no steam shovel

So I finally popped my Husson Outdoors Club cherry this weekend and ascended Katahdin, in one fell swoop.

I’ve been a “member” of the HOC by proxy for about a year now. About this time last year I went on my first Thursday Night Climb at UMO, where I met Christine and Spenser. Now, practically all of Jen and I’s mutual friends are HOC members. I never attend meetings, and until now, I never participated in any HOC events, besides Thursday Night Climb.

I found out I was going on the Katahdin trip on Tuesday evening, when Jen told me there was a hike the coming weekend, and she had signed me up.

This is usually where I say something like “I was skeptical at first…” but I wasn’t. Right from the get-go I knew it would be a great trip, and it was.

We left late Friday afternoon, so we could camp out Friday night, and make the park gate shortly after it opened (at 5am Saturday morning). We had pizza and beer, and sat around the fire until about ten, when most of us broke off to hit the hay. The was, however, a small group of us who kept the party going until midnight, drinking yet more beer and playing Ultimate Frisbee (not a good combination, mind you).

I slept under the, uh, clouds… I wouldn’t really call it sleep though, more like, suffered… Hard ground… Cold breeze… Persistent dew… Probably the worst choice of the weekend. But I made it.

Some would think the drinking would have been the bad choice, but not for me. I was rip-roarin’ and ready to go at 4am on Saturday, unlike the rest of the crew (a bit of a role reversal really). We got on the mountain at about 7am and made the ascent in 4 hours. It was amazing!

I can’t remember the name of the names of the exact trails we took, but I do know that once we were above the tree line, we were climbing God’s pile-’o-marbles. After a brief stint climbing boulder after boulder, the trail leveled out to the Tablelands for about a mile or so. After which, we weren’t simply climbing boulders, but walking a tightrope of boulders, a mere five to ten feet wide, with a virtual drop-off to either side.

The entire day was cloudy, with a chance of rain, and the mountain, compressing the air as it rolled over, didn’t help matters. At the tree-line the view was relatively spectacular, with clouds rolling off the mountain and into the bowl below, but by the time we reached the boulders the clouds were thick, leaving visibility to a mere 100 feet forward and behind. It made the climb endless, as the boulders just kept coming, and the top was no where to be found. Of the 25 who signed up for the trip, only 18 actually came. Of those 18, only 12 of us actually made it to the top. When we made it to the summit it was a bit chilly, and the view was nonexistent, but spirits were very high.

After lunch, we took the requisite pictures at the peak, and made our hasty descent. From the peak to the parking lot, we spent about 3 hours on the trail, with a quick little stop at a river crossing and waterfall (where I took my only pictures from the hike).

I brought my camera on the trip, but the overcast, haze, and shear exhaustion, made hold off on th pictures. Luckily a few of the others brought their compact cameras (something I should invest in at some point), and no precious moment was lost. I couldn’t, however, hold back when we passed the waterfalls the second time.

At first I told myself I would take the pictures the next time I made the hike, but there was no telling when that would be. Not knowing when I would get back there to take the shots, I couldn’t let myself leave the mountain without taking advantage of the opportunity, so when we reached the stream crossing, I took off from the group and took a few shots (at one time venturing almost a half mile up the stream, wading and walking the banking).

All in all I am very happy with the trip. I had a great hike, finally summited Katahdin, spent a wonderful day with Jen, got some pretty cool shots, and went of my very first HOC outing.

A weekend well spent, if there ever was one.