Mt.Katahdin - Baxter State Park

It's All Down Hill From Here

The next day the clouds are back again, obscuring the summit.We pack up the sleds and start to make our way down the trail which is now covered with unpacked snow. My sled sucked, big time, but I managed to persuade Greg to fit my gear on his sled which we would take in turns to haul all the way out. We ended up modifying the sled several times on the way down. I skid behind the "damn" thing holding a 6' stick that we tied to the rear while Greg hauled on the front end. The idea being that I would stop the sled rolling off the side of the path and also prevent it from running in to the back of Greg's legs on the downhills. Don't tell Greg, but what really happened was that on the flat I had to apply a little backward pressure in order to keep the sled straight. But of course being on skis I got dragged along just like I was water skiing ( Thanks Greg ).

Chris, the park ranger waves a warm farewell. I'm sure he was glad to see the back of us.

Tying the gear onto the  sleds once more.

Greg walking out across the lake with the shoulder of Pamola in the background.

On the big downhill sections, Greg could sit on his sled and thunder out of control down the narrow trails with me following a short distance behind picking up any lost gear and helping the people who had to dive out of the way get back to their feet.

Greg and sled crash into an unsuspecting tree.

Shortly before we got back to Roaring Brook a ranger came past on his snow mobile, scooped up our gear and kindly took it all out to the park entrance for us. This made the 8 mile ski out a real breeze. Flat and slightly down hill and only 2.5 hours. A short snow mobile ride from here took us back to the cars and the long drive home

All in all it was an excellent adventure despite losing a day due to snow. I would recommend a trip to Katahdin in the winter for any serious mountaineer or ice climber. There are also some really good ski and snow shoe trails throughout the park which tour round the beautiful forests. Self sufficiency is key because this really is an extreme environment.

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