Mad Townie
New member
The 3 hour convoy drive went smoothly as we headed to the Speck Pond Trail trailhead to start the 2-day culmination of a 9 year project: completion of the Maine section of the Appalachian Trail by Zeb (20) and Liz (Boulderdash) (17). Of course, no one should have to accomplish such a feat alone, so they were joined by Zeb’s dad Shrink Rap, Liz’s 14-year-old brother Tom (Bombadil), and me.
The Speck Pond Trail leaves the Success Pond Road a few miles south of Rt. 26, an access route that wasn’t available when I first made my way through the Notch in 1975. It sure made the drive from Portland much shorter. We started along the trail which, as the Maine guidebooks euphemistically say, “rises gradually, then more steeply” toward the May cutoff and then the AT at the Mahoosuc Arm. Tom and I decided to skip the circuit around Speck Pond, so we ate a few blueberries and then hung out on the summit greeting through hikers and enjoying the sun and views while the other 3 covered that short section of the AT from Speck Pond, the southernmost point they had reached to date.
The descent of Mahoosuc Arm was every bit as mean as I remembered it. It took us an hour to descend the very steep Arm to the foot of the notch. My knees, with their newly developed “issues” this year, played the Rice Krispies theme song all the way down! The stream crossing at the foot (north end) of the notch is, to me at least, one of the most beautiful spots in Maine. In fact that whole area has a magical feel to it and is particularly special to me for personal reasons, too.
Tom and Shrink Rap led the way through the Notch, covering the mile of boulder scrambles in about an hour and a half. I took time for photo ops and made it through in about 2:15. The light was already starting to dim a bit by 4:30 p.m., thanks to the Notch’s steep walls and north-south orientation. At the head of the Notch we met a family group with several little kids, around 4 to 6 years old. Now my kids have been hiking quite a bit since that age, but the idea of these kids venturing into the notch well ahead of the adults concerned me, and I couldn’t help but mention the Notch’s treacherousness to the parents when I met them. One of them had a wrist cast on, which gave me even more concern for his sure-footedness (or lack of it). I heard their voices heading out a few minutes later and was thankful for their safety.
The climb up Fulling Mill Mountain, while very steep, has been made easier by some significant trail maintenance work. There are stone steps and a couple of log ladders, too. We reached the Full Goose shelter and set up the two tents on one of the platforms, while I volunteered to spend the night in the shelter with about 6 through hikers.
Sunday morning we struck camp with a feeling of anticipation and excitement about “finishing Maine.”
Zeb, Tom and Liz did their first AT hiking about 9 years ago in the Bigelows, and since that time they have been working slowly but surely on the Maine AT, a piece at a time. In August 1998 Zeb and Liz, along with Shrink Rap, Zeb’s brother Nate and me, hiked the Hundred Mile Wilderness. Liz had just turned 11, weighed 60 pounds and carried a 20 pound pack the whole way. She kept up with the older and bigger boys with no difficulty. As usual, I was the one bringing up the rear.
Sunday was intermittently cloudy and sunny as we hiked over the various Goose Eye peaks and Mt. Carlo, welcoming a few northbound through hikers to Maine as we went. The bog bridges in the sags between the peaks made the walking very easy even though the summit cones themselves were steep. We finally reached the Carlo Col trail where we stashed our packs. Then it was off on the half mile unencumbered “walk” to the state line. Should have brought our rock climbing shoes for the first couple hundred feet! I was glad I’d left my hiking sticks back with the packs.
Two proud dads and one proud brother then witnessed the crossing of the Maine-New Hampshire state line by two young people who have kept their goal in view over many years, limited by family schedules, Zeb’s college career that started a year early, and Liz’s insane, 12-months-a-year dance class schedule. The two of them strolled across the line with huge smiles on their faces. They had exercised both patience and persistence and eventually reached their goal. Well, I guess I should say their “first” goal. I heard some interesting talk about through hiking the whole AT some time in the next few years!!!
The remainder of the trip was, to say the least, anticlimactic. After a short lunch at the Carlo Col Shelter (home of the first bear box I’ve ever seen in Maine), we made it down the last 2.3 miles in about an hour. The first half mile or so below the shelter is a true “strail.” Not only does the water run down the trail, the trail is routed, on purpose, right down the stream bed! Luckily there’s not a heavy flow at this time of year.
Now that my kids are both in high school, I know more than ever that taking them out hiking in the Maine woods was the best thing I could ever have done for them. I can’t imagine any other activity that would have given them the combination of respect for their natural and human environments, confidence in their own abilities and physical, intellectual and emotional strengthening.
Although it will be bittersweet to watch them move beyond me on their own trails, I will never walk a step in the wilderness without thinking smiling thoughts of them. The time they have spent with me on the trail has been an incredibly valuable and beautiful gift to me, even though they didn’t realize until recently that they were giving it. The Views From The (emotional) Top are truly magnificent!
The Speck Pond Trail leaves the Success Pond Road a few miles south of Rt. 26, an access route that wasn’t available when I first made my way through the Notch in 1975. It sure made the drive from Portland much shorter. We started along the trail which, as the Maine guidebooks euphemistically say, “rises gradually, then more steeply” toward the May cutoff and then the AT at the Mahoosuc Arm. Tom and I decided to skip the circuit around Speck Pond, so we ate a few blueberries and then hung out on the summit greeting through hikers and enjoying the sun and views while the other 3 covered that short section of the AT from Speck Pond, the southernmost point they had reached to date.
The descent of Mahoosuc Arm was every bit as mean as I remembered it. It took us an hour to descend the very steep Arm to the foot of the notch. My knees, with their newly developed “issues” this year, played the Rice Krispies theme song all the way down! The stream crossing at the foot (north end) of the notch is, to me at least, one of the most beautiful spots in Maine. In fact that whole area has a magical feel to it and is particularly special to me for personal reasons, too.
Tom and Shrink Rap led the way through the Notch, covering the mile of boulder scrambles in about an hour and a half. I took time for photo ops and made it through in about 2:15. The light was already starting to dim a bit by 4:30 p.m., thanks to the Notch’s steep walls and north-south orientation. At the head of the Notch we met a family group with several little kids, around 4 to 6 years old. Now my kids have been hiking quite a bit since that age, but the idea of these kids venturing into the notch well ahead of the adults concerned me, and I couldn’t help but mention the Notch’s treacherousness to the parents when I met them. One of them had a wrist cast on, which gave me even more concern for his sure-footedness (or lack of it). I heard their voices heading out a few minutes later and was thankful for their safety.
The climb up Fulling Mill Mountain, while very steep, has been made easier by some significant trail maintenance work. There are stone steps and a couple of log ladders, too. We reached the Full Goose shelter and set up the two tents on one of the platforms, while I volunteered to spend the night in the shelter with about 6 through hikers.
Sunday morning we struck camp with a feeling of anticipation and excitement about “finishing Maine.”
Zeb, Tom and Liz did their first AT hiking about 9 years ago in the Bigelows, and since that time they have been working slowly but surely on the Maine AT, a piece at a time. In August 1998 Zeb and Liz, along with Shrink Rap, Zeb’s brother Nate and me, hiked the Hundred Mile Wilderness. Liz had just turned 11, weighed 60 pounds and carried a 20 pound pack the whole way. She kept up with the older and bigger boys with no difficulty. As usual, I was the one bringing up the rear.
Sunday was intermittently cloudy and sunny as we hiked over the various Goose Eye peaks and Mt. Carlo, welcoming a few northbound through hikers to Maine as we went. The bog bridges in the sags between the peaks made the walking very easy even though the summit cones themselves were steep. We finally reached the Carlo Col trail where we stashed our packs. Then it was off on the half mile unencumbered “walk” to the state line. Should have brought our rock climbing shoes for the first couple hundred feet! I was glad I’d left my hiking sticks back with the packs.
Two proud dads and one proud brother then witnessed the crossing of the Maine-New Hampshire state line by two young people who have kept their goal in view over many years, limited by family schedules, Zeb’s college career that started a year early, and Liz’s insane, 12-months-a-year dance class schedule. The two of them strolled across the line with huge smiles on their faces. They had exercised both patience and persistence and eventually reached their goal. Well, I guess I should say their “first” goal. I heard some interesting talk about through hiking the whole AT some time in the next few years!!!
The remainder of the trip was, to say the least, anticlimactic. After a short lunch at the Carlo Col Shelter (home of the first bear box I’ve ever seen in Maine), we made it down the last 2.3 miles in about an hour. The first half mile or so below the shelter is a true “strail.” Not only does the water run down the trail, the trail is routed, on purpose, right down the stream bed! Luckily there’s not a heavy flow at this time of year.
Now that my kids are both in high school, I know more than ever that taking them out hiking in the Maine woods was the best thing I could ever have done for them. I can’t imagine any other activity that would have given them the combination of respect for their natural and human environments, confidence in their own abilities and physical, intellectual and emotional strengthening.
Although it will be bittersweet to watch them move beyond me on their own trails, I will never walk a step in the wilderness without thinking smiling thoughts of them. The time they have spent with me on the trail has been an incredibly valuable and beautiful gift to me, even though they didn’t realize until recently that they were giving it. The Views From The (emotional) Top are truly magnificent!
Congratulations to Zeb & Liz for finishing the AT in Maine and to the "support team" as well!
