Wednesday to Wednesday

Yesterday was the last of an eight-day workweek. We worked Wednesday to Wednesday on the annual Hunt Trail project. The Hunt Trail takes you to the Northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (Baxter Peak), and it is the route I took when I climbed Katahdin for the first time in July. About 1.3 miles up the trail is a granite staircase which starts after you pass Katahdin Stream Falls. Many friends of Baxter Park volunteer annually on this project on their long Labor Day weekend. It was great to meet and work with all of them, in addition to working for the first time out of training with our own trail crew.

There were three stations between which we all switched day to day. The Monster was located on the portion of trail where the steps will be placed. In a valley below was the Pit, where granite boulders were excavated, split, and wrapped in chains to be lifted above. At the Owl station, on the other side of the valley, was my favorite job. I watched through binoculars as each load was lifted out of the Pit by a grip hoist system using a steel cable running between the Owl and the Monster, then pulled in on a hand line of rope by about six people at the Monster. The three stations communicated by radio to coordinate the effort, and on our best days we lifted 21 and 22 loads from the Pit to the Monster.

Last night, our weekly barbecue was epic. Paul’s dad was there, and the volunteers from the project provided us one of the best dinners we’ve had since we’ve been here. I finished stuffing myself with about three times the size of a normal serving of hot cherry chocolate cobbler.

Fall is coming and life is most definitely good.