buckyball1
New member
After spending a few years hiking without the "tyranny" of the lists, the urge to finish the NEHH recently emerged and I found myself heading toward the Carrabassett Valley early Friday morning.The endless road work on Rt 27 north of Stratton is almost finished and the new surface is very nice. Canadian customs at Coburn Gore was no problem, simply a smile and nod of the head from the guy at the booth after I told him I was hiking in Gosford.
For those interested, I'll post my travel route from here (YMMV). From the border, it's 2.4 miles north on Rt 161 (the continuation of Rt 27) to Rt 212 in Woburn. Turn left on Rt 212 and go about 2.2 miles until you see a sign for "ZEC Louise Gosford" on your left. Turn left onto a good dirt road and proceed about 3.6 miles to the park entrance buildings on your left. They were just opeing at 8 AM, but there is a drop box for registration.The fee is $5 per car and all the paperwork is in French only. There was a friendly guy on duty and we struggled thru a conversation about what I was planning. He laughed about the "American boundary peak" and suggested climbing Gosford if I had time. I spent $2 for a park map and found it well worth the money. You will be travelling on the park loop road to the Boundary trailhead. My directions/mileage to the trailhead: Down the road to the left from the gate building and to a stop sign at a 4-way intersection at 0.7 miles. Continue straight and pass trail to Gosford on left at 3.6 miles. Cross bridges at 5.5 and 6.0 miles. Left at fork at 6.1 miles (it's obvious as the lesser road to right was gated). At about 7.3? miles there is an unmarked road to the right; take this right and travel to it's end in gravel pit and about 8.1 miles. The loop road is pretty decent, only ruts, no major clearance issues and the road into the pit is only a little rougher (I drive a low clearance car).
Park in the gravel pit and look for a trail in the "lower right" part of the pit, NOT the trail going up the hill by the outhouse on the left side. You immediatley cross a small stream and see a jeep trail with a "no ATV" sign. The jeep trail is clean if a bit steep early on. Follow this trail until it ends at the boundary cut. The boundary cut is a wide, open swath about 25? feet across. You are between boundary markers 447 and 446 at this point. Turn left and follow the cut to your goal between markers 446 and 445. You will go over a small intermediate peak and past a number of hunting stands. The canister is just off the cut to the right. Decent views in several directions as you near/are at the peak. I could see Cupsuptic Snow where I hoped to be Saturday with Amicus.
It was a beautiful day, hike was an easy one and it was nice to just stroll with no physical or mental pressure.
When I returned to the car, I decided to do Gosford and drove to the TH at the end of the loop road. [turn right when you get back to the loop road from the gravel pit and follow it 2 1/2-3?? miles (didn't clock it) to it's end}. The road is now now a bit rougher with bigger rocks painted red. I had no problem driving to the end and parked at the outhouse. The trail to the summit is obvious, well marked, soft under foot and appears fairly new. It's an easy climb through the woods to an open summit with a viewing platform and a great panorama of the surrounding area. I met several other hikers who had come up the "usual" way. Had a long conversation with one guy (lots of laughing and handwaving as I speak no French) and was sad to find out he is "barred" from the US peaks he'd love to climb unless he posts/pays? a large sum due to a 25 year old minor drug conviction.
So I headed back down the mountain, through a somewhat more rigorous questioning at US customs and to Stratton. I hoped to stay at the Maine Roadhouse, a "hiker hostel" between Stratton and Rangeley. I met it's owner, Don (a nice guy), at the Stratton Motel which he also owns and paid him $10 to set my tent in a field behind the hostel. (bunk with linens is $20)The Roadhouse is a nice, "bare-bones" place if you like "AT type hostels". Even camping, I had use of the interior bathrooms, shower, multiple sinks, stoves, fridge, reading room, several TVs, phone...perfect for me. I called Amicus to finalize plans for our planned E Kennabago /Cupsuptic Snow trip tomorrw and headed to bed.
I got up around 530 on Saturday to cloudy skies with rain forecast, broke camp and headed down Rt 16 to Bridge Road where I was to meet Amicus. A bull mose ran across 50 yard in front of the car, but I made it to the meeting spot for what would be a more "interesting" day then my hikes in Gosford. If you've waded thru this and are still interested, I hope Amicus will pick the story up at this point
For those interested, I'll post my travel route from here (YMMV). From the border, it's 2.4 miles north on Rt 161 (the continuation of Rt 27) to Rt 212 in Woburn. Turn left on Rt 212 and go about 2.2 miles until you see a sign for "ZEC Louise Gosford" on your left. Turn left onto a good dirt road and proceed about 3.6 miles to the park entrance buildings on your left. They were just opeing at 8 AM, but there is a drop box for registration.The fee is $5 per car and all the paperwork is in French only. There was a friendly guy on duty and we struggled thru a conversation about what I was planning. He laughed about the "American boundary peak" and suggested climbing Gosford if I had time. I spent $2 for a park map and found it well worth the money. You will be travelling on the park loop road to the Boundary trailhead. My directions/mileage to the trailhead: Down the road to the left from the gate building and to a stop sign at a 4-way intersection at 0.7 miles. Continue straight and pass trail to Gosford on left at 3.6 miles. Cross bridges at 5.5 and 6.0 miles. Left at fork at 6.1 miles (it's obvious as the lesser road to right was gated). At about 7.3? miles there is an unmarked road to the right; take this right and travel to it's end in gravel pit and about 8.1 miles. The loop road is pretty decent, only ruts, no major clearance issues and the road into the pit is only a little rougher (I drive a low clearance car).
Park in the gravel pit and look for a trail in the "lower right" part of the pit, NOT the trail going up the hill by the outhouse on the left side. You immediatley cross a small stream and see a jeep trail with a "no ATV" sign. The jeep trail is clean if a bit steep early on. Follow this trail until it ends at the boundary cut. The boundary cut is a wide, open swath about 25? feet across. You are between boundary markers 447 and 446 at this point. Turn left and follow the cut to your goal between markers 446 and 445. You will go over a small intermediate peak and past a number of hunting stands. The canister is just off the cut to the right. Decent views in several directions as you near/are at the peak. I could see Cupsuptic Snow where I hoped to be Saturday with Amicus.
It was a beautiful day, hike was an easy one and it was nice to just stroll with no physical or mental pressure.
When I returned to the car, I decided to do Gosford and drove to the TH at the end of the loop road. [turn right when you get back to the loop road from the gravel pit and follow it 2 1/2-3?? miles (didn't clock it) to it's end}. The road is now now a bit rougher with bigger rocks painted red. I had no problem driving to the end and parked at the outhouse. The trail to the summit is obvious, well marked, soft under foot and appears fairly new. It's an easy climb through the woods to an open summit with a viewing platform and a great panorama of the surrounding area. I met several other hikers who had come up the "usual" way. Had a long conversation with one guy (lots of laughing and handwaving as I speak no French) and was sad to find out he is "barred" from the US peaks he'd love to climb unless he posts/pays? a large sum due to a 25 year old minor drug conviction.
So I headed back down the mountain, through a somewhat more rigorous questioning at US customs and to Stratton. I hoped to stay at the Maine Roadhouse, a "hiker hostel" between Stratton and Rangeley. I met it's owner, Don (a nice guy), at the Stratton Motel which he also owns and paid him $10 to set my tent in a field behind the hostel. (bunk with linens is $20)The Roadhouse is a nice, "bare-bones" place if you like "AT type hostels". Even camping, I had use of the interior bathrooms, shower, multiple sinks, stoves, fridge, reading room, several TVs, phone...perfect for me. I called Amicus to finalize plans for our planned E Kennabago /Cupsuptic Snow trip tomorrw and headed to bed.
I got up around 530 on Saturday to cloudy skies with rain forecast, broke camp and headed down Rt 16 to Bridge Road where I was to meet Amicus. A bull mose ran across 50 yard in front of the car, but I made it to the meeting spot for what would be a more "interesting" day then my hikes in Gosford. If you've waded thru this and are still interested, I hope Amicus will pick the story up at this point
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