Mt.Katahdin - Baxter State Park

Getting There

Baxter State Park, situated in the northern plains of Maine, U.S.A., is home to one of the most interesting winter mountain environments I've ever visited. It reminded me in many ways of the Scottish highlands apart from the temperatures and quality of the ice which were both much colder and harder than I'd experienced before.

The trip started long before we arrived at the park. For myself it involved driving round to Greg's, my usual climbing buddies house and then driving the 9 hours up to Maine. The next day we met Pete and Phil at the Macdonald's in Millinocket. Pete was the instigator of the trip and had been to the park several times in the past.

We headed out of town towards the park down what is known as the "Golden Road". This is a private road which is used to carry timber from the local forests to the paper mill in Millinocket. There is no speed limit. There doesn't seem to be a weight restriction and the timber trucks certainly let you know that they own the road as they thunder towards you swaying dangerously down the middle of the road. One of the rangers later told us about some of the near misses and tragic accidents which had occurred on the road. Apparently logs fall off the trucks regularly or stick out several feet to catch the unwary driver.

At the entrance to the park, Pete unloaded the snow mobile which we would use to ferry ourselves and our gear in while we packed all our stuff onto sleds for the trip. The snow mobile trip was a little unnerving. We carried 3 people at a time dragging about 200 lbs. of gear behind. The sled got out of control a couple of times and threatened to turn the snow mobile over.

I was actually glad to leave the motorized transport behind and set off skiing. It was 8 miles from where the snow mobile dropped us to the cabin at "Roaring Brook". It was dark by the time we got there and it didn't come soon enough. The sleds also ran out of control even at the slow speeds we were skiing at. They'd occasionally wander off the track and wrap themselves around a convenient tree, spoiling any rhythm you might have had.

The cabins were pretty cramped although the log fire kept the place at a stifling 80 degrees. Good enough for shorts.

Left to right - Pete, Mat, Brad, Al (front), Phil.

The next morning we set off to complete the remaining 3.5 miles up a much narrower and much steeper trail to finally arrive at the "Chimney Pond" camp ground. The trail leads up through beautiful snow covered pine forests which are a sufficient distraction that you don't notice the sled which at times feels like you're dragging a dead horse behind. The trail also crosses over a frozen lake which was the first time I noticed just how strongly the wind was blowing and how quickly it sucked the heat away from any exposed skin. It was certainly time to put on a few more layers.

Pete takes a break on the trail.

The impressive Pamola ice cliffs (300' grade 4's and 5's).

As we approached the cabin it was possible to see the impressive Katahdin mountain rearing up in the background. Actually it's shaped like a huge horse shoe which completely surrounds the cabin and the pond. The low cloud meant that we couldn't see the summit but could only imagine how fearsome it looked with the snow blowing off the peaks.

It started snowing before we got to the cabin and didn't stop until lunch time the next day. During that evening the clouds kept lifting just enough to catch glimpses of the impressive Pamola ice cliffs between the swirling spin drift. The images were enough to conjure up some interesting dreams of  ice climbing.

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