Katahdin II

Here's a guest entry from my husband Leo:

Damian & I took a quick trip up to Baxter State Park in Maine with Eric and Lian to climb Mt Katahdin. We arrived late Friday night, staying at a bunk cabin in Millinocket, then getting up at 4am to get to the park entrance in time to secure a parking space at Roaring Brook campground (since we didn't purchase one of the 40 parking permits in advance, it was first-come, first-served).

We set off on foot at 8:40am, hiking the Roaring Brook trail to Chimney Pond, then up the Saddle Trail to the Baxter peak plateau. It was a beautiful day - sunny, breezy, 65F - so different from the sleet conditions we encountered in summer 2007! We were up at the top by 2pm and treated to wonderful views in all directions, the leaves just beginning to turn in some areas.

Given the ideal conditions, we decided to hike along the Knife Edge to Pomola Peak. This was a hairy experience of clambering over boulders, with the average width of the crest only about 30ft, and in some sections as narrow as 12 ft, requiring hand-over-hand climbing for much of the way. Damian and Lian, despite their apprehension, were real champions, brave and mutually helpful. Eventually we got to the Helon Taylor trail, descending after sunset and using flashlights to get back to Roaring Brook at 7:40pm - in all it was a 10 mile, 4000 ft, 11 hour hike.