Lawn Sale
New member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2005
- Messages
- 899
- Reaction score
- 97
We took our trip later this year due to a vacation in the UK, so I was worried about the black flies but as luck would have it, the later winter meant we hardly saw any. Bonus!
What can I say, this is one of the best hikes and camping sites in Maine, and certainly with some of the most spectacular and unspoiled views. The hike in was 4.5 miles and I overloaded us again with supplies and comforts. My wife (Terry) got to try out the new* Osprey Aether 70 pack and it was so nice I think I'll buy one. I have quite a few packs and the Atmos 50 is my favorite, but it was severely overloaded at 53 pounds (max capacity is rated at 35) but we were determined not to leave the 2.5L of wine at home
. The Atmos was cooler hiking than if I'd taken the Reality or the LL Bean but it wasn't as comfortable with that much weight whereas the Aether was hardly loaded with 40 pounds in it.
The hike in was uneventful but there has finally been some trail maintenance, in addition to new signs and all the fire pits were removed. We were able to set up on the bluff (#2) campsite and saw only a few people the rest of the day. We did the usual gamut: setting up, cooking, organizing, etc, and fell asleep to the lighthouse fog horn and buoy bell in the background. That's our blue tent in the picture below.
(click on any pictures to enlarge)
We awoke late and had a nice breakfast of omelets with fresh veggies, and food in the woods always tastes better than at home, but this was outstanding.
Then I commenced to filtering water, and anyone who has been to the Bold Coast knows how poor the only water source is there, like a tea color.
So I gathered the materials for a larger water treatment setup this year to avoid making multiple trips. It consisted of a 20 liter (5 gallon) water bucket, into which I'd mix the coagulant and allow it to settle out the solids. The problem with water like this is all of the particles in the water have the same ionic charge, like a magnet with two like charges, so the particles repel one another and won't settle out. The particles are also large enough to clog a filter in no time, and the first year we came to the site I had to clean my MSR filter at each liter.
Adding just the right amount of coagulant will flip the ionic charge of the particles and cause them to attract to one another, and bound together they also get heavy and will settle to the bottom. Too much coagulant, however, and you'll flip too many particles so the water won't settle and will look no different.
Anyway, after the solids settled, I was left with about 4 gallons of relatively clean water, which I decanted into a 10L sink, filtered from there with the MSR, then whacked it with the SteriPen. The end result was filling both Nalgenes and both dromedary bags with nice clear water. If anyone decides to camp at the Bold Coast, let me know offline and I'll help with the water aspect of it.
That being done, we had some chores to do: reading and drinking wine. The book is a murder mystery set in the White Mountains, and it's been a long time since I've read a book cover to cover in one day.
I prefer white and the wife prefers red, and white should be served chilled, so naturally we needed a fridge to chill the wine. Some seawater in the bucket was just the ticket.
Saturday was much warmer than Friday and there were no bugs despite little wind. We read, enjoyed the wine, some cheese we brought back from the Snowdonia region in Wales, and played cribbage until it was time for dinner. Overall a very relaxing time.
Views from the campsite:
(*New meaning new to us, it was run over by a car and thrown away due to the broken frame, but a call to Osprey yielded a new frame at no charge. I made the circumstances known and wanted to buy a frame but they wouldn't hear of it.)
What can I say, this is one of the best hikes and camping sites in Maine, and certainly with some of the most spectacular and unspoiled views. The hike in was 4.5 miles and I overloaded us again with supplies and comforts. My wife (Terry) got to try out the new* Osprey Aether 70 pack and it was so nice I think I'll buy one. I have quite a few packs and the Atmos 50 is my favorite, but it was severely overloaded at 53 pounds (max capacity is rated at 35) but we were determined not to leave the 2.5L of wine at home
. The Atmos was cooler hiking than if I'd taken the Reality or the LL Bean but it wasn't as comfortable with that much weight whereas the Aether was hardly loaded with 40 pounds in it. The hike in was uneventful but there has finally been some trail maintenance, in addition to new signs and all the fire pits were removed. We were able to set up on the bluff (#2) campsite and saw only a few people the rest of the day. We did the usual gamut: setting up, cooking, organizing, etc, and fell asleep to the lighthouse fog horn and buoy bell in the background. That's our blue tent in the picture below.
(click on any pictures to enlarge)
We awoke late and had a nice breakfast of omelets with fresh veggies, and food in the woods always tastes better than at home, but this was outstanding.
Then I commenced to filtering water, and anyone who has been to the Bold Coast knows how poor the only water source is there, like a tea color.
So I gathered the materials for a larger water treatment setup this year to avoid making multiple trips. It consisted of a 20 liter (5 gallon) water bucket, into which I'd mix the coagulant and allow it to settle out the solids. The problem with water like this is all of the particles in the water have the same ionic charge, like a magnet with two like charges, so the particles repel one another and won't settle out. The particles are also large enough to clog a filter in no time, and the first year we came to the site I had to clean my MSR filter at each liter.
Adding just the right amount of coagulant will flip the ionic charge of the particles and cause them to attract to one another, and bound together they also get heavy and will settle to the bottom. Too much coagulant, however, and you'll flip too many particles so the water won't settle and will look no different.
Anyway, after the solids settled, I was left with about 4 gallons of relatively clean water, which I decanted into a 10L sink, filtered from there with the MSR, then whacked it with the SteriPen. The end result was filling both Nalgenes and both dromedary bags with nice clear water. If anyone decides to camp at the Bold Coast, let me know offline and I'll help with the water aspect of it.
That being done, we had some chores to do: reading and drinking wine. The book is a murder mystery set in the White Mountains, and it's been a long time since I've read a book cover to cover in one day.
I prefer white and the wife prefers red, and white should be served chilled, so naturally we needed a fridge to chill the wine. Some seawater in the bucket was just the ticket.
Saturday was much warmer than Friday and there were no bugs despite little wind. We read, enjoyed the wine, some cheese we brought back from the Snowdonia region in Wales, and played cribbage until it was time for dinner. Overall a very relaxing time.
Views from the campsite:
(*New meaning new to us, it was run over by a car and thrown away due to the broken frame, but a call to Osprey yielded a new frame at no charge. I made the circumstances known and wanted to buy a frame but they wouldn't hear of it.)
Last edited:
