Mount Katahdin

Well I finally made it. After years of trying and planning and getting rained out I finally got to the top of Maine. I was supposed to meet up with Ryan, Steven and Dan to hike this one together but due to a some poor communication, lack of phone reception and bad luck I wound up hiking it mostly solo.

I woke up late because my alarm/phone died in the cold night air and hurried there, assuming they had already started since I told them if I was late for some reason not to wait and I'd try to catch up if I could. They however were told by rangers that the trail I went to was full and they needed to go elsewhere. Mike dropped me off since he wasn't hiking because of a bad heel and I went on my way. They ended up climbing up from the camp ground we were all staying at that night. We even passed them on the way to the trail but neither of us knew what car the other had so we just drove by each other. I crossed paths with them in the middle of the Knife Edge going in opposite directions so we continued on our ways and met up at a pond to finish the hike back to Mike's car together. We all went back to our sites and the five of us had a great all you can eat Meat House dinner.

It was a beautiful day out to hike alone and take pictures. Alone isn't even really correct since this mountain that is heavily "restricted" to a limited number of climbers was probably the busiest I have ever been on. Mount Katahdin has at least seven peaks, the highest of which is Baxter Peak at 5267 feet. I also went over Pamola, Chimney and South peaks. Those four are the most spectacular so I had to get them in on this perfect day. Hamlin and Howe are kind of flat and dull so they will have to wait for another day. I met plenty of friendly hikers along the trails, most from Canada, who were chatty enough enough to keep me company from time to time. Everyone had great hikes one way or another. To see our different routes click the map below and to see my pictures click here. For a panoramic summit view click the video at the bottom.

Happy Birthday Charlene!

Brooke's been battling a little cough for the last week or so and we haven't been out much. She finally had her three month check-up Friday (at 4 months old) and she looked great. 14 pounds 1 ounce and 27 3/4 inches tall! That's in the 95th percentile for height, she must have got that from Jen. Her hair is coming back a little also but we're not sure if it's light brown or blond. Guess we'll have to wait and see. Wednesday was Charlene's birthday and we had the party at our place. Chinese food, cake, ice cream and poker. Sounds like a good night to me. Brooke enjoyed the balloons and cake a lot as you'll see if you click here.


Also either next Sunday and or the one after that we'll be going on some foliage hikes. Depending on who wants to go and how good the weather is we can do anything from flat scenic walks with ponds and waterfalls to 4000 footers. I've got lots of ideas (Mt. Potash, Mt. Osceola, the Franconia Ridge, Zealand Notch, Lonesome Lake and Franconia Falls are on the short list) so if you want to go see the foliage up north and join Brooke on a hike this is a good chance. If you're interested let me know and I'll fill you in on the details.

4 Months Old

What a crappy finish to a good weekend with Tom Brady probably gone for the year already. On the bright side that frees up more Sundays for me to go hiking so if anyone is interested give me a call. Brooke turns 4 month's old on Monday the 8th and she's growing up fast. Nana Noveska saw her this weekend for the first time since June. Stan and Sophia brought her over to visit while she was up for the weekend. Brooke is like a different person than she was then. She talks and smiles and laughs now. Growing up way to fast for me I can tell you that.

We also took Brooke up Staratham Hill today since the weather was nice. It's an easy .3 mile hike with about 150 feet of elevation gain to the 290 foot summit. From there it's up about another 50 feet of tower so you can see all around. The views were surprisingly good. You could see Portsmouth, the Isles of Shoals, some of Portsmouth Country Club even as far away as Mt. Washington 88 miles to the north, or so the thing said. It was very clear but without binoculars it was hard to tell exactly what bump on the horizon it might have been. I'll be heading back on another nice day with them to check it out more but to check out pictures from this weekend click here.

Labor Day weekend

We all hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. It's been a busy end to summer for everyone over this way. Brooke has been going around visiting lots of people. We all went out for Danny's 22nd birthday to the Hibachi grill. She's also been visiting with Jen's friends and went up to Jen's parent's old campground to visit everyone up there. There's a bunch of pictures all together here from the last week or two if you'd like to see them. On Labor Day Brooke attempted her first 4000 footer. She's been working her way up to it and we got a day with perfect weather so we set out to try and climb one of the easier big mountains. Together with Travis, Mannie and Bapcia we went up to climb Mount Eisenhower. At 4760 feet it's number 11 on the list but a fairly easy climb. The temps were in the 70's to the upper 60's up higher with sunshine and visibility of 120 miles. The only problem was that above treeline the winds were blowing 33 mph and gusting to 45 according to the Mount Washington Observatory. We had plenty of clothes and windproof gear for her but Brooke didn't like the flapping of the clothes and Bapcia said her hands were cold so they waited for us at treeline out of the wind. I offered up my windbreaker to Charlene like a good son in law so she could go to the top, since I had climbed it twice before, but she wanted to stay with Brooke out of the wind. The rest of us fought the winds for ten more minutes up the last 1/3 mile to the top. We all had a great hike on a perfect day so check all that out here if you want.

Just a few quick videos too. One of the wind and 120 mile panoramic views from Mount Eisenhower and the other of Brooke chatting with Miss Thang. Enjoy!