Tag Archives: hiking

Trip Report

Katahdin: Up the Abol Trail, down the Appalachian (Hunt) Trail

In July 2019, I spent a week in Maine with a group of Argonauts from Hudson Valley Hikers. We spent the first half of the week exploring Baxter State Park, home of the famous Katahdin. Day 1 was very rainy, so we did the easy 10 mile section of Appalachian Trail from Abol Bridge to Katahdin Stream (separate post.) On Day 2 we launched a 2-prong assault on the buttressed fortress of Katahdin itself. A portion of my group went up the Helon Taylor trail and crossed the Knife Edge. Tree Whisperer and I chose to go up the newly opened Abol Trail. We would all come back down the Appalachian (Hunt) Trail.

Katahdin
Katahdin from the Tote Road
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Trip Report

Maine Appalachian Trail: Piazza Rock to Sluice Brook Logging Road

On my second full day of hiking, I climbed up and over the Saddleback Range with its three peaks: Saddleback, The Horn, and Saddleback Junior. All three peaks extended above treeline (about 3600 ft) and into the Alpine Zone. There, specialized plants and mosses made for a dazzling display of color. The day started off socked in, but opened up to the beginning of fall foliage down in the valley.

maine Appalachian trail
Parts of the Appalachian Trail in Maine are intimidating, but most of it looks like this.
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Trip Report

Maine Appalachian Trail: Sabbath day to Piazza Rock

On “Day 1” of my week in Maine, I hiked from Sabbath Day Lean-To to Piazza Rock Lean-to. I’m calling this “Day 1: because it was the first day of hiking and full immersion. On “Day 0” I drove most of the day and hiked for 1.5 hours. I hiked about 11 miles on “Day 1”, and climbed about 1700 feet. That’s a pretty easy day, but I was carrying much more weight than usual with 5 days worth of food on my back. I developed a small pain in my shoulder because my shoulder straps aren’t long enough. It was a crisp, clear day with signs of fall everywhere.

Autumn Flowers
The trail crosses through a flowery meadow on some wood planks
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Trip Report

Maine Appalachian Trail: ME 17 to Sabbath Day Pond Lean-To

In September of 2019, I spent a week alone hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine. There’s no bragging about the mileage on this trip. I very intentionally set my daily mileage below 10 each day. While my goal was to complete a 64 mile section of the Appalachian Trail and grab 10 of Maine’s 4000 Footers, my deeper goal was to spend time enjoying the woods. On so many of my trips, each moment is polluted by the feeling of needing to get to the next place. This keeps me from fully enjoying the time and place that I am in. This time I wanted plenty of time to relax, read, journal, reflect, and pray.

maine lobster roll
Lobster Roll from Fisherman’s Ketch
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Trip Report

Finger Lakes Trail: Big Indian Wilderness Loop

Over the weekend of June 19th through 21st, Porcupine and I completed completed another section hike along the Finger Lakes Trail. This time, we were joined by our friend Splash. To avoid car shuttling, we made up a loop route that would incorporate several other Catskill’s trail with a section of the Finger Lakes Trail in the Big Indian Wilderness.

finger lakes trial map
Google Earth Image of our Route
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