Day 3 at Baxter State Park- Green Falls

We’ve got the bunkhouse for one more night. Today Marcia and I hiked 6.4 miles round trip out the Wassataquoik Lake Trail, linking the Russell Pond area to the western parts of Baxter Park.

My 1985 Katahdin guidebook describes Wassataquoik Lake as “perhaps the most outstanding body of water in or around the Park”. Although small ( 1 1/2 x 3/4 mi.) it’s crystal clear water, gravel beaches, and surrounding tall peaks have no peer in the park. ”
On the western side of the Lake, we reached our destination of Green Falls, a superb cascading falls coming out of a deep cleft above.

We ate our lunch and then headed back. I remember being here before, when the trail followed the western shoreline all the to the Falls. The reroute of the trail obscures the constant scenery show that used to accompany the shore scramble. Now, there are only occasional partially obscured glimpses of South Pogy Mountain behind the Lake. If you do this trip, stick to the shore for the views. You will find Green Falls marked by an entrance tagged with a blue blaze.
We took our Crocs with us on this hike, where drinking water was no problem, and the Crocs were not needed. The were several water crossings including one beaver dam.

The 6.4 mile hike ended up growing to 8.6 miles after we headed the wrong way out of the campground and later added extra tenths of a mile accessing the spring behind the Ranger Station. Who cares? We successfully dodged the rain today. It was supposed to rain tonight, with a 70% chance and a temp drop into the 30’s.
Could make for an interesting exit tomorrow.

Day 2 at Baxter State Park- Russell Pond

We were up and at ’em sometime around 6 AM when Team Canada lit up the place and downed huge bowls of Captain Crunch before they headed  up to try and reach Baxter Peak, traverse the Knife Edge, and then hobble back here to Katahdin Stream campground.  Wish I knew how it all played out for them.
What an enjoyable and easy seven mile hike we had today!  We had light rain just at the start, for about two miles, but the rain worked with the colorful leaves to draw our attention to the mottled landscapes that surrounded us. The ground was coated with reddish maple and yellowed birch leaves.  There were many streams to cross, and greasy puncheons to test our Slip and Slide skills.

We stopped for lunch, where I fired up my stove.

Spicy Chorizo!

I was very pleased at the taste and quality of my newly found Campbell’s soup packet, plus there is no can to pack out.  Pat and Marcia are great hiking partners. Pat has a keen eye for wildlife. He spotted this spotted salamander partially hidden by the fallen leaves.

On of two we spotted on the hike

Even Martha didn’t complain much when she slipped, fell, and drenched her butt in a cold puddle.

When we reached Whitten Pond, there was nothing but fog in front of us.

Whitten Pond

No moose sightings here.
We passed three massive boulders left behind by the retreating glaciers some 12,000 years ago.

Big boulder

The biggest one was “house-sized”,  for sure.
Two stream crossings of the Wassatiquoik were deep enough  that we  switched out hiking boots for Tevas and Crocs, and just plough through the rushing waters.

Big Wet on the Wassataquoik

The cold freshness felt good on my feet and lasted a surprisingly long time.
Marcia was impressive on point in moving us along at a steady 2.4 mph clip, despite the rain-lubrication layer covering the ever present bare root and lichen-encrusted granite pathway below.
We reached the Russell Pond Campground by 1:20 PM; a  superb start to day 1 of our Columbus Day Weekend.  It was no longer raining, and we threw our packs down at the weighing station.

Whoa, 42 pounds!

Both Pat’s and my pack tipped the scales at 42 pounds.  How the heck did that happen?

Dock at Russell Pond

At Russell, we were checked in by Brendan, the ranger, who lives near us and has been working here for 21 years. He let us borrow a bow saw and led us to a recently fallen dry maple that provided us with firewood for the bunkhouse. He came over later and visited with us after it started raining again.  It was tough to hear that there was a cache of dry split firewood locked up is a big plywood box on the bunkhouse porch that was being saved for upcoming  winter season. If I had known that there was no firewood for sale here I would  have packed in my axe that is sitting in my car back in the Roaring Brook lot.
Marcia cooked our supper of steak, fresh zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes on top of the wood stove here. I made up a aluminum pie tin filled with no-bake Cherry Cheesecake for dessert.
The other party of four renting out the second 4 bunk sleeping room never showed up so we had the whole bunkhouse to our selves for the rest of the weekend.

Propane lights illuminate the main room

Pretty sweet.

Day 1 at Baxter State Park- Roaring Brook Campground

It’s perfect here right now.  7:20 PM . It’s just Marcia and I sitting inside the dark of the forested night as we reheat our suppers on our trusty Coleman gas stove.

It’s Roaring Freaking Brook and so much a piece of history and power.  I’m amazed that for our combined price of 22 bucks, we’re established  in hiker heaven!
Of course there are minor drawbacks, like us forgetting dressing packets for the Greek salads we picked up at the Milllinocket Hannaford’s.  Dry salad turns tasty when you are hungry and are camping.  We are reheating  two freshly prepared meals from the same store.  I had pork loin and Marcia had salmon, both with two sides. We felt like we made the best choice for supper, better than going to a restaurant, or cooking over a fire tonight.
Sometime around 8:30 PM our insular party was over, when 6 guys rolled in from Moncton,  New Brunswick-  workers at a diaper factory.  Talk about job security!

the diaper boys light up our lives

The Miller Lights started poppin’ and I feared for the worst, but they were a friendly, talkative, and decent bunch of fellows, who all piled into one of the two hiker rooms here stacked like sardines three high.  Through it all, Auntie Mame maintained focus on documenting her adventure.

Cold, hard analysis

Note actual bacon cookies.

It’s supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow morning when we and our friends Pat and Martha pack out and head north, up 7 miles or so to Russell Pond bunkhouse for two nights.

Still Space to Build a Multifuel backpacking Stove

One-night double wall, downdraft stove building workshop in Camden, Maine on October 16.

Here is a picture of what the stove will look like:

Further details about the stove itself are in this updated blog post from 2012.

  The evening will include an  introductory talk about some of the science and history of these stoves, which address the question of getting the most efficiency out of the unit.  This is a true multi-fuel stove,  suitable for also burning denatured alcohol and solid fuel tablets when wood is not available or is wet.  Because of the hands- on nature of the class it will be limited to 8 people.  Sign up!

Online registration here.

“Fatbiking the Arctic” Kickstarter Project in Grave (Peril) ?

Feb. 2012 Kickstarter promotion

My funding of this Kickstarter adventure appears to be generating serious regrets.  Here’s that Kickstarter pitch, the most impressive one I’ve yet seen. Watch the 6 minute video- It has a convincing feel to it.

Outside Magazine ran an initial article in February about Badenoch’s proposed expedition that no doubt fueled interest in this adventure.

In February 2012 I funded the Kickstarter project and today just got my first and only response to my Tweets to Andrew Badenoch asking him about what the heck is going on. This is what I just received from him (Oct. 5, 2012): “i’ll explain the details later, but i still don’t have full comm capabilities. the sat phone broke, so it’s worse in some ways.”

I tweeting back with a recommendation to think about purchasing a Spot locator device and service.  In fact, the use of the Spot enabled me to follow a similar expedition this spring on a DAILY basis.  Check out Adam Bradly’s completed expedition, where he rode his bicycle from Reno to Skagway Alaska,  backpacked up the Chilkoot Trail to the headwaters of the Yukon River, and then paddled a canoe to its end in the Bering Sea. We don’t have Badenoch’s story but Bradley’s BLC to Bering Sea is compelling, and another one-man production of staggering logistics that he pulled off superbly.

Just before he left, Badenoch posted that Public Broadcasting Service would be involved in running either updates or clips of the completed trip. I subscribed to his YouTube page, as he instructed, to get more info about that aspect of the production, but his channel still contains nothing more than his initial Kickstarter  funding pitch.

Just yesterday ( Oct. 4, 2011) Outside Magazine ran what was, in effect, an obituary for the project, which appears to have halted in the town of Pink Mountain, somewhere near the southern terminus of the Alaska Highway. Fatbike Expedition Comes to a Quiet Halt. Outside confirms that Badenoch had spent several weeks at a motel there, departing south in mid-August. I have funded what were several successful Kickstarter projects, all of them posting occasional updates to the backers.  The updates are part of the tools supplied to all Kickstarter projects to make them the excellent packages that they are. To date, there have been NO UPDATES ( yes, I know I’m shouting here) from this Project.

Damn, I was hoping Badenboch would  come up with something for us.

I own a Puglsey fatbike, and take extended adventures of my own. I sure didn’t think it would come to this. I’ll post further details as they emerge.

Sad, don’t  you think ?

Big Views from Bald Mountain

I walk alone a lot.  I enjoy getting calls from anyone to ” take a hike’ with them, and generally will do so.  The hike today was one of the greatest.  I hiked with my youngest son, Arlo, his girlfriend Alanna, and our dog, Jody.  It is a superb hike, taking a bit over an hour,  and is totally able to echo any of the most appreciated sections on the fabled Appalachain Trail in Maine.  It is also just a 10 minute drive from our house.

Up to Bald Mountain

Here is Alanna adding to her Maine photo album. She’s an excellent photographer who works hard when she has her camera, and here she is, setting up another great pic. See the little dog?

When we got to the top, I tried out the panorama option of my iPhone 4s’ iOS 6  software upgrade.  Unbelievable!  That’s the great big Atlantic out there.  You can get up to 240 degrees of picture if you scan the camera faster than I did.

So much to take in

Here is a graphic of our hike today, courtesy of the most excellent App named Strava!

Bald Mountain

In a few days my wife Marcia and I will celebrate Arlo’s birthday, and then take a long weekend together up at Baxter State park, here we’ll be hiking into Russell Pond, a campsite that is only accessed by a 7 mile hike. The foliage will be at peak levels of color, the moose should be around, and we’ll no doubt reminisce about all the fun we had taking backpacking trips with Arlo and his older brother Lincoln before they grew up and hit the Big Trail in their own way.