Day 1: July 14, 2009
Trip overview: Hiked the western half of the Grafton Loop Trail up to Old Speck Mountain and Speck Pond, then followed the Appalachian Trail down through Mahoosuc Notch and camped at Full Goose Shelter the third night, before hiking back out early Friday morning.
The day's walk: 6.0 miles
We got a late start Tuesday because I was working at a clinic in the morning, then we had to make a few stops in Portland before we hit the road. We dropped off my car on Success Pond Road, then drove back into Grafton Notch and parked at the southern trailhead of the Grafton loop trail. We saw a lot of rain as we were shuttling the cars around, but the worst of it passed by the time we parked. It was about 4:30 pm before we actually started hiking!
This picture shows Tom debating whether to try to carry his fly rod along, for fishing at Speck Pond. Fun as that would have been, he wisely left the pole in the car rather than risk destroying it on the trail.
We had to park 0.6 miles north of the trailhead, and then walk along the road before entering the woods. About 5 minutes after leaving the road, we saw our first (yes, first) set of bones of this trip. These were about dog-sized.
A spine.
A flower, nearby.
Jon recreating his initial amazement at the bones...
... and smelling the pretty flower.
The rest of the bones were scattered nearby.
The trail went gradually up Bald Mountain (not labeled on map) and then Stowe Mountain, and wasn't especially scenic. As is typical for the beginning of a trip like this, there was plenty of conversation, and a little bit of a reality check as we adjusted to having a huge weight strapped to our backs while climbing mountains... while also being out of shape (well, Jon and myself).
Starting to get dark...
After it got really dark (though there was actually enough light to see by until almost 9:30) we hiked with headlamps. The only photo I stopped to take was of the second (that is, only second) carcass of the trip. These bones looked moose-sized, though I guess they could have been deer or bear. Being future osteopathic doctors, we are knowledgeable about human anatomy only.
We finally got to the Sargent Brook Campsite around 10:30pm. Tom and I pumped water at the brook, while Jon went ahead to scout out a tent site and start getting set up. When we went to find him he was hard at work—though only after he got slightly lost, found a flooded tent site, found the cooking area and bear box, bushwacked through the ferns to the outhouse, and then finally found the first tent site that he walked by. That's what happens sometimes when you try to set up camp at night.
After cooking/eating/cleaning up from dinner and getting all set up, we finally went to bed just before midnight. Fortunately, we weren't worried about starting early the next morning...