Continuing to "collect Post Offices" - Andover, ME 04216:
It was supposed to take 24 minutes from the Post Office:
but when you zoom-in on the Google Map:
you see that it actually does not match my actual route on a topo sheet:
It turns out that parking was 2 miles from the hairpin turn:
and looking back down the dirt road:
I had assembled-and-printed information from blogs, and was able to match my parking area with what I had printed:
It had been raining on my way north, and was still Very Misty/Foggy/Wet (no "actual rain", though). It was a 24-minute hike up the old logging road (easy but wet brushing against leaves), and you enter the woods as the road ends:
Looking back down the "road":
Well, there's not supposed to be much of a view from the woods on top of Elephant, anyway.
This spot, on MapMyWalk, is 0.8 miles from my start.
In the mist, these red berries are positively phosphorescent:
This photo SHOULD SHOW tiny little red LED lights!
I went around to the left when I hit the moss-covered cliffs:
I then went around the "swampy area", on the right side, followed the herd path for a while, then made a wrong turn - that was when I started bushwacking to the peak. I had less than 0.5 miles to go, so I figured it would be ok:
I "should have kept going North" to reach the "main herd path to the summit, but 30 minutes of bushwacking was ok.
I was overjoyed when I saw the canister at 12:08
and got my selfie:
Just a little farther on, someone had set up a nice string of prayer flags:
As one FOLLOWS THE CORRECT HERD PATH DOWN FROM THE SUMMIT, you get to a VERY COOL alpine clearing in the mist:
but now that I look at it, maybe I went too far north (into the alpine clearing) before turning east:
What - Are we all just "fumbling around in the woods"??
Back to the car (SOAKING WET) at 12:58 [4.48 miles in 2:06]
Driving down the road at 1 PM - back on schedule (you didn't know there was a schedule? There's ALWAYS a SCHEDULE!)
Driving down 26 to Grafton Notch, with a view (I think) of Baldpate (East and West peaks):
The "one hour" drive to the Grafton Notch parking area took 1:30, so I started this hike at 2:35. My camera lens was getting fogged from all the moisture, but hopefully you can see the big wooden AT symbol:
A really nice trail at 3 PM:
That became really steep an hour later:
Survey Marker "near the West Peak summit, but not at the Summit":
West Peak selfie:
The Trail over to East Peak (white AT blazes!) is pretty cool, and shows the difference between photos taken with my (foggy) regular lens, and those taken with my "selfie lens":
No view, but it is pretty cool being up here:
50 minutes later, on my way down, I wanted to see the Baldpate Lean-To:
40 minutes later, I took the side trail to Table Rock (hey, what can you do when they say "EXTRAORDINARY VIEW"?).
It turns out it was a lot more "uphill" than I expected/wanted:
Wait - where on the map is this? Here is the hiking map:
and here is my path:
Yes, it is an "EXTRAORDINARY VIEW":
I spent a lot of time trying to find the trail down, and just gave up and backtracked. This hike was 9.85 miles, in 4:41 (Elephant was 4.48 miles in 2:06), which makes 6 hours 47 minutes hiking 14.33 miles. That was kind-of pushing it, especially when you tack on driving about 10 hours (left home at 6:30 AM, back in the garage at 11:11 PM)
Even with all that (and my right elbow getting kind-of bashed up), I still have to say Thank you GOD for these wonderful adventures!
Because Shannon had some good POP songs at yesterday's STEP class, I wanted to listen to all my NOW That's What I Call Music! cds:
Now That's What I Call Music! 6 (U.S. series), 2001
The highlight was U2's "Beautiful Day":
You're on the road but you've got no destination
Now That's What I Call Music! 24 (U.S. series), 2007
Now That's What I Call Music! 33 (U.S. series), 2010
Now That's What I Call Music! 40 (U.S. series), 2011
Now That's What I Call Club Hits, 2009
Now That's What I Call Club Hits 2, 2010
Now That's What I Call Country Volume 3, 2010
Now That's What I Call Dance Classics, 2009
By now, I'm a little tired of 21st century music, so Time For Some GREAT MUSIC from the '60s:
Nuggets From Nuggets, 2000
The original songs go from 1963 ("Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen) up through 1967 ("Nobody But Me" by The Human Beinz, and "Incense And Peppermints" by Strawberry Alarm Clock).
Nuggets: A Classic Collection From The Psychedelic Sixties, 1986
The original songs go from 1964 ("Laugh, Laugh" by The Beau Brummels) up through 1968 ("Journey To The Center Of The Mind" by The Amboy Dukes [Ted Nugent's first band]).
So, what happened to "The Schedule"? Well, if I had finished by 7 PM (or 6:55, to be exact), it was a 2-hour drive down to Portland, where Eastern Mountain Sports closed at 9. I could use Wendy's $10 gift coupon to buy Power Bars. But I finished at 7:15, so I just drove home.
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