Lessons Learned

While researching places to hike, we came across a challenging loop hike not too far from Dan’s sister’s place that would be perfect for more practice hiking. The Grafton Notch Loop Trail is a rugged 38 mile loop broken in half by state route 26 in Newry, ME. The eastern portion of the trail is 19.1 miles (although some references claim it is 21.1 miles). This half is also claimed to be the harder of the two halves, so of course this is what we tackled first.

Our original plan was to hike for 5 days and spend 4 nights at various designated tent sites along the trail. All camping must be done in the designated sites, so planning the hike is important. After our initial shakedown hike in New Hampshire, we decided to change our plans and make it 4 days with 3 nights on the trail. This made our first planned campsite at mile 10 and our second planned stop at mile 21.1. This decision to shorten the hike by a day turned out to be a bad one.

Dan’s sister, Becky, dropped us off at the Appalachian Trail parking lot at Grafton Notch State Park on Monday morning, June 28, the second day of the biggest heatwave the northeast has seen in years. The heat wasn’t a problem for most of the day; the terrain, on the other hand, was. The steep climb up Baldpate West Peak was quickly followed by a strenuous scramble up the granite approach to Baldpate East Peak. From here, the Grafton Notch Loop trail branches off the Appalachian Trail and heads towards Long Mountain and our first campsite another 6.1 miles away.

Our concern for reliable water sources given the ongoing draught in Maine forced us to carry 3 liters of water each instead of 2. We accurately assumed that the questionable water source near our first campsite would be dry and filled all our bottles before the final 600 feet of elevation over the last half mile of the day. Needless to say, adding 5 lbs to your pack after 9.5 miles of hiking in 95 degree heat does not improve your already pathetic pace.

We finally arrived at the campsite at 7:00 PM, 12 hours after being dropped off that morning. We managed to get the tent setup, dinner consumed and ourselves tucked in before the big thunderstorm came through. The tent held up fine and kept most of our stuff dry. Amy neglected to zip the vestibule on her side of the fly, so her shoes got wetter than Dan’s shoes did. The morning brought sunshine and fewer aches and pains than we had expected. Maybe we can do this. We only have to hike 11.3 miles to Bald Mountain campsite. Forget the fact that it took us 12 hours to go 10 miles the day before.

The first sign that we were not going to successfully complete this planned loop was the fact that we didn’t leave the campsite on day 2 until 8:00 AM. Unless we can get our pace above the blistering 1 mile per hour we achieved the day before, there was no way we were going to make camp before dark. The remaining climb up the peak of Long Mountain was difficult but nothing like the peaks we climbed the day before and we soon found ourselves descending the other side. This was when we got the second clue that we may need to quit at the halfway point. Amy’s knee began to bother her during the descent and when we stopped for a water break, she decided to take some ibuprofen only to find out we had just two tablets left. She rationed and only took one, but it seemed to do the trick as the knee soon felt better.

The ascent up Puzzle Mountain was steep and arduous and like the night before, we were compelled to fill our water bottles at the bottom in the last known reliable water source for the day. After many conversations about the pros and cons of trying to make it to the next campsite and completing the loop over the next 2 days, we decided to shy on the side of caution and try to contact Becky for an early pickup once we summited the mountain. We didn’t make the peak until 2:30 PM. It had taken us 6.5 hours to hike 6.1 miles. Yup, keeping up that blistering pace of under 1 mile per hour! That solidified the decision and we were lucky enough to have cell service on the peak and arranged a pickup for 6:30 PM.

The views on the peak of Puzzle Mountain were fantastic and we had plenty of them as we descended the eastern face of the mountain. The first mile or more of the descent was on bare granite and the clouds had mostly parted to allow the sun to shine on us in all its 95 degree, 80% humidity glory. If it weren’t for the occasional breeze that made it tolerable and the constant view of all the trails at Sunday River Ski Resort as a distraction, I’m not sure we would have made it.

Scrambling down the granite face of the mountain with roughly 30 pounds on your back and knees that have seen better days, is slow going and we were not improving our pace in the least. Checking our watches prompted us to give Becky an update and warn her that it would likely be closer to 7:00 PM before we made it to the parking lot. For reference, the lot is 2.2 miles shy of the planned campsite for that night. We estimate that had we not bailed, we would have arrived at the campsite between 9:00 and 9:30 at night. That would not have been good. We arrived at the parking lot a few minutes before 7:00 and were very glad to see Becky and the ice cold water and Gatorade she brought with her.

Even though we did not complete the hike as planned, we learned a lot on the trip. We both feel that if we had stuck to the original 5 day plan and hiked 7-8 miles a day instead of 10+, we probably could have succeeded, even in the midst of the record breaking heat. We still have yet to do a multi-night hike. We will look around the area for something that might give us that opportunity. Should we go back and retry the Grafton Notch Loop with our original 5 day plan? Amy says she doesn’t ever want to see the ascent up Baldpate’s eastern peak again unless its as a thru hiker, so I’m guessing we won’t be doing that. We’ll see.