25 Miles of Wintery Mix in the Wilderness

The 2015 Adventures started with our annual trip to Greenville, Maine and the entrance to the 100 Mile Wilderness. We've been continually increasing the group from our initial four snowshoers three years ago, to six of us last year, and stretching to eleven this year--Jim and Lisa Nowak, John and Suzanne Cimochowski, Leslie and Eva Sweetnam, Charlie and Kelly Bottieri, Carolyn Hart and ourselves.

As in past years we headed out from Woodstock in the late afternoon on Friday. The first stop was at an Applebee's in Tewksbury for a group dinner...

then on to the Morris estate in Standish, Me. 

James and Stephanie graciously welcomed us all to camp out in various rooms of the house...giving us a great jumping off point for the last three hour drive on Saturday.

James provided not only stories, but a nice selection of single malts...along with descriptions and differences.


We left their house close to 6 am so we could be at Aunt M's diner in Greenville for breakfast and then at the Winter Parking Lot for a 10 am start to the snowshoeing.




Eight of us started out in -6 degree weather on snowshoes, and three (Eva, Kelly, and Suzanne) rode in with our luggage on a sled behind a snowmobile. Other than being cold and windy it was a beautifully clear day.

We travelled along the Katahdin Ironworks (KI) Road from the Winter Parking Lot on the map below for a little over a mile and then turned onto the Trout Pond Trail...

The original plan was to travel in completely on the Gorman Lodge Trail, but I didn't recognize that the snowmobile trail we crossed along the way was part of the trail...so we ended up missing that turn.

But in the end it worked out in that we found one of the campsite outhouses along the trail...and took advantage of our find...

From there we headed out on the alternate route...crossing Long Pond on a trail marked by small trees stuck into the ice and snow...

Fortunately the wind was behind us as we crossed the pond--pushing us...a little...instead of being straight into our faces. With the low temperatures and lower wind chill (estimated at one point to be -20 F or about -30 C) this was certainly a blessing.

With a short stop to eat our trail lunches along the way, it took us about 4 hours to make the trek into the Gorman Chairback Lodge.

The advance crew of three ladies were not idle as we were making our way along the trail. On arrival we found our bags in our cabins...wood stoves all lit and warm...and the Cimochowski's cabin set up for cocktail hour...we should have an advance group more often!

The lodge had a full turkey dinner for us that evening and some of us followed the meal with a trip to the wood fired sauna to ease out the muscle soreness from the day. Then a little bit of reading in our cabins before lights out and snuggling down into a well deserved sleep.

Sunday morning we loaded up with a hearty breakfast before splitting into two parties for the day's adventures.

Carolyn, Eva, Kelly and Suzanne decided to keep their travels closer to the Lodge and planned on snowshoeing around Long Pond and the nearby areas...although Kelly did venture out much further and snowshoed over some of the same trails the main party used on Saturday.

The rest of us started out on the Long Pond Trail for a little over 1.2 miles and then started up the ungroomed Third Mtn. Trail (the dotted red line on the map above).

The pictures don't do justice to the steepness and iciness we encountered at some points along the trail...but we pressed on making our way further up to the ridge.

After 1.5 miles we connected with the Appalachian Trail and turned north towards the Third Mtn. peak.

At one outcropping we met up with a couple that had been ahead of us and stopped for them to take a group photo.

Then it was another push to reach the Monument Cliff of Third Mountain and limited, but spectacular views (limited because of blowing snow below us and a wintery mix of weather around us).

From Monument Cliff we continued north and began our descent towards the Lodge. Climbing up over icy patches earlier in the day was tough, but climbing down over them after already hiking for 3.5 miles made them a new challenge.

Some attacked the downhill areas by turning around and stepping backwards (using the crampon portion of the snowshoe to dig into the ice)...and some of us faced down the hill and pushed onto the balls of our feet to engage the crampons. It was an effective and stable way to go down unless you sat back a little and then your feet would slide out from underneath.

Either way...we did it and about half way down the trail stopped for our lunch.

Then it was back to the Lodge for some quick naps, cocktails, dinner, sauna and another deep sleep (it's becoming a routine...but a very enjoyable one).

During the night the wintery mix of weather turned into rain and then the temperature dropped again. With the freezing rain and "dodgy" trail conditions the Lodge staff offered additional sled trips out to the Winter Parking Lot.

So we split up again with the Nowaks, Cimochowskis and Carolyn riding behind the snowmobile, and another group of us braving the trails to head out...of course we had to first call upon John to clean up any spare bottles...and pay the bar tab.

Instead of crossing the pond following the recommendation of the staff, we took the Gorman Lodge Trail out. While on the groomed trail in the woods the snowshoeing was not too bad, but once we got into the open areas we were breaking through the crusty cover and sinking down about 8-10 inches and breaking trail for more than half of the hike out.

We stopped at the new Phoenix Shelter by the Trout Pond for a mid morning snack. This is a nice shelter and would be an enjoyable place for a future stay and some fly fishing (as long as it wasn't black fly season).

As we approached the last hill on the Katahdin Ironworks Road the snowmobile and our companions went by. We were just far enough behind that the cars were all warmed up and packed by the time we reached the lot.

It was a fairly quiet ride home...sharing the driving and taking naps. By 7:30 that night we were all safely home...smug in our accomplishments of the weekend. 

A great first Adventure of 2015!

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Men, Moose, and Mountains

The Men's outing this year was a little later in June, but we continued to head to one of our favorite get-away locations...Little Lyford Pond Camp in the 100 Mile Wilderness of Maine. The coordination of departure times was only enhanced by having several of our wives meeting at our house and leaving at the same time as the men, for an outing of their own...at least that was the plan.

Cheri, Suzanne Cimochowski, and Lisa Nowak met at our house right on time and loaded up the car for a trip to The Cottage in NH...

You can't see her, but Lisa is in the back seat. When I asked Suzanne why John didn't ride with her, she said he had too many last things to do (pack...cool the beer) plus Jim had offered in an E-mail earlier to pick him up.

Lisa also said Jim had some last minute things to do (something to do with the goats and / or packing), but he was on his way. Charlie showed up at the appointed time so we were only waiting for the other two when the wives headed out. Then it turn out that Jim never read John's positive response to the offer of picking him up, so Jim was almost to my house when John called and asked where was he...and was he running late. Needless to say (but I will anyway) we didn't leave until about 45 minutes after the original plan.

Our first stop was in Northborough, MA to pick up my friend from work, George Brenckle. George has done quite a bit of hiking in the past with his sons and Boy Scouts and is planning to do the Appalachian Trail next year with one of his sons, so he certainly exceeded any of us in ability.

The next stop was a rest room break at the NH Liquor Store...and since we were already stopped...

Then it was on to the Moosehead Lake region of Maine.

Dan Manz had driven over from Uderhill, VT and arrived ahead of us. He and I were in the Trapper Cabin (ideally located near the rest room / shower and community fire pit), Charlie and George were next to us in the White Wolf cabin, and Jim and John were banished to the Trails End cabin at the far end of the camp...coincidence...?

We settled into our cabins, had a small libation to counter the dust of the road, and then it was off to another great supper put on by the AMC staff at Little Lyford. After all you could eat grilled salmon, quinoa salad, locally grown snap peas (as in the garden right behind the lodge), brownies and ice cream (this is 'roughing it' our style) it was back to the cabins for some story-telling...and maybe another libation.





Saturday morning we were up early (being so far north the sun seems to come up about 4 am...plus this was the summer solstice) so we were all enjoying coffee on the porch of the lodge well before breakfast.

Charlie and George are to the right with Dan on the left, next to Dan is a fellow camper named Jim...who just happened to join us for coffee.

Similar to previous years following breakfast the group split up with three (Charlie, Jim, George) heading out to hike the Gulf Hagas and three (Dan, John, myself) heading out to do some fly fishing. Charlie posted the following picture from their hike and you can look back through the archives in June of the last few years to see some other photos of the gulf.

I have typically done the hiking but a combination of a little strain on the MCL of my right knee and a growing interest in fly fishing had me heading out to some remote ponds. AMC offered a program that took us in a van (along with four other fisherman) plus two Maine Guides out to some more remote ponds in the area to fish for wild brook trout.

We dropped off three other fishermen with their guide, Rance at Mountain Brook Pond while Dan, John and I along with another fisherman, Rich and Casey our guide drove to the trail to Horseshoe Pond. We carried paddles and flotation devices into the pond. Once there Casey pointed out the typically good fishing sites and we got into three canoes and headed out.

After about two hours at one pond we met up with the other group, enjoyed our pack lunches together and then switched ponds. Between the two ponds Dan and I caught and released about twenty fish and Dan kept one to have with breakfast the next day. Rich and John in the other canoe seemed to have similar luck.

Then it was back to LLPC to meet up with our hiking buddies and enjoy a great turkey dinner (did I mention again how well they feed us at LLPC?). After dinner some of us attended a very good presentation made by Casey about the Maine Wilderness Initiative and the preservation of these tracts of land for outdoor use. Then it was back to the cabin for some fish stories (I really did have a big one that broke the line as I was trying to get him into the canoe) and maybe a libation.

It was a beautiful evening and there was general interest in using the fire pit near our cabin. So we had a fire and more stories with our fellow campers and staff for a while into the evening.

Early Sunday morning, Dan and I headed out to the Pleasant River to see what was biting before breakfast. This time I was fortunate enough to land one worth keeping. We brought him back to the lodge (Dan cleaned him stream side) and the cook prepared him to go with the vegetable frittata, cherry scones and sausage already planned for breakfast (she did the same for Dan's catch from the previous day which had been kept on ice overnight).

After breakfast the hikers headed out to climb Indian Mountain nearby (about a 2,500 foot climb with good views back over the ponds) while Dan, John and I took out a canoe and kayak on First Roach Pond. Dan and I had several good strikes but didn't land anything while John caught the fish of the weekend (a little over 11 inches). He put it on ice to bring back home.

Before heading back home and to our spouses, we managed to get a group shot...

Speaking of our spouses...

On their way up to The Cottage Cheri, Suzanne and Lisa stopped at the La Belle Vineyard in Bedford, NH. While we were roughing it in the 100 Mile Wilderness they were sampling wines with nibbles.

Liz Manz met them at The Cottage for the day on Saturday. They spent the time with a little swimming (Cheri and Liz only), some kayaking (Lisa, Liz and Cheri), and some general relaxing...resting

It's hard to make out my feet in front of the fire...but you get the idea...another great adventure.

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