Caribou Mountain

Today, Michelle and I climbed Caribou Mountain in Maine. We ascended on the Caribou Trail and descended on the Mud Brook Trail. Total distance - 6.9 miles, total time - 5 hours and 8 minutes.

I knew this was going to be a terrific hike before we'd even left the parking lot. While we were trying to decide where to start, I caught a glimpse of movement in the woods. A cow moose wandered by, followed by a giant bull moose. The bull moose was looking to get lucky and the cow was trying desperately to shake him off. They never got close enough for good pictures, but they wandered around the woods behind the lot for several minutes. If I were to see nothing else all day, it would have been a great hike! This was my first moose sighting in the wild since moving back east.

The good news for us was that the whole hike was amazing. We'd been told that the Caribou Trail as beautiful, and it was. We lost track of how many waterfalls we saw. The trail was supposed to be an easy one, but all the rain has made it quite soggy. And, we crossed any number of streams. 

I also saw a very cool

 pink lichen.  I've never seen anything like it before, and neither had Michelle.

Caribou Trail connected to Mud Brook Trail at 3.0 miles.  Mud Brook continued to climb to the summit of Caribou Mountain.  At the top, it was difficult to find the trail, but we saw what we'd come for.  365 degrees of open view and lots of fall color. 

The descent on Mud Brook Trail was a difficult one.  According to the guide book, Mud Brook Trail was named for the Brook and not the Mud.  It was, however, a pretty steep and muddy trail.  I fell several times and wound up with a shoe full of muck.  By the time we finished, we were really bushed.  

We've voted this our favorite hike so far, and look forward to walking this trail at other times of the year.  Cheers to Yvonne for turning us on to this hike.

Sylvan Way

Michelle and I hike every Monday, on my day off. I've decided to document our adventures here. (Which also helps me to have some discipline about writing here more regularly!)


The Sylvan Way trail in Randolph both starts and finishes in the middle of the woods. In order to hike it, you have to get to it. We began at the Howker Ridge Trail, climbing for about a half mile, before we came to the trail intersection.


Sylvan Way is flatter than much of what we've hiked here so far, with only a 250' elevation gain. The trail is known for its number of waterfalls, passing five or six falls over it's 1.7 mile route. Some were quite spectacular, like Coldbrook Falls (second photo).


The end (or, perhaps the beginning if you start at some other trailhead, which we never could find) of the trail is at Memorial Bridge. Memorial Bridge is a gorgeous stone bridge, crossing Coldbrook Stream. It was a great place to stop for lunch. The first photo shows Michelle and Birdie on Memorial Bridge.


We're looking forward to exploring this trail again, in different seasons, and on snoeshoes. We're also looking forward to trying some of the other trails that criss-cross the area.