Adventurous
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The plan – hike the Grafton Loop (now known as Moose Poop Loop) counterclockwise in three days starting at the Grafton Notch A.T. parking lot. We planned on meeting Ferrisjrf (Jason) and Unfrozencaveman (Steve) on the summit of Old Speck after their completion of the Mahoosucs traverse.
The participants – 7summits (HuiYeng), Juniper (Rebecca), Gillian, Sasquatch (Rob), Rob’s son Glen and of course…Jason and Steve.
To avoid a long drive in the morning – we stayed at Grafton Notch Campground Friday night. I have to say – this place looks brand new. It was by far the cleanest campground bathroom I had ever been in. It’s also in a very convenient location – 5 miles south of the Grafton Notch AT parking lot and 2 miles north of the Eddy Road parking lot.
Day 1 – Saturday 5/23 – Grafton Notch AT parking lot to Sargent Brook Campsite 11.5 miles– We planned on meeting Gillian at the Eddy Road parking lot at 8:30am – leave a car and stash some food, beverages and clean clothes. We arrived at 8:45 to find Gillian patiently waiting. We decided to leave Rob’s car since he was fairly sure that they were only going to do half the loop. After taking care of the car spot, we were on our way to Grafton Notch AT parking lot. Once there, we geared up and began our ascent of Old Speck. The trail was fairly dry, the bugs hadn’t come out yet, and there was very little snow to deal with – microspikes are not needed. Jason and Steve were waiting for us at the outlook below the summit – we continued on with the full group of 8. The sky was overcast but the views were still really good. We had a snack break, visited with a Gray Jay and enjoyed the views from the tower before continuing on.
It was apparent that the trail past Old Speck was not well travelled. The trail was completely covered in leaves that were not packed. Shortly past the summit, there is a short bog – make sure to step on logs, rocks, roots and whatever else you might find – it doesn’t look deep but I can attest that it will swallow your boots. We noticed and increase in black flies as we continued to Miles Notch. There were several good viewpoints along the way but we didn’t stick around long enough to enjoy them. We soon passed Slide Campsite which is 3 miles past the Old Speck summit. This campsite is the only water source that we found from a mile or so before Old Speck all the way to Sargent Brook Campsite. Nobody needed water so we continued on to Miles Notch and then started to ascend Sunday River Whitecap. There were many ledges on the way up to the summit which afforded us great views of the route that we had just travelled. This is a fantastic alpine summit at 3,335 feet with views in all directions. We arrived late afternoon and since we only had 1.1 miles to go to reach our campsite – we lounged around for awhile and enjoyed the views. The wind began to pick up so we decided to head to camp.
Sargent Brook campsite has 4 sites – one of them is very muddy, one is small and could be a problem if it rained and the other two are in good shape. Since the best one was taken, we took the next best site. We managed to cram in 3 tents and one tarp into a very small site…pictures to follow. We ended day one with a good meal - I was pretty beat so I crashed before everyone else.
Day 2 – Sunday 5/24 – Sargent Brook Campsite to Town Corner Campsite 16.4 miles - So, we got lucky with the weather on Saturday but we woke up to overcast skies on Sunday. Everyone made breakfast, packed up camp and hit the trail. At this point, everyone was feeling pretty good so we were able to move quickly. It started to drizzle around the Bald Mountain summit so we decided to put on the pack covers. The rocks heading down Bald Mountain are very slippery when wet. On a sidenote – there are plenty of water sources once over Bald Mountain. The trail ends at a road/snowmobile trail where we needed to turn left. You follow that dirt road for awhile before coming to another intersection where you turn right – from this turn, it’s a short distance to route 26. The group reconvened at route 26 and continued on to the Eddy Road parking lot to restock. Rob and Glen decided to opt out of the second half of the loop.
After having lunch, changing clothes and restocking, we began the ascent up Puzzle. The trail is a moderate to steep climb. The trail has quite a few ledges with great views – lucky for us…the rain had stopped before we left Eddy Road. They were also good resting spots. The climb up Old Speck seemed easy compared to Puzzle. It was an exhausting climb for a few of us but reached the summit in decent time. We stopped for a snack break before continuing on for the remaining 7.2 miles to the Town Corner campsite. Like we needed to add extra mileage on…we took the herd path on the real summit of Puzzle. Steve and Jason said there are views but we decided to turn around since we already went over what appeared to be the highpoint. The next 7 miles can only be described as hell. There aren’t any viewpoints, the black flies are fierce, the trail goes through several swampy areas and there are a few false summits. I was losing steam and decided to keep a pace that worked for me instead of trying to keep up with the group. The swarms of black flies were crawling up my nose, into my ears, biting my eyelids…I was pretty fed up. It was no longer fun at this point. I eventually caught up to Rebecca who seemed to be in the same mental state as me. The rest of the group was waiting for us at a clearcut area – HuiYeng noted that we still had around 1,000 feet to climb before we reached the summit of Long Mountain.
This was a difficult climb for everyone…well except for Jason. We had already hikes 14+ miles and just wanted to get to the campsite. The worst part of Long Mountain – there is a very discouraging false summit with a steep drop before reaching the real summit. We stopped for a snack at a sign that said Viewpoint – none of us opted to go see the view. The actual summit had no views at all. We continued on the last .9 miles to Town Corner. 16.4 miles later we arrived to find that we had it to ourselves. Once again, we set up camp, cooked and hung out for a bit before going to bed. Steve slept out under the stars and had to fend off bouncing mice.
Day 3 – Monday 5/26 – Town Corner Campsite to Grafton Notch AT Parking Lot 10.7 miles - We woke up to clear blue skies. Most of us were not as chipper as we had been the day before but we wanted to get back to the car – beer and food were calling out names – so we packed up and continued on to Lightning Ledge. There wasn’t much mud but there was a lot of Moose poop…miles and miles of it. We took a long snack break on the ledge and soaked in some rays and the awesome views. Those snacks were much needed because it was a tough climb up to East Baldpate. HuiYeng, Steve and I made our way up and eventually found Jason, Gillian and Rebecca waiting for us on the open and extremely windy summit. We took a group picture and left because it was too windy to hang out. We could see the trail up West Baldpate in the distance which is a rare treat in this area. Once on West Baldpate, we had another snack break before descending the last 3+ miles to the car. The trail down is extremely eroded and not as soft on the feet. It felt like we were walking on concrete. I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings since I just wanted to get back to the car. It felt great to drop the packs and take the boots off. We had a few beverages before heading to the brewery.
It was a very challenging but rewarding weekend with an awesome group of friends. It definitely feels like an accomplishment. Thanks again for an incredible weekend!!!
The participants – 7summits (HuiYeng), Juniper (Rebecca), Gillian, Sasquatch (Rob), Rob’s son Glen and of course…Jason and Steve.
To avoid a long drive in the morning – we stayed at Grafton Notch Campground Friday night. I have to say – this place looks brand new. It was by far the cleanest campground bathroom I had ever been in. It’s also in a very convenient location – 5 miles south of the Grafton Notch AT parking lot and 2 miles north of the Eddy Road parking lot.
Day 1 – Saturday 5/23 – Grafton Notch AT parking lot to Sargent Brook Campsite 11.5 miles– We planned on meeting Gillian at the Eddy Road parking lot at 8:30am – leave a car and stash some food, beverages and clean clothes. We arrived at 8:45 to find Gillian patiently waiting. We decided to leave Rob’s car since he was fairly sure that they were only going to do half the loop. After taking care of the car spot, we were on our way to Grafton Notch AT parking lot. Once there, we geared up and began our ascent of Old Speck. The trail was fairly dry, the bugs hadn’t come out yet, and there was very little snow to deal with – microspikes are not needed. Jason and Steve were waiting for us at the outlook below the summit – we continued on with the full group of 8. The sky was overcast but the views were still really good. We had a snack break, visited with a Gray Jay and enjoyed the views from the tower before continuing on.
It was apparent that the trail past Old Speck was not well travelled. The trail was completely covered in leaves that were not packed. Shortly past the summit, there is a short bog – make sure to step on logs, rocks, roots and whatever else you might find – it doesn’t look deep but I can attest that it will swallow your boots. We noticed and increase in black flies as we continued to Miles Notch. There were several good viewpoints along the way but we didn’t stick around long enough to enjoy them. We soon passed Slide Campsite which is 3 miles past the Old Speck summit. This campsite is the only water source that we found from a mile or so before Old Speck all the way to Sargent Brook Campsite. Nobody needed water so we continued on to Miles Notch and then started to ascend Sunday River Whitecap. There were many ledges on the way up to the summit which afforded us great views of the route that we had just travelled. This is a fantastic alpine summit at 3,335 feet with views in all directions. We arrived late afternoon and since we only had 1.1 miles to go to reach our campsite – we lounged around for awhile and enjoyed the views. The wind began to pick up so we decided to head to camp.
Sargent Brook campsite has 4 sites – one of them is very muddy, one is small and could be a problem if it rained and the other two are in good shape. Since the best one was taken, we took the next best site. We managed to cram in 3 tents and one tarp into a very small site…pictures to follow. We ended day one with a good meal - I was pretty beat so I crashed before everyone else.
Day 2 – Sunday 5/24 – Sargent Brook Campsite to Town Corner Campsite 16.4 miles - So, we got lucky with the weather on Saturday but we woke up to overcast skies on Sunday. Everyone made breakfast, packed up camp and hit the trail. At this point, everyone was feeling pretty good so we were able to move quickly. It started to drizzle around the Bald Mountain summit so we decided to put on the pack covers. The rocks heading down Bald Mountain are very slippery when wet. On a sidenote – there are plenty of water sources once over Bald Mountain. The trail ends at a road/snowmobile trail where we needed to turn left. You follow that dirt road for awhile before coming to another intersection where you turn right – from this turn, it’s a short distance to route 26. The group reconvened at route 26 and continued on to the Eddy Road parking lot to restock. Rob and Glen decided to opt out of the second half of the loop.
After having lunch, changing clothes and restocking, we began the ascent up Puzzle. The trail is a moderate to steep climb. The trail has quite a few ledges with great views – lucky for us…the rain had stopped before we left Eddy Road. They were also good resting spots. The climb up Old Speck seemed easy compared to Puzzle. It was an exhausting climb for a few of us but reached the summit in decent time. We stopped for a snack break before continuing on for the remaining 7.2 miles to the Town Corner campsite. Like we needed to add extra mileage on…we took the herd path on the real summit of Puzzle. Steve and Jason said there are views but we decided to turn around since we already went over what appeared to be the highpoint. The next 7 miles can only be described as hell. There aren’t any viewpoints, the black flies are fierce, the trail goes through several swampy areas and there are a few false summits. I was losing steam and decided to keep a pace that worked for me instead of trying to keep up with the group. The swarms of black flies were crawling up my nose, into my ears, biting my eyelids…I was pretty fed up. It was no longer fun at this point. I eventually caught up to Rebecca who seemed to be in the same mental state as me. The rest of the group was waiting for us at a clearcut area – HuiYeng noted that we still had around 1,000 feet to climb before we reached the summit of Long Mountain.
This was a difficult climb for everyone…well except for Jason. We had already hikes 14+ miles and just wanted to get to the campsite. The worst part of Long Mountain – there is a very discouraging false summit with a steep drop before reaching the real summit. We stopped for a snack at a sign that said Viewpoint – none of us opted to go see the view. The actual summit had no views at all. We continued on the last .9 miles to Town Corner. 16.4 miles later we arrived to find that we had it to ourselves. Once again, we set up camp, cooked and hung out for a bit before going to bed. Steve slept out under the stars and had to fend off bouncing mice.
Day 3 – Monday 5/26 – Town Corner Campsite to Grafton Notch AT Parking Lot 10.7 miles - We woke up to clear blue skies. Most of us were not as chipper as we had been the day before but we wanted to get back to the car – beer and food were calling out names – so we packed up and continued on to Lightning Ledge. There wasn’t much mud but there was a lot of Moose poop…miles and miles of it. We took a long snack break on the ledge and soaked in some rays and the awesome views. Those snacks were much needed because it was a tough climb up to East Baldpate. HuiYeng, Steve and I made our way up and eventually found Jason, Gillian and Rebecca waiting for us on the open and extremely windy summit. We took a group picture and left because it was too windy to hang out. We could see the trail up West Baldpate in the distance which is a rare treat in this area. Once on West Baldpate, we had another snack break before descending the last 3+ miles to the car. The trail down is extremely eroded and not as soft on the feet. It felt like we were walking on concrete. I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings since I just wanted to get back to the car. It felt great to drop the packs and take the boots off. We had a few beverages before heading to the brewery.
It was a very challenging but rewarding weekend with an awesome group of friends. It definitely feels like an accomplishment. Thanks again for an incredible weekend!!!
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