Maine trip

“95 to exit 56 - there are signs on 95 that say "BSP south take 56, and BSP north take whatever" you want the south entrance. Once you get off 95, take a left, go through East Millinocket past the exotic dance club on your right the Dolby flowage on both sides and on to Millinocket (don't miss the views of Katahdin right in front of your eyes) go through the lights with BSP headquarters, Ames, Rite Aid and McDonald's on the left and Shop'n Save and a coupla gas stations on the right. Fill up here even if you have a half a tank. Continue straight through the town (last town) and after the light bear right at the old Stearns High school (I believe at this point 11 goes off to the left) then bear left soon, and then pretty much straight the rest of the way. Obey the speed limit through here. Look for moose. There are signs from 95 all the way to the park.

I'm leaving a list of names at the gate and will have paid, so you'll be all set. When you pull up to the gate, just say you're with me (can you pronounce that name, lol? it's phonetic, but people still butcher it) and give your name. You may want to mention both Avalanche field and Russell Pond since the reservations are separate. You'll get a dash pass. The road is a narrow tote road, the speed limit is 20mph - do what you want, but you'll get scolded for going faster (if you can). Views of Katahdin and spots for moose sightings along the way, check out Stump Pond and any gravel pit you might see along the way. Deer are very common along the tote road.

Avalanche Field is the first campground, about 6 miles in, on both sides of the road. I believe our site is on the left.

Most of you know BSP is has strict rules and they won't let you in if you show up with a dog or other domestic pet (leave your damn cats at home, lol!) or more people than the permit is good for. Also, electronics are forbidden, which means CD players, radios, cell phones, etc.

Like I said before, I'll be at Avalanche field around 11 or noon, and will be hiking to Katahdin Lake. Feel free to join me for the hike or arrive anytime after that (or if planning on earlier or need to be picked up, let me know) and make yourself at home at site #1. I have a green (looks black) Suzuki Sidekick with a bike rack on the spare. Don't get pronged.

Yeah have fun on the NJ AT - I want to see pictures of more stupid human tricks and awesome views! I'll be on the AT in Maine Saturday, I'll think of you guys then as well! Not really, but we can pretend, lol!”

“Have fun, twigeater! Can't wait to meet you and thanks a million times over for arranging this trip. :-)”

“At the gate, you can go left or right, take the right.

As it is now, we don't have to take any tents to Russell unless someone wants to.”

“Thanks Artex and happy to do it! Looking forward to meeting all of you as well - glad to finally get some of you nuts to Maine and seeing stupid human tricks in person, lol!”

“wave to us from Baxter on Sunday???? Now that just isn't fair!!!! Hope ya have a great time though. :) So are you taking the Knife Edge up? . . . and don't they know you as twigeater at BSP? lol!

Artex: this trip is going to kick all forms of ass . . . and I can't wait!!!”

“Twigeater has a SideKICK. That explains her recent urges to give me the boot. ;-)

Great directions though and I'm looking forward to this trip.

Gforce - see you in the Whites and I'm sure we'll have a blast there, but I am EXTRA excited to HIKE MAINE.”

“I'm so excited that you guys are so excited! And Pennsy if you wear a skirt, I promise not to kick you anymore – but please don’t shave your legs. ;)

LOL, I should try reserving as twigeater next year! My motto is "the anonymous camper is a good camper" - means I haven't gotten into any trouble. :)

No Knife Edge for me, been there, done that, you craazzzyyy people! The prize on this trip is not Katahdin but Davis Pond - primo!”

“HOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!”

“Hey twiggy, I just realized you snuck cow patty into the latest list. That's cool, another one I haven't met!

Pennsy, is your offer of a ride from the airport Thursday night still on the table?

And what is the schedule on Monday, what time should I plan to fly out of Bangor?”

“Hey, I missed that! I forget where Cow Patty is from. Michigan?”

“The schedule on Monday can be whatever it needs to be - all we have to do is hike out the ~7 miles. I believe Bangor is about 1 1/2 - 2 hours from BSP, maybe add some time to drive out the perimeter road. I'll gladly pick-up/drop-off.

cow patty is from Michigan.”

“On the way out Monday, I can likely give whoever a ride to the Bangor Airport. Just don't make it a 5am flight or nothin'!”

“Don't you like to hike 7 miles and then drive 1 1/2 hours to an airport before 5 AM?”

“Yeah, what a wimp. Kick him Twiggy!

Fritz / UoMe - the offer still stands. Don't forget the cookies.”

“Cookies!”

“Wow, Fritz is going to have to be Pennsy's slave for or something life after this! OR, if Fritz can keep milkin' the cow... hmmm.”

“I just got some homemade moose jerky today, yum - I'll bring some along.”

“Wow, moose jerky!!!! Sweet! You can ask anyone that's hiked with me, I'm a big jerky fan. I make my own and will bring some up, but no way in heck it'll compare to actual moose jerky. :-)”

“and what's this about "milkin' the cow", eh, Artex? Oh,


nevermind.....”

“I've heard about you and your jerky Artex...”

“Only three weeks and two more days until we HIKE MAINE!

HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE!

Yahooooooo!!!!!!!!! :-)”

“Sing with me Artex!

Hike Maine! Hike Maine! Canoe Maine! Handstands and backflips in Maine!”

“I'll be buying my airline tix as soon as I get official notice that I have work thru mid-Jan. If I am out of work in Oct. I would prolly still come but I would drive.

Very much looking forward to this trip!

Knife's Edge! Knife's Edge! Knife's Edge! Knife's Edge!”

“Pennsy and I will be sure to get you guys up to speed on acorn ball. It's the backpacking sport of champions.”

“I think I'll do better at balancing a trekking-pole on my nose, or better yet, on the top of my foot.

Acorns, those I can juggle but only four at a time. Small rocks are even better, though.”

“I cannot wait to hear reactions to the Knife's Edge.

Heck . . .for a lot of combined fun.

From chimney pond, hike up the Cathedral trail (a lot of hand over hand stuff), across the knife's edge, and down pamola.

NOw that's a fun day!!”

“So you want to go to Maine? The days will go by fast, my friend. I'm sure you will have a great time.”

“Good grief, the forest fairies are at it again!

Hey, I have my itinerary for the trip:

Days 1-5: HIKE New Hampshire!
Days 6-10: HIKE MAINE!!!!
Days 11-15 HIKE Acadia!”

“Yes, Wasatch, it will be here very soon!

Pennsy, you suck! You're going to hit the jackpot with bag nights!

HIKE MAINE!”

“Good news...got my AMC Maine Mountain Guide/map yesterday!

Bad news -- was re-reading this thread and saw that the gates (BSP?) close at 10pm. I had been planning to fly into Bangor at 10:10pm, and Pennsy was (very kindly) going to drive out of the park to pick me up. But if we can't get back into the park, that doesn't really make sense. So...I am looking at my alternatives. I will probably have to lose another half-day of work, and arrive at 5:30pm.”

“Fritz, you forgot to say HIKE MAINE! Sucks you'll have to lose a half-day of work, but once you're climbing Knife Edge and running for your life from bull moose, it'll be the furthest thing from your mind.

HIKE MAINE!”

“That gate closing thing can be tough . . .I remember a herd of wild black bears started ransacking the shelters and campsites, it was chaos . . .blood, yelling and screaming . . . we all ran for the gates . . . they were closed . . .the guards just stood on the other side . . .laughing . . . it was a slaughter . . .I can still hear the screams . . .the screams and the laughter . . .the growling and gnashing of teeth . .. then the sreaming stopped and their was just the feeding . . .it was awful.



Yah . . .the gate closing policy . . .”

“Lee used to be a B-movie producer.

;-D”

“OOOHHHH! I forgot;

HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE!”

“Nowadays, that's more plot than you get with an A-level movie...”

“Considering another option...take Thursday off, fly up in the morning, hike out Sunday instead of Monday...

Hike Maine!
Hike Maine!
Hike Maine!”

“Holy Moly Fritz! I was kindly going to pick you up around 5pm. After 10pm goes beyond the call of duty.

I'm joshing but I sure like plan B better. If you fly up in the morning, I should be able to pick you up on my way up since I should be going through Bangor.

And of course the obligatory:

HIKE MAINE!!”

“I am really struggling with this. If I go up Thursday am, and hike out Sunday, I will miss the whole Sunday day-hike or canoe or whatever in that part of the park. Also I would have to rent a car for 4 days so I would have a way back to the airport Sunday.

If I take three full days off from work (Thurs/Fri/Mon), I will maximize this trip but I really can't afford all the days off. There's another hike in November that I might have to shorten or skip if I do that.

Ugghh! I hate being an adult. Or, more precisely, I hate being a big kid with adult responsibilities. ;)”

“Hmmm.... quite a dilemna Fritz. If it were me, I'd take the full 3 days off, save the car rental money and score the rides from UoweMe. As far as the Nov trip, we can do that anytime. After all, we are talking about HIKE MAINE!!”

“Fritz, if you leave a day early, that last day is when something spectacular will happen. Surely you don't want to miss out on ballroom dancing moose or bears juggling pine cones for our entertainment. Perhaps a sasquatch will even show up and play acorn ball with us. Shorten your other hike shorten your other trip so that you can HIKE MAINE!”

“Whoops, I didn't edit that last sentence properly, but you get the idea.”

“Greetings from the Eastport, Maine public library, where it's raining cats and dogs - really, I think Main Street is gonna wash away into the ocean...

A couple of corrections, ideas on what I previously said -

~ don't be lookin' for stump pond, cause it's on the other road, duh...

~ Bangor to Millinocket is 70 miles, Millinocket to the park is 18 miles, and then it's 6 miles on the perimeter road (20mph) to our campsite.

~ a couple of things on 95 - a nice stand of birches which should be pretty if the leaves aren't already on the ground, and the Alton bog is pretty cool (I think anyway).

~ for great unobstructed views/pictures of Katahdin, take a ride on the Golden Road before you come in the park if you can. It's unmarked, but take a left after Ambejejus Lake. There are great views of Katahdin for about 15 miles, until around Abol Bridge.

~ we CAN have 3-two person tents at the 6 person site, so we have room for four 2 person tents altogether.

~ there has been snow and ice on Katahdin (it didn't stick) but while I was there we had some #1 days. Also had some temps in the mid 30's at night.

~ I mentioned the gate closing before when mapleleaf and om were thinking of coming. But Fritz, if you leave early, you may miss one of my spectacular face plants. I do about one a day, one a hike, whatever. I expect the hike out on Monday to be the best flip I take all weekend!

~ the leaves aren't really changed yet, but everyone tells me they should already be on the ground by our trip. :(

~ lee's right, the most fun route for you guys would be up the Chimney Pond and Cathedral trails, across Knife Edge, down Dudley and Chimney Pond trails.

So lee, why don't you come along and show 'em how it's done!”

“Oh boy! Face plants...can I show you mine too! One day I will get hiking poles so I can impale my foot while I'm stablizing my hiking.

I'm going to print out your instructions, twigeater, but I confess that I have not purchased a Baxter map yet. Can I get one on the way into the park?”

“I am thinking about driving instead of flying. That way I can get in a full day of work on Thursday. I guess I would stay at the Best Western in Millinockett. That's about a 9 hour drive. What time will the Katahdin hikers be hitting the trail on Friday morning?”

“Twig ---

Woiuld love to go. It has been . . .10 years (holy cow!!!!!) since I have been in baxter.

I have few weekends/spans of days that I can use "just for myself". And I pretty much use all my available chits by skiing at Vail this spring with a friend.

In a few more years the boys will be old enough, and we can get up there as a family.

My hiking friend does want to do Kathadin . . .so perhaps if I can get him to committ to a long range plan, it could be one of our desitinations for next year.”

“Thanks for the update Twig!

Here's a link to the Maine Foliage page:
Maine's Official Fall Foliage Website

Also, here's a link to the New Hampshire Foliage page:
New Hampshire Foliage Report

HIKE MAINE!!!!!”

“Yeah, thanks Twigeater!

HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE! HIKE MAINE!”

“hmmmm twigeater . . . will that be after your wine iv? :)

Pennsy: have you ever hiked thru "the notch" in the Mahoosucs? That just might be one of my prime targets - weather depending. Looks like you could do a loop with a short road walk. BTW, it looks like cow patty will be joining us in the Whites too.

and of course . . . HIKE MAINE!!!!”

“Make shure you take lots of pictures Gforce!

8)”

“Yup, unless I get shoved out of the truck on the way to HIKE THE WHITES, HIKE MAINE !!”