I did something this weekend that I have never done before…I hiked my first 4,000 footer! {Gives self congratulatory pat on the butt back}
Hiking Old Speck
SL and I hit the road early on Sunday morning to drive 3 hours to North Oxford, ME to get our hike on.
Old Speck is one of Maine’s 4,000 footers that the Appalachian Trail runs through. We actually chose this hike because our friend’s sister is hiking the AT and he asked us to leave a little care package for her. I was also looking forward to a longer hike. Mt. Major (where we got engaged) is a favorite of mine but its super short and I knew Old Speck would be quite different.
We decided ahead of time to take the Eyebrow Loop up to the Old Speck Trail then follow the Old Speck Trail all the way down. I was nervous about this Eyebrow thing because the Google machine told me there would be cables, steel rungs and ladders.
WTF…Cables? Steel rungs? Ladders out in nature?
I was nervous for sure – like palm-sweaty nervous – but I had my cute Lulu shorts on and a cute Maaji headband on so I wo-manned up and got over it. And I am glad I did because it was an amazing experience. The Eyebrow Loop ascends quickly so right off the bat there are speck-tacular views (<– HAD to do it!)
(SL will kill me for putting this on the internet…#sorrynotsorry…that face is too good!)
The ladder turned out not to be such a big deal. It was like 6 rungs. Now back to the VIEWS!
This was taken just 20 or 30 minutes into our hike and it already looked like we were damn near the top of world. We weren’t. So SL and I mushed on and finally hit the point where the Eyebrow Loop ends and meets up with the Old Speck Trail which is part of the Appalachian Trail.
The Eyebrow was a challenge and I kind of thought we would coast up the rest of the way but I was dead wrong. This whole hike was challenging but absolutely beautiful! Every time I thought I wanted to just give up and drink a glass of sauvy-b I would turn the corner and see something like this:
That barely visible gray thing in the middle is the road we drove up on, now a mere squiggle amongst the trees.
We suck at selfies. I guess being 30 will do that to you.
After almost two and a half hours of straight hauling ass up Old Speck we made it to the top! First order of business, sandwich to the face. Luckily SL captured this moment on camera…and proceeded to post it on Facebook. Thank you for that.
Second order of business, climb the tower to really take in the views. Old Speck has a wooded summit which I think probably deters some hikers but not this gal. Climbing up and old fire tower with no fall protection was exactly what my already shaky, jello legs wanted to do!
No chance I was going to miss the these views though:
The top of the tower offer 360° views of including the Presidentials (and Mt. Washington!), Mahoosuc Notch, lakes and 4,256,328 trees.
And one damn near married couple <3
This hike was amazing and we celebrated with wings and beer/cider after. And then we had ice cream for dinner. That is what we call #adulting my friends.
Old Speck by the Numbers:
- 4,180 feet (Maine’s 3rd tallest mountain)
- 7.6 miles, roundtrip
- 5 hours, 3 minutes and 40 seconds roundtrip
- 2:25 ascending
- :35 minute lunch and taking in the views
- 2:03 minute descending
- 2,306 calories burned (according to my Polar watch/HR monitor)
- 6 hours in the car with SL and only 2 pit stops for me!
Until next time Old Speck xoxo
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