Maine and Smokies Hikes

The top left picture shows Dave (son of Gary - husband of Sally) and me on a big rock in the Smokies last fall. We were on a three day hike and it was fun, but quite exhausting. The top right photo shows Dave, me and Gary during a rest stop on the trail. The bottom right is another pic on the same hike. The lesson is: don’t ever do a hard hike with young people; only go with old-age peers!

The bottom right is taken in 1988 (June) on the way up the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail in Maine. It was a weekend affair for when I was at Harvard. Two of my buddies and I drove from Boston to a motel at the base of Mt Khataden in Baxter State Park in Main. We got there late (at motel) and in the morning made it to the mountain base by 5:30am. Since we were in good physical shape and arrogant, we decided to climb to the top (highest mountain in Maine and the northern end of the AP trail) without any real preparation or equipment. We carried only one bottle of water and each had haversacks with some sweets. We did not take the improved trail but took one of the unfinished because it seemed faster. What a mistake! About halfway up we encounterd the large granite blocks that you see in the photo – some so huge and jumbled that we had to help each other with handholds. We finally made it to the top around 1430hrs and rested about 30 minutes. Then, we started down one of the improved trails. We got to the base about 1830hrs, virtually worn out. There was a small store in the Park and we each drank an entire six pack to rehydrate ourselves. Honestly, I think this was the hardest physical effort in my life – made so because we did not enough water nor food to sustain the labor involved. That night, we slept like logs before returning back to Boston the next day.