Recent content by NH2112

Most of the places I hike have plenty of water, so I carry 2 empty 1l bottles in my pack and a 1l Katadyn BeFree in my pocket. When I’m thirsty I fill it and drink. At the last water source before my campsite I fill and drink, fill my other bottles with it, and then fill the BeFree. That gives...

I used to belong to a couple Meetup hiking groups and had pretty good times on them, but I’m just not a “head up the trail, no stopping, no looking around, 5 minutes for pics on the summit then back down the same way so we’re not out after dark.” I like to stop, look, and listen, check out...

Another thing I like about Jackman - no deer ticks! In 5 1/2 years up here I’ve pulled exactly one tick off my indoor/outdoor cats and haven’t had a single one on myself.

“All his clothing and gear was soaking wet from the rain over the past couple days.” Which is why every piece of my gear that MUST stay dry gets its own dry bag. I’ll comment to that effect on YouTube backpacker videos and get the expected “do you know how much that will WEIGH???” responses...

I solo hike 99.44% of the time, this is what I did when I got tired of non-hiking friends telling me I shouldn’t be out alone in winter.

“Open” as in yes, you could physically climb it, but there are a couple signs on it stating that it’s condemned. Number 5 Mtn is probably the closest thing to a free lunch that there is. You almost feel like you cheated when you get up there.

Yesterday morning I decided I needed to hike, so I loaded up my Osprey Stratos 24, strapped snowshoes onto it, and headed out. My destination was Number 5 Mountain, about 1/3 of the way as the crow flies to Eustis from Jackman. The trailhead is at mile 17 on Spencer Road off Route 201, there’s a...

It was busy in Jackman, estimates are 30K people came to the area over the weekend. Traffic outbound was bumper-to-bumper on US 201 all the way to Skowhegan - about 70 miles. Coming back from where I viewed the eclipse in West Forks I say maybe 10 vehicles northbound. All in all it wasn’t bad at...

A new acquaintance from the UK (who’d never snowshoed before) and I snowshoed up Pleasant Pond Mtn in Caratunk ME today, the trip up was as close to perfect as it could be. On the descent, though, the snow was falling off the trees from the bright sunlight and soaking us, and what had been...

I think I’ll be heading up Pleasant Pond Mtn in Caratunk ME. A friend here in town has a houseguest from the UK who wants to try snowshoeing, and she knew who to talk to LOL. So Sunday we’re going up it, and I’ll be heading back up Monday. Hopefully it won’t be too crazy. Most logging/dirt roads...

Is it white with a snorkel and were you just at Bishop’s store in Jackman?

I’ve thought about renting snowshoes for exorbitant rates LOL

It’s looking good here, too, but that Wed-Fri stretch will definitely mean trouble for bare-booters. I’m going up it this afternoon to see what trail conditions are like. High temps are forecast to be below freezing all next week so at least the roads shouldn’t be a big mess.

If anyone is planning to view from mountains around Jackman, take heed and bring snowshoes. It’ll almost certainly change by next week, but there’s still quite a bit of snow up there from last weekend’s storm and the stuff that was there before.

We got about 16-18” here in Jackman. I’m going to attempt Coburn Mtn today, the logging road to the trailhead (Enchanted Mtn Rd) may or may not be plowed yet by the crew working on the NECEC. If not I’ll snowshoe in (about 2 miles), but if there are any snowmobile tracks forget it. They run like...