Long time no post here, but I thought you guys would like to hear about an adventurous 5 days at Baxter Park. My dad and I made reservations for a Katahdin summit and then a 3 night backpack trip in the Russell pond area awhile ago and we had been anticipating this trip for a long time. The area was by far the coolest place i have come across in the east and i strongly recommend getting out there, even though it is a far way to go for almost anyone.
We started off with an fairly easy hike to Chimney Pond Campground for a night in the bunkhouse before summiting Katahdin. Here is a view of Chimney Pond with small clouds hanging over Knife Edge:
The weather wasn't looking great for our summit, but at least it wasn't going to be dangerous until later in the day. After talking to the ranger we decided to head up but only using the least technical climb: The Saddle Trail. It was a nice trail with a tough section about 1.5 miles from the summit which follows an old rockslide:
The clouds rolled in shortly after arriving in the alpine zone but we continued on in the fog until a large wooden sign told us we were at the summit of Katahdin and the end of the Appalachian Trail at about 8:30 am:
Right before we left we saw two women happily arrive at the summit and they modestly mentioned that to us that they had just finished the Appalachian Trail. That was a neat thing to see.
We then scurried all the way down to the car-accessable Roaring Brook Campground and spent the night in a lean-to preparing for our 3 day trek in to Russell Pond. A shot of the next morning about to begin the 7 mile slog in to Russell Pond:
A ranger told us to follow the flatter Wassataquoik Stream Trail but warned us of the stream crossing later in the trail (especially since it had just rained 1.5 inches the night before). Here is the crossing about 5 miles in:
The trek to Russell pond continued through beautiful island fields with long grasses and ferns but we were getting anxious to set up camp. Finally we arrived at Russell Pond and were greeted with a great pond view from the ranger's office:
The Spring-Fed Watering Hole:
Our finished camp:
To shorten this a little the next day consisted of a tour of the lakes around the area most of which had canoes convienently placed around them and our final destination of the day was the beautiful Greene Falls. Here are some shots:
Deep Pond:
Wassataquoik Lake (2 mile canoe from end to end):
And finally the properly named Greene Falls:
The next day we walked back to the Wassataquoik stream crossing where 2 lean-tos are positioned right next to the stream and stayed the night there after a nice day hike to grand falls.
The sunset over Wassataquoik Stream from our Lean-to:
We hiked out today and left Baxter Park already with plans in mind for our next trip there. Sorry about the length/amount of pictures but after 5 days in Baxter Park one sees a lot of amazing things.
p.s. natural ice was reported on the Cathedral Trail up Katahdin, however we were swayed from going up or down that route on the day of our ascent.
and other such scavengers?... 
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