Home
States
Colorado
Connecticut
Maine
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York
Rhode Island
Utah
Vermont
View All
Lists
NE 4,000 Footers
NE 100 Highest
NH 4,000 Footers
NH 100 Highest
NH 52 With A View
NH Belknap Range
NH Ossipee 10
Links
Trail Conditions
Trip Log
Sunrises
Sunsets
About
|
Old Speck Mountain
Grafton, ME
Trailheads, measurements, times, distances, and maps are all approximate and relative to the hike(s) as shown below.
Looking down the Old Speck Trail
Route: Old Speck Trail
Wanting to hike out of state again, I decided to head up to Grafton Notch. With temperatures hovering in the lower single digits, it was a somewhat cold start.
I quickly found out that I was going to be breaking trail. While there was only an inch or two of new snow, the foot trough had drifted in and, up high, there were regular drifts, 1-3 feet in depth.
Walking alongside the brook near the beginning of the hike was pretty neat - in a time of massive runoff (after the rain), the temperature had dropped, resulting in a frozen icebed - pretty striking. Above the upper Eyebrow junction, I lost the trail. No foot trough visible and a lack of (inconvenient) white blazes. After some searching, I was able to find the next blaze (somewhat obscured by a leaning tree in front of it) and continue on.
My pace was much slower than planned - due to the trailbreaking, I was running a bit hot. However, the weather increasingly bitter as I climbed - cold temperatures and rough winds. Thus, I had to dial down my pace and try not to work up a sweat. This wasn't too hard to do, however, as I wasn't overly inspired by the occasional view of the summit hidden in the clouds.
While I remembered lots of false hope during my previous Old Speck hike, I still found myself constantly getting let down, as I kept thinking I was nearing the final climb to the upper trail junction. When I finally reached that junction, I figured it would be smooth sailing on the nearly-level walk to the summit. Not the case! The trail was filled in with blowdowns, resulting in some bushwhacking. Reaching the summit, I was happy to see that the ground-level viewpoint was in the clear, resulting in excellent views to the east. With the freezing fog and moderate winds, I opted not to climb the tower.
Other than the blowdown-laced top section of trail, the descent went fairly smoothly and quickly. Arriving at the parking lot in the early afternoon, I had enough time to perhaps do another hike.
| Hike Ratings |
|
Getting To Trailhead: |
Easy |
| Destination: |
Old Speck Mountain |
|
Length: |
Moderate |
|
Steepness: |
Difficult |
|
Navigation: |
Difficult |
|
Views: |
Excellent |
|
Crowds: |
Minimal |
|
| Hike Stats |
|
Date Hiked: |
Sunday, January 31, 2010 |
| Hike Commenced: |
8:17 AM |
| Parking Elevation: |
1,496' |
| Destination: |
Old Speck Mountain |
| Ascent Commenced: |
8:18 AM |
| Summit Reached: |
11:20 AM |
| Time Elapsed: |
03:02 |
| Trailhead Elevation: |
1,496' |
| Summit Elevation: |
4,180' |
| Distance: |
3.8 miles |
| Vertical Gain: |
2,989' |
|
|
| Hike Ended: |
1:35 PM |
| Hike Time Elapsed: |
05:18 |
| Hike Distance: |
7.6 miles |
| Hike Vertical Gain: |
3,304' |
|
The Old Speck Trail trailhead
Looking up the Old Speck Trail
Looking at the Baldpates (left) and Mt. Blue (center) from Old Speck
Directions to trailhead: Take US 2 East to Route 26 North into Grafton Notch. The hiker parking area is just below The Eyebrow. The Appalachian Trail departs southbound, diagonally left from the kiosk at the parking area.
Back to Old Speck Mountain Profile
|
