jake L.
New member
A beautiful couple days in western Maine with very little bugs and managable mud. A friend and I hiked the western side of the Grafton Notch Loop Trail from South to North, stashing bikes at the A.T. parking lot on the northern end.
Day 1:
After dropping off bikes and parking the car, a short walk brought us to the trailhead around 8am. Hiking through the woods was cool and comfortable winding along the riverside. There was a fair bit of mud but at least the bugs weren't bad, we were soon passing Bald Mountain Campsite and then climbing over the peak itself. Shortly after dropping down the backside of Bald Mountain we were quickly on our way up Stowe Mountain. The trail here was dry but the recent rains had done plenty of good for the plant life, especially the ferns.
I was curious to check out Sargent Brook Campsite and made a quick pit stop there to have a snack. The tent pads and latrine were in good shape but if you stayed here I would recommend hanging your food, the bear box was kind of icky.. Towards Sunday River White Cap (SRWC) the woods started to open up and moss was abundent, covering just about everything. There was also a snake sighting!
The views from SRWC are awesome! We were on top by 12:30PM and took a seat on one of the wooden footpath planks for a well deserved lunch; a delicious hummus, olive, veggie, sprout sandwich. This was a perfect place to relax and soak in some Sun before eventually heading down into Miles Notch. The notch was VERY overgrown and reminded me of a jungle in places. A little fighting with the flora brought us around to the back of Slide Mountain and our campsite for the evening. We reached Slide Mountain Campsite at 2:45PM, pitched the tent and lounged for a good long while just chatting, playing cards and just generally enjoying the area. We hadn't seen anyone all day but a little bird did pay us a quick visit at our camp just before dinner. We enjoyed a hearty meal of trailmade creamy peanut Thai noodles followed by a little game of Rummy accompanied by some tasty vodka beverages. Soon after it was time to turn in for the night.
--*CONTINUED BELOW*--
Day 1:
After dropping off bikes and parking the car, a short walk brought us to the trailhead around 8am. Hiking through the woods was cool and comfortable winding along the riverside. There was a fair bit of mud but at least the bugs weren't bad, we were soon passing Bald Mountain Campsite and then climbing over the peak itself. Shortly after dropping down the backside of Bald Mountain we were quickly on our way up Stowe Mountain. The trail here was dry but the recent rains had done plenty of good for the plant life, especially the ferns.
I was curious to check out Sargent Brook Campsite and made a quick pit stop there to have a snack. The tent pads and latrine were in good shape but if you stayed here I would recommend hanging your food, the bear box was kind of icky.. Towards Sunday River White Cap (SRWC) the woods started to open up and moss was abundent, covering just about everything. There was also a snake sighting!
The views from SRWC are awesome! We were on top by 12:30PM and took a seat on one of the wooden footpath planks for a well deserved lunch; a delicious hummus, olive, veggie, sprout sandwich. This was a perfect place to relax and soak in some Sun before eventually heading down into Miles Notch. The notch was VERY overgrown and reminded me of a jungle in places. A little fighting with the flora brought us around to the back of Slide Mountain and our campsite for the evening. We reached Slide Mountain Campsite at 2:45PM, pitched the tent and lounged for a good long while just chatting, playing cards and just generally enjoying the area. We hadn't seen anyone all day but a little bird did pay us a quick visit at our camp just before dinner. We enjoyed a hearty meal of trailmade creamy peanut Thai noodles followed by a little game of Rummy accompanied by some tasty vodka beverages. Soon after it was time to turn in for the night.
--*CONTINUED BELOW*--
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