Maine Hiking - Schoodic Mountain

A week after Blue Hill, we tackled another mountain.  This time we went east instead of south, to the Donnell Pond preserve.  It was a bit hard to find, and once I finally found the road in I wasn't aware of just how long you had to go on this narrow dirt road, when large dump trucks would come flying out from nowhere.  It was a bit nerveracking and I almost turned around, but just when I thought I should go back, a parking lot came into view!  There were 12 or 18 cars there, and an outhouse (yay!) and kiosk.  I put on my boots and after Sammy had done his thing, headed down the trail to the beach.

The beach was GORGEOUS.  It was a beautiful day, absolutely perfect.  There were a few families/groups on the beach, maybe 4 or 5, but it was quiet except for a couple kids playing.  I ate my PB&J and enjoyed the view while Sammy lay in the sand.  I was surprised it was so sandy.  I got out my camera to take some pics and found that the new rechargeable batteries my mother had bought were crap.  They'd been charging several days and let me take 3 pictures before they died.  Lesson learned: always pack extra batteries. 

We then walked up the beach and headed toward the trail that went up Schoodic Mtn.  It was easy enough at first, and beautiful.  It was by far my favorite place to hike in Maine (so far) but hey, I haven't been that many places.  It got a bit steeper and I just took it slow.  There seemed to be a lot of people coming down.  Several of them seemed to have nothing but flip flops on.  I was shocked. The older folks seemed to be huffing and puffing, the kids acting like they were taking a sunday stroll.

We climbed and climbed, eventually coming to a point where we were climbing over boulders.  We met the lady we had talked to the the parking lot, who didn't seem all that friendly then but did now.  She told me it was 10 or 15 more minutes.   10 or 15 minutes later we met another couple, who insisted it was only 10 or 15 more minutes.   Climbed for another while.  We then met a third group, a family that also had a dog, who also said it was 10 or 15 minutes.  Jeepers. 

Eventually we got there, it actually was I think, less difficult to get up than Blue Hill, the last part of it anyway, though it was much longer.  The first lady, the parking lot lady, when I told her I'd come up from the beach said "Oh yeah, that way's brutal."  Great.  I seem to have a knack for picking out the worst trails. 

The summit (this time I was sure it was the summit!) was worth it.  It was spectacular.  I am angry still that I had to take my pictures of it with my cell phone camera. 

The trail back to the parking lot was much easier I must say, though to be honest I prefer going up the hard way.  My fear of heights makes it difficult to stomach scampering down piles of rocks on the side of a mountain.

Length: Aprox 3 miles.  Elevation: About 1000 feet. 

Schoodic Mtn Hike - Aug 20 2010

Maine Hiking - Blue Hill

One August morning when I was feeling particuarly peppy and motivated, I decided to actually tackle some *real* hiking, and go climb Blue Hill, one of the "classic" Maine hikes, popular with tourists, as it right on the coast and overlooks the coastline and Acadia.  Beautiful place.  It was a bit warm but I didn't think it was that bad - upper 70s.

I found it with some difficulty, but eventually got it.  I drove right past the sign I was looking for (I didn't see it till we left), so I missed the left turn, went downtown and got all turned around in the tourist traffic, and went up another road the guide book said would work, turned at the road across from the fairgrounds like it said, and there it was.  There were many other people there, a lot of them tourists with out of state plates.  I guess that included me!

We started up the long slow incline part and I was already puffing by the time we got to the info kiosk.  I stopped to read all the info, and study the map (there was none to take with me so I had to rely on memory) and take some pictures.  We were already up far enough that there was a good view. 

 

From this point I had 2 options - a service road or the Hayes Trail.  I decided to take the Hayes trail (which I regret now!).  This involved climbing what I think they said was 400 stairs.  At the top, I had the option of taking the long way around or going straight up.  My original plan was to take the short route up and the long way down so I could enjoy the view on the descent.   But I was so tired after 400 stairs that I decided to switch it.  I followed what was called the South Face trail which was supposed to meet up with the other trail that came up the other side, the Osgood trail but after some time I thought I was going down the mountain and figured I'd made some sort of wrong turn and had gotten on the trail going back down instead of up.  But backtracking didn't show me another trail so I guess I was wrong.  Now I could either say forget it and go down the stairs or go up.  Of course I went up! After some water and a snack of course.  And some more pictures.

The trail to the summit was undergoing renovations. Apparently the new trail is much more difficult (this was said by some people going down that I crossed paths with).  At first it wasn't too bad, then it started getting very steep and rocky.  Still wasn't that bad.  One last part was on a narrow ledge which scared me.  But after we came around the bend on the ledge we were faced with what looked like a pile of rocks.

I was like, forget it!  No way!  and so Sammy and I had a rest before we went down.

Then a couple of minutes later, a 12 ish year old boy comes scampering along and practically hops up the wall of rocks like it was the stairway to his girlfriends bedroom.  Well!  If that kid could do it so easily surely I could manage it.  So I tackled it.  It wasn't quite so easy for me.  I'm old, fat and filled with the kind of fear that old fat people hiking alone on the mountain with only a 20 lb dog that won't bark and you know, isn't Lassie and isn't going to go running for help can feel.  I struggled mightily and had just about given up when a man and his about 8 year old daughter come into view going down.  Me, redfaced, sweaty and breathing heavily watch in awe and disbelief in the realization that this child climbed up here and seemed fine, not even out of breath.  Man I was pathetic.  I told them I was planning on turning back and they were like "oh no, its right here, another 20 feet or so, you can do it!"

I do not know if I ever actually made it to the top.  I made it to some sort of ledge/clearing place.  I didn't see a sign saying it was the summit, but I didn't see where the trail went after that, though there was supposed to be a tower and the service road there as well.  ???  I called it good enough and started back down.  I almost cried twice on the way back down that wall of rocks.  I was terrified that at best I'd sprain my ankle and at worst I'd fall down and crack my skull on these rocks. But I survived.  Halfway down an older man came up and told me there was an easier way down - but I'd have to go all the way back up first.  Great.  We opted for continuing the way we came. We saw him in the parking lot while I was stretching and the easier way was the service road.  Maybe next time.

This hike was definitely a step up for me on difficulty!  I was sore for days, but proud.  The next week I tackled another small mountain/big hill.

Length:  2 miles (1 up, 1 down) + whatever I did on the South Face trail.