Who drove a snowmobile to the peak of Katahdin?
By Bill Green
Imagine my absolute delight when old friend and former Director of Baxter State Park Buzz Caverly called me to help him clear up a problem he’s having with the internet.
“I don’t do computers,” he said. “The way they worded it to me is ‘Facebook is blowing up’.”
Usually, I just look for an engineer or a 12-year-old when I have computer problems, but I decided to do what I could.
It turns out there is a rumor that Buzz once took a snowmobile to the top of Katahdin, which he denies. Snow sleds are not allowed except on the perimeter road at Baxter and going up the mountain with one would be really verboten.
A quick Google search reveals a picture of a guy standing on the summit next to a vintage Ski-Doo and a Moto-Ski. The picture is faded and looks like it was taken in the early 1960s.
In fact, it does look like Buzz in a Baxter State Park ranger suit complete with hat and sunglasses. To be honest, I had seen a similar picture and heard the story many times. I was kind of proud of him for doing it.
Let me explain my reasoning. Sometimes, when you get up around Katahdin, you see some huge tree stumps probably left from the turn of the last century in some incredibly difficult terrain. You wonder, “Why would anybody come up in here and cut that huge tree? It’s just too much effort.”
Then you look at the pictures of the men now in museums. They’re common, raw-boned guys whose lot in life was to cut trees. They eventually looked for the biggest challenge and left some stumps as evidence of what they could do for 21st Century weaklings like me to ponder.
As President John F. Kennedy said in his brilliant 1963 “Why go to the moon?” speech, “We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
In that spirit, I could imagine a Maine boy with an eight-horsepower Moto-Ski looking up at Baxter Peak.
For Buzz, it’s not inspirational. It’s embarrassing. He spent 45 years working in the park and to say it became his life is an understatement. Although he still describes himself as a humble Cornish, Maine, boy, he became a passionate preservationist who did amazing things to protect this precious backcountry in his 22 years as park director.
He was also the last ranger to know Gov. Percival Baxter. In fact, just months before his death, the governor wrote to Buzz and reminded, “We are partners in this project.”
Buzz believes the picture is of either Rodney Sargeant or Elmer Knowlton. Park Supervisor Helon Taylor instructed them to go up on the Tableland to remove some of the nets and containers that were left behind from when the first crop of caribou was airlifted up there in 1963.
They approached from the Northwest. “They told me at one point that they literally had to carry the sleds,” Buzz recalled.
As the story goes, the gear was so badly frozen, they couldn’t get it out, so they “decided to ride to the summit to take a picture.”
Buzz was on seasonal layoff that summer of 1963. He had told me in a podcast interview that he worked for Brunswick Coal and Lumber for three winter seasons “waiting to get on full time,” he said
In Buzz’s defense, I offer the Lawrence Welk Show. All those guys dancing with the ladies look like my dad. If you put them in 1960s-vintage snowsuits, I couldn’t pick him out.
Even if it wasn’t Buzz, I admire those who have ridden snowmobiles up Maine’s greatest mountain. Oh, I know it’s not politically correct to think this way, but hey, we’re talking snowmobiling!
This winter, the combination of little snow and storm damage to the trails has really hurt the snowmobile industry. Harvest changes are closing some trails because the soft ground has forced harvesting equipment out of the woods and on to the roads.
Especially this year, the idea of snowmobiling to the top of Katahdin seems unimaginable. The damage done by the Dec. 18 storm is not. It’s very real and has strained the resources of the clubs working to keep Maine’s 13,000 miles of trails open.
Just this week, the Jo-Mary Riders and Ebeemee Snowmobile Club worked to restore an 80-foot bridge over the East Branch that was washed out last month.
The clubs want everyone to “Think snow!” and maybe bring a chainsaw if you’re heading north. This is not to cut big trees, but to help with what’s fallen across trails.
We can do anything. Remember, we live in a state where someone once took a snowmobile to the top of our highest mountain. By the way, if you know who actually made the climb, drop me a line.
Bill Green is best known for his long-running TV show “Bill Green’s Maine.” He also volunteers with Freedom Boat Club, Friends of Baxter State Park and Maine Sports Hall of Fame.