Grafton Loop Backpacking in Maine Day2 p.m

Between East and West Baldpate

After enjoying the view at the top of East Baldpate, we descended a little and ascended to the West Baldpate. There was no view at West Baldpate, but the way there was nice as you can see in the left picture. 

After here was descending 1800 feet. We descended to the road. There is another trailhead. On the parking lot, a group was doing BBQ for Appalachian trail through hikers. There was a sign of "trail magic"

We saw two AT hikers on the trail after we passed the parking lot. We were on the uphill, but the first AT hiker passed us (we yielded), but the second one yielded us and said, "You guys have the right of way. (for the first hiker) Heard about trail magic and running lol". It was funny. I can imagine how BBQ sounds for AT hikers. 

It reminded me of a day before final day of my John Muir Trail trip. I only had one pack of ramen left for dinner. It was only 2 p.m. No snack for the day or next day. I had to hike out the next day, because of ride. Then I met another JMT hikers who were hiking out that day. They had a bunch of bars no longer needed: they offered surrounded JMT hikers to take them as much as people want. I got 5 or 6 bars. I was really hungry, so it saved me!

Old Speck Mountain

After we crossed the road, we climbed (again.) to Old Speck mountain. 2000 feet of ascend. On the summit, there was not much view, but you can climb the fire tower. The scenic view is offered from the top of tower. In New England it is typical to have a fire tower on the top, since summit is still in the forest. Usually stairs to the top are provided, but this time it was a long ladder! Grrrrrr. It was very scary for me! The view was nice from the top. It was worth climbing the ladder. 

After we climbed, took pictures, went down, and we rested for a while on the ground. 

One day hikers' party came and one guy was saying on the ladder, "Wow this is ***king high!" and joking, "Mommy.....!" 

I was glad that I was not the only one who got scared of ladder.

Another funny incident here was about a dog. A couple brought cute black labrador to the top. The couple went to the fire tower. The doggie couldn't climb the ladder, she had to wait for the bottom. Then she started crying, "Cayn cayn can....!!!" She was feeling unsecured by being left alone. So one of the owners had to come down very quickly. Cute and funny! After 2000 feet climb, the dog was tired and she started sleeping. Adorable!

Sunday River Whitecap

After leaving Old Spec, there was literally nobody until we reached the campground. After 1200 feet descend, there was a chance to stop and camp at Slide Mountain Campsite. It was 4 p.m. Options were: stop early and set up camp and relax, or push more and have short day on day3. We chose the latter. The reason was the third day's weather forecast would be rain, so I thought that it would be better to climb the final mountain when it was sunny. So we started climbing another 800 feet. The final mountain name was Sunday River Whitecap. Well, it was better anyway to climb Sunday River Whitecap on Sunday, rather than Monday. Actually I liked the this peak best. It was getting evening time, which is extra beautiful in the mountain. Also there was nobody there. Extra peaceful.

Then we descended 600 feet and finally made it to the campsite, Sargent Brook campsite. These designated campsites along Grafton Loop are all near the creek or stream, so that water source is nearby. Actually the sign indicate "water 50 feet, campsites 0.1 mile". 

Good, and we turn right and arrived the campsite. There are 3 or 4 big campsites. Nice.....but wait, we didn't see any water source despite of the sign. We came back to the 50 feet point and found completely dried up creek. Mr.N walked around and searched another creek further campsites. No luck. We relied on creek near this campsite, so we only had 300 mL of water. According to map, reliable next water source is 2 miles further. It was already 6:30 p.m. and getting dark in the forest. 

What did we do?! 

To be continued...