My 4th (Camel's Hump) Vermont 4,000 footer!

These are the five 4,000 footers in Vermont. Today's peak (Friday, August 19, 2016) is Camel's Hump:

No more day-trips - I will be spending the night at a friend's house in nearby Warren, and hike Mt. Mansfield tomorrow.

Left home at 8:30, got to the trailhead just before 1, on a beautiful sunny day:


Although you can go straight up-and-down Monroe Trail (3.4 miles each way), I am a bit of a "trail snob": I like going up-and-down different trails. It is not that the "trail experience" is different (It is WAY DIFFERENT going up from going down the same trail) - it just looks cooler on a map! So I will go up Monroe Trail (for 1.3 miles), then take a left up Dean Trail (1.2 miles, listed as "Easy-Moderate"), then take a right on The Long Trail (for 1.7 miles) up to the summit of Camel's Hump (4,083 feet). After the summit, continue down the north side (0.3 miles) to Monroe Trail, which I will take all the way back down to the parking lot (3.2 miles):


On the Dean Trail (almost all in the woods), I crossed over a beautiful brook, over a bridge constructed in 1991 by the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps:

and then went through a lovely meadow:

with a view of Camel's Hump in the far right.

When you hit The Long Trail, you turn right (north), and the trail becomes DIFFICULT:

but the view back behind me is wonderful - looking south at Mt. Ethan Allen (3,688 feet):

That's why they are called The Green Mountains of Vermont!

Continuing up The Long Trail:

You eventually get to the summit:



A nice view looking southwest:

Looking northwest:

and looking north:


It took me about an hour-and-a-half to get back down to the parking lot via Monroe Trail. It was very nice to make such good time, and see some cute streams on this "Moderately Difficult" trail:


At the bottom of the trail is a memorial to the Men (8 dead, 1 survivor) in the B-24J Liberator Bomber who crashed into Camel's Hump on October 16, 1944:


About a half-mile down the road from the trailhead, a side road (Vilcins Road) goes over Ridley Brook:

which is a BEAUTIFUL spot for a refreshing afternoon swim!!!

An hour to get down to Peter in Warren, and blackened tuna for dinner!! Thank you God for an Excellent Day - 7.89 miles in 3 hours 49 minutes (= 29 minutes-per-mile!)

Friday, August 19, 2016 (left home at 8:40 AM, got to Warren VT at 6 PM)
210 miles -- up 93 into New Hampshire, then west on 89 (1 PM at the trailhead)
7.89 miles -- hiking (3 hours 49 minutes)
28 miles - 1 hour to get to Warren, VT

Music today: LIVE MUSIC

Traffic - The Last Great Traffic Jam, 1994 tour, released 2005


Big Head Todd and The Monsters - live monsters, 1998

This is a WONDERFUL live album by the band, and I especially love their live version of "Boom Boom" (which is now the theme song for NCIS: New Orleans). [sidenote: it is played at Carolina Panthers home games when a touchdown is scored]

Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood - Live From Madison Square Garden (2 cds), February 2008 performances, released 2009

An excellent collection of 21 songs ranging from Winwood's Traffic days ("Glad", "Pearly Queen", "Dear Mr. Fantasy"), Windwood/Clapton's Blind Faith days ("Had to Cry Today", "Can't Find My Way Home", "Well All Right", "Presence of the Lord"), some from solo Clapton ("Forever Man", "After Midnight"), plus KILLER Versions of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" and "Voodoo Chile".

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Art Museums and National Parks (on July 23, 2016 I finished a 6-day trip to Indiana/Kentucky/DC/Connecticut)
hyperlink: dixonheadingwest
http://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/

Crossover Blog in Maine - Day 2

Thursday, August 4, 2016
This is a crossover blog, harkening back to the time-tested comic book tradition of having comic hero B appear in comic hero A's issue, then A appears in B. One of the best examples is Spiderman/X-Force from 1990:


(Yes, the issues were printed sideways/landscape-orientation, and meant to be read sideways [don't be stupid and turn your head sideways]). The plots might be silly, but the art was EXCELLENT: Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man and Rob Liefeld’s X-Force!!

What makes this a crossover is dixonheadingwest concerns itself with Art Museums and National Parks, while dixonheadingnorth documents my hiking endeavors - 4000-footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine. So yesterday was the Colby College Museum of Art (Waterville, Maine), and a Counting Crows concert in Bangor, while today covers hiking the Knife Edge Trail and Baxter Peak up on Mount Katahdin in Maine.


10.12 miles in 7 hours 12 minutes = 43 minutes per mile. That is the slowest rate ever, which means this was the hardest, most difficult climb!

Because I wanted to start the day with something "sticking to my ribs", I had googled "Best Breakfast in Millinocket" - up came The Appalachian Trail Café:

I had called them yesterday, and they open at 5 AM! So I got there at 7, had a western omelette (which they call a "Katahdin") with toast & home fries & water & coffee - I was ready to hit the trail at 7:30!!

My first view of Katahdin (Baxter Peak), with Knife Edge trailing down to the right:


Unfortunately it took and hour-and-20-minutes on dirt roads to get to the Roaring Brook Trailhead/Parking Lot. Another nice view on the way:


Roaring Brook, at the beginning of the hike:

This (first 0.1 mile of the hike) is the only up-close-and-personal water on the whole hike.

After the first 0.1 miles, you take a left onto Helon Taylor Trail (3.6 miles), which is boulder-strewn, with a lot of roots:

It is slow going; my splits for the first 3 miles were 28 minutes/35 minutes/53 minutes:


By 10:40 I had broken above the tree-line:

but it was raining and pretty windy, and if those conditions persisted on the top of the first peak (Pamola Peak), I would turn back:


Blessedly, when I got to Pamola Peak (11:33), the sun had come out and the wind had calmed down:

and the view was GREAT!!!
looking forward (south/southwest):

looking backward (east - Katahdin Lake in the distance):


looking down into the Great Basin from the beginning of Knife Edge Trail:

Up on Knife Edge Trail, with Baxter Peak in the far-background:

Looking forward/west on Knife Edge, with people coming toward me:

Looking backward/east on Knife Edge, with people going away from me:

The view down into the Great Basin, with Chimney Pond


12:48 at Baxter Peak!!

Looking west/southwest at the Appalachian Trail, as it comes up along the ridgeline and ends at Baxter Peak:


A cool rock formation on the trail back down:

Pretty cool LOOKING DOWN on a rainbow:

And one last GREAT VIEW before heading back below the tree-line:


Um, the hazards of driving on dirt roads include getting a muddy car:


5-and-1/2-hours home (um, plus I took a little nap in a parking lot in Millinocket):


WOW - What an ADVENTURE! Thank you God for a GREAT DAY!

Temperatures today:
64º when I left the Day's Inn in Bangor
59º 20 miles up the road on 95 North
71º after breakfast
69º at 8:50 at the trailhead/parking lot - then very nice "t-shirt" climbing temps up on the mountain.

Music today - early morning, windows rolled up:
Bill Evans - Alone, 1968

jazz piano, solo music - Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album

Bob Dylan & The Band - Planet Waves, 1974

great lyric from "Dirge":
I've paid the price of solitude but at least I'm out of debt.

Afternoon Music:
Sting - Brand New Day, 1999


The Lumineers - Cleopatra, 2016


Canned Heat - 4 songs: "Rollin' and Tumblin'", "Going Up The Country", "On The Road Again", and "Fired Hockey Boogie"


Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes - I Don't Want to Go Home, 1976


Stephen Stills - Just Roll Tape, 1968 (album released 2007)


I ended the drive listening to Bruce Springsteen - "The Rising":


Can't see nothin' in front of me
Can't see nothin' coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I've gone
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Art Museums and National Parks (on Wednesday, August 3, 2016 I visited Colby College Museum of Art, and saw a Counting Crows concert in Bangor)
hyperlink: dixonheadingwest
http://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/