First light, 6:15 a.m. Bleary-eyed, I roll onto one elbow. Beyond the outline of the shelter opening, I can just see the mountain. Three weeks into autumn, it’s cold, so I don a fleece and puffy jacket. Out of the warm bag, I crawl and pull on pants and boots. With camera in hand, I head for the pond shore, 150 feet away. Coffee will have to wait.
The path through the spruce grove leads to the boggy edge of Martin Pond. I skidder over the slippery log planks before settling down on the small landing at the water’s edge. A gauzy mist hangs over the glassy surface of the pond, which reflects the mackerel sky above and the great mass of Katahdin looming larger than life beyond the far shore.
I’ve seen the photos from this very spot. And I’ve waited for the chance to experience the scene for myself. Two previous rainy visits were a bust, but now I stand at the ready and watch, hopeful that the conditions will allow the much anticipated show. My hiking buddy awakens from his slumber and joins me. Three mergansers stealthily glide past.
Minutes later, the sun breaks over the treetops and slowly but surely bathes Katahdin in pastel pink. First the summits of South Peak and Pamola and the jagged Knife Edge. Then Hamlin Peak and Howe Peak, the Saddle, and the walls of the Great Basin and North Basin. The light turns orange, the trees at the pond’s margin appearing as if in flames.
We stand in awe, quiet but for the frenzied movement of fingers on cameras and the occasional muttering of thanks for the good fortune to witness this incredible moment. Before the performance ends, a cow moose wanders into the picture, Katahdin as backdrop. Perfect.
Shivering, we turn and walk to the shelter to put on coffee and breakfast.
We spend two nights and three glorious days at the Martin Ponds Lean-to, one of three shelters in the Katahdin Lake sector of Baxter State Park. The others are located on the south side and north side of Katahdin Lake. The shelter at the southerly of the two tiny Martin Ponds is a 2.3-mile hike from the Avalanche Field trailhead on the Roaring Brook Road.
Katahdin Lake is a relatively new addition to Baxter State Park. In late 2006, after a long and complicated conservation deal involving a host of public and private entities, 4,100 acres around the lake were gifted to the park, finally fulfilling a long-held dream of Percival Baxter. Since that time, several other small private inholdings around the lake have also been acquired.
Bellies full, we grab the canoe and slide it into the water. It takes but 15 minutes to paddle around Martin Pond, but we require a full 45 minutes, slowly paddling (or not) to explore every nook and cranny of the shoreline, hoping perhaps for another moose sighting. And admiring, ever out there to our south, the impressive bulk of Maine’s “Greatest Mountain.”
The day is young, so we pack a lunch and strike off for Katahdin Lake, a couple miles distant. In an hour’s time, we cross the lake’s brushy inlet and investigate the lean-to and then the abandoned buildings of the former Katahdin Lake Wilderness Camps. We snack at a picnic table beneath a huge yellow birch, wistfully gazing at the decaying log cabins.
Our return to Martin Ponds leads along the sandy Katahdin Lake shoreline, which rewards us with views west to the Katahdin massif and to South and North Turner mountains. It is a fine amble back, partly on an old tote road and the last stretch on a forest footpath. Close to the shelter, we gather up a good bundle of dry kindling and sticks.
The evening is a relaxing affair: multiple forays to the pond to enjoy the grand Katahdin view, a warming blaze against the gathering fall chill, a hot meal of freeze-dried something or other.
There is bourbon. Banter about trips past and future. And games of cribbage. I get skunked one too many times and retire happily to my sleeping bag.
Tomorrow we hike out, but first, one final celebratory night of stars and silence and solitude miles from nowhere in Baxter’s big, beautiful wilderness. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Carey Kish of Mount Desert Island is a Triple Crown hiker, freelance writer and author of three hiking guides. Connect with Carey on Facebook and Instagram and at [email protected].
