Puzzle Mountain Trip Report

By Katie Mauro

 

MATLT’s first community hike of the season was a hit! A motley crew of seven enthusiastic individuals summited Puzzle Mountain! Puzzle Mountain is part of the Stewart Family Preserve, named after Bob Stewart, who donated the land to the Mahoosuc Land Trust for permanent protection from development. Located in the eastern part of the Mahoosuc Range, Puzzle Mountain has a lot to offer. Multiple ledges and viewpoints on the way to the open summit, with a great view of neighboring Sunday River Ski Area, makes this a very enjoyable hike. Participants commented on the wildlife (three toads, two snakes, and multiple butterflies), stream crossings, and diverse terrain including deciduous forests and rocky ledges sprinkled in among moss and pine.
Co-leaders, Louise and Katie, bookended the hiking group and recorded 6.3 miles round trip and an elevation gain of 2,352 feet, which was a steady but manageable climb. Deciding against the Woodsum Spur add-on, the hike took approximately 5 hours with a relaxing stop at the summit for lunch (one hiker brought steak)! Overall, the group was lucky with gorgeous weather, clear views, and great company, even the black flies couldn’t bring us down.

MATLT Receives Grant from Momentum Conservation

The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is very pleased to announce that it has been awarded a grant from Momentum Conservation through their Land Trust Grant Program. Momentum Conservation advances a justice-centered approach to the conservation movement by connecting and empowering Maine’s conservation organizations. Momentum does this through capacity building, grant making, and convening. MATLT has worked with Momentum for many years and they are a valuable partner for all the land trusts working in Maine. Without their support, programs like #WEOUTSIDE, Community Hikes, and the High Peaks Initiative would not be possible. Thank you Momentum!

#WEOUTSIDE Expands Elders Program

The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is pleased to announce the first full season of the #WEOUTSIDE Elders program. The Maine Association for New Americans (MANA) has been piloting the program by partnering with great friends like Loon Echo Land Trust to see if the youth adventures could be adjusted to fill the needs of an older group. MANA is focused on the mental health aspects of the Maine outdoors and providing even more members of the community with the opportunity to experience nature’s benefits has been a goal for the organization. The Elders program will feature nature walks, short hikes, low-impact activity, and generally a lot of hanging out in the great outdoors. Some trips will include:

We are grateful to all our partners for making this happen! Stay tuned for some amazing pictures from these excursions.

#WEOUTSIDE Summer Program Kicks Off

The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is VERY pleased to announce that the #WEOUTSIDE program for New Mainer youth will run for a third consecutive summer! First launched in 2023, this amazing program provides an opportunity for youth who have recently arrived in Maine and live in temporary housing situations. This summer, the kids will be:

In the current funding climate, it was a long shot that this program would be able to raise enough funding to run #WEOUTSIDE but the Maine Association for New Americans really stepped it up! We’ll have more stories of the adventures once the program kicks off in July.

#WEOUTSIDE Wraps Up Winter 2025 Session

The #WEOUTSIDE program wrapped up another successful season with a visit to Mahoosuc Guide Service. Proprietors Kevin and Polly have been great friends of #WEOUTSIDE right from the start, and they are one of the most renowned and respected guiding outfits in Maine. They lead wilderness canoe trips in Maine (and Canada), lead workshops, host trainings, and, most importantly for teenagers – run sled dogs!

These kids had a great day with Polly and Kevin and Helen, learning about making wooden canoes, enjoying a meal by the fire, taking in the scenery of the A.T. and Mahoosuc Range, and meeting the dogs. Many of the dogs Mahoosuc Guide Service has retire but they stick around so there are many furry friends to meet and enjoy. Guiding is a great profession and one day these kids might have dogs of their own!

#WEOUTSIDE Graduates Another Group of Maine Kids

Panel shares the results of the program, from participants to parents.
Scholarship winners!

The Winter #WEOUTSIDE program hosted a graduation lunch for the participants and their families recently, in order to celebrate their accomplishment in completing the program. The program was started in 2023 by the Maine Association for New Americans, with assistance from the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust, and has continued across four cohorts of kids through all seasons. (MANA has also started several adjacent programs for moms, elders, and academic achievers.)

It is important to celebrate the accomplishments of the kids in the program – sometimes it can be hard to step outside our own experiences and not just think “well, they were outside having fun”. These kids have braved trying circumstances to arrive in Maine, have lived in unstable housing situations (at best), are learning a new language and culture, and then we took them out in the cold and snow to learn about the outdoors in Maine. They could have stayed home but made a choice to head out with the #WEOUTSIDE program to learn so many new things – from what to wear in the cold and snow to how to be safe in remote areas of Maine. They had tons of fun along the way but have learned skills that can get them ready for their lives and futures in Maine.

The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is proud to participate in this great program with MANA!

#WEOUTSIDE Ice Fishing with the Bryant Pond 4H Camp

Time on the lake
Ice fishing
Climbing wall!
Hanging out at camp after a long day.

The winter #WEOUTSIDE crew had an amazing overnight trip up to the Bryant Pond 4H camp for a whole bunch of winter activities as we finished up the season. Special thanks to Reid, Mary, Chelsea, and everybody at the camp for hosting the group and teaching everybody so much!

First, we headed out onto the ice in the warm spring sunshine for some ice fishing with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Chelsea from IF&W is an amazing teacher and showed the kids how to check the ice depth (19 inches), how to drill the holes with an auger, and how to set up traps and get the depth right. She’s also great at conjuring up fish no matter what the conditions might dictate – they started getting little Yellow Perch all over the lake! And then Will took the crown by reeling in a 12-inch splake – enough to save to cook up and eat later.

The 4H camp also has a climbing wall, which is a great activity when mud season arrives. After an excellent lunch, all the kids hit the wall with gusto, with most of them making it to the top on at least one of the four separate courses. Will took the crown again by ascending all of them. Even MANA program staff Marie got up to the top!

There was an evening hike, some quiet time for hanging out and Uno, then a trip out on the ice under clear, moonlit skies. It’s great that these kids get to experience the Maine outdoors and get ready for their futures here in Maine by enjoying all that nature has to offer here.

Bald Mountain Hike!

Bald Mountain! This small (2438 ft.) mountain is situated between Mooselookmeguntic and Rangeley Lakes, just outside the village of Oquossoc. There is a small trail network but the easiest way to the summit is only 1.3 miles each way – but it is steep at the end.
Our group headed up one Saturday in February to explore some of the great features of this mountain, which has sweeping views of the Appalachian Trail and the surrounding mountains.
We anticipated high winds and low temps, but with bright blue bird skies and minor wind, we truly lucked out. The conditions were perfect for snowshoeing and the trek up and back was just short of easy. The whole group was able to climb the watch tower for 360 degree views of the beautiful Rangeley lakes region. We had a brief lunch at the summit before descending, spending a total of 4 hours on trail.
During the hike, the group briefly encountered two snowmobile parties and was delighted by many animal tracks, including deer and some smaller unidentified mammals. A crisp and perfect day!

#WEOUTSIDE Hits the Slopes at Mt. Abram

Gearing up!
A.T., with skiers.
Learning.

The #WEOUTSIDE Winter 2025 program rolls on – this time with a trip to Mt. Abram for some downhill skiing. Mt. Abram has been a great partner for the program and others like #GOALS – the mountain is friendly, easy to learn on, and attracts people from all over the place. All of the kids we’ve brought to the mountain have had a great time and all of them have gone from not ever being on skis to heading up the chairlift and down some real runs. A couple kids even hit up a blue square trail!

We have beautiful weather, not too cold, fresh snow and no crowds. Everybody geared up and hit the magic carpet run to get their ski-legs under them. As usual, it was hard to keep some eager kids from heading right over to the chairlift for some shredding action. Still, a couple of them were heading up even before lunch. After destroying three pizzas, six orders of fries, and six orders of chicken tenders, the whole group was out on the slopes again. The fun didn’t end until the lift was shut down at 4pm.

Check back for more on our adventures in Maine’s A.T. landscape this winter!

#WEOUTSIDE XC Skiing and Fat Biking

#WEOUTSIDE is back! After another great summer, we’re all set for another great winter. Our first outing in January was to Inland Woods + Trails winter trail network at the Bethel Inn.  IWT has been a wonderful partner for the #WEOUTSIDE program – you may recall the summer trip to mountain bike on these same trails. This time, we were able to use IWT’s ample supply of nordic skis to get out on the trails system and give it a go on the skinnies. As you can see, kids were falling down. BUT you can also see that everybody got the hang of it and was out for the whole first half of the day, practicing and racing around.

After a break in the warming hut for some delicious pizza from the Rusty Lantern gas station down the road ? , we had a fork in the road – more ski or fat tire biking? How about both? A group of the boys commandeered whatever rental bikes were in the shop and headed out. With trails extending into the woods, we knew they would get lost but that was ok since there was a competent volunteer with them. Others continued skiiing, including a few who stayed out even when it started snowing.

Before getting back into the van, there was a massive snowball fight to celebrate the day. It was a great one!