At dawn's first light,
a weeks'-awaited sight!
Frost sparkles in grass
as tincho in glass...
In case you were wondering, it is starting to get cold here. The first frost I saw was at Nesowadnehunk on 10/2, on our way up the tote road to South Branch Pond to hike the Traveller loop. It was one of the most beautiful hikes I've done in the park.
I got my first real preview of the coming winter two weeks ago, when a bunch of us on the trail crew did our sunrise ascent up Katahdin. We hiked up to the backcountry campground at Chimney Pond on Friday by headlamp, where we spent the night in the yert - a small circular structure with a pentagonal windowed ceiling. After warming up a few minutes by the woodstove (which creates a heat comparable to the gates of hell in a building of that size, no matter what the temperature is outside), we walked over to the pond. Situated below the Saddle, the Knife's Edge, and all three peaks of Mount Katahdin, at an elevation around 2,700 feet, the wind across Chimney Pond was unbelievably cold and strong. It was also a clear night with a new moon, so it was only by the light of a million stars that we were able to make out the distinct outlines of Pamola, South Peak, and Baxter Peak all above us. In the morning, before a 6:30 sunrise, we climbed up to the summit via the Saddle, where we were greeted by more whipping winds and a few inches of snow on what, as I've mentioned, is the highest elevated point in the state of Maine.
Back at ground level, the highs today and yesterday were in the 40s. With overnight lows regularly below freezing, we now have to leave the faucets running overnight (this goes against everything I know, I like to tell people). We actually had to leave them running over 48 hours straight this past week, as we went on our only real "spike camp" of the season, where we camp near the trail where we are working. It was only for two nights, and I honestly wasn't really all that excited to be going because (obviously) I expected to FREEZE. However... it weren't too bad.
To backtrack: Monday was our Fall Meeting and Banquet, which I explained to Sarah is "like the Wine Fiesta of Baxter Park." It was a fun and interesting day, with every employee of the park in attendance, from the Director, Jensen Bissell, to the famous Maine author (and Daicey Pond ranger) Andy Vietze, all the way down to the measly Trail Crew interns. After the meeting, Lily (information and education department intern) and I used the mirror and plug in the bathroom at headquarters to do our hair and makeup for the first time in three months, and metamorphasize back into our civilized selves. I must say it felt good when all heads turned to us upon arrival at the fine River Drivers restaurant (incidentally, I knew where this place was because of a mishap several weeks ago). "You look like my attorney," Ned, in his Stihl hat, told me.
Since we got an eight-hour day in on Monday (usually we work four tens with three day weekends), we worked eight hour days Tuesday through Friday. We started at the usual time, 7:00, but finished work at 3:30. It was nice on spike camp because we were able to get our fire started, cook and eat dinner before dark, and get to bed literally by 7:30. The place we were staying was on Katahdin Lake, a recently acquired section of the park. It is an area just East of Katahdin, the final parcel which Governor Baxter wished to add to the now-complete park. We hiked back to the truck on Thursday, stopping to complete our most important and awesome task of the trip. A beautiful 90 year old hemlock right next to the trail had a deer stand in it (like a treehouse but basically just a chair). As you can probably guess, she had to come down.
Special thanks to my chainsaw, Mushrat.
The next day, yesterday, "work" consisted of a tour of the SFMA (with the forester, Dee) as well as some points of historical interest along the Telos section of the Golden Road (with Paul). Bitter wind brought in a few flurries of snow. This is just the tip of the iceberg, they tell me. Every day it's,"JeezumCROW, Meghan. You're Cold? Y'know this ain't exactly the southern hemisphere." Regardless, it was a great day. We'd been looking forward to this tour for awhile, crossing our fingers that it would even be a go. One look at these pictures and you'll understand why.
Shook behind the controls, in the harvester
a forwarder
Five more days here. Hmm. What's next for Miss Rainorshine?
