Hiking (with the hounds)

One of my other passions, love to see pics of hikes you've done, with or without hounds.

Here is todays version of Hiking with the hounds. A little overcast, flat light, and about 50 degrees, little wind not too many days like this left this year.
Long Pond, 5 miles long, 300ft deep right here between Mansell Mt to the left and Beech Mt to the right. Mansell Mt is the peak on tap for today. The trail heads north along the edge of the pond fairly flat for about 2 miles.


Turning west and then south around the foot of the Mt to go up the Great Notch between Mansell and its neighbor Bernard, following this stream for a bit, this is a torrent during the spring melt. Not very steep, about 1.5 miles of moderate incline.



A short climb from the Great Notch to the summit, which is actually wooded with no view so here we are looking back down the notch.


Down the south ridge and loop back around to the start.
I remembered to reset the GPS this time. Start elevation 100ft, summit elevation 940ft. Moving time 1 hour 40 minutes, stopped time 15 minutes.

Human mileage:
5.1

Hound mileage:
Oliver 6.9
Willow 6.3
Bailey 5.7

 

Going for a short hike today. Won't take pics because it is so yucky - overcast and brown.

 

Since today is Sunday, and I can't remember the last time I went to Church, I decided to go to the Church of Nature in the form of Saint Sauveur Mountain. It might not count in the eyes of some, but it was good for my soul, and that's what is important. St Sauveur is only 680 ft so I decided to add it's brother to the north Acadia Mt. also at 680 ft. Starting at about 150 ft then to the top of Acadia, back down to sea level in between the two and then back up the side of St Sauveur. These two mountains make up the western edge of Somes Sound, the only Fjord on the east coast of the US. Another perfect day for hiking, 50F low wind a little overcast.

This is looking west from the top of Acadia Mt, at Beech Mt and behind that Mansell Mt. You can almost make out the fire tower on the top of Beech.


Here is a view of the Sound and St Sauveur from the top of Acadia.

This is looking east across the Sound to the mountains that make up the Eastern side of the Sound.

It gets pretty steep on the way down between the two. You loose about 650 ft in about .3 miles.


A little over an hour of actual hiking time.
Human mileage 3.8
Hound mileage:
Oliver 4.8
Willow 4.4
Bailey 4.2

 

Very cool Dave. Thanks for sharing. I have a cap from Acadia. National Park? I believe that where my parents bought it. Brought it back for me from a trip they took there. They really liked it there.

 

Here is the after party.

 

Are the dogs wearing tracking collars or something like that? Thats some beautiful country there Dave looks like yall had a good time.

 

Yes it's a GPS system from Garmin. They are all part hound, the hounds like to chase. They all wear bells now and that helps...gives the deer a little warning.

 

Decided to hit Mansell Mt again yesterday, bailed out of work early, it gets dark at around 4, so you need to get an early start. Here are the big three on my side of the Island, with the Bass Harbor marsh in the foreground, left to right Bernard, Mansell and Beech. I usually end up on one of these three because they are the closest to my house and being on the "quiet side" of the Island they are not as popular.

The wind was about 20 steady and gusting to 35, about 35 degrees out. Whitecaps on the lake today. Today I am going up the Eastern face shown here, using the aptly named Perpendicular trail. It goes straight up this face and then along the side to the rock outcropping you can see almost at the top, then to the wooded summit.


The highlight of this trail for me is the rock work. I believe most of this work was done by the CCC as part of Roosevelt's "New Deal", the pictures don't really do it justice. This is a STEEP face, you gain 600ft in about 600 yards and these workers were placing these stones by hand, some of which have got to be well over a ton.


Here is a view of Southwest Harbor from the outcropping.

No pictures of the hounds today, they got on the trail of some critter and I did not catch up to them until most of the way down. Trying to get them to not chase is like trying to tell your retriever to not go get that ball you just threw, or the bird you just shot, it just doesn't happen, you're fighting a couple thousand years of breeding.

Human mileage 2.7
Hound mileage:
Oliver 4.9
Willow 4.4
Bailey 4.2

 

Great pics! Have not been in your "neck of the woods" in several years but after seeing these I am wanting to return soon! I'll have to look for some digital pics I may have from hiking, but many I have are 35mm photos of my backpacking days. The mileage tracking is interesting as I always said that my dogs ran/walked about twice as far as I did.

 

Sargent Mountain on Saturday 1373 ft starting at about 150ft, was 40 degrees and blowing 20 at the trail head, and 20 degrees and blowing 40 at the summit, we did not stay long.
About a mile of flat trail to the base of the Mt. On the way in there is an interesting lichen field, maybe about an acre, some really interesting formations, I've not seen lichen this big anywhere else. Lichen is an interesting organism, a mutualistic symbiosis between an fungus and an algae or bacteria.

The trail crosses several carriage roads. These were built by the wealthy land owners, mostly Rockefellers before they donated the land to the park, so they could take their horse and buggies for a ride, no motorized vehicles allowed, a bicyclist paradise, there are more than 100 miles around the park. Some have some pretty amazing stone work as bridges or support walls.



Up the Giant Slide trail following this stream to the notch, the slide is pretty narrow in places and the trail is in the stream, this is a nice cool hike on a hot summer day.

You can just make out the blaze of white on Oliver's chest in the middle of this pic.

 

Sargent cont:
one more slide pic

From the summit looking east, you can see the edge of Bar Harbor at the base of Cadillac Mountain.

summit looking west



Holding on, it was windy.

The hounds found a pile of nasty scat on the way down, it was a smelly car ride home and baths all around.

Human mileage 5.2
Hound mileage
Oliver 7.5
Willow 6.6
Bailey 6.1

 

I have covered 100's of miles in the Shenandoah National Park and George Washington National Forest on foot, most of it running. Not the big mountains that are found out west, but we could start at 1000' and climb to 4000'. Runs would vary anywhere from 10 - 25+ miles.

 

Missed this thread before, great pics!

 

I have been doing a bunch of winter hiking, just not remembering to bring the camera. Western side of Bernard Mt yesterday. The peak is 12?? something feet and pretty unremarkable as the top of the mountain is flat and forested. But the views to the west on the way up are fantastic.

The weather was beautiful about 20*, little wind and no clouds.

The road to the trailhead is closed in the winter, so it's about a 1.5 mile walk on the road, nicely packed by the snowmobile riders. We were doing some recall training with a new GPS unit I bought, I think they have got the idea.




A little icy in spots but not too bad, the hounds had no problems, the human needed microspikes.



Looking west, those mountains waaaay off in the distance are the Whites in New Hampshire.




Something has got his attention.



Human mileage 6.1
Hound mileage
Oliver 9.3
Willow 8.2
Bailey 7.2

 

I'd like to try Mt Washington in the winter, or at least part of it.