Camden, Maine

Last week we drove up to Camden for a bit of hiking. Lucky for us, we were able to borrow a kid carrying backpack that Claire actually fit in, letting us finish a hike we wouldn't otherwise be able to. The carrier worked out perfectly, Claire slept just about the entire hike, and then woke up at the summit.














We planned on doing a second hike that has been recommended by a few of our friends, but some serious looking rain clouds kept us from doing it. However, we found out we could just drive to the summit, so we decided to do that, and then cook lunch at the top. It worked out perfectly. We took our time and the rain held off until we left. I'm sure we'll be back for more next summer.

Rangeley Weekend

This past weekend we went up to Rangeley, Maine for the annual Emergency Medicine resident retreat. I didn't come away with many pictures of the retreat itself which is probably for the best, but I think it safe to say everyone had a great time. Its a beautiful spot. The weather was kind of cold, dark and stormy Friday and Saturday, as the pictures show, but it didn't stop a few people from getting out on the lake with sunfish or to windsurf.




























Sunday was sunny and just a little chilly, a perfect day for a hike. Mike, Claire and I went to Saddleback Mountain and spent about three hours exploring the woods. The mountain is by far most popular in the winter for skiing, but the hiking is great too. The trail Mike found was perfect for us. Claire was able to be our fearless leader most of the time, with just a little help over the bigger puddles. She did great, especially for such a long hike.

Mount Douglas

Today we hiked Mount Douglas, and it was really fun. The hike itself was great, there were some pretty steep parts, but we managed to push and pull each other up, and the scenery was amazing. We saw gigantic moose tracks, I really should have put my boot in the picture or something for scale, because you really can't get a good idea of its size from the picture, but they were huge. Much bigger than Mike's foot.












We also saw A LOT of moose poop, which actually doesn't look at all like what I would expect. I didn't take a picture, but if you want, you can see what it looks like here, and depending on how much you like that, you might want to buy a pair of these. Made in Maine, you know. Unfortunately, we didn't see the moose itself, but if we had, we would have been prepared. Our friends from Alaska (Meghan and Jason) told us that you can easily hide from a moose behind a tree because their eyesight is not very good.

Anyway. There were some really pretty creeks along the trail. Some we could see, and some we could only hear, they were still covered by a crust of snow.



















It probably took us two hours to reach the summit, but it was well worth it. The view from the tower at the top was unbelievable. We were lucky enough to be there on a clear day and could see Mount Washington as well as other peaks, Lake Sebago, and the ocean. Beautiful. Then we took the more direct path down, which was much shorter (by about two hours), but also much more steep. I took a lot of pictures and had a difficult time deciding which to post here on the blog. You can see them here.