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2023-04-14
Old Speck, Maine
Posted by pdittman on June 23rd, 2016 in Hiking/Trekking

It was our one-year wedding anniversary, so it was only appropriate that we plan to hike on that weekend. And the planning started early – booking the accommodations in the late fall – one never really knows when things might sell out.

hiking

We’ve nearly finished the 4000’s in Vermont, so the focus was now on Maine. Even with its close proximity to Massachusetts, it’s still a bit of a drive to get to any of the peaks. We chose Old Speck Mtn – near Sunday River ski resort. Many of the other peaks are near Sugarloaf – or even further northward, so this was do-able in a weekend.

We found a cute little B&B in Bethel – the Holidae House, right on Main St. The innkeepers had purchased the place roughly a year earlier, but were amazingly friendly and accommodating (we’d definitely recommend it), and it turned out to be a great home base for our hike.

route
GPX on Old Speck and Mahoosuc trails

We were again blessed with good weather – the week had been cool, but no rain in the forecast, so off to the trailhead parking and on the trail shortly before 9am. We planned to follow the standard route, described on 4000footers.com, ascend the Old Speck trail, hop onto the Mahoosuc trail (part of the AT), summit and return the same way. Roughly 7.6 miles round trip, with a book time of about 6hrs 40 mins.

AT emblem

Almost immediately, the trail began to ascend, with a persistent and near-constant elevation gain and almost no leveling out. The footing was fairly good, with a few spots where we had to be careful or do a bit of scrambling. With the mostly dry spring we’ve had, the trail was mostly dry, so slippery/wet wasn’t really an issue until we were nearer the summit. The air was beginning to get thick with moisture, and as we began to get glimpses through the tree cover, we could see patches of fog beginning to creep into the valley/surrounding mountainsides.

Our pace was fast, with Jeanne in the lead most of the way, as if it was just another day on the elliptical! We hardly passed anyone on the trail while ascending, though when we did reach the summit, there were a few other small groups there. At the summit, Jeanne climbed the ladder up to the fire tower platform. I stayed at the base, sharing a few stories with the other hikers.

We did see a few AT thru hikers, one duo were “sobos”, and had departed Katahdin roughly 3 weeks earlier. We thought they looked amazingly fresh for already 3 weeks on the trail. On our ascent, we’d chatted with another duo who were “nobos” – he had started from PA and met up with his hiking partner in Gorham, NH four days earlier. She was amazingly joyful, with a big smile and full of energy (even after 4 days on the trail!). Having read a few books/accounts from AT thru hikers, gave us a deeper appreciation for this sort of undertaking, so it was nice to share some time with them.

View from the fire tower on Old Speck summit.
View from the fire tower on Old Speck summit.

As I said, the air was getting damp, and after the exertion on the ascent, our clothes were slightly wet, so getting chilled, we didn’t linger too long. A few photos, some more chatting with the others at the summit, a dip into the cold cuts we picked up at the grocery in the valley, some deep cleansing breaths of thanks for the amazing outdoors, and we started down, retracing our path back to the parking area.

On our descent, we passed a number of hikers making their ascent, some in what seemed to be in-appropriate attire/gear (Teva sandals?) .  With the weather beginning to turn cooler and a bit sour, hopefully they were able to make it up and down without incident. Certainly one of the lasting take-aways from our recent Wilderness First-Aid training was a more healthy and respectful appreciation for how quickly a pleasant day hike can turn disastrous.

But without incident for us, we were back in the parking lot shortly before 2pm, just under a 5 hour round trip – well ahead of the book time.   Unpacked, and gear tossed into the car, we headed back (through some drizzle) to our B&B for a quiet, and lazy remainder of our first anniversary afternoon!

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