This particular trip up Katahdin was with my friend Justin. I met Justin while working at the Washington County Jail, and he has since become one of my good friends. We have spent many a night in jail talking about photography, hiking, and our goals in life. I admire him greatly, and feel like he taught me a lot about working in law enforcement.
We had intentions of doing the knifes edge on this trip, however weather was not on our side on this particular day. Actually a park ranger made us sign something saying we would not hike the Knifes Edge. The Knifes Edge is a 1.1 mile long trail that goes from Pamola Peak to Baxter Peak. There are parts that narrow to about 4 feet wide with 2,000-foot drops to either side, and has climbed roughly 19 lives since 1963. It's truly an amazing sight to see. We were both disappointed, however our mission was clear. We decided to hike up Abol/Hunt, and descend on the Hunt/Katahdin Stream. We were under good authority that Abol was a great trail, or so we thought. There is this guy named AJ out there, I know he is Justin's friend, but if I ever meet him I am going to punch him in the face.
The climb starts out well, it is hot outside, a little cloudy, but not bad for climbing. The Abol Trail that has "a few area that are steep" quickly turns into two miles of near vertical rock climbing. Hey I like a challenge, however I didn't know what we were in for. The weather was off and on, there was a little rain. As we continued to climb and the trees were getting smaller, it was getting colder and the wind was picking up. About half a mile from the table it started to rain, so we busted out the rain gear. The real mission started when we got to the table.
Oh look a sign! Signs are always very exciting to see on a climb. So now what has started as a day in the mid 70's partly cloudy, has turned into rain, winds of 50-60mph and rough 40 degrees Fahrenheit. At this point we had about 1 more mile left to get to Baxter Peak. It was the longest mile ever!
Victory is ours! Mopsy and Flopsy(nicknames given to us by the most amazing Lt. ever. You know who you are...Judy) bag Mount Katahdin.
Here you can see the actual sign. I know in the last one you cannot see it, however trust me, it's there! I like how the camera truly shows how wicked the weather was. Justin was not even 5 feet away from me when he took this.
The descent was long, however the Hunt/Katahdin Stream Trail was fun. There are many places on this trail that have some tough scrambles. The entire way down we kept telling ourselves there was pizza at the bottom. When it comes to Justin and I, pizza is an amazing motivator. Our last hurdle was the walk from the bottom of the trail back to Abol. The park ranger told us it was only a few hundred feet or so. I am not sure how this translated to another mile mostly up hill. God bless the people who were driving by and took pity on us.
It was one of the most difficult climbs I have ever made, a lot of it I'm sure was due to extremely adverse weather conditions. However there was pizza, and then there was beer, a bon fire, and then we were back in out little "Cozy Cabin".
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