Old Speck and The Mahoosucs

Well, it's been a full year since Lisa and I first moved to Maine! For Lisa, Maine is now her glorious vacation spot, her "Oh, I'll be spending the weekend at my glorious second home in Maine. Ta-ta, Baltimore!" So I've been holding down the northern stronghold for our adventures and spent much of the summer seeking out more and more areas for the taking, adventurously speaking in a bravado tone. This and the upcoming entries for Maine are really a re-cap of the summer and fall. And so we begin!

Last spring, while my good friend and adventuring chum in cahoots (Chris Cannon - http://bikingspain.blogspot.com/) was visiting, we decided to trek up from Portland to Grafton Notch State Park, about a 2 hour drive. The area, also known as the Mahoosuc Range, is a northern extension of the White Mountains straddling the Maine/New Hampshire border that marks the end of the Whites and the beginning of the Longfellow Mountains (see The Bigelow Range) that stretch up and across Maine's interior to Baxter and Katahdin. The Appalachian Trail enters Maine through the Mahoosucs via the Whites of New Hampshire, crossing several notable mountains in the Grafton Notch locale. And this is why Chris and I had come, to climb Old Speck (Ol' Speck) - Maine's fourth highest peak at 4180 feet, and a member of New England's "Hundred Highest" and "4000 Footer" lists respectively. The Mahoosucs are rugged and worn, steep and windswept. As part of the Appalachians, they are old mountains and evoke a grumbling old man in their persona.



Mountain stream along the AT, climbing Old Speck.



Looking northeasterly at Bald Pate Mountain, from Old Speck.

The climb of Old Speck begins at Grafton Notch, climbing the AT through thick forests, steep cliffs, and mountain streams. The day was sunny and warm at the lower elevations when Chris and I began climbing Old Speck in May, but this changes rapidly as you ascend. The temperature drops quickly and the wind was sustained around 40 mph with 50+ mph gusts that day (there were even higher winds along the coast that day when two young kayakers went missing in Casco Bay, sadly, to be found several days later). This is very characteristic of the Mahoosucs , as of the Whites and the Longfellows, and should be expected at about any time of the year. Extra clothes are a must! Plan well! The entire top quarter of our climb was in snow up to our mid-thighs where it wasn't packed down. There can be snow up top from October-June. And so, as we post-holed our way along the ridges the views widened and sprawled out before us. The final push to the summit, along with climbing the old fire tower up top, is filled with incredible views of the Mahoosucs reaching southwest into the Presidential Range of the Whites and northeastern views of the Longfellows reaching out across Maine.



Old Speck fire tower.



Chris Cannon looking east.



The Mahoosucs!

Grafton Notch State Park is also home to several impressive waterfalls (Screw-Auger Falls), Moose Cave, Table Rock, and old logging roads that wind their way through gullies and rocky ravines. On the eastern side of the Notch, the AT continues up Bald Pate Mountain (3790') - a grizzled old rock, hence the name.There is no camping in the park though you can reach camping via the AT and then really enter the Mahoosucs. Mountains like Goose Eye lie west beyond Old Speck, and there is a 40 mile loop that begins outside the park boundaries that is on my list to be had. Stay posted for winter hikes in this region, as we'll be snowshoeing our way through the blog soon enough!



Looking west/southwest into the Presidentials/White Mountains across the Mahoosucs.



Descending Old Speck.



Screw-Auger Falls, Grafton Notch State Park.



View from Table Rock.