The entire reason I went to Maine early was to have the chance to hike Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park… one of the most remote and wild mountains in the Eastern United States. It is also one of the 50 state high points. On top of that, the popular route of ascent follows the “knife edge”, famous for its narrow sections with high degrees of exposure (steep drops).

As I researched a few weeks before the trip, I found out that the trails were not actually open to hikers yet! Crap! As fate would have it, Baxter posted that they were opening trails to hikers on Friday. My planned hike day was Thursday. Friday I needed to be in Portland by 4. Portland is 4 hours away from Baxter. Could I make it work?

I would definitely try.

I woke up at 4:25 AM to head to the park. It was already getting light when I hopped in the car and headed out at 4:45. There was a good chance it was going to rain and I was headed across the knife edge, but I figured I would make it work (and packed microspikes in case).

I figured I would get an early start so that I had time to shower and head back to Portland afterwards. I had also heard the parking (and therefore the trail) can fill up by 6:30 AM.

Equipped with some donuts I purchased the day prior, I headed to the park only to find….

I was the first person there and the gate was closed. I parked and waited. Nothing online said anything about the park opening at a particular time. Apparently it did. By 5:45 I was frustrated. Then it started to rain. The lack of sleep, the closed gate, and the rain led me to call it quits. I turned around and drove back to the hotel where I slept until 10. I would have to return to Katahdin another day. I was disappointed, but I held onto the hope that perhaps I would return soon, and see better weather that let me enjoy the views.