Our campsite at Bull Branch was right at the end of Mahoosuc Notch and right at the beginning of Mahoosuc Arm. The arm is also about a mile long and instead of navigating a boulder field it’s an ascent up an extremely steep wall of rock. To me the arm was the more difficult of the two, but still mostly just another fun challenge. There was a long descent on the other side of the mountain, but this was one of the easiest downhills in recent memory. The Maine woods are beautiful, the weather has been a bit cold at night but clear and sunny. We made it down to the road in the notch, crossed and started right back up the other side.
The other side consisted of a big climb up to West Bald Pate and then a short traverse down and back up to East Bald Pate. The east peak was one of my favorite summits outside of the Whites. The ascent was, as the name suggests, on bare rock. Instead of a single trail leading up there was just a wide expanse of stone slanted sideways and slightly upwards with terraced steps every few yards. You could pretty much pick your path to the top. And the top was amazing – wide views of Maine mountains, ponds, and trees starting to change to fall colors.
The last few weeks have been pretty taxing, the Whites and Southern Maine combine for a grueling stretch of trail. My knees are actually starting to feel sore from all the crazy steep descents. Luckily it looks like we’re starting to ease back into some “normal” trails – stuff that doesn’t slow us down to 1.5 or 2 mph. We’re looking forward to being able to do some longer days and close in on Katahdin.