BLOG - Dry Waterfalls and Abandoned Paths of Acadia

    It was supposed to rain the past few days, especially along the coast so we’d been planning on going to Acadia to search for some waterfalls, despite Jaime still being sick. I planned on getting up early so I could hit all the potential waterfalls for my book in one day but we stayed up late last night talking and didn’t go to bed until about 4:00, something we tend to do when we have to get up early. After five hours of sleep I managed to roll out of bed and check the rain situation from last night only to find there had been none. In fact the entire past week only produced 0.07” of rain, weathermen lied again.

    We went anyway, stopping to get Jaime a lobster roll and ice cream along the way. Nothing good at Circle K this week, just some fried mushrooms which I enjoyed on the ride there, no broccoli bites or fried green beans. Acadia was covered in low clouds and fog, as we approached not a single mountaintop was visible which was a first for us. We’ve seen it foggy and in the haze but never low lying clouds that covered every summit, it looked like NH, which by the way we’ll be going to in just a few days for vacation.

    First stop of the day was to the unnamed stream I’ve called Railway River Falls, just to make sure there was no water. There wasn’t. The entire riverbed was nothing more than a trickle which is what I expected after seeing the amount of rainfall, but I needed to climb up it anyway for my book because I’d only ever been up it 0.2 mile, knowing it went another 0.3 or so up to the Cadillac Mountain Road. Since it’s going in my book I figured I should explore it all the way just in case there was something else worth mentioning up there. And it’s a good thing I did or I would have made a complete ass of myself.

    I thought the falls I found on the lower section were spectacular, oh my god, the upper portion is breathtaking. After the flat portion where I’d stopped on my previous visits there is a fifteen foot cascade down a cliff with a smaller chute right above it, making maybe a 20 to 25 foot waterfall. Shortly after that was series of falls through a ravine. Of course they were close to dry so nothing much to look at today but it did offer me the opportunity to travel straight up the riverbed, and I do mean straight up as I climbed the waterfall from one section of the ravine to the next. I made my way up it, not intending to climb the entire thing, but just to see the small overhang caves behind the highest drop. By the time I made it to the caves, I only had one more level to make it to the top, so it would have been more dangerous to climb back down the slippery rocks. I tested it for about five minutes first, making my foot slip intentionally so I could get a feel for it and know what arm muscles I’d need to use to catch myself. Without anything to hold onto, I stood backwards and pushed myself up onto the wet ledge. Scary as hell but I did it and luckily there were no slipping incidents.

  The ravine didn’t stop there like I figured it would, instead continuing on through another deep gorge with flat cliffs on both sides a good twenty feet high. Now normally rock hopping up a stream is easy because the rocks are dry so you can literally hop from one to another. Unfortunately, the hundredth of an inch of rain we got last night made everything slippery and since the gorge is under tree cover, it didn’t dry out which made for a very difficult ascent and even more dangerous descent. At about this time I could hear sirens in the distance and our radio channel was being used by what sounded like a rescue team and the ones around it were also being used, probably by families driving up Cadillac Mountain, so we had to turn off our walkie talkies. I thought about turning back at the top of the ravine since we couldn’t get in touch with one another, Jaime being back at the car, but knew I was almost there so I kept going.

    What are the odds there could be another waterfall past the ravine? I mean come on, there surely would have been a trail along the brook at some point in time. But I’m the explorer here so I knew what I had to do. After the ravine opened up, it lead me to a steep forest that come Spring or a heavy rainfall would be submerged in water. The hundreds of paths the water would take were stunning, but up ahead I could see sunlight. Sunlight peaking through trees on a mountainside typically means something good is coming up. So I climbed up one of the dryer waterfall beds to find a sloping wall of rock before me with just enough water to sparkle on the granite. A slanted cascade, a hundred feet tall. Enormous. After measuring it on the map I realized a hundred feet was low balling it, the entire length of the cascade is 300 feet. Three hundred. I made my way out into the middle of it on the dry slabs of rock for a view of Eagle Lake and the cloud covered summits on the other side of it. Moss, four inches thick, bordered the streambed where small trickles of water passed beneath it at all times, making a lush forest floor.

    Hearing the auto road up ahead, I made it to the top of the waterfall until hitting the road which was quite busy despite the mountain being completely in the clouds. Knowing I’d need to come back in the Spring, I went down the other side of the river to see how safe it would be and make sure there’d be views of the falls. I thought traveling up the left side would be better but now that I think about, the right is steeper but the ravine walls are higher so there isn’t any overflow. The entire way down I was walking over muddy sections that were a good 40 feet from the stream so when it’s raging I don’t think it’d even be approachable from that direction. Near the top I took a tumble on some slippery rocks, luckily I wasn’t anywhere near the ledge so I wasn’t worried about falling to my death but I did bang up my elbow pretty bad. That’ll be sore tomorrow. To make up for that, I found a cool rock caught in some branches in the mud, a souvenir from my journey. Wet and sore, I made it back to the car, excited to tell Jaime about what I’d found.

  

  From there we went over to the Witch Hole Pond parking area where I went up to the old standpipe used in the former water filtration system. It was a possible chapter for my book but there wasn’t much to see, just a giant steel tube, no cool stonework or anything. The one noteworthy thing about it is I went up a utility road that is still in use today but came down the old utility road which brought me to a rusty chain hung between two trees about ten feet from the trunk of my parked car. I didn’t even see the abandoned road literally right behind me, covered in weeds and baby trees. But the standpipe has been eliminated from my book which I kind of anticipated.

    Onto the Witch Hole Pond carriage path where 0.7 mile along it there had once been a mining quarry. So I ran most of the way there but couldn’t do the whole thing, shut up, most of it was uphill. To my surprise there was a clear path leading down to it, I kind of thought I’d have to search a bit. Also to my surprise, I wasn’t alone, there was a bike at the foot of the quarry and a gentleman across the way, sitting on a block of granite left behind from its days in operation. He mentioned that there were what appeared to be jumps and ramps here, a course for mountain bikers. That would explain the well worn path down to it. He was certainly correct, I found multiple man made ramps where people have rearranged the smaller granite blocks. It was kind of neat but nothing worthy of going into the book which means another scrapped chapter. I was hoping for large drop offs and big piles of rocks, deep pools of water, but it was all pretty flat, I think the highest ledge was maybe five feet. Oh well, moving on.

    I had wanted to go up the South Slope Slide and get some dark and ominous pictures from it but with the wet rocks, that would be beyond stupid. After one fall already, and bleeding scratches on both of my shins, I decided to play it safe and return to Latet Cave as I’ve come to call it. Latet means ‘hidden’ in Latin. We first found the cave early last summer but weren’t able to locate it again, after multiple attempts. About a month ago, while searching for the abandoned White Path, we found the cave again, but when I went to write my directions to it, we had no clue how we got there. All we knew was that we went into the woods a ways and followed the rock ledge, not exactly the most decisive directions. So today I planned on finding it and then walking in a straight line back to the road so we could give the most direct route, or hell, any route at all.

    In my explorations I actually found another old section of trail we missed last year, despite being on it at least once. The stone steps were a little eroded but still visible, and useable as well. I knew I’d be coming up on the cave pretty soon, I had to be close, but I got sidetracked. The remains of the old trail began to lead upwards, up an easy graded slope located between a rock cliff on the right, and a drop-off on the left. It was the easy path we’d found last year up the ridiculously hard to climb rock ledges. We found it twice but both times were accidental, when we

searched it was quite elusive. But that was definitely it, no question. It was the old trail, we’d been on it all along. And to top things off, fifty feet beside it, along the lower ledge, Latet Cave, hiding in its boulder strewn corner. The two things I was looking for were right next to one another. I happily told Jaime what I’d found over the walkie talkies and she told me to go up and get the pictures I needed for the book since I was already there, despite her having to pee.

So up the easy route I went, recognizing all the landmarks we’d taken note of last summer. Despite having been there a handful of times, I had barely any pictures because the battery on both my camera and my phone were pretty much dead. The pictures I do have aren’t nearly good enough to go in a book, so I needed not just directions but photographic evidence that the amazing natural features on the side of the mountain really do exist. And sure enough, the easy path, which is actually steep, slippery and eroded, brought me to the exact spot I knew it would. Despite being a fairly difficult climb, it’s short and a hell of a lot easier and less dangerous than scaling the cliff like we’ve done before.

    I finally got pictures of the dry ravine that I believe had been a river after the last ice age due to the smooth, oddly shaped walls in the gorge. Not only did I take pictures, I took video too, so I’ll know exactly how to get there now. The path goes from the cave, up to the gorge, over a large crack in the rock with the assistance of some iron handrails, through a tight squeeze between a rock cliff and a boulder, then into a slab cave and ending at a rock wall we’ve come to know as waterfall rock. I took video footage of the entire trail so I can do an easy write up for it in the book, no more questioning how the hell I got there. From waterfall rock, you can follow the stream downhill and it’ll pop out right along the road which we discovered last time while searching for the trail. Put it all together and we have the start and end to a loop hike.

    It got too dark to film anymore but getting back to Latet Cave was straight forward, following the remains of the old trail. From there, 160 steps straight through the woods brought me to the road. Not only to the road, but to our original starting place from last year. All we had to do was walk in a straight line, lol, we’d been going diagonal the whole time. So even though I didn’t find any new destinations for my book, I finished up three of the incomplete ones I had, making it a successful day.

BLOG - The Sun And Moon Over Acadia

    I’m getting over my cold but Jaime’s is unfortunately just beginning. We had planned on going to Acadia today but when she started getting sick last night I knew that wouldn’t be happening because last week it was me canceling. But she woke up at 10:30 and decided she didn’t want to be laying around the house all day because it’d only make her feel worse. So we headed out a little late, surprisingly remembering to pack everything in our last minute rush, except for the walkie talkies. It’ll take a little while before we get used to having them but man are they great.

    I hadn’t eaten anything and amazingly they had all my favorites at Circle K, the broccoli and cheddar bites, the fried green beans, the macaroni and cheese bites and the onion rings. Jaime wasn’t hungry due to the cold so didn’t really get anything, just some blueberry bread because the banana was gone. We stopped at the Bear Brook Picnic Area for lunch, the weather was absolutely perfect. It was in the 70’s, a nice breeze, barely any clouds, that’s part of the reason we decided to go in the first place.

    After eating I decided to run up Robin Hood Hill to see if I could get some good pictures as mine from last time sucked, mostly due to the overcast day, partly due to the limited views from the previously unnamed peak. Running up didn’t go quite as planned, the cold was still kicking my ass so after coughing and wheezing for a good minute, I caught my breath and walked the rest of the way at a normal pace. The pictures came out fantastic on the bright and sunny day so Robin Hood Hill isn’t getting kicked out of my upcoming book like we thought it would.

    From there I wanted to head over to Schooner Head Road since it was just about low tide. Last time I was almost positive I spotted a sea cave in the distance that was under water at high tide. Of course it was from a distance so what looked like a cave was most likely just a small rock overhang that created a shadow but I had to find out for sure. So I made my way out around the huge patch of poison ivy and down to the barnacle covered rocks below the tide line. Even from a few hundred feet away, it sure did look like a cave. I carefully picked my way across the rockslide at the base of the fifty foot cliff where there was a cool overhang next to what had to be a cave.


    Yes, there was an overhanging rock ledge and a small hole that both could have been mistaken for caves from a distance, and then there was the real deal, an actual sea cave, partially underwater even at low tide. It was huge, maybe 25 feet high by 15 wide, waves echoing from inside the giant chamber. A narrow rock ledge rounded the corner into the cave, giving me just a few foot shelf to stand on. From my perch near the roof of the cave I could see that it went back roughly 30 feet , maybe more as part of it was obstructed from view. The floor was covered in
battered stones that rolled around with every wave that crashed against them. I tried to find a way down but the rocks were too smooth to be able to climb them. I think in order to get into the cave I’ll have to go back at low tide on a calm day and swim my way into it. Unfortunately there’s no good place to tie a rope to so it’ll be a somewhat dangerous mission but I won’t be able to stop thinking about that cave until I get inside. There are also some amazing bands of quartz rock on one of the boulders that fell from the cliff, it looks almost like an exposed geode so next time I’m bringing my hammer and chisel to see if I can get a chunk.

    After spending more time than I intended down there I climbed up the nearby peak I’ve named Highseas Summit and got some good photos from the top to replace my dull ones from last time, another destination in my book that got saved from the chopping block due to a few incredible pictures. Not having the walkie talkies really sucked because we couldn’t stay in constant communication, I hate it when Jaime’s in the car worrying about me. They really do come in handy and we’ve only used them on two trips now, I’m not sure how we ever survived without them.

    For our next stop Jaime decided to escort me. The fresh ocean air helped with her breathing a bit and we explored an area I’ve nicknamed Thrumcap Ledge. Last time it was raining and getting dark so I had to cut my exploration short so this time we went down an abandoned side road that brought us out to the shore where there was a rocky beach and a huge rock outcropping jutting out into the ocean that we climbed up. Found a few cool rocks along the way too.

    We planned on circling around and hopping back onto the park loop road but the street we needed was closed off for construction so we headed out to Day Mountain instead where I continued my search to re-find the caves. After two failed attempts I began to question how I was going to write a book directing people to awesome destinations if I couldn’t even get to them my damn self, and I’d been there before. So after exploring the side of the mountain the hard way, I finally found the caves. When I first went to the caves a couple years ago with my parents, there had been some recent rain and one of the caves required climbing a rope to get to it but it was too wet at the time. And the real cave of Day Mountain, an honest to god cave, was incredible, but my pictures weren’t. So I brought my tripod with me to get some better photos this time around.

    Unfortunately the rope into the first cave is gone and I wasn’t able to free climb my way up to the fifteen foot high entrance with my limited rock climbing ability. Maybe if someone had been with me, but not alone on the edge of a cliff. So I gave up on that cave early on and spent the majority of my time in the real cave. I took a bunch of measurements for my book and got some good photos and video as well.

     I knew I was in there for awhile but I looked at my phone and it said two hours had gone by. In return I said oh shit and knew I’d have to run back, Jaime would be worried and probably out searching for me, thinking I got hurt or lost. No cell reception whatsoever. So I took note of where I was and found a much easier way to get to the caves so now they’ll be easy to find. I ran along the carriage path and got back to the car in record time where Jaime was waiting patiently, reading, not the least bit concerned. As I huffed and puffed, trying to regain my composure from my run, I apologized for being gone so long. She said it wasn’t all that long and sure enough it wasn’t, the clock in the car was an hour slow. Turns out my phone switched time zones and thought we were in Canada.

    From there we drove a couple minutes to an abandoned cliff trail along the shore that my parents and I stumbled upon about a month ago. I had some great pictures of it but with the moon coming out early tonight, I figured some shots with the moon would be great. Plus, there was a section I wanted to explore further but it required some free climbing which I don’t like doing unless Jaime is below me to tell me where to place my feet on the way down just in case I need help. So we found a better parking area for the hike that cut out almost all of the 0.7 mile trail, making it an easy five minute walk.

    Aside from the nearly full moon there was also an enormous cruise ship that had docked in Bar Harbor earlier and was now headed out to sea, making for some perfect photos of it directly beneath the moon. With Jaime by my side I easily climbed the small ledge and got to explore the upper half of the abandoned trail. It’s amazing that after well over a hundred years, even with no maintenance, the iron railings are still standing strong. She got some video footage of me climbing the ledge and then some amazing pictures of me at the railing with the sunset over the ocean. We had a blast but the breeze had completely died off which brought out droves of mosquitoes.

    After taking a bunch of pictures we made our way back to the car but with the moon illuminating the sky, I ran down the new trail to an overlook and got a ton more photos of the moon over the ocean, reflecting off the water. I’m not usually by the ocean at night so this is the first time I’ve had a chance to photograph anything like this. With my new camera the pictures came out incredible. There was also a huge split in the rock cliff, creating what must have been a 40 foot drop as waves crashed inside the narrow crevice. Had it not been dark I would have explored it a bit more, maybe someday I’ll make it down in there during low tide.

    So I only made it to a couple of my destinations but we had a great day anyway. On our way home I had a craving for Chinese food so we stopped at Asian Palace right before they closed and I had a delicious supper. My legs were a little sore the next day, mostly my quads, but man was it worth it. The pictures came out perfect, now it’s just a matter of narrowing it down and picking the best one from each spot. The book was complete at 40 destinations but I decided to bring it up to 50 so only a few left to go. We’ll try to get there next week before our New Hampshire vacation, so much to look forward to, I love it.

BLOG - Ten Year Anniversary Trip to NH (Part 2)

    With today being our ten year anniversary, we knew we’d be going to NH, for the second time this week. Today we weren’t setting out to do any hikes though, mostly shopping, and of course we didn’t buy anything, and naturally I did a hike. We won’t actually celebrate our anniversary until next month when we go to NH for a week but since we both had the day off we figured we’d take advantage of it.

    Originally we planned on leaving super early and going to Grafton Notch along the way but a few hours into the trip we realized we left a little late and wouldn’t have time to stop there before lunch. Lunch, where? Well Mountain Fire Pizza of course. We got there at lunchtime and enjoyed our half maple bacon and half Hawaiian Luau pizza, I mean come on, it’s a pizza with cherries on it.

    We hit up North Conway for a little shopping and went to Jaime’s regulars, TJ Maxx and Christmas Tree Shop but didn’t get anything. We also decided to go to a few of the famous Conway outlets which truthfully we’ve never been too impressed with. Today was no different, they’re just so damn expensive and man was that place busy, it looked like Christmas time. We went to Eastern Mountain Sports and Under Armor, found a couple of cool things but nothing we wanted to spend that much on. It did feel good to be able to buy those things though, but I’d rather get three performance shirts from Walmart for the same price as one at Under Armor. And I was hoping for a handheld GPS unit at Eastern Mountain but they didn’t have any. We were going to go to Nike and some of the other outlets but decided against it after seeing the crowds and prices. Jaime really wanted to go to the new Home Goods store but they hadn’t opened yet, that’s the kind of luck she’s been having lately.

    After Conway we stopped along the Saco River so I could climb to the cave on Cave Mountain. I went there once with my family back in 1992 and have been wanting to go back ever since because I didn’t have any pictures from it. It’s a short trail but man is it steep, just as steep as I remember it being with tons of loose gravel from the cave. I crawled around in there for a little while, taking pictures.

    After exploring the cave I decided to continue on to the top of the mountain which isn’t far from the cave, in fact it’s right above it, but it’s extremely steep with no real trail. It is a popular bushwhack though so the unofficial route was easy to follow with a decent view from the top. I was hoping to see down into Crawford Notch but no such luck, just the peaks in the Bartlet area. It was nice having the walkie talkies so I could stay in constant contact with Jaime and let her know I was going up further or heading back down. They are so convenient and yeah we play with them like we’re little kids, making jokes and having fun. She hopes to one day not have to use them because she’ll be able to do all the hikes with me.

    From there we went into Crawford Notch with Jaime driving for a change. She drives around home all the time but hasn’t driven the NH roads since we used to meet up there before we lived together. She did good, getting used to the windy mountain roads before we move out there, even if only part time. We stopped at the Willey House so I could get some ice cream and fudge, we made it just before they closed but there was nothing good left at the end of the season. So we stopped at our old scenic cuddle spot and hung out there for a little while.

    With me driving this time, we headed for Lincoln trying to decide where we’d eat supper. We decided on Brittany’s and CJs Penalty box which we ate at with my parents last year and although a little pricey, the food is delicious. I got the Ringer Burger which was good, basically a rodeo burger, and Jaime got the special pulled pork burger which was really good, she let me have her leftovers. We also got the corn chowder because we remember loving it last year and it did not disappoint as well as the cheese fries which were amazing and very cheesy. We’ll definitely be going back there again. Oh and then for desert I stopped at the ice cream place and got a hot fudge brownie sundae. I was kind of full but really wanted it so I ate most of it and saved the rest for later, it'll be melted but ah well, it was so amazing it won't matter.

    On our way across the Kancamagus we got to see a gorgeous sunset from the top. I tried out my camera on sunset pics, I’m still getting the hang of it but I got some good ones, none that truly captured it though. We left about an hour earlier than Tuesday but I was a bit more tired for some reason so it was kind of a long ride home, I didn’t get too tired though. I did fall asleep the second we got home though, head hit the pillow and I was out. We had a great two days in NH to celebrate our actual anniversary but can’t wait for our end of September trip when it’s a little bit colder and a little less busy.

BLOG - Ten Year Anniversary Trip to NH (Part 1)

    This week is our ten year wedding anniversary and Jaime ended up getting the same two days off as me for the first time all summer, so we’re celebrating both days. We got up this morning not quite sure what we’d be doing but knowing it would involve Arbys. Ours closed last summer so Augusta is the closest one to us which just so happens to be along our new route to NH. Of course by the time they open for lunch at 10:00 it would be too late to drive the rest of the way to the mountains. I voted to drive back up north and go to Acadia to finish up my book but Jaime wasn’t in the mood so we finished our delicious and long awaited meal at Arbys and continued on to our home away from home. I had my regular Beef N Cheddar along with one of their new gyros which was alright but not nearly as good as GH Pizza. They also had some new curly fries topped with melted cheese and bacon, amazing. Jaime got her regular Chicken Bacon Swiss but they’ve changed the recipe a little since we last had it, not nearly as good.

    We knew we wouldn’t be doing any big hikes in NH since it was well after 1:00 by the time we arrived but oh well. First stop of the day was Littleton to pick up some fudge from Chutters since we haven’t gotten any lately. Wow, this marks our fifth trip to NH this year. I stopped at the thrift and consignment stores next door but like always didn’t buy anything so after picking up a pound and a half of fudge we made our way over to Kilburn Crags.

    The day was perfect with bright blue sky and almost no clouds so I wanted to get some panoramic shots from the crag since I now have the ability to with my new camera. Unfortunately I haven’t quite figured it all out yet and wasn’t able to get any real good shots because the view isn’t exactly 360 degrees so the camera wouldn’t register it properly. I still got some good pictures though. It’s a tough little trail but it didn’t kick my ass like the first time, however I’m not quite in the shape I was in last year so it was no walk in the park either.

    We got some boneless wings at Pub 32 in Lincoln to tide Jaime over until supper but they weren’t very good so she didn’t end up eating them, but I sure did. Then we stopped at our regular hotel, Franconia Notch Motel, to make reservations for next month. We’re spending eight nights this year and with the discount he gives us since we’re regulars it’s costing exactly what we were looking to spend.

    Last year when we were coming back form Eagle Pass I noticed a rockslide beneath Eagle Cliff that I’d been wanting to visit. That was our last day there, I was dead tired and limping after an injury so I ventured out onto the slide, took some pictures and called it good until next time. Today was that next time. With only a couple hours left of sunlight we took the short cut to the trail, made our way up the steep ascent  and then Jaime sat on a rock to read while I went off trail to explore the rockslide.

With the sun about to go down I got some amazing pictures and even a couple panoramics, one of which might be my best photo ever. The new walkie talkies came in handy as we chatted back and forth, it’s a great way to let Jaime know I’m still safe, especially when doing dangerous stuff like exploring scree slopes and rockslides. I climbed my way up to the ledges above the slide, successfully conquering the area I’ve been wanting to after years of seeing it from the road. On my way down I fell once on the scree but didn’t get hurt. Since I’ve done a number of rockslides now it’s not as scary anymore, even with the ground moving beneath me.

    We did Black Mountain Burger for supper so by the time we left it was 9:15 with quite the drive ahead of us, making it a long night. This was my first time driving the Kancamagus Highway in the dark, no as bad as I thought it would be, especially with the new car. We did have to stop to use the bathroom though which was interesting since there are no lights in the Kancamagus restrooms, luckily I had my flashlight. Jaime started dozing about an hour before home but surprisingly I didn’t get too tired and we made it home around 1:30, so it turns out the drive is an hour less than we thought. Despite Jaime’s string of bad luck we had a great day and can’t wait to go back on Friday.

TRIP REPORT - Kilburn Crags (Littleton, NH)

    There aren’t much for hikes in Littleton NH, in fact, for years I thought there were none. With there being such spectacular views in the area, including leaving town on the highway or driving down Main Street in neighboring Bethlehem, you would expect some kind of view from the quaint little village of Littleton. Well it turns out there is.

    Kilburn Crags, a spot popular with locals and people in the know, is seldom visited by your average vacationers. Its trailhead is too hidden in plain sight to catch the eye of those not looking for it, plus, unless you’re heading to the hospital you wouldn’t even drive by it. Unfortunately there are only a couple of parking spots in the tiny lot but on a brighter note it is clearly marked so you’ll know you’re in the right place.

    The easiest way to get there, go to the hospital in Littleton. Just follow the signs. From downtown you’ll want to go up Main Street, stay straight at the funky little Y shaped intersection and continue along Route 18. If you’re on I-93 then simply take Exit 43 and follow the signs to the hospital, it’s located only a short ways off the interstate. Whichever way you get there, just follow the hospital signs and there’s no getting lost. The small dirt parking area will be on the left just a half mile down Route 18/135, also called the St Johnsbury Road. If you pass the hospital, you’ve gone too far.

     The parking area seems really random, just a small gravel pull off located between a couple farmhouses, but there is a big sign letting you know you’re at the Kilburn Crags and the trail is 0.7 mile taking roughly 30 minutes one way. A clear path leads up the far left side of the field heading towards the woods. I’m not going to lie, it’s steep, and it’s kicked my ass a couple times. Be prepared for some heavy breathing.


      The whole trail can really be broken into five different sections. The first part being the steep field, followed by the steep path through the woods, then onto the flatter section where it levels off and gets wet and muddy, then another more gradual uphill, and lastly a downhill portion which brings you to the lookout. The 0.7 mile trail is a wide road used for farming equipment and possibly logging trucks, there are even a couple benches along the way conveniently located after the steepest sections. The lookout at the top is frequently logged in order to open the expansive view and it’s even equipped with a picnic table.

     The view from Kilburn Crags is breathtaking, and I do mean that literally. The first time I came over that hump and looked out over Littleton, I was completely blown away. From the entire Presidential range, past the Twinway, all the way to Garfield and the Franconia Ridge, the Cannon ski slopes, it is truly spectacular. On top of that, you also get an aerial view of downtown Littleton. There are no steep ledges or drop offs so you don’t need to worry about the kids like you normally would in places with views like this. The wet portion of the trail can be a little slippery, especially on the way down, but this is a nice straight forward walk to a must see view. It is more than worth the steep ascent you face early on.

BLOG - Rock Hunting at Home

    I was off today but Jaime wasn’t so I took the opportunity to do some lawn work. This was my last day off before my parents come to visit and our schedule is pretty packed so I won’t have time for much of anything this coming week. After mowing the lawn and weed whacking I realized I probably should have been wearing sunscreen, I’ll regret that in the morning. Afterwards I went to visit Jaime on her lunch break. I was planning on going to the thrift stores but we thought we were a little short on money so I just went straight home, a little down about being broke. But I checked the bank account and got happy again, we were perfectly fine, it was just that when she looked yesterday all the bills had come out at once and our paychecks hadn’t gone through yet. So that put me in better spirits and I dug my metal utility cart out of the shed. Rock hunting time!

    I specifically got the cart for collecting big rocks and to help move the trees I transplant. We only ended up using it a couple times last year before my friend moved out of my guest room and decided to hate me. No big loss, but I did lose my rock hauling partner which makes it a lot harder on me because these aren’t small rocks we’re talking about. In the new part of the trailer park, they cleared out a huge area to expand but couldn’t fill the lots they already had so left it open after cutting down all the trees and moving the boulders. All the bigger rocks got pushed into giant piles making it convenient for me to take them.

    On my first trip up the closest pile to the road I found a good sized snake skin and thought to myself I wouldn’t want to move a rock and find him underneath it. The first rock I spotted has a flat bottom and rounded top so it’ll rest perfectly on the ground, but it was about 150 pounds and lived at the top of the pile. All my weight lifting has clearly paid off because I was able to not only lift it but walk down the precarious pile and then throw it the last few feet over the pricker bushes. While up there I found a long somewhat skinny rock with a flat side that was clearly too heavy to move. Somehow I managed to dead lift it out of its hole and carefully slide the 200 pound rock down the pile and then pick it up again to put it in the cart. And then one more small one to help balance out the cart that I was barely able to move.

    I sweat profusely the entire way and had to stop for multiple breaks in order to keep myself from passing out but I made it up the small hill and then down the other side, all the way back home. Three tenths of a mile never felt so long. That’s kind of far now that I think about it, I didn’t realize when I started but I just measured it on good old Google Earth. No wonder I had to sit down after.

    I put the rounded rock with the flat bottom in its new location beside the walkway and decided to redo a retaining wall with the longer rock. The wall keeps falling down so I figure if I replace eight basketball size rocks with one giant rock it’ll hold up better. So the eight rocks that once made up the retaining wall got placed in the empty cart and brought to the back of the lawn where I’m in the process of making a rock wall to hold back the enormous patch of weeds no one is able to mow. Most of those weeds are bigger than my baby trees with trunks an inch in diameter and thorns that easily pierce through work gloves. Slowly but surely I’m fighting to take the land back.

    I told myself I was done while using all my strength to pull the first load back but this is me, let’s face it, I knew I was going back for another. This time I remembered to bring my camera in order to document it for the blog, something I’m still getting used to. The snakeskin blew away and almost fell down a hole between rocks but I was able to retrieve it for the photo. Then I spotted another nice flat rock that would be perfect for the other half of the redone retaining wall, big but definitely moveable unlike the giant boulders I really wanted. So I moved it and what was underneath but the snake I didn’t want to encounter, and its equally proportioned friend. I apologized profusely to them for disturbing their spot but if I put the rock back down it would crush them so I held it up until they both slithered off. I didn’t have a free hand to grab my camera unfortunately but they didn’t seem too mad as I held the rock up, no threatening poses or anything, they just sat there at first and then slowly went off into a hole. I felt even worse for moving their rock when I went back up the pile and one of the snakes was in the same spot, just with no rock above it. I considered putting it back but it was too heavy to carry uphill. Not only is it uphill, it’s a pile of unstable rocks with gaping holes between them and no safe place to stand, so climbing up it in the first place is kind of stupid. I did manage to get to my camera in time to get a picture of the returning snake.

    While getting my second rock of the trip, a large round one near the bottom of the pile, one that I believe we attempted last year before getting the utility cart, I spotted a bald eagle flying overhead. He soared right over me. I wasn’t quick enough to get an up close picture but did manage to get him flying between a couple trees. I can’t say I’ve ever seen one of those around here before, they really are majestic creatures.

    In order to even out the load I grabbed another smaller rock, maybe bowling ball size, it did its job to balance the round rock. Just before leaving a couple of curious yellow birds landed in a tiny tree right beside me to see what I was doing. One of them was maybe four feet away, I thought he was going to land on my shoulder. They moved around a lot but I was able to eventually get a couple pictures but they had already moved on from me and went to some bigger trees not too far away. We always wondered what bird made the annoying chirp, now I know, it’s the cute little yellow ones that hover in the air almost like humming birds.

    This cart load was slightly easier to pull home, about a hundred pounds less. The flat rock finished up the wall of the garden in front of the deck, now it just needs to be redone. The others went to the stonewall in the back of my yard which is coming along nicely, it’ll end up being bigger than I’d originally intended.

    So luckily the sunburn wasn’t bad, it had turned into a tan by the next morning. My arms were a little sore but not bad, the only muscles that actually hurt were the ones I used pulling the cart of rocks, right around the elbow. Could be worse. My reforestation and rock gardening are fun but its time for me to get back out on the trails.