Tag: Trip Report

Great Maine Outdoor Weekend – Table Rock

Old Speck and Sunday River Whitecap.
Old Speck to Sunday River Whitecap.

Unlike most recent mornings, Sunday, February 22, 2015, dawned mostly clear and bright. With a few inches of fresh snow having landed the evening before and making for sloppy driving conditions, our merry all-girl band of crazy sisters, a mother-daugher duo, BFFs, and the fearless Shyla-dog arrived at the trail head 15 minutes late to find Simon, our Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust guide, waiting with a bag of fresh donuts and a big smile.

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The crew sets out.

Snow shoes attached, packs adjusted and poles locked, we began our trek to Table Rock on Baldpate Mountain in Grafton Notch State Park.  Table Rock is a gigantic and relatively flat rock that sticks out from the mountainside affording those brave enough to venture out onto it a 180 degree-plus view featuring Old Speck – a 4,000+ footer – that sits directly across the notch, and Sunday River Whitecap’s peak in the distance.

Nice fluffy snow.
Nice fluffy snow.

With an elevation gain of just about 1,000’, and just over a mile to our destination ahead of us, we trekked through a few inches of fresh snow on a small section of the Appalachian Trail that had, thankfully, been broken by someone else several days earlier. Throughout most of our hike the narrow trail was banked by hip-deep snow on either side. Anyone stepping off of the packed trail found themselves sunk deep into about 4’ of light snow – especially once when Linda’s snowshoe was off and earlier when a little instant karma caught up with Terri as she tried to dump snow onto someone’s head from an overhead branch causing her to lose her balance, trip, and fall into a tree well, much to everyone’s delight.

A.T. / Table Rock Side Trail Junction.
A.T. / Table Rock Side Trail Junction.

About a half mile into the hike, the AT meets up with Table Rock Trail on the right. By that point in time sunny skies had brought warmer (again, relatively) temperatures and most of us began removing and stowing layers of clothing.

As we continued on toward Table Rock, the trail climbed gradually through beautiful woods with filtered sunlight. We laughed and chatted our way past evergreens heavy with snow, hardwoods that had lost their leaves allowing us a few moments of glorious full sun, over the occasional fallen log and stream, and up several steep sections where the footing was difficult but which, with a little help from our friends and trusty snowshoes, we took in stride.

Selfie stick!
Selfie stick!

After an hour or so on the trail we walked onto Table Rock. Although the wind had picked up, we were rewarded with lovely views up and down the valley. Snacks and beverages were passed around and photos of vistas and happy faces snapped before it was time to turn around and head back down.

The hike out was very pleasurable, with soft snow treating middle-aged knees kindly and steep sections making for great snowshoe “luge” runs and lots of laughs.

Returning to our vehicles we said goodbye to Simon and made our way to the Sunday River Brew Pub for lunch and laughs, and to plant the seeds for our next adventure.

Deborah Carroll is one of the crazy sisters whose sense of adventure brings them to places like mountain tops and wild rivers.  She is a freelance writer and photograph who “has a thing” for great food and has been known to jump out of perfectly good airplanes on a moment’s notice.

Comtois Easement Monitoring

Board member Dave Kallin chats with landowner Paul Comtois.
Board member Dave Kallin chats with landowner Paul Comtois.

Stewardship is just as important to a land trust as is the protection of new lands under threat.  If good stewardship practices are not followed, lands are at risk and the efforts at protecting land can all be wasted.  This is true of lands that conservation organizations own (the “fee”) and lands over which a land trust holds a conservation easement.

Maine A.T. Land Trust is fortunate enough to work with landowners like Paul Comtois, who are good stewards in their own right.

Heading up the ridge along the A.T.
Heading up the ridge along the A.T.

Paul wrote an article for our Summer Newsletter about the process of putting his land in conservation, and he has remained an active steward ever since.  He’s even directed land trust staff and board members to other properties along the Appalachian Trail which he thinks might be a good fit for future conservation.  Landowners know their terrain better than anybody, and Paul is proof positive of this rule.

Mount Abraham GMOW Trip Report

Heading out.
Heading out.

Maine A.T. Land Trust’s Great Maine Outdoor Weekend hike took place on Saturday and as you can see from the photo above, we had a good sturdy crew on board tackle Mount Abraham via the Fire Warden Trail.  We had six members of the Colby College Outing Club (COC), longtime Maine land trust supporter James, and Maine A.T. Land Trust Vice President Pete McKinley.  The weather couldn’t have been nicer – temps in the low 80’s, low humidity with just a bit of haze on the horizon.

Pete McKinley, Climate Adaptation Ecologist with The Wilderness Society, talks about Red Spruce growth patterns.
Pete McKinley, Climate Adaptation Ecologist with The Wilderness Society, talks about Red Spruce growth patterns.

After crossing the two branches of Rapid Stream and leaving the ATV route that leads to the trailhead, we quickly headed up through the low-elevation hardwood forest and stopped for a break at the Maine Appalachian Trail Club-maintained campsite 3.5 miles from the parking lot.

Approaching the summit.
Approaching the summit.

We headed above treeline and some of us actually had to apply sunblock.  Everybody hiked at a different pace but we all made it to the summit for a much-deserved lunch break in the sunshine.

Lunchtime.
Lunchtime.

The trip down was uneventful and the easy terrain was easy on the knees in the waning afternoon sunshine.  The temperature dropped to about 70 degrees by the time we had to cross back over Rapid Stream.

Yes, he fell in.
Yes, he fell in.

We did have one hiker fall into the water, but he took it in stride since Maine A.T. Land Trust Executive Director Simon Rucker let him take home the leftover granola bars.  It was a great trip and COC is planning to attend the land trust’s winter Great Maine Outdoor Weekend hike as well.

More photos can be found here.