Levitating on Baxter Peak

Just getting to the top of Katahdin in the winter is amazing. I did it with a group last year and we were all elated, even though it was cloudy and stormy with 50 mph wind gusts that made us turn around after just a few minutes up there. This year was something quite different. Instead of storm clouds around us, obscuring the views, we were above the clouds. Instead of 50 mph winds, we had zero wind. Instead of -30 winchills, the air temperature must have been near 25 degrees. I was the first in the group up here, right after sunrise, and felt 100% like I was the highest person in Maine. My friend Grant joined just after, and walked out to where I had been standing, raised his arms in an entirely genuine gesture of wonder, and I snapped this photo. This really was the feeling of being up there. You can just make out the ridge of the Knife's Edge on the left, sitting in the clouds. I loved the way the sun lined up with the peaks, and the person, and the path. Everything came together better than we could have ever hoped for. I'm so grateful to have experienced this.

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Image Size: 6099x7624 / 27.0MB; Baxter State Park Clouds Gifts High Highest Hike Hiking Icon Iconic Image Katahdin Landmark Landscape ME Maine Millinocket Mount Katahdin Mountain New England Northern Maine Peak Photography Prints Scenery Scenic Sky Snow Terminus of the Appalachian Trail USA Undercast Weather Winter
Contained in galleries: Recent Work, Winter Hiking, Archive, Winter

Just getting to the top of Katahdin in the winter is amazing. I did it with a group last year and we were all elated, even though it was cloudy and stormy with 50 mph wind gusts that made us turn around after just a few minutes up there. This year was something quite different. Instead of storm clouds around us, obscuring the views, we were above the clouds. Instead of 50 mph winds, we had zero wind. Instead of -30 winchills, the air temperature must have been near 25 degrees. I was the first in the group up here, right after sunrise, and felt 100% like I was the highest person in Maine. My friend Grant joined just after, and walked out to where I had been standing, raised his arms in an entirely genuine gesture of wonder, and I snapped this photo. This really was the feeling of being up there. You can just make out the ridge of the Knife's Edge on the left, sitting in the clouds. I loved the way the sun lined up with the peaks, and the person, and the path. Everything came together better than we could have ever hoped for. I'm so grateful to have experienced this.