2015 Road Trip: Part 1 (ME-VT)

Maine to Vermont

Day 1
4.14.15

I do think it's time to finally write an update on my road trip.  I've been debating on how to determine my posting interval, hence the delay. What I've decided to do is post every time I make it to a new location.

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.

It felt very strange just arbitrarily pulling out of the driveway to start such a trip.  The first hour or so I was distracted by the squeaking of my two styrofoam coolers for food every time I turned around a corner, as well as the driving dynamics being quite different with the entire back filled with equipment, supplies, food, water, hiking and camping gear, and god knows what else.  This uneasiness settled as I got into the groove, following the back roads to southwestern Maine.  I am on a mission to avoid toll charges if possible, and there are several benefits to this. One, you save money, and two, the alternative route often takes you through beautiful parts of the country that you wouldn't otherwise see if you were blundering down the highway for a few hundred miles.

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

I did make it to the top, bushwhacking a few times to avoid some deep puddles from the meltwater along the trail.  It was extremely windy on top.  You see me in the next picture in a teeshirt, but it didn't last long.  I decided to climb the tower to improve the already fantastic views in all directions.

Whoops - I missed the summit sign.  It says 2006 ft.

Compared to one of my favorite towers in the state, the Old Speck Mountain tower, this was considerably larger, but with one drawback. The cabin was locked, so I was stuck to huddling right under in and taking pictures.  Or from my perspective, trying not to fall off from the gale winds up there.

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.

Mothers beware; view at your own risk.  This is the view down from the top of the tower.  I was very excited to get back down.  I don't usually get scared climbing towers, but with this much wind, I was quite nervous, so I carefully came down to Earth for my lunch, which luckily didn't blow away.

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'. 

I did enjoy the descent after Kanc Pass, though with a 9% grade, it's very easy to pick up a bit too much speed.  Brakes were effective. Modern technology these days - it has revolutionized everything.

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.

I had to deal with a few false summits, one of which you can see below. This massive rocky headwall was the second to last one, if I remember correctly.  I can't imagine how boring this hike would be until the very end if you did it in the summer, because all the leaves would cover up your views.  This time of year, you can see the mountains behind you as you climb, as well as what's in front of you.  I love to be able to see my destination when hiking.

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.

Okay, I need to get this off my chest.  WHY aren't there summit signs in other states??  In Maine, you get a nice sign telling you that you've made it to the top, and the elevation is listed.  Every other state I've hiked in (NH, VT, and NY) there are no signs.  It's pretty obvious once you get to the top in good conditions, but I've been across Franconia Ridge in NH and it was very wintery, in the clouds, and I couldn't see a thing except a few feet in front of me.  I have no idea where Mt. Lincoln is.  I must have passed it somewhere, but it was not clear at all its whereabouts.  Anyway, have a sign-less summit photo of me on Camels Hump!

My first hike in Vermont, a success!

I found a spot down from the top to have some lunch.
Well deserved, and delicious.

Aside from a spot near the top of the snowy bit that I had to snowshoe down backwards due to the steepness, it was a very quick and uneventful descent.  I had broken trail, so my tracks helped a bit to stop me from sinking in too far.  My snowshoes have cleats only under the foot straps, so if you lift the front up a bit as I walk down hill, there is a lot of sliding to be done. :)

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.