We got plenty of sleep, since this day would be fairly easy. We would
leave our XC skis at roaring brook, and bring up the sleds to chimney
pond, a 3.3 mile hike with just 1500 feet of elevation gain. One
thing we learned quickly is that it takes a lot of time to take down a
winter camp. As Robert said before, it takes about 2 hours. We got
up around 8 or 9, and really did not start going up until 11am. It is
important to note, that there are sanitary facilities at this
campsite. (as well as few other spots along the way, namely the
avalanche campsite and chimney pond). One of reason that the Park
those not allow people to camp in places outside designated campsites
(barring an injury) is the fact that they don't want any human waste
in the wilderness. Baxter Park is one of the few parks that operate
in the principle "Preservation before Recreation" (the ranger Steward
would be proud of reading this...) We'll admit upfront that we took
the wilderness part very seriously and avoided using any unfair means,
but we did use the loos as opposed to doing number twos in the woods
(all of course due to conservation).
Since the trail was packed in by a snow mobile few hours earlier that morning, we just used our boots with no crampons or snowshoes. The hike up to chimney pond is wonderful, it gives you the first few close panoramas of the mountain. I strongly recommend, taking advantage of the view points (we almost missed one if it wasn't for the sharp and sage eyes of one of our team members). The view of the whole range was breathtaking.
Dragging the sleds on the flat ground the day before had given a false
sense of weight. On flat ground you, it does not matter much the
weight one is dragging; but dragging it up a steep incline makes all
that weight come to bear. I will admit using first gear in many
sections of the climb. I also tested one of my new gorps to great
pleasing. These are the Ritz Cheese sandwiches, they are great.
We reached chimney pond in 3 hours. Now, the best view east of the Rockies is found here, no doubts about it. The breathtaking paralyzing shocking astonishing jaw-dropping tongue-rolling mesmerizing spellbinding views of the Mountain and Knife Edge is impressive, not to be forgotten. If you were only to reach chimney pond, see this, and head back, the trip would be all worth it!!!.
Well in addition to this, we got to stay two more days. The first order of business was to setup camp. Here is where the shovel came in handy; there was so much snow to be moved, that we even borrowed the ranger's shovel. We probably moved 4 or 5 cubic meters of snow, to make space for two tents, a spacious kitchen area, and a storage room among other spaces. We were pleased to find out that we were the first people to camp outside in this winter!!! (all others had stayed in the cabins).
After setting up camp, and cooking dinner, we headed towards the
Ranger's Cabin to discuss the next day's plan. Unfortunately, the
cabin was heated, and we lost all the cold we had gained during the
day. You must remember that we are trying to simulate wilderness
conditions to the extreme (for the record, we are thinking for extreme
wilderness experience we can even forgo the tents... more on this
later). The ranger, Steward, is a very nice guy. We talked with him
about our plan to go to Baxter Peak (Katahdin) Summit the next day.
We would go up Cathedral trail (very steep), and come down Saddle. We
would register with him, the equipment and safety gear we were
bringing (2 qts of water, one tent, two sleeping bags, two first aid
kits). You can also get a better idea of how long things take, and
any recommendations for route discovery. He agreed with our plans.
We hurried back to the tents to avoid losing more coldness in the
cabin. We want to avoid as much as possible any external sources of
heat, which would be considered cheating....
