START LOCATION: Speck Pond Shelter
FINISH LOCATION: Surplus Pond Campsite
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 16.8
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,924.5
MILES TO GO: 254.6
We were all out of Speck Pond Shelter by 7:15AM. Another gorgeous night and a beautiful morning. Our day starred with an immediate 700' climb to Old Speck Mountain. This got the blood pumping fast. My legs felt great though. Of the Nobo thru hikers, I was last out of camp but caught and passed everyone by the summit of Old Speck. The last few hundred feet of the climb were breathtaking. You climbed a steep sheer rock face while a cloud was passing and the wind was screaming. It was only the second time I've had to take my hat off for fear of it blowing away. I cruised down Speck and pulled into the Grafton Notch State Park parking area in great time. All of my colleagues arrived shortly afterwards... NLC, Casper, Able, Marty McFly and an older fella named Dodger. We enjoyed a quick break and started our ascent up the Baldpates.
The ascent was over 2,000' but it had a great halfway point shelter 2 miles in. Here we stopped and had lunch and upped the water for the ascent up the rest of the Baldpates. The second half of the climb was much steeper. But like Speck, it had some sweet alpine exposure. By now it was much warmer and the clouds were higher but that wind still howled. The Baldpates are a pair of twin peaks at around 4,000' elevation with a saddle of about 500' deep separating them. The views from West Baldpate peak of East were fantastic. You could see other hikers like ants in the saddle and on the ascent of East Baldpate. Climbing out of the saddle and up East Baldpate was even cooler... It was a pure rock face climb... No trees, no dirt, just a big rock climb. As we summitted East Baldpate, we were treated to a beautiful vista... Miles and miles of far reaching views of Maine's western mountains. I could see Old Blue, the Bemis range and West Kennebago. I could see some lakes, and I was sure I saw Umbagog, but was unsure of the rest from that vantage point. A map would have been nice. I'm sure there was more out there that I'd recognize.
We rolled down to Frye Notch Lean-to and had a quick water break. There I met a Holland native southbounding. He was a trip to talk to... Very eager and hoping to do a 17 miler including Mahoosuc Notch... We just smiled and wished him the best, but probably not going to pull it off.
By this point I'd decided not to venture into Andover, ME. I planned to spend the night there, but really for no reason but to get some non-hiker food and a nice bed. But I have enough food to get me to Rangeley, a fresh set if hiking clothes and I'd rather spend a bit more time there anyway. So, I said goodbye to Able and Michael J. Fox and told them I'd see them in Rangeley. They were going to Andover for the night.
I pushed 2 miles past the road to Andover and I'm camping by a small pond with Casper, NLC and a sectioner. It's by a sparsely traveled road, so it's less than ideal. But it's setting us up for a less difficult 17 to Bemis Mtn Lean-to. I'm anxious to see the Mooselookmeguntic Lake views from up there. It should be spectacular as the weather looks clear for the next 4 days. Can't wait.
-natedog
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