The Best Walk

My last couple of posts were a bit off base. This site is mostly about the enjoyment of walking. It’s also about walking for fitness. It is not about dieting - particularly my diet! Sure, walking is relevant to my diet. But, it’s not of interest to this site’s visitors - nor should it be. Temporary insanity? Maybe. As a result of my wakeup, in the future I’ll think before I post.

OK - enough of that. What’s next? There will be more posts of local walks (Cape Cod and Central, MA), but also…

• Next weekend two of my son’s and I will be hiking in Northern Maine. We’re staying in the town of Jackman, near the Canadian border. We’ll spend Saturday walking through Maine’s scenic countryside. A story will be posted from there if there’s internet service at our lodge. Then on Sunday we’ll white water rafting.

• In three of four weeks I’ll be traveling to Tel Aviv, Israel. Not sure what to expect there - but I’ll definitely make time time for a walk or two. Unless the trip is canceled, that story will be posted by the end of August.

• In October there will be a trip to Italy to visit my son and his family. That will involve several walks. My enjoyment of walking allowed me to develop a better appreciation of the Italian countryside.

Thank you for your patience. And, stay tuned!

Filed under: Weight Loss on August 1st, 2007 | No Comments »

Planning the Trip

This could be one of the best walks ever! But, you ask, “Where is Jackman?” It’s near Canada. We went through it once before on the way back from Quebec City. Other than knowing we passed through there once, I know very little about it. However, this weekend tow of my son’s and I will be going there Friday night. With any luck, we ‘ll be on the road at noon and get there before dark. The plan is to walk, hike, and swim all day Saturday. Then, on Sunday we’re booked on a white water rafting trip. Why am I writing about this in advance? I’m excited about it!

My research shows that there are many good walking and hiking areas. Those will be listed, but first a bit about Jackman compliments of www.kvcog.org/Towns/jackman.htm:

Jackman, the Switzerland of Maine, is located just 16 miles south of the Canadian border, and 73 miles north of Skowhegan on U.S. Route 201 in the Moose River Valley. The Town is 41 square miles and is located primarily along U.S. Route 201 and State Route 6 & 15. The Town is a commercial center for a large extent of unincorporated area surrounding it, and for travelers on Route 201. It is also a seasonal resort area. In the summer Attean Pond, Big Wood Pond, and Long Pond as well as the Moose River provides water recreation such as fishing, canoing,kayaking, and swimming, Jackman also is in close proximity to a Class IV rafting river with one rafting company being based in the Moose River Valley. Mountain biking and hiking transcends the seasons with both being available in the spring as new growth blooms, the summer with the unrivaled natural beauty of the area on display, and in the autumn when nature is in her glorious colorful finery. (It should be noted that Jackman’s foliage season is from mid to late September into October, about two weeks earlier than southern Maine.) Autumn also provides for excellent opportunities for the sportsman with various hunting seasons available. In the winter Jackman offers cross-county skiing as well as an extensive regional snowmobile trail system that links to other areas in Maine as well as to trails in Quebec. Jackman’s close proximity to Quebec provides for easy day trips to Saint George and Quebec City which can provides unique cultural experiences.

Jackman is surrounded by the most majestic mountains, most of which have a designated trails to hike and climb. The trails take you through incredible forests, over varying terrain and up to amazing scenic vistas. There are many trails that offer moderate to strenuous workouts and are each clearly marked. For specific directions, please ask your host or contact the JMRRCofC. Pack a picnic lunch to enjoy while you soak in the views at the summit. Don’t forget to take a camera! And remember to take along the appropriate gear for navigation and weather changes and of course, plenty of water.

Now to plan the trip. Here the choices according to www.jackmanmaine.org/maine-hiking.php:

Hiking Trails in the Jackman and Forks area

(Trail information by Christopher Keene “North Woods Walks”)

Sally Mountain

4.8 miles

Moderate challenge

Captain Samuel Holden, the first to call this remote region home in 1820, looked out over the quiet waters of Wood Pond at an unnamed mountain. One day, he took his young daughter’s hand, looked into her eyes and said, “That’s your mountain now. That’s Sally Mountain” Blueberries flourish up here during late July to early September so you’d better pack an appetite.

Boundary Bald Mountain

2.6 miles

Strenuous challenge

The hiking trail was built in 1911 and used to reach the wooden fire tower. Now a radio repeater station sits in its place on the open summit. (3,640feet)

Coburn Mountain

3,718 feet

Strenuous challenge

Tallest of all mountains between the Bigilow range to the South and the peaks of Baxter State Park; It is nicknamed Enchanted Mountain. Your vehicle needs to have good clearance to get to the trail. The 24 foot steel fire tower on Coburn was built in 1914 but was crushed in 1938 by ice. Abandoned until 1966, rebuilt, and in 1968, high winds blew off the cap. In 1999 it was repaired and the platform is now sturdy enough to stand on while you take in the views.

Cold Stream Falls

A short drive from the Coburn trailhead. It is not the largest, nor the most majestic, but it is the most remote. A cool dip in the pool after the hike may be what you need.

Burnt Jacket Mountain

1.5 miles

Moderate challenge

This mountain is visible from US 201 when approaching Jackman, a clumsily shaped ridge is located just six miles south east of the Canadian Border. The hiking trail leads to open summits from which there are dramatic views of the Moose River Valley

Moxie Falls

0.6miles

Very Easy

One of the highest set of falls in New England: the main drop is over 80 feet, which plummets into a deep slate gorge.

So where are we going. Well, we’re pretty sure we’ll combine Sally Mountain and Moxie Falls to get the best mix of exercise and scenery. Watch for the photos next week! After Sally Mountain and Moxie Falls? Well, we’ll just keep walking.

Filed under: Maine on August 6th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Captain Samuel Holden was the first to call this remote region home in 1820. He looked out over the quiet waters of Wood Pond at an unnamed mountain until the day he took his young daughter’s hand, looked into her eyes, and said, “That’s your mountain now. Sally Mountain is located in Jackman, Maine. A walk to the top and back is 4.8 miles and the climb is listed as a moderate challenge.

Last Saturday (8/11/2007), two of my sons (Mark and Brian) and I climbed to Mount Sally’s summit. One of the first challenges was getting accurate directions to the trail head. It’s shown on a local map and the couple at the lodge we stayed at gave us directions. But we drove up the entrance road without being able to relate it to the map or the description. But asking a local passing by solved the problem.

We drove to another entry road where we parked outside a gate. The “parking area” would hold three cars at best. Our car was the second to park there, but we didn’t see another person until we returned from the hike. We walked through the gate down a grown over dirt road and a field taking us to railroad tracks. We followed the tracks for about two miles. We crossed a bridge and then started looking for the trail on the right. My son Brian spotted the trail - a directional sign in the weeds confirmed it. We had arrived at the trail head.

Along the entry way to the trail there was a short wooden boardwalk to keep us out of the mud. This was evidence that the trail was maintained. From that point on it was purely a natural environment. In August everything is in full bloom making the trail itself very scenic, but it blocks the lower views. We would have to wait for the summit for that.

Due to the narrowness of the trail, we walked quickly through along the narrow trail in single file. The first stretch was easy and it took us a while to realize that we were slowly going uphill. I would say maybe a third of the hike was like that. Then it became very clear that we were climbing and walking over rocks. No big surprise, after all we were going up a mountain.

It was in the last section that we felt we should question the “moderate challenge” classification of Sally Mountain. Every step brought quickly brought us higher and higher. Two of the three of us could have been in better shape for this climb and I was one of the two. As a result we stopped to rest more frequently and drank more water, but we kept going.

We continued to climb and take breaks. The climb grew steeper and a bit later we were standing at the summit looking out at the great views. We spent some time walking around the mountain top taking pictures. The map showed that the trail continued down the other side and eventually up another mountain. Not knowing exactly where we would end up, we went down the same way we came up.

The Descent was easy and no rest stops were taken. Before long we were leaving the railroad tracks and heading towards the car. Except for a couple of exhaustion attacks, we thoroughly enjoyed the hike - the views, the exercise, the good company.

It was about 11am when we left this area. From there we drove to Moxie Falls for the next walk and the subject of the next post.

Filed under: Maine on August 15th, 2007 | No Comments »

One of the largest waterfalls in the New England…

Last Saturday my two sons, Brian and Mark, hiked up Mount Sally in Jackman. From there we drove to The Forks where we would walk to Moxie Falls and swim in the pools at the bottom. As mentioned in the previous post, walking up Sally Mountain was great. So was Moxie Falls - here’s why…

We had read that Moxie Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the New England area. It stands at over 90 feet and is located in beautiful wooded area. Around the falls is a network of trails to other nice areas. The walk from the parking area is short, but long enough to enjoy it. On the approach to the falls there are strategically located wooded decks to allow the best views.

There we swimmers above and below the falls. Swimming above the falls didn’t appeal to us for obvious reasons, but we definitely wanted to go for a swim. To enter the water below the falls we needed to climb down a steep hill. We walked down a narrow trail then we used a tree roots for stairs to a boulder. We had to carefully maneuver down the rock to avoid going into a slide. Next we used rocks as stairs to the bottom. After removing our shirts, shoes, and socks it was time for a swim.

For the most part the pool was shallow and there was a strong current particularly in the center. A swim to the middle took you quickly downstream about 30 feet. And, it was fun! The closer we went to bottom of the falls, the stronger the currents were. This was quite a swim! It was both refreshing, interesting, and fun. The pool was loaded with rocks of all shapes and sizes. This took a little getting used to - it was pretty easy to bump into a rock. After a while we we completely comfortable with the pool and we took turns letting the stream carry us. Hey - you don’t get to do this every day!

As we put our clothes back on we looked up at the climb. We saw that not far from the boulder we came down on there was a weaving set of tree roots - similar to what we saw near the top. We simply used the roots as stairs and went to the path at the top. From there we took another look at the falls and snapped a few more photos.

The walk back to the parking lot completed Saturday’s walking. Saturday night we sat around a campfire. The next day we would board a raft and travel down the Kennebec River. My son’s and I were having a great time.

Filed under: Maine on August 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

What’s White Water Rafting have to do with walking?

Well, come to think of it, absolutely nothing. So if it doesn’t relate to The Best Walk’s agenda (walking), why write about it? The answer is that it relates to the previous posts revolving around a recent trip to Maine. It was the rafting trip that brought us to Jackman Maine and provided us with a day of walking - then a day of rafting. Make sense? Well, I tried.Two of my son’s and I arrived in Jackman Maine on a Friday Night. We spent Saturday walking and hiking. Then we spent Sunday traveling down the Kennebec River.Our rafting trip was booked two weeks earlier with the Windfall Outdoor Center. And as it turned out, Windfall was an excellent choice! They were well organized and made the trip fun. The trip started Sunday Morning at the Windfall headquarters which about a two minute ride from our lodge. We were greeted by one of the guides who instructed us to go in a sign a legal document that says that if anything goes wrong - it’s not Windfall’s fault. This is typical. We signed the same type of document last Winter before snowmobiling. Then they had us try on our life jackets and select a paddle. The guide laughed as I picked a “right handed” one. Then we were given a twenty minute talk about about what to expect, what to do, and what not to do. Not only was the talk instructional - it was entertaining.

On the bus ride to the river the offered us a glass of water and promptly spilled it on us. The apologized, then splashed some more water on someone else. About half way down the aisle a full blown water fight broke out. All part of the adventure. The bus parked at a lot with another twenty of so buses in it. We the went with a guide to select a raft and carry it to the river. A few minutes later we were in the water. About ten minutes later we were in rapids.

The first rapids offered two surprises:

1. The height of the water and
2. No one fell off the raft!

The guide had told us to keep paddling upon her command and that the force of our paddles pushing the water would push us towards the raft. I forget to mention earlier that you don’t sit in the raft - you sit on the edge of it with your feet tucked under cushion.

In a couple of minutes we were into more rapids. This time the waves pounded our raft. We were pushed up then down. No one was dry at this point. On of the rafters was was thrown to the floor, but again no one fell out. We left those rapids with the next rapids ahead of us. At this point I could only think of one thing: This is great!

The next two or three rapids were increasingly more difficult to navigate, and increasingly more fun. This had all of the excitement of a roller coaster ride but the natural setting made this special. Our guide pointed to photographers along the river banks. We were on camera!

Up ahead we could see another couple of rafts disappearing into the waves. At that point our guide told us to get ready. We were about to go over a falls. Along the river banks we could see that there was an oversupply of photographers - a clear sign that we were about to have one hell of a ride. In a minute the front part of the raft went down and the back went up. The waves came over us and we were instructed to keep paddling. The rapids the pushed us hard to the right and there was another set of waves. We paddled hard again and then that part was over.

We stopped for a lunch supplied by the rafting company. As we put back in we were able to jump in and let the water carry us. One of my sons took an inflatable kayak for a ride along side our raft. Then we got into a couple of water fights with another raft. At this point the only rapids were the small ones. The end of the ride wasn’t far away. It had been a great day. The sun was shining and the scenery was great. The river and the rafting company had provided us with a great experience!

Filed under: Maine on August 28th, 2007 | No Comments »

Encourages Overweight Americans To Step Up To Better Health

From: www.medicalnewstoday.com

What if someone told you, you could walk your way to better health? With 65 percent of American adults considered to be overweight or obese, walking may be one way to battle the bulge. However, if you lack motivation, a prescription to walk may be just what the doctor ordered. That’s the premise behind a 48-week pilot walking program conducted by 16 member physicians of the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA).

The study, funded by APMA, examines two groups of nearly 250 overweight patients located across the country. The objective is to determine if a podiatrist’s care can make a difference in maintaining a long-term walking routine. The participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Group A participants will be given a written walking program and doctor discussions about the benefits of a walking program. These patients will be given a walking prescription which will include a 12 week calendar to document steps taken per day from the pedometer.

Group B patients will receive no walking prescription, no hand-outs, and no doctor discussions about the benefits of a walking program and will only be given a pedometer and instructions to walk. Body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, blood pressure and other health stats will be monitored on a regular basis for both groups. To qualify for the study, patients must be 18 years or older, at risk for obesity with a BMI of 27 or higher and cleared to participate in the study with no major health conditions, such as a heart attack, stroke or loss of sensation in the feet. Both groups will receive a free pair of Asics walking shoes to utilize in the study.

“Our walking study helps cement two important concepts,” said Dr. Bryan Caldwell, the principal investigating podiatrist in the study and a professor at the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine. “We have known for years the health benefits of walking, as well as the positive impact a podiatrist’s guidance can have on his or her patient’s health. We hope the combination of the two will result in a positive outcome for people who struggle with their weight on a daily basis and will ultimately save lives.”

Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. A poor diet and lack of physical activity are two of the biggest contributing factors. For this reason, podiatrists participating in the study will record participants’ weight and amount of steps every four weeks using software designed specifically for podiatric research and information sharing from Integrated Physician Systems.

Filed under: Weight Loss on August 30th, 2007 | No Comments »