Saturday Oct 23, 2004

Old Speck Mountain

Today's hike was a peak on the NEHH list in Maine.

This is the route we took today up to the summit of Old Speck.
Directions to the trailhead: From Bethel, ME follow Routes 2 & 26 3 miles north to the split of Route 26. Turn left onto Route 26 and follow into Grafton Notch for 12.3 miles to a well marked parking area on the left.

Time to summit: 2:15

This is the profile of the hike to the summit via the Old Speck trail from our GPS.

We took the Eyebrow trail down.

This is the profile of the descent via the Eyebrow trail from our GPS.

The parking lot is on Rte 26 and well marked.

Today we are headed to Old Speck, following the Appalachian trail south.

One tenth of a mile from the start you reach the first split - we went left on the Old Speck trail. On our return trip we descended via the Eyebrow trail.

These beautiful cliffs are below the Eyebrow trail..

The Old Spec trail zig zags up, at times following this brook. Geri decides to get her poles out for the hike up.

A series of little water falls - a very pretty part of the hike. We didn't mind the cloudey skies.

Geri grabbed the camera to snap a rare shot of Bob.

More of the stream next to the trail.

Geri waiting for me to catch up.

1.1 miles into the hike (50 minutes with lots of photo stops) and we're at the junction where the Eyebrow trail rejoins Old Spec.

A short time later we see our first snow of the year! Just a dusting and its a pretty site.

The trail form here is laden with rocks and roots.

Geri enjoy the views from a lookout.

The higher we went the more snow we saw. It did make for some slippery spots, and we did see some ice.

Sure looks like Winter is about to arrive.

The Old Speck trail intersects with the Mahoosuc trail near the summit.

We reach the summit and the fire tower.

Made a friend. This jay had no problem eating out of your hand and then going after the whole bag of food.

After putting on jackets we climbed the tower. The ladder is almost verticle.

It was windy on the top.

What - you thought we were Yankee fans ????

Our friend stayed close by.

On our descent we found a view looking south.

A view of Grafton Notch.

A view of Baldplate.

We descended via the Eyebrow trail which is very steep in sections and crosses some steep rocks.

The trail is mostly dirt and roots with good footing.

The skies cleared throughout our hike. Here is another shot of the Eyebrow as we reach the car.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at Moose Cave.

The area has formations of large rocks.

A small river flows through the rocks.

Some educational signs along the way.

Next we stopped at Screw Auger Falls.

The water has carved some very smooth rocks.

There are several falls here as the water flows between the rocks.

Another fall - notice the rounded hole in the bottom right of the photo.

One last look before we head back to the campground.

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