Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/7233646594
The heavy rains ended at dawn. In the day’s first light, I crawled through my rental car to plop myself into the driver’s seat. I had folded the seats down and spent the second half of the night in the back of the car, encased in assorted fleeces and rain jackets like a caddisfly larva in an attempt to stay warm. I started the engine to warm up with the heater and turned up the heated seats while I drank a can of Starbucks nitro cold brew and ate my breakfast of fresh fruit and Uncrustables. I stared at my sopping wet tent, which I had abandoned at about 2 a.m. due to substantial leaking, through the rain-blurred windshield.
I changed into my hiking outfit and donned my hiking pack, which included snacks, rain gear, and a 2L hydration bladder I had filled before driving to Baxter State Park. I brought trekking poles for the climb and started my Coros VERTIX 2 (best watch out there in my opinion) at 7:17am to track my activity and set off through Katahdin Stream Campground on my way up Hunt Trail.
I had chosen to camp at Katahdin Stream and ascend Hunt Trail because Hunt Trail doubled as the final five miles of the Appalachian Trail, with the summit of Katahdin (Baxter Peak) the northern terminus of the AT. In hindsight, that was a great decision because all of the other trails (aside from nearby Abol Trail, which I used for my descent) including the famous Knife’s Edge were officially closed and off-limits due to lingering snow and ice.
I signed into the trail log and chatted with the friendly park ranger for a while before setting off up Hunt Trail, hiking just fast enough to avoid the mosquitoes. The first mile followed Katahdin Stream on a gentle incline through a mixed forest. Like so many eastern trails, copious rocks and roots occupied the pathway.
About 1.2 miles into the adventure I crossed a bridge over Katahdin Stream and got a few good views of a beautiful waterfall.
From the falls the trail steepened. It was cool but so humid, and I couldn’t keep my glasses from fogging up so I shoved them in a pocket and powered my way up the slope. Eventually, the trail entered a rock slide that was an actively flowing stream. I took a snack break and another hiker caught up to me. His name was Fritz and we decided to hike the rest of the way up to the summit together. It was nice to have some friendly company as well as the safety benefit of having someone else there in case of emergency.
Fritz and I scrambled up the chute of wet rocks until we emerged above tree line. The views looking back at the forests, lakes, and surrounding peaks were fantastic. I am so grateful the clouds broke for my climb so that I could take in the scenes from the slopes of Katahdin.
We encountered progressively larger boulders so we put our trekking poles away to free up our hands for the remaining climb up to the Tableland. The sun was out and the views to the north were clear but thick clouds still obscured everything to the south.
The trail leveled out when we reached the Tableland.
From there it was over a mile of much easier hiking to the summit of Baxter Peak. The northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. The iconic Katahdin sign. And the amazing views north over the South Basin, Chimney Pond, the Knife’s Edge, Hamlin Peak, South Peak, Chimney Peak, and the Cathedral Trail.
Looking East over the Knife’s Edge. It actually looked pretty free from snow and ice and tempting but I followed the closure rule and turned back to take Abol Trail back down to Katahdin Stream. I definitely want to come back and do Katahdin from the other direction and take on that ridge!
I said goodbye to Fritz and followed the Abol Trail back on my own. It was dry but so steep! Basically climbing down a chute of elephant-sized boulders and requiring use of my arms as well as my legs.
The clouds south of Katahdin cleared while I was descending, creating expansive views but also causing me to shed layers because I was getting really warm!
Eventually I made it to tree line, below which the trail slope mellowed out just enough to be runnable. I ran most of the way down through the forest to Abol Campground. From there, it was about a 2.5 mile easy run/walk along the relatively flat Tote Road back to Katahdin Stream Campground to complete the loop. I finished at around 2 p.m., then packed up my tent and hit the road for a six-hour drive to meet up with Coree at Steele Hill Resort in New Hampshire. See my New England trip blog for the rest of the adventure!
