After my long day on Katahdin, I was tired and hot (88 degrees at the base of the mountain that day). So, on the ride back to camp, I stopped at Ledges Falls, waded up to the most pleasant looking pool and submerged. Like how food tastes better when you are hungry, a cool stream feels to an achy body. The pools flow. I am sure that during snow melt, these pools really flow.
The sun was low but this cool stream raised my spirits.
I scrounged up some deadwood back at camp. A good fire keeps the bugs at bay.
This camouflaged critter is harder to see than the toad in the last post. Part of the problem is the dim light, but if you are sharp and creative, you can make out something between the Sugar Maple leaves. I don't recall ever seeing one of these in the wild (1).
After 9:30, and the sky is still light above the evergreens surrounding my campsite.
Up again by 4:30 for another day of hiking. At a parking spot along the way, I spied this little guy making his way across.
I went around to Roaring Creek Campground, 22 miles of gravel from my campsite and started up the Chimney Pond Trail. Very near the trailhead were these Lady Slippers lining the path.
The stream looked so docile. The seriousness of this new bridge tells me that it is not always so. Near steep slopes that hold a winter's worth of snow, these streams must roar during Spring thaw.
My goal this day was two cirques (2). I wanted to see Chimney Pond from its shore rather than the vantage point yesterday, 4000' above it. When I stopped at a viewpoint along the way, I met the guy in the fluorescent green T-shirt. We ended up hiking, seeing the sights, and talking for 2 hours.
Downslope and still out of the Katahdin cirque is Brian Lake. These ponds are windblown, cold, and dark-watered.
The ponds are glacial scoured potholes. These flat spots also leave may boggy spots. Frequently the solution is a log pathway.
Another wet area that is common in these forests are fens which are stream or spring fed, non-acidic, and flow. Bogs are precipitation fed, acidic, and stagnant. Probably the moss is growing on a rock or something, but I took this picture because the clumps appeared to be floating.
This location is what started me thinking about snow melt off. There is no water here, but there are obviously water stains up to a certain level. There is some serious flow that would be very dangerous at times.
Ah, here is Chimney Pond at last.
It is certainly backed up against the slopes of Katahdin, here shrouded with thick cloud cover.
In fact, it is so close into the cliffs that boulders have rolled down into the water numerous times in the past.
I passed some rock climbers who said the climbing is good here.
Baxter is Peaking out. The rangers were highly recommending that no one attempt the summit this day as there were supposed to be high winds and numerous lightning strikes. I was so thankful for having done it yesterday.
Old Glory and the State of Maine flags at the Chimney Pond Ranger's Station. I wondered how logs were moved to bridge making projects like the one pictured earlier. Just near the Ranger Station is a small clearing and volunteer worker's cabin. In this clearing were two large bags of gravel (large as in 1/2 ton or more). Evidently, these were dropped onsite by helicopter.
More Canada Bunchberry
The second cirque, Katahdin now on the left
Fully built of boulders, this knoll at the entrance to the cirque seems to be more of a terminal moraine. Looking off in the other direction, you can see Brian Pond that I was at earlier on the right and larger ones in the haze of distant hills. The small fir trees are curious with needles only at the top. Is it disease, wind, or something else? My temporary hiking partner suggested that perhaps winter snows are so persistent as to kill the lower branches. I don't know if this makes sense or not.
I know that I am lichen me some growth on the boulders in green, gray, black, and occasional yellow.
Spring comes later to the north and high elevations
I took this picture for no other reason than it looks like many a section of trail in the high elevations of Southern Appalachia (3).
An interesting leaf pattern on the stem and beautiful lily-like blooms
Eastern White Cedar does not grow in my neck of the woods.
I had to go see the "Great Niagra Falls" in another part of the park. It was a nice cascade and probably roars during Spring thaw, but I hardly think that it deserves such a grandiose name.
Wilderness has both a beauty and a loneliness about it.
I had borrowed a vehicle for the trip because mine quit before leaving. I was thankful for its functionality, particularly on these gravel roads.
Last evening in Baxter State Park
Where do you find quiet to listen to and converse with God? Wilderness is not a substitute for "church" as some proclaim, but it is a retreat for the concrete-encased, schedule-harried soul. Come apart to rest, recreate, and reconnect with your Creator and God.
1. Woodhen
2. An amphitheater shaped valley formed by a glacier
3. That does not start with a long a but a short one.
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