After leaving Mount Mansfield, we had a long hard conversation about the rest of this trip. We intended on traveling east into New Hampshire and tackling Mt Washington before driving north to Mount Katahdin in Maine. But time wasn’t on our side. Besides the debacle in New York, getting to, up and down Mount Mansfield had taken longer than expected. We had also heard some gnarly things about Mount Washington’s weather patterns. Big Bird’s knee was bothering him, etc, etc. So we discussed just doing Mount Washington and heading home or skipping New Hampshire, hauling but up to Maine, and killing it on Katahdin. We came to the consensus that getting up to Mount Washington in the future as a weekend trip would be much easier than the drive to Millinocket, Maine. So we jumped on the road and drove late into the night. As we drove around the north end of the White Mountains it was a bitter pill to look up at Mount Washington and know that we wouldn’t tackle it this time, but the mountain wasn’t going anywhere.

We left the Blue Donkey refreshingly fed and got to driving east. It took a little over an hour and a half to get into New Hampshire and another hour or so to get to Maine. By this point, the sun was setting and we had to figure out where we would be staying the night. The Wilton Comfort Inn and Suites in Wilton, Maine fit the bill (and also it was there when we were getting tired) so we stopped. The parking lot of this hotel is where the first real tragedy of the trip occurred. After making it up and down two mountains in less than ideal conditions, my camera fell out of my lap as I got out of the car and slammed into the asphalt. The camera itself wasn’t damaged but the lens that was on it got dinged pretty bad and was stuck in a mid zoom position. Thank goodness for back up lenses! Don’t get me wrong, I cussed my way all the way to the hotel room about that thing, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

The next morning we took our time getting up, getting ready, and grabbing some breakfast from the lack-luster buffet. Let’s be honest, after the breakfast buffet in Stowe, every buffet is a little lacking… Then it was back on the road for another five hours as we wound our way north and east through the Maine countryside. We headed through the one-horse town of Millinocket and on into Baxter State Park. We had booked a campsite at the Roaring Brook Campsite for the night so we got started unloading and setting up our tents and prepping our gear for the next day. The campsite was amazing: spacious, clean, and right next to a… you guessed it… river! We started a fire in the fire pit and threw a couple of cans and some sausages on the grate for dinner. Literally: two can of beans, a can of clam chowder, and a package of sausages. Bam – dinner! Then it was straight to bed to get ready for an early start.

We got up and were on the trail before the sun was up. From the campground, we headed east on the trail along Roaring Brook and up to Chimney Pond. Halfway up I had the sensation that there was a rock in my shoe poking me in the arch of my foot so I stopped and took off my boot to retrieve the stone. As soon as I took the boot off and found no rock I realized exactly what I was feeling. All through my college athletic career, I had suffered from severe plantar fasciitis. Once I stopped jumping around on my feet I stopped getting the sensation. Years later I didn’t even recognize it at first but as soon as I did I knew exactly what I needed to do. Ten minutes and a roll of athletic tape and I was ready to go.

As we approached Chimney Pond we came upon a scattering of lean-to structures and started discussing how awesome it would be to come back up here with a group of friends and just hang out for a week to do all the hikes in the area. As we neared the pond, the trees opened up and we got our first views of Mount Katahdin and it was impressive! The way the clouds were rolling up the backside of the cirque and slowly flowing down into the valley was absolutely enchanting.

Next, we turned onto the Cathedral Rocks Trail which is basically hopping/climbing up a giant boulder field most of the way up. By the time we reached the top of the boulders, the entire mountain had been encompassed by the clouds. We pushed up across a rock field that looked like a scene from another planet. It didn’t take long to get to the peak where we found a huge sign marking the top of Katahdin and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. We even met a guy who had just completed his through-hike (from Georgia)!!

Our plan was to hike across the Knife’s Edge and then back down to Chimney Pond along the other side of the cirque, but that was not in the cards. There was a ranger stationed at the top of the mountain blocking anyone from going out onto Knife’s edge because of the whiteout conditions – and for good reason. The Knife Edge Trail is about a mile long and connects Katahdin to Pamola Peak, but even in good conditions, it can take nearly two hours to traverse. Some spots are as narrow as four feet, with 2,000-foot drops on either side. It also includes areas of almost technical rock climbing. Disappointed (but alive) we turned back and hiked (slid) back down Cathedral Rocks Trail. As we went the skies slowly cleared and when we reached Chimney Pond the summit was clear again. We chalked it up to poor timing. I mentioned that I’d like to check out Pamola Caves. Just 1.1 miles and 485 ft in gain from the pond, I figured it would be fun since the weather had clear up. Big Bird opted out and decided to take a nap on the shore of the pond while Dash and I ventured back up the other side of the mountain.

We made it up to the caves without issue and quickly realized these weren’t normal “caves.” Instead, they were cave-like structures<span class=”aCOpRe”> created as slabs had fallen down the slopes of Katahdin. They were still really cool so we hung out exploring them for a while before heading back down to Chimney Pond. On our way down we spotted a moose making its way across the pond… right to where Big Bird was taking his nap. We started running down the hill hoping to get there before the moose but we had no luck. By the time we reached him, the moose was gone and he was freaking out. He explained how he had woken up to the moose mere feet away from him and panicking slightly. Trying to remain calm, he inched himself away, and eventually, the moose just turned and retreated on his own. </span>

While Big Bird recounted his encounter, the three of us had a snack and then started on the trail back to the campground. It was a peaceful hike with perfect weather and went by quickly. Before we knew it we were breaking camp and piling everything back into Big Bird’s Subaru. As we headed south I was sad to know that this round of our adventure was over, but excited at the progress we had made. Katahdin marked 10 highpoints done for me – 20% of the way… and I was just getting started!