An Appalachian Adventure, Bear bells.

An Appalachian Adventure.  Bear bells.

August and September 2014. 

It’s always exciting to pack for an adventure and this trip was no exception. We had travelled back from the Languedoc to gather our camping equipment and found myself at the first class check in a Heathrow with four rather bulging bags. We had an unlimited baggage allowance on our Air miles tickets and had improved our camping experience to include a slightly bigger tent this year. I think the poor girl checking us in thought she was missing out on some exclusive luxury travel and asked if she could join us. I smiled and said only if she didn't mind sharing her tent with black bears, bravely she replied she was up for the adventure!

We had spent many evenings planning with maps and a lap top and now we were heading out to our first camp The ADK mountain club wilderness camp at Heart Lake, in the Adirondack Mountains, North York State, http://www.adk.org/page.php?pname=wilderness-campground . 

An area of wild, tree covered mountains with endless trails and plenty of summits to enjoy the views from. Unfortunately that is the only way to see the views as the forests are so thick they encompass the whole mountain apart from a few metres bare rock around the lofty summits. The forest really are quite beautiful; full of wild flowers, chipmunks, and red squirrels and of course black bears!

I had encountered lots of bears on trips before and was well prepared with a bear bell attached to my backpack. The bears normally spend most of their time grazing on the berry bushes and it’s lovely to see them from a distance but they don't like being surprised, so a bell or my constant chatter is a must. 

I've come across families of bears doing just this in the past and even mountain lions but the berry crop was poor this year and they must have found another solution to fill their dietary requirements because we didn't see any. That wasn't to say we didn’t hear them at night in our next camp!

We climbed a number of beautiful peaks including Mt Jo, Phelps Mountain, Indian pass and Whales tail. There was so much to explore; Lake Placid (it does have an enormous man eating reptile dwelling in its depths by the way), the beautiful Saranac Lakes area and the Green mountains further to the east where we travelled next.

Well the Green mountains were green, very green. In fact covered in so many trees that it made it quite impossible to see anything else from the tops. So we enjoyed some fast flowing rivers, the most delightful villages full of little white wooden houses and churches, all built in the seventeen hundreds and the ruins of forts, both English and French as they fought to claim the flag for their nations. Quite a bloody past as there were Indians who also claimed the land and wild animals including wolf to deal with. Now “tamed” it’s very New England and was a peaceful setting for our next stop.

So if the Green mountains were green, one who have thought the White Mountains perhaps would have borne some resemblance to their name, but no, they were pretty green still. The mountains here are quite a lot higher and The Appalachian Trail cuts through them on its 2,181 mile journey south. It’s one of the longest continuously marked footpaths in the world, crossing through fourteen states. 

This part of the trail goes through the Presidential Range taking in Crawford and Franconia Notch state parks. Camping along the trail is the norm with a number of mountain cabins in this area making lightweight travel much easier. Wild camping is usually free in the USA and registration is either by entering your details in the trail book or by permit. Our first night in the area was spent in Crawford Notch campground. A little less basic with a pitch for up to eight people, toilets and even a shower. 

These campsites are wonderful for families too with a large wooden bench and a fire ring, a bargain at $20, bookable on line from the national parks website.http://www.nps.gov/index.htm. All you really need to take with you is a tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mat, a small cooker that attaches to a disposable gas cylinder and a saucepan/plates and cutlery.

Installed in our tent, having enjoyed a delicious meal cooked on the open fire we were happy in the recently acquired knowledge (from the ranger) that the bears had taken the hump and gone up into the mountains early this year as they had eaten all the available berries. We had a close bear encounter once before when the side of our tent had been pushed in by a large animal that neither of us had had the courage to evict from our humble abode. My husband had pulled the cord on the hood of his sleeping bag so tight, I could only see his nose and here we were again, with branches crunching and crashing about outside and only half a millimetre of nylon to separate us from his hunger. Fortunately I must have fallen asleep and the only thing that had eaten me in the night were a few midges.

Now if you are looking for a location that has everything except perhaps washing facilities and somewhere to hide when the biggest storm you can imagine that is emptying itself onto your tent, then Blackwoods campground in Acadia national park is the perfect place. Camping is not allowed anywhere else on the island, but the site can be booked on the same NP website. Acadia has a fantastic network of trails, climbs with ladders and cycle tracks. You can kayak in the sea or the many beautiful lakes and walk to remote beaches; their edges clad with tall pines and watch seals and porpoises. This was our last stop before working our way down the coast of Maine back to Boston. We didn’t complete the whole trail, that would take a couple of months, but we had a great adventure in some of America’s most beautiful states.