We Couched surfed with a family in Mercer, ME. It's a tiny town in the middle of the state. We stayed with a great family, Chris, his wife Dorothy, and daughter Christina. We cooked dinner together at their 1830 old farmhouse and even had fresh rhubarb pie for dessert. It was an enjoyable evening sitting out overlooking their beautiful field full of wild flowers, and we got a lot of great information about our upcoming hike at Baxter State Park.
Mt. Katahdan is the highest peak in Maine, 5268ft. It is the very end of the Appalachian Trail. Annie & I had our packs and we hiked the first 3.2 miles up to the campsite. It is amazing how long 3 miles seems when you have a heavy pack and hiking up over rocks. Annie also is still having pain in her foot and her bruised rib from the mountain bike crash over a week ago. We made it to Chimney Pond and talked with the ranger for awhile. It was a beautiful forecast which is fortunate. There is one point at the top of the mountain where you cannot climb in poor weather. More than a few people have died on the knifes edge.
We went exploring that afternoon, Pamolas Caves were just about a mile climb away. Pamola is said to be the god of Thunder and protector of the mountain. The Indians described him as having the head of a moose, the body of a man and the wings and feet of an eagle. Pamola was both feared and respected by the Indians, and his presence was one of the main reasons that climbing the mountain was considered taboo (Wikipedia). So we went out to find him. I was actually OK if I never did run into that guy, but we really wanted to see a moose while in Maine. After that hike we went down to the pond and hung out there with our books and dinner and relaxed with some of the other hikers watching the sun set over the mountains. It was the longest day of the year and being that far North the sun went down late and sure came up early.
We were up and on the trail for the summit the next day by 7:00. It was a short walk to get to the rocks when we were literally climbing up the mountain. 3 points of contact most of the time during the class 4 rock climbing trail. ( Class 4 can involve short steep sections where the use of a rope is recommended, and un-roped falls could be fatal.) When we were about half way up and looking back down at the pond Annie spotted something swimming through the water. She said it has to be a moose because people are not allowed to swim in the pond. Sure enough, after zooming in with the video camera it was a moose and baby calf swimming right up to where we were sitting for hours the night before.
We reached the summit about 9:30. The views were sure spectacular. Thanks to B-Man from the Pittsburgh REI for recommending we do this hike. Being at the top of the mountain was not much easier than actually getting there. The top is all a bunch of big loose rocks that we had to climb up and around and sections going down give you butterflies as well. Then we came to knifes edge, which really got your blood pumping walking across that. My favorite part was after that, they call it the chimney. It is a 90ft. drop and then you have to climb it straight back up the other side. Oh and the bugs up there are terrible! Big ol black flies and nats and everything. It was awful. We made it back down the the other side by 2:00, 7 hours later! Then we had to put our packs back on and hike out the 3.2 miles to our car.
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