Date: 2005-09-01
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Kingston ON
Miles today: 0.0

This morning the rain had stopped when I woke up. We had breakfast and packed up our lunch for the hike. The puddles around the campsite had drained away but Katahdin Stream was much higher than it had been.We went over to the ranger station to sign in for the hike. I started to load our stuff into a daypack for the climb up Katahdin. S.W.I.F.T. was already there talking to the ranger. I stood up for a second and then saw the sign "Class 4 Day all trails up Katahdin Closed at the trailhead". No hiking today. There had been so much rain over the past couple of days that the trails were closed due to flooding. Toby the ranger said that during the 3 years that he had been there the trails had never been closed due to rain induced flooding. Over night the area had received 8 inches of rain, making the total for the past two days over a foot. Apparently the pond that Katahdin Stream flows from was up 13 feet. Raj and Ten Bears appeared at the ranger station to discover the bad news. My parents had to go home since they left my teenage brother home alone. My mom said that she and I would come back in a week or so to hike the last 5 miles. Raj, Method Man and Sowega were going to call a taxi and stay in a hotel until they could summit. The ranger thought that he trails might be closed for another day or two; however long it took for them to dry out a bit. The forecast for the next couple of days indicated that here might be more rain. Apparently the Deja Vue Two had gone up the day before in the rain and said that it had been very tough going over the rocks and through the water cascading down the trail. I think there were a couple falls. Alabama Bob also summitted yesterday in the rain. My parents had taken a hike down the AT in Baxter in hopes that they might meet me as I walked in (they turned around 15 minutes too soon) and meet him when he was walking in.The trip back to Canada was pretty good. We stopped at Subway for lunch. Both my parents had the lobster sub - a speciality sub available in Maine. I forgot to get Moxie though; I will have to remember to try some when I come back to summit. We drove south on I-95 and then across to I-91 on US 2. It was interesting seeing the Mahoosics and Whites from the road. We passed through Gorham and I pointed out he Barn to my parents. We stayed in Kingston for the night where my sister lives and then will head the rest of the way home in the morning.This morning the rain had stopped when I woke up. We had breakfast and packed up our lunch for the hike. The puddles around the campsite had drained away but Katahdin Stream was much higher than it had been.We went over to the ranger station to sign in for the hike. I started to load our stuff into a daypack for the climb up Katahdin. S.W.I.F.T. was already there talking to the ranger. I stood up for a second and then saw the sign "Class 4 Day all trails up Katahdin Closed at the trailhead". No hiking today. There had been so much rain over the past couple of days that the trails were closed due to flooding. Toby the ranger said that during the 3 years that he had been there the trails had never been closed due to rain induced flooding. Over night the area had received 8 inches of rain, making the total for the past two days over a foot. Apparently the pond that Katahdin Stream flows from was up 13 feet. Raj and Ten Bears appeared at the ranger station to discover the bad news. My parents had to go home since they left my teenage brother home alone. My mom said that she and I would come back in a week or so to hike the last 5 miles. Raj, Method Man and Sowega were going to call a taxi and stay in a hotel until they could summit. The ranger thought that he trails might be closed for another day or two; however long it took for them to dry out a bit. The forecast for the next couple of days indicated that here might be more rain. Apparently the Deja Vue Two had gone up the day before in the rain and said that it had been very tough going over the rocks and through the water cascading down the trail. I think there were a couple falls. Alabama Bob also summitted yesterday in the rain. My parents had taken a hike down the AT in Baxter in hopes that they might meet me as I walked in (they turned around 15 minutes too soon) and meet him when he was walking in.The trip back to Canada was pretty good. We stopped at Subway for lunch. Both my parents had the lobster sub - a speciality sub available in Maine. I forgot to get Moxie though; I will have to remember to try some when I come back to summit. We drove south on I-95 and then across to I-91 on US 2. It was interesting seeing the Mahoosics and Whites from the road. We passed through Gorham and I pointed out he Barn to my parents. We stayed in Kingston for the night where my sister lives and then will head the rest of the way home in the morning.