The hike...

Saturday seemed liked a good day for a drive up Route 113 and a hike on Peary Mountain in Brownfield, one of the last "to-do's" on my list in that area.

The road in late morning was nearly empty and the ride most enjoyable, with time to think and look around and relax a bit.

A few miles past the intersection with Route 160 I turned off to the left on Farnsworth Road and followed the progressively rougher track for another 1 1/2 miles its end at the Little Saco River.

That's where the trail to Peary starts, on the left and thruough a gate.

It's an old woods road for nearly a mile, nice walking at a moderate grade.

The spring air was fresh and thick and smelled great. A bubbling stream kept me company for part of the way, as did black-capped chickadees and white-throated sparrows and the occasional woodpecker.

After crossing through a log yard the trail tops out at a saddle, a old stone foundation on the left and a fireplace with two stone benches on the right.

I left the jeep track here and followed cairns left uphill on a footpath. The going got steeper above with some scramblimng necessary over slippery slabs.

On the trail to Peary Mountain, Brownfield.
All photos by Carey Kish

Views opened up to the west and voila! The south summit. Complete with a big stone bench and look out to the cone of Kearsarge North and the Whites, mostly obscured by gray clouds.

Atop the south summit of Peary Mountain.

I was excited to try out my new lightweight backpacking tripod so I immediately got to work setting things up.

But after only a few test shots the camera batteries died. So I swapped in a new set and... the camera refused to work, period. With the lens fully extended.

Hmmm. Not good.

I tinkered in vain for awhile and then gave up. And sat down for lunch and drank in the quiet of the mountaintop.

I decided to skip the trek over to the north summit--a hike for another day--and headed home, bent on returning my dead camera.

Once home, and just for yucks, I popped a brand new set of batteries. And of course, the camera came immediately to life, all functions normal!

Dumbass. The spare set of batteries I'd had with me on the trail were old, dead ones.

OK now, repeat after me: "I will test my camera batteries before setting out on the trail. I will test my batteries..."

The bikes...

Sunday was all about bikes (and some rain too) at the Great Maine Bike Swap at USM in Portland, a bigtime fundraising eevnt organized by the Bicycle Coalition of Maine.

A huge crowd waited to get into the Great Maine Bike Swap at USM last Sunday.

More than 1,100 people showed up to check out a wide selection of used bikes: road bikes, mountain bikes, kid's bikes, classic bikes, hybrid bikes.

The Bike Swap featured hundreds of used bikes for sales at good prices.

In addition to a great selection of bikes for sale at very reasonable prices, there were a host of bike-related vendors on site and a full schedule of workshops throughout the day.

All-in-all it was a fun day that was all about bikes! Time to hop on and ride!

If you missed this year's bike swap, make a note on your calendar for next spring. It's likely to be even bigger and better.

1,100 people crowded the USM gym looking for a good deal on a used bike.

Jeff Miller, Executive Director mof the Bicycle Coaltion of Maine, and Maine's #1 bicycle advocate, yucks it up with bike swappers .