As per usual, the Venture Crew based in western Pennsylvania scheduled a jam packed weeklong adventure; this year touring the Northeast.  Debra, Brittni, Michael, and I were invited to participate in attempting to summit Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine.  Inspired by our previous weekend warrior trip to CO, we also had Paul join us from Dallas as a few of us prep for a Kilimanjaro expedition.

Our plan was to ascend via the Appalachian Trail (south) from the Katahdin Stream Campground and meet up along the ridge after a bit of class 3 scrambling with our secondary group.  The primary objective; to summit the highest peak in Maine.

Our campground for the night

Prepping, just as day begins to break

Trailhead plaque

Onwards

Stream crossing

First sunlight as we get a peak above the treeline

The sun cresting upon our ridge line

Panoramic view facing West

The beginning of the Class 3 terrain

Upon the final summit ridge

A summit party awaits

Plaque on the summit

Group photo!

Descending the ridge

We were expected to meet up with our secondary group whom planned to ascend via the Abol Stream Trail along the summit ridge, but we missed them by about 15 minutes as we were moving quickly to start the slow descent of the class 3 section.  Later, I heard they had a successful summit as well.

Some spicier sections

A scout found some trail trash, we're packing it out!

All in all we had a splendid hike with everything going to plan.  Our group managed to stay on top of being efficient in regards to limiting our unplanned stops, completed our there and back within our expected time-frame, and overall I think we all had great exposure to real class 3 scrambling.  Having Paul along added a substantial amount of experience considering a group's skill is the summation of the group's experience since Paul had completed CO 14ers circuit just 2 years ago. Great weather always makes for a great day regardless of the summit, but the summit was just that much sweeter as we joined many AT thru-hikers both finishing and starting their journeys.  Until next time!

Hunt Trail/Appalachian Trail Northern Terminus Strava Track

Hunt trail/Appalachian Trail Northern Terminus Movescount Track