Drove up to NH on Friday evening, forecast was rain or more rain. Carbo-loaded at Elvio's Pizza in Lincoln and crashed at a friends' condo a few hours later. Made plans to set off in the AM for Speck Mtn, NH/Maine.
By morning it was still raining but we made way to Speck at 7:30 - we picked up some power boosters at Dunk'in Donuts drove up Rte 16 to Huntin Rd in Berlin, NH. The logging road spanned 11 miles to the trailhead. Good thing Dan drove - the Jeep's 4WD was a definate plus since the road was washboard, craters, rocks and mud. Did I mention mud? We donned our rain gear and hiked off at 9 am or so. A light drizzle accompanied us on the hike up to Speck Pond campsite.
Dan spotted a moose print in the mud...first sign of critters. A few river crossings that were a little tricky but some fancy footwork on natures' stepping stones led the way to 'dryness'. Dry, a word that can rarely be used for this weekends hike. There were three rather steep sections, two long rocky uphills with level ground seperating the first two (so mortals like myself can recover) and the third steep climb was rocky and ended with wooden steps leading over a slab of rock. Rain seemed constant at this point although we shed our upper rain gear to prevent overheating. At this point we were already wet and were below treeline so the wind gusts were dampened (no pun intended). Several other uphill scrambles were marginal but with the wet weather made for slow but steady going. It took about 1 hr 50 min to reach the May cutoff (2.4 miles), another 30 min to get to Speck Pond campsite (1.1 miles). The breeze picked up here so on went the goretex raingear again.
When we got to the campsite, it was rather desolate - possibly due to the continual rain of the past four days. We expected only the caretaker to be in our company. First order of business was to set up our tent as fast as humanly possible. We haven't set this condo of a tent up in over a year. After a few fumbles, with tarp and rain cover the tent was up with only a bit of moisture. We stashed the things we needed for the evening inside the tent (except for me - my whole dry pack went in, heheh) and ditched the packs outside with raincovers. We retreated to the shelter and decided what to do while the rain continued...stand here and be cold or head for the peak. The latter was the best offer since it would pass the time nicely and keep us warm at the same time.
Dan was the only one crazy enough to carry his pack up with him, the rest of us...just water and power snacks. Several bog bridges led way to a trail that seemed to be a river running through a boulder field. The trail offered scrambles and rocky slopes that tested boot traction. This was definately a hike that required full leathers! After about .5 miles, we were above treeline and exposed to the gusting wind. To either side were short alpine trees, the trail here is mainly rock slabs with water erosion which provided good traction. A few hundred feet from the peak an AT trail marker is embedded in the trail. A fire lookout stood at the peak with a metal ladder leading to the peak, 50 minutes. Unlike the tower at Carrigain, this platform was only about half the size at 10'x10' and did not have stairs - however the tower does serve its purpose. The wind was gusting around 25 mph and visbility was a few hundred feet with fog blow that was pretty intense.
The hike down was sketchy on the wet rock slabs, but patience endured. We got back to the shelter around 2:15 pm and made some runs to the tent for dry clothes and dinnerware. We hung up our clothes and tried to pass the time but with the rain it was hard to do much other than nap. We met the Chris, the AMC caretaker for the site that week, and didn't believe him when he said he'd be surprised if we were the only campers that night. Sure enough a few hikers showed up, wet and tired. One tired soul from Hooksett was Al, he came up the Mahoosuc Notch and tore his pack cover. He hung up his sleepingbag and it was draining like a hose.
When others starting showing up, Chris asked us to share our platform with another group - so we put on our damp clothes and slid the tent over. The bottom of the tent got a bit moist at this point, but oh well. We cooked up our food at 5:15 pm. Ed was the man since he went back out into the rain and got water for our dinners. After enjoying a hot meal we all retired to the tent for some sleep. At 6:30 or so we were in the tent with as much of our dry stuff as possible. The evening was filled with gusting winds and driving rain, sleep was more of a luxury.
Morning came with a bit of moisture (8:30AM), we put on our damp clothes and fired up the stove. Hot cocoa and nutri-grain bars for breakfast was a nice bonus. The rain subsided to drizzle and taking down the tent was easier than expected. We broke camp around 9:15AM and began the hike to the Jeep, the pond was at least visable as we hiked out of the campsite. The trail was pleasant as we hiked out, there were lots of colors that we had overlooked as we hiked in. The trail evened out as we dropped down below the wooden steps, mud was a factor. The creek crossings had risen about 6 inches from evenings showers and it wasn't until the the end where I got my feet wet as we sloshed through a creek. The hike out flew by and at the same time was kind to my knees. We had reached the Jeep and the rain had stopped.
Dry clothes and then we were off to the Woodstock Inn for some food food food
