More Planning...

I read damn near everything and thanks to the Internet I can read w/o paying a cent to the rightful owners of books, the authors or their publishers. I also thank PDF files or if not that, format changing software that can reformat any file I download. I didn't pay for the software either.

I downloaded Henry David Thoreau's “The Maine Woods” last week and shot through it. I have read his “Walden; Life in the Woods” and it is what it is. If want a finely scripted work that talks about the noises one hears in your winter cabin at 1 AM on a January night, go for it. Ok, instead of being snarky about it, it's a watershed book that promoted the New England Transcendentalists rise to power. Transcendentalists? Think of the very first hippies, treehuggers and women activists...that appeared in the 1840's.  The first communes weren't established in the 1960's...they were tried here first in Massachusetts before the Civil War. They failed awfully then as they did in the '60s too. They nearly failed for the same reason, not enough food due to the division of labor being too loosey-goosey.

But that's another interesting story about 1840's men and women trying to have a go at it...

What I love about Thoreau, is his ability to describe anything and if you can read (God knows that's a dying skill) you can paint the picture in your head of what he's transcribing to you easily and with great detail. In his book, he describes a travelogue up the Penobscot river to Mount Kaatdn (Katahdin). He tells you of the river, the Indians, his traveling companions, woods, animals and black gnats as well. He's not like Dickens who will blow three pages on describing the room where one of his characters will eventually sit in and brood quietly to himself (I hate Dickens for this!). Instead, Thoreau moves the narrative along before he bores you.

The culmination of the story is his near assent up Katahdin and it reminded me of when I scooted up Mt St Helens. He depicts the weather changes, the rock, moss, lichens and the clouds as I remembered them to be as well. It sort of sparked my interest in scooting up and down piles of rock once more. I glossed over some articles on Katahdin, the Applachian trail and the more I read, the more I wanted to try Katahdin. I have rock climbed before. I had tried a bit of technical climbing as well, banging in petons and rappelling. I figured this would be a cool thing to do. Katahdin is barely over 5,000 feet whereas Mt St Helens was 8,300 feet...this would be easy!

Easy...

Baxter State Park in Maine is in that part of the state where nothing exists. A night time satellite shot of New England shows up Boston, Providence, Portland Maine easily whereas the backwoods of Maine is totally black. There's nothing there at all. These are the real woods. It also means there is precious little in the way of emergency services too.

I began to read more deeply into the trails up Katahdin and I kept coming across dire WARNINGS about the rockslides, lightning strikes and the numerous other injuries you can sustain by turning left or right. They close the trails by October 15 due the fact the summit can turn into winter in a few hours and you can freeze you nice and stuck to a boulder. I began to learn this hike had it's dangers.

Here's some detail of the “Knife's Edge,” a final ascent trail to Katahdin's summit.

“It is the most notable feature of Katahdin. Along with being the terminus of the Appalachian Trail, the reason Mt. Katahdin is such a popular hike amongst hikers is because of this trail. The path stretches roughly a mile and is all sharp granite rock. It is surrounded on both sides by steep cliffs and at sections is only three feet wide. It is a dangerous part of the mountain and accounts for most of the deaths from slipping and tumbling down the slopes below.”

Three feet wide is the breadth of a sidewalk. But the Knife's Edge isn't made of nice flat concrete and you usually don't have 50mph winds pushing you this way and that. I began to reconsider my idea. If I were to do this, I'd need to work out for it for over a month to get my “trail legs,” buy more equipment and then realize I'd run out of time by October 15...when the bad weather moves in to kill you.

What's needed according to Baxter Park base? This:

Working Flashlight

REAL hiking boots and not those pretty things you find at REI that look like hiking boots.

A Gallon of Water (Yes, you hump this up the mountain too)

Detailed route maps, compass.

Layered clothing.

Wool clothing, extra socks, shirts etc.

Bucket of Sunscreen as the UV up there is like a microwave oven.

Sunglasses.

High energy food

Duct Tape (Wrap up cuts and great for on the spot splinting material for your busted leg, or wrapping up your blistered feet)

Parachute cord

Whistle (for when you foolishly fall down a slope and live and can alert the others)

Large knife, matches, foil, First Aid Kit

I have a few of these items...not enough!

Also, I'm 51 years old and feel every bit of 51 too. Slower, achy-er and more bitchy. I live at sea level and I'm pretty used to these nice dense oxygen levels. I know from experience that above 3,000 feet, walking or climbing a hundred yards makes you feel you've just done a mile. You slow down quick and learn the dizziness is very much like being drunk, not great for making decisions. I'd have to recognize that I'm taking this on as a different person than I was when I was 29.

This is a project for next year. But I still would love to walk a part of the path Thoreau once did over a hundred years ago. It's also something to see as well, standing on a moon-like summit and seeing clear to Canada.

Click Pic for Larger

Knife Edge Up Close. Step Either Way and Down You Go. Click to Watch Movie.
Hear that Wind? Some of These Cliff Shots Will Make You Puke.