Hiking in Maine with Kelley: 12/21/09 Park Loop Road

Monday, December 21, 2009

12/21/09 Park Loop Road

A cold gray day. We intended to take a new (to us) route to the Asticou Trail from the Brown Mountain Gate House but when we arrived we found about 6 inches of new snow (we didn't get any in Bangor last night). We attempted to find the trail anyway--Kelley just loves fresh new snow and romped around delightedly- but we couldn't find the trail and my boots were filling with snow-in future I will keep my snowshoes in the car. Decide to drive over to the section of the Park Loop Road that is kept open in winter and walk on the plowed road. We started from near the Otter Cliffs parking lot (end of the open section) and walked to the entrance station ( other end of open section) and then returned to where we started but walked on to Otter Point and a little beyond-this part closed to cars and not plowed. 1 3/4 hours not counting the 20 minutes hunting for the connector trail.

Trees Near Brown Mountain Gatehouse

Park Loop Road

Trees Near Entrance Station

Otter Point

Abandoned House on the Way Home

4 comments:

John WrightDecember 21, 2009 at 8:13 PM
Nice. Did you meet any people on today's hike?
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JohnDecember 21, 2009 at 8:19 PM
Thanks. We only saw 7 cars and no people walking 'till near the end when we met some people from Atlanta who have come here for Christmas for the past 5 years.
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Jeanine W.December 29, 2009 at 11:42 PM
Beautiful pics. The old house shot looks like a Christmas Card.
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JohnDecember 30, 2009 at 6:00 AM
Thanks,Jeanine. Nice to hear from you.
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Kelley

Kelley was purchased along with two cats to be companions in a nursing home my wife owned. It became evident that she had a problem with her back legs and had pain. The vet said she had arthritis and she needed to lose weight and get lots of exercise so she came home and we gradually began hiking and put her on a diet. She improved to the point that she had no more pain and had an almost normal gait. When Mary left us we dealt with it by doing even more hiking and immersing ourselves in nature. Kelley did all of the peaks at Acadia as well as most others within a couple of hours of home. And I lost about 20 pounds. She loves to hike and will go as long as I will.

Kelley Update

A bit about how Kelley has been doing. You may be wondering why we are doing shorter and less strenuous hikes. In the story about Kelley above I indicate that the problem with her legs had pretty much been resolved. At the end of August last year I broke my ankle coming down from Dorr Mtn. and was not able to hike for 3 months and then we had a hard winter. This spring Kelley had a return of the arthritis problem in her back legs. She had to go back on medication and we could do little serious hiking. I think she lost some of the strength the vet thought was compensating for her problem. We have been building up the length of our hikes and Kelley is doing better and her medications have been cut way back. I am optimistic at this point that we will get back to the level we had reached before I broke my ankle.

Kelley Update 12/31/11

Kelley is doing well, hardly ever exhibits lameness or needs pain medication. She has been very excited the few times we got snow as she really loves to run in it. She seems also to have no problem with cold and is eager to be out in the woods whatever the weather.

1/24/12

Kelley continues to do well with slightly increased mileage. She seems better the more we do.

8/8/15 Update

It's been quite awhile between updates. Kelley is now 8 years old and does not seem to have the limberness she had achieved or the endurance. Occassionaly she lets me know she doesn't want to hike and we have a day off. We have also cut down the time per hike and I have been trying different times and hikes to find the best hikes/time so that she gets her needed exercise but doesn't overdo it. I wish she could talk. We still get out most days and right now an hour and a half seems about right but it's a continuing process.

Hiking in Maine with Kelley

The Rest of Our Hiking Pictures Can Be Found Here

Finding Trail Descriptions

Monday, December 21, 2009

12/21/09 Park Loop Road

4 comments:

Kelley

Kelley Update

Kelley Update II

Kelley Update 12/31/11

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