Random Thoughts: A Short Getaway in Mt Blue State Park, Weld

We decided to take a short break from track meets and life in the big city of Hallowell for a few nights in quasi wilderness at Mt Blue State Park. The hour and a half drive up from Hallowell is really quite enjoyable and we pass through many small communities on secondary roads with rolling hills.

As we explored the campground and where amenities are located we looked down at the trail at a green leaf which then we realized was not a leaf but a beautiful luna moth! it stayed on the path long enough for Marty to go back to the camper for her camera and then for the iPad to be able to share this with you.

After our lunch we rode our bikes to the boat landing and beach, then followed a bike trail back to the camping area. This is a really nice campground, consisting of three loops; the one we're in is the lowest on the hillside and closest to the lake. We have also looked at other loops, looking for sites that would be great for camping with our family. We've also taken a hike through some interesting forest which had some boggy mucky stuff we dropped our feet into! The only wildlife we've seen was a small garter snake that David nearly crushed as we walked on a rustic plank walkway.

Side Note: On our bike ride we stopped at the interpretative center where two younger guys were busy working on programs for kids. They explained that they wanted to expand these programs and we were excited to learn that this park even had these programs. A other "benefit" at this park is boat rental! Kayaks with paddles and PFDs as well as canoes and rowboats! $3/hour per boat is a very reasonable rate.

Before dinner time and we enjoyed some adult beverages and listened to the rain on the camper roof along with some nice thunder.

Our bed time hours were spent listening to heavy rain and thunder and we were shutting windows and the door as the direction of the rain changed.

Monday morning we decided that we would ride our bikes into Weld and check it out. Our first hill was the one we needed to ride to get out of the park....humbling. Once on the main roads we rapidly became aware of the challenge that would face us when we returned. There were two very long and hills with steep sections that Marty knew would bring her off the pedals on the return trip. The roads, however, are pretty smooth and very light traffic so we didn't have to worry too much about that. Once in beautiful downtown Weld, David spotted a small bakery and as we pulled in he commented that he saw coffee urns! Ta da, we were in business.

Sorry we didn't get the name but it might have something like Marie and Fred's Bakery. What mattered most was that Fred had not only coffee but better yet, donuts still warm from the oven! We stayed there and chatted for well over a half hour before deciding that the dark clouds we were seeing might produce rain and we didn't want to get caught in that so hopped back on the bikes for the return ride. Once back at the campground we rested, had lunch, and then rented a tandem kayak from the park ranger. We walked to the beach, which is a quick 10 minutes and selected a sit-in kayak. We tried Marty in front and David in the rear and that didn't give David enough leg room. After switching we thought we were in good shape, but that was an illusion because the boat was impossible to steer. After crashing our paddles together and going nearly in circles we decided to take the boat back and try a "sit on" style, proved a much better choice even with no seat backs and only slots for our feet which were not close to what we needed. All-in-all we were glad to have tried the tandem because we know we would most likely not buy a hard shelled one similar to either one that we tried. We had wondered if a hard-shelled tandem would work for us on our extended camper trips, rather than our inflatable. Our experience today convinced us that the inflatable is the best route for us.

Tuesday found us with clear skies and we made the decision to hike up Mt Blue. It represents an elevation gain of 1800 feet over mostly rocky terrain. We did it though and found that two bottles of water in the heat was about right. We were leg weary at the end but felt this was an accomplishment for us as we took only 3 hours (vs the 2.5 the hiking book says for the average youngster) and that was with plenty of stops for just resting the legs and drinking water. There were four crews of Conservation Corps and another organization who were working on trail maintenance. Some of the workers were from Maine while others were from Pennsylvania and out west. We had a chance to chat with all of them.