Camden Hills Hike

We met up with the Trail Monster crew this morning for a run (or hike in my case) up at Camden Hills State Park. Jim and Shauna picked us up, and we had a fun and entertaining drive up to Camden, arriving on time at the Mt. Battie trailhead. Snowman, Jamie, Ian, Stephen, Floyd, Jim and Shauna planned to run 20 miles, while Kelly and Cacky joined me for a nice hike. The guys took off like rockets up the steep incline, while the girls took it a little easier on the climb. Although it was a bit overcast, the ceiling was high and there were nice views of the town and harbor from the Mt. Battie summit. From there, we headed out to Ocean Outlook.



We saw Shauna along the way, as she was taking it a bit easier than the rest of the group, and heard Jim yell from Ocean Outlook at one point, but otherwise we were on our own. Cacky took her time getting up to the viewpoint, so Kelly and I continued on to Mt. Megunticook, a rather anticlimactic summit with no views. From there, we took the Ridge Trail down to the Jack Williams Trail, which took us back along the bottom of the rocky ridge to the Tableland Trail. When we got back up to the Mt. Battie summit, we were surprised to see Randy, his wife and daughter having a nice picnic! Trail Monsters everywhere :-) We made the final descent, finishing up with 6.8 miles in 3:10. Kelly and I had a nice time hiking together, keeping a good pace up while chatting away. She imparted some nice tips regarding slings and baby strollers along the way too. Thanks Kelly!

After a quick change of clothes, Snowman called, indicating that he and Jim were at the other end of the park and were looking for a ride. He had hit the wall and didn't think he could make it all the way back (at least not without taking hours!). Luckily, Cacky was willing to make the drive, as I certainly couldn't drive Jim's stick shift car! Thanks Cacky! I was a bit concerned with how Snowman would be, so much so that I forgot to bring Jim his requested beer (!), but when we arrived, Snowman looked tired, but seemed OK. He just ran out of steam. We met back up with the crew, and headed into town for a much needed lunch and beer (no, no, not for me!). It was a great day and fun to be out with friends! As always, it was a good group :-)



Flora and fauna notes: It was great to see the spring flowers blooming! Lots and lots of wild oats, a number of maroon trillium, white, yellow and purple violets, a few rose twisted stalk, several patches of trailing arbutus, a few Spring Beauties, blooming hobblebush, and some Blue Bead Lilies beginning to emerge from their leaves. I did not have much success with my flower shots, but did manage one of this Spring Beauty:



Saw one Turkey vulture soaring overhead, as well as many juncos and chickadees. I was hoping for some other birds, but either they weren't around or I missed them as I was too busy talking!

And finally, who wouldn't want to see a photo of Snowman with a sushi bandaid! And who would have known they even made sushi bandaids?!