ChileMass
Active member
Trail - East Royce Trail
Location - Evans Notch (WMNF), ME
Date - Friday 7/15/05
Degree of Difficulty - Moderate + (3.0 mi roundtrip, 1700' vertical)
Conditions - Sun, some mud from T-storms night before
The plan was to do the Baldface loop (ascend South, traverse to North, descend to Emerald Pool, per Michael J's suggestion), but we didn't get on the road and to the trails until way late, so my buddy Dan and I had to do the fallback route, East Royce, which is much shorter and would get us back to our campsites on Lake Sebago in time for dinner with the families. You gotta have priorities, right?
And it's probably a very good thing we didn't try the Baldface loop (almost 10 miles, 3600' vert) because it was pretty evident right away that neither of us had had enough leg workouts to date this year. The AMC White Mtn Guide says East Royce is a moderate hike (1.5 mi, 1700' vert) that gets to ridgeline "rather steeply and quickly". Well - duh! I guess I need to learn to treat hikes that average more than 1000' of vert per mile with more respect. East Royce had our hearts pumping, the sweat pouring, and legs aching within the first 20 minutes. IMHO, the WMG is a great descriptive book, but it underestimates the degree of difficulty on most hikes. Well, maybe it's just me.
The trail itself is surprisingly narrow, and did not seem like it gets much traffic. The day was gorgeous (high 80s, low humidity, few puffy clouds), and there was a nice cooling breeze for the first half mile. We climbed steadily over many small streams and one large cascade (approx 60 feet). Dan and I stopped a few times and thought we heard voices ahead, but saw no one. It took us about an hour to break out onto the ledges looking east, and then shortly (1:25 total) got to the top, where we were greeted by a crystal-clear view west past the Carters, Washington and Madison all the way to Carrigain and the high points around Kanc Pass. The Baldfaces looked like you could reach out and touch them. The valleys on the east side of the Carters look so unspoiled, I have to get in there and check that area out.
Unfortunately, we were also greeted by 2 large groups - about a dozen Boy Scouts and their surly leader, and a dozen members from Summit Achievement just down the road in Stow, ME. These guys (and one gal) were out on a 4-day excursion, and had hauled unbelievably huge and heavy packs up the same steep trail Dan and I just came up. I felt pretty wimpy by comparison until one of the teen hikers admitted East Royce was short but intense. So I felt better. The scout leader, however, could just barely manage to mutter a response to our greeting. Having trouble with the troop? It's pretty unusual to find someone having that bad a day on the trail. I felt bad for the kids being stuck with such a grump.
Spent about 40 minutes or so looking at the view. On the way down, we ran into some USGS guys with a Motorola tech who had just replaced an emergency radio repeater up there on the summit and had to haul the old one out along with a bunch of test gear. The 2 USGS guys were young and enthusiastic, but were weighed down! The Motorola tech looked like he was thrilled to be getting paid to go out on a hike on such a nice day......
Evans Notch is great. Although we did run into a bunch of people up top, it's typically a nice change from the more-crowded areas of the WMNF.
Location - Evans Notch (WMNF), ME
Date - Friday 7/15/05
Degree of Difficulty - Moderate + (3.0 mi roundtrip, 1700' vertical)
Conditions - Sun, some mud from T-storms night before
The plan was to do the Baldface loop (ascend South, traverse to North, descend to Emerald Pool, per Michael J's suggestion), but we didn't get on the road and to the trails until way late, so my buddy Dan and I had to do the fallback route, East Royce, which is much shorter and would get us back to our campsites on Lake Sebago in time for dinner with the families. You gotta have priorities, right?
And it's probably a very good thing we didn't try the Baldface loop (almost 10 miles, 3600' vert) because it was pretty evident right away that neither of us had had enough leg workouts to date this year. The AMC White Mtn Guide says East Royce is a moderate hike (1.5 mi, 1700' vert) that gets to ridgeline "rather steeply and quickly". Well - duh! I guess I need to learn to treat hikes that average more than 1000' of vert per mile with more respect. East Royce had our hearts pumping, the sweat pouring, and legs aching within the first 20 minutes. IMHO, the WMG is a great descriptive book, but it underestimates the degree of difficulty on most hikes. Well, maybe it's just me.
The trail itself is surprisingly narrow, and did not seem like it gets much traffic. The day was gorgeous (high 80s, low humidity, few puffy clouds), and there was a nice cooling breeze for the first half mile. We climbed steadily over many small streams and one large cascade (approx 60 feet). Dan and I stopped a few times and thought we heard voices ahead, but saw no one. It took us about an hour to break out onto the ledges looking east, and then shortly (1:25 total) got to the top, where we were greeted by a crystal-clear view west past the Carters, Washington and Madison all the way to Carrigain and the high points around Kanc Pass. The Baldfaces looked like you could reach out and touch them. The valleys on the east side of the Carters look so unspoiled, I have to get in there and check that area out.
Unfortunately, we were also greeted by 2 large groups - about a dozen Boy Scouts and their surly leader, and a dozen members from Summit Achievement just down the road in Stow, ME. These guys (and one gal) were out on a 4-day excursion, and had hauled unbelievably huge and heavy packs up the same steep trail Dan and I just came up. I felt pretty wimpy by comparison until one of the teen hikers admitted East Royce was short but intense. So I felt better. The scout leader, however, could just barely manage to mutter a response to our greeting. Having trouble with the troop? It's pretty unusual to find someone having that bad a day on the trail. I felt bad for the kids being stuck with such a grump.
Spent about 40 minutes or so looking at the view. On the way down, we ran into some USGS guys with a Motorola tech who had just replaced an emergency radio repeater up there on the summit and had to haul the old one out along with a bunch of test gear. The 2 USGS guys were young and enthusiastic, but were weighed down! The Motorola tech looked like he was thrilled to be getting paid to go out on a hike on such a nice day......
Evans Notch is great. Although we did run into a bunch of people up top, it's typically a nice change from the more-crowded areas of the WMNF.
