Here are a few photos from a hike along the Mt Tom ridge we did with some family friends. This is a really impressive trail with awesome views the whole way. We had a great time and just barely made it out before the park closed the gates.
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 the colors started to turn around home I was eager to look for some good examples to capture. I returned once again to an old favorite, Callahan State Park. I went repeatedly over the course of a few evenings where I thought I might get some nice color in the sky, and I was not disappointed on any of them.
As the summer wrapped up and kids went back to school we had to get a little more creative in how we met up with our niece and nephew. One of the things we ended up doing was a flat water paddling trip on the Nashua River. Given that we essentially picked the location based on driving distance, the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge was a very nice spot.
The color was turning on the leaves, the river was glassy smooth, and there were very few people out. We had a great time even though it didn’t end up being a terribly long trip. You can only go so far on the patience of a three year old after all. Along the way we saw the usual assortment of turtles, and bugs, as well as this massive Bullfrog.
Later that evening I also went for a walk at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary. Broadmoor is operated by Mass Audubon, so I was expecting some great views with a variety of birds, and that is exactly what it delivered. The photographic opportunities were a bit limited due to the overcast weather, so I’ll definitely be back here another time.
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.
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′.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A few more ocean side odds and ends today. We went for a walk one afternoon down to the boat launch at low tide and spent some time poking around the tide pools. However, these snails on the mud flats were even more interesting. There were easily thousands of them. A herd of little snails all “running” towards the receding tide. They were fascinating to watch, and you could really see them making progress.
One of the other highlights was seeing our own effects of the California and Oregon wildfires. We had a couple days of strangely overcast weather with some very odd sunset colors. One evening the sun basically just faded out as it got lower until it was gone. It really drives home how bad it all was out west.
It wasn’t intentional, but our day started early. We woke up at around 5:45 AM, early enough that the sun wasn’t up, so we decided to head outside to watch it rise over the bay. It was a very peaceful and quiet way to start off.
It was a lot colder than we were expecting so early in the morning, but a warm drink and every layer we had brought up to Maine made it manageable. I don’t know why, but I always feel like sunrises have the best color. We had a really nice time taking that color in and watching it give way to a beautiful blue sky day.
Once we had a chance to get some breakfast and pack a lunch, we packed the paddle boards on to the motor boat and headed to Fort Georges. The fort was built in the late 1800s in order to help defend Portland. It sits on a tiny rocky island right across the main shipping channel from Portland harbor. The ride down from Mere Point is about 15 miles, but it went by quickly. The perfectly calm water made it comfortable too. Once there we anchored and hopped on the paddle boards for the short trip to the fort.
We spent about an hour wandering around the inside of the fort. The main structure is in surprisingly good shape for the age. Clearly solid granite makes a durable building material. Many parts of the fort were open to explore, including some of the living quarters, gun batteries, and powder magazine. The many tiny gun windows all had great views of the channels and boats around Portland.
The highlight of the fort itself was probably the roof view. From here you had the perfect view of Portland itself, as well as the inside of the fort. This was also the home of the only remaining gun that we saw. Once we had our fill of the city view, it was back down the stairs and out of the fort.
At this point I wandered around the small portion of the island that was not part of the fort itself. Like most islands around here it is mostly rock and seaweed, but it was also home to a small sandbar. The sandbar is clearly the most popular place to hang out, and there were a couple of small motor boats pulled up on it while we were there. I had to pay attention though because the sandbar ended up completely under water while I took my photos. Fortunately it wasn’t too deep when I headed back to the paddle board.
We ended up relaxing on the boat for a while and had a nice floating picknick lunch. With the wind starting to pick up a bit we made our way back towards Mere Point. Compared to the morning we had a low key afternoon, and even managed a nap to make up for the early morning. To close out the day we had a classic Mere Point sunset. All in all it was one of my favorite days of the summer.
Today I have a batch of unrelated photos from our stay at Mere Point. As usual I spent plenty of time wandering around the point with my camera, so these are the odds and ends. As much of a pain as 2020 has been, the weather in Maine just kept delivering. The temperatures were very pleasant, the water was calm. This sunset summed up the days well.
There were also some special guests on the bay while we were there. The Infinity and it’s tender ship, Intrepid, spent a couple days anchored between the islands within view of the shore. We took the boat out one morning to cruise around them a bit and get a closer look. These boats are shockingly large. It is hard to imagine having the means to own something like this. I guess I should just try founding a company like Harbor Freight…
