Trip Report/Photos from Gandalf
We were lucky to have obtained the Chipmunk Hollow Cabin at Daicey Pond for 4 nights to use as our base camp to explore Baxter State Park. We had fantastic views from Daicey Pond of Mount Katahdin to inspire us for this climb!
Mount Katahdin is really awesome! It’s a challenging climb despite the fact that the mountain is only slightly above 5,000 feet in elevation. We climbed up and down on the Hunt Trail with 4,200 elevation gain and 10.4 miles roundtrip. This is the last 5 miles of the 2,178 miles that thru-hikers need to walk to complete the Appalachian Trail. Katahdin is certainly a sublime end to such an enormous endeavor!
Cool start. Windy, 20-30 mph w/ 50 mph gusts! Nice warmup to Katahdin Stream Falls, beautiful views here. Once we broke above treeline the exciting climb began with iron rungs for help up huge boulders. Slow going….tough scrambles....then an 800 foot climb in maybe .8 miles. Climbing Katahdin is really a climb and less of a hike!
Winds lessened across the flat Tablelands that leads across an alpine zone to the summit cone. Photos at top and ducked out of wind behind some boulders for lunch. Views for miles, never gets old! A few thru hikers who were finishing passed us and it was awesome to see the big smiles on their faces while they posed at the summit sign.
We can't think of any mountain that is as awe-inspiring as Katahdin! This mountain kicked my butt. Took us 10 hours roundtrip. Back at Daicey Pond, Jon and I celebrated with a Baxter Beer while gazing at Mount Katahdin. Great way to finish our hike!!
