Happy new years! I know this is late going up, but I have been busy lately. I’ll do my best to get caught up. For now let’s take a look back at our little new years celebration though.
I would have liked to make the trip up to Franklin New Hampshire for the new years paddle on the Winnipesaukee River, but it wasn’t in the cards. So instead we decided to head to the Charles river with some friends. It is a section we have paddled before, but never in these conditions. There were patches of ice on the side of the river, and the side channels and ponds were completely frozen. It was definitely an interesting view of the area, and a unique way to kick off the year.
The reflections off the water were perfectly clear
What’s the ideal way to celebrate new years in Boston? With a bike ride into the city of course! We actually really lucked out with the weather on this one. Though it wasn’t a terribly sunny day, the temperature was very comfortable. We started in Waltham and made our way all the way into Boston. After a stop for raman in the city it was back on the bike to head back home.
This heron was doing some (very cold) fishing in Cambridge
The ride back certainly felt long as we pushed against the wind, but we continued to make steady progress. We saw a heron doing some finish along the edge of the water in Cambridge, so of course I took a break to capture some photos before we wrapped up our ride. All told this turned out to be about a 30 mile ride. Definitely a good conclusion to the year.
Here are a few photos from another hike up in the white mountains, this time a loop on Mt. Moosilauke. Though I have hiked this one in the past, it has been a while. On top of that, I choose a new route this time. I got started at a reasonable time and steadily worked my way up the east ridge following some bare boot tracks almost the whole way. Once I arrived at top of the ridge I hit the Appalachian Trail which, thankfully, had a much more even set of snowshoe tracks.
The junction with the AT
From there it was a straight forward climb to the summit. Once I broke above the treeline I was greeted with a frozen tundra landscape of scrubby grass, a dusting of snow, and a very very icy trail. The wind was gusting pretty hard, and encouraged me to quickly make my way over the summit and down the south slope of the mountain towards the car.
At least the trail is flat here…
The cairns are impossible to miss this early in the season
The rest of the descent was pretty uneventful. All in all it was a fairly typical winter climb, if a little quiet. Definitely not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
This time I have a collection of a few different things. First up, some photos from another bike ride along a rail trail. We met up with a couple of friends to ride part of the Southern New England Trunkline Trail (or just SNETT). We quickly discovered that this was a very different kind of rail trail than our last trip. The trail was not paved, and in some section was downright rugged. I was happy I brought my mountain bike instead of the single speed road bike I used last time. The up side though was that the trail was relatively quiet, and also quite beautiful.
We stopped for a break at the shore of this pondThis old lock was part of the Blackstone Canal which ran from Providence to Worcester built in the 1820sThe hinges from the lock gates were mounted here
I also spent a bit of time playing around with a new lens that I picked up for astrophotography. I haven’t had a chance to use it with truly dark skies yet, but this is what I was able to capture at Callahan.
Finally, I have a couple of photos from the first real taste of winter we got with a bit of snow and ice. It didn’t stick around, so there isn’t that much to show yet. Stay tuned on this front.
A blade of grass captured in iceCan you tell which way the wind was blowing in the storm?
After the success of our Halloween adventures I decided to check out another destination that came recommended by the locals, Harpswell’s Cliff Trail. It was definitely not as nice out, but I decided to go for it anyways. The trail started off by winding along the side of a little tidal creek through a classic Maine pine forest.
A little bridge for a little brook
The pine needles always make these trails so peaceful
After crossing to the other side of the park, the trails starts to follow Long Reach, a tidal inlet. At times the trail drops right down to the water, showing off the tranquility of this remote stretch of water.
The view from my snack break
As it climbs up the ridge you start to get views from the Cliffs that give this trail it’s name. The combination of the trees and shrubs which grow out over the edge with the dizzying drop off make it hard to really capture the feeling of being here in a photo. The views were very impressive for such a short hike, and I never would have guessed there were such large cliffs so close to the coast here.
Though the interrupt the view, these trees are certainly impressively perched
From the cliffs it was a short hike back down to the parking lot. I am certainly happy that I checked this one out, and I’ll have to return another time when there is better weather. I’ll leave you with a final shot of the sunset we got the next evening. It definitely would have been nice to see something like this from the cliffs!
For Halloween this year we decided to mix it up a bit and spend the day up in Maine. It was a very quiet weekend at the point. We spent a lot of time relaxing at the house and enjoying the change of scenery. The night before Halloween we also were treated to a very nice, though cold, sunset.
The next morning we put together a little tour of some conservation land that we had not explored before. The first stop was at the Wharton Point Landing. It was very quiet there in the morning, and I spent a few minutes taking pictures of the canoes peacefully floating on the bay.
After that it was on to the Marquoit Bay Conservation Land. This was a small park with just a single trail, but the view of the bay from the end of the trail was quite nice. We even ran into some relatives out for a walk at the same park while we were there. A surprise for both of us!
Fall leaves beside the trail catching the morning sun
Next we moved on to the larger Wolfe’s Neck State Park. This one was definitely the happening place for the day, and the parking lot was nearly full by the time we arrived. We grabbed a spot and then started our little hike. The park turned out to be beautifully maintained, with some very impressive trails along the bluff looking over the ocean. The east side of the park was clearly the most popular part, but we also appreciated the west side as part of our loop around the perimeter of the park.
An example of extreme trail maintenance
The friendly neighborhood red squirrel watching us go by
We accidentally found this official park geocache. Maybe they should hide it better…
After a stop in downtown Freeport for a late lunch, it was on to our final park, Hedgehog Mountain. Now to be honest we chose to stop here purely based on the name. We had to find out if there was any resemblance to our pet hedgehog, Pepper.
Pepper, a hedgehog
As it turns out, Hedgehog Mountain doesn’t look much like a hedgehog or a mountain. It turned out to be a nice, but short, walk up to the top of a ridge where we got a view out to the west. Our timing was excellent, as we watched the sun go down from the viewpoint before returning to our car.
Continuing my hunt for good fall color, I wanted to head up to Mt. Wachusett one Sunday for a walk. On the way up we came across the Old Stone Church in West Boylston. I had never been to this one before, but it is quite a pretty building at a really beautiful spot right on the shore of the Wachusett reservoir.
After poking around the park near the church and wandering through the interior, it was on to the mountain. Unfortunately, by the time we got there the line of cars stretched down the street and they had stopped letting people up the road. We decided it would be best to find another spot, and eventually ended up at the Leominster State Forest.
This turned out to be a beautiful spot as well. We walked around the ponds on the western edge of the park for about an hour and enjoyed the glassy water, fall colors, and quiet solitude.
As nice as the previous evening was, the real purpose of the trip was slated for the next morning. We got up early and set out on the road to the Roaring Brook trail head. According to what we had read online we thought we had to be there early to make sure that we would get a parking spot at the trail head, so it was an early start. However, when we got there we were the first cars in the lot. Oh well, who needs sleep.
Once we were on the trail we quickly started gaining altitude as we climbed the Helon Taylor Trail. Before we knew it we were above the tree line heading for Pamola Peak, which towered above us for the whole climb. The views around us kept getting better, but it didn’t really sink in until we arrived at peak itself. In one moment as we crested the ridge the entirety of the knife edge trail and the towering Baxter Peak were on full display. It was quite the view, but one that I was not really able to capture in a photo very well.
The first view of Baxter Peak
After a short break to grab a snack, it was off towards the chimney section. This was where the trail started to make me think “Ah, this is what they mean by exposure.” Just barely past the summit the trail immediately descends a wall of rock to a small saddle, only to immediately climb right back up a similarly steep face. According to the map this section is only about 100 yards long as the crow flies, but descends and climbs 100′.
Looking down at other hikers on the descent into the chimney section
Once past the chimney we started really making progress up the ridge. I found this section of the trail to be the most interesting. I had been warned before hand about the exposure on this trail, but I was not expecting it to be this significant. For around the next half mile the trail was consistently narrow with large drops on one side or the other. Fortunately most of the trail has a rock face or boulder to reach out to and give you some comfort, so in the end it was not as frightening as I was expecting either.
Definitely lean left through here
Now one thing I saw many times before hiking this trail was to be careful about the weather. The last thing you want is to be on a ridge like this in bad weather. Fortunately, we had a pretty comfortable day, with no sign of rain. Unfortunately, there was a steady 30 mph wind blowing across the ridge. This certainly made things more interesting, and there were multiple spots where we had to “hike” with our hands on the ground to make sure we did not get blown off balance. I’m just glad it wasn’t gusty.
One of the last really narrow sectionsLooking up towards Baxter Peak
Soon enough the trail widened up a bit and the drops got slightly less sheer. The trail was still exposed, but now more like something that you might find at other summits. We climbed up the rest of the ridge and stopped for lunch just before the top. Once there, the character of the trail changed completely. Suddenly we were hiking across a gently sloping boulder field with alpine grasses all around.
Not hiking on knives any more
We slowly descended down the ridge on the other side of the summit where we were greeted by the next surprise. Our route down into the valley, chosen because it was the gentlest descent, turned out do drop straight down a rock slide. It made for awesome views, but also slow going. It was not until we were much lower in the valley before we were really able to pick up the pace.
The trail here goes straight down
From here on out the trail was very manageable. It featured a number of pretty views, a couple of bridges, and a pond. We knew we were close to done when we met up with Roaring Brook again for the final walk to the trail head.
This hike really felt exciting, and was a real treat after the isolation of 2020. I was really impressed at what Baxter State Park has to offer, and definitely want to return some other time to explore the rest of the hike. For now though it was back in the car to head back to civilization.
With all of the chaos that has been 2020 I decided I wanted to find something special to do. Given the limits on travel I was focused closer to home, and ended up setting on a trip up to Baxter State Park to hike the Knife’s Edge trail. I booked a lean to, completed my Maine quarantine, and headed up. My goal for the first day was to really just get up there and get set up for the hike the next day. However, it turned out to be an amazing day all by itself.
The first sight that caught my eye was the Medway Veterans Memorial Park in the town of East Millinocket. It was in a pretty little park just off the side of the road, but had an impressive tank on display as well. Given that I had been in the car for nearly 3 hours at this point, it was a nice little spot to stop and stretch my legs.
After another 20 minutes of driving I started to catch sight of the mountains in the distance. I made a few more stops to take in the amazing fall color and to simply enjoy the solitude. There isn’t much development this far north, so everything felt quiet and private, even when I was standing in the middle of a road.
Once I made it to the camp site I dropped off my camping gear at the lean-to and went for a walk along the Appalachian Trail. I hardly made it 100 yards before I was amazed at the beauty of this place. The tails were beautifully maintained, the landscape changed at every turn. I walked through clear pine forests, across small streams, through marshes, and over little hills.
The clear highlight of the hike though was the string of little ponds I wove through. The images above are from Grassy Pond. The glassy water perfectly reflected the mountains glowing in the evening light. I’m sure my hiking pace was slow as I stopped every quarter mile to take in another incredible view. Throughout all of this I never encountered another person. Some day I will have to come back here just to explore these ponds some more.
After weaving my way past Elbow Pond I ended up at Daicey Pond just as the sun was setting. Though I still didn’t run into anyone, I did see some signs of activity here. I could hear a few people cooking dinner at the campground at the end of the pond and saw the smoke from the fires floating just above the water. I also saw two people out enjoying the sunset in one of the canoes provided by Baxter. I tell you, this place has more to offer than any other state park I have seen.
After the colors started to fade I pulled out my headlamp and headed back towards camp. The last mile of the hike went by quickly. Once back at my lean-to I put together one of my top backpacking dinners: tortellini. Once the dishes were washed and all of the food was safely hidden in the car, I stopped by the group campsite to see how the stars looked so far north. Once again Baxter did not disappoint.
One of our last boating adventures of the season this year was another trip out to Little Whaleboat Island. Our last trip out there was mostly focused on paddling and enjoying the water, so this time I spent a lot more time on the island itself. It turned out to be a fairly cool and breezy day, and the trees were starting to show more signs of the rapidly approaching fall.
We anchored in a small cove we visited last time, and I tossed the kayak in to head toward shore. Given how late in the season it was, the island was completely deserted. I spent some time poking around the woods as well as the shore. In addition to the fall colors I found some wildflowers, and even what looked like flowering fungi.
It was a bit of an overcast day, so I also stopped to have some fun capturing the waves in motion. I was particularly happy with how this one came out. I had actually set up this shot before a wave came along and perched the little flake on the tip of the piece of quartz.
Later in the evening I took some time to capture some photos of the water after the sun had set. By this time the water had calmed almost completely, and the moon was chasing the sun down toward the horizon. The combination looked quite serene. Definitely a fitting end to the day.
