Katahdin Climber's Log

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Snowslogger

Snowslogger - Dec 5, 2023 5:41 pm Date Climbed: Aug 1, 1990

Maine HP and End of the AT  Sucess!

Hiked up the Abol Slide trail with Sally. Clear but windy on top, with great views. Going up the Abol Slide trail was fine but going down was hard on the knees - if I had it to do again I would probably descend the standard route.

aapontyn - Jun 26, 2023 7:48 am Date Climbed: Jun 26, 2023

Abol Alpine Start  Sucess!

Alpine starts are only possible if you A) have a campsite reserved anywhere in the park the night prior to your climb and B) are physically past the gate at the entrance of the park by 8:30 Pm the night before. Otherwise, reservation or not, you are stuck waiting until 6-7AM with everyone else.

If you do achieve A&B, you can start hiking whenever you want after midnight, as long as you register at the trailhead and leave your permit on your dash!

We wanted to start early as the weather was supposed to take a turn around noon (and it did). A surprisingly amount of folks asked “why?” When we asked about the logistics of alpine start access…is this not something east coast maybe? I always feel like the hiking I do in the dark doesn’t count as I’m not fully awake yet haha.

Camped at Neso… Meadow, about an easy forty min drive to Abol. Had great weather, rain hit as we got back to the parking lot!

Baxter has a handy podcast on their website that is a short listen to help people establish expectations.

yadahzoemtn

yadahzoemtn - Oct 7, 2022 8:08 pm Date Climbed: Oct 4, 2022

Via Helon Taylor Route via the Knife Edge  Sucess!

MIles and Miles of boulders. The knife edge was fun. The 3rd class moves on the Chimney were a bit of a stretch for a short person but doable. Views were great.

Jowzynkyn

Jowzynkyn - Sep 20, 2022 2:56 pm Date Climbed: Sep 17, 2022

Late summer wonder  Sucess!

Understimated the crowds, there must have been some 300 people up either on the mountain, or at Roaring Brook/Katahdin Springs campgrounds. 4th car in line, but without reservations I ended up being ~30th car in Baxter State Park. Definitely recommend getting a resevation ahead of time. C2C 7 hours 40 minutes, starting at Roaring Brook, to Chimney Pond, and Dudley Trail (which was an awesome class 3, probs class 4 scramble) to Pamola Peak. Did low 5th traverse to cut over to the Knife Edge, which was well worth the hype. True Summit, and then back down Cathedral Trail, which was good til I hit my knee ;( Made it though, truly an east coast great, and a majestic mountain from afar.

skinnywhitecomic

skinnywhitecomic - Aug 1, 2022 3:11 pm Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2022

HP #41!  Sucess!

This has become on of my favorite highpoints! My wife (HP #12) and I stayed at Daicey Pond campground the night before, and drove to KSC the next morning to take the Hint trail. I had a lot of fun scrambling and bouldering, though it may not be for others. Met a lot of other highpointers and some AT finishers. I'd love to go back and do Knife's Edge!

Adam Doc Fox

Adam Doc Fox - Mar 12, 2022 4:51 pm Date Climbed: Mar 5, 2022

Snowmobile Cheat Code  Sucess!

Sleds to Abol Campground, blessed with bluebird sky. Forecast said like -22F windchill at the summit, but really wasn't bad.

admiralcapn

admiralcapn - Feb 27, 2022 7:57 pm Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2018

HP #14  Sucess!

Cathedral up, Knife Edge down. Great views until about 300' from the top. Saw a black bear and cub on the way down!

huedho1

huedho1 - Aug 17, 2021 3:45 am Date Climbed: Sep 21, 2017

(First Post) Katahdin Summit  Sucess!

*NOTE* - This is my first post on here. I may get carried away, but we'll see! - I'm not a mountaineer, I am a hiker. - My son is a long distance hiker, and we're heading Out West in a couple months. - We want to at least bag one significant summit (around Yellowstone). - So far on the east coast, I've only done Katahdin and Blood Mountain.

2017:
I had just flown into Bangor, rented a car and drove to Millinocket to meet up with my son as he was completing his thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. - We picked him up at Abol Bridge Campground Store and stayed the night back in Millinocket. - The next morning, we dropped him and a few of his fellow thru-hikers off right back at the Abol Bridge so they could complete their hike without missing a mile. - We drove into Baxter State park to the "Abol" Trailhead where I began my own hike. - I had a good 10+ miles head start on my son and his crew. - I'm 55 at this time, had't been working out in a few years, haven't done any "real" hiking in several years. - But from a distance, Mt. Katahdin isn't intimidating at all. - Matter of fact, it's rather unassuming. - Looked like a big hill to me. - Until i was got above the tree line! - Quite a bit of bouldering and using your full body. - Also the psychological game of false summits ways heavy on your fortitude! - I was determined however, but just after my last "false summit", that crew I had a 10 mile head start on had just passed me up and I still had a mile to go for the summit!! - (They had been doing this daily for over 6 months!) - This was my first hike in years. - (And they were all 20-something!!) - None the less, I made it to the top, celebrated with some picture taking, chatting, and just hanging out. - I had brought an airplane bottle of Jack Daniels with me to celebrate with, but it stayed in my pack. - All I wanted was water! - When it was time to descend we chose the Hunt Trail for our trip down. - I was doing fine until we got back down into the trees. - That's another psychological game. - Getting through and out of the trees, as they begin to feel like they are just closing in on you. - My legs began to fail me with about 2-3 miles to go. - My son made me use his trekking poles and I was determined to finish unassisted, (except for the poles). - We mad it back to the parking lot in just under 12 hours I suppose. - According to the trail maps for Baxter State park, the Abol Trail up and the Hunt Trail down totals 9.2 miles. - Anything above the tree line is pretty much bouldering until you get to about a mile before / below the summit. - My wife went shopping and set up "trail magic" in the parking lot, where she had been feeding the hikers both going up and coming down. - She had plenty of food, water, beer, and a some Captain Morgan that a lot of the hikers appreciated and it was cool to get back to the parking lot!

MW

MW - Jul 6, 2021 11:47 am Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2018

Highpoint #8  Sucess!

Favorite highpoint so far (I'm at 20 as of writing, most of the Eastern U.S. mountain). Phenomenal views, awesome steep terrain and the mile of the Knife's Edge is outstanding and challenging. Certainly one of the prettiest locations in the East.

Made some videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCxQb_V03jc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJRp8m35uSs

bdreese2

bdreese2 - Jan 31, 2021 5:19 pm Date Climbed: Sep 27, 2013

Katahdin  Sucess!

https://peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=431063

Walkoutnow

Walkoutnow - Sep 24, 2020 2:46 pm Date Climbed: Jun 17, 2019

HP #36  Sucess!

Mosquito barrage at the TH was intense. Very nice little climb, and enjoyed the views and the general area. Would be fun to do the traverse from the other direction if I had a chance to come back.

jabfoster - Sep 7, 2020 8:06 am Date Climbed: Jul 19, 2019

Katahdin Summit  Sucess!

Loved this hike. Took the hunt trail up on a foggy day. Views were limited but enjoyed the boulder style climbing.

wbass

wbass - Aug 15, 2020 11:50 am Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2020

Abol / Hunt loop  Sucess!

One cannot underestimate the difficulty of Climbing this massif. Though the topout Portion is underwhelming until you see the glaciated E/NE slope, the Abol ascent and Hunt descent are long and seriously intense class 4 routes and too many people are there who are not exactly prepared. We probably had the best weather day we could have expected, just sweaty.

jake_the_snake

jake_the_snake - Oct 1, 2019 2:18 pm Date Climbed: Jul 4, 2019

Fun peak  Sucess!

Abol

cascadescrambler

cascadescrambler - Sep 5, 2019 10:08 am Date Climbed: Aug 15, 1970

No view  Sucess!

Abol route, in the clouds

vanman798

vanman798 - Sep 2, 2019 10:10 am Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2019

via Helon and Knife Edge  Sucess!

Made a cirque hike out of it, up Helon/Knife down to saddle, up to Hamlin down Hamlin ridge. 11.2 miles over 4000 vertical gain. Not crowded. Baxter rules are a pain, but they sure do make the hike more enjoyable by not allowing crowds.

Annalikeslenses

Annalikeslenses - Sep 1, 2019 5:34 pm Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2019

More difficult than expected for such low elevation!  Sucess!

Didn't do nearly as much research as I usually do for peaks, expecting that there would be detailed maps at the trailhead showing the different route options (there aren't). Also expected that there would be a pump to fill up bottles/bladders at Roaring Brook since it's a campground (there isn't) and it definitely slowed us down having to filter water from the stream before starting. But, hit the trail at about 8am, made it up to Pamola by about 11 with some food and photo stops, and a slow climb up the Knife Edge (descent from Pamola and up Chimney seems like class III+ to me) - about 4.25hrs to summit minus the food stops.

Spent about an hour at the summit, and took the Saddle Trail down since it sounded easier than Cathedral, but it's by no means easy! Steep and loose along the gully at the top, and then just a lot of rocks. Big rocks, small rocks, not too many loose rocks, but rocks rocks rocks. Any bits of actual dirt trail were rare. Got to Chimney Pond, had to break to filter more water and eat, and took on the long final 3.3-mile slog back to Roaring Brook, which was more rocks rocks rocks.

As someone from the west, I'm used to many approach trails being mixed dirt and rock and fairly quick to blaze through. But this...even the flatter sections down from Chimney were like walking on a dry stream bed. The miles are long and the footing takes focus. Got back to the car at 5:30, and the final consensus was that while we were definitely not expecting it to be that hard, we were perfectly prepared for it what with prior experience/poles/climbing gloves/water filter etc. Final description can be summed up as rocks rocks rocks rocks summit rocks rocks rocks.

MountainHikerCO

MountainHikerCO - Jul 9, 2019 8:11 pm Date Climbed: Jun 24, 2019

Up Abol, Down Hunt  Sucess!

Reserved site at Abol Campground. Went up Abol trail. Lower part of trail was in great shape. We were surprised how sustained the scrambling was above treeline. Thought coming down Hunt, the AT would be easier. It wasn't! Just as much if not more scrambling. The trail was more eroded below treeline. The bugs were obnoxious at the trailhead. There was no relaxing afterwards. Just fleeing from the onslaught.

rkalnins - Jul 3, 2019 4:58 pm Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2012

Saddle Trail

Made it to the summit and then chased by storms on the descent.

billydheyhey

billydheyhey - Nov 19, 2018 9:34 am Date Climbed: Aug 9, 2014

HP #6!  Sucess!

Very tough for a day hike, especially if you take Cathedral route which has some scary scrambling to it. Do not recommend this route for anyone that has no familiarity with rock climbing; instead take the saddle route.

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