Vermont Ventures

By Jen.

 

We continued our way westward, passing into Vermont. We decided to check out Groton State Forest.

 

We made a brief stop at Ricker Pond.

Since the road was closed before 9 am, we had to walk a mile up the road to see the view from Owl’s Head.

We made our way to Devil’s Hill, named for its steepness, to look out on the bog.

Our GPS kept trying to send us down these county roads that could hardly even be called a jeep track.

 

Next on our list was Lincoln Peak. After some research, we decided to take the Long Trail from Lincoln Gap Road. We had chosen our camping spot the night before so we would be close to the trailhead, but when we tried to go up the road from the east side, the road was closed. We did some research and discovered that it was open on the other side, so we drove around and then back up. So much for well-laid plans.

 

The trail started off pretty good.

Then it got pretty steep, requiring some light bouldering.

The views from the top of Mt. Abraham were pretty great, but it was hard to enjoy them. By this point, we had discovered that we had not dressed warmly enough and were freezing in the chill breeze.

Our plan had been to continue on to Lincoln Peak, but decided we were too cold to do so. We hurried back the way we came, warming as we reached lower altitudes.  Then we were off to New York.

New Hampshire

Working our way westward from the coast had us passing through rural New Hampshire. Despite being settled very early in nation’s history, significant parts of NH are public land (likely due to its incompatibility with most kinds of agriculture). The more the better for us wanderers, though. Unfortunately many great areas are owned by private groups.

Despite this, we wanted to drive up Mount Washington. There is a significant toll, but we decided it was worth it. However the first day was very cloudy, so we delayed one day. Thankfully the parking area had great WIFI.

The next day was looking much more promising, so we queued up early to make the drive. 

The signs were also promising. 

However, it was not to be. There had been snow, so they would not let us go beyond the snow line. In addition, they had some arbitrary rule against “heavy” vehicles. Too scared about liability on the steep downhill. So, rejected, we turned again westwards towards Franconia Notch SP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With plenty of miles hiked, we called it a day.  This is a popular ski destination, but for now it was fairly quiet, COVID notwithstanding; you can see ski runs on many of the slopes. Thankfully, it wasn’t a long drive to a secluded pond camping area.

 

 

The next day was another modest hike, in attempt to remedy our desk-trained bodies. 

 

 

 

 

Next up, Vermont.

ReMAINEder

By Jen.

Because driving 4 hours back down to Portland didn’t appeal to us and we figured Josh & Brit could use a day to themselves, we stayed overnight in the Acadia NP area. The next morning as we maneuvered to be closer to Portland in case Josh & Brit wanted to do something northwards, we came across this really cool bridge.

 

Turns out it was a replacement for the “most beautiful steel bridge” 1931. You can see one of the cross-sectional pieces there in the foreground.

 

After some research, we decided we wanted to check out Baxter State Park, which is a backcountry park that tries to keep the wild “wild.” No paved roads, plumbing, or electricity. There aren’t even any scenic pull-outs on the park road.

 

Fall foliage is beautiful.

When we started off the day, it was rather foggy. We were hoping it would clear by the time we got to the top.

That mountain in background is the mountain we will be hiking later, Doubletop Mountain. Fortunately the fog was clearing off.

These are called Ledge Falls, and in the summer, people slide down them!

Precariously perched…

Up until the creek, we had managed to stay pretty level…

Which meant that the trail would be super steep at other points.

When I had picked this trail, I was under the impression that there would be great views, but we were nearly to the top and the trees weren’t thinning into an alpine zone at all. I was afraid there wasn’t going to be any more view than this.

I was still enjoying the hike, but was feeling increasingly uncertain that I would get the views that I was hoping for.

All the snails!

There was a rickety little ladder to get us to the boulders at the top, which was better than the slippery rock (found out the hard way).

Finally, lo and behold, I had my panoramas!

While we were resting and enjoying the views, a bold mouse decided it should try for our granola bars.

It came right up to Jonathan’s boots!

Another mouse shortly joined it, but we made it out with no more holes in our bag and our granola bars safe.

We came across a ptarmigan on our back!

We were pretty tired after our trek, but Jonathan managed to do some maintenance on the van when we finished. The next day, we had planned to canoe in South Branch Pond, but the weather was not as nice as the day before and we didn’t want to brave the cold on the water. Instead, we did a few hikes.

 

The very diminutive South Branch Falls.

Evidence of beaver-felling!

To finish off Maine, we did a stop at Cadillac Mountain.

 

 

 

I wanted to try and kayak in Merrymeeting Bay, the largest freshwater bay, but it was too windy do so.

 

 

 

 

So, we decided to move on to the next state: New Hampshire!