Vacation in the wilderness!

[Crankin]

I am so excited. We are leaving for Little Lyford Pond Camp in Maine on Wednesday, for 3 nights. It's an AMC site that used to be a logging camp. It was opened in 2003 and is sort of near Greenville, Maine. We'll be renting an individual cabin, with all meals provided for, family style in the community kitchen. They also put out stuff for you to make trail lunches. No electricity, cell service, or internet.
There is hiking, paddling, and mountain biking. We'll be bringing the mountain bikes, although that won't be the main focus of the trip. But, they do have unused logging roads we can ride, so I might have a stress free experience .
We plan to hike to the summit of Indian mountain (not a bigee to real hikers), do a shorter hike, and get some canoe time, in too. But, I am mostly looking forward to just being away from everything before all of the craziness begins.

[divingbiker]

I'm jealous! That looks like a great place to relax for a few days.

[spokewench]

sounds great! We just got back yesterday afternoon from a motorcycle ride around the area; left Wednesday afternoon, went across the Navajo Reservation to Window Rock; next day to Taos, NM across the res in NM; Next day from Taos to Gunnison, CO; next day to Durango CO and then back across the res to home in Flagstaff.

It was just so wonderful to watch the lovely scenery go by and just not have to do anything to get from here to there!

Lovely.

[OakLeaf]

Sounds great!

I'd go through withdrawal for a day or two, but then it would be great.

Have fun.

[Crankin]

I don't think I will go through withdrawal. I'll be tired from all that activity and from making sure we don't get lost on the trails... Yes, we have a GPS, thankfully.
Spoke, your post made me remember something from my younger days when you mentioned the "res." When I graduated from ASU, it was very hard to get teaching positions. We used to joke that we'd be "working on the res, in Chinle," because that was the only place that would hire us. Or the Revco in Papago Plaza.
Oops, I just dated myself. Neither Revco or Papago Plaza are there anymore.
Off to buy some serious insect repellent!

[emily_in_nc]

Oooh, have fun. Sounds like a cool vacation!

[MrsB]

We have a camper on land in Abbot which is also near Greenville. We are up there every other weekend and there is so much to do and see. We have hiked alot of the mountains up there. If you get a chance you could check out the B52 bomber crash site up by Elephant mt. Its really amazing that anyone survived the crash. There is wreckage all over the place. You could also climb Squaw Mt or Kineo Mt. If you do any geocaching with your gps theres tons of geocaches up there. We ride our mt bikes and our rode bikes up that way also. Its funny-when I get home I always feel like we dont have any hills around here compared to up there. LOL. If you are in the Greenville area you could also ride your mt bikes on the old railroad beds. Im sure you will have a great time. Enjoy your time.

[schnitzle]

Oh Crankin I'm so jealous, that sounds great! Have a fantastic time

[Crankin]

Got back a few hours ago...
This was really an excellent vacation, despite the fact I am not a super hiker or mountain biker. The camp was more beautiful than I expected. We got there around 2 Wednesday and unpacked, and went out on our mountain bikes, on the gravel/dirt road outside the camp. Well, it was only 5.2 miles, but there was about 400 feet of climbing. Getting up the driveway of the property was challenging, too. But, it gave me a chance to practice skills without any roots, etc. Going downhill, on the way back, a moose ran across the road, about 25 feet ahead of DH! Talk about scary.
Second day we hiked up Indian Mt., on a trail called Laura's ledge. We ascended about 1200 ft in 2 miles. Only the last .75 mile was a little tough. At the top, we were treated to a magnificent view of the distant mountains and lakes. The weather was perfect, about 75 and sunny. Coming down was quick and we got back to Lyford at noon, ate our lunches and headed out on the canoes. There are 2 ponds; you can canoe around pond #1, over to the second one, dock your boat, take your paddles, and walk down a trail for about 2 minutes, where more canoes are available. We paddled around pond #1 for quite awhile, saw a loon and several different kinds of butterflies, and then headed to pond #2. By this time, it was around 2:30 and we realized we were a bit tired and getting too much sun, so we headed back.
Day 3 we hiked part of the Gulf Haagas trail. We did about 4.7 miles round trip. It was not a lot of climbing, but a lot of roots and rocks, stream crossings. We hiked up to the second area with falls; this was some pretty technical, rocky climbing, but DH helped me up some of the worst and we were rewarded with a view of the "Grand Canyon of the east." Well, I wouldn't say it's the Grand Canyon, but it was awesome. Got back around 12:30 and ate our picnic outside. It had rained Thursday night, bringing fall-like weather on Friday. We walked down to the river and sat by the swimming hole for awhile and then read on the porch of the cabin until dinner.
All in all, there were only one teeny negative. The bath house has on-demand hot water heating for the showers and 2/3 days we showered, the water never got hot. Cold showers are OK in the summer, but definitely would not be OK if I was there for x country skiing. We were surprised there was also running water, with a sink in the cabin, and an outhouse behind the cabin, so we did not have to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night. However, again, the thought of going to the outhouse in 0 degrees has made me rethink going back to ski, even though I know it would be awesome. The food was good, and the people very interesting. Last night, another guest brought wine and we stayed and talked until about 10 PM, after dinner. I will definitely go back, but most likely, not for skiing.
Oh, and there was wireless in the wilderness, although I did not use it.

[Catrin]

Sounds awesome! Glad you had a great time!

[PamNY]

Crankin, that sounds like my kind of vacation. So glad you had a lovely time.

You've inspired me to think about a fall camping trip.

Pam

[Tri Girl]

Just saw this, Crankin. Sounds like a WONDERFUL vacation! Sometimes being "off the grid" is just what's needed. I thought I would have technology withdrawals during our 4 day Grand Canyon hike, but I didn't. I enjoyed the solitude, the quiet, and the peacefulness. It was bliss!!
So glad you had a great time. Sounds like the scenery was incredible, with so much to do and see. If you have pictures, please share. I've never been to that part of the country and would love to see what you got to see.

[Crankin]

I will put some pictures up later in the week. Just got home from my clinical supervision class and the stress has already begun!

[Crankin]

Here are some pictures

[Crankin]

I am ready to go back...