Selling Used Gear Quick and Easy

I am a big fan of Gear Trade. They make it easy to buy and sell hiking, climbing, and all other sorts of outdoors gear, you can really score some deals there. It’s fast and easy to get an account setup, and you can set the price and put photos of the gear you want to sell. As much as I love gear, my needs change over time, and unloading some lesser used gear makes more room and funds available to get the next hot ticket item on my wish list. Have a look at their site, you might find something you’ve had your eye on! You can even get setup right from your I-Phone!

 

Trip Report: New England Hundred Highest Peaks – Mt. Breadloaf and Mt. Wilson

It’s been almost 2 years since I visited this area last, which was during the winter, and I had turned back after Breadloaf. I wasn’t really chasing the New England 100 Highest back then, and certainty didn’t think I’d ever come this close to finishing. Well here I am with 98 peaks done and Just Wilson and East Sleeper remain. On my last visit to the area, I read alot about how nice the Skyline Lodge was, so I decided it was a good way to add some camping to the hike this time around. David and I set off early on Saturday, visited Harpoon for lunch, and made it to the trail-head for a 3pm start. With only 2.5 miles to the cabin, we weren’t in any rush at all. The trail was in great shape, its very well cared for and the switchbacks are very forgiving. We only ran into one other guy making his descent, he informed us 3 other guys we’re also up at the shelter. We arrived up at the lodge in quick order, and decided we would do the out and back to Wilson, going over Breadloaf, as a night hike, making Sunday a very easy hike out. Me made a strong push, only finding some slippery sections between BreadLoaf and Wilson. about 1 inch of new snow covered the ground, not enough to require any type of traction devices yet. When we returned to the shelter, the 3 guys had left, so we had the place all to our selves, well, us and a mouse anyways. We made some dinner and turned in, I read the log book for some time, those are always full of fun writeups. We hiked out in the morning and got a proper VT breakfast down the road where VT125 meets VT100, great cider there!

1 Peak left to go!

 

 

 

The nondescript summit carin of Mt. Wilson

GPS/GPX Link

Distance:	9.79 mi
Time:	18:39:27
Avg Pace:	–:– min/mi
Avg Speed:	0.5 mph
Elevation Gain:	2,807 ft

Moving Time:

4:38:57

Trip Report: New England Hundred Highest – East Kennebago

This was it, the last of the Maine 6 Pack. I’d hiked 30 miles of the last day and a half, but I wasn’t going to leave here without getting all 6. After our hike to Chain of Ponds Snow, we drove back to Stratton to refuel and gear up for our final hike of the weekend. Navigating the logging roads with some information Bob and Pam had, we were able to drive my Subaru almost to the landing, a common place to start this hike. Our intel said that from the landing one needs to hike on the logging road until a well defined county border cut crosses, and follow that left from the overgrown logging road. Several ATV paths come and cross, but we stayed on the logging road, as we knew the boundary cut would be a very pronounced right angle towards the summit. Soon we found ourselves at the cut, marked with just a wee small carin. This is not like the international boundary cut we hiked the day before, its very thin, marked with yellow blazes in some places, and eventually becomes more of a faint heard path. My legs were more than tired, but with rain in the forecast, we pushed hard and made it to the top quickly, even though it was very steep above 3k ft. Here we celebrated Bob’s New England 100 Highest finish, had a beer and some snacks, and singed the register. I really enjoy reading the entries in the canisters, this one went back for years! We got back to my car and just 15 minutes later the rain came. The 6 pack complete, we would all make the long drive home, useless and happy. I was always a bit intimidated by the Maine 6 pack, but with the right amount of research, a good team of hikers, anything is possible!

Now 98/100, the finish line in sight.

Distance:	5.07 mi
Time:	3:11:34
Avg Pace:	37:49 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	1,630 ft

GPS/GPX Link

Trip Report: New England Hundred Highest – Snow (Chain of Ponds)

Saturday was a big day, 3 hikes, 4 new summits. We were really tired when we woke up Sunday, but the weather was good, and we all wanted to get the last 2 peaks out there. After a mighty big breakfast, we set out again down the logging roads, this time to Chain of Ponds Snow. The foliage here was really nice, and there is a trail the whole way up the mountain. The lower part is actually a road, and all the water crossings have nice bridges. There is no signage however, so it was nice to be with someone who had done it a few times before, as the turn off the road can be tricky. At the top we celebrated Elizabeth’s 100 highest finish, had some snacks, and took some photos. This peak has a really interesting summit register, its a wooden birdhouse type thing near the remnants of an old cabin. The Fire-tower is falling apart, so I dared not to climb it, the view from the base was good enough for me. Surprisingly, I got 3G coverage with my Sprint phone, and uploaded some photos from the prior days adventures.

GPS/GPX Link

 

Distance:	7.26 mi
Time:	4:14:27
Avg Pace:	35:03 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	2,194 ft

 

 

 

 

 

Trip Report: New England Hundred Highest – Boundary Peak

After having Whitecap and Kennebago Divide for breakfast, and Cupsuptic Snow for Lunch, we again drove the logging roads as far as possible to Cupsuptic Pond, and began our walk out towards the US/Canada border. There was water on the trail here due to some beaver activity, but it was easily navigated around. We knew this was going to be the longest hike of the day, but we were all in good spirits and really wanted to get it done. Soon we arrived on the boundary cut, which is marked with stone monuments and other markers. On the Canadian side there are many hunting huts where hunters leave salt and apples and wait to shoot moose. Hardly seems fair for the moose, not much of a sport at all. The boundary cut has a lot of up’s and down’s and we arrived at the summit just before sundown. We were all in a hurry to get back with a shimmer of hope of getting a proper dinner in Eustis or Stratton. It was a long walk out under headlamps, but I felt very satisfied in pulling off a 4 peak day. We never did make it back in time for dinner, most of the crew just went to bed, I was able to find myself a pint of Guinness and some cold pizza at a bar. It was delicious. Driving the logging roads out was difficult, as I was so very tired. We saw a few moose on the boundary cut, and another one on the logging road.

GPS/GPX Link

Distance:	11.98 mi
Time:	6:49:02
Avg Pace:	34:09 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	3,284 ft

Trip Report: New England Hundred Highest – Cupsuptic Snow

After our morning hike to Whitecap and Kennebago Divide, we drove out to Wiggle Brook Road, which was in great shape, and parked on the side near a logging cut. There was no clear path, the whole way was a bushwhack, but a rather easy one. On the way up we headed straight for the peak, a bit to the west. We did run into some thick spruce, so we strayed even more to the west on the descent. Although a short bushwhack, the elevation was now starting the take its toll on my legs, but the weather was great, as was the company. We made quick work of it, signed in the canister jar, had some snacks, and set off for our 3rd hike of the day, Boundary Peak.

GPS/GPX Link

Distance:	3.05 mi
Time:	2:35:23
Avg Pace:	50:57 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	1,607 ft

Trip Report: New England Hundred Highest – WhiteCap and Kennebago Divide

I’ve been working on the New England Hundred Highest list for a while, since finishing the New Hampshire and New England 4,000 footers back in 2011, and have always had wondered if I’d ever get to the Maine 6 Pack, as its known in peak bagging circles. I was invited to join a group of strong hikers that also wanted to tag them, and we settled on the first weekend in October. There was concerns about navigating the logging roads with passenger cars and we discussed renting an SUV, but in the end I thought my Impreza could handle it. I set off on the long drive to Stratton mid day on Friday, and arrived at our base camp, The White Wolf Inn, just about 7 hours later.

 

With only 2 days to hike, I knew it was going to be difficult, mentally and physically. We woke up Saturday at 5AM and headed out to Tim Pond Road. The road is in decent shape, my car was able to get to the trail head without issue. We set off on our hike, heading to White Cap, following an old ATV path, then a short bushwhack to the top. From there we retraced out steps down to the ATV path and re-entered the spruce to bushwhack out to Kennebago Divide. There was a faint herd path that got us up and back down to the ATV path, which brought us back to our cars. We had some snacks and set off for our next destination, Cupsuptic Snow.

GPS/GPX Link

 

Distance:	4.75 mi
Time:	4:00:23
Avg Pace:	50:39 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	1,630 ft