Notes
Went in on the AT from Abol Bridge to Katahdin Stream Campground, then up the Hunt Trail to Baxter Peak, down the Saddle to Chimney Pond, then up Dudley, down Helon Taylor, then back on the Roaring Brook Road, cutting past Rum Pond and Abol Beach on the way.
Forecast was humid, cloudy and a chance of thundershowers. When we showed up it was party cloudy and looking good, especially compared to yesterday when Bev went (wind, rain, hail).
Made good time on the AT approach to Katahdin Stream Campground. It was humid in the woods and I was sweating too much but feeling pretty good. Passed one guy finishing up a through hike after 115 days on the trail. It took just under 2 hours. The trail is great down there, it follows the Penobscot and the Nesowdnehunk for a large part of it, requires a couple of moderate stream crossings and views of a bunch of waterfalls.
Walked through the campground and ate a bar then started pushing up the Hunt Trail. After about 2 kms I started to bonk. I was feeling low energy and very thirsty, I drank a lot but couldn't quench my thirst. It was the heat and humidity getting to me, once we hit Hunt Spur and got out of the woods the temperature cooled quite a bit and I started feeling better. Of course, this didn't bother Nat at all, he just made fun of me for not being able to keep up with a girl that passed us (We did overtake them again =P). Just above the tree line we got in to the clouds. Ran out of water just before Thoreau Spring so we stopped there fore a few mintues to refill, (this is the last water stop before Chimney Pond). Then pushed on to the summit, on the way up the wind picked up and the temperature continued to drop. At the summit we ducked out of the wind and at a wrap then headed out.
On the way down to the Saddle the rain started, first sprinkles driven by wind, then, when we were on the slide, it began to pour. The rain made the rocks very slippery and slowed our pace considerably. I managed to fall once scraping my thumb and right thigh. Made it down to Chimney Pond in 1:15, pretty slow considering the last time I went up The Saddle it took me an hour. We got to the Chimney Pond ranger station, the ranger on duty seemed like a pot head and was fascinated with my pack. He warned us of the showers and winds and wished us luck on our trip up Dudley. We filled up on water, put on long sleeve shirts and jackets and headed off.
Dudley was soaking the whole way up, which made for slow going, especially through the boulder field on the bottom 1/3rd. I was struggling a bit on the climb, I think the bonk from the heat earlier was still lingering and would for the rest of the day. As we went up the wind picked up and so did the rain. At first I thought "This isn't as windy as 2008, but there's rain", and the wind continued to speed up. It was probably blowing about 100 km/hr sustained driving rain. When it wasn't blowing directly in to my face I could hear it ripping accross the Great Basin, it sounded like a train. About 2/3rds of the way up we passed a group huddling between the boulders. The were unprepared for the weather and didn't want to descend Dudley in the rain (understandably). All they had on were shorts, t-shirts and 1$ rain ponchos that had ripped apart. We told them descending would be easiest, but going up over Pamola would mean an end to the wind. We continued on and soon encountered a group we had seen at Baxter Peak who had just don the Knife Edge! There's no way I would go on that in the wind we were having (I was literall blown over a few times). The said they didn't have any rain, so it was doable. About 25 minutes later Nat and I hit Pamola Peak, the climb took about 1:05, pretty good time considering.
After a couple of summit shots we were off, down Helon Taylor. Anxious to get out of the wind and cold, my fingers were going numb, Nat said he was even colder, such a contrast in temperatures from the over heating I was feeling lower on the mountain. Very quickly the wind and rain was gone and the temperature increased. We stopped for a few minutes for a wrap and a Red Bull. The rest of the way down Helon Taylor was rugged and wet, so we didn't make great time. The last time I went down this trail was 2005, I remember having a hard time on it, but not it being so rugged.
We made it to the Roaring Brook Campground in about 1:35 from Pamola. Now for the "10k" of road back. I was starting to get tired and figured it would take us 1:20. Soon after we started I started to over heat again, it was about 30 degrees C with 100% humidity, this time my diaphragm was cramping making it hard to breath, and my energy was low. Too keep somewhat cool we stopped a few times at roadside streams and dunked my head and legs. This helped for a few minutes, but weould again start to hurt. The longest sustained run I was able to pull off was about 7 minutes. I drank a lot and started to feel a bit better. We finally made the Rum Pond trail in about 1:10. Turns out the Roaring Brook Road is about 12k to this point, so despite feeling bad we made decent time. Now for the "short" trails back to Abol Bridge.
I didn't have a detailed map of the low end of the park and estimated 4k for the 2 trails back to the car. The first one, to Rum Pond was 2 miles, ugh! We made another water stop at Rum Pond because our estimated 5k was going to be more like 7. Shorty after I started to cramp again and really struggle. Nat, of course, wanted to rip this last section up, but I just couldn't keep the pace up. I had to stop for a minute to un-kink my water hose and got ravaged by horse flies and mosquitos, which would cause significant swelling in my left forearm, right elbow and face later. After the Rum Pond trail we hopped back on the road for about 2k to avoid the bugs. Finally we reached the Abol Beach trail, another 2 miles to the car, frig! Finally made it back to the car in 11:35.
Decent day overall. The weather wasn't great, but could have been worse. The most exciting part was climbing Dudley in hurricane force winds. If it were dry we probalby would have done it in 10 hours. If it were dry and cool, 9 hours would have been doable. Of course Nat could cut 2 hours off my time on any day. I don't think I ate enough, so that probably didn't help the energy levels and cramping late in the day. I ended up drinking 6L of water and probably sweat out 8L.
What I ate:
2 wraps
1 Red Bull
3 Snickers (1 of mine and probably 2 Snicker's worth of Nat's snacks)
1/2 Package of Crispers
1 1/2 bags of candy.
1 Package of Clif Blocks
4 Nuun tabs.
Extra Food:
1 Wrap
1 Snickers
1 pkg Clif Blocks
1/2 pkg cripsers
1/2 pkg of candy
Gear:
Filling the water bladder is cumbersome. I would consider bringing two 750ml bottles instead, they would be much easier to fill. Nat used a lot less water than I did, after he emptied his bladder he just filled his bottle as needed, much quicker than me.
Splits:
Car to Katahdin Stream Campground (14.25k) - 1:59:06
Katahdin Stream to Baxter Peak (8k) - 2:22:06 (Including 5 minute water stop)
Baxter Peak to Chimney Pond via the Saddle trail (3.5k) - 1:11:54 (Including 8 minute stop at summit and 10 minutes to talk to ranger and fill water)
Chimney Pond to Pamola Peak via Dudley trail (2k) - 1:25:40 (Including 5 minute stop to talk to stranded hikers)
Pamola Peak to Roaring Brook Campground via Helon Taylor trail (4.75k) - 1:49:40 (Including 5 minute stop to eat and 10 minute stop at Roaring brook to check for Bob's cell phone)
Roaring Brook Campground to Rum Pond Trail (11k) - 1:19:47
Rum Pond Trail to Road (2.75) - 35:15
Road to Abol Beach Trail (2k) - 14:01
Abol Beach Trail to car (3.75k) = 37:05