Date: 2020-10-11
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Katahdin Stream Campground
Miles today: 0.0

It poured on and off for hours overnight, then rained and sleeted steadily. By morning it was still sprinkling on and off. Not good. The heavy rain had spattered off the gravelly ground and wet much of my gear. So much for Zpacks bathtub tent floor.We didn't bother getting up until the rain had stopped and the sun was up. We headed down to the ranger station, put some heavy stuff in storage, and saw the weather forecast for the summit: a high of 28, winds around 25mph, and a warning: Dangerous icing conditions. Not good.We met two rangers as we went through the campground toward the trailhead. We could see the mountain, or at least the part that wasn't in a cloud, and it looked like pictures of Mt. Everest. There was clearly a lot of snow and ice up there. We asked the ranger if we should summit today. He hesitated, trying to break the news to us gently. The advice was no, it's very icy and dangerous. From what we could see, we agreed. A real letdown. Yesterday was a fantastic day to summit but the forecast had said otherwise. Today was forecast to be a good day, but reality was far different. Frustrating! The question was what to do. We couldn't wait a few hours for the sun to melt the ice and hike later. There wouldn't be enough time to get down before dark. We had to try again tomorrow. The rangers, particularly the senior one named Bruce, were kind enough to let us stay at the Birches a second night. But it was a cold day, nowhere to warm up, and Water Queen and 5-Oh were low on food and very grungy from a week without a shower. Plus my dad and brother were coming to town today. We opted to go into town for the day, and ranger Steve was nice enough to call a shuttle for us. We set up our tents at the Birches again while the shuttle made its way in. In town we bought crampons at Katahdin General Store on the advice of the rangers, hit the supermarket, and lunched at House of Pizza. Dana, our trail angel from last night, apparently owns or delivers for them and we thanked them for his kindness.My brother and father made it to town after a ten hour drive from Pennsylvania. It's the first time I've seen my dad in many months. I am so happy they could be here. And I regretted asking them to wait another day so I could summit tomorrow. We took 5-Oh and Water Queen to Sweet Lillian's where Susan had offered me a shower if I came back to town. She was very pleasant and happily took in the two of them for a few hours for showers and a rest in a warm room while my dad, brother and I went for a late lunch. My brother Chris found a surprisingly nice place called the River Driver's Restaurant at the NEOC (New England Outdoor Center) on Lake Millinocket with a view of Katahdin, where I had my fill of lobster bisque. We found them a motel room for the night then picked up Water Queen and 5-Oh to re-enter Baxter State Park. It's a 24 mile trip from town to the Birches, and we only got into the park thanks to a camping reservation form that ranger Steve had given us for that purpose. At the Birches we found Spurs, Wild, Muck Fichigan, Colonel Clothesline, Sunset, and Brightside. Another happy reunion. They'd been wondering whose tents these were, thinking I'd summited two days ago. My dad brought lots of snack foods which the hikers fell upon and devoured. Muck was down to a package of Ramen and nothing else and was particularly grateful for the calorie infusion. We built a fire and enjoyed a couple cold but happy hours swapping stories and telling jokes before hitting our tents to rest up for the big day. Third time's the charm!