Thursday, August 11, 2011

Katahdin



Beth and I returned to Baxter State Park last weekend with the goal of climbing Mt. Katahdin. Arriving Saturday afternoon at Daicey Pond we were greeted with an outstanding view of the mountain. Too bad we didn't climb that day!

The occasion was significant for me in that my first climb of Katahdin was in August of 1961. Our family had been to Baxter in 1956 and my father and older brothers spent a day on the mountain, but I was too young at the time. My mother, younger brother Phil and I stayed at the campsite at Katahdin Stream Campground and according to my mother a distinguished gentleman came around with a photographer in tow, and we had our photo taken with him--Governor Baxter in the flesh.

In the years that followed, I bugged my father for the opportunity to climb the mountain myself. He insisted on a number of shorter training hikes each summer before a major climb and this year was no different. We always started with Cathead Mountain in the spring and would climb a variety of lesser peaks in the southern Adirondacks that had fire towers at the top. Hadley, Spruce, Crane, Prospect, Wakley. We climbed most of them. By August, during our summer vacation to Wells Beach, Maine, we were ready for Katahdin.

I don't remember much about the climb and other than talking about the Hunt Trail and asking dad how far we had to go, I'm guessing we talked a lot about the Yankees and the incredible home run competition between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. By August 11th, the Yanks were on a 9-game win streak in which Mantle had 44 and Maris 42. Overshadowed was Whitey Ford's 20-2 record, quite amazing in itself. Mantle was my favorite. Maris had come from Kansas City the year before and would always be the outsider who didn't come up through the Yankees farm system. (It was only after his death many years later that I and many others appreciated Maris for his record-breaking 61 homers that year, breaking the Babe's long-standing record-with an asterisk). The Yanks would win 109 games that season and go on to win the World Series over the Cincinnati Reds.



The weather was great and the view to the South Basin and Chimney Pond was awe-inspiring. I'll never forget that.


After our climb, we bought a postcard to send to my mother--the view of the mountain from Katahdin Stream Campground.




The weather for my return hike on Sunday didn't quite match my first experience on the mountain but I was pretty happy to be able to make the return trip after fifty years. It's a tough climb, no matter which trail you take and how old you are.

Maybe the Yankees will make a return to the World Series, too. At least Mark Teixeira (32) and Curtis Granderson (31) are hitting homers at a high rate and CC Sabathia (16-6) is leading the league in wins, although the RedSox seem to be dominant when it counts this year. You never know with the Yankees and RedSox.






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