Today was a beautiful day! Thinking I might be able to do some hiking, I left the house (0830) for a Recce of the AT in the Whites and western Maine. Drove north (I-91 to VT-25 in Bradford) and then re-crossed the Connecticut River. Used NH-25, River Road and NH-10 to reach Woodsville and then took US-302 to Littleton. Drove on NH-116 until I reached US-2. The Presidentials and eastern Whites were covered in snow but everything lower seemed OK. Temps stayed in the 40s for most of my drive in New Hampshire. Continued into Maine on US-2. Didn't see any snow so started to get hopeful that I'd be able to hike. Stopped for lunch at McDonalds in Rumford Falls (1055) and checked out the (raging) falls nearby. Cut across the river to Mexico and then resumed my drive on US-2. Reached Farmington and decided to drive up to Sugarloaf . Along the way through the Carrabassett Valley on ME-27, I noticed a lot of snow on the Bigelows. When I reached the ski resort, it looked like all the trails were completely covered in snow. Decided not to stop and just continued to Eustis. At around this time, I started wishing I'd brought my passport so I could have driven the roughly 30 miles to the Canandian border... Instead, got on ME-16 and headed towards Rangeley. Just as I reached town, I saw that Saddleback Mountain was covered in snow and decided to stay on ME-16. This allowed me to take a ride around the north side of the lakes, which were mostly frozen. Encountered very little traffic in the area and didn't see any moose, unfortunately. Drove through some rain and it didn't really warm up at all. Eventually, I reached the New Hampshire Border and continued south on NH-16. Wanting to take a break from being in the car, I stopped to take a walk in the Umbagog NWR. I walked through (mostly mushy) trails near the Magalloway River unit and got close to my step-count for the day. After about an hour, I resumed my drive toward home. By that point, I'd concluded that there didn't look to be any promising places to hike the AT. Also, snow was forecast for western Maine the next day... I stopped to check out St. Anne's in Berlin (planning to come back there in a few weeks for a Knights of Columbus event). Reached Gorham and got on US-2. From there, I basically backtracked to Hanover via the exact route I'd used to go north (NH-16 to Littleton, US-302 to Woodsville, NH-10 to Piermont). I had hoped to get some milk at Hatchland Farms (in North Haverhill) but they'd already closed. A bit disappointed, I crossed the Connecticut River back into Vermont and used I-91 to get from Bradford to Norwich. Arrived at my condo by 1800. Felt a bit discouraged that I hadn't found a good place to hike or reason to stay in the Pine Tree State but it felt good to be home. Final Verdict: too much snow still left on all the peaks I’ve got to climb… I still enjoyed the many hours of exploring and believe I’ll be able to hit the AT again soon!
