Mt. Pisgah, Winthrop/Monmouth, Maine 2/13/2011

One of my good buddies is starting to do some hiking.

Boydie is now living in the Augusta area, so the three of us decided to bag a small mountain in a place close by. Mt. Pisgah, a small, 810' hill seemed to fit the bill.

The trail starts out looking like a snowmobile trail, but about a hundred yards in, a snowshoe trail branches off to the left.

It was well packed...so packed that we had no use for our snowshoes, and ended up carrying them all the way to the top.
There were some cool trees, but not a lot to look at as the trail wound to the top.

The elevation alone told us this would be a short hike, but I had no idea we would be to the top in 25 minutes.

A fire tower is surprisingly open to the public to climb, and the views are actually pretty great from there. We were able to see 360 degrees for miles, and could even glimpse Mount Washington.
Lots of interesting graffiti inside the tower as well.

Not wanting to backtrack, we took the snowmobile trail back down, which was actually steeper than the snowshoe trail.

The bottom line: This is an extremely easy hike. If you just happen to be passing through Winthrop, Monmouth, or Wayne and have an hour to kill on a nice day, or want a nice family hike, this is the one for you.
Enjoy.

krp

**Photos by N Du

Baldpate West Peak 3662'

Headed once again to Western Maine's Grafton Notch for another assault of the park's numerous peaks. I love that place.
Not only is it close by, no one is there. This makes for a great hiking experience in my book.
My goal was to get to both the East and West Peak of Baldpate, but I wasn't sure my late start time of 1pm would allow for it.

I was surprised to see that the trail was broken, but not since the last storm. This made for about 4-5 inches underfoot. Fairly easy going on snowshoes.
My suspicions were correct when I hit the Table Rock turn. More traffic had gone that way than on the AT, which was the direction I was going.

Often times, the trail was drifted in and I had to either look for the White Blaze or just kind of guess whether or not I was on the trail. The White Blazes were more often than not covered by snow.
I got to the hut and realized I had gone too far, because there was no visible trail anymore. There were some ominous dark clouds rolling in so I just kind of sat in the hut, eating and drinking, trying to decide whether to bag the trip or not.
It was 2:15. I figured I had enough daylight, and if the clouds produced anything, I would just turn around.

Backtracked about 200 yards and found the trail sign hidden behind a snow-covered pine tree. No one had been this way in a while.

It was only a mile to the top, but it was a slog. The blazes were only visible every once in a while, so it was kind of a matter of following where there were gaps in the trees. The snow was knee deep most of the way and at times I was forced to scramble on hands and knees on some of the steeper parts. 1 mile took an hour.
I didn't hang around at the top. Took a picture of the East Peak, which looked way cooler, and headed down.
That mile down was so fun. I slid on my snowshoes almost the whole way. Going up: 1hour. Going down: 15 minutes.

Another hour later, and I was back to the car.
Total trip time: 3.5 hours.
Very strenuous because of the snow, specifically the last mile to the peak.

Highly recommended, but take more time to stop and smell the roses.
I need to break my habit of rushing these things.
Peace out!
krp

never

a round hole
i'm the square peg
a free soul
on two legs

in a world of serious
i'm that cloud, adrift
oblivious, delirious
i cannot make the shift

not frozen alive
by the cold of the corporate
rather barely survive
with more to show for it

the "real world" cannot touch me
as i run on mountain tops
effortless, above the trees
never slow down, never stop

-krp