Roughing it on Tumbledown Mountain

I wanted to go on a quick hiking/camping adventure, and was lucky to persuade a friend to join me...mind you, there aren't many people my age that are interested in carrying all of their gear as they hike up a mountain.  Never mind sleeping in a tent with a thin sleeping pad as the only buffer between you and the hard earth!  I decided on Tumbledown Mountain which is in the Weld region of Maine.  It is 3,068 which was plenty high for us as we would each be carrying 20-25 pounds of gear on our backs!  It's quite a popular spot as it only takes about two hours to hike up, the views are spectacular, and there's a small pond at the top in which one can go swimming!  And so, we were off...

We were each carrying a tent, sleeping bag and pad, food, water (very heavy!) and some wine  of course!

Getting there!

We found a perfect spot to set up the tent!

We took the Brook Trail up as it's about 1.5 to 2.5 miles...and unlike the other trail, we could keep our packs on the whole time that we hiked, not have to climb ladders and/or go through holes.  Make sure to check out the different trails on the appropriate site and choose accordingly!  Anyways, one mile into the hike, things get pretty steep, and you need to climb over boulders and cross the stream 3 times.  But we managed and were rewarded with a beautiful view of the alpine pond as we approached the top.

I picked up this tent for $20....we were lucky that  we did not experience any unexpected inclement weather!

Brr!

Ah!  quite refreshing!

Om...

this is about as far as we can go....see the pond below

preparing a fire for dinner!

Kielbasa

some wonderful cheeses and breads that Clara Jean has purchased at a local farmer's market as well as these wonderful dilled green beans....it was all so ymmy!

oh, and some leftover pizza from Otto's in Portland....plus, we had wine!

Our new friends whom we'd met separately....the guys ended up being  old friends who  hadn't seen each other in years!

After a somewhat restless night, we are happy to head down the  mountain!  It was all lots of fun, but for me, one night is enough!  I needed a shower and lots of coffee!