Happiness on Hurricane Mountain.

  As the weather slowly changes from dog days of summer to a cool, comfortable and colorful autumn climate, we headed out to Hurricane mountain in the northeastern territory of the Adirondacks in N.Y. for, what I considered to be, the most colorful and entertaining sunset/ sunrise adventure yet.

Evan is very excited about the Fall foliage...

   We started our hike from the Crow Clearing trail head, which is on the north side of the mountain. The trail started smooth with a gradual incline through hardwoods until it reached a junction for the Soda Range trail, where we continued to the right, crossing a gently flowing stream. There's a few designated tent sites and a lean-to in this area for those looking to stay a night, but we were attempting to camp as close to the summit as possible for easier access for a sunset/ sunrise, but it was comforting to know these sites were here if all else fails.

The colors were high and low

   The trail continued as an easy hike, with a few rocky areas sprinkled in between, until we approached a slightly technical rock scramble, before the slopes of the summit, where we were surrounded by strong winds and nothing but the white cloud scenery as the summit was engulfed within the clouds.

The cloudy summit, before IT happened...

   Clouds were being pushed along by strong winds, which produced glimpses of rolling hills and mountain peaks, with small pockets of color in the trees spread throughout the surrounding Adirondack Park. As these  glimpses of scenery captured our attention we heard faint sounds of laughter and yelling coming from the summit, when we noticed it... The Yahoo train!!

Evan's grimace at THE sound!

   The peaceful solitude of the woods and mountains are sometimes broken when large groups of people venture off the concrete trails of society into the vast wilderness, destroying the tranquility of the forest. When the winds on a summit are strong enough to quell the conversation between two hikers, but you are able to hear the yelling, laughter and sounds of a mass group of people, that's when you know the Yahoo train has loaded and is in full steam ahead mode!

  We quickly found shelter from the winds behind a huge rock outcropping and waited for the train to slowly, and noisily, meander it's way through the open faced summit destroying the peaceful sanctum of the outdoors.

One of the many naps Lucy took.

   When the outdoor sanctum became quiet once more we emerged from our hidden bunker and walked the hundred yards or so to the abandoned fire tower which marked the summit.

Evan returned to his happy self when the caboose passed by.

   After realizing the clouds and winds weren't subsiding anytime soon we headed down the trail in search of a place to camp. We found a very small flat area approximately 150- 200 feet off trail that sufficed for a one night stay.

Lucy was helping setting camp... Maybe she was just staying out of my way

Our camp off the trail.

  We set up camp, cooked some dinner and returned to the summit area where the clouds had dispersed and the winds were at comfortable levels later in the afternoon.

The view from the tower.

As the sun was setting...

   The sunset was phenomenal, although the sun wasn't fully in view, the clouds, colors and sun rays, casting into the tree tops on the valleys below, changed by the seconds with the winds.

Hunkered down with Lucy resting once more

The layers of clouds morphed by the second

   After the bright orange glow set on the horizon and the darkness was approaching we knew any hopes of star gazing was useless with the amount of clouds still floating overhead, so we returned to camp and hunkered down for the night as the winds blew across the treetops over us until morning.

Where does Lucy end and Evan begin?

   The morning came quickly, but luckily we had a five minute scramble to the viewing area for the morning show. The approach was pleasant, with clouds still moving aggressively with the winds, but fortunately most of them were well above the 3500' elevation we were at with some fast floating ones at different elevations below, which usually make for fantastic colors.

   The sunrise was one of the most fantastic ones that I've encountered yet, due to the winds, clouds and the cloud levels within the atmosphere. Every second the view morphed into scenery that was more grand than the one before.

   We enjoyed the morning and returned to camp to have some Markle Morning Mocha Maddness breakfast cereal, trademark pending, and break down camp.

The morning madness.

   With the hike down being only a couple miles of easy hiking we took our time and enjoyed every moment on the trail with the colors of autumn beginning all around us.

Lucy did make it out... with help.

Evan's Blog:  evanhike.blogspot.com
 

Hike Up: www.strava.com
Hike Down: www.strava.com

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