Whitecap Romp

Near the bottom of Whitecap Mountain after a quick up-down. 

To stretch our legs today we headed up to Whitecap to hike up to where the Black/White Trail meet. What I like about my new iPhone is the Trails.com app that allows me to track each hike and then show statistics for all of mike hikes for the past month.

About 30 days of hikes and their stats.

Ah, the good old days: Titcomb Ski Slopes, Farmington, Maine (Ski Area #3)

Remember to click on photos to enlarge. 

Climbing the slopes of Titcomb flooded me with memories. First, an Eastern Amateur Ski Association race back in the 1960s. I ran at the back of the race about #195. The ruts--the snow piles that created by racers pushing the snow to the outside--were 2- to 3-feet tall. If you're not as ski racer, you might think of the skiers pushing the snow and creating a kind of bobsled run. I also thought about my brother Fred and watching him as a ski racer win the Wes Marco Slalom Race, a traditional ski race held in Farmington on Titcomb Mountain.


After wandering the alpine trails, I walked along the cross-country ski trails. There's one spot that I remember well. My ski racer, Danny Greenleaf, a senior, was a top Maine skier who traded wins with an XC ski racer from Farmington named Mike Varulo. In the state championship meet in Farmington, the racers completed three laps and Dan and Mike went out together. The two of them went back and forth as leaders. On the third lap, Danny, a lanky boy, overtook Mike for the final time as they headed out for the third lap and Dan's eventual championship. Here's the photo of that moment.

Dan is bent over at the waist and in the white hat
is Mike Varulo... check out the quad muscles.  Below
is the same corner 34 years later.

Dan Greenleaf at Lake Placid NY
N.E. High School Championships 1985

In 1985, we were the State Champion Runners-Up in Class A Skiing.

View from the top of Titcomb Mountain. 

Starting Hut for the UMF Ski Team. 

      

Climbing Burke Mountain, Vermont (Ski Area #2)

Willoughby Gap from Burke Mountain

As we continue to hike ski areas, we turned The Rig to Vermont and Burke Mountain in the Northeast Kingdom. East Burke is about 107 miles from home. Our first 70+ degree hike, Bailey did well with the water we found on the trail. We headed up the 3-mile Red Trail; the hike took 1:20 to summit. The trail isn't severe but the hiking is steady with spring mud here and there. I'd never been to Burke Mountain, but I have worked at the ski academy, Burke Mountain Academy where Olympic Champion Mikaela Shiffrin went to high school.

We met a crew of four plus a friendly dog at the top of the ski area. They gave us directions to a different way down. The trail hiking wasn't bad on the way up, but the mud and slippery roots could have been an issue for both of us. We hiked down hitting both the Toll Road and the ski slopes. At the bottom we got misplaced and wandered on the single track mountain bike trail for a bit (almost getting nailed) and then on the ski slope until we landed at the lodge. I figure we were misplaced for 25 minutes.  Don't forget... click on pictures to enlarge. 

Trails.com Recording of the hike. It's one of the reasons I bought an iPhone with a GPS.
I love capturing the distances and more. 

Get out of my way! I'm going in. 

Snow roll heaven

Mud and water... what could be better? 

Ski slope after summit. 

Summit shot of the Green Mountains

Weathered picnic bench at the summit 

Funny Glades name... Why Not? Because it's steep and filled with trees! 

Mini Road Trips

Smalls falls (Rangeley Region) 

This past week we did Whitecap Mountain for the umpteen time and then a typical loop around Height of Land, Rangeley, Smalls Falls, and Center Hill in Weld. We took The Rig for the mini road trip and ended up eating dinner on Center Hill in Weld.

Whitecap water crossing.


Height of Land




Byron Notch