Maine to Vermont
Day 1
4.14.15
4.14.15
Despite a cold and rainy start to the first day, the rest of the trip has been filled with sunny days and quite warm temperatures. I've learned that it seems very easy to pack for a road trip until you actually start trying to put a pile together of everything you need. Then you realize it's an overwhelming ordeal that involved a fair amount of last minute shopping, and lots of lists and double checking and ultimately forgetting a few things you wish you had. Like a spreading knife and my banana bread recipe. Not horrible in the grand scheme of things, because I can find both of those things pretty easily along the way.
Here's me at my Gramcat's house. |
After awhile, the dreary wetness of the rain from the night before had evaporated off and left a nearly clear day behind. This greatly improved my mood, and I was able to sit back and enjoy the fact that I was driving somewhere purely because I enjoy doing so. Not often have I had this opportunity - driving for enjoyment, not as a means to point B on the map.
For those of you reading that enjoy finding fun roads to drive, let me share what I found. Route 11 in Maine is the second longest road in maine, just behind US-1, and I found myself on 11 for some time in western Maine just north of Sebago Lake. This road is one of the more winding ones in the state that I know of. Perhaps I was lucky, but I got it nearly to myself with no traffic or potholes to worry about.
Below in a picture of Pleasant Mountain, which appears to be a ski area according to my super detailed analysis of seeing white patches down the side of it. It looked to be an attractive hiking option, since my original plan of hiking Mt. Chocorua in New Hampshire was looking to be a bit long for the time I had available. Out came the atlas, and I discovered there was a tower on top. I am a sucker for towers, so I had to check it out. I packed a lunch, ice cleats, gaiters, and some water, and headed up the trail. This was the fire warden trail, so in theory it's the most direct. It didn't feel like it, but that is probably because I am out of shape. Very icy, and I was too stubborn to put on the cleats or the gaiters, so I was slipping and getting snow inside my shoes.
Pleasant Mountain from SR-302 |
Whoops - I missed the summit sign. It says 2006 ft. |
Fire tower! |
But just look at this photo of the Presidential Range in the Whites of New Hampshire. Totally worth coming up top!
Mount Washington is the just in the clouds. |
My next goal along the trip was to drive the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire. I had been told that this is the state's best, most windiest (twisty, not blowy) roads. It was good, but not quite as good as I expected. What I didn't realize is it goes up to Kancamagus Pass at 2855 feet. I stopped at a few pull-offs for pictures, since they are better if you don't take them through the car windows. The tallest one in the picture below is Green's Cliff, 2926', 2 miles away. I know this thanks to the panel that explained what I was looking at. The road seemed a lot like the Loop Road in Acadia National Park, which is nice, but I feel like you're being forced to stop and see the things that the park thinks is cool, and not necessarily what I think is cool.
Left to right: Greens Cliff - 2926', Mt. Tremont - 3784', Owl Cliff - 2951'. |
Not sure exactly which mountains, but I think they might be the Tripyramids? Feel free to comment if you know - this was just before the hairpin turn on the Kanc. |
From here to the end of the day, I didn't take any photos because I was trying to make my way to Waterbury, VT, where Jules, a graduated Watershedian lives with her partner Nick. All three of us have worked in Baxter State Park as trail crew interns, so I was excited to share my experience from last fall working there with them.
I passed so many ski areas on the final leg of the trip along the Kanc Highway and SR302 through Vermont. I also passed many, many Subaru Outbacks. The rumor is true about everyone driving one of those in Vermont. I tried to blend in with mine, but I bet they noticed the Maine plates.
It turns out that Tuesday was Ben and Jerry's free cone day, and with Waterbury being the location of the factory, we had to go. The line was excessively long, but I think well worth the wait. We came back and had some delicious homemade pizzas, and I made some plans to hike Camels Hump the next day. Camels Hump, at 4083', is one of the five 4000 footers in Vermont. It is only a few miles away, so that was convenient. This would also be my first time hiking in the state of Vermont.
For those interested in the maps, I've recreated my route in Google maps.
Camels Hump
Day 2
4.15.15
Wednesday brought with it another sunny day, perfect for hiking and getting sunburnt! I was too optimistic about the suns rays being oblique enough to not worry about sunburn. I was wrong. Nevertheless, it was a nice muddy drive down the Camels Hump Road to the winter lot, which added a bit of mileage onto the hike, but that's no biggie. As I ascended, I encountered two hikers coming down with snowshoes, and I was without them. It was recommended that I get mine from the car, so down I went. There was a bit of semi-packed snow, but it turns out higher up on the mountain, it wouldn't have been pretty breaking trail through 3-4 feet of snow without snowshoes.
I discovered one of the trails was called Monroe Trail, and being from Monroe, ME, I had no choice but to take that one. You can see it on the map below on the east side of the mountain.
Camels Hump trail map. |
So this is a weird panorama, but this is the final "hump" of the mountain, and it was completely barren of snow, unlike the Alpine Trail cutoff, which I took to come up the south side of the hump as opposed to the north. The Alpine Trail didn't appear to have had any traffic for quite a while, though I saw some evidence of snowshoes every so often. This joins up with the Long Trail (which spans the length of Vermont) right before the summit. I left the snowshoes at the base of the hump and went up in just my shoes.
The top of Camels Hump. |
Where I took the panorama, the sun was beating down on the rocks, it was warm and toasty, and on the leeward side of the mountain. Not so once I got on the top. I was very cold, and regretting not stuffing mittens in my pack. However, this view made up for all of that. The Green Mountains is a special place because you have views of the White Mountains to the east, and also views of the Adirondacks to the west. And of course the Green Mountains are around you to the north and south. It's a beautiful place, and I hadn't considered the views of the other ranges that you get when coming here.
Presidentials from the western side this time. Probably just a glimpse of Maine as well. |
The view north toward Mt. Mansfield, another VT 4000er. |
My first hike in Vermont, a success! |
I found a spot down from the top to have some lunch. Well deserved, and delicious. |
A final sunset near the bottom of the trail. |
With some time to spare before darkness, I went to explore (read "pretend like I live here") some of the other dirt roads off of Camels Hump Road. People LIVE out there. I didn't expect that. But they all drive Subarus, and they have some sweet views of the Green Mountains, like this one here:
You can see the final hump that I photographed earlier from this perspective. It's lumpy as far as mountains go. I'll have to come back some time to hike it again, or perhaps try out another one. For now, I'll just send out a thank you to Jules and Nick for letting me crash at their place for a few nights. My experience of the Green Mountain area was fantastic, and I intend to come back again.
Nathan, Thanks for the 'mothers beware' note! Yikes! How tall is that tower? Hard to tell from the photos. ~ I agree with you on trail signage...who knows...maybe some day you can campaign for them if that would not feel too political. ~ SO good to see photos of you on mountains and trails again. ~ Love reading your blog and look forward to future ones. ~ Mom
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