[at-l] Aug.23-27: Hiking along the Maine and New Hampshire border with Canada

[Sloetoe]

--- Papa Bear <papabear.nyc at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> Last Monday I got home after 5 full and tiring days
> in the border area of far western Maine and far
> northern New Hampshire.  I was continuing my Border
> Peakbagging that I had started in July 
###
Awesome awesome awesome pictures.
reminds me so much of 
http://www.cohostrail.org
but the memory of horrid swarms of mosquitoes and
blood gushing blackfly bites from '04 has started to
abate. (Yes, skeeter, I said *started*.) Bushwhacking
the border seems like all the good parts of the Cohos
without the really bad parts (which, because we
BAILED, were the majority of parts the boys and I saw,
according to official Cohos booster Skeeter J.
Baite)......

But awesome pics...... beautious.

sloetoe
> 
> After taking a bus to the Boston area and spending
> the night with my son and his family, I made the
> long drive up to Maine and then into Quebec on
> Wednesday. I spent part of Wednesday afternoon
> climbing a boundary peak near Mont Gosford. 
> Thursday I spend more time climbing Mont Gosford and
> one of its sub peaks.  Friday I spent a long day on
> the woods roads, boundary swath and bushwhacks going
> from Le Petite Lac at the foot of Marble Mountain,
> to Twin Peaks (bushwhack), Barker (bushwhack) and
> all the way along the border to the Galloway Road. 
> That afternoon I drove over to Chartierville Quebec,
> then down and into the US at the point-of-entry in
> Pittsburg NH.
> 
> On Saturday morning Oncoman (aka Pierre, a hiking
> friend) met me at lake Francis State Park where I
> had spent the night and spent the day off of East
> Inlet Road.  Together we bagged the Crown Monument,
> Mount d'Urban and on to Boundary Pond.  Oncoman then
> went on to bag Trumbull and Salmon while I took the
> 5 mile short cut  back to the car via East Inlet
> Road.  Sunday morning, with rain threatening, we
> hiked along the border from Route 3 to Prospect
> Hill, and then went our separate ways home.
> 
> The weather could not have been better.  As the
> lower parts of New England got rain most of the
> weekend, there were cool temperatures, low humidity
> and a mixture of sun and clouds in the north
> country.  Only on Sunday did we fail to see the sun.
> And of course there were no bugs whatsoever.
> 
> A few thoughts:
> 
> The Boundary
> The border between the US and Canada (and I suppose
> Mexico as well) is a line defined by treaty with an
> area to each side which is called the "boundary
> swath" which is (supposedly) kept clear.  This
> section of the border was defined by treaty in 1842
> and was first laid out by the newly established
> International Boundary Commission (the "IBC") in
> 1845.  The IBC is still in operation and they are
> tasked with maintaining the boundary monuments and
> the boundary swath.  OTOH, the border patrol polices
> the US border to keep folks on one side or the
> other.  You don't generally see the border patrol in
> this area.  For that matter you don't generally see
> anyone in this area.  On the Mexican border I've
> heard things are a little different <-:  
> 
> Hiking along the boundary is not like hiking aslong
> a trail. Let me just say the terrain is highly
> variable - from easy flat walking, to unclimbable
> cliffs. And from trail-like conditions to very wet
> bogs, to piles of boughs and branches, and to
> sections that are so overgrown that you wouldn't
> even know you were on the boundary.  It is slow and
> tiring hiking from the steepness of the terrain,
> from the work of stepping over old dead wood and
> more recent cut branches, and from trying  to stay
> dry when crossing a boggy section.  
> 
> But I love it.  It is so remote that I met not one
> other human in the 5 days I was out. I did however
> see several moose and a porcupine. I climbed peaks
> few know are even there and seen views no one except
> another crazy like me has seen.
> 
> Goals reconsidered
> When I was planning this trip I guess I was still in
> my obsessive peak climbing, list completion mode and
> had laid out lots of peaks to climb and had lined up
> a full schedule for each day.  Well, I managed to
> accomplish at most half of my plan, due to reasons
> of time, overly ambitious plans, dense bushwhacks,
> natural obstacles (rocky roads), man made obstacles
> (washed out culverts), stupidity and just plain
> exhaustion.  I guess I get tired faster than in some
> other years because I'm a bit out of shape and dare
> I say it - I'm older than I used to be!
> 
> But I also came to the realization that I'm out
> there to enjoy myself and to enjoy the great
> outdoors, and not because something or some place is
> on some list.  The list, like a compass, is just a
> tool - one that helps to motivate you to see new
> places, or to see old places that are worth
> revisiting. The list is not the goal. I expect to be
> doing this for many years, so there's no point in
> hurrying. 
> 
> Enjoy the reports and photos.  There's a few photos
> in-line, a number of links to other photos and
> plenty more in Albums.
> 
> Compete report by day:
>
http://www.viewsfromthetop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14033
> Complete photo albums for all 5 days:
>
http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_August_2006_Boundary]Albums
> 
> 
> Best regards
> Papa Bear
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Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.