askus3
New member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2003
- Messages
- 678
- Reaction score
- 37
Just completed my annual AT southbound section hike as a series of dayhikes to cover the stretch from South Arm Road, north of Andover, ME to US 2, east of Gorham, NH. So the plan with slackpacking and staying at two bases: North base was for four nights at Pine Ellis B&B in Andover, ME. 6/4 thru 6/8. Doing three dayhikes taking us thru the Mahoosuc Notch. Thursday, June 8 - day off and travel to southern base. 6/8 thru 6/12 (four nights) at Hikers Paradise at Gorham, NH. Hikes were to be Fri 6/9-Sun. 6/11 covering AT from south of Mahoosuc Notch thru to US 2 east of Gorham, NH (Rattle River Trailhead). Monday, June 12 - travel home with a couple of mini-hikes en route.
I decided to stay at hostels instead of auto camp as I did not want to be eaten up by mosquitoes and black flies. Going into this trip my concerns according to importance were:
1. bugs
2. blowdowns (noted trail conditions report by Keith on A.T. from Rt. 2 to Grafton Notch (Mahoosucs) Date Hiked: May 27-29, 2006
3. weather
4. high water
1. But bugs was a non-entity as other than a few mosquito bites, they never really bugged us or were of a serious annoyance. However, if they caused me to decide not to camp, then that was good.
2. Blowdowns. The MATC & AMC crews must have been about a day ahead of us as we experienced no blowdowns to contend with and saw many wood chips and cuttings that indicated they were freshly made.
3. Weather. Mon. & Wed-Sat dumping wet precipitation on us. This became a major theme of discomfort and resulting in many slippery, treacherous, significantly wet conditions that we had to deal with. Also, limited views as a result of. Thank goodness we didn't camp. Our group also became decimated by this factor primarily.
4. High Water. Normally high June snow run-off conditions were accented with the significant wet weather we had to deal with. Thus, wading at times was unavoidable and mud puddles were prevalent along the course of the trail.
5. Personal Health. This became a major detriment to my participation. I experienced high fever and had a viral infection 10 days before the trip. I wasn't back to 100% yet. As the trip progressed, the weather deteriorated, I struggled to keep up. The Wednesday hike, I struggled up Old Speck behind everyone and although I barely kept up with book time, it was obvious I was gasping every 50 feet or so. On the downhills (my strength), I was able to keep up with the average hikers in the group. But I was too far behind to catch up with anyone. At times fever set in and serious hacking. I don't think my presence at Hikers Paradise by the other occupants there was appreciated. When you are a leader and others rely on you for info, you feel committed. Also, when you make plans and have only X amount of time off from work and a goal in mind, you do what you have to do to accomplish your mission. So I pushed myself. So now I come home to have much more time on the computer as I have been given dr's orders to REST as I have a mild case of pneumonia. Yes I could have thrown in the towel early, gone home and the mountains will still be there. But vacation time would have been wasted and one of my few opportunities to be in those mountains getting that section of the AT completed would be gone. This is an individuals choice and probably each of us in this same position would have been split with their choice. I didn't think by continuing on even if not 100% that I would have been doing any permanent harm to my body and so I chose to hang in there.
Sunday, June 4: 9 of our 11 (as expected) in our group met up in Andover, ME by late afternoon. We were to take a two mile mini-hike to Dunn Notch Falls and the West Branch of the Ellis River, leaving a couple of cars there (East B Hill Road/AT xing) to retrieve at the end of Monday's hike. NOTE there is no sign or indication of a blue blaze trail returning to the left like the map indicates on the east bank after the AT crosses the Ellis River, about .8 mile in from the East B Hill Road.
Monday, June 5: AT from South Arm Road to East B Hill Road. 10.1 miles. Total elevation gain: 3,550 feet. 9 participants. Met one other hiker.
Weather: Drizzly, showery day. .64 in. of rain/60s. Cleared up after 2 PM with about 3 miles remaining in hike. Uneventful, gloomy day. Black Brook right at start of hike was slow flowing but required wading, calf-deep.
Tuesday, June 6: AT from East B Hill Road to ME 26, Grafton Notch. 10.3 miles. Total elevation gain: 3,750 feet. 10 participants. Met 7 hikers.
Weather: Sunny, low 70s. Best weather of the entire trip. Upper West Branch of the Ellis River (Dunn Notch) stream crossing required fording. Met thru-hiker TREK near the start of hike at East B Hill Road. Enjoyed soaking in the afternoon sun on East Baldpate Mt. Life couldn't be nicer. Two additonal participants joined us for the trip starting with this hike and one left before today's hike as she found the trip far more difficult than she expected. Two from our group also took the spur side trip to Table Rock.
Wednesday, June 7: AT from ME 26, Grafton Notch to Notch Trail Junction (just south of the Mahoosuc Notch). 10.9 miles (8.2 AT miles). Total elevation gain: 4,100 feet. 10 participants. Met 16 other hikers (11 in the rain traversing the Mahoosuc Notch itself with their goal of Speck Pond, I sympathized that after all those twists and turns in the notch they had a 1600 foot climb up Mahoosuc Arm in the rain to a wet campsite, not envious!). Weather: Cloudy. Showers started at 1:30 PM at Speck Pond.
.34 in. of rain/upper 50s. Also met LEAF a section hiker going from PA all the way to the Big K. Dean Gletsos , a member in our group, completed his Northeast 115 summit climbs. Two members of our group elected to hike out the Speck Pond Trail and then hike along Success Pond Road as opposed to dealing with Mahoosuc Notch in the rain. They chose to make this the last day of the trip and went home. Two more participants from our group departed citing serious knee problems and/or weather related conditions for leaving, reducing our group to 6.
Thursday, June 8: Basically day off. Traveled to Gorham, NH and set up southern base. Toured the attractions in Grafton Notch. Weather: Rain.
.55 in. of rain/50s. Two of our group hiked from Hogan Road (Centennial Trailhead) to US 2 (Rattle River Trailhead). 0.7 mile roadwalk. Also left cars at both Peabody Brook Trailhead & Centennial Trailhead overnight.
Friday, June 9: (Dean, Chris & I) AT from Success Trail to Dream Pond (Peabody Brook Trail access to North Road). 11.4 miles (5.6 AT miles). Total elevation gain: 3,190 feet. Met nobody else. Chris hiked and saw Giant Falls.
(George & Joel) AT from Success Trail to Hogan Road. 17.2 miles (14.5 AT miles). Total elevation gain: 5,400 feet.
Weather: Cloudy. Low 60s. Intermittent showers in the afternoon at Gentian Pond & Dream Lake and on descent of Peabody Brook Trail.
Due to the poor forecast we chose not to do the Goose Eye AT section and moved Saturday's hike up one day. Dean, Chris & I chose to split up the last section of the AT from Success Mt. Trail to Hogan Road into two sections. George & Joel opted for a longer itinerary along the AT this day. The sixth member of our group, Jeff drove us up to the Success Mt. Trailhead on Success Pond Road. Then he parted company to stiffening and leg cramp pains. Success Mt. Trail was partially under water and in poor condition. NOTE: No AMC trailhead sign at 5.5 mile marker (from Berlin) at turnoff from Success Pond Road. Trail is in serious need of maintaince. Chris enjoyed a quick dip before the showers moved in at Gentian Pond. The sun even poked its head out for a couple of warming minutes around noon. Interesting plank walking near Dream Lake. Submerged boards seemed to float and sink upon standing on them. Caution also needed with slippery board conditions. Descending the Peabody Brook Trail, I missed the turnoff and never saw Giant Falls. DISAPPOINTED
Upon returning to Hikers Paradise (hostel in Gorham) I came upon fellow VFTT member Bob Kittredge who was also boarding there this evening.
Saturday, June 10: Basically day off. Hiked from Hogan Road (Centennial Trailhead) to US 2 (Rattle River Trailhead). 0.7 mile roadwalk.
Total elevation gain: 80 feet.
Weather: All day steady RAIN. 1.23 in. of rain/50s.
Androscoggin River is at flood stages. George & Joel finished AT section hiking over Goose Eyes from Notch Trail north to Mt. Success Trail south. I chose to reschedule this hike as part of my annual White Mountain Trip XVII in August. George Sheedy only has the walk across the Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River to complete his lifelong trek on the AT.
This night sharing our accommodations at Hikers Paradise were thru-hikers Woody Crow & Bleach.
I decided to stay at hostels instead of auto camp as I did not want to be eaten up by mosquitoes and black flies. Going into this trip my concerns according to importance were:
1. bugs
2. blowdowns (noted trail conditions report by Keith on A.T. from Rt. 2 to Grafton Notch (Mahoosucs) Date Hiked: May 27-29, 2006
3. weather
4. high water
1. But bugs was a non-entity as other than a few mosquito bites, they never really bugged us or were of a serious annoyance. However, if they caused me to decide not to camp, then that was good.
2. Blowdowns. The MATC & AMC crews must have been about a day ahead of us as we experienced no blowdowns to contend with and saw many wood chips and cuttings that indicated they were freshly made.
3. Weather. Mon. & Wed-Sat dumping wet precipitation on us. This became a major theme of discomfort and resulting in many slippery, treacherous, significantly wet conditions that we had to deal with. Also, limited views as a result of. Thank goodness we didn't camp. Our group also became decimated by this factor primarily.
4. High Water. Normally high June snow run-off conditions were accented with the significant wet weather we had to deal with. Thus, wading at times was unavoidable and mud puddles were prevalent along the course of the trail.
5. Personal Health. This became a major detriment to my participation. I experienced high fever and had a viral infection 10 days before the trip. I wasn't back to 100% yet. As the trip progressed, the weather deteriorated, I struggled to keep up. The Wednesday hike, I struggled up Old Speck behind everyone and although I barely kept up with book time, it was obvious I was gasping every 50 feet or so. On the downhills (my strength), I was able to keep up with the average hikers in the group. But I was too far behind to catch up with anyone. At times fever set in and serious hacking. I don't think my presence at Hikers Paradise by the other occupants there was appreciated. When you are a leader and others rely on you for info, you feel committed. Also, when you make plans and have only X amount of time off from work and a goal in mind, you do what you have to do to accomplish your mission. So I pushed myself. So now I come home to have much more time on the computer as I have been given dr's orders to REST as I have a mild case of pneumonia. Yes I could have thrown in the towel early, gone home and the mountains will still be there. But vacation time would have been wasted and one of my few opportunities to be in those mountains getting that section of the AT completed would be gone. This is an individuals choice and probably each of us in this same position would have been split with their choice. I didn't think by continuing on even if not 100% that I would have been doing any permanent harm to my body and so I chose to hang in there.
Sunday, June 4: 9 of our 11 (as expected) in our group met up in Andover, ME by late afternoon. We were to take a two mile mini-hike to Dunn Notch Falls and the West Branch of the Ellis River, leaving a couple of cars there (East B Hill Road/AT xing) to retrieve at the end of Monday's hike. NOTE there is no sign or indication of a blue blaze trail returning to the left like the map indicates on the east bank after the AT crosses the Ellis River, about .8 mile in from the East B Hill Road.
Monday, June 5: AT from South Arm Road to East B Hill Road. 10.1 miles. Total elevation gain: 3,550 feet. 9 participants. Met one other hiker.
Weather: Drizzly, showery day. .64 in. of rain/60s. Cleared up after 2 PM with about 3 miles remaining in hike. Uneventful, gloomy day. Black Brook right at start of hike was slow flowing but required wading, calf-deep.
Tuesday, June 6: AT from East B Hill Road to ME 26, Grafton Notch. 10.3 miles. Total elevation gain: 3,750 feet. 10 participants. Met 7 hikers.
Weather: Sunny, low 70s. Best weather of the entire trip. Upper West Branch of the Ellis River (Dunn Notch) stream crossing required fording. Met thru-hiker TREK near the start of hike at East B Hill Road. Enjoyed soaking in the afternoon sun on East Baldpate Mt. Life couldn't be nicer. Two additonal participants joined us for the trip starting with this hike and one left before today's hike as she found the trip far more difficult than she expected. Two from our group also took the spur side trip to Table Rock.
Wednesday, June 7: AT from ME 26, Grafton Notch to Notch Trail Junction (just south of the Mahoosuc Notch). 10.9 miles (8.2 AT miles). Total elevation gain: 4,100 feet. 10 participants. Met 16 other hikers (11 in the rain traversing the Mahoosuc Notch itself with their goal of Speck Pond, I sympathized that after all those twists and turns in the notch they had a 1600 foot climb up Mahoosuc Arm in the rain to a wet campsite, not envious!). Weather: Cloudy. Showers started at 1:30 PM at Speck Pond.
.34 in. of rain/upper 50s. Also met LEAF a section hiker going from PA all the way to the Big K. Dean Gletsos , a member in our group, completed his Northeast 115 summit climbs. Two members of our group elected to hike out the Speck Pond Trail and then hike along Success Pond Road as opposed to dealing with Mahoosuc Notch in the rain. They chose to make this the last day of the trip and went home. Two more participants from our group departed citing serious knee problems and/or weather related conditions for leaving, reducing our group to 6.
Thursday, June 8: Basically day off. Traveled to Gorham, NH and set up southern base. Toured the attractions in Grafton Notch. Weather: Rain.
.55 in. of rain/50s. Two of our group hiked from Hogan Road (Centennial Trailhead) to US 2 (Rattle River Trailhead). 0.7 mile roadwalk. Also left cars at both Peabody Brook Trailhead & Centennial Trailhead overnight.
Friday, June 9: (Dean, Chris & I) AT from Success Trail to Dream Pond (Peabody Brook Trail access to North Road). 11.4 miles (5.6 AT miles). Total elevation gain: 3,190 feet. Met nobody else. Chris hiked and saw Giant Falls.
(George & Joel) AT from Success Trail to Hogan Road. 17.2 miles (14.5 AT miles). Total elevation gain: 5,400 feet.
Weather: Cloudy. Low 60s. Intermittent showers in the afternoon at Gentian Pond & Dream Lake and on descent of Peabody Brook Trail.
Due to the poor forecast we chose not to do the Goose Eye AT section and moved Saturday's hike up one day. Dean, Chris & I chose to split up the last section of the AT from Success Mt. Trail to Hogan Road into two sections. George & Joel opted for a longer itinerary along the AT this day. The sixth member of our group, Jeff drove us up to the Success Mt. Trailhead on Success Pond Road. Then he parted company to stiffening and leg cramp pains. Success Mt. Trail was partially under water and in poor condition. NOTE: No AMC trailhead sign at 5.5 mile marker (from Berlin) at turnoff from Success Pond Road. Trail is in serious need of maintaince. Chris enjoyed a quick dip before the showers moved in at Gentian Pond. The sun even poked its head out for a couple of warming minutes around noon. Interesting plank walking near Dream Lake. Submerged boards seemed to float and sink upon standing on them. Caution also needed with slippery board conditions. Descending the Peabody Brook Trail, I missed the turnoff and never saw Giant Falls. DISAPPOINTED
Upon returning to Hikers Paradise (hostel in Gorham) I came upon fellow VFTT member Bob Kittredge who was also boarding there this evening.
Saturday, June 10: Basically day off. Hiked from Hogan Road (Centennial Trailhead) to US 2 (Rattle River Trailhead). 0.7 mile roadwalk.
Total elevation gain: 80 feet.
Weather: All day steady RAIN. 1.23 in. of rain/50s.
Androscoggin River is at flood stages. George & Joel finished AT section hiking over Goose Eyes from Notch Trail north to Mt. Success Trail south. I chose to reschedule this hike as part of my annual White Mountain Trip XVII in August. George Sheedy only has the walk across the Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River to complete his lifelong trek on the AT.
This night sharing our accommodations at Hikers Paradise were thru-hikers Woody Crow & Bleach.
Last edited:
