BillDC
New member
Another day of rain in the Moosehead region, but with the promise of clearing later in the day, we started out toward Big Moose Mountain. This peak, formerly called Squaw Mountain (renamed in 2000), is easily found by taking Route 15 west out of Greenville and taking a left onto North road, which is marked by a street sign and a sign for the Little Moose Public Lands. Following this road for around a mile and a half, the trailhead is a small parking area on the right. The trailhead was relocated here in the 90's due to logging that obliterated the original trailhead about .5 prior to this location.
This trail climbs gradually and gets a bit steeper as it approaches the watchman's camp. This 1930s camp still stands in poor condition. The camp privy is even still in ok shape. Passing the camp, we crossed the watchman's brook. When the watchman was present on the mountain, this brook was dammed up to provide a small water reservoir for the camp. Today, little remains except for some old piping.
From this point, the trail gets steeper where there are many stone steps. It is a good climb for a while. You pass a side trail on the left to an overlook. As we climbed, we entered the clouds and there was little hope for any views today. We passed several families out hiking that just wanted to get out while they visited. At the summit, there were zero views and visibility was about 50 feet.
The summit hasn't changed in a while with it's assortment of radio towers and radio huts. The fire tower, which is Maine's first in 1905, still stands. The state of consistency of this summit will end this year, as the state plans on consolidating all radio antennas and huts into one large antenna and shelter. Along with this, the fire tower will unfortunately be removed, but it will be saved and relocated to a place TBD.
Leaving the summit, we ran into some college kids hauling a duffle bag up. Said hi and didn't ask any questions. Once we got to the bottom, the clouds of course started to clear and the sun began to come out. Although I took some photos, I don't have anything worth sharing as most everything, including much of the trail, was in the clouds!
Bill
This trail climbs gradually and gets a bit steeper as it approaches the watchman's camp. This 1930s camp still stands in poor condition. The camp privy is even still in ok shape. Passing the camp, we crossed the watchman's brook. When the watchman was present on the mountain, this brook was dammed up to provide a small water reservoir for the camp. Today, little remains except for some old piping.
From this point, the trail gets steeper where there are many stone steps. It is a good climb for a while. You pass a side trail on the left to an overlook. As we climbed, we entered the clouds and there was little hope for any views today. We passed several families out hiking that just wanted to get out while they visited. At the summit, there were zero views and visibility was about 50 feet.
The summit hasn't changed in a while with it's assortment of radio towers and radio huts. The fire tower, which is Maine's first in 1905, still stands. The state of consistency of this summit will end this year, as the state plans on consolidating all radio antennas and huts into one large antenna and shelter. Along with this, the fire tower will unfortunately be removed, but it will be saved and relocated to a place TBD.
Leaving the summit, we ran into some college kids hauling a duffle bag up. Said hi and didn't ask any questions. Once we got to the bottom, the clouds of course started to clear and the sun began to come out. Although I took some photos, I don't have anything worth sharing as most everything, including much of the trail, was in the clouds!
Bill
