woodland wanderings

I have a lot of hiking experience but I know nothing about camping.

I have done a million car camps and overnights in mountain cabins but my tenting experience is limited to packing a 4-person Walmart special into a canoe along with some firewood and hot dogs and canoeing (with my then 5 year old son) to illegally camp in Scout Hollow on the other side of Fosters Pond.

When my son got older, I did a billion scout campouts in my Walmart special surrounded by dozens of little scouts wreaking havoc while the parents talked around a campfire. None of these experiences adequately prepares you to hike into the woods alone with your gear and set up camp. I tried it once before and ended up hiking 5 miles back to the car in the middle of the night: Mount Resolution and Mount Stairs: You’ve got to be kidding me.

My goal is to become a competent camper. I want to learn to comfortably disconnect from the world and spend a few days alone in the woods without freezing, starving to death, or being mauled by an angry bear. Great info about bears in the video below (not really but incredibly funny).

I wanted to hike to a remote, primitive campsite, void of people and cell reception, with water, sun, wildlife and mountains. After consulting with a few redlining friends, I decided on the Unknown Pond Tentsite.

My pack was heavy, filled with REI camp food, instant coffee, a bivy tent, 20 degree rated sleeping bag, a sleeping pad, MSR Pocket Rocket cook stove, even almond milk for my coffee. Except for the intense fear of being mauled by a bear in the middle of the night while sleeping in my flimsy bivy tent, I was ready to go!

It starts out well as I pull into Millbrook Pond Road. I am in no hurry to get anywhere so I stop to look at everything. I was startled by the beauty of a Scarlet tanager that landed in the road. I watched it until it took off as quickly as it landed. It was the first time I had seen one in over 20 years. As I continued on, I came across dozens of butterflies huddled in the middle of the road. I stopped the car to see what they were doing.

Butterfly bouquet of White Admiral, Tiger Swallowtail and Viceroys

In this photo you can see they are attracted to animal scat (maybe coyote or bobcat)

What I learned was, male species of some butterflies will drink at muddy puddles or damp earth for mineral salts and scat (a.k.a. poop) or animal carcasses to get amino acids and other vital nutrients. This added nutrition is needed for them to generate spermatophores, the packets of sperm and nutrients that are transferred to the female during mating.

The Unknown Pond trail hasn't changed much since I hiked to the Horn in 2014. The trail is not blazed, it is narrow and overgrown in places but it is very easy to follow. There is still a large muddy area about 30 minutes into the hike, but you can rock hop to avoid sinking shin deep in mud. This hike will take you through beautiful sections of birch trees, patches of wildflowers and various mushrooms as the trail gradually ascends to your overnight destination.

The Unknown Pond tent site is located on a spur trail off the Unknown Pond Trail. To my surprise there was an outhouse, a clean odorless outhouse! There are six designated tent areas nicely spaced and two or three fire pits. You can get water from one of the streams or directly from the pond.

It had been a while since I opened my tent. When I laid it out on the ground I had a momentary lapse of how to put it together. After I set it up, I realized I had forgotten how small it was. Oh lord, you can't sit up in a bivy tent. I hate this tent.

looks good until you try to sit up in it.

Annoyed

Every time I entered, exited or tried to sit up in this coffin, my hair would get stuck on one of the numerous internal zippers. There is enough hair stuck in the zippers to make a nice bird nest.

I gathered all of my 'food stuff' and headed down to the pond. 'Ahhhh...', the minute I sat at the pond, peace transcended. It was windy, cold, and it was just beautiful.

I pulled out one of my meals. Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken. I had visions of this:

What I got was this:

I closed it up and used it as a body warmer. It helped keep me warm for a couple of hours as I sat and watched the light change on the pond.

Late afternoon light on Unknown pond

By 6:30 my fettuccini body warmer and numerous layers, including a down vest under my wool pullover, were no longer keeping me warm. Reluctantly, I surrendered my pond view and headed back to the tent site. I ripped out a few more hairs as I entered my tent, wrestled off my shoes, struggled with where I was going to put my pack, tried to sit up, pulled out a few more hairs and burst out of the tent in exasperation!

I decided to put everything I didn't need under the rain fly outside of the tent. I tied up my food between two trees and hung a bear bell from the rope. If I heard the bell during the night, I would propel myself from the tent and flee.

I crawled back into the tent, pulled out a few more hairs, got into my supposedly 20-degree-rated sleeping bag, made another attempt to sit up (thinking if I sat up enough times the tent would magically grow taller). It didn't. I unsuccessfully tried to find a comfortable way to read. The wind kicked up, the temperature dropped and I was cold. Not 'you're going to become hyporthermic and die' cold, just uncomfortable 'too cold to sleep' cold. I fell asleep, woke up freezing, curled up into a ball, woke up freezing, curled up into a ball, woke up freezing and so it went until 4:00 AM.

I got up, put on my headlamp, gathered up more 'food stuff' and headed to the pond. I sat and watched as the morning light spread over the water. 'Ahhhh...' peace fell over me as the morning light expanded. My breakfast was much more successful. Hot coffee with almond milk, some surprisingly good quinoa apple oatmeal and a view to die for!

I sat at the pond until 8:00AM watching the insects skim across the water, listening to bullfrogs and birds sing then I wandered back to explore the other tent sites. I discovered some of the upper sites have mountain and sunrise views.

I learned a few things on this trip: I hate bivy tents, I am no longer afraid of being mauled in the middle of the night by bears, I like quinoa, and I like camping. I will be back Unknown Pond and I will be better prepared.

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White lady slipper

Rock hopping to avoid the mud

One of a billion resident toads along the way

Unknown wild flowers

possibly cracked bolete

possibly king bolete

Watching a spider while lying in my coffin, umm..I mean tent

Upper tent site

August 14th, 2017 - Route: Fire Warden's Trail, Mt. Abraham Side Trail, Appalachian Trail, Spaulding Side Trail, Sugarloaf Side Trail, Multi-use ski trail, Heavy machinery road, ski trail to Sugarloaf parking lot.

The 4000footer page http://4000footers.com/spaulding.shtml shows a similar route, but heading down the AT trail to Caribou Pond Road (AKA Caribou Valley Road) instead of hiking down the ski trails. It states the hike is only 13.2 miles. We hiked the ski trails down and calculated the entire hike to be 16.7 miles. I think the total mileage, for the trails listed on the 4000footer page, may be closer to 15 miles than 13.2.

****

With only three mountains left on my NE 67 quest, I decided to finish them off in one long hike. So, I recruited my hiking friend Rochelle to help me out. We slept in our cars in the Sugarloaf parking lot. At 5:00am we left her car in the lot and took my car over to the Abraham parking area. Thanks to another great trail conditions post by Brian Tausendfreund, I knew we would be able to drive directly to the Mount Abraham trailhead.

Here is what he wrote: "The Rapid Stream Road is in better condition than in 2014 because it is being maintained by the logging companies. They also replaced the two bridges crossing the river just before you get to the trailhead. After crossing the two bridges turn right and it takes you right to the trailhead.... Most cars should be able to get to the trailhead if you are careful. This is an intersection with no parking lot. We were able to park without blocking the intersection."

I would add one important thing. The road splits just before you get to the two bridges. Follow the curve of the road to the left. Do not go straight! If you do you will find yourself on a very rough ATV road wondering who the hell is going to rescue you if you get stuck.

The Fire Warden's trail is easy to follow and well blazed. The first water crossing has a large tree lying across it so we just traversed across the tree. All other water crossings on this trail are small walk overs.

The trail ascends moderately until you emerge from the trees and head up a steep rockslide for approximately 1/2 mile before reaching the summit. Mount Abraham is the second largest alpine zone in Maine. It provided us with all the blueberries, mountain cranberries and bunch berries we could eat.

This summit has spectacular 360 views! The old fire tower is no longer standing and there is no summit sign at the top, but the large cairn and fire tower remains mark the summit. #65 done!

Remains of the fire tower near the summit cairn

You'll quickly lose a 1,000 feet of elevation as you hike from Abraham toward Spaulding Mountain. At this point, the trail becomes flat until you have to regain the elevation back as you approach Spaulding.

Follow the blue blazed spur trail to the summit. Spaulding is under tree cover and has limited views. However, I was told by a couple of hikers there is a lookout with nice views of Sugarloaf. We didn't see it, but it might be worth checking it out. #66 done!

Relatively flat trek over to Sugarloaf

The hike over to Sugarloaf was an easy trek. You lose approximately 500 feet of elevation with some minor ups and downs along the way and gradually gain it back as you approach Sugarloaf.

Note: There was no water on the trail from Mount Abraham until just below the summit of Sugarloaf. There is a small AT water supply located on the left hand side of the trail, approximately a 1/4 mile below the summit.

We spent a long time celebrating on the summit of Sugarloaf! The descent down was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. The multi-use trail was rocky but manageable, the heavy machinery trail was a nightmare. It was covered with large, loose rocks making it difficult to find good footing. Once we cut over to the lower ski trail, it was much easier and we were happy to finally arrive back at the lot.

NE67 completed!