The summit on 08/09/08 was a grand day. 4 friends came up to climb the mountain and we had a pretty good time in the 10 hours of doing so. The rennisance costumes afforded us many interesting questions and comments as well as some grand photos.
I don't think I can adequetly explain the feeling of when I first saw the cluster of people around the summit. Many photos were had and then due to it being foggy and cold we headed back down the hill.
I suspect the warnings about only carrying low weight up the mountain are for those not in shape. As it is I carried about 25lbs of costume up with an additional 10lbs of food/water/misc. I came out of it perfectly fine...we shall just attribute my oddness to the other parts of the trip :)
A big thanks to all that helped in this trip and came out for the big final. Ill be shipping out photos as soon as I can go through them and cull. There is something like 2k photos.
People wanting to contact me: 149 Cape RD, Standish ME 04084 or 207-602-1443.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
Embracing the Zero mile days
A day in town waiting for the sunshine. I have eaten at the same sandwich shop I always do when I come to this town. Its a little Italian deli called Orvieto. Should ever find yourself up here I would recommend the place for great prices, and better food. The owner is really nice too and as odd as it seems when you know me and my anti-advertisement attitude I have been telling people for about 1k miles about that sub shop. mmmmm. I may have to go back tonight.
I spent the last few hours catching up with Lisa, a cousin that grew up with in Stonington, ME but have not seen in probably 25 years. Its interesting how the old connections leave you with so much in common...even if I do look like a hardened criminal in my skully fleece hat :)
In talking with someone from the Katahdin Press I found out that Millinocket is working on a sort of northern Maine trail fest for mid September. That's amazingly cool since this is the northern terminus and there seems to be a lot of support for us hikers up in this area. I'm amazed at how many people have not taken advantage of the former Governors (1920's?) gift of "Baxter state park."
Its still raining which is fine. Hopefully tomorrow will be the partly cloudy with chance of rain that the park predicted. I'm looking forward to it and for the guys to show up in a few hours. The journey will not be completely over as I hope to get together a 'best of' photos to burn cd's of them for any that are intersted.
Well I guess I should start the mile or so walk to where I said I would meet the guys. A quick jaunt in the rain. The feet are feeling much better but the replacement shoes didn't arrive so the trek up the mountain will be in the cursed boots I have. C'est la vi, no?
"Smile it confuses people"
:)
I spent the last few hours catching up with Lisa, a cousin that grew up with in Stonington, ME but have not seen in probably 25 years. Its interesting how the old connections leave you with so much in common...even if I do look like a hardened criminal in my skully fleece hat :)
In talking with someone from the Katahdin Press I found out that Millinocket is working on a sort of northern Maine trail fest for mid September. That's amazingly cool since this is the northern terminus and there seems to be a lot of support for us hikers up in this area. I'm amazed at how many people have not taken advantage of the former Governors (1920's?) gift of "Baxter state park."
Its still raining which is fine. Hopefully tomorrow will be the partly cloudy with chance of rain that the park predicted. I'm looking forward to it and for the guys to show up in a few hours. The journey will not be completely over as I hope to get together a 'best of' photos to burn cd's of them for any that are intersted.
Well I guess I should start the mile or so walk to where I said I would meet the guys. A quick jaunt in the rain. The feet are feeling much better but the replacement shoes didn't arrive so the trek up the mountain will be in the cursed boots I have. C'est la vi, no?
"Smile it confuses people"
:)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The roots of the mountain
Well I made it to the base of the mountain where I spent last night. I was actually going to summit twice, once today with Noah-John and again on saturday but decided not to go up today. I should have never told Noah I would catch him because it has left me a little disabled. The story: I saw Noah on west Avery mountain at sunset (gorgeous) and it was a bit surreal. He then informed me that he was going to jump ahead via car. I told him I would catch up making up the 80+ mile difference in what is rumored as the hardest state. Well, I did catch him but due to a new pair of unbroken in shoes I will be loosing another toenail and have some major healing to do on my left big toe. Perhaps those 2 (nearly 3) 30+ mile days were a bad idea, but it was worth it. I made it to the campground and it was good to catch up with him.
As it is I have talked with Baxter state park and all of the Maine residence passes for 8/9/08 are taken. The park opens at 5am (I hope to be there at opening) so that we can get a space at Katahdin stream campground. It looks to be a partly sunny/cloudy day that day. The skuttlebut is that it would take me about 3-5 hours to do this summit alone, but Ill be burdened down with a very heavy midevil costume so more than likely it will take me about the same time as everyone else and I suspect the hike to be between 8-12hrs. So Start time of about 6am would put us back at katahdin stream campground around 4-6pm. Hope this helps for anyone hoping to show up before or after. Ill have the cellphone on over the next day or two (207-776-6306 - I think thats the # or its 207-766-6306) so give me a call.
Good times. Its amazing how fast it went by. Its about time for me to go meet a cousin who lives in town that I have not seen for many, many years. Expect a visit from the criminal looking mountain man very soon. Mwhaaaahahhaaa....
Smile
-Aaron
As it is I have talked with Baxter state park and all of the Maine residence passes for 8/9/08 are taken. The park opens at 5am (I hope to be there at opening) so that we can get a space at Katahdin stream campground. It looks to be a partly sunny/cloudy day that day. The skuttlebut is that it would take me about 3-5 hours to do this summit alone, but Ill be burdened down with a very heavy midevil costume so more than likely it will take me about the same time as everyone else and I suspect the hike to be between 8-12hrs. So Start time of about 6am would put us back at katahdin stream campground around 4-6pm. Hope this helps for anyone hoping to show up before or after. Ill have the cellphone on over the next day or two (207-776-6306 - I think thats the # or its 207-766-6306) so give me a call.
Good times. Its amazing how fast it went by. Its about time for me to go meet a cousin who lives in town that I have not seen for many, many years. Expect a visit from the criminal looking mountain man very soon. Mwhaaaahahhaaa....
Smile
-Aaron
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