Last weekend we planned to hike up Mt Katahdin via the famous Knife Edge - a ridge scramble with deep vistas to the valley bottom 800 meters below. I love ridge hikes, it's the crown jewel of mountaineering for me, so I really had to do this one.
The only thing is: you have to book everything wayyyyy in advance: you can certainly do the Knife Edge as day hike, starting very early at the trailhead. But you still need a day use parking permit, which you have to reserve online, and lots fill up quickly. Doing the knife edge as dayhike also means you have to stay at least somewhere close to the trail head, since daylight is limited to about 10 hours in October already, so you need an early start. There's some campgrounds around, but the nicest option is to camp right at the trail head, which means at the Roaring Brook Campground of the Baxter State Park. I booked 5 weeks in advance and only got two bunkbeds. Actually not a bad option as it turned out, although quite loud. There was a group of hikers coming down Baxter Peak in the darkness already since on of them had twisted her ankle. They had probably done two mistakes: left way too late and the injured hiker was wearing !sneakers! without good and slip-proof soles on them.
We woke up around 4:30, prepared an easy oatmeal breakfast and instant coffee (Ugh!) and went to Chimney Pond first. We wanted to extend our backcountry experience by staying there for one night. Chimney Pond campground is at a fantastic location, in the middle of the bowl of Mt Katahdin, surrounded by the beautiful Knife Edge ridge and next to a quiet and very picturesque pond. The only thing is: there are rangers. I have to say I had some bad experiences with national and state park rangers, and I think some of them have really no clue about what's going on out there... but his one ranger lady in particular was just a joke: upon arriving, she was standing there in her short trousers with a rain trouser over it, and her down sweater and gloves, obviously sun burnt, and told us that the Knife Edge is extremely dangerous, that it is not a trail at all (what a surprise, that's why we are here...) and that there are literally TONS OF ICE now because of the recent weather. To me, it looked like there's frost on the rocks, but okay, she said TONS OF ICE and that in the years before they would just have closed the trail for good now, only now they are not closing trails anymore. But she said we can't go up there and even with crampons it would be questionable, but without... no way. We should try to hike up via the easy Saddle Trail and see if we can even make it to Baxter Peak, no chance to climb the Knife Edge.
What a disappointment! I actually didn't come because of Baxter Peak (some come just because of it - it's the northern terminus of the Appalachians and of the 2000 Mile Appalachian Trail), but I came for the ridge. I checked the weather every day before we left Boston, and nothing indicated a build up of tons of ice up there, but we trusted her and up we went the easy saddle trail.
She told us of people slipping on the Saddle Trail and turning around because of ice. Well, there was NO ice on the entire trail up to Baxter Peak! I mean: yes, there were some frozen patches, but really: you don't have to step on them. So when we arrived at the peak, the ridge looked totally fine to us. Some frost on the shadowy side, no ice at all. The rocks were nice and dry. My initial plan was to climb up from Chimney Pond via Dudley trail which is a steep 'trail' where you have to constantly scramble over large boulders. Not so nice going down, but fun going up. So I wanted to come down via the easy saddle trail. Now, standing on top of Katahdin and seeing the Knife Edge before us, we opted for climbing it down and going down Dudley trail back to Chimney Pond (which I wouldn't recommend).
It was fantastic, the Knife Edge is really beautiful, and the weather was perfect. Not too cold (the ranger told something like way below freezing, which wasn't true, too).
And then some people came the other direction, who headed up a different, easier trail than Dudley and did the Knife Edge from Pamola Peak to Baxter Peak.... some of them had no backpack at all. A lot of them were wearing shorts. Some had only a cotton hoody. Most of them had no shoes supporting the ankle, some had sneakers (although the sneaker fraction didn't do Knife Edge really, they mostly went up the easier trails, which doesn't mean you cant' twist an ankle there). Some had like a half a liter bottle of water, I guess none had a first aid kit or anything like this. Most of them didn't bring a rain jacket or something warm. It is ridiculous! Seeing those people, hearing the lies of the ranger... I was really pissed off I have to say and I still am... feeling only somewhat sorry for the ignorance of all those people. Most of them shouldn't be on a mountain. And not on Katahdin in October. On the next day, we even saw a big group also wanting to hike Katahdin via Knife Edge, but again the ranger told them of tons of ice. Ridiculous. Then I looked at their shoes: bright and colorful sneakers with flat soles and no ankle support. Short trousers for the boys, 3/4 length leggings for the girls.
Back in Chimney Pond, we stayed in a lean-to, which is a 3-walled shelter with a roof, but you basically sleep in the fresh air. A good opportunity for us to test our brand new bivouac bags by the way! Was a great night.
But we still left with that ambiguous feeling of how stupid man can be.
Now some pictures!
The bunk house at Roaring Brook.
Leaving early in the morning!
Sunrise!
Saddle Trail.
Katahdin/Baxter Peak.
Looking at the Knife Edge... we have to go there!
Hiking down via Dudley trail.
Food hanging.
Our lean-to.
Good night!
The only thing is: you have to book everything wayyyyy in advance: you can certainly do the Knife Edge as day hike, starting very early at the trailhead. But you still need a day use parking permit, which you have to reserve online, and lots fill up quickly. Doing the knife edge as dayhike also means you have to stay at least somewhere close to the trail head, since daylight is limited to about 10 hours in October already, so you need an early start. There's some campgrounds around, but the nicest option is to camp right at the trail head, which means at the Roaring Brook Campground of the Baxter State Park. I booked 5 weeks in advance and only got two bunkbeds. Actually not a bad option as it turned out, although quite loud. There was a group of hikers coming down Baxter Peak in the darkness already since on of them had twisted her ankle. They had probably done two mistakes: left way too late and the injured hiker was wearing !sneakers! without good and slip-proof soles on them.
We woke up around 4:30, prepared an easy oatmeal breakfast and instant coffee (Ugh!) and went to Chimney Pond first. We wanted to extend our backcountry experience by staying there for one night. Chimney Pond campground is at a fantastic location, in the middle of the bowl of Mt Katahdin, surrounded by the beautiful Knife Edge ridge and next to a quiet and very picturesque pond. The only thing is: there are rangers. I have to say I had some bad experiences with national and state park rangers, and I think some of them have really no clue about what's going on out there... but his one ranger lady in particular was just a joke: upon arriving, she was standing there in her short trousers with a rain trouser over it, and her down sweater and gloves, obviously sun burnt, and told us that the Knife Edge is extremely dangerous, that it is not a trail at all (what a surprise, that's why we are here...) and that there are literally TONS OF ICE now because of the recent weather. To me, it looked like there's frost on the rocks, but okay, she said TONS OF ICE and that in the years before they would just have closed the trail for good now, only now they are not closing trails anymore. But she said we can't go up there and even with crampons it would be questionable, but without... no way. We should try to hike up via the easy Saddle Trail and see if we can even make it to Baxter Peak, no chance to climb the Knife Edge.
What a disappointment! I actually didn't come because of Baxter Peak (some come just because of it - it's the northern terminus of the Appalachians and of the 2000 Mile Appalachian Trail), but I came for the ridge. I checked the weather every day before we left Boston, and nothing indicated a build up of tons of ice up there, but we trusted her and up we went the easy saddle trail.
She told us of people slipping on the Saddle Trail and turning around because of ice. Well, there was NO ice on the entire trail up to Baxter Peak! I mean: yes, there were some frozen patches, but really: you don't have to step on them. So when we arrived at the peak, the ridge looked totally fine to us. Some frost on the shadowy side, no ice at all. The rocks were nice and dry. My initial plan was to climb up from Chimney Pond via Dudley trail which is a steep 'trail' where you have to constantly scramble over large boulders. Not so nice going down, but fun going up. So I wanted to come down via the easy saddle trail. Now, standing on top of Katahdin and seeing the Knife Edge before us, we opted for climbing it down and going down Dudley trail back to Chimney Pond (which I wouldn't recommend).
It was fantastic, the Knife Edge is really beautiful, and the weather was perfect. Not too cold (the ranger told something like way below freezing, which wasn't true, too).
And then some people came the other direction, who headed up a different, easier trail than Dudley and did the Knife Edge from Pamola Peak to Baxter Peak.... some of them had no backpack at all. A lot of them were wearing shorts. Some had only a cotton hoody. Most of them had no shoes supporting the ankle, some had sneakers (although the sneaker fraction didn't do Knife Edge really, they mostly went up the easier trails, which doesn't mean you cant' twist an ankle there). Some had like a half a liter bottle of water, I guess none had a first aid kit or anything like this. Most of them didn't bring a rain jacket or something warm. It is ridiculous! Seeing those people, hearing the lies of the ranger... I was really pissed off I have to say and I still am... feeling only somewhat sorry for the ignorance of all those people. Most of them shouldn't be on a mountain. And not on Katahdin in October. On the next day, we even saw a big group also wanting to hike Katahdin via Knife Edge, but again the ranger told them of tons of ice. Ridiculous. Then I looked at their shoes: bright and colorful sneakers with flat soles and no ankle support. Short trousers for the boys, 3/4 length leggings for the girls.
Back in Chimney Pond, we stayed in a lean-to, which is a 3-walled shelter with a roof, but you basically sleep in the fresh air. A good opportunity for us to test our brand new bivouac bags by the way! Was a great night.
But we still left with that ambiguous feeling of how stupid man can be.
Now some pictures!
The bunk house at Roaring Brook.
Leaving early in the morning!
Sunrise!
Saddle Trail.
Katahdin/Baxter Peak.
Looking at the Knife Edge... we have to go there!
Hiking down via Dudley trail.
Food hanging.
Our lean-to.
Good night!
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