albee
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I did a couple easy bushwhacks near the thriving metropolis of Barnjum, Maine over this past weekend. The hardest part was driving the 4 or 5 miles along the really rocky logging road to get there, but my little Subaru was up for the challenge. The first peak I wanted to hit was Farmer Mountain, which I climbed early on Saturday afternoon. You can see a small clearing to the right (north) of the peak in that picture that made for a good jumping-off point. There was a nearby clear-cut that was easily accessed, and from there it was easy going through mostly open woods to the northeast ridge. As I expected, there was a moose herd path on this ridge that took me right to the summit, where I enjoyed some really nice views of a number of nearby 4,000 footers in the Saddleback Range.
It had started to drizzle a bit on my descent, so I put off the Abrahams until a few days later. On Tuesday morning I hiked Big Moose mountain, and had some awesome views from this spectacular peak near Moosehead Lake, including this shot of a cow moose near the summit. I took lots of pictures since it was a gorgeous morning and I had plenty of time before I had to get back to Barnjum to 'whack the Abrahams.
After negotiating the network of bumpy logging roads again, I parked here and headed up the main logging road to the backwards-question-mark-shaped logging road that got closest to the ridge. The cairns on the summit of Middle Abraham are easy to spot from the logging road approach, so it was only a matter of a 15 minute 'whack from the end of this logging road through open woods to the base of a huge talus field. It was really fun to climb this, and before long I noticed that someone had been building cairns along the way to navigate through the sections of krumholtz that protruded here and there. The climb went by quickly, and I found a register at the summit with hundreds of names in it. Apparently this peak was on the NEHH list until about 2001, when the frequency of entries dropped off dramatically. The views, as expected, were dramatic. Who says bushwhack summits don't have views? Abraham looked close enough to touch. I followed the cairns across the ridge to the south and I was quite surprised to find a cut trail through every patch of scrub growth on the summit. Somebody had spent at least one full day up there with a chainsaw. The cairns led to some more talus sections on the east side of the ridge, and I found lots of blue and orange flagging marking where the trail went. I was disappointed that someone had done so much destruction to this trail-less peak, but I will admit that I happily took advantage of the easy-to-follow route as I made good time towards South Abraham. A little over halfway there, I came upon a surprisingly intact moose skeleton that was picked clean but didn't look too old. Soon thereafter the cut trail petered out, but the woods on the east side of the ridge were delightfully open along the 3,400' contour. The cairn on the south peak has lost some of its stature, but it was still about 4 or 5 feet tall. The register was nearby, and I took a few minutes to read it, sign in, replace the ziplock bag, and have a snack.
I decided that the easiest way back would be the way that I came. Clouds started to cover up the rapidly setting sun, so I scooted back over to Middle Abe's summit in just about 60 minutes, and the descent of the talus field and bushwhack seemed to take no time at all. Once back on the logging road, I did a 10 minute jog back to my car, completing the trip in a hair over 4 hours. To quote The Schlimmer from one of the register entries I read, it was "The Best Bushwhack Ever!"
The full album can be found here:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/561004390bUbxxz
Does anyone know the nature of the cut trail along the Abraham ridge? There was quite a bit of fragile alpine vegetation that had obviously been trampled, but to be honest, there was little way around it save from not following the ridge at all. In the few places where there weren't enough cairns, it was easy to spot where people had trod on the mosses and lichens. I tried to limit my impact to rock-hopping, but there was no way to avoid taking a few steps on the alpine mosses now and then. I highly recommend the middle summit for anyone looking for a different view of Sugarloaf, Spaulding, Abraham, the Saddlebacks, and the Bigelows.
...Al
It had started to drizzle a bit on my descent, so I put off the Abrahams until a few days later. On Tuesday morning I hiked Big Moose mountain, and had some awesome views from this spectacular peak near Moosehead Lake, including this shot of a cow moose near the summit. I took lots of pictures since it was a gorgeous morning and I had plenty of time before I had to get back to Barnjum to 'whack the Abrahams.
After negotiating the network of bumpy logging roads again, I parked here and headed up the main logging road to the backwards-question-mark-shaped logging road that got closest to the ridge. The cairns on the summit of Middle Abraham are easy to spot from the logging road approach, so it was only a matter of a 15 minute 'whack from the end of this logging road through open woods to the base of a huge talus field. It was really fun to climb this, and before long I noticed that someone had been building cairns along the way to navigate through the sections of krumholtz that protruded here and there. The climb went by quickly, and I found a register at the summit with hundreds of names in it. Apparently this peak was on the NEHH list until about 2001, when the frequency of entries dropped off dramatically. The views, as expected, were dramatic. Who says bushwhack summits don't have views? Abraham looked close enough to touch. I followed the cairns across the ridge to the south and I was quite surprised to find a cut trail through every patch of scrub growth on the summit. Somebody had spent at least one full day up there with a chainsaw. The cairns led to some more talus sections on the east side of the ridge, and I found lots of blue and orange flagging marking where the trail went. I was disappointed that someone had done so much destruction to this trail-less peak, but I will admit that I happily took advantage of the easy-to-follow route as I made good time towards South Abraham. A little over halfway there, I came upon a surprisingly intact moose skeleton that was picked clean but didn't look too old. Soon thereafter the cut trail petered out, but the woods on the east side of the ridge were delightfully open along the 3,400' contour. The cairn on the south peak has lost some of its stature, but it was still about 4 or 5 feet tall. The register was nearby, and I took a few minutes to read it, sign in, replace the ziplock bag, and have a snack.
I decided that the easiest way back would be the way that I came. Clouds started to cover up the rapidly setting sun, so I scooted back over to Middle Abe's summit in just about 60 minutes, and the descent of the talus field and bushwhack seemed to take no time at all. Once back on the logging road, I did a 10 minute jog back to my car, completing the trip in a hair over 4 hours. To quote The Schlimmer from one of the register entries I read, it was "The Best Bushwhack Ever!"
The full album can be found here:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/561004390bUbxxz
Does anyone know the nature of the cut trail along the Abraham ridge? There was quite a bit of fragile alpine vegetation that had obviously been trampled, but to be honest, there was little way around it save from not following the ridge at all. In the few places where there weren't enough cairns, it was easy to spot where people had trod on the mosses and lichens. I tried to limit my impact to rock-hopping, but there was no way to avoid taking a few steps on the alpine mosses now and then. I highly recommend the middle summit for anyone looking for a different view of Sugarloaf, Spaulding, Abraham, the Saddlebacks, and the Bigelows.
...Al
Last edited:
) I saw at least 3 entries from Hiker Ed, including a couple of them in winter. He noted that he had come from Barnjum, too.
