[at-l] Bad news from Baxter

[Snodrog5@aol.com]

A disturbing news story:

Baxter rangers vow to evict violators
By Mary Anne Lagasse, Of the NEWS Staff

BAXTER STATE PARK — In the wake of this week’s surprise snowstorm, Baxter 
State Park rangers are cracking down on the rising number of Appalachian 
Trail hikers who are ignoring safety regulations.

All hiking trails on snow-covered Mount Katahdin in the park are closed 
because they are considered to be life-threatening. Yet on Friday, there 
were more than a dozen people at Katahdin Stream campground preparing to 
ascend Maine’s highest peak, said Park Director Irvin “Buzz” C. Caverly Jr.

Park authorities classify the trails daily based on safety conditions. A 
class 4 day means mandatory closure of all trails above tree line. Portions 
of trails below the tree line remain open. The park director described class 
4 as a life-and-death situation.

The current class 4 designation will remain in effect until the end of the 
season, said Caverly, unless there is a warm weather trend. He said the 
rocks above tree line are covered with ice.

Caverly said the ice is not currently safe to climb, even with technical 
gear because it is not thick enough to support the gear. “If you put a 
crampon or a piton into some ice right now, it will just break apart,” the 
director said.

“AT hikers in particular are not taking class 4 days seriously,” said 
Caverly. “In fact, they are boasting and laughing about the fact that they 
can climb regardless of the class day and the park will do nothing about 
it.”

Park officials learned that some AT hikers had planned a moonlight climb on 
Katahdin on Friday night. “We are going to intercept that, load them in vans 
haul them out of the park,” said Caverly. “We are not going to tolerate this 
foolishness any longer.”

To illustrate how lightheartedly AT hikers have been taking the park’s class 
4 day warnings, Caverly said the hikers’ term “trail magic” has a whole new 
meaning. Traditionally, it meant someone would meet a hiker on the trail and 
provide them with food or take them to a town for a meal in celebration of 
their feat.

But now, he said, the term means not only a celebration for getting to the 
end of the trail, but also for circumventing park policy.

Caverly said such celebrations held the night before the final climb 
included drinking beer and using drugs. Some rangers have had to clean vomit 
from lean-tos in the park after such celebrations, Caverly said.

Because of the rising number of hikers ignoring the safety rules, park 
rangers will no longer issue friendly warnings to violators, Caverly said. 
There will be harsh consequences, such as eviction from the park.

Park officials will revoke privileges for future use of the park. There will 
be tighter registration at Daicey Pond, Abol and Katahdin Stream campgrounds 
and there will be special surveillance.

Violators of park regulations and policies will pay for costs incurred as 
the result of a search, rescue or recovery.

Caverly said some hikers are failing to recognize the dangers and negative 
impacts to the park’s resources. “When class 4 days are ignored, lives and 
safety are putat risk. This is a serious life-and-death threat. Thawing and 
freezing causes the alpine zones and the trail surfaces to be very 
vulnerable to foot traffic. Our soils and vegetation are impacted by 
inappropriate trampling of alpine trails during this time of rapid freezing 
and thawing,” he said.

At Chimney Pond Campground, which has an elevation of 2,900 feet, 20 inches 
of snow remained, with four-foot drifts Friday. “These people are going up 
5,200 feet and just laughing at us,” said Caverly. “It is not a case of 
whether someone is going to get hurt or killed. It is a case of when someone 
is going to get hurt or killed if they continue these type of activities.”

Caverly said he would never forget how a park ranger lost his life on Oct. 
29, 1963 in an attempt to save a person who ignored park rules and became a 
victim of a serious weeklong snowstorm.

What also concerns park officials is that at least 225 AT hikers are on 
their way to Mount Katahdin. Caverly said there are 150 hikers on the AT 
trail between Monson and Abol Bridge — the last 100 miles of the AT trail — 
and another 75 hikers between the Kennebec River and Monson.

Caverly said the hikers will be arriving from now until Thanksgiving Day.  
“We have got to let them know before they get to the park that we are 
serious [about the class 4 day designations]. They are not going to climb on 
a class 4 day and if they do, they will pay the consequences,” he said.

The park director spent much of Friday traveling from Millinocket to Monson, 
alerting the various guide services and other providers who may encounter AT 
hikers about the class 4 designation for the trails on Katahdin.
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