View Full Version : Speck Pond Lean-to/Campsite
TJ aka Teej
06-28-2004, 21:51
A larger lean-to in a beautiful location. Six new tent platforms of varying sizes nicely situated along the A.T. as it rises away from the pond. No campfires - cookstoves only. AMC caretaker on site. Between Old Speck (4180', Maine's third highest peak) and Mahoosuc Notch on the highest pond in Maine. Extensive restoration ongoing, lots of rockwork and transplanting in the overused areas. The lean-to was rebuilt in 1978 and faces away from the pond due to the prevailing wind. A composting privy provides fertilizer for the replanted pines. Good water from a spring down the blue blazed Success Pond trail just beyond the caretaker's yurt. Excellent swimming in the leech free pond. $8 fee per person, credit cards (except Discover) accepted, a huge bear box for your foodbag, and there's occasional work-for-stay available.
walkin' wally
06-29-2004, 20:19
I stopped there last September ( 2003 ) after doing Mahoosuc Notch and the Arm. Great location. I got there really too early for me to spend the afternoon so I pushed on to my truck at Grafton Notch. The caretaker was a nice person but I wanted to do more miles. I really did not want to pay either but I would have if I had arrived later.
I met some really nice thru-hikers along that stretch. Constant Motion, Leap year, Wizard, Oopala,and Commander in Chief.
There are some great views in that section. It is interesting looking over to the outlet of Speck Pond and seeing sky just above the small trees.
"on the highest pond in Maine". . Yes, that's what the guide book says, but on the map Chimney Pond on Katahdin seems higher. Maybe we should just say "the highest pond in Maine directly on the AT". Anyway, it's a delightful overnight stop. Thru-hikers had no difficulty with work-for-stay when I visited a few days ago.
Walt
magic_game03
07-28-2004, 16:14
I could be wrong but topozone.com list Chimney pond at 2914 ft and my guide book list speck pond at 3500 ft. my sources are:
topozone.com
UTM 19 506856E 5084539N (WGS84/NAD83)
elev. 2914 ft. Chimney pond
ALDHA thru hikers' companion 2001
p. 144 Maine section
elev. 3500 ft. Speck pond
magic_game03
07-28-2004, 16:19
oh by the way for the original post, speck pond has to be one of the most beautiful places along the Appalachian trail, especially for nobos because you get to spend the day in the mahoosuc notch and climb out of it up to a mountain top pond. a day full of excitement!
Magic--
I stand corrected.
Walt
I could be wrong but topozone.com list Chimney pond at 2914 ft and my guide book list speck pond at 3500 ft. my sources are:
topozone.com
UTM 19 506856E 5084539N (WGS84/NAD83)
elev. 2914 ft. Chimney pond
ALDHA thru hikers' companion 2001
p. 144 Maine section
elev. 3500 ft. Speck pond
oh by the way for the original post, speck pond has to be one of the most beautiful places along the Appalachian trail, especially for nobos because you get to spend the day in the mahoosuc notch and climb out of it up to a mountain top pond. a day full of excitement!
Speck Pond has long been one of my favorite spots on the Appalachian Trail. I visited it first in the 1960s when the only route was the old Fire Warden Trail, which was considered the longest continuously steep trail in New England -- straight up from Grafton Notch.
I was accompanied by a jogger, who worked as an editor at the newspaper where I was a reporter. When we started down from the summit of Old Speck back to Grafton Notch I was sort of jumping from rock to rock (I could do that then) when on an impulse I looked back to see the jogger agonizing way back on the trail.
I've stopped at Speck Pond many times since -- though sadly not since I did the trail in 1993. A couple of times on winter trips. One February, I remember distinctly. I was sadly out of shape. I arrived at the shelter after dark, after tumbling down the last steep drop head first in the deep snow.
Though the Mahoosucs in Maine are state lands, I've always considered them a little bit mine. Around 1975, three years or so after I began a series of newspaper stories claiming that Maine owned 400,000 acres that it had forgotten about, Brown Paper Co., one of the claimants of the land, offered to settle out of court.
The state's negotiator called and asked, "What does Brown own that we want?"
My reply: "The Mahoosucs." The state didn't get all that I had hoped, but that and later additions created a public preserve of 45,000 acres stretching from the New Hampshire border to the East B hill Road, north of the Baldpates.
Weary
Has the fact that Speck Pond is a beautiful place been mentioned?
Anyways... I always enjoy my visits to Speck. My last and most memorable was the morning of my last birthday when I awoke to a mid October nor' easter blowing wind and dropping buckets of rain throughout the Whites and western Maine. I was finishing a southbound section hike of Maine but decided to cut it ten miles short rather than hike into the Mahoosuc Range alone during the fierce storm. The hike out to Berlin NH on the Speck Pond Trail was still a wet and wild adventure but I loved it.
Linesman
05-13-2009, 20:12
The shores of speck pond are a great place to sit and relax. Nice place for echos (as long as people aren't sleeping!) If I remember correctly there is also a beautiful mossy spring with good water. All around awesome spot. If you climb Old Speck make sure to also check out the fire tower.
screwauger
07-04-2009, 22:12
Headed to the Speck Pond Trail off Success Pond Rd in the morning. Been to the summit and saw the fire tower two years ago from the Grafton side. Been hiking all over the area this summer....toss up for me between this hike and the Carlo Col- Goose Eye loop...choose the arm/pond/tower/awesome..bed soon, early start...wish me luck!!! So much water though, not looking to ford so hopefully rock hoppin will do!
Scewauger
screwauger
07-04-2009, 22:25
Headed to the Speck Pond Trail off Success Pond Rd in the morning. Been to the summit and saw the fire tower two years ago from the Grafton side. Been hiking all over the area this summer....toss up for me between this hike and the Carlo Col- Goose Eye loop...choose the arm/pond/tower/awesome..bed soon, early start...wish me luck!!! So much water though, not looking to ford so hopefully rock hoppin will do!
Scewauger
My first post and I spell my user name wrong. Sweet. Time for a sig:banana