egilbe
Member
My GF and I finally had a weekend to finish hiking the Eastern half. We started at Puzzle Mountain, after spotting a car at GNSP parking lot, around noon. The temps were in the upper 80's, it was muggy and the black flies were out in full force. The trail is in good condition with just one large blowdown on the way up Puzzle Mountain. The brook is running well until about half way up where the trail veers. We should have topped off our water there. By the time we got to the summit, we both were down to last swallows of the two liters we carried. Owing to the lack of water, we spent minimal time on the summit. We snapped a couple pictures and gave up the summit to the young couple that we leap-frogged a couple times on the way up. They had planned on camping out, but the bugs were too bad. We continued on to Stewart campsite where we had planned to camp the first night. We did find a small brook to top off our water supply.
Stewart campsite has a small puddle for a water source. Water trickles in and out of the puddle, but, I'm thinking that this year, it may be a seasonal flow. We topped off our water, set up the tarp and bugnet and ate a cold supper, or with the high temps, at least not a cooked meal. We hid in our shelter and rehydrated and watched the black flies trapped between the tarp and netting. One other couple came by with two dogs and set up just off the trail because, for some reason people think tent sites are perfect for fire rings. Every tent site had one. The tent site we picked had two, which we dismantled and tossed the rocks into the woods.
The next morning, we ate a cold breakfast, packed up and was on the trail by 7am. Our goal was one of the tent sites next to East Bald Pate. Due to the cloud and fog that morning, there were no views to be had from Long Mountain. Even with all the switchbacks, that climb kicked my butt. I think I was still suffering from the effects of yesterday's heat. I had no energy. There were only a couple blowdowns that were easily skirted. The weather was cool and mild. We stopped at Town Corner campsite to eat lunch, rest and use the privy around 11am. It's a really nice campsite. Yet, once again, even though it's prominently posted no open fires, there was a fire ring, on the tent site, next to the tree with the no fires sign. We had cooled off enough that we broke out the fleece jackets and windshells while we ate. After our lunch, we continued onwards. After Long Mountain the trail is fairly flat or gently down. It's real easy walking, other than the hobble bush that was starting to obscure the trail. We met a couple, who we surmised were former AT through hikers, who had planned on doing the entire loop trail in two days! They had spent the night at Bald Pate shelter and planned on finishing at Puzzle Mountain where their car was parked.
We checked out the campsites that we passed and all were in decent shape. They are about a mile or two apart in this section, on either side of Lightening Ledges. Still very limited views due to the cloud cover.
We spent the night at East Bald Pate camp site. This one was built on a fairly steep hill. Water is at the bottom. One is better off getting water where the trail crosses the brook before the campsite. All in all, it is a nice campsite with good water.
When my gf and I plan these trips, we never cancel on account of the weather forecast. If it calls for rain, it doesn't rain. We very rarely have to hike in the rain. Drizzly fog is the worst we've had to hike in, which is good considering we knew we would have to walk down East Bald Pate the next morning. Memorial Day we woke to her alarm (because it was Monday and she never shut the alarm off n her phone), the sounds of the rushing brook and...raindrops. The night before I had mentioned that we never have to hike in the rain. She said I just jinxed us. In the morning she looked at me and again "jinxed us". We laid there listening to the rain fall and the birds chirping. Wait. Birds don't chirp in the rain. Climbed out from under the quilt and gently opened the tarp zipper and the clouds were breaking. We heard the wind blowing condensation off the trees. Yay! No rain! After a huge breakfast to eat whatever we could so we wouldn't have to carry it, we set off up and over East Bald Pate. It's about a 1200 ft elevation gain in 2 miles, with most of that coming towards the end, but the clouds were breaking and we got some good pics of undercast from near the summit. We noticed the trees were getting smaller and suddenly were were on the summit. The wind was blowing pretty fiercely so we had a quick snack and headed over towards West Bald Pate. To be truthful, I don't really like heights and that path down makes me a wee bit uncomfortable. I went slow and finally made it to the col between the Pates. The climb up West Bald Pate was wet. There is water running down the granite, but surprisingly, it wasn't slippery. The climb up and down was uneventful, except for the large group of hikers we encountered with huge backpacks that were suffering climbing up West Bald Pate and the group of Dirigo High School Outdoor club working with the MATC volunteers doing trail maintence. A big THANK YOU to you and the teacher who brought them out there on a holiday weekend. Your hard work is and was appreciated.
We finished the day eating ice cream in Bryant Pond. Perfect weekend for hiking.
Stewart campsite has a small puddle for a water source. Water trickles in and out of the puddle, but, I'm thinking that this year, it may be a seasonal flow. We topped off our water, set up the tarp and bugnet and ate a cold supper, or with the high temps, at least not a cooked meal. We hid in our shelter and rehydrated and watched the black flies trapped between the tarp and netting. One other couple came by with two dogs and set up just off the trail because, for some reason people think tent sites are perfect for fire rings. Every tent site had one. The tent site we picked had two, which we dismantled and tossed the rocks into the woods.
The next morning, we ate a cold breakfast, packed up and was on the trail by 7am. Our goal was one of the tent sites next to East Bald Pate. Due to the cloud and fog that morning, there were no views to be had from Long Mountain. Even with all the switchbacks, that climb kicked my butt. I think I was still suffering from the effects of yesterday's heat. I had no energy. There were only a couple blowdowns that were easily skirted. The weather was cool and mild. We stopped at Town Corner campsite to eat lunch, rest and use the privy around 11am. It's a really nice campsite. Yet, once again, even though it's prominently posted no open fires, there was a fire ring, on the tent site, next to the tree with the no fires sign. We had cooled off enough that we broke out the fleece jackets and windshells while we ate. After our lunch, we continued onwards. After Long Mountain the trail is fairly flat or gently down. It's real easy walking, other than the hobble bush that was starting to obscure the trail. We met a couple, who we surmised were former AT through hikers, who had planned on doing the entire loop trail in two days! They had spent the night at Bald Pate shelter and planned on finishing at Puzzle Mountain where their car was parked.
We checked out the campsites that we passed and all were in decent shape. They are about a mile or two apart in this section, on either side of Lightening Ledges. Still very limited views due to the cloud cover.
We spent the night at East Bald Pate camp site. This one was built on a fairly steep hill. Water is at the bottom. One is better off getting water where the trail crosses the brook before the campsite. All in all, it is a nice campsite with good water.
When my gf and I plan these trips, we never cancel on account of the weather forecast. If it calls for rain, it doesn't rain. We very rarely have to hike in the rain. Drizzly fog is the worst we've had to hike in, which is good considering we knew we would have to walk down East Bald Pate the next morning. Memorial Day we woke to her alarm (because it was Monday and she never shut the alarm off n her phone), the sounds of the rushing brook and...raindrops. The night before I had mentioned that we never have to hike in the rain. She said I just jinxed us. In the morning she looked at me and again "jinxed us". We laid there listening to the rain fall and the birds chirping. Wait. Birds don't chirp in the rain. Climbed out from under the quilt and gently opened the tarp zipper and the clouds were breaking. We heard the wind blowing condensation off the trees. Yay! No rain! After a huge breakfast to eat whatever we could so we wouldn't have to carry it, we set off up and over East Bald Pate. It's about a 1200 ft elevation gain in 2 miles, with most of that coming towards the end, but the clouds were breaking and we got some good pics of undercast from near the summit. We noticed the trees were getting smaller and suddenly were were on the summit. The wind was blowing pretty fiercely so we had a quick snack and headed over towards West Bald Pate. To be truthful, I don't really like heights and that path down makes me a wee bit uncomfortable. I went slow and finally made it to the col between the Pates. The climb up West Bald Pate was wet. There is water running down the granite, but surprisingly, it wasn't slippery. The climb up and down was uneventful, except for the large group of hikers we encountered with huge backpacks that were suffering climbing up West Bald Pate and the group of Dirigo High School Outdoor club working with the MATC volunteers doing trail maintence. A big THANK YOU to you and the teacher who brought them out there on a holiday weekend. Your hard work is and was appreciated.
We finished the day eating ice cream in Bryant Pond. Perfect weekend for hiking.
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