[00:00:08] Here is the latest Higher Summits forecast brought to you by our friends at the Mount Washington Observatory. Weather above treeline in the White Mountains is often wildly different than at our trailheads. Before you hike, check the Higher Summits forecast at mountwashington.org.

[00:00:31] Weather observers working at the non-profit Mount Washington Observatory write this elevation-based forecast every morning and afternoon. Search and Rescue teams, avalanche experts, and backcountry guides all rely on the Higher Summits forecast to anticipate weather conditions above treeline.

[00:00:51] You should too. Go to mountwashington.org or text FORECAST to 603-356-2137. Hello listeners! Nick here with your forecast for the weekend of August 1st, 2026.

[00:01:16] Friday. In the clouds trending towards mostly in the clouds under mostly cloudy skies. Slight chance of morning rain showers becoming a chance in the afternoon. Slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms. High in the mid-50s. Wind north shifting northwest at 15-30 mph decreasing to 10-25 mph. Higher gusts are possible with thunderstorm activity. Wind chill 30-40 above early and then rising. Friday night. Mostly in the clouds trending towards in and out of the clouds under mostly cloudy skies.

[00:01:45] Slight chance of rain showers before midnight. Slight chance of evening thunderstorms. Low around 50. Wind northwest shifting west late at 10-25 mph decreasing to 5-20 mph possibly becoming light and variable at times. Higher gusts possible with thunderstorm activity. Saturday. In and out of the clouds trending towards mostly in the clear under mostly cloudy skies. Slight chance of afternoon rain showers and thunderstorms. High in the lower 60s. Wind west shifting southwest at 5-20 mph.

[00:02:14] So, looking halfway decent for this weekend. Looks like there's a thunderstorm and shower threat lingering. Be safe out there. Happy hiking and go crush some peaks.

[00:02:29] From the Woodpecker's studio in the great live free or die state of New Hampshire.

[00:03:09] Welcome to the Sounds Like A Search And Rescue Podcast, where we discuss all things related to hiking and search and rescue in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and beyond. And Nick.

[00:03:41] Episode 240, guys. We've got Peter and Jake here. They're veterans of the podcast now. So welcome, welcome, welcome, Jake. Welcome. Thank you. Welcome, Peter. Thanks, sir. Good to be here. Peter is almost a true New Hampshire. He's a Massachusetts person moving up to New Hampshire, the worst type of person ever. So very exciting. I hope to infect everybody. You will. You can bring your Massachusetts vibes to New Hampshire. Cooties.

[00:04:09] So anyway, if anybody ever wants to yell about Massachusetts people getting in trouble up in New Hampshire, just message Peter directly with your complaints. He's going to be our new press guy up there. He will be. He will be. All right. So listen, I have, I mean, I get a lot of text messages when these crazy news stories happen. I have never gotten more text messages and links to, like even my mother sending me this stuff.

[00:04:37] So hiker impales himself on his own hiking pole and then hikes out 10 miles. So I want to ask you guys, if there was one hiker in our little group, so Peter and Jake and Nick and I were all in this little hiking group. There's about 10 of us. If there was one hiker in our hiking group that you think would like be able to handle this, get impaled with a hiking pole and just hike out 10 miles, which one of our friends do you think would be top of your list for being able to do that?

[00:05:05] I have my vote, but I'm curious to see what your guess is, Peter. There. Gamal. That was immediately my friend, Paul. In the following weekend, he'd come back and just kind of tell it nonchalantly. Yes. You know, here's what happened last weekend, guys. Yeah. Yeah. So Paul's the oldest one of our group, but also like the craziest as far as hiking and whatnot. So I could definitely visualize Gamal walking down trail impaled by a trekking pole and just be like, I'll get it. Look at that.

[00:05:35] Like, I'm going to get down. I'm getting down. Yep. He was my Jake. I don't know if you had any different opinion or not. You seem to be concurring. All right. His network connection. We lost Jake. We lost Jake. So he'll be back on. But all right. So we all agree Gamal is the guy that would be impaled by the hiking pole. So this is a crazy story. The nice thing about this is yesterday, the story came out. I got flooded with people messaging me. Nobody really had pictures.

[00:06:04] But now I'm looking at backpacker.com, but there's a bunch of pictures of it. So now the friends took pictures of him. So you can visualize exactly what happened here. So he, it sort of looks like he got impaled under the armpit and then through his back. So it's like about eight inches of like kind of rib cage, I guess. So I don't know how he went a fell to have that happen. I don't know what happened. I don't know. It's funny.

[00:06:31] In here, all they say is that he slipped off a rock, but it said when he was two miles shy of the summit on a hike of Montana's Granite Peak, he fell and accidentally impaled himself through his torso. But the way that the trekking pole is facing, it seems like it would have had to have been upside down while he was holding it. Like I'm confused. Right. Exactly. He would have had to have dropped it or somehow fallen in order to stab himself because the handle is like, is facing him forward.

[00:07:00] So I don't really know logistically how this happened, but he's basically got a full hiking pole and he's got like a long hiking pole. Like I keep mine kind of short, but his is extended. And the hard thing about this one is that the handle is sticking out probably like a foot and a half from his body. So I would assume every time he walks, the handle is like shaking a little bit and moving his, he basically has a giant piercing on the side of his rib cage.

[00:07:28] So I think there was a couple of guys that were having a sword fight up at the top and they just don't want to admit it. And he gets stabbed by one of his friends. Cause I mean, that's the only way that that happens. Someone suggested a jousting match perhaps, but yeah, it's just really awkward. I just can't imagine how he could do that. Yeah. It's crazy. So this happened on July 20th. This guy's name is David Cifaldi. He was two miles shy of the summit.

[00:07:54] Like you said, slipped on a rock and got the trekking pole put in. Then he took a few deep breaths to evaluate his injury, which helped him determine that the pole hadn't punctured his chest or his lung. His friends quickly spurred into action, photographing the wound so he could better evaluate it. I mean, I appreciate that. I would immediately photograph that too. He said he was pretty confident it was a soft. So the good thing about this guy is he's a nurse and he like works in a wound care center.

[00:08:23] So he was pretty confident that it was a soft tissue injury. His friends helped him stand up. They kind of walked around a little bit to make sure he didn't get dizzy or lightheaded. And they contacted search and rescue with the Garmin GPS, but Cifaldi was adamant that he could make it down the peak with the help of his friends. And so he just started hiking out. He left the trekking pole in place using his running vest chest strap like a sling.

[00:08:50] Then with one friend in front and the other in back monitoring for bleeding, the trio began the 10 mile descent back to the car. So that's one way to like keep your hiking friends like under control. If you don't want them to talk, you just slap the hiking pole that's impaled in their chest. So making it back to the car was not a simple endeavor. Took about six hours and around four miles shy of the trailhead, the group stopped to refuel.

[00:09:19] And at that point they started making kebab jokes. And then the friends were going up ahead, just warning people that, Hey, there's a guy coming through. That's got a hiking pole stuck in his, in his side. So they were just warning hikers that had kids or anybody that was squeamish. So, but I guess they removed the, the trekking pole and he's, he's recovering. So that's pretty crazy. Yeah. I mean, they mentioned he was a nurse, but I feel like with those things, it's gotta be totally different when you're the one that's like impaled and you're not seeing someone else that's impaled that you're trying to take care of.

[00:09:49] Yeah. Yeah. Also got a really good idea for a new Halloween costume. Could be this guy for Halloween. The impaled hiker. Yeah. The stuff does happen. Like I remember like back when I was a kid, Nick, again, this is, you wouldn't remember this, but Peter and Jake might remember this. There was a show that's incredible and they would have shows on it. There was like a guy that apparently got like a metal pole stuck through his brain and survived. Yeah. And you could see it on like, um, Ripley's believe it or not.

[00:10:17] And, and the world Guinness book of world records. But yeah, that stuff does happen. People get impaled. Hmm. Somebody had said that it was a good, good reminder to, um, put your, keep your, uh, winter. What are those things called? Baskets. Bills on the end of your poles. So you don't get impaled. The baskets. The baskets. Yeah. Stomp, uh, let us know, uh, that this is also why he thinks tracking poles are not safe to use on descent. That's true. He was validated.

[00:10:46] He said, see, I told you not to use the hiking poles. So, all right. Um, now this is, so we're going to get into. Uh, so I'm going to do the intro now. I forgot to do the intro. So welcome to episode two 40 of the sounds like a search and rescue podcast. This week we are joined by our friends, Peter and Jake. They're here to give us the breakdown of our most recent trip to Baxter state park in Maine, where we hiked Mount Katahdin. And so this is going to be a two part series. So we're doing part one, which is basically day one and day two of our trip.

[00:11:15] And we're going to talk about all the logistics of planning a trip for, uh, Baxter state park for an overnight, the cabin details, the hike that we went on and all the logistics around it. So, um, stick around if you're interested in that. And then in addition to that, we've got an update on a rescue on Mount Yosemite of a plus size hiker that has gone viral. Fishing game in New Hampshire advocates for managing clear cutting to mitigate wildfires.

[00:11:40] Uh, we've got some stories on the national level of, um, continental divide hikers, forest service employees getting kidnapped. We've got, um, some other, I guess we, we don't even have notable hikes. We're going to just get right into the Baxter state park stuff after this. So yeah, that's all I got. So I'm Mike and I'm Nick. Let's get started. Let's get started.

[00:12:15] All right. Next up is, um, Alzheimer's association, Nick Alzheimer's association, 48 peaks, use your passion for hiking and Alzheimer's joined 400 plus hikers as they climb New Hampshire's 4,000 footers or create their own challenge to support the mission of the Alzheimer's association. Fundraising ends August 31st. So there's still plenty of time to get involved and all those who raise $125 or more will receive the annual purple performance t-shirt. Let's turn the white mountains purple to end alls.

[00:12:43] Visit alls.org slash 48 peaks to learn more. Nick, what's the heaviest that you've ever been in your life? Um, so when I was in middle school, I was like, I was like two 60. Yeah. Two 60. Yeah. I was like two 60 when I was in like six, seventh grade, probably seventh, eighth grade around that age. How much? No wonder you couldn't ride a bike. Yeah. I was, I was, Hey, now I could have ridden a bike. I just would have been a little top heavy. Yeah.

[00:13:11] I was, uh, yeah, I was pretty, uh, I was a pretty hefty kid for a while. And then I think puberty and stuff, I think I'd in high school, I'd probably dropped down to like one 75 or something at one point. I'm like around one 85 now, but yeah, I was up to like two 60 when I was, I was young. Two 60. Yeah. What, what about you? Me? Yeah. About one 85. Right after I had my second kid, I get a little pudgy. Yeah. Was that margarita? Was that the margarita? My margaritas and the chips. I want to see my, I want to see pictures of margarita Mike one day. I'll have to find that. I have pictures of me, fat Mike.

[00:13:40] Like, so I'm just, my wife always says, she's like, I miss fat Mike. He was so fun. I'm just imagining you like scarfing down like Tostitos and salsa, like alone in the dark in the kitchen or something. Like Kristen's like, what are you doing in there? It's like nothing. Like just crinkles. I was like, how I was going to pay the bills with all these kids. I was like, what did I get myself into? I was depressed. Give me another bag of Tostitos. Anyway. Well, anyway, the reason I ask guys is that there's a story going on. I actually didn't touch this thing. I got this from a bunch of people.

[00:14:09] It's about this hiker in Yosemite that the plus size hikers. That's what you, that's the way you call it. That's what you say, Nick is plus size. So large than average. The, there was a video that went viral. Apparently it was from a hike from 2024 where there was the, this group of hikers. The group is called the Hobbit hikers and they're a plus size, like body positive group of hikers

[00:14:36] that get people out and encourage them to get outside and do, do different hikes. So they were hiking the mist trail in Yosemite, which starts at like, um, just below Camp Curry and then goes up to Vernal Falls. And, um, you know, it's, it's basically the main route to start the John Muir trail out there. And the video went viral because it was, um, a bunch of plus size hikers that were being interviewed before they went on their hike. And they were talking about like, I'm so-and-so and I'm going on a hike of the mist trail.

[00:15:04] And then at the very end, they finished it with, um, one of the hikers needed a rescue and she got helicoptered out. So the, the reason it went viral was just because, um, I think people assumed like, okay, well they, they, they put a, they put themselves in a situation they shouldn't put themselves in because they weren't prepared for the level of, um, strenuous hike that they were, they were faced with. So, um, it turns out that the, um, the real story behind it is a little bit different.

[00:15:31] So, uh, at the end of the video, people were talking about how she got charged $70,000 for her rescue. The truth is a little bit different on this one. So, um, what ended up happening here is that, um, this, this woman was part of a group called the Hobbit Hikers, which is organized by a, um, uh, I guess a group organizer named Chelsea McCurdy who takes, um, plus size hikers all over the world and they organize hikes and they

[00:15:59] had actually hired a guy to take them out to this group of, I don't know, 10 to 15 people. And, um, McCurdy was interviewed about the, the hiker. So it was a hiker in her group that got rescued. She, she clarified that there was no bill charged to grace or anyone in our group. Grace is the woman that got rescued. The video claiming that there was a $70,000 bill was made by a fake news account using a screen recording of my original video. There was no ambulance hospital or private insurance charges as grace was safely lowered

[00:16:27] into a field in Yosemite national park. Um, helicopter rescues in national parks in most back country areas are generally free. The national park service said that the federal government funds rescues inside of national parks. So they do not charge visitors for search and rescue operations. So, um, ultimately what ended up happening is they, they had a guide. They were hiking from the start of the mist trail up to Clark's point, which is, I've been on this trail. Me and Tom did this one.

[00:16:56] It's like a paved trail basically. And it's paved up until the first, I think it's about maybe two miles to get up to Clark's point, maybe a 1200 feet of elevation gain, uh, pay for the first half mile. And then after that, it's pretty smooth, a little bit of rock hopping, but nothing too crazy. 1200 feet of elevate, the elevation gain. Um, but ultimately the guide was the one that called because this, this woman, grace was not

[00:17:24] doing well and they were, they were quite worried that she was showing signs of heat exhaustion. So, um, the, the group got together called search and rescue based on the, the guide's recommendation. And then they did, they did helicopter her out, but, um, a little bit different. I guess she was, um, in and out of consciousness at the time. So they really panicked on her. So, um, they gave her IV fluids and nausea medication. They gave her some Gatorade, asked her a bunch of questions, did some tests.

[00:17:53] And then, um, ultimately when they, the search and rescue team came up the trail first, then they made the call to get the helicopter in there to, to carry her out. So, so that's it. That's, that's the story of the plus size hiker that went viral. So, so kind of easy to judge and laugh at, at something like that, but ultimately like you do kind of feel bad and it's, I don't want to discourage anyone from getting out there and doing their thing, but, um, you also have to know your limits, I guess, Jake, I would say. Absolutely.

[00:18:23] I mean, you gotta know your limits. You gotta start somewhere though. Um, you know, what she started on was probably a little past her limit. Right. Exactly. Um, and then I'll link in the show notes, this Hobbit hiker thing. So she's got some good trips here. She's doing, um, the Northern Lights in Iceland. They've got a Yellowstone camp out in September and a couple of other things. She's got a lot of good reviews here. So I think we want to encourage people to get out.

[00:18:52] Um, but like I said, and like you said, Jake, you know your limits and don't, don't bite off more than you can chew. I think that probably this one was less about the distance and the elevation than it was about the heat. And she probably just hadn't experienced that type of, um, heat and strenuous activity in a while. So she'll know her limits. Nick, any thoughts on this one? Anything you want to say to the plus size community? Uh, not, not particularly. I'm glad everybody's getting out there.

[00:19:21] One thing I did want to call out too, is that the keyword in the not paying for helicopter rescues is a national parks. So like if you're in New Hampshire, it's a state park or I should say it's a national forest, but national forest, but areas of it are in state parks, like Franconia notch state park and things like that. So jurisdiction's a little bit different. And I would expect that they might bill you for a helicopter rescue, depending the circumstances. Um, if you were to get into a tricky situation in the whites. Yeah. I don't know how solid that is. Like if you're acting like an idiot, the, I think the feds can, can charge you if they

[00:19:51] want to. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what the process is from there and how often that happens, but I mean, we've certainly seen, uh, even in the past year, people get charged for being reckless, uh, before with search and rescues. And it's usually a really hefty bill when you start adding up the hours, uh, for employees and then state that, uh, state activated search and rescue folks as well. So a lot of money. Very good. Um, all right. And locally here in New Hampshire, just changing topics here, Nick, um, the representative James Spillane, I don't know anything about this guy.

[00:20:21] I don't know what political party is or any of that stuff, but he's the chairman of the New Hampshire fishing game committee, um, state rep. So he put out a, uh, a notice over Twitter around advocating for clear cutting the forest. So he says for decades, the general public was told that clear cutting was a terrible thing and environmental sin that destroyed the woods. Almost everybody bought into that narrative, except the people actually worked in forestry. They knew the truth all along. And now thank goodness more folks are waking up to it.

[00:20:50] Managed clear cutting is one of the best tools we have for healthy, resilient forest here in New Hampshire, responsible forestry practices, including strategic clear cuts. Have helped keep our woods remarkably free of catastrophic wildfires for a very long time. By removing excess fuel loads, dead trees, thick underbrush and overcrowded stands, we present prevent the kind of explosive uncontrollable fires that have devastated other parts of the country. So anyway, he's advocating for this and he says, let's keep supporting science-based responsible

[00:21:19] forest management here in the Greenwich state, our wildlife, our firefighters, our economy and future generations will all be better for it. So, um, this guy wants to cut. Yeah, it's interesting. I was doing a little bit of research before having, um, again, with my two cents, but, um, it's interesting if you start reading a lot of the popular stuff on clear cutting, a lot of people say that clear cutting isn't great because it removes mature trees that tend to be more resistant to fires and things like that.

[00:21:46] However, um, the same kind of on the flip angle of that, uh, which almost makes it sound a little hypocritical, but not quite is it controlled cutting and stuff like that, which to me is almost sounds the same as a controlled sort of clearing and, and what they're advocating for. I guess that's more selectively clearing certain trees out that are dead and underbrushed like that. But I think the feasibility of that generally ends up not really being an option to go ahead and like cut like these five trees, but maybe not these five mature ones in the forest. So, um, it's a kind of an interesting subject if you start sort of reading about it.

[00:22:14] Um, and it, the trouble with things like this, and we don't, we don't get political on our show, but this, this type of topic with climate change and wildfire smoke and things like we see it's, it becomes quickly politicized, I think. So it becomes really hard to actually get to the truth on these types of things when you actually start looking, uh, online. Right. Yeah. I know that this was a big talking point when it came to the wildfires in California, like a year or two ago.

[00:22:40] And, uh, I mean, it's, it seems like a lot of the experts agreed that, that, that, that, that dead growth in the forest definitely helped with, uh, the, the fuel of the fires that have, and none of those houses have been built back in California at this point. So, um, New Hampshire, I think we're a little bit lucky just because I feel like our forest are a little bit, they're more, they're wet. They tend to be more wet. So maybe we're, we're getting lucky, but I mean, we've had periods in the recent past where

[00:23:10] we've had like drought conditions and it can dry up and we've certainly had our, our number of small fires. We just haven't had a big one knock on wood. Yeah, for sure. All right. Uh, so anyway, we'll keep an eye out for clear cutting, but I guess the point is, um, just expect that there's probably going to be more cutting in the forest and, and maybe, maybe don't, don't freak out about it. If it, if it happens, it may be good. So. Mm-hmm. All right.

[00:23:35] Next up here, we got a continental divide hiker story here from Cowboy State Daily. This is Stomp's favorite newspaper, by the way. Um, he's not with us anymore, but, um, this is about the Atlantic City, I guess, is the name of, um, of this article, Nick. So what's the, what's the story here? So it's about this, uh, this little city basically along the CDT and they're saying,

[00:24:02] uh, that this town has been getting a big economic boost, uh, from hikers kind of crashing, uh, when they're hiking the CDT. Um, so mentioned here, uh, basically they have an Atlantic City mercantile, um, and the owners kind of basically servicing people from the CDT. Um, and they're generally just kind of happy to be able to service these CDT hikers. They kind of can give them ice cream and different foods. Um, just noting that they usually are trying to eat as many calories as quickly as possible.

[00:24:30] Um, so yeah, this Atlantic City, it sounds like it's sort of an up and coming town along the CDT and I think the CDT, uh, correct me if I'm wrong guys, but that's the newest of the three long trails. Correct. So I don't know. Um, I don't know the age of them, but it's certainly like the least traveled. Like, I don't think you're going to make a lot of money off servicing through hikers on the continental divide trail. I'm thinking like Peter, there probably can't be more than six, 600 to a thousand people per year that hike that. Right. Yeah.

[00:24:58] I think that's, that's certainly the lowest traveled. Um, how many started out versus finished? I feel like most of the people who are hiking the CDT probably have already done the other two. So it's probably got a higher percentage of completion rate, but, but yeah, you're not tackling that likely. Yeah. And I think that the point of this article is that, um, it's, the town is embracing it and seeing some benefits from catering to hikers, which is sort of a new, new dynamic. So maybe there is enough growth there.

[00:25:28] I mean, laundry mats, restaurants, car services, those are all things that I think are good businesses to build up around through hikers anyway. Right. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it says the community only has 60 people, so that's pretty tiny. So you can imagine if you get like a couple of hundred people rolling through there and you got a restaurant and some things like that, um, definitely a great opportunity to make money. Cause I can imagine a town that small, it gets kind of tough to, when you think about like a town's economy with like supermarkets and like a gas station and like, um, government and expenses like 60 people is pretty tight.

[00:25:58] I got to think they don't have a giant budget to go around. Right. Very good. Um, all right. This next story here, um, I, me and Stomp were exchanging messages about this one. So this happened mid July. There was, um, two U S forest service employees are alive and free after being kidnapped and held for hours at gunpoint in a trailer at a remote lake in the Shasta Trinity national forest. So the employers were conducting field work near a campground when two men, a father and

[00:26:25] son abducted them at gunpoint, zip tied them and led them to a remote trailer. According to officials, um, the father, Joseph Charles, why do they always have three names? I don't understand that, Nick. Anyone doing bad things in the news is three names. Well, they give you your middle name, right? Yes. Joseph Charles Hendrickson, um, use one of the government workers phones to make a call. It was not clear to whom in which he described taking two fed employees hostage from the forest service.

[00:26:50] Um, then there was like a 15 hour, uh, exercise to get them back. So this included like the FBI elite hostage response team flown in from headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, U S forest law and U S forest service law enforcement officers also work with the FBI and the local County Sheriff's office, um, in order to, uh, to work through trying to get these two out of the trailer was somewhat in this area near what's called gumboot Lake, um, accessible

[00:27:20] only by dirt roads in the Shasta Trinity national forest. Sheriff's deputies reached the area around noontime and use drones to look for the trailer. They located it around one o'clock. Um, and then they started communicating with the kidnappers not long after that, but it wasn't until like later on in the day, um, that law enforcement really began to negotiate. Uh, but it was well into the night at around two in the morning, the men, the two men released the two hostages.

[00:27:48] Um, and, um, um, after that, um, I guess they exited the trailer and, um, they were arrested by federal authorities in charge with kidnapping. So there's no reference here around the motivate motivation yet, but they did have an AR 15 assault rifle and knives in the trailer with them. Um, at one point they said that they also had grenades and live rounds and they had no criminal

[00:28:18] history in the area. Um, but apparently they had had multiple prior arrests for the person with the same name in Oregon, California, and Washington. And they also had a hate crime history in Washington. So, um, it sounds like these guys are a little bit probably like off the grid type preppers or, uh, sovereign citizens that didn't like the federal workers being in their area. So pretty scary. You think that could happen in New Hampshire, Nick? I don't think so.

[00:28:48] It does seem like when you hear about a lot of these stories and I haven't been to the Pacific Northwest, it looks beautiful, but it seems like as far as serial killers and people abducting you, um, it seems like it's a good place to get off the grid between Washington, Oregon and sort of that little corner of the country. It seems like a lot of these stories tend to come out of there. Right. It's very serial killer. Yeah. I don't know if it's that moody vibes or serial killer. Yeah. Yeah. I do feel like there's that one house. I don't know if you guys know this way, you know, that one house on, uh, like if you

[00:29:14] go to the, the ice gulch and, um, also like Peter, I think probably knows what I'm talking about. There's one house that like at the, as you exit the ice gulch and you walk down that road back to, back to your car. Like they have this, like, it's very clear, like no soliciting, do not enter. It's very scary looking house. And I feel like it just might have barbed wire around it or something. If it doesn't, it should. Right. Right. And it's kind of weird cause that road has some beautiful homes on it up in Randolph,

[00:29:44] but that, that one house always creeped me out. I was like, if somebody's, somebody's going to go on that. I think there was a case in New Hampshire years ago of somebody that had like a tree house and, um, there was a big standoff and he had like unbelievable amounts of, um, uh, ammunition. And they, I think it, it's, it was around four or five days of a standoff, I think. And, and then that was in New Hampshire. I'll have to look up that story. You gotta be safe out there. It does remind, I know I haven't done the Ellie's gulch, but that whole neighborhood, like

[00:30:12] you were mentioning, Mike, when you go up to like Randolph Crescent area is like an interesting clash of like crazy amounts of wealth with these houses and properties. And then you got some like shacks where like I legitimately would be concerned about getting shot if you piss someone off. So. Right. There was a guy in Gorham in that area there that he kidnapped the girl in North Conway. I was going to say, every time I drive, drive down that road to the Cardamariah trailhead for some reason, I get that vibe and think about the fact that there was someone in someone's basement in that town. Right. Right. Yeah.

[00:30:41] It was down in that area. He kidnapped the North Conway girl and then took her and she was in his trailer for like a year. She's like a teenager. Creepy stuff. Yeah. Creepy. So keep, pay attention out there, people. Um, all right. Next up here, Nick is we are going to do. All right. So this is your, we're not going to do dad jokes. We're not going to do pop culture talk. Uh, get your stickers. If you want stickers, get them at the mountain wanderer or spinners pizza parlor.

[00:31:10] And then, um, if you want slasher swag, go to our bonfire shop, choose between our super popular hoodies, classic or V neck tees or more. The color selection is great. And they're priced to move. Mrs. Stomp picked it all out. So can't go wrong there. And then if you want to show support for the podcast, you can donate to slasher's buy me a coffee site. Donations help us pay for web hosting distribution, live events, and Nick's band-aids after wiping out on trying to ride a, drive a bicycle. So help us out there.

[00:31:38] And then, um, shout out to our friend Annie from Vermont who sent us five coffees and, uh, she wished me a good, uh, uh, uh, quick healing from my, my muscle strain, Nick. Yeah. And, uh, so far so good with that. So maybe it was Annie's well wishes that helped out. It was. I was fine this weekend. I could hike, which is good.

[00:32:07] I knew we should have gone left back there. Stomp, don't worry. I know it's this way. I've got a feeling in my gut. Uh, are you sure you're not about to have a bowel emergency? Uh, totally. We got this. But I just blew out my hip. Fell down that gully with my 40-year-old micro spikes. Suck it up, Stomp. It's 4 p.m. We're at 3,500 feet. We got nine miles back to the parking lot. Your leg may be broken. We got no cell connection and we can't feel our fingers.

[00:32:35] But we're finishing all of my list tonight. By the way, I need some water. I'm empty. I would if I could see what I'm doing, but my headlamp batteries are dead. You gotta be kidding me. What a chump. This is the last time I hike with you. Ha! Whatever, mister. Do you know me? I have a podcast. Whatever. Let's find out what Mike and Stomp have been hiking.

[00:33:02] Recent hikes not related to Baxter State Park. I didn't do anything, Nick. I did go to a Red Sox game, which was fun. And I posted a little bit of that on the Slasher Instagram. And then what about you? Have you done anything not related to Baxter? Yeah, I got out to Blue Hills with Rylan a couple weeks ago on a Friday night. And nothing really notable there other than I texted you guys about this too, but there was a gentleman with a golden retriever and he had like a little like waste pack and he seemed concerned.

[00:33:30] We were on like a herd path off the Skyline Trail around Hancock or like Hancock Hill. And he was very adamant that we should be on the trail because he saw some people before us that seemed to be confused that they were going to get lost. And I had some choice comments about this, I think, to you guys. But yeah, it was just kind of interesting. Like it was he was like mansplaining to be and my daughter, like where we should be on the Skyline Trail and like probably one of the most populated areas of New England. I know we're in like a kind of a.

[00:33:59] I don't know, woodsy area within Boston, but you could go north or south basically like a mile at any point and we'd hit like a neighborhood. So it was an interesting take. I just tried to be as polite as I could to the guy and we went about our way and I assured him that we knew where we were going and we had been out there before. So it was not it was not take. So Nick picks the beer over the man this time. So I get it. I get it. So stop talking to people, people. Yeah, it was weird. Well, good. Good for you, Nick. Good.

[00:34:35] Slasher's hiking topic of the week. All right. Now we are going to get into our segment of the week, which is our Baxter State Park trip here. I guess, guys, we should just start off with the bike situation and cover that first. So Nick does not know how to ride a bike. Nick, can you just get like I can't tell you the number of people that have reached out or commented like did he really not learn how to ride a bike?

[00:35:01] Can you please explain like in detail how this occurred that you become 35 years old without being able to ride a bike? So I don't really know. And it's funny because Ash was asking me like I went through this again, like when I got home and you published the video and she like watched the video and like died laughing and was like, oh, good. We can have bikes now and it will be a happy biking family. But anyways. Yeah, I don't know. Like I sort of had bikes grown up, never really formally learned how to bike. Like I think I grew up with a bunch of kids that got into skateboarding probably when I

[00:35:30] was like 11 to 13 age range. And we pretty much skated, I think until my like early 20s really. I was skateboarding and stuff and we used to skateboard everywhere. I think a lot of it's probably just because the time was with Tony Hawk and the 900 and like the skateboard industry was just booming. It was really popular. Maybe that's just shitty excuse. But I didn't any of your skateboarding friends, like did they have bikes to like ramp around? Like I guess so. Like I remember being towed by bikes before and things like that into like maybe a ramp.

[00:35:59] But yeah, for whatever reason, I just never really learned. Now, I have ridden on a bike before. I couldn't tell you the last time, probably when I went camping with my friends, 13, 14 age, maybe I had ridden a bike a bit. But never like my parents never like we're like, here's how to ride a bike. And like we went out somewhere like this, like the experience I had this weekend, like never happened to me. It was more like with some friends, like peer pressure, like just like don't be like whatever and just hop on the bike and you'll figure it out. And that's kind of how it went, which is kind of what happened this weekend.

[00:36:28] But you guys gave me more compassion than that, I guess. So other than the fact that we're on a random dirt road in Maine and I could have like fallen into a ditch or hit a tree or I don't know, a multitude of other things that could have injured me and hindered me from hiking. Well, I'm certainly a believer. You, you, you absolutely did not know how to ride a bike. I can, and so we made a video of it and I had to yell at Nick immediately, like right away, I had to start yelling at him.

[00:36:55] And then I did remember that I thought back to when I taught my kids, like every one of them, I immediately made cry over it. So it was not a, it was not a pleasant memory for them when they were being taught. I think I just started crying running out of the woods in my tent. Yeah, exactly. It was a lot of crying and whining and whatnot, but I brought a bike, I brought a mountain bike up to Baxter and then we had the cabin. We'll talk about the whole setup there, but essentially like the, one of the first things we did is we were like, let's just get this over with. So we videotaped it. We made a nice little reel with it.

[00:37:24] I actually was impressed with the editing of that in that we picked some good music for it and it's gotten a lot of traction. So we'll put that in the show notes, but I guess, Peter, what was your impression of the whole situation? Oh, it was very supportive, right? If your friends were harder on you than we were, I question why you're calling them your friends, right? And you absolutely did run into a tree. I don't know what you're talking about, possibly.

[00:37:54] I mean, the wheel may have touched it. I didn't physically hit the tree with my body. And the best part is that we didn't even bother setting the brakes up on it. Like the front brakes weren't put together. Yeah. I think I went for a couple of go-arounds before you guys realized that the brakes didn't work. Well, the back brake did. So that was good. So anyway, but I think we had to have them go like three or four times and then Paul Gamal just gave him a push. And I think that that once you got a little momentum going, you kind of figured it out

[00:38:20] and then went all the way down the driveway, turned around and you were able to come back. So, but I felt like as a Gen Xer, like we were like, I think that this is where the age difference helped because I looked at this, like this is my little brother that I need to learn how to, I need to teach how to ride a bike. And I think we were all sort of like the big in big brother mode there. We needed to get Nick to, to, to, to learn that skill. So I'm proud of you. Thank you. I see you guys from the opposite spectrum kind of as like older brothers. So it's fitting.

[00:38:51] Well, we're glad that we could do that. Now I do think you need to keep the momentum going. Like you got to get bikes Rylan. Like I taught my kids when they were four and five years old. And I feel like that you need to make that your goal is to get the kids riding bikes as early as possible. Yeah. We've already, we've already had discussions. We have like the East Bay bike path, like Nero's too and stuff. And there's like, I mean, you can bike in the forest around here. I do want to point out that everybody was supportive, but I talked to Steve and Steve thought I was going to hurt myself. He said, I thought you were going to break your leg or something like that.

[00:39:20] And he didn't seem to have too much confidence. So, so thanks Steve. Yeah. Jake, anything to add to this? This was, it was a very fun moment. I will say. Oh, it was a blast. There was much rejoicing when he finally came down that last time and it didn't hit the cars. Yeah, it was good. Yeah. So congratulations, Nick. So Nick can mark off another skill. Yes. Which is good. All right.

[00:39:49] So we had a crew of 10 of us that went up to Baxter State Park. So we wanted to share with the listeners all the logistics. So in case you want to plan your own trip. So Peter, you were the mastermind behind this. So can you just break down like it from your recollection? What was the impetus for deciding to go up here? And then logistically, how did you start off with as far as booking the cabin and getting the passes that you need to get in order to do the hikes that we wanted to do? Sure.

[00:40:15] Yeah, it was actually around Christmas time, shortly after Christmas time, because my son was home from school. So I remember that. And I'd always wanted to go up to Baxter to hike Katahdin. So I figured, well, you know, I know there's some in our groups that have been up there before probably had a little bit of the lay of the land in terms of just what the hike looked like and what the different trails and options were and so forth. So I threw it out to the tech group and said, hey, you know, thinking about doing Katahdin

[00:40:45] this coming summer. Anybody interested? And, you know, not surprisingly, everybody was kind of interested. What I think was a little bit more of a surprise was as things progressed, that just about everybody who was in the tech group decided, you know, it worked. The weekend worked out. You know, and everybody was able to come. We had a couple of people. You know, Dave Schitz was invited. But obviously, he's somewhere around the 80. He's going to hit Katahdin in a couple of weeks. Yeah.

[00:41:15] So nobody flaked is what you're saying. Typically, you get a lot of flakes and we don't seem to have that many people that flake out. We're all rushing to get to the hike. Yeah. So I had been up there probably last time about 15 years ago to do rafting. So I was a little bit aware of like the New England Outdoor Center and the Penobscott Outdoor Center, which seem to be the two predominant companies up there that have lodging

[00:41:42] and facilities and things like that. So go on their website. And, you know, to anybody who's looking for something outside the park, those are probably your best first step. They have, you know, basic camping on up to, I'll call it semi-luxury, you know, condo type places that you can stay in. And the prices, you know, reflect that as well.

[00:42:10] But they have these two cabins that are set off from everything else, a little bit up the Golden Road, off a little side street. And I think everybody, you know, you go down this little thing, little side driveway, and there's a cabin there. No running water, no electricity. And we knew this all going in.

[00:42:33] So we knew we had to bring, you know, the appropriate supplies and the ability to charge things and so forth. But it worked out great, I thought. Yeah. And I think that the group that went up there was, you know, I don't think that any of us would call ourselves like huge backpackers or through hikers. But we've all done a fair bit of backpacking and, you know, sleeping in a tent or sleeping

[00:42:59] in a cabin with minimal amenities is not a big deal for any of us. We've all done the huts. We've all done overnight. So logistically for us, it worked. But if you're a little more bougie, this cabin wouldn't have been great for you if you want electricity and internet and all that fun stuff. Didn't have any of that. No, no, it says it slept 12. You know, it would sleep six in, I'll put air quotes around the bunks.

[00:43:26] The bunks were just basically three bunk beds, but without mattresses, just had a hard plywood base. Also bring your blow up mattresses. And then one or two people, I think Jay slept inside. There were four or five people that actually brought tents. You might still slept in your hammock outside.

[00:43:48] So, you know, I think while the weather supported it, if we had had inclement weather, I don't think we would have had as good of a time sitting in that common room area. You know, 10 of us just, you know, when it's hot and moist. Yeah, that wouldn't have been great. And then as far as the logistics go on this, like you do need to make a decision early on in the, if you want to do the knife edge and go in through Roaring Brook, and we'll talk about what that means in a little while.

[00:44:17] But if you, if you want to go that route, like you can book these, these cabins and whatnot a little bit later, but you do need to make a decision. And I think you've got to be in line online on what was it? April 1st. When, when the. Yeah, it was, it was April 1st. Everything opens up to, to get your parking passes. Um, I'm not sure about the, the, the tent sites, if the tent sites fall under that same

[00:44:42] April 1st, if everything opens up for that, um, go on the Baxter state park website and obviously do your research. You know, talking about research for, for one second, right? When we were coming out of the park shooting ahead, just a second on Friday, there was a couple who had showed up that morning with one of these, uh, I'll call it the sprinter van type campers and couldn't get in because it was too high.

[00:45:08] When we were coming out the following day, there was a car that was going in with a trailer with a couple of canoes or kayaks on the back that that couldn't get in because that was too wide. So do your research, you know, how you're going up there and making sure that you can get in because from the gate in up to most of the parking areas is seven or eight miles. Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk about the tote road for sure. Yeah. And on any, um, so the parking passes too, it's generally for any of the, um, trailheads

[00:45:36] that are accessing Katahdin itself. So the popular ones, like if you're going to do North brother or some of the other mountains in there, like you don't have to worry about parking reservations. Um, that's for Katahdin specifically. If you want to hit Baxter Hamlin peak more or less. Um, and one other little hack that maybe, maybe it'll help someone out next year is we had a heck of a time trying to get those parking pass reservations. Uh, when the day opened, I think the website crashed or maybe their payment, um, system

[00:46:02] crashed, but I think I'm, I'm not sure too, if it was Peter that you did it, but through the mobile app for whatever reason it worked and you were able to get parking passes, but like the rest of us were not able to do it through the website. Um, yeah, I was, I was being lazy sitting on the couch, watching TV that night just, just figured if I could try to get in on my phone and said, Hey, download the app, downloaded the app and not a problem. Yeah. So if you're listening, it's a little weird. Yeah. If you're listening to this and you're looking to get them next year, like just be aware there is an app out there that you can use.

[00:46:31] And maybe if, uh, I'm hoping they'll take care of those, uh, those issues this year. I know like when we had done it five years ago, it was just four months from the date that you were actually going to go in there. So it was a little bit different. It wasn't like all that traffic crashed into one day, but, uh, but yeah. Yeah. And to, to break this down, to try to explain it, essentially you have two types of passes. You've got a gate pass, which just gets you into the park and you can go in two directions on what's called this tote road.

[00:46:57] One, one direction takes you, um, I think to the East, which is where Roaring Brook is. And that's the, that's sort of the, the parking area for the classic hike on the knife edge. Then you've got, um, the tote road that goes about 42 miles and kind of loops all the way to the West and to the North, which brings you by a ball slide, a ball and roaring Brook. You need, um, specific car parking passes in order to go there, or you need a camping pass to go there.

[00:47:26] So if you get, you can get in the park, but you can't go to roaring Brook unless you actually have a parking pass. And I would say roaring Brooks had like, would you say probably about 80 to a hundred parking spots? Peter. Uh, I, I think if I remember when we were booking online, they only do about 30, um, 30 day use only passes. I think the rest of the parking that's there is for the tent sites and the camping that's there. Yeah. Yeah. So, so you do need to get in line early. April 1st is when it opens up.

[00:47:55] So, um, if you do want to plan it, matter of fact, I have a pass for October 3rd. I grabbed when I was in there cause I thought like maybe if Dave's finishing, I could, I could meet him there or at least go there during foliage season. So I may go back up again, but logistically, yeah, you've got to make a decision early, be in line for passes in April, and then you've got to figure out like your accommodations and there's a bunch of different options, but it's like New England outdoor center. And then what'd you say the other one was Penobscot outdoor center?

[00:48:24] And there's some relationship between the two. Cause I think most of it's on the NEOC website, but you might get directed to one of the others. So there's some relationship there between the two facilities. And then close to the park entrance is there's a couple of different like general stores and options for ice and wood and snacks and whatnot. But for the most part, we brought as much, we brought, we brought enough food and cooking implements to feed an army, I would say. Right?

[00:48:54] Yes. Absolutely. We didn't, we didn't take a time. I mean, we had a lot of snack stuff, but did we like the food, I'd say the food, food, the food, food, we were cooking. I don't think we took a lot home, right? No, I had some, Jay had some burgers and stuff. Jay had some burgers, but that was about it, I think. But yeah, we had a lot of like snacks. Yes. Yeah. A lot of snacks. Yeah. And then we, it saved us a lot of room. Jakester got us. What did you get? What kind of keg did you get, Jakester? Lost shoe brewing. German pilsner.

[00:49:23] Um, figured rather than have tons and tons of bottles and cans, uh, Peter and I used to homebrew a lot and I still have a lot of my equipment. So I had the keg dispense, you know, the, the, the taps and the CO2 and a, a cooler that the keg fits in and we just daisy change them together and didn't have to worry about the trash. Yeah. Which was perfect. And we had like unlimited beer basically the whole time and we made, we made good use of it.

[00:49:51] Um, uh, unfortunately I had to get up and pee in the middle of the night multiple times on the first night, but otherwise it was, it was worth it. Um, all right. And then I guess the cabin set up. So Peter talk a little bit about how we set the cabin up. So we had a, um, we had a pop-up, like we had a little bit of a cover and then what did we do for cooking that first night? And then, um, I guess we also had a campfire. So talk a little bit about that fun stuff. Yeah. I mean, typical, uh, camping type set up, right?

[00:50:21] The, the picnic table that's already there. Um, we had a 12 by 12 pop-up that we sort of half overlaid onto it. Um, a few people had brought portable grills and griddles, um, and propane tanks. So we had plenty of ways of heating and cooking things. Um, fortunately we had what three car, well, four cars, including Steve, but Steve was by himself cause he was staying up there to do other stuff.

[00:50:48] Um, so Mike, you, you and Dave had raised your hands to take the first night of cooking. Um, so we had, you know, uh, steak tips and chicken tips and, um, but, uh, salad and some other things. So that, that was a great way to start, start the weekend along with the beer, which was running a little foamy from me and shaking up in the car the whole way up, but this is good. Right. I'm kind of proud of how well we did logistics.

[00:51:15] Like we had two people cook each night and then everybody else to had like a task of what Jake handled the beer. And then, yeah, it worked out pretty well for, for a bunch of guys. You know, a lot of times you guys can't organize stuff. We get, we get a bad reputation, but I feel like we were very organized. Well, I, I'd say, and I said a couple of times during the weekend that it was nice being up there with a group of people, guys or girls that had, um, all done this type of thing before. Right.

[00:51:44] Because I mean, we showed up, everybody knew where everything needed to go. The car was getting emptied. Stuff was getting set up, but you know, tents were being put up. Nobody was having to tell other people, you know, could you do this? Could you do that? I would say Jay was the one that was probably the least experienced with this type of environment, but he's all in for, you know, he's got the bug so bad that I think he was just happy to be a fly on the wall. Absolutely. 15 or 20 minutes.

[00:52:11] I feel like everything was packed up and everybody was pretty much set up and the beer was, the beer was flowing and flowing. So it was cool. Yeah. I do want to say it was interesting too. We looked like legit hikers cause we had like more or less a Honda pilot and then we had three Subaru Outbacks. So we were, we looked at very official. We did. We did. You know what the craziest thing about that site was? It was like the worst hammock options I've ever seen. Like I couldn't believe how, like at first I was like, yeah, there'll be no problem having a hammock.

[00:52:39] Every set, every part I scouted, there was like undergrowth. So it wasn't good for a hammock and I didn't want to, like I had like my, my trail clearing stuff in my car, but I didn't want to break out like loppers and start cutting trees in that cabin area. So I finally found something off the back, but there wasn't really any great hammock hanging options. I know Jackson tried to hang one too and you can get that spot. Wasn't great either. No. Yeah. So it was kind of tough outside, outside worked pretty well for tents too.

[00:53:09] It was a little rocky, but if you had a pad and whatnot, we were able to, we were able to bash some stakes in the ground with a hammer rock. Right. Yeah. So first night we basically got set up, we had like four tents, a hammock, and then the seven, five or six guys who were inside. And then the weather outlook for this thing, like we were obviously keeping an eye on the weather. Um, the original plan was like, let's pick the best day Friday or Saturday to hike the knife edge Friday clearly looked like it. I mean, both days were perfect.

[00:53:37] So it really didn't matter, but we were like, let's get on it on Friday. So we all went to bed pretty early. I mean, I went to bed pretty early. I don't know what time everyone else went to bed, but I didn't sleep that well. The first night I kept getting up cause, cause of, I drank too much of Jake's beer, but, um, what we got up around like probably five in the morning, had breakfast and then rolled out Peter. So what time did we head in and then what was the logistics of getting to Roaring Brook? Yeah, supposedly. So, and again, this is all on the side of your back state park side of your, when you

[00:54:06] go on to book your passes, but the gate itself opens at six o'clock. Um, so you want to be in line around that time where we were staying. It was what, maybe a 10 minute drive from, from the cabin over to the gate or over to get in line for the gate. So we, we get there about 10 pass quarter pass X and there was a substantial number of cars in front of us. Um, and, and it does say on the side, if you are not at least in line by seven o'clock,

[00:54:36] you risk losing your pass because people do show up in queue for not having a pass. Um, you know, so to take any, any, uh, spots for people that didn't show up. For example, we, we had had passes for Saturday as well. We obviously didn't use them that left open, uh, you know, for two random cars to show up that they wanted to use them that day. Um, but yeah, we, we sat in line at the gate for probably 20 to 25 minutes before we got

[00:55:06] through. Um, and they are, they do check everything. They're, they're matching up names. Um, there, there wasn't a big deal about, so when I had booked, I had booked under one car and ended up bringing a different car. That wasn't an issue at all. Um, but they, but they were checking names to make sure who was entering the park and writing down on the passes, how many people were going in and, and all of that got checked also again, when you were signing in and signing out at the different trail heads. So, right.

[00:55:36] I had the same deal with, I put my old license plate down on the car that my, my daughter now drives and I got a new car. So I was a little bit, I wasn't sure what they were going to do about that, but they don't seem to care about the license plate that's on the pass as long as I guess you, you can prove that you're the same person. Yeah. Which is good. And then, yeah, so they just waved us through. Um, it seemed like once the line started moving, it moved pretty quickly. And then, um, we just took a right towards Roaring Brook and it's about an eight

[00:56:02] mile drive and it's on this, what's called the tote road, which is essentially just a long dirt road. It's pretty narrow. It is enough for two cars to go by, but there's some sections where if another car is coming by, you may have to pull over and stop to let them go past you or vice versa. Uh, and then it's, it's graded, but it's a little bit of a bumpy ride, uh, across the whole thing. So it's a pilot or an outback or, uh, anything that's good on four wheel drive with the, with a dirt road, just expect that your car is going to be very dirty by the time you, you

[00:56:31] get back. Yeah. I think when I go home this weekend, just from, we'll talk about it next episode when you did North brother, but like I opened my car door and like a plume of dust just like came out, which was, I thought was kind of funny, but just was very dusty, very dusty on that tote road. I got to get the car, the car wash sometime. But, um, yeah, so anyway, we just, we drove down. So there was two cars, five in each car, 10 of us. So it's a little bit of a big group. We'll talk about the hiking dynamics of the group in a minute, but we just went down, um, probably got to roaring brook.

[00:57:01] I don't know, around seven 15 in the morning. And we were, it was pretty packed. Like, I think we got the last couple of spots. It's a typical trailhead parking. Like somebody parks like a half a car length away. And then you can look at it and go like, if everybody just parked like a normal human being and not like it was their first day on earth, you could fit probably four more cars in it, but they don't, they park like idiots. Yeah, completely. Yep. So anyway, but that's it.

[00:57:29] We got to the parking lot and from there we went on the hike. So Nick, why don't you narrate the, uh, the hike here and we've got the script to go off of and then Jake and Peter can add their, add their thoughts. Yeah, sure. So our planned loop, um, to tackle, uh, Baxter peak and optionally Hamlin peak, we ended up splitting up later on. Um, but we basically would start at roaring brook. Um, we'd start in the chimney pond trail for maybe like, I don't know if it's 0.2 miles or 0.3, something like that, a very short section.

[00:57:58] Then we'd bang a left and start heading Southwest up the Helen Taylor trail. So we're on that for 3.2 miles until Pamela peak. One thing, one thing, Nick, you just got to be careful. It's Helon trailer. I believe is the Taylor is the name. All right. Helon Taylor. Yes. Forgive me folks. Helon Taylor trail for 3.2 miles up to Pamela peak. Um, Pamela peak is more or less sort of the Pamela and chimney are sort of like the gateway to the actual knife edge.

[00:58:25] Um, from there we would take the knife edge trail for 1.1 miles, um, to Baxter peak. And then from there we'd continue along. Um, I'm not sure whether that's actually set. I think that is saddle trail that comes down from, um, from Baxter peak when you start heading sort of Northwest, um, to the saddle. Um, and then from there, there'd be an option of people weren't feeling Hamlin peak. They could descend down the saddle trail back to chimney pond, um, take chimney pond trail

[00:58:52] all the way out, or you can continue up the Northwest basin trail, um, to meet the Hamlin Ridge trail where you could go up to Hamlin peak and down the Hamlin Ridge. Um, eventually cut your way on the North basin trail, um, back to chimney pond. So that was more or less our planned route for the day. Um, so things started out pretty gradually. Then what'd you think of the, the Helon Taylor trail there on the ascent Jake?

[00:59:16] Um, it did start off pretty gradual and it immediately became one of the most rugged trails I've been on. Yeah. Yeah. It's steep. It's steep. Straight up. Yeah, for sure. Um, if you're looking at it from even like we had a great viewpoint over a compass pond from where our cabin was and it more or less follows this little ridgeline, um, sort of off the eastern edge of, uh, of Katahdin. It'll actually almost go straight east.

[00:59:46] And yeah, it kind of starts out gradually lots of blueberry bushes. So if you wanted to snack on blueberries, uh, this time of year is, uh, is the time to hit that trail. Apparently many of us did. Yeah. Yes. And, um, I don't know what to, when do you guys think we broke tree line? Probably had to be around 4,000 feet, probably a little over that. Something like that.

[01:00:05] You know what that, um, by the way, just the, the, the beginning of that Helon Taylor trail and tell me if you guys think I'm wrong, but I definitely got a vibe of like, um, Z cliff up to Zealand and that, that area there a little bit. Um, probably like the closest I could think of as far as like similar to the whites, you know, it's a decent up and then flattens out a little bit and then goes up a little bit more. Probably more rock scrambles, uh, than, yeah, definitely, definitely more rocky up to Zealand, but similar vibes. I felt like.

[01:00:35] Yeah. Yeah. I was going to, I was mentioning you guys too, but I think especially like one of those scrambles that you hit on the way up reminded me kind of a, what you hit on white face, um, up the blueberry ledge trail. I'm kind of akin to that. It's kind of, it's like foreshadowing for what you're going to do. It's like not going to hold a candle to what you're actually going to do later. Um, but there's a couple sort of little fun, short chimney scrambles, um, up there. Uh, as you sort of make your way up the tree line. Um, and once you do pop out a tree line, I think we hit some ledges.

[01:01:03] You can kind of see back towards you towards more or less like I'd say like a two 70 degree, like Eastern view. Um, and eventually you open up and break through the brush and, uh, you see this massive sort of ridge looming in front of you and you're looking up to Pamela peak. This is the first kind of glimpse you get of the knife edge starting to wrap around to Baxter, sort of that like Southern side of the knife edge. Um, pretty wild looking. It was impressive. Um, and you also kind of look at it being like, how the heck are we going to get up there?

[01:01:31] Um, so what'd you think of that section of trail Peter, as we started to sort of get up there? Yeah, it's, um, you know, up until that point, you're doing a lot of scrambling and then you see this ridge that's in front of you and you realize, oh, that's where the trail is. It's just the ridge. Um, and, and it's, it's, it's narrow, but it's not like, you know, I'm going to fall off the side. Um, it's just extremely rugged and extremely steep in places.

[01:02:00] Lots of scrambling, lots of, you know, holding on to pull yourself up. Um, the, the visuals are unlike anything we have in the whites, just unbelievable. Uh, and you know, you can see all around, uh, that whole circ. Um, and even though it really isn't that far, a couple miles, it looks like, it looks at, it looks like it's a lot longer than that. Right.

[01:02:27] And, um, one thing, the, this section of trail before we get up to, um, Pomola and the chimney area, uh, and that's, it's a big, long climb, basically. I think you're going probably about 3,500 feet or elevation gain there, but we didn't, we did pick up. So there was a group dynamic that formed the 10 of us. And then also we did pick up a group member. So I would say the picking up the group member. So we passed a husband and wife at like a little bit below tree line.

[01:02:54] Um, they were, they were maybe, I don't know, a couple hundred feet below where you go above the tree line. And the husband looked to be struggling a little bit, but like we minded our own business and that we weren't bothering anybody. And then, um, we made it up above like one of the first viewpoints and the woman that was with her husband came up by herself and introduced herself. And essentially it was like, my husband wasn't feeling well. He didn't feel like he was prepared for the hike.

[01:03:20] So, um, I don't know if she asked us if we just offer, but we were like, yeah, you can join us and you'd be our adopted friend. So she, and she stuck with us the whole time. So kudos to her for like, um, a solo woman hiker joining up with 10 smelly guys from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. So good for her, but she was great. She was from Poland, but lives in Philadelphia. So me and Tom had a little bit of thing, you know, common stuff to talk to her about. Cause we both been to Poland and hiked a little bit out there.

[01:03:48] So that was like kind of a nice icebreaker, but overall, like ultimately the group that was now 11 of us, the group kind of split, I think into like a group of seven and then a group of four. From my view, like essentially like me, Steve, Jay and Tom were sort of at the back. I was like sweeping. And then you seven were kind of together most of the time, but maybe falling off a little bit. I don't really know what was going on up front, but it worked out fine.

[01:04:14] We all just sort of made our way up to the above tree line section, which is a grind of a hike for sure. And then you guys were, you know, stopping to wait for us a few times. And then eventually I think everyone just made the final push to Pomola, but I don't know what was going on with the group of seven up front, but we certainly were kind of slow going and taking breaks as much as we could. Yeah. I think maybe Gamal and Jackson kind of were in, I kind of was flowing between different people. I don't know if I was third or fourth up there or something like that.

[01:04:45] And yeah, it was, it was beautiful. I think at one point I got some shit from you guys. Cause I was saying, I'm like, Oh, like the ridge isn't as steep as it looked like it's going to be when we came about that corner. And it didn't at first, but then I think the last, like, I don't know, the last half a mile had to go up like a solid 800 feet. Like, it was just like, you're looking up at your buddy. Like I was looking up Jackson was in front of me and like, he was not, I don't know, 20 yards away from me. And you look at like a person's like 150 feet above you vertically. Like it was, it was one of those trails.

[01:05:10] I think of it, it was like going up airline on steroids and for much longer than you actually are on Adams. And like Peter mentioned, just very rugged. It was also not that it was particularly warm on this day, especially as we got up higher. But that white granite that Katahdin's mostly made up of was just reflecting the sun back on us. So I think we're all, we're also kind of like roasting as we were going up there and trying to take a little breaks and get some breeze. But it was, it was probably almost the toastiest part of the day other than when we were coming down, at least for our group Hamlin Ridge.

[01:05:39] But it was, it was quite warm and I was quite sweaty by the time we got up to Pamela. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk about like the amount of liquid that we all had to drink and we definitely, we had to, had to filter at the end, but it was a hot day for sure. Jake, tell, tell the listeners a little bit about that dynamic on Pamela and chimney. And I don't think I've ever experienced anything like that in, in the White Mountains for sure.

[01:06:05] Like, I guess we have the chimney on Osceola and we have the castle trail a little bit and then, you know, a few other spots. But like, there was nothing like that, that I've ever seen in the Whites. It, there's only one way to, to go down from Pamela, down the chimney and then, what is it? 10 yards across and then you're going back up the other side of the chimney. Um, and there was a pretty good sized group there.

[01:06:32] So it, it, when, when we were all stepping off, it definitely looked like the conga line that, uh, that you hear about. Um, and that, that's how, that's how we ended up getting separated. The, the whole group, um, cause we stepped off as the group, the rest of the people that were up there started moving off. You guys had just got there and you were, you know, putting your stuff back together, getting ready to go. But it was, uh, it's definitely a conga line.

[01:07:02] Yeah, you have to go down, uh, Pamela. You probably have to go down, what, about a hundred, 120 feet or so. And there's a few tricky sections where, well, like Peter, you're tall, so it's no problem for you. But there was some, some challenges getting down for short people. And then you've got to climb back up another, probably 150 feet up chimney peak. And it's all just like rock scrambles and, and pulling yourself up. So it's more of a rock climb than it is a real hike. And, uh, Jake, so you had no problem. And I know I saw your group that went across.

[01:07:31] You guys had really no issues there. Uh, unfortunately for us, we were kind of caught in between you guys and two other groups. And, uh, we did have one incident where like a woman froze up, uh, below us.

[01:07:44] So we had to like basically help her out a little bit and, and get her down and then get her back up, which was, which was kind of sketchy because instead of going the normal route, we had to like, uh, basically do a little bit of rock climbing down to, to help her and then give her a hand up on some other sections. But people, I guess that's the one warning I'd say for people is like, uh, this is an area where if you're not comfortable, like you can freeze up. And it actually happened where we had to deal with this with somebody.

[01:08:12] So it wasn't in our group, but we had to, we had to basically manage somebody freaking out because this area was so sketchy. Yeah. I mean, as someone you guys have done Huntington and probably some of the steeper trails in the whites than I've done, this was kind of my, I was curious how I was going to feel. Not that I haven't done more exposed steeper trails, but, um, yeah, it was, I'd say more to the going down. I didn't, didn't freak me out as much, but I definitely was getting a little bit kind of like what's going on here when you kind of turn the corner and you look at that ascent up the chimney, up the chimney peak.

[01:08:41] And it's like, it's like a 40, 50 foot vertical climb. And I mean, I had Jake in front of me. It was probably the best person to be behind, but I was just kind of, I think you're just focusing on that. I really never got too worried. Like I felt secure, but, um, if you've never done any sort of scrambling and had to use a handhold or anything before, it's probably not your good first experience to try to do that there. Cause to the left, you basically have, it's not like a sheer drop off, but it's, it's open air basically behind you and to the left of you. Um, it's a beautiful view.

[01:09:10] And I got some cool pictures of you, of Gamal and like Steve coming up behind me, but it is a very vertical, um, scramble, I would say. And there, I mean, everything's blazed. There's arrows showing you where you should go. So it's not like a, it's not like a pick your own adventure type thing by any means. Um, but yeah, it's, I could see if you've never done that before, how you could end up freezing up. Um, and to give a visual too, like Pamela peak is sort of this spiny little hump.

[01:09:35] Um, you got like the whole great basin in front of you with chimney pond below, and you can see the knife edge stretching across to, to, to, um, South peak and sort of Baxter peak. And then the table lands, and then you got Hamlin across and it's an incredible view up there, but it is, um, very open. And it's a good air feeling when you're going down into that little crevice and coming back up. Right. Yeah. And I don't know, you guys were ahead. So I don't know if you guys even knew, we talked about it afterwards, but that woman below us. So Tom, Jay and I didn't get, didn't move until after you guys took off.

[01:10:05] And then we had a group of five women in front of us and the last one in that group froze. So we were basically stuck above her. It was kind of funny. Tom like started trying to coach her and she just didn't want to hear it. So we had, I had to basically like rock climb down off to the side and then go back up to her. And I, what I kept doing with her is I would put my knee down and I would, I had to like grab her ankle and just put her foot on my knee and say like, all right, you can put your weight on.

[01:10:33] And she was able to make her way down that section because otherwise she wasn't going anywhere. She was just freaking out. And then her other friends were going up chimney at the time. I had to basically stay with her the whole time and just give my knee to her to climb up the whole way. So I don't know where you guys were. I think you were already gone when that was all going on. But like, uh, I do want to warn people if you're doing that section with somebody that is not comfortable with heights, then just be expect that you're going to have to hold their hand a little bit. Yeah.

[01:11:02] You'll find out very quickly if you can deal with heights or not on that section of the trail. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we were keeping an eye on what was going on because, because the ridgeline, when you're doing the ups and downs going on every, just about every time you get up there, you're able to look back and see where people are. Um, so, so we were a little bit ahead of you, but we were going out of, at a slow pace and looking back, making sure everybody was still moving along.

[01:11:27] But yeah, clear, clearly, you know, we, we, we kept referencing, you know, we, we wanted to get out before the shenanigans was happening and the shenanigans with the other groups of people, um, that were moving along. And yeah, the, the front group got out in front of them and you guys sort of got stuck behind them. So, right. Yeah. Steve and I were kind of hanging out to make sure that you guys look good. And I think once, um, we kind of knew that we heard about the situation and sort of told your story, we kind of started moving along.

[01:11:55] Um, kind of just after you guys at one point too, I kind of was in front of Steven, passed by some people and wanted to get out in front of you guys. So I could get pictures of you guys behind me, tried to kind of catch up with you guys in front, the Jake, Peter, uh, Paula, um, Gamal group in Jackson, but I never quite caught it. I wasn't too far behind you guys. The thing I underestimated is my inability to just keep moving. Cause I think I took a picture about every three steps because, um, I think after you do get through that section.

[01:12:22] Um, and I kind of, I kind of was chilling out a little bit too. Like it was, it, to me, it was just the most epically beautiful ridgeline. And I think in the Northeast, it was just incredible. Like every couple, like, I don't know, 10, 20 steps you turn behind you. Like Peter was saying, you start to see sort of the little undulations and sort of the Ridge with like the teeth coming up. And, um, it's just incredible to look at and realize that there's a trail going through it. And also it was funny, just looking back, even in my pictures the past few days, and you see people in all these crazy scrambling positions.

[01:12:51] Like I have one with Mike's on top and like Jay's on this little like ridgeline scrambling over and Steve sort of grabbing some rock here and there. It was just, it, it was an incredible thing to look out on, especially on a bluebird day like that. I took a ton of pictures cause the conditions are just perfect. So, um, it's definitely the most photogenic, uh, place I've, I've been in just could, couldn't stop taking pictures. I took six pictures. Lazy. Lazy. That's a lot for me.

[01:13:21] That's fair. Yeah. Well, Peter knows like when you have Nick on, on the trip, you get the photography covered, which is good. Um, but yeah, that's what, once you clear that chimney, the, the Pomola chimney section, then from there, yeah, it, there's definitely some narrow sections. And then essentially you're climbing up to South peak, which we didn't realize I was kind of like, oh, that must be where Baxter is, but that's not the case.

[01:13:48] Um, you have to go through, there's some spiny sections for sure. And like, depending on your comfort level, I think Tom was tended to be more of a, like on all fours going across when he could. I was much more of like just going two feet at a time and just skipping across stuff. But it depends on what your comfort level on the rocks. I think that if you're comfortable on rocks, you can stay on two feet. I don't recommend, like, I think almost every one of us put our poles away by the time we got above tree line.

[01:14:14] And, um, it was actually more risky to use poles than it would have been to, um, to not have them just because you want your hands free in that environment. Just because it's so spiny on the rock sections there. Um, you, you want to be able to anchor your hands if you need to, and the poles would just get in the way. So, everyone packed their poles away and, um, had them available for table ends and going down saddle or down Hamlin if they wanted to. But no need for it in any of those spiny sections at all.

[01:14:40] And then, yeah, it's just a very long climb with epic views. Took a ton of pictures. The nice thing about it is you can look across to Hamlin. You can look down to Chimney Pond. Um, you can look out to, uh, the Brothers. You can look out to, I don't even know what the other peaks were, but like, it's just epic 360 views all around. Yeah. And on the opposite side, you have sort of this flat area with just lakes. And I think it, I think we were surmising that you could see like maybe some of the 4,000 footers further south and main or southwest.

[01:15:09] But, um, really dramatic uprise because of those sort of low lying, uh, lake areas and bogs and stuff that sort of surround Katata. Yeah. And, uh, so what'd you guys think of sort of the narrowness and the hype versus, I'll throw this one at Jake because I know he had an opinion on it, but then the narrowness of the so-called knife edge versus the actuality. And obviously this is going to vary from people's experience, but what'd you think, Jake? Um, I, it was not nearly as narrow as I thought it was going to be.

[01:15:39] Yeah. Um, that's what I thought too. The most quote unquote intimidating part was probably the, the chimney, uh, you know, going down, down from Pomola up to up chimney. Um, I didn't have a problem with it. My, you know, personally, uh, I can definitely see how a lot of people would, especially if they've never had any sort of exposure like that.

[01:16:04] Um, I can understand how people would get, you know, the vertigo and, and not love it, but I didn't think the knife edge was nearly as intimidating as I had made it out to be in my head. At least, you know, from hearing other people talk about it. Yeah. I mean, I, I'd visualize that it was going to be like walking on the edge of a on cliff, um, sort of on that little spit rock for a bit, but there were, there was like maybe one second, like someone mentioned it means Steve went by the one section that was like closest.

[01:16:32] There was one close to the edge section, but I'd say too, if you wanted to avoid that, you could probably go further in on the center of the spine, which might not be advisable, but like you didn't really have to get close to the edge. And, um, to me the, the valleys too, cause they're beautiful glacial circles and more like sloping valleys than sheer drops. Not to say you're not like 2000 feet above a valley looking at chimney pond. Cause you very much are, um, looking to that bowl and there's nothing standing between you and the bottom. But, um, but yeah, it's, it's still the thin, I mean, compared to like imagine like Franconia Ridge, but like a quarter of the size.

[01:17:02] Like, I don't even know how, what met you, what you can measure it as. Um, but yeah, it was beautiful. Um, and then, so after the knife edge, I think we, we kind of all split up. I know, um, Mike, you kind of were with that rear group. Um, I split off and was kind of having my own photography, photography, hiking adventure. Um, at one point and met up with you guys. I think you, I think Peter, uh, in all you guys, you only were there maybe like what five minutes you had the chair set up kind of before I got there.

[01:17:29] Um, the summit was a zoo, which I, I think is probably just more of the fact that everybody starts hiking at roughly the same time and everybody's getting there at roughly the same time. Um, everybody's fighting for it, not fighting like for the Mount Washington sign, but we had to wait a little bit, I think, to get our Katahdin sign picture together. Um, so that was kind of interesting. We did break out our chairs, our helinoxes. Yes. Yes. About half of us had our helinox, right? Okay. Yes.

[01:17:59] Which was good. Yeah. I think that there was a huge crowd though, Nick, I would say what, like 25, 30 people up there. Yeah, it was, there was a good amount for sure. Um, kind of people just, and I mean, it's a big open area, so it's not like you're limited for space by any means. And, uh, obviously, I mean, we were talking about the views on the knife edge, but just phenomenal views from Baxter peak itself. And I think the most impressive thing is like that last kind of corner of your rounding as you head towards Baxter peak after you come over south, you really get a good look at like Pamela and chimney. Um, directly across from you.

[01:18:28] I think that was like one of my favorite photos I've got of that mountain that day. That was just a really impressive viewpoint with sort of ravine dropping below you. Um, that was super cool. I think we all, we all kind of recharged up there and had some food. And I think too, we were talking a little bit about, I think everybody sort of was voicing concerns that they needed to get some water likely, um, at some point. And, uh, I know there's a spring sort of around the middle of the saddle, um, where sort of saddle trail starts to go down.

[01:18:57] Um, I don't think we actually ever found that one. I think we saw the spur for it and we never actually noticed it. Um, so that was kind of a thing. And, uh, coming down the table lands, do you, do you want to talk a little bit about coming down the table lands, Peter, and kind of what that looks like descending from Baxter? Yeah. And just coming down the table lands, again, you're just having to, you're off to the left of the opening of the Cirque. Um, so, so you're seeing this beautiful view the whole way as you're, as you're walking down it.

[01:19:26] It's, it's open. It's, I wouldn't say it's steep, but it's not, uh, not, not steep. But at some point in the past, recent past, it looks like they've dropped a lot of, um, almost like river rocks. Right. I don't know how else to put it. It's like, like, you know, like fist sized, um, pieces of marble that are sort of rounded off. Um, and, and my guess is they did it to stop erosion.

[01:19:51] But what it's led to is, you know, probably a solid half mile where you just sort of, you know, watching every step as you go. And the whole thing is moving underneath you. Um, it's, it's not real solid. And we'll say up until this point, I don't think we've mentioned it. Um, for all the scrambling and everything else that we've talked about, the, the rock super grippy. Yeah. Right. It's almost like if you, if, if you've hiked, uh, Washington at all, when you get up into those talus fields, it's almost like that sandpaper with your feet.

[01:20:21] It's, it's kind of just like that almost the whole way, except for this one section going down to the table lands. Um, so, so traction really good. Um, except there. Every, you know, 10 feet to get another picture of something different from a different angle. Yeah, for sure.

[01:20:49] Um, and at this point you're kind of looking up, you got Hamlin across from you and, and I'd say to me, it most reminded me, I haven't hiked a lot of places outside the U S but when I hiked in Scotland with ash away back, it kind of reminded me of that. It's just like, it's just like, almost like not sort of like sort of fields, but just open Alpine and everything was super green because we're there in July and they've had rain. Um, and you can kind of see the brothers across to the West and just these multitudes of peaks and just seems like so many layers. And then you got like sort of the great base and kind of laying off there.

[01:21:17] Um, and, um, at this point too, we're, we're kind of, um, gauging the group ability to kind of get to Hamlin peak. Um, so I think what ended up happening, um, just with how people were feeling that day, um, pretty much me, Peter, Jake, um, Paul, Gamal, and Dave, um, opted to go out to Hamlin. Um, we kind of were talking about like, hopefully we can get water, but I think we all thought we had enough water to get down below if we really needed to.

[01:21:43] Um, and then I think Mike, you split off with, uh, it Paula Jackson, uh, Tom and Jay, I believe. Right. Yeah. I had my leg was feeling good and I didn't want to push it by, um, adding on the extra mileage. Although I don't think that mileage difference is that big of a deal between going over to Hamlin and then coming down saddle. Maybe I don't know. It's a mile. Or so, but I just. It's an extra mile. Yeah. So, but I was like, well, I'll just go down, um, the saddle trail.

[01:22:10] So essentially it's very much like, um, it's just like Tuckerman Ravine essentially going down like, like lion's head or something. Uh, so we, we build down, but the one thing I was surprised about was when I went down the saddle trail, it's, it's basically a super loose slide. Um, very sketchy. You got to basically have separation between the hikers. You don't want to be above anybody cause locks, rocks will let loose. And it was a little bit tricky. I actually wiped out and I, uh, have a little bit of a bruise on my, my arm. One of them, I can't remember which one.

[01:22:40] Uh, so yeah, Jack Jackson and was in front of, or was behind me and was like, he was a little bit nervous. He thought I wiped out pretty badly, but it was, it was just sketchy. And then the other thing is the sun is just, you go from being on the table lands where you're getting a little bit of wind and it's cool. So just having the sun just beating down on you in this like loose, um, talus field. So it's like salt, it's like, um, salt, the salt slide of, uh, tri-pyramids is basically what it is, what it's similar to.

[01:23:07] So it was, um, kind of, I didn't like that section at all, but eventually we got down to the ravine floor and we were able to get some water. I was running out of water. So I think at that point I brought three liters and then filtered another two liters on the way out. So I went through about four or five liters total. And I probably could have had more between the Gatorade and the water I had. So we had a little bit of a break there.

[01:23:29] And then we made our way to Chimney Pond, which was to me, well, actually one of the highlights of the trip, like the whole thing of hiking above tree line was amazing. But Chimney Pond is probably one of the most amazing views I've ever seen in the Northeast and in all my life. Like it's just sitting there looking up at where we had just hiked, seeing the, the ridgeline of the knife edge and then Baxter and everything. It was just awesome. I could have stayed there for another hour, but we had to get going.

[01:23:58] So, uh, but yeah, Chimney Pond, definitely a highlight for me. Uh, I could see it the whole time we were looking down at it, but then when I got there, I just, the view and the pictures that we got were amazing. Yeah. So while you guys were descending over there, we continued across the table lands and made our way up towards Hamlin. Um, and I, I don't know too, if it was Peter that you noticed, or if it was Gamal that noticed that there was a spring at the junction up there. Um, it was Paul. Oh, yeah.

[01:24:27] I think we were all very happy. Somebody noticed the water source. Yeah. And, um, as I said too, I think I brought two liters with me. I probably had about half a liter at that point. I think most of us were sort of in the same boat of like we had, we could have chugged water. Absolutely. But like, um, we were conserving it. And, uh, I think once, so we stepped off trail a little bit, it was right at the junction. I think where the Hamlin Ridge trail sort of hits that Northwest basin trail and, um, kind of the left and yeah, we were happy. It not only was it flowing, but the water was just ice cold.

[01:24:57] Amazing spring. It was so good. Yeah, it was, it was pretty incredible. I think all of us were sort of chugging over there. I think I drank about a liter. Then I filled up two more liters, uh, or so. And we were all kind of feeling a little bit refreshed. Um, and, uh, we made our way up towards Hamlin say, was it, was it like a couple hundred feet up there, Peter, that you have to ascend? Yeah. From that point, it's a pretty mild walk. Well, pretty mild compared to what we've done the rest of the day.

[01:25:27] Right. That we were kind of happy with this little walk and, uh, yeah, a couple hundred, a couple hundred feet. It's really a really broad, um, top. So it's without the big Karen on it, you'd almost have to search for where the high point is supposed to be. Yeah. It's almost like a flat, like Alpine open field. Um, what I will say the most striking thing from Hamlin is it, we keep talking about the views and the, I mean, what you should get out of this is that it's just incredibly photogenic and do it on a nice day.

[01:25:55] Um, but you just have this crazy view across with the knife edge and Baxter and the table lands and everything behind you from Hamlin. Hamlin itself is kind of just a, I wouldn't say it's like a lackluster, but it's kind of like you just go to the car and it's pretty flat. Like it's like, okay, I guess this was Hamlin. And then, um, then we began descending down the Hamlin Ridge trail. So do you want to talk a little bit about that descent, Jake off Hamlin?

[01:26:18] So there's a terrifying 25 version, uh, in Maine called the wicked wild 25. And the Hamlin Ridge is one of those trails as is everything going up and down Katahdin. Um, but it was, I knew it was going to be steep. I did not know it was going to be as steep as it was. It was at one point we dropped, well, what did we say? 1400 feet in 0.8.

[01:26:48] 28 miles. Yeah. Right off, right off the top. And you can see this ridge across the whole time we were hiking over there and we're all kind of looking at it being like, man, like that looks steep. And, um, not only was it a steep descent, but it's pretty much all jumbled granite rocks going down the whole way. It's the, you're crawling over boulders. Um, it was super grippy, which was just like everything else that we were on that day.

[01:27:12] Um, so it wasn't slippery, but every once in a while you'd find a big giant boulder about the size of a, you know, small dining room table that moved eight inches. Yeah. And Peter was really good at finding those seemingly on the descent. Yeah. Um, and, uh, yeah. So one, so two factors that I'll remember too, as after like just that initial other than

[01:27:37] it just being really steep and kind of scrubby, um, the North, what I now know it's called the North basin, the basin that's to your left when you're descending there, um, is absolutely incredible. Like I took so many pictures of this thing and just kept gazing off into it. Like just this giant, like granite type of head wall crumbling off. And then you could see water seeping out of it. And then this just massive, uh, boulder field slide sort of descending all the way down, uh, to sort of the ponds below. Um, it was just incredible.

[01:28:06] And then you keep getting like a different perspective a little bit, kind of looking east with chimney pond and, and sort of that whole area in the great basin and, and Baxter across from you. So it's like, you just have this crazy panorama. I was thinking after when I was looking at photos, I'm like, I wish I took like a left to right sort of pano to stitch together. Cause it was just, it was crazy to just the perspective coming down that thing with the center spine was just gorgeous. On both sides. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was wild.

[01:28:31] I do remember several times thinking, all right, this has got to be the most photogenic spot. And then we'd move down 50 or a hundred feet and go, wow, it's even better. You know, just kept getting better the whole way down. Yeah. There was a lot of that. And then as we got lower, unfortunately it also got really, really toasty. Um, we were more or less going down that the same time, kind of like Mike, you got, you all were like bacon on that sort of slide section of the saddle. And we were all like roasting.

[01:28:59] Like that was, I think that was the sweatiest I was all day, even compared to coming up in the morning. Um, and, uh, eventually we had to descend back below treeline. I know Peter, you kind of were looking at all the map over here for what our options were to get back to chimney, uh, pond trail, right? Yeah. Uh, there's an option to go, I would say probably a little bit more direct, uh, down that back to the, uh, roaring brook.

[01:29:26] But we decided to see if we could cut back into chimney pond trail. Um, so we got down to where the T is and took a right, which is, which was, uh, thankfully a, a much more sedate trail, uh, you know, just a little bit of rock hopping with, with a nice, uh, forest bed in between the rocks, um, that, that would take us over close. And we didn't go all the way back up to chimney pond, but we were thinking we would probably be able to double back in behind Mike and maybe even catch up to them.

[01:29:56] And we, we ultimately did catch up to them, but it was back at the trailhead where they had gotten a couple of minutes before we got there. Pretty close, pretty close. Yeah. We had stopped the, uh, so from chimney pond back to the, to roaring brook, uh, probably the, the only other, I guess there's a couple of notable things. One is there's this like giant boulder field you guys talked about a little bit. Um, and then there's basin pond, which then gives you a view to look back out to, um, the

[01:30:25] Hamlin Ridge and that whole like kind of volcanic circ that's, that's behind Hamlin. So that's a cool view for sure. And basin pond, uh, was, was nice to be able to dip into and get a little bit of a cooling option for us. Cause we were pretty toasty. Yeah. And the trail going down, um, from there, I would say it's kind of just standard white mountains trail. It was funny. I think we all hit like a, a piece of like trail before we hit chimney pond. That was just like flat dirt and like pine needles.

[01:30:54] And we're all, we're like literally just like moaning because it was just, it felt really good to just be walking on like some dirt for a second. It was, it makes you appreciate it a little bit. Um, there were a couple of bridge closers. I noticed that's actually highlighted like right when you go into Baxter state parks website right now. So just be sure to follow the flagging over there. Um, I imagine they're just replacing them or whatnot. Um, and there was just basically streams kind of intermittently throughout where if you really had to get water, um, there were some options down there and then obviously

[01:31:20] you got basin ponds and the big, um, the big bouldery one just above it looks like it's called dry pond, which makes sense because there was no water in it. Um, but yeah, like you said, Mike, just really cool views back to Hamlin Ridge and sort of the North basin, um, from where he came. So, um, down from there kind of just me, I don't imagine you guys went through the same thing, but we passed sort of, um, where we passed on the Helon Taylor trail made our lollipop. And, uh, yeah, we caught you guys like right at the, uh, the sort of the trail register area at the lot.

[01:31:49] Um, so we were just barely caught up to you guys on the way down. Right. And it wouldn't, and we, and both groups ran into Andy from the car. Oh yeah. Yeah. He was coming. He was on his way up. That's right. I'd be remiss if we didn't mention. Yeah. It was funny. I was like behind you guys and I'm like, I think that's Andy. And, uh, yeah, Andy was coming up to stay in chimney pond for a few nights and we've been, uh, sharing his posts out too. He tagged us. He was, he was getting after it on cathedral trail up to Baxter and looks like he did like a yo-yo, um, on the knife edge. And then with met Riley and, uh, went over to Hamlin and stuff.

[01:32:18] So he was having a fun time up there, but it's always cool when you see people like, you know, like, I don't know, what are we three and a half hours or whatever from New Hampshire where we hike and you see a friend out there in the woods. It was cool. Yeah. Just randomly running into Andy on the trail. So, and I told him like, cause I was like, oh yeah, you'll see those other guys. Cause I knew you guys were going to be close. Cause we were a little bit slower and we took a lot of breaks. Cause we took like a 15, 20 minute break to get water. And then we were probably 15, 20 minutes at chimney pond and another 15, 20 at basin pond.

[01:32:46] So I knew you guys were going to catch up to us. Um, but yeah, it was good to see Andy. And, uh, it's always funny randomly kind of running into people. Paula was sort of like, what's going on here? How, what are the odds you would see someone do us? It's probably pretty good, but, um, but yeah. And then we, yeah, get to roaring Brooke and then we were out. So it was a successful day, a lot of planning, a lot of sort of long-term planning ahead. They had to go into this trip, but like for us, I mean, it paid off so well. Perfect weather.

[01:33:16] Um, the group dynamics worked out well. I think we've all hiked together long enough now where the group dynamics are pretty much sorted. We kind of know what to expect. And then the only sort of down part for me was like the water management. I didn't have enough to drink, but that worked out fine. Cause we were able to filter. Yeah. Everything went out. I mean, you know, I love my stats. I think on my watch, I ended up having 11.6 miles for our loop and 4,800 feet of gain. Um, it looked like the books more like around 11 miles, something like that.

[01:33:43] Um, and one thing we all were talking on the way down is that it, and just be expected if you've never been in Katahdin before, I knew a little bit from being there, but, um, it's a much, it's much more rugged terrain, um, than probably the numbers would indicate in a harder hike than the numbers would indicate. Like it's going to beat up your, your legs going across the knife edges, like mostly sort of you're stepping when there's scrambles. So there's that. And then, um, the descent, like Peter said, you got, you're dealing with everything from like ledge to sort of scrambles, to loose rock, to hot granite that's sticky.

[01:34:11] And, um, just running the gamut of every sort of trail type you probably can experience. Um, just back to back to back to back. So just expect, it's probably going to beat up your legs a little bit more than you expect. Um, if you've done a hike, similar numbers, I'd say even in the Northern presidentials, like it, it doesn't, they're right. Like Katahdin is right up there, if not more rugged, I think than a lot of the Northern Prezi trails that you're going to see just because of the unrelentless elevation gain, um, of most routes.

[01:34:38] There's not, I don't think there's really an easy way up Katahdin up to Babster peak. Um, there are easier ways, but like you and Mike mentioned, like the saddle trail is probably one of the more mellows and like, you're still dealing with a loose scree slide on part of that. So, um, you're going to get it at some point, just kind of be prepared. Well, most of us are fairly quick, you know, hikers. Um, it's 4.1 miles to the summit and we started what around seven, seven 15 and our group summit

[01:35:08] picture was at one o'clock. Yeah. That's yeah. We've gone a little like a mile an hour. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. But overall fun day. And, uh, I thank you for, for inviting me along Peter and being the main organizer of this thing. And, uh, Jake, obviously like you are his sort of assistant organizer for this. So you guys did great. And then, uh, yeah, thumbs up for all the group members for not flaking. Nobody was an asshole during the weekend.

[01:35:37] Probably I was the biggest asshole, which is always the case. Um, but no, it was a good time. And then I guess the only other thing that we probably didn't cover is we talked about on the way out, given, given those people a ride. Uh, but the one thing we didn't cover was that there is a, um, new England outdoor center, like, um, welcome area that has knife edge brewing. And we found that became like, I guess if you didn't want to deal with the cooking piece of it, I would have been perfectly happy, like going there every night and having like

[01:36:06] pizza and chicken wings and beer without having to deal with the hassle of, of cooking. But I did, but I preferred the cooking and just sitting around the campfire. But if you didn't want to deal with that, like there, it is a good option. I thought they had probably one of the best pizzas that I've had in a long time over there. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. And I think, uh, I think Tom made chili and I want to say that, that kegged beer after doing the hike was very nice. Yeah. That was definitely a plus. Definitely a plus. Yeah, it was.

[01:36:35] I don't know that feeding us all beans, uh, after a hike was a great idea on Tom's part, but I was outside, so no big deal for me. But if you guys in the cabin survived that, then it's worth it. It was all good in the cabin. Very good. Uh, anything else we missed? Any, anything you want to add, Peter? No, I think, I think that's about it. Um, no, I was, I was glad everybody, you know, like I said, nobody flaked. Right.

[01:37:02] And, you know, you kind of always expect a little bit of attrition, but we didn't get any. Um, so yeah, it was, it was a great group going up there. Um, again, we've all hiked together before, so we kind of knew what the group dynamic was going to be and it worked well. Very good. Awesome. And, uh, thanks again, Peter. And then Jake, anything else to add? Uh, that's, that's, that's about it. I mean, it was, I've been looking forward to this trip for a long time before it was even planned.

[01:37:31] Wanted to go there. Wanted to eventually get there. Um, thanks Peter for putting it all together and thanks everybody for, for coming and making it fun, enjoyable. It was, it was a fantastic trip. Right. Yeah. Thanks guys. I mean, definitely in the same boat. You did a great job. I mean, organizing Peter and kind of doing the emails and all, all that stuff and getting everybody on the same page. And, and the good thing for all our listeners is this is only part one. Um, so I think, uh, probably sort of end it here.

[01:38:01] So that was sort of our, our big, uh, Katahdin day. And then we'll get into sort of what we did on the next day of the trip on the next episode. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll cover like North brother and then, uh, swimming hole options and then other, um, places to visit in the park so that you can consider that. Cause you don't need necessarily a pass to, to hike the knife edge, to have an epic time at Baxter. So we'll cover that next week. Uh, but for now we'll call it a, call it a night. And then, um, hopefully everybody gets out this weekend and enjoys their hike and then we'll be back next week.

[01:38:32] Bye everybody. Bye. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed the show, you can subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you want to learn more about the topics covered in today's show, please check out the

[01:38:57] show notes and safety information at slasher podcast.com. That's S L A S R podcast.com. You can also follow the show on Facebook and Instagram. We hope you'll join us next week for another great show until then on behalf of Mike and Stomp, get out there and crush some mega heats. Now covered in scratches, blisters, and bug bites.

[01:39:25] Chris staff wanted to complete his most challenging day hike ever. Fish and game officers say the hiker from Florida activated an emergency beacon yesterday morning. He was hiking along the Appalachian trail when the weather started to get worse. Officials say the snow was piled up to three feet in some spots and there was a wind chill of minus one degree. And there's three words to describe this race. Do we all know what they are? Holy!

[01:39:54] Lieutenant James Neeland, New Hampshire Fish and Game. Lieutenant, thanks for being with us today. Thanks for having me. What are some of the most common mistakes you see people make when they're heading out on the trails to hike here in New Hampshire? Seems to me the most common is being unprepared. I think if they just simply visited hikesafe.com and got a list of the 10 essential items and had those in their packs, they probably would have no need to ever call us at all. Thank you.