I can be a bit masochistic, I admit it. I'm truly not 100% content unless I'm either involved in something athletic, physically challenging or at least recovering from one or the other. Yes, I LIKE being sore. That feeling of jello-ee instability from your legs due to sheer exhaustion -- yup love that too. As weird as it may or may not be, I consciously (and enthusiastically) put myself in situations that I KNOW will be physically and often mentally trying.
So, true to form, I've recently finished hiking the eastern 1/2 of the Grafton Loop trail in Grafton Maine. The Grafton Loop does just that, it loops of the Appalachian trail, heads south, crosses Rt. 26, and then back north where it hooks back up with the AT. It's truly an amazing loop. Each side of Rt 26 consists of roughly ~20 miles, combing to make a loop of ~ 40 miles.
A good friend of mine from college (jeff), my dog Kayden and his dog Porter, had our trip all planned out. The plan was to hit the road Friday and hit the trail no later than 3 so we could be at the Baldpate Lean-to right around dusk. Then next day was to be the longest with roughly 11 miles of hiking including summiting both baldpates before setting up camp again low on Puzzle Mountain. Ambitious? Yes. Impossible? Maybe not...
Anyhow, like most every trip, our itinerary changed. We did manage to get to the trail head by 3:00 and we were heading up the AT to the Baldpate Lean-to by 3:30.
Here's Jeff mounting up just before hitting the trail. Both our packs weighed in just shy of 40lbs.
We only had 1 dog pack, Kayden got the first leg, Port the second and the Kayen brought it home. Here she is wondering why she has to carry here own food.
We made great time up to the Baldpate shelter. I can't recall the exact time but I think it took us about 2 hours to hike the 4 miles in. It was dark cold and snowing by the time we got there.
Jeff on the way up:
It's a funny kinda of year to pack for. You pretty much bring EVERYTHING, b/c yo have no idea what kind of weather your in for. We were expecting cold, and we got cold. We didn't have a thermometer, but our water was freezing over in minutes so it had to be a good bit under freezing.
I only took one picture that night. Here's Jeff in the "kitchen".
The next morning we awoke to bright skies and slightly colder temps, made breakfast and hit the trail by 9:00.
The trail was almost immediately steep and gnarly from shelter. We were prepared for Winter weather but wern't QUITE expecting the trail conditions we encountered. Balpate is actually 2 peaks. The first is just shy of 3700 ft and the second just shy of 3800 ft with a ~200 yard bog in the middle. The Balpates also seem to catch much of the same weather the Presidential range does.
Here's what the trail look like. Our plan to cover ~11 miles that day were quickly dashed.
I think it took a good couple of hours to get to West "Pate" due to the conditions. Here's a few pix from the Peak. The climate difference was pretty amazing and more inline with something I'd reserve for likes of Katahdin, Mount Washington or some other Prezzi range Mt. It was Winter for sure.
Cresting over the the West Peak, in our view stood a very formidable foe, also know as the "Eastern Pate."
Here's the bog of which I mention earlier. While not uncommon, I find it's strange that there's a bog at such high elevation. I've run into one near the peak of Old Speck and apparently there is one on Sunday River Whitecap as well (not the ski area). It was frozen though.
It wasn't long before we were faced with the rock slaps which make up the "East Pate". I've scrambled up these before in what seemed like no time on day hikes. With snow, ice and a 40lbs pack, things were a bit hairier. Even the dogs, with thier 4wd, had trouble in sections.
Looking back 2 where we came from:
Heading up the rock slabs, Kayden gets a boost.
There were a few section on the slabs that were a bit hairy. Here's jeff in concentration mode.
The dogs were wondering what was taking so long.
Like always, reaching the summit was exhilarating. It was a bit windy but we hung around and took in the sights. I think this has been my favorite summit to date in the Grafton area. Spec was cool too, i'd have get up there around this time of year for better comparison.
Lame Timer shot.
The Exif data on the summit shot reveals a time of 12:00 sharp. That's means it took us 3 full hours to travel the .90 miles from the shelter! That's astonishing really. We did stop for about 15 minutes for a snack, but wow.
We traversed the long flat peak and headed down the southerly side. There wasn't nearly as much snow or ice but there were a few rebar ladders that dogs found a little discouraging. I wish I had a pic or 2 of that process.
It wasn't long before the snow disappeared and the alpine pines gave way to hardwoods. We pushed on through terrain that was gentler. The leaves from all the birches added great cover to unsuspecting ankle traps though. I lost track of how many river crossing there were. lots of them, some safer than others...
We didn't stop moving until 430 that night before setting up camp at the "knoll campsite". Yep, it took us 7 hours to cover a mere 6 miles. Tired, sore, cold, and we still had 11.9 miles to cover on Sunday. I didn't take any pictures at this campsite mostly because it was absolutely FREEZING and windy. We ate dinner, set up camp and I went to bed. Kayden was cold. She had here own matte and I usually zip here in my down jacket on cold nights. She Curled up next to me and we were actually quite toast all night long.
Before bed, Kayden looking less than impressed.
The next morning, we ate a real quick and cold breakfast and decided to get moving simply to get warm. A little more hiking through the hardwoods before leaving the State park and on to Private land. Then the trail heads up Long mountain, which you might expect is very -----long------. It's not real tall at 3062 ft and pretty sheltered by other larger peaks so the going was quite a bit faster. A lot of it looked like this.
The decent is pretty long and low pitched as well. At the bottom you traverse what seems to be an old clear cut and even some open fields. Puzzle Mountain shot up quite quickly. There are a few faux peaks on puzzle, I'd imagine that's why it called Puzzle? Looking back from Puzzle gave us a great perspective of where we'd been.
And Jeff at the Peak.
I didn't take any pix from here on out. It was pretty much a death march from here to make it down before dark. It was another 9 hours of hiking that day before reaching Rt. 26 at just shy of 5.
I was pretty glad to see the car but I'd do it again in a second. Summer conditions would be more favorable in the sense you could make it much further the second day of hiking and not have to kill your self the 3rd. The 3rd day wasn't really too tough, just that it came on the heels of a brutal day picking and pawing up and down Bladpate in less tha ideal conditions. I also had new boots on. I had the choice between tattered 5 year old boot or new ones -- my feet we dry and warm but hurt like hell, So i guess i made the right decision.
Any how, Grafton Notch might just be my favorite place to New England. It's rare that you see a soul even in the midst of summer. It's a great place to get out and be alone with the folks (and dogs) you want and have a real sense of solitude. I'm looking forward to checking out the Western 1/2.
