pants and a short-sleeve polypro shirt. I have a fleece jacket and my Gore-tex rain jacket in my pack, along with gloves and a wool cap, sandwiches and Powerbars, two Gatorades, and a full water bladder. Off we go.

9:34am
I've stopped for a short break. It's a perfect sunny cool day, and the mountain and forest views are gorgeous. So far it's been a tough rocky uphill trail - hard work and slow going.

One very surprising note. I turned my phone on back at the trailhead, in hopes of capturing a GPS track of today's hike. I just looked to make sure it's getting the track, and to my astonishment, I have cell phone and internet connectivity. I have notifications for e-mails and text messages. How is that possible? I'm not going to Facebook from the Maine woods, but I will check messages to make sure everything's okay at home (and I'm assuming the absence of hair-on-fire messages is a good sign. :-))

10:35am
Chimney Pond Campground. That was a tough and strenuous first leg. (I know, I'm not supposed to use the "s" word, but there's no other word for it - that was a tough, rocky, uphill hike.) There's a sign-in station here - you're supposed to log when you're leaving and where you're going, in case you don't come back and they have to go out and rescue you. I also logged my start from Roaring Brook, and I'm now signed in here too. I note that while John logged his start from Roaring Brook, he didn't sign the log here.

I had a short, pleasant talk with the ranger. He told me I'll likely be all on my own if I go to Hamlin, as everyone wants to bag Katahdin. That's perfect, I love solitude. He asked if I had water, layers of clothing, and a light. I answered "yes" to everything, even though I may not actually have a light. I couldn't find my headlamp when packing at home, so I've been wearing a little flashlight on my belt. But I've misplaced it since leaving Acadia. Maybe it's in the bottom of my pack (which was my hope/assumption when answering "yes" to the ranger.)

Oh, as I was on the trail approaching the campground, I passed two hikers coming the other way who asked me if I'd seen the moose. Moose?!? I had to answer that I hadn't. Apparently one had been seen this morning near a pond I'd just passed. Damn...I would have loved to see him!

10:55am
Rest break, Saddle Trail. The rocky uphill started as soon as I left Chimney Pond. It looks like it continues to get steeper. I'm wondering if this was a good idea...but I do feel good, and the weather couldn't be more perfect. I'm sweating freely (which I always do on a climb), and am taking frequent sips of water. My mantra for the day is "we shall see." I'm not putting any pressure on myself to get to a summit or complete a hike. Whatever happens, happens.

11:55am
Ridgeline, top of the Saddle Trail. Holy f&^k. That was just plain *brutal*. Maybe the toughest climb I've ever done...or at least the steepest unrelenting rock climb. I probably sat down and took a short break and a few gasps of air about every 50 feet. And I wasn't the slowest hiker on the trail. For a while, I was hearing female conversation ahead of me. As I got closer, I realized they were speaking French. I think it was a mother and daughter, maybe 55 and late 20's. I passed the mom, who was struggling, and a while later I passed the daughter, who had stopped to wait for her mom and was shouting encouragement down to her. I was momentarily tempted to wow them with my high school French, but all I could think of was "Ou est la salle de bains?" Ah well. In hindsight, the phrase I wanted (with Google Translate's help) was: "Belle journée, n'est-ce pas? Je pense que je suis sur le point de mourir."

As soon as I got to the ridge, I was exposed to a ferocious cold wind from the west. I took my shirt off for a few minutes to dry the sweat, but then I put it back on, and also put on my fleece jacket and gloves. The views are amazing in all directions. I can see my trail to Hamlin Peak, and it looks like a gentle uphill walk. The trail to Katahdin, in the other direction, also looks like a fairly gentle uphill walk. Last night, John said that if I got to this point and felt good, that maybe I'd decide I couldn't resist Katahdin. I do feel good, but it's not tempting. This has already been more strenuous than I intended, and now that I'm here, I'll do the lower peak, then come down the Hamlin Ridge Trail, which shouldn't be too bad.

The French-speaking ladies finally made it up The Slide and gave me a smile as they started off to Katahdin. I wonder how John is doing? I'll end my break and start for Hamlin.

12:38pm
Summit of Hamlin Peak. Wow wow wow! That last mile wasn't bad - there were a couple of rocky climbing stretches, but it was mostly an uphill walk. The wind never let up, and still hasn't - I'm on the ridgeline and exposed to the west, and it's blasting me. It's a clear sunny day, and the views in every direction are amazing.

I looked at my phone to check the GPS and was stunned to see a text message from John, from just a few minutes ago! From the summit of Katahdin!!! It was a bit garbled, but seemed to say this: "Leaving Katahdin summit. May try Hamlin." Good for him! I texted back that I was at the summit of Hamlin, and had done the 5.5 miles in a little over 4 hours.

I stopped to eat a sandwich and drink in the views. To the west, I can see miles and miles of forest, seemingly all the way to New Hampshire or Quebec. To the east, I can probably see to the Atlantic coast. Katahdin is visible from Acadia on a clear day, so the coast should be visible from here. Katahdin is *massive*, and dominates the sky to the south. I'm thrilled for John that he's up there.

Looking down the Hamlin Ridge Trail

The Hamlin Ridge Trail is clearly visible in front of me - it follows the ridgeline down, with rocky drops on both sides. The drop-off to the left goes down into the North Basin. The ranger yesterday said the basin is covered with two-foot-tall scrub, so any interesting wildlife (i.e., bears or moose) will be clearly visible.

I still feel pretty good, but that climb did take something out of me. I'll rest here for a little longer, than start hiking down.

(Continued here)

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Here's my GPS track of the day. It starts at Roaring Brook Campground, on the far right. It goes to Chimney Pond (not following the purple path, which was my return route on the clockwise loop - and I'll explain the purple later.) After the steep ascent of the Saddle, it goes right to Hamlin Peak. John went left from that point, and got to Baxter Peak (the summit of Katahdin.) If you keep going, you get to South Peak, then traverse the Knife's Edge to Chimney Peak, then come down the ridge.

I realized as I was taking pics from the summit of Hamlin, that my phone also has a video camera. So I did my first ever video tour, here, and below. And yeah, now I know that you should turn your camera to portrait mode for YouTube, not landscape. Oh well.