Snow is coming and Deb has Tuesdays off. I had things to do in the early morning, so about 10am we left to find lunch near wilderness. We drove through Medway and East Millinocket toward the Knife Edge Brew Pub on the edge of Baxter State Park, a true wilderness area. Except for the small towns, our travel was among snow and trees. Evidence of logging was everywhere, but softened by the coat of snow lying on everything. The Penobscot River, which I-95 roughly parallels, was by turns frozen over and then had some open areas. This area of Maine has a lake every fifteen feet, but the Mainiacs cleverly reduce the wetted surface area (a ship design term) by calling them “ponds.” Sorry for my demographic slip; actually the locals are Mainers. I still like Mainiacs better!
We stopped at the Katahdin General Store to compare its contents to the Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, NC. KGS is smaller, without the breadth of REI-type products, but it does have:
- All the tourist stuff you’d want. Anybody want a plaid mug that says “Momma Bear” on it?
- Snowmobile helmets, bib suits, snow goggles and really heavy gloves.
- Fishing lures and all the gear you’d need for ice fishing.
- Plastic sleds to carry all the stuff you need out on the ice. One hitches the sled to a snowmobile. Confusing, though, because the local term for snowmobile is “sled.” A sled pulling a sled? One of the towable sleds was eight feet long and six feet wide … I thought it was a skiff.
- A nice selection of local fudge, honey and jams, just like the Mast!
Had a bit of a double take as we were getting back into the car. Four snowmobiles (I’ll now refer to them as sleds) pulled up to the gas pumps to refuel. Weird seeing them on pavement.
We continued west toward the brew pub. Got up a little bit in elevation on a snowy access road (cinder strewn, Debbi driving slow) and saw Mt. Katahdin. Kind of low, trees in the way. The mountain stands 5269 feet tall, lower than NC’s Mount Mitchell by 1400 feet. Still, it’s the highest point in Maine. The Appalachian Trail ends on Mt Katahdin, but is not accessible after October 15th. Camping is not allowed in Baxter State Park after October 22nd. Lot of bad weather. The Knife Edge (for which the pub is named, of course) is a 1.1 mile trail up the mountain that’s about three feet wide with steep drop-offs on either side. Not recommended for the casual hiker.
The brew pub has a huge pizza oven, of which I made a poor picture. I had a local IPA and Deb drank coffee with our very good pizza. Sleds were parked all over, as the pub is part of a wilderness rental service, plus is a great spot to stop after a wild run through the snowmobile trails. After lunch, while we were leaving, the four sleds from the KGS gas pumps pulled into the parking lot. Seems sled trails through the region are legion!
Guess what? It’ll snow six inches tonight.
Steve Steele
I agree: Mainiacs is a MUCH better term! Start a trend! And I’ve noticed that people on the eastern seaboard tend to play fast and loose with terms like “pond” and “mountain.” Then again, even the USGS can’t come up with a good definition of what delineates between a mountain and a hill.