Two weeks ago I did a thru of Baxter State Park. Baxter State Park is a remote spot in Northern Maine. Its gates are closed in the winter but a few spots in the park are open for reservations with the accompanying permit. The permit process involves answering questions about prior experience and general gear knowledge. BSP is remote and unforgiving. The only road going through the park is a 15mph dirt road and this road is not plowed in the winter. You are at the mercy of observing weather reports and hoping that a ranger's snowmobile packs the snow down somewhat.
I initially planned it to be 2 nights. The first night after 19 miles at Nesowadnehunk Bunkhouse and the second night after 20 miles at the Trout Brook bunkhouse. When I received a phone call from the park staffer I was told the Trout Brook bunkhouse wasn't available. I told then it's ok - I would bring a tent with me in case of emergency and do my best to ride it out of the park (that was additional 5+ miles to Mattagammon bridge.
My backup plan was to ski it in case of high snow ... actually my initial plan was to ski it and I changed my mind after I saw no new snow for at least a week. Everything was hard and icy. I figured a fat bike would do a better job.
I arrived in Millinocket on Thursday night, did last minute re-packing, cleaned my bike and slept until 5am. Friday morning I peeked outside the window and saw 4+ inches of snow on the ground! What! ? - the forecast called for 1 inch dusting! I did not bring my skis. I decided to go anyway.
I arrived at Abol Bridge (southern entrance to BSP) and it was still snowing. I attached all the bags to the bike and set off.
The going wasn't easy. Freshly fallen snow on top of ice is hopeless. It is too thick for the studs to help and slick enough for the whole tire to slide underneath. Any incline would cause my front tire to spin out, or a rear tire to spin out or the whole bike to give up... I made it half a mile to a kiosk where I penciled in my arrival
At this point I thought I should take a photo when I realized my camera was missing. I have dropped it about 200 yards back during a pee break. So I walked back - didn't even want to ride it . During the walk I noticed some blood on the trail and then a hole in the ice with blood. Probably a coyote kill, I think it might have been a small deer based on the fur tufts I observed.
I found the camera and took photos of the blood on my walk back to the bike. I continued via a gentle uphill trail through the woods until I reached the park road. At this point I knew the uphill would get steeper before I reached Abol Campground. It was slippery, basically 40% riding and 60% hike-a-bike. Somewhere around the top of the hill I heard a snowmobile. I moved to the side to leave space for the machine to pass. It was the park ranger. He asked me a few questions and checked my SOLO permit. Then he asked if he could take my photo , saying they don't get a lot of bikes during the winter months. I asked him if he would also take a photo with my phone.
I kept going and going while it kept on snowing and snowing and the trail got more slippery. I wiped out often on the uphill, on the downhill, on the straightaways...
Then the snowing stopped and it almost appeared as if the sun was going to shine. I snapped a photo of Doubletop Mountain in front of me and kept on going. I knew I was getting close to the bunkhouse, maybe 3-4 miles.
I lost count on how many times I had to remount the bike but I knew it was bad when I actually felt I was getting a cramp in my whole right side. I never get cramps.
Luckily soon I arrived to a sign that pointed to the location of the bunkhouse
I pushed the bike to get there ...
I was glad. This was hard. I feared tomorrow's 25+ miles. But at this moment I was just happy to be done. I made fire in the woodstove and took a stroll to nearby bridge over the river to collect water
