Caribou Pond near Sugarloaf

Continuing in the middle group (Maine's Middle Mountains), I wanted to hike today (Wednesday, June 21, 2017) - Sugarloaf Mountain and Spaulding Mountain:

4+-hours-driving up:

(actually 5 hours with stops.)

This was not a daytrip - Wendy has a conference in Burlington, Vermont, leaving-Wednesday-home-Saturday, so I want to take advantage of that and do 3 days of hiking (with 2 nights of camping - shakedown for my Yosemite hike in July!). So I drove up Wed. June 21 to hike Sugarloaf Mountain and Spaulding Mountain, then the Bigelow Range on Thursday, and finish with the Crockers and Redington on Friday (and then come home). Unfortunately, I couldn't find the trailhead for the Appalachian Trail as it crossed Caribou Pond Road!! So I wound up hiking 6.85 miles roundtrip to Caribou Pond and back:

It was a beautiful day for a hike in Maine:

wildflowers on the trail

dangerous bridges:

over babbling brooks

A little over 3 miles into the hike, I crossed the "bridge"

over South Branch Carrabasset River


which drains BEAUTIFUL Caribou Pond:


Returning back down the trail, I was able to take a side-trail to a nice waterfall on the South Branch Carrabasset River:





0.48 miles from the yellow gate/parking area is the AT intersection:

I must have blinked when I had walked past it earlier at 2:20 this afternoon!

For future reference, I wanted to go down and see the river crossing. Doesn't look too bad - I can see the blazes/trail on the other side:


The South Branch Carrabasset River is flowing pretty nicely down here - upstream:

- downstream


Well, back to the trail, 0.48 miles back to my car, 3.8 miles back up the (unsigned) dirt logging road, then 20 minutes north on 27 to the Cathedral Pines Campground:

I had campsite 69 (Sites without hookups, on Lakefront = $35.00 per night):




Little White Speakers - got to have the tunes when setting up the tent!

A quick swim:

then back to Sugarloaf for dinner at The Rack:

After-dinner view from the main Sugarloaf parking lot, looking north at tomorrow's hike in Bigelow Range:

(I'm sure those clouds will just blow through overnight).

On my way back to the Campground I saw some deer running into the woods:


Some mistakes were made today, but obviously God didn't think it would be a good idea for me to do a climb today - that's ok with me. Thank You God for a GREAT DAY!

Music today - I really like what I did with The Doors last week, so I'm going to repeat it with The Eagles:

The Eagles, 1972

singles: "Take It Easy", "Witchy Woman", "Peaceful Easy Feeling"

Desperado, 1973

singles: "Tequila Sunrise", "Outlaw Man"

On the Border, 1974

singles: "Already Gone", "James Dean", "Best of My Love"

One of These Nights, 1975

singles: "One of These Nights", "Lyin' Eyes", "Take It to the Limit"

Hotel California, 1976

singles: "New Kid in Town", "Hotel California", "Life in the Fast Lane"

The Long Run, 1979

singles: "Heartache Tonight", "The Long Run", "I Can't Tell You Why"

Eagles Live, 1980 2 cds

singles: "Seven Bridges Road"