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8.2 miles round trip, elevation gain 2,200 feet
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Shana stands by the trailhead, bright-eyed and bushy tailed. We began our
trek around 12:30, heading up the Bickford Brook Trail. |
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The trail was spotted with clusters of violets. I pointed out this bright
bunch to Shana, and as I shifted my pack to take a picture, she reached
out and plucked off one of the flowers, popping it in her mouth and smiling.
"Did you know they're edible?" |
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Our first wildlife sighting (not counting flies and mosquitos) was this
little snake. There are no poisonous snakes in Maine, so we felt pretty
comfortable getting up close and personal to take this portrait; the snake
didn't seem to mind either. |
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A pink ladyslipper, one of the few flowers we saw that we could identify. |
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"Look at that sky through the trees! We must be getting close to the
top now..." |
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(an hour later) "We're almost as high as those mountains... now we
REALLY must be getting close to the top..." |
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Painted trillium |
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(another 45 minutes later) Our trail became steeper and rockier... this
time, we definitely had to be getting close to the top. Right..? |
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Yes. We reached the summit around 4:00, after one last push over the rocky
trail. |
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Speckled Mountain got its name because of its patchy forest, some of which
is deciduous and some of which is coniferous. In the fall when the leaves
begin to change, the clusters of pine trees stand out and make the mountain
look speckled. |
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Once you're up there, you can't help but take a deep breath, close your
eyes, turn your face toward the warmth of the sun and smile to yourself. |
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Shana and I are backlit in this photo, but right over our heads you can
see Mt. Washington, the tallest peak in the eastern United States and the
only one to keep snow year-round. |
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We're not sure what these are, but they were pretty abundant right on the
rocky summit. |
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The Bickford Brook Trail forms a loop with the Blueberry Ridge Trail, with
the trails converging at the base and the summit. We took the charmingly
named Blueberry Ridge Trail back down, and had clearer views as we descended. |
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This is my favorite photo from the trip, and I knew it would be when I took
it. |
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Each of these little white blossoms will turn into a Maine blueberry in
July, and there were so many of them that we decided the trail was very
aptly named. |
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After trekking a little further, we decided that the "Ridge" part
of the name was also quite accurate. Most of what we were walking on was
slanted rock face, but as we came to this spot in the trail, it looked like
the trail just dropped off into nothing. That's pretty much what it did.
It was very steep and very rocky, and we decided it would have made a beautiful
waterfall, but as for a hiking trail, we weren't about to sing its praises.
I didn't take many more photos during our precarious descent because it
was hard enough to keep my footing just walking, plus my feet hurt and the
black flies were coming at me full force. About that time, I was ready to
be done. :-) |
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Another purple flower we couldn't identify |
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We had one gurgling little stream to cross, and it almost seemed plausible
to sit down and ride it the rest of the way down, like a waterslide. Almost. |
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| We got back to the car before 8:00, weary and bitten but very satisfied.
Next stop: Mt. Katahdin, June 2001. |
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