Thursday, July 1, 2010

Reaching the Northern Terminus via Bangor, Maine. June 2010

Starting Off
June 21, 2010
Flew from Chicago to Bangor with, a stop over in Philadephia on Monday, June 21st.  At the luggage pickup in Bangor I felt great relief to see my big box,which was taped up the night before by Jonathan, bobbing down the belt.  In it was my backpack and all my gear.   From Bangor Airport I hiked to the Cyr Bus Station and purchased a ticket north to the town of Medway.  After a few hours of waiting my bus pulled in.  It was running a little late.  The driver hopped off.  He was a tall, clean cut man with a fist full of turquoise rings and a gold chain around his neck.  The driver was wearing a big cowboy hat and had an easy manner about him.  He directed the gathering crowd where the luggage was to be stowed in the belly of the bus and then went to the door to take tickets.   As the bus took off he played,  "1000 MIles To GO," by Johnny Cash.  And interrupted the song with his own little improvised song about the bus route, about being a little behind schedule, and how he intended to make up the lost time.  Je had a beautiful deep voice and I was sorry when he finished. I had taken a seat behind a guy with a big backpack.  I quickly noticed that he smelled really bad but I decided to stay in my seat after realizing that I'd no doubt smell that bad in  about a week.
The bus let me and two other hikers off in Medway at a Gas Station.  Paul, "Old Man," as he is called, was there in his Chevy Suburban to shuttle us to the Appalachian Trail Lodge and Cafe in Millinocket.  The AT Lodge and Cafe is run from a big, two story frame house in the small town of Millinocket.  The resturant, or cafe, is a couple of blocks down the street.  Upstairs, there is a bunk house for hikers coming and going from the AT.  The bunk house has two rooms of beds, a bathroom with a shower, and a kitchen area.  When we arrived we met two NOBOs (North Bound Thru-hikers) who had been picked up by Paul that morning.  They had completed the AT from Georgia to Maine and were thought to be the 7th and 8th hikers for 2010.  These two guys were extrememly pround in a quiet sort of way.  Consider the Awesomeness.  They had some amazing stories to tell and photographs to show. 
We all talked.  The two hikers who came in with me gave me one third of the cost of the camp site I had reserved for the following day at Baxter State Park.  They hadn't made reservations and I did, so it worked out really well that we shared a site.  They were both young men in their 20s.  One guy had just graduated college and didn't find a suitable job, so decided to hike the AT.  The other guy was a musician in a Blue Grass Band that had just broken up.  He decided it was the perfect time to hike the AT.  I thought it was a good time to hike the AT too.   We all went to sleep in preparation for the following day: Katahadin.

image found at:  http://www.baxter-state-park.com/links/mountkatahdin-baxterstatepark-campingfishinghiking.html

In the morning we all went down to the cafe for the breakfast that was part of the hiker package.  While I was waiting for Paul to bring the Suburban around to shuttle us to Baxter I took a walk in the park to see what birds were about in town.  Paul whistled for me that he was about to leave.  That's when I got my trail name, "Birdy," because I was always thinking about and looking at birds.  Also, he had noticed the beautiful birds that Jonathan and Elizabeth had drawn on my pack.
TRAIL NAMES
A trail name is a descriptive name that hikers take for themselves.  Sometimes hikers name themselves, or are named by other hikers.  Some of the hikers I've met go by the following trail names:   Weatherman (the musican guy from Colorado), Birdwoman (from Pennsylvania), Pony (a teacher from California), Wreckless (#7 to finish NOBO 2010), AppleSeed and Branch (the most popular NOBo couple on the AT), Planner and Pilgrim (wife plans: planner, husband: needs the pilgrimage),  and Von Frick (a chemistry teacher).  People use their trail names to keep up with one another.  NOBOs and SOBOs ask after each other all the time.  I heard in town 3x that Birdy (Me!)  was picking up trash on the trail.  That was totally true.   Only a few people saw me do it but the legend went ahead of me by word of mouth.   Also, at the camping shelters, or in the privys there is usually a journal that hikers use to journal notes to one another.  A hiker will sign in using his/her trail name.

BAXTER STATE PARK/ KATAHADIN (5,268')
June 22,2010
We left Millinocket and headed down the country roads around 8 AM.  All along the way Old Man drilled us with hiking information: Get water at every opportunity.  The following towns are hiker friendly.  What to do if storms come while you are high in altitude. etc.   When we arrived at Baxter the Ranger checked us into our camp site.  We signed a document accepting financial responsiblity for any rescue made on our behalf.  He gave us a map, a trash bag and allowed us to borrow a day pack so we didn't have to carry a full pack up Katahadin and down again.   We were leaving from the Kathadin Stream Campsite, on the north side of the park, and climbing Katahdin on the 10.5 mile round trip, HUNT TRAIL.  This is a popular trail to summit Kathadin for thu-hikers but there are several other trails to summit the peak.  Each trail has a unique character and the people of Maine like to recrate by taking the different trails on Katahdin. 
image found at Whiteblaze.net
The day was crystal clear.  A perfect day for mountain climbing!   We left the station, stopping by on the way to see our camp site. 

The boys soon got ahead of me as I stopped too often to look at the campground birds:  Blue-headed Vireo,  Least Flycather, Ovenbird, Myrtle Yellowrump,  Magnolia Warbler, & Winter Wren.   The Hunt Trail leaves the camp ground an crosses over Kathadin Stream.  It winds through dense Spruce and Birch forest. Some of the singing birds at this zone were; Blackpoll Warbler (Dendroica striata), Nashville Warbler (Vermivora ruficapilla), Myrtle Yellowrumped Warber (Dendroica coronata), Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus),  Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis)and White Throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis).   As the trail assends, the trees become stunted and sparser.  Then huge boulders appear.  Some of the boulders are climbed hand over hand.  There are a few with iron hand holds to help people get a safe hold.  One the large boulders are accomplished there is a spine of rock slide to climb through.   The rock slides extend vertically far up the mountain.  Later, while I looked back on the mountain from miles and miles away, the huge rock slides are Katahdin,s signature, and you know for certain that it is Katahdin. 
After the rock slides the trail opens onto an area called the Tableland.  It is an expansiveI, relatively flat landscape, strewn with huge boulders, surrounded with the fragile plants of the Alpine.  On the tablelands is a spring, called "Thoreau Springs," and Thoreau made a visit to the area in his time.  Also, on the tableland I observed 6 nesting American Pipits (Anthus rubescens).  I watched their flight display. 
The Pipits fly high, up into the sky, calling,

image and more info:
http://www.bird-friends.com/BirdPage.
php?name=American%20Pipit
 "Few, few, few few,"  and dive down to the Alpine,
calling, "Pipit, Pipit, Pipit."   
I also observe trilling Juncos everwhere! 
Another bird on the tablelands are Common Raven. 
The veiw as you assend the mountain and from the summit is stunning.  Looking down from the summit at the glimmering mirrors of Maine's famous glacial  ponds and lakes which are bound by frames of thick green woodlands.  The wind is quick and cool on even a warm day.  The summit is very quiet but for the sound of wind, trilling of Juncos and song of the White-throated Sparrows.  
Climbing down Katahadin is much more challenging.  Often people bang themselves on the rock.  I know I did several times.  As I was coming down I ran out of water (just after that long talk from Paul too).  I was so thirsty I think I was delusional.  As soon as I arrived at the Ranger Station to pick up my pack I took my filter to katahdin stream and filtered several bottles of water.  I couldn't get enough!
Back at our campsite the boys were busy setting up camp and talking about the hike.  I had given Chris,the musician, his ten dollars back on Mt. Katahdin becasue he said he was feeling good and wanted to hike further south.  He was tired and changed his mind.  He gave me back the ten. Chris had hung his bear bag. Next, Ryan quickly hung his. I was impressed!  Madeline and I had a good time practicing hanging up a Bear Bag at lakeside Michigan.  She got the concept right away, even giving me pointers.
                                                    

Hanging A Bear Bag
 Tie a long rope to a heavy thing, like a rock.  Throw the rock over a  tree branch that is more than 10 feet tall and at least 6 feet from the tree trunk.  Once the rope is over, take off the rock, attach your food bag, and hoist it up high.  Once it is high enough but not too close to the branch, tie the other end of the rope to a tree.  Hanging food is imporant to keep it from bears and other critters like mice.  The Black Bears populate southern Maine, south to Georgia, and some bears make a habit of trying to get hiker food.  A number of hikers choose to sleep with their food rather than hanging it.  They prefer to defend it from bears.  I told the boys at camp that I was going to entertain them by hanging my bear bag......

Black Bear:
Image from
Animal.Discovery.com


REI Nylon Rope I used for
hanging my bear bag
(although mine was blue)
 
and it was great fun.  So much so, that the little family in the site next to ours sat at their picnic table to watch.  It took me 12 throws to get the rope over.  By throw 6  I was talking to myself......"Come on Birdy, you have to get the hang of this."  When I finally got the rope over the tree, it was beautiful!  The family next door clapped their hands.  My food was hung for the night!  That night the boys and I talked about our gear and hiking plans.  When we went to sleep the mice came out.  One mouse scampered across my head and I screamed! Not a good way to start out... by being a baby!  When ever I sleep in a shelter (instead of my tent) I usually wear the bug hat that Bruce gave to me. 

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