June 25, 2007
I get out of work at 3:30 in the afternoon. That means in summer when the days are long, sometimes I can get in a quick hike. Brent from work has joined me today as we headed up to Bald and Speckled Mountains. I've done this hike several times, but it will be Brent's first time on this hike and his first hike of the year. Here's the track from my Delorme GPS.
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Our first stop was Little Concord Pond.
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We made it to the 1692' summit of Bald Mountain.
Here's a view into the valley with Shagg Pond below.
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There's our next objective, Speckled Mountain.
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The trail dips into a col before beginning the steepest part of this hike.
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Looking northwest to Concord Pond
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Madison found a soft spot to rest on the summit.
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Brent and I took each other's picture on the 2,183' summit of Speckled.
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It was a very hot, hazy day, but the view was still nice.
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On the way down, we took a slight detour.
"I wonder if there is a view from that rock over there?" I asked Brent.
"Probably let's check it out," said Brent.
Sure enough there was.
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We turned around to find out someone had painted a large section of the rock white. It was quite a bit of paint, and we couldn't figure out why anyone would go through so much effort for apparently no reason. The best we could come up with was that someone wanted to see this spot from the valley somewhere.
????
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As we were in the col between Speckled and Bald, Madison went ahead. She had been chasing countless squirrels, chipmunks, and birds all evening. Then we heard her bark and yipe. I called for her and a couple minutes later she came back very sad. It was one of the worst things a dog can run into, a PORCUPINE.
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This happened once before with Snoopy about 4 or 5 years ago. It was like deja vu all over again. I knew not to try to pull them out myself. We quickened our pace to finish the hike, stopping just briefly at Little Concord Pond to let Madison cool off.
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I had Madison on a leash to keep her with me. She started pulling and pulling. She was on the scent of something. We walked around the corner. I couldn't believe it. There was another porcupine. I had a good hold off Madison's leash. She obviously didn't learn her lesson. She was ready to chase this porcupine as well. We finished our hike and began the drive back. I dropped Brent off and got home about 9:00 pm. Our veterinarian was closed so Lynn called the all night clinic we found when this happened to Snoopy. We made the half hour drive to Lewiston where Madison was promptly taken care of. Fifteen minutes and $185.00 later, she was fine. Apparently, this was cheap. The vet said it wasn't that bad. She had about 20 quills in her, and all were on the outside of her mouth. It is common for dogs to run into porcupines. Sometimes a dog can get hundred of quills with many of them inside their mouth. I guess it is the season for porcupines, as we were leaving someone else was bringing their dog in with the same problem. By the time we got home at 11:00, Madison was fine and devoured a very late supper.
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