Justin
07-20-2004, 11:01 AM
Got a phone call around 8 or 9 on friday the 17th. "Want to climb Old Speck in the morning", he said. Not having any plans for the weekend i agreed and quickly filled my pack with the necessaries (dog food included):)
Woke up bright and early and met the troops just north of Portland (2 dudes and 2 birds:) in total)
Preface: I believe Old Speck is the 3rd largest MT. in the state of Maine 4,170ft and is located in Grafton Notch State park in the Muhoosuc Mt. range. for those who don't know, this range is clearly visible from the Presidentials as it spurs of the North Eastern side. ?Here (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=44.56462&longitude=-70.97409) is where we were. The AT also snakes through here and is said to be one of the toughest stretches. I didn't bring the digi :camera: but rather the good ole SLR with B&W film so pictures will come at a later date. :(
The four of us plus one pooch headed up rt. 26 past bethel and into Newry ad turned off onto what must be logging roads. It was a good 15 min ride on rough terrain to the trail head. I took us 3.5 hours to cross the Muhoosuc Arm (http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/at/tom.php?lat=44.56462&lon=-70.97409&scale=50&maptype=DRG25&toposize=large&dir=at
). (i believe it was 4.1 miles) That's right 3.5 hours for 4.1 miles, we weren't hauling ass but i might add we did pass a couple groups!* . There are many points one must climb on all fours and with a heavy pack it twas quite the workout.
After reaching the pinnacle of the arm we could se down into the ravine where Speck pond abodes as well as the shelters/platforms live. Speck Pond is the highest body of water in ME 3500ft i believe.
Upon arrival we we're greeted by the care taker who we befriended and shared stories with. She told us a rather amusing story about the Speck Pond. Occasionally they stock the pond with trout by air lifting fish with a chopper and dropping them in the pond from above... she said last year they missed and the care taker was frantically shoveling rainbow trout into the pond!
We set up camp,ate, swam and explored around the pond and celebrated with some nips of JD. We met a bunch a thru hikers (most which were headed south) and they all complained about the lack of distance they had accomplished that day. We pulled out the Shelter Log and egan to read many passage read "F*ck the notch, it took me all day to go 5 miles", "I twisted my ankle today", "wet rocks this", "wet rocks that" and ne entr read "i want a T-shirt that says, i survived the notch".
We awoke the next morning, made breakfast and set out for the summit of Old Speck. We left out packs at the shelters and thank god. For sure some of the most technical trail hiking i've ever done. Here is our route:
http://timefortuckerman.com/photopost/data/500/917speckpond.jpg
Speck pond from the Old speck side:
http://timefortuckerman.com/photopost/data/500/917ach_sized.jpg
We climbed the fire tower up top, saw the Presi's and so on and after an hour we headed down and back across the arm to our cars...Great place can't wait to go back or hike it as a through hiker... who knows?
:happyhiker: :happyhiker:
Woke up bright and early and met the troops just north of Portland (2 dudes and 2 birds:) in total)
Preface: I believe Old Speck is the 3rd largest MT. in the state of Maine 4,170ft and is located in Grafton Notch State park in the Muhoosuc Mt. range. for those who don't know, this range is clearly visible from the Presidentials as it spurs of the North Eastern side. ?Here (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=44.56462&longitude=-70.97409) is where we were. The AT also snakes through here and is said to be one of the toughest stretches. I didn't bring the digi :camera: but rather the good ole SLR with B&W film so pictures will come at a later date. :(
The four of us plus one pooch headed up rt. 26 past bethel and into Newry ad turned off onto what must be logging roads. It was a good 15 min ride on rough terrain to the trail head. I took us 3.5 hours to cross the Muhoosuc Arm (http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/at/tom.php?lat=44.56462&lon=-70.97409&scale=50&maptype=DRG25&toposize=large&dir=at
). (i believe it was 4.1 miles) That's right 3.5 hours for 4.1 miles, we weren't hauling ass but i might add we did pass a couple groups!* . There are many points one must climb on all fours and with a heavy pack it twas quite the workout.
After reaching the pinnacle of the arm we could se down into the ravine where Speck pond abodes as well as the shelters/platforms live. Speck Pond is the highest body of water in ME 3500ft i believe.
Upon arrival we we're greeted by the care taker who we befriended and shared stories with. She told us a rather amusing story about the Speck Pond. Occasionally they stock the pond with trout by air lifting fish with a chopper and dropping them in the pond from above... she said last year they missed and the care taker was frantically shoveling rainbow trout into the pond!
We set up camp,ate, swam and explored around the pond and celebrated with some nips of JD. We met a bunch a thru hikers (most which were headed south) and they all complained about the lack of distance they had accomplished that day. We pulled out the Shelter Log and egan to read many passage read "F*ck the notch, it took me all day to go 5 miles", "I twisted my ankle today", "wet rocks this", "wet rocks that" and ne entr read "i want a T-shirt that says, i survived the notch".
We awoke the next morning, made breakfast and set out for the summit of Old Speck. We left out packs at the shelters and thank god. For sure some of the most technical trail hiking i've ever done. Here is our route:
http://timefortuckerman.com/photopost/data/500/917speckpond.jpg
Speck pond from the Old speck side:
http://timefortuckerman.com/photopost/data/500/917ach_sized.jpg
We climbed the fire tower up top, saw the Presi's and so on and after an hour we headed down and back across the arm to our cars...Great place can't wait to go back or hike it as a through hiker... who knows?
:happyhiker: :happyhiker: