una_dogger
Well-known member
Who: MichaelJ, Silverfox, Eric Rathbun, Madison and Terra the Traildoggies, Una_dogger
Today, we drove 298 miles to hike ~6.3. This is, in fact, why I have waited two years to finish the NEHH!
The day began with MichaelJ, Silverfox, Terra, Pemi and I packed into the car driving to Bethel to meet Eric and his lovely wife, Lynn, who had kindly offered to puppysit Pemi all day. Lynn had a full day of activities planned for Pemi, and Pemi's shortlist basically made us all look like a bunch of slackers for sitting on our bums all day, tooling about the Maine back roads, and doing a little out and back hike before turning 'round to come pick her up.
We reached the trailhead at about 11:45 am and began the hike up the logging roads. The roads are muddy in spots but not too terrible. Signs of washouts along the logging road from Irene were many but passable with a high clearance SUV.
The Hike:
The trail begins on logging roads which are signed for "Snow Mountain" in a couple of places. We encountered a logging road junction with small cairn and suspected it marked the "new route" away from the Pond but decided to stick with the older route which goes around the right side of the pond. This route was quite muddy with large puddles in some areas. About a quarter mile up the road we turned off onto the herdpath that was marked with a small wooden arrow.
LOVE the Snow Mountain herdpath!! Steep but lightly trodden and very green. We crossed over a logging road, and recognized it as the one that must be the "new route" and decided to explore it on the way down.
Up some more and over a very neat rock overhang, we slowly climbed the ridge to a magnificent outlook over the Bigelow Range and the ponds below. We continued up another small pitch and were at the summit with its old iron fire tower, dilapidated cabin, and new wooden trail register.
Silverfox presented me with a container of Organic Cherry Tomatoes from Blue Ox Farm (lovingly grown by Cynthia); and Eric gave me #100 peices of candy and a scroll hereby certifying that I am the NEHH finisher with the longest span of time between peaks 99 and 100. Thanks, friends!! My husband gave me a big kiss.
We headed back on the "new route" and found it to be much more direct and dryer than the "old route".
We saw a Mother Moose and Calf on the Oqqossuc Overlook -- very beautiful. Back in Bethel, we met Lynn and Pemi and had a dinner of yummy BarbeQue from the "Scary Orange Truck", before driving home.
298 miles, 1 peak.
Huge thanks to Michael and Mark for sharing all the driving, for Eric for many miles of trails and laughter, and for Lynn for being the best puppysitter a young pup could ever ask for!
Today, we drove 298 miles to hike ~6.3. This is, in fact, why I have waited two years to finish the NEHH!
The day began with MichaelJ, Silverfox, Terra, Pemi and I packed into the car driving to Bethel to meet Eric and his lovely wife, Lynn, who had kindly offered to puppysit Pemi all day. Lynn had a full day of activities planned for Pemi, and Pemi's shortlist basically made us all look like a bunch of slackers for sitting on our bums all day, tooling about the Maine back roads, and doing a little out and back hike before turning 'round to come pick her up.
We reached the trailhead at about 11:45 am and began the hike up the logging roads. The roads are muddy in spots but not too terrible. Signs of washouts along the logging road from Irene were many but passable with a high clearance SUV.
The Hike:
The trail begins on logging roads which are signed for "Snow Mountain" in a couple of places. We encountered a logging road junction with small cairn and suspected it marked the "new route" away from the Pond but decided to stick with the older route which goes around the right side of the pond. This route was quite muddy with large puddles in some areas. About a quarter mile up the road we turned off onto the herdpath that was marked with a small wooden arrow.
LOVE the Snow Mountain herdpath!! Steep but lightly trodden and very green. We crossed over a logging road, and recognized it as the one that must be the "new route" and decided to explore it on the way down.
Up some more and over a very neat rock overhang, we slowly climbed the ridge to a magnificent outlook over the Bigelow Range and the ponds below. We continued up another small pitch and were at the summit with its old iron fire tower, dilapidated cabin, and new wooden trail register.
Silverfox presented me with a container of Organic Cherry Tomatoes from Blue Ox Farm (lovingly grown by Cynthia); and Eric gave me #100 peices of candy and a scroll hereby certifying that I am the NEHH finisher with the longest span of time between peaks 99 and 100.
Thanks, friends!! My husband gave me a big kiss. We headed back on the "new route" and found it to be much more direct and dryer than the "old route".
We saw a Mother Moose and Calf on the Oqqossuc Overlook -- very beautiful. Back in Bethel, we met Lynn and Pemi and had a dinner of yummy BarbeQue from the "Scary Orange Truck", before driving home.
298 miles, 1 peak.
Huge thanks to Michael and Mark for sharing all the driving, for Eric for many miles of trails and laughter, and for Lynn for being the best puppysitter a young pup could ever ask for!
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