Wandering to Whitecap

   The Hundred Mile Wilderness in Maine is one of the most remote areas of the Appalachian Trail, if it wasn't for the infamous A.T. passing through this large parcel of wild land it probably wouldn't be talked about at all.
    The influx of  outdoor enthusiasts over the years has created a bittersweet feeling when hiking today, It's enjoyable to see so many discovering what nature is capable of doing for one's soul, but sad to not have as much solitude while on the trail as there once was. I think this area may have the solitude I crave when hiking.
    I've never done any hiking within the Hundred Mile Wilderness, so Evan's proposed hike and camp on Whitecap mountain, which is also the high point of the Wilderness at approximately 3655', was welcomed.
   After being denied access to the White Brook Trail from the Katahdin Iron Works entrance, due to logging in the area, Evan changed his planned hike up White Brook trail to the A.T. on the eastern side of the mountain by way of Ki-Jo Mary Checkpoint.
   We were driving slowly on many miles of old logging roads as they slowly became less used and at times the weeds and grass growing, on these once used roads, were taller than my little Honda Civic until we rolled past a view point and Evan quickly recognized that we were on the opposite side of Whitecap... This kid's knowledgeable of the landscape! So we turned around and  worked our way through "roads", that I would've questioned taking a truck on, back to correct our miscalculated route. We arrived at the trail head a few hours after our planned time, but this route was to be a bit shorter than White Brook leaving us enough time to hike the short three miles of the A.T. before arriving at the summit.

The start of our short hike.

   The trail was never extremely steep,and was a pleasant walk through the deep forest of Maine. Our encounter with people was limited to just a few as we worked our way past an A.T. lean-to and towards the first viewpoint of the day.
   After we passed the viewpoint the trail continued upwards at a moderate incline where the "stairway to heaven" began. This stairway was made over time with many rocks and sweat from volunteers and seemed to go forever to heaven.

Bella and Evan climbing the stairway to heaven.

Stairs going on to the heavens.

   Shortly after the stair climb we emerged from the trees into the open meadows of the alpine zone on Whitecap's summit. The summit had many spectacular views and the clouds were slowly giving way to the blueness of open sky, which will definitely give us a perfect sunset.

 

On the summit

We searched the summit for a place flat enough to set up our tent, but the entire summit was a pile of jagged rock with no space big enough to comfortably put a tent without puncturing the tent base and possibly a rib or two. On the northern side of the summit through trees and alpine vegetation we found wooden planks from a fire tower that once stood. The planks were placed together creating a rickety platform type spot big enough for our tent, and we called it home for the night.

A perfect place to call home for a night...

A home with a view of course!

 After a delightful sunset the winds started picking up as the temperature quickly dropped. We hunkered down for the night as the perceptible natural movement of air constantly bombarded all sides of our tent forcing the surrounding vegetation to scrape and brush the outside tent walls as if kids were running around amusing themselves by poking the tent walls with sticks.

Getting ready for sunset

 

The perfect sunset!

   With a less than restful night sleep I poked my head out of the tent, which was facing west, to see a disappointing white out of clouds. As I slowly emerged  from the tent and looked towards the east I saw some spectacular pink, orange and yellow colors above the northeast horizon with clouds appearing to be from an oil painting high overhead, layered across the sky, down to flowing lower clouds at our elevation quickly passing over Whitecap summit changing the scenic landscape by the second.

   With each passing second the floating clouds changed colors and shape like a turning kaleidoscope in the sky, and glowing yellow and orange hues reflecting off the valley floor from the rays of sunshine streaming through the layers of clouds.

   We broke down camp and returned our traveling homestead into our backpacks, while the winds disrupted the ebb and flow of drizzle falling from the clouds above. After a short hike through the openness of the alpine zone we entered the shelter of the canopy and had a pleasant hike until we approached what appeared to be a Dalmatian perched on a rock off the side of a steep scramble section of trail. It was a startling scene at first, but within a moment of noticing it I realized it was a statue placed there for reasons unknown at that time, and after attempting to research on Google, have still not learned of it's origin or reason, but then again we all do things for our own reasoning.

Evan's Blog: Evanhikes

Our GPS track:  Up Whitecap

Down Whitecap

Yahoo Hour

                                                                Yahoo Hour


   The Appalachian trail is one of the most iconic hiking trails in the United States, so Evan's planned  sunrise hike for July was more than appropriate on a mountain that's named after the first person to accomplish 2000 miles of the so named trail.

    Avery peak in the Bigelow mountain range of Maine is named after Myron Avery who's foresight and leadership was the force behind the completion of the AT.

   Our normal start time for any hike is usually well before the Yahoo hour of 9am, but with a lack of sleep and a long drive we arrived at the trail head for Fire Wardens trail after 9, so we considered ourselves Yahoo's for the day.
   Yahoo, by definition, is a "rude, noisy or violent person".  The definition in hiking terms is one who arrives at the trail head late, is noisy and traveling in large groups, disturbing the peacefulness and tranquility of the great outdoors that so many of us utilize to slip away from normal everyday existence in the mainstream world.
   It's been ten years since the last time we did this hike and with time comes changes. The road was in great shape and a parking lot with a kiosk has been built since.

The Yahoos for a day

   The trail started easy following an old road onto a footbridge across Stratton Brook and along Stratton Brook Pond at an easy, almost flat grade with a few rolling hills the further we hiked away from Stratton Brook Pond until we arrived at the intersection of Horns Pond Trail at 1.4 miles.

Crossing Stratton Brook

   The Bigelow mountain range is an interesting narrow range with a fairly flat landscape surrounding it's base, because of this natural feature Fire Wardens Trail starts gaining elevation at a steady pace once it leaves the valley floor climbing a modest 2500' in less than three miles.
  We arrived at the junction of the AT, after hiking approximately four miles from the parking lot, when we reached Avery Col there were many tent platforms to choose from. This was a perfect space to set camp with Avery peak only a quick 15 minute hike away.

Our camp

  After setting up camp and nourishing ourselves we headed out to enjoy the weather and views from the summit, where a sunset is a beautiful way to cap off a terrific day of hiking.

The setting sun with Bella looking ready for sleep

This was my favorite picture of the sunset with West Peak in the distance.

  We had a restful night sleep and were up and ready to go at 4:30am. With the sunrise starting around 5am it was an easy 15min hike up a boulder strewn trail with enough light of dawn that no headlamps were needed for the short trek.
   The summit greeted us with steady winds whipping across the flat northeast territory of the mountain, where the brightness on the horizon showed us approximately where the sun will be appearing in the next few minutes.

   As the sun appeared and slowly rose from the distant horizon, it seemed as if the perceptible natural movement of air was being forced across the landscape by the sun itself to where we stood.

Evan standing tall in the early morning winds

   In the early morning moments that it takes the sun to rise above the horizon, I always seem to take hundreds of pictures hoping just a few develop into something special, worthy enough to create a collage of one perfect photo from each sunrise we've done. I couldn't imagine attempting this in the days of rolls of film for a 35mm camera...

The heater pushing the winds across the flat landscape surrounding the Bigelows

   Now that the heater seems to be distantly floating above the horizon, we head back to our camp to have breakfast and break down camp.
  We finished our hike by traversing over West peak and over to the Horns for a summit of North Horn for more views, something this hike is far from lacking!

A tired Bella

The beautiful trail between the Horns

Resting at The Horns Pond

  We also rested by The Horns Pond so we could filter water and Bella could soak herself and relax before our descent from the Bigelow mt range. From the camps on The Horns Pond we branched off the A.T. onto Horns Pond trail, which merged back with Fire Wardens trail to complete our loop.


Our GPS Track: 1st Day: 1st Day
                           2nd Day: 2nd Day
Evan's Blog: Evan hikes

South Moat for June

                                   South Moat for June

   Evan's planned sunrise for the month of June brought us to the eastern edge of the White Mountains where South Moat Mountain overlooks the bustling area of Conway N.H.. This area is a touristy area, which usually has many people and a lot of traffic, but at 3am on a Monday morning we had our choice of parking at the trail head and the whole mountain to ourselves.
   We were staying a few miles away, at Attitash in Bartlett, NH, so the detailed coordination of the complex operation of getting to the summit for sunrise was made a bit easier than some treks in the past. Wake up at 2:30am and at trail head by 3am, easy!

The start was dark...

   The trail started as an easy hike on old logging roads in the darkness of the forest, then quickly brought us to a steady incline before arriving on ledges as the sky was slowly illuminating and the lights from the towns were scattered on the grounds below. The sparkles of stars throughout the dark western sky were slowly giving way to the brightness from the east.

The eastern sky illuminating

   After hiking just under three miles we arrived at the summit only to be greeted by steady, high, cold winds. The timing was great considering we only needed to wait a short time before the heater broke the horizon and displayed it's hues of colors among the trees and mountains surrounding us.

The under cast clouds meandering through the valley.

   The grayish white clouds in the valley below seemed to creep along in a methodical way, in unison with the slight breeze in the lower elevations, while the clouds in the distance, above the eastern horizon, were reflecting soft tones of orange.

   The mountains around us were slowly brightening, from the summits to the valleys below, as the sun was rising above the eastern horizon, casting it's light across the earth's floor beneath us.

The eastern horizon before the sun made it's appearance

The sun's rays illuminating the Presidential's to the North

     Attempting to take photos, while still observing and enjoying the sky within the five to ten minutes it takes the sun to rise, can be a challenge in itself. Everywhere I turn there's a change in the colors and tones reflecting off clouds, mountains and particles in the distance.

   As usual Evan let's me take a few silhouette shots, which are becoming my favorite.

   With the sun completely emerged above the horizon, we take one more look around as Evan does his peak naming of all the large naturally formed lumps in the earth's surface that surrounds us before heading down.

Evan leading the descent.

The descent always shows the beauty we missed in the dark.

Add caption

   The trek down is always pleasurable, as I never am fond of taking the same trail, it's almost as if it's a different one, because of the daylight we are able to view everything we missed in the dark on the ascent.

A well worn raised trail near the summit.

This trail seems to be an old logging or fire tower road.

   Before we knew it we had arrived back to our vehicle with our usual sense of accomplishment and need for nourishment.
   This was an awesome hike and spectacular summit. We were fortunate to have done it so early and in return we had the trail, summit and views all to ourselves.

Evan's blog: South Moat Sunrise. Evanhikes
GPS Track: GPS June sunrise