1/27/10 Ocean - Pond - Mountain

A beautiful day but we didn't know what to expect from the trails after all the rain so we decided to start from the end of Otter Cliffs Road which gave us several possible hikes. We started north on the Ocean Path and the Park Loop Road,alternating depending on amounts of ice on the trail.We then decided to try the Bowl Trail from it's start near Sand Beach. This was icy in spots but only required a little care to negotiate safely. Kelley was very happy as there was running water for her to drink and even a small open pool where she could lie down in the water.When we got to The Bowl we considered continuing on toward Champlain but that is a challenge for Kelley even in good weather so we turned back. Kelley continued to be quite excited, dashing about like a child not knowing what to do first ( she was off leash as there was no one about). When we got to the Gorham Mtn. Trail Kelley was anxious to give that a try ( she was 50 yards up the trail by the time I got to the junction) so we did. There were some stretches of fairly deep snow but the trail was not bad at all and we had lunch on the summit. I was a little concerned about the descent to the loop road ( in summer it's harder and steeper than the trail we had come up) but hadn't taken the southern aspect into account and it was actually the easier trail as much of the snow and ice had been melted. We took the park loop road back to where we had parked and met two guys with surfboards getting their equipment ready. Unbelievable! We found out where they were going into the water and could actually see them surfing but couldn't get a picture because of the trees. 3 1/2 hours



From The Ocean Path

Park Loop Road

The Bowl Trail

The Bowl


The Beehive From Gorham Mtn.

Kelley on Gorham- Looks like she needs sunglasses

Great Head from Gorham Mtn. Trail