Trail: Old Speck via Eyebrow and Old Speck Trail

Date Hiked: 05MAY07

Conditions: Surprisingly little mud down low. Not much snow until the intersection of Eyebrow and Old Speck then progressively deeper. Up to five foot drifts still along ridgeline. Mashed potatoes and occasional postholes in the afternoon. Occasional nuisance blowdowns. Sign for Grafton loop trail on Summit still indicates it is closed.

Special Required Equipment: Postholeing was minimal so snowshoes are optional. Very little ice so other traction (crampons, yacktrax, etc.) also optional.

Comments: This mountain kicked my ass. Not sure if it was the deep snow, me being out of shape after a winter of easy VT mountains, being ill prepared, or the beers I drank the night before but Old SPeck Trail is a long trail of PUD after PUD. Almost as bad as Hi-Cannon trail in the rain. Fours hours up and two hours down. Saw three other people coming up as I was going down. A quick side trip to Screw Auger Falls is recomended. 53/67.

Pictures from side trips to Moose Cave, Mother Walker Falls and Screw Auger Falls are here.

The trail wasn't that steep but the steel rope helped anyway.

Didn't really need these bars to cross this little streem either.

Behold! The awesome power of a little snow! OK, a lot of snow.

The steps made this steep section wicked easy.

Interestering trail marker. Hard to see under the snow.

From under the Eyebrow looking up you can see the water drops hitting the sun.

Views from the top of the Eyebrow looking South through Grafton Notch
with Sunday River Whitecap in the background.

Old Speck from the Eyebrow trail.

Grafton Notch State Park parking lot from the Eyebrow.

This is right on the trail. Haven't seen a BM like this before.

A sharp turn in the trail just before the junction with the spur trail to the summit.

Very happy to reach this intersection.

Mt. Washington and Franconia Ridge from summit of Old Speck.

Sunday River Ski Area from summit of Old Speck.

Katahdin?

Old Speck 4170 feet summit benchmark. Interesting that it is in an erratic and not in bedrock.

Old Speck summit tower.

North American red squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

He seemed to like getting his picture taken. Maybe he thought I was going to make him famous?

Pictures from side trips to Moose Cave, Mother Walker Falls and Screw Auger Falls are here.