Date: 2017-05-10
To: Katahdin, Maine
Miles today: 0.0

Before we pick up our hike where we left off in July 2015 here is how it ended.We started out in Bennington VT, deciding that we would cover the distance between Port Clinton, PA and Bennington, VT after we finished hiking to Maine. But things turned out differently. Shortly after hiking out of Bennington, for reasons I am not going to explain here, after all, some things that happen on the trail, stay on the trail, we turned around and went back to Bennington, rented a car and started driving North, to Maine. We wanted to hike Katahdin before we ended our hike for the time being. When we reached Baxter State Park, the only Campsite that was available at the foot of Katahdin was a Group site. We decided to take this campsite anyway since it was the closest we could get to Katahdin and we needed to start our hike early in the morning. The next closest available campsites were on the other side of the park, which is about a 1 12 hour drive to the Katahdin parking lot.We set up our tent inside the covered picnic area so it wouldn¢t get rained on and we had all this space to use. The Black flies were terrible and we had to wear our rain jackets and bug netting to keep them at bay. These flies are awful and will crawl up sleeves or pant legs to bite you if you¢re not careful! But now that we were in Maine, we did want to go exploring and hopefully catch a glimpse of a moose despite the countless flies that plagued us relentlessly. Ever since leaving home we had desperately wanted to see the wildlife across the different states and this was our chance to do it and personally see the animal that adorns all those post cards in Maine. And we did!!!!!!!!! Amazingly, there was one across the pond from where a park ranger had suggested we should try to find one. It was just slowly trudging through the shallow water, eating the weird grassy stuff at the pond floor.That night, we couldn¢t help going to bed early because the black flies were so bad and we wanted to get up at first light to start our hike up Mt. Katahdin. In the morning, we packed all our gear into the rental car and found a parking spot at the foot of the mountain. We only took a few snacks, water and our warm jackets and rain jackets all stuffed into one backpack which we would take turns carrying. The weather looked promising. It was a beautiful morning and we were wearing t-shirts and shorts. After signing the register at the trailhead we went on our way. The trail started rather level and easy until just past Katahdin Falls. Then it got rocky and steeper. Little creeks spilled across the path every now and then and we did our best to avoid them. As we made our way higher up the rocks turned into boulders and the walk into a climb. Once we reached the tree line, the weather changed. First the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. We started pulling our warmer jackets out of the pack. As we kept climbing up the mountain, fog moved in and visibility was next to zero. We could barely see the trail ahead of us let alone the view down the side of the mountain. Some people ahead of us started to turn around before a particular steep stretch. We debated for a moment if we should go on and then decided to do it. Some of the more difficult places had iron handles to pull oneself up on top of the next bolder.It steadily got colder and the blustery gusts almost blew us off the mountain. We kept putting on more clothes and were glad to have had the foresight to bring them with us despite the warm weather. About half way up we reached the plateau, which was much easier to negotiate then the boulders. The fog was so dense that we couldn¢t really see where we were heading, just tried to follow the path. Finally we were on the last stretch to the summit, which was again rocky and steep. From afar we could make out the ghostly figures of some other hikers on top of the mountain. There was no view as we reached the sign on the summit and it was freezing cold up there. We took a few pictures and had a snack trying to find cover from the wind between the rocks. Soon we started back down the mountain.We hadn¢t gone very far when we could see dark clouds speeding toward us and a wall of rain heading in our direction. Of course there was no escaping the weather, we just kept going and as quickly as it came it past and left us drenched. The beauty of it was that the clouds started to part and finally we had a view. There was Maine with its countless lakes and shades of green and blue and it was just gorgeous! So on our way down we got rewarded with these incredible views as the clouds moved around. The temperature was rising again as we climbed back down, which seemed harder then up and on more than one occasion we had to wonder how we were supposed to do this. But eventually Katahdin Falls came into view again and soon our car. As we drove away we saw a group of thru hikers standing forlornly at the side of the parking lot, no doubt trying to think of any possible way to get back to the civilized world. For the next three nights we had reservations on the other side of the park in regular campsite.Unfortunately, the black flies were so bad that we spent as much time as possible in it not even daring to set up our tent. The flies seem to be drawn to movement... The next day we did some more Moose searching but couldn¢t find any plus it was raining on and off. Eventually, we decided to leave Baxter and drive along the coast to catch our flight home from Albany, NY.