Hiking the International Appalachian Trail to Barnard Mountain

 On August 7, 2021, as we drove the Loop Road of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, we found one of our destinations:  Mile 0 of the International Appalachian Trail (IAT in English or SIA in French)!  We've hiked this trail before and have made it a destination when we've visited Canada, including in May 2018 in Gaspesie National Park in Quebec, and in June 2018 at Lanse aux Meadows on the northwesternmost point of Newfoundland.  We didn't realize the trail started here until we researched the Monument, so this was a great bonus for our visit!

Here's the view of the first part of the trail from the trailhead:

,

We found a trail sign soon after and took the opportunity for a selfie:

The first mile or two of the trail follows an old gravel tote road north.  At first glance, the road looked dry, but a closer look revealed that the soil just under the surface was rich and moist enough to support a variety of fungi:

Again, more evidence that Winter is Coming:

We thought the road and surrounding terrain might be too dry for moose to be extant, but we were wrong.  Within about a half mile of the start of our hike, we discovered the tracks of some moosey hiker who had preceded us:

We reached the junction of the IAT with the trail to the summit of Barnard Mountain and debated whether it would be more interesting to continue on the IAT or climb Barnard Mountain to see if there was a view toward Mount Katahdin.  We decided to climb for the view.

Now we were on a much more primitive, woodsy trail that climbed about 300-400 ft. per mile:

The region is populated with many large glacial erratics that dwarf their human interlocutors.  Here, David has a chat with one of the biggest we encountered:

Another large boulder was split down the middle, and, of course, the trail took advantage of that crack in the rock, so Kathy took advantage as well:

...and of course there were many types of fungi:

Eventually, we summited Barnard Mountain, and found no view.  None at all.

However, the trail continued, and the map suggested a viewpoint, so on we marched, hoping for a reward.  

Oh my gosh we were not disappointed!  This was where the trail ended:

That's Mount Katahdin in the background, and we couldn't resist taking this selfie with yet another view of that shy peak:

As a magnificent bonus, we also got a spectacular view of Katahdin Lake, where we had hiked recently and paddled a rented Baxter State Park canoe around an island to view the local moose.  On the trail back from Katahdin Lake, we had met two families that were planning to camp on opposite ends of the lake, in lean-tos provided by Baxter State Park.  Kathy scanned the lake with her spyglass, but could not find evidence of anyone paddling on the lake.

Here is a video with everything we saw from our lunch site.

Our hike back down Barnard Mountain was uneventful, except that we did spot a "sideways blaze" on the crack-in-the-rock, and Kathy examined it closely:

Back down the IAT, we hiked until we reached the height of land above Katahdin Brook before descending to the stream and back up to the opposite height and our original trailhead:

Wait.  Did we mention that the IAT was loaded with blueberries and juicy, ripe red raspberries most of the length trailside?  Kathy spotted them and took the opportunity on the return trip to stuff two bags -- one with raspberries and one with blueberries:

Berries made for scrumptious breakfasts over the next three days.  Boy, that Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is the gift that just keeps on giving!