Date: 2007-09-23
From: Sidney Tappan Campsite

To: Crawford Pond Campsite
Miles today: 14.7

Strong gusty winds blew all night and were still blowing when I woke up this AM. But the fog was gone and it was a clear fall day with excellent visibility. I left the campsite about 8.00 AM and began to climb the first of three peaks that would be climbed this morning. The trail was surprisingly smooth and the climb up West Peak went quickly in spite of the steep 700' elevation gain. The summit was fully wooded so there were no views. Quickly the trail dropped 500' down to a saddle then regained 700' up to the summit of Hay Mountain. This peak was also wooded so again there were no views. After Hay Mt the trail again lost 400' of elevation before climbing another 800' to the open summit of White Cap Mountain.At 3,650' White Cap is the tallest peak we have climbed since the Bigelows and is the highest peak in the 100-mile Wilderness. The summit is right at treeline and the trees show the effects of harsh winds and rime ice. The spruce-fir forest is all stunted and gnarled by the constant winds and few trees are more than 8' tall. There was an excellent view east and south from the summit sign. Adam and Eve arrived just before I did and Adam pointed out peaks on the horizon that he said were on the Maine coast. Adam thru-hiked the AT in 1997 and he was eager to show me the famous first view of Mt Katahdin from the lookout on the northeast side of the peak. It was spectacular! Mt Kathdin is about 35 air miles away but is still nearly 75 trail miles away. Yet it looked very close in the clear cold fall air. There was hardly a cloud in the sky but the air temp at 10.30 AM was 42 with a wind gusting 30 mph. We took a number of photos of the stunning views but Adam and Eve left quickly due to the windy cold temps. I was bundled up so I stayed a bit longer but found it hard to stand still against the constant strong gusts. Finally I too left and began the 2,400' descent. About a third of the way down I found another lookout with a great view of Katahdin that was relatively protected from the wind. I couldn't resist stopping for lunch and ended up spending nearly an hour just gawking at the view of the mountain that has been just a dream for the past 5+ months.A sharp-shinned hawk flew past and wailed at me several times. It is time for sharpies to be moving south since all the warblers and other migrant insectivorous prey birds have already left. With all the songbirds gone south, the woods are much quieter now than they were a month ago. The hillsides and valleys are beginning to show more color as maples are turning red and birches and beeches are turning yellow. There isn't much color on the mt tops because they are covered by spruce-fir forest with only a few scattered white and yellow birches. Here, the spruce-fir forest starts at about 2,500', below this is mostly deciduous northern hardwood forest (birch, maple, beech) and above this is mostly spruce-fir (red spruce and balsam fir). At home in Colorado, the spruce-fir forest starts at about 9,000' and goes up in elevation from there. What a difference this more northerly latitude makes in the forest communities!Once I got down out of the brunt of the wind it was a wonderful fall day for hiking with high temp of 58. The trail smoothed out considerably after Logan Brook Lean-to and I made good time. The ford of the East Branch of the Pleasant River, rumored to be a tough waist-deep ford, was very low and I was able to rock hop across. This dry weather has been very nice for hiking but Maine needs rain. Many springs and small creeks that should be flowing are now dry.I stopped at Mt View Pond for water and a snack and to look at the foliage on the far hillsides. Adam and Eve arrived after a little while and were looking for campsites. I had already decided to keep going so I wished them well and continued on.It was a short but steep climb over Boardman Mt followed by a rocky downhill to Crawford Pond. Since it was 5.30 PM I decided to look for a campsite near the pond rather than try to hike the remaining 2.8 miles to the next shelter. I finally found a nice campsite near the shore of the pond and got my camp set up and finished eating dinner before dark. The wind kicked up again just after dark and became very strong and gusty. The noise of the winds drowned out the sound of the waves on the rocky shore nearby. I am guessing that a is passing through, hopefully bringing cooler and better weather for the next few days.