When Brian managed to score in the lottery for a cabin up at Baxter State Park, I was wicked excited to be invited along. I’ve spent countless days and nights on the Appalachian Trail throughout my life, but have never been to the northern terminus up at Mt. Katahdin. Even though January weather meant Mt. Katahdin wasn’t even up for consideration, we were both excited for a weekend in the snowy woods. Forecast had daytime highs in the low teens with nights getting down to -20F air temps, but luckily we’re sturdy.
With my old Prius questionable on central Maine’s unmaintained winter roads and Brian’s Impreza in the shop, Brian used a sweet work deal to rent a 4Runner for the trip that felt unnecessarily big. We picked up Brian’s college friend Lauren on the way north and realized that this was probably one of the few circumstances that a massive car like that may have been justified (even though the Prius probably could have made it work).
We made it up to the place in civilization we had booked to break up the travel days and settled in with dinner and games that the cabin had on hand. I didn’t realize just how unstoppable I am at Chutes & Ladders. The space was cozy and a nice chance to settle into the trip before leaving for the woods.
In full vacation mode the next morning, we moved a bit slower than we should’ve in getting on the trail (which will matter soon). We drove down a remote road to the trailhead and parked in a lot next to a bridge with incredible views of Katahdin towering beyond a frozen river.
An uncharacteristically mild winter, there wasn’t much snow on the ground. Brian and Lauren were still going to ski in (plenty of coverage for that), but my initial plan was to snowshoe, and after some consulting, decided the limited snow would just make them a nuisance. I left them in the car, Brian and Lauren stepped into their ski bindings, and after a few minutes of trying to find the trail in the snowscape, we headed off.
We had decided to take the Appalachian Trail in to the cabin – I mean, we’re there, so it felt silly to take one of the access roads or snowmobile trails instead. Kidney Pond was only 8 miles away, which with limited snow felt very reasonable. Heavier winter gear was (partially) offset by not carrying tents or pads. Heading down the AT, the trail was initially broken and very chill.
The trail followed along a river for the first few miles before turning right, heading deeper into Baxter. It was here that the trail was no longer broken for us, clearly some day hikers just out for a short out-and-back. Even though it hadn’t snowed for over two weeks, the trail was deep and tough to follow with seemingly nobody hiking this route. No big deal, until the day started to drag on a bit. A wicked cool frozen waterfall raised our spirits.
After just a hair of elevation brought significantly more snow, we eventually made it to the small river crossing that would bring us to our cabin for the night. Unfortunately, the river wasn’t frozen in the middle, which meant we had to add even more mileage going the long way around on a snowmobile trail. The light was fading, and we were tired, but I’m a good vibes guy so spirits remained high.
As we traveled down this road, a ranger on a snowmobile came by, heading out of the park for the evening. He said we were the last folks to arrive for the evening (out of just a few groups), and we told him that the AT took a bit longer than expected. He was surprised we took it to get in, but I guess we just didn’t know it wouldn’t have been broken. Personally, I’m happy we didn’t know. It was a hell of an adventure I’ll never forget.
We got into the cabin just as light was fading with temps dropping quickly. And let me tell you, it was fucking cold. We got a fire going quickly to try to warm things up and to start snow melting for drinking and dinner. We all sat really close to the fire in an attempt to thaw out a bit, and after what felt like forever the cabin was warm enough that we could venture more than a few feet away. I bundled up to take some photos of the stars, with a new moon and very little cloud cover. In hindsight, focus wasn’t great. You win some, you lose some – it was really cold and I was nervous about damaging my camera.
After a very chilly night, we woke up to see an alarming amount of daylight poking through the walls of the log cabin. To be honest, I’m a bit happy we arrived as night fell so we wouldn’t be alarmed at how rough the walls were. Life goes on, we survived. After stoking the fire to melt snow for the day’s drinking water and eating a quick breakfast, we hit the trail to head out.
We took the access road to get out, closed for the winter but well traveled by snowmobiles. Brian and Lauren skied but my long legs kept me leapfrogging with them between uphill and downhill sections. A gentle snow made the walk magical. I enjoyed the solitude of crunchy steps on soft snow with the falling flakes muting forest sounds around me.
Near the end, we linked up with a trail that would take us back to the car. This trail clearly saw a ton of day use and was really comfy to follow. Vibes were high to end the trip. Brian and Lauren took a sick album cover photo.
Back in civilization, we took hot showers, rested, and went out for pizza and beers, both great but extra awesome given our exertion. As night fell, we drove back out towards Baxter to see the stars again. We stayed the night at the much more civilized cabin we had as base camp, before waking up early the following morning to head back to real life. This was one of my favorite trips in years, and wouldn’t have changed a thing.
