BLOG - South Turner Mtn in Baxter State Park ME

Well, woke up this morning excited for today's hike, a first for all of us as we've never actually climbed anything in Baxter before, and my left eye was swollen on the top and bottom. F*@^ these g&$d@!# motherf*@^{# hives! So sick of it. My vision was too obstructed to drive but we kind of planned on Julie driving this one anyway, since her vehicle has higher clearance for the dirt roads up there. We made the right call, it was quite bumpy and my other eye started swelling as well, so hey at least they matched. Luckily the swelling didn't get too severe, as it's been known to do. I took my Benadryl which made me sleepy but I powered through and we stopped at the obligatory painted rock for photos by the entrance to Baxter State Park.

Then we stopped again at a convenient little outhouse with a view of Katahdin, we all had to pee after breakfast by that point in the trip. And I needed to get out and stretch to keep myself awake, the bumpy roads helped with that though.

After 8 miles of bumping along the dirt roads, we finally reached the Roaring Brook Campground parking lot. I wasn't so sure about hiking in my condition but knew the chances of me making it back here were slim to none, I've rallied through hives before and was pretty determined. So all four of us hit the trail, with the plan being Jaime would turn back after the lake when the trail got super steep, and I'd probably turn back with her. Almost fell asleep twice on the flat first mile of the trail. Then we hit the lake with a picture perfect view of Katahdin on a clear day, barely a cloud in the sky, nice little breeze and finally no humidity after a long sticky stretch of summer.

And in the other direction was a rocky knob that we figured had to be our destination, South Turner Mountain. I'd seen some trail reports on it recently and it sounded rough, but with an up close and personal view of Katahdin's northern cirque, it shot straight to the top of my list.

Jaime turned back as planned and the three of us continued on as the lovely trail morphed into a pile of rocks before climbing the mountainside rather steeply. It didn't let up until the top. Luckily my Benadryl started wearing off so I was able to hike somewhat comfortably. Eyes were still swollen but not enough to obstruct my vision or make me dizzy. Hives were popping up here and there which are even itchier when sweating but I pulled through.

I was glad to stop whenever JR needed a little break but I surprised even myself with how good I did, especially considering my lack of food lately. Julie rarely needs breaks, she's essentially a machine on trails who thinks 4mph is a walk in the park. Luckily when I'm hiking with hives, they typically fade away, something about the mountain air seems to chase them off and I'm only left with the large welts beneath the skin.

We met only a couple groups coming down and they informed us we were getting closer and would have the summit to ourselves. The trees growing shorter is always a good sign. And then we popped out on a giant talus field just below the summit cone, surrounded by boulders and gravel like we'd suddenly stepped into a different world. A mountain desert just above the conifers.

The top wasn't far, we could see the wooden sign, but a steep field of boulders lay between us and the summit post. We crunched through beach-like gravel until reaching the larger rocks. JR decided to call it a day there, maneuvering between and over boulders isn't his strong suit and we could tell it was only going to get worse. And it did.

We left our packs with him and Julie and I forged on, picking our way across boulders, trying to follow the blue dots. JR made the right call, his hiking sticks wouldn't have been big enough to pole vault him up some of those ledges. As if rock slides aren't nerve racking enough, tackling them that high up is even worse, it's a good thing we both live for this kind of thing.

With one final burst, we made it to summit cairn where there were 360 degree views, looking out over mountains we'd never seen before. No clue what any of them are, but it was thrilling nonetheless. Except of course for Katahdin, that one we knew. Maybe we'll get to tackle it someday.

We headed back down, which was a bit scarier than going up, it always is on rockslides. JR climbed a little higher for better pictures and that was enough for him, descending the scree is a bit terrifying so I carried his bulky camera for him but he did great. You can't tell in the pictures but I'm trying to smile, my face was just too swollen for it to work. I also fought to open my eyes as much as possible in this one, believe it or not I'm not squinting into the sun.

Lovely spot to stop for a snack, mine being an apple and dry Chex, but it was enough to power me through the trip down the mountain. Amazingly my knees aren't bad, despite years of retail and hiking, so the downhill portion is always pretty easy for me. I even went the extra couple hundred feet to a spring just below the treeline, nice place to wash the dried sweat of my face. I mean, that's not sweat, they just dumped water on me after making it to the top, you know, like football teams pouring Gatorade over the coach after a win.

Back at the flat portion of the trail, we stopped at Sandy Stream Pond where a couple on the giant rock outcropping were taking photos of a moose in the water. I'll be damned, Jaime not only manifested a moose for Julie and JR, she even nailed the location. We were just sad she didn't get to see it too, man that girl is good. If anybody's wondering, she was reading at the car while we did the mountain, enjoying every minute of it.

We stopped at a couple more lookouts along the way with views of Katahdin across the pond. I was a bit sore by that point, knees a little wobbly from medicine and not nearly enough food, but man was that a perfect day. Turned out my feet were hurting because the tops of them were covered in hives so big they started forming bruises, so I slid my shoes off for the long ride home.

They hit Hannaford again for more sandwiches, I had another apple, too late for me to eat. Hives tend to be worse at night due to histamine levels rising while we sleep, so I have to cut myself off pretty early, otherwise I swell up which leads to eye hives and mouth ones as well. Those are never fun. But something that is fun are raccoons! They were back again and rowdy as ever. The little ones were shoving their hands through the gap in the door like little zombies trying to break in. They'd gladly come in if we let them.

Those two days went by fast but man were they perfect, despite my little setback. A few days later I realized dairy was causing most of my current hives, one of the few things I'm supposed to be able to have on my strict diet. We suspect I have a little dairy allergy as it is so when I'm in the midst of a CIU flareup, that makes it even worse, particularly around my eyes. After eliminating dairy completely, the hives faded to nearly nothing for the last few days of their cycle. I figured it'd be about a month, after accidentally taking ibuprofen a month ago. I read some recent studies since the last time I went through this that pointed in that direction. A week after that, they were gone, back to being perfectly normal. No hives, no swollen eyes, no restrictive diet. It made for a rough month but if I got through a year and a half, I knew I could make it through that, especially with so many fun things filling up my schedule. In fact, we had a town wide yard sale the following weekend, my last weekend with hives, where I found a bag of Nintendo games. It turned out to be one of my craziest yard sale finds ever, which I knew the second I peeked in the bag with trembling fingers. If you're familiar with Nintendo games, you'll understand why.

Oh, we also realized our chipmunk friend Gustopher was antisocial because he's not a he at all. I realized it when he appeared after being gone for a week and suddenly had nipples. Boy chipmunks don't have nipples. He disappeared because he's a she and she had her first litter of babies! She must have just evaded all the boy chipmunks last year. When they were old enough, about a month later, she brought the little ones out to meet us. So at least little Gussy had a good reason for not introducing herself to Julie and JR. Maybe next time they'll get to pet a chipmunk, and with any luck it'll be as perfect as these last couple days.