Hiking in Maine with Kelley: 8/8/10 Western Mountain Loop

Monday, August 9, 2010

8/8/10 Western Mountain Loop

A nice Sunday in August so we decided to do the western mountains to avoid the crowds ( we saw no one until we got on the Great Pond Trail where we met more people than I had ever seen on that trial). We started from the parking lot at the pumping station and took Cold Brook and the road to the Bernard S. Ridge trail and that over the mountain to Great Notch. They have apparently erected a new sign at Knight Nubble as I had not seen one before.

The section between Knight Nubble and Great Notch has several steep rocky spots that present problems for Kelley but today she solved them all herself. Mountain climbing dog!

Overlook on Bernard Mtn. Trail

Great Notch Trail took us down to the Great Pond ( Long Pond) Trail and Great Brook which Kelley scrambled down to for a cooling dip.

I am continually amazed at the variety of lichen we encounter.

Great Pond Trail offered a spot for lunch and a couple of swims for Kelley before we returned to our starting point. 3-1/2 hours

2 comments:

John WrightAugust 9, 2010 at 9:49 PM
The lichen resemble a map of central Europe. I'm just sayin'.
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JohnAugust 10, 2010 at 6:34 AM
I believe they are called 'map lichen'
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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, August 9, 2010

8/8/10 Western Mountain Loop

2 comments:

Kelley

Kelley Update

Kelley Update II

Kelley Update 12/31/11

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