We had mailed away reservations for Chimney Pond or Roaring Brok but they were all full by the time they got our papers, so when they called I said we would stay at Abol. So I'm trying to form a plan where we can still do the Helon-Taylor. So I figured get to the Chimney Pond campground in the morning and do it first and now end with the Abol trail so we basically end in out tent. My concern now is will we have to walk int Chimney Pond from Abol campground and how long that will take. Does anyone know if there's shuttles between campgrounds or if your allowed to have your car parked at other areas if your not camped in those specific ones?

No shuttles.
You need to reserve a parking space for your car if you are going to be parking it in another place other than your campsite for the trails that go to Katahdin. You could take a bike a bike and stash it in the woods near the trail head. That's one option. Or most people are nice enough that someone may give you a ride.

http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/hiking/hikingParking.html

Yea I'm sure everyone's used to seeing dead tired hikers coming off the mountain hoping for a ride. I know I'ld give them one!

My fav route there is going up Dudley (lots of scrambling) to Pamola and crossing over on Knife Edge to Baxter Peak. A few options down from there. Last time we camped at Chimney Pond so decided to stetch the hike out to include Hamlin. It made for quite a long day but that is a nice trail as well.

Well we had an awesome weekend. We started our hike at 6:30am Saturday and went up the Abol. I thought this trail was pretty nice, the views behind you after you leave the trees sure are nice. After we got to Baxter Peak (and after some lunch of course) we went out on the knife edge aways. We couldn't do the whole thing because of time though. We wanted to make sure we would be back to our tents before the sun started going down. So we went back to the peak then descended via the Hunt trail. I was really surprised by how great the Hunt trail was. It didn't catch my eye when I was reading the trail write ups but I thought it was a really great trail. Had some decent exposure near the top and of course the massive boulders made for great photo opps. The weather was great, not to hot but definitely not cold at all. And we happened to be picked up along the road from Katahdin Streams campground to ours at Abol and driven so that was a nice touch after 12 hours on the mountain. I'm looking forward to trying the other trails sometime now.

Hi there!
I just made reservations for 2 nights at Chimney Pond Campground, so I will have a whole day closest to the mountain. Therefore I plan to do the whole loop and only if the weather is bad skip the knife edge.

Is there a loop direction you would prefer, e.g. is any of the trails especially hard to descend?

Thank you!

Hardest would be Cathedral with Dudley second worst. Saddle is pretty easy but being a landslide has gravel. Hamlin Ridge between the two basins is pretty nice.

Thanks, that's great info. Up Dudley and down Hamlin Ridge it shall be then.

SimonRidgewalker wrote:Thanks, that's great info. Up Dudley and down Hamlin Ridge it shall be then.

I think if you have 2 nights at Chimney Pond, that's the best choice for getting the most out of what Katahdin has to offer.