Date: 2003-10-03
From: Katadhin Stream Campground

To: Millinocket
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today I woke up to the most beautiful day I have ever seen! The sky was a brilliant blue, the leaves were literally exploding with color, the air was cold and crisp, and the sun shone down warm on my face. This is New England in the fall! After two days of rain, the world looked clean and fresh and I was going hiking! I was expecting Bumpkin to come hiking out of the Wilderness today, and my plan was to hike in and meet her as a surprise. I was driving down the main road towards Baxter State Park when I looked up, caught my breath, and slammed on my brakes.Mt. Katahdin was covered in snow!!! The sight of this immense mountain, all craggy black rock and white snow, standing tall against the bright blue sky, was a defining moment in my hike. It was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. After recovering my senses, I headed for Abol Bridge Campground. I pulled into the dirt parking lot and jumped out to greet Pop Tart, the ridge runner for this area of the trail. I blurted out, "Have you seen the mountain?", to which he replied, "Class IV". I was shocked!    At Baxter State Park, they rate the mountain daily in terms of trail safety. Class I is a perfect hiking day, all trails are open for safe hiking. Class II means that hiking is not recommended above tree line. Of course, half of Katahdin is above tree line, but that doesn't stop thru hikers....we consider Class II to be a green light for summit! Class III means that certain trails are closed, and you can be sure that the ones that are open are going to be no fun! Class IV means all trails are closed. This time of year, anything is possible up on the mountain, but I could tell that this Class IV day took everyone by surprise.   After Pop Tart and I finished discussing the mountain, he asked if I wanted company hiking up the trail, so after he took care of a little business, we took off up the path.Pop Tart is working for the ATC and Baxter State Park, and he is just the nicest guy! He finished his own thru hike last year, and in his present job he provides the first information that most hikers come across in 100 miles. His knowlege combined with his open personality and warm friendliness make him a favorite along this section of trail.   The trail was fairly flat, but full of rocks and roots. We hiked along at a good clip and I kept my eyes glued to the trail as I tried to avoid all of the obstacles. We traded trail talk and Pop Tart stopped peroidically to show me different kinds of trees and plants. In this fashion, the next hour and a half went by quickly.   We were hiking along when we ran into Martin, better known as Fluffernutter, a charming hiker from England. While we were filling him in on news of the mountain, he turned to me and said that he had a message for me from Bumpkin. It turns out that she fell and hurt herself in the Wilderness, and after taking a zero day and not seeing any improvement, decided to bail on the rest of the hike. Worried about her, I told Pop Tart that I was going to head back and see if I could find her. After saying good-bye to my new friend, I headed down the trail. I had been hiking about twenty minutes when a voice cried out to me through the woods. I looked up to see Bumpkin walking down the trail towards me!!!It turns out that as the woman driving her into town passed the campground, Bumpkin looked up and spied her car. After stopping in thestore to ask about me, she came hiking up the trail to find me. I was glad to see her, and spent the rest of the day helping her to get cleaned up, fed, and to a doctor. The jury is still out as to whether or not she has broken her tailbone, but for now,she is moving around pretty well. Tomorrow Jerry and my parents are flying in, and we are all just going to wait and see what the weather holds for us. With any luck, we will still get to see the top of that mountain!! Love, Anna aka Mud Buttwww.trailjournals.com