When this blog began, Bailey Tuckerman Kent was an 8-week-old Bernese Mountain Dog living in the western mountains of Maine with his writer dad, Rich. These are their stories.... and don't forget, click on most photos to enlarge.
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| Azi's pizzeria. |
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| Celebrating COVID Quarantine |
Gabri and Azi have been sidelined from school because of a close contact with a COVID-positive teammate from the soccer team. It happened on Friday on the bus ride home. They're here... all day... for the next 6 days.
On the up side, I got out of the house to hike Whitecap in the rain as opposed to taking other hostile actions. We were the only ones on the mountain and the canopy of trees kept me from getting soaked. There's nothing like a rain hike.
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| Azi trying beans and hot dogs. Gabri wouldn't give them a try. |
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| Bailey sitting on the former captain of my soccer team, Richard Todd. |
 Rain Dog |
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| Tonight's meal: lasagna. Never feed Italian food to a teenaged Italian. |
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| Loving my rainy day hike. |
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| Click on photos to enlarge. |
We headed off to Black Mountain again to explore new territory. We need up on a trail parallel to Beliveau Road where I took my team to road ski in the 1980s and 1990s. The ATV trails are in good shape, though there are drainage issues here and there.
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| Broken down |
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| Near the Polar Bear Clubhouse |
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| Mount Blue, Weld Click on photos to enlarge. |
We're on a roll of good weather in western Maine. I notice a difference in Bailey's energy and love of the trail as we get away from summer's Triple H days (hazy, hot, humid). We just don't like June, July, and August anymore.
Hiking Black Mountain is plain old fun. Good views and sound footing, a heart-taxing up and a gentle down. And today, Bailey had plenty of water sources throughout the trek... he hiked like a boss.
We've still got Azi and Gabri, the exchange students with us, so no long-distance trips in The Rig yet this fall. We're hopeful that good families will surface soon and we'll head off toward Michigan and farther on. Fingers crossed on Prospect Avenue. Today, I wrote to Azi's grandfather, Tologon, a 76-year old hiker in Kyrgyzstan who send me a video message thanking me for taking in his grandson at the last minute. I enjoyed writing him today.
Brother Allen has spinal surgery today, and fingers crossed, the result will allow his legs to keep on carrying him on the tennis court and golf course.
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| Moxie... a hike to the glades, snow fields, and open trails. |
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| Bald Mountain and the Saddle in Weld. |
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| Warm up those treats, pal. |
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| Post-hike dinner for the boys and me. |
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| Glassface Summit is For Sale If you're on a computer, click on photos to enlarge. |
I've been looking for an access point to the Glassface summit for several years. Truthfully, I gave up on it a while back because it looked like a bushwhack ascent. Today, however, I went up a road I'd been on several times before and found a small side road between two private roads to the summit. And what was on the top? A for sale sign. Truth is stranger than fiction...
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| Snow mobile signs before the Glassface ascent. |
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| "There's water here! Time for muddin'." |
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| Maybe my favorite shot of Mt Blue... from the Glassface summit in Rumford |
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| Blueberry Mountain next to the Jacksons |
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| Bald Mountain in Weld and the Saddle with wind turbines |
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| Bald Mountain |
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| Bailey and Mt Blue from the summit |
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| Bailey and Mt Blue from the summit |
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| Tumbledown and the Jacksons in Weld from Glassface summit |
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| Nameless mountain to the southwest of Black Mountain |
 Proud boy post-hike... 4 hikes in a row for #145.  Map of the ascent. |
Talk about the quintessential September day in Maine. Holy flying cows. Seventy degrees, no humidity, Windex blue skies... Bald and Speckled Mountains are 25 minutes from home in the Milton Township bordering Rumford Point. They're right in the shadow of Mt. Zircon and at the backdoor of the Town of Peru. I wish everyone could have a hiking day like today's.
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| For years this sign has been wrong... it's Speckled. |
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| Shag Pond. |
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| Mount Washington |
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| Speckled. We did both last year. <-- That's the story. |
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| Little Concord Pond. |
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| Love these trees. |
