BillDC
New member
Headed out to Route 201 in Jackman and headed north. From the Moose River Bridge, we followed 201 for about 7.6 miles to Bald Mountain Road on the right. This road is well marked with a street sign. After you turn right, the road is gated, but usually open. Follow Bald Mountain Road and at 2.3 mi, cross the Heald Brook bridge and bear right. Continue on this road going straight at 2.5 mi where another road comes in from the right. At 3.0 mi, pass mud pond. At 4.0 mi, cross the Heald Inlet bridge. At 4.1 mi, bear left onto Notch road. This road was not marked by name, only a reference to the trail. Continue to 4.3 mi where Trail road bears off to the right. Notch road continues left. Trail road is well marked with a sign and a reference to the trail. Trail road is in good shape overall with the exception of several deep culverts that you need good clearance to cross. We didn't have the clearance needed to get up trail road, so we parked and began the hike here. From the beginning of Trail road to the trailhead is about 1.4 mi.
Trail road is in good shape, no blowdowns or significantly wet areas. Several culverts and streams make this road tough for low clearance vehicles. With a high clearance vehicle, you could drive to the trailhead. At about 1.1 mi up trail road, you pass an open, grassy area on the right where you can find the site of the first fire wardens camp. Only the roof remains today. A bit above this spot, the original wardens trail, which began to the south at Heald Pond back in the day, would have crossed trail road. Just a bit above that spot, a weak trail heads off to the north and climbs a bit to the site of the last wardens camp, which was burned around 1999-2000 timeframe. The burned remains of the cabin and woodshed are still onsite. The original trail continued out the back of this campsite. A dim trail can still be seen in places and can likely be easily bushwacked, but we decided to walk back out to trail road. Continuing up trail road just a bit more, the trailhead is reached on the left. There is a sign marking the trail, though it is falling over at this time. There is parking at this spot for any vehicles that make it up this far.
The trail is marked with blue blazes and is easy to follow. Even for a dry spell, the trail was fairly wet. Most of it follows a stream-bed, is rocky, and many of the areas had running water over the trail. Some very crude log bog bridges make an attempt to keep your boots from getting soaked, but your mileage will vary. You reach a point where the trail bears right, but it appears that another weak trail comes in from the left. This is the junction where the old wardens trail that leaves the rear of the old wardens camp re-joins the main trail. Now 3 generations of phone line can readily be seen from this point forward all of the way to the summit. When the trail arrives above treeline, it meets up with the Notch trail, which I assume goes back down the west side to a more upper portion of Notch road. Continuing on, the trail walks up the ridge and heads toward the summit. Blue blazes continue to mark the trail. Upon arrival at the summit, you will first see a small log communications building which houses radio equipment for the Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe. On both sides of the log building, the remains of the old collapsed fire tower are still onsite. This tower, erected in 1937, collapsed in the 70s and its wreckage is still present. This mountain has had a fire lookout on it since 1911, when a wooden lookout was built. On the right side of the trail just before the log building, you can still see some of the original 1911 "L" brackets that held the 1911 wood lookout to the rocks. Continuing on, the bald summit offers spectacular views in all directions. Just east of the log building, a new communications building and tower are present, built in 2009. The complex may not be complete as there are bundles of building materials still present. This thing appeared to be beat up a bit. One solar panel has blown off, the cable tray and cables ripped from the building, and the propeller of one of the wind turbines blown off.
After photos and checking out the potpourri of summit artifacts, we sat on the rocks and ate lunch while taking in great views.
Some photos of this hike can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/BoundaryBaldME5262010?feat=directlink
Bill
Trail road is in good shape, no blowdowns or significantly wet areas. Several culverts and streams make this road tough for low clearance vehicles. With a high clearance vehicle, you could drive to the trailhead. At about 1.1 mi up trail road, you pass an open, grassy area on the right where you can find the site of the first fire wardens camp. Only the roof remains today. A bit above this spot, the original wardens trail, which began to the south at Heald Pond back in the day, would have crossed trail road. Just a bit above that spot, a weak trail heads off to the north and climbs a bit to the site of the last wardens camp, which was burned around 1999-2000 timeframe. The burned remains of the cabin and woodshed are still onsite. The original trail continued out the back of this campsite. A dim trail can still be seen in places and can likely be easily bushwacked, but we decided to walk back out to trail road. Continuing up trail road just a bit more, the trailhead is reached on the left. There is a sign marking the trail, though it is falling over at this time. There is parking at this spot for any vehicles that make it up this far.
The trail is marked with blue blazes and is easy to follow. Even for a dry spell, the trail was fairly wet. Most of it follows a stream-bed, is rocky, and many of the areas had running water over the trail. Some very crude log bog bridges make an attempt to keep your boots from getting soaked, but your mileage will vary. You reach a point where the trail bears right, but it appears that another weak trail comes in from the left. This is the junction where the old wardens trail that leaves the rear of the old wardens camp re-joins the main trail. Now 3 generations of phone line can readily be seen from this point forward all of the way to the summit. When the trail arrives above treeline, it meets up with the Notch trail, which I assume goes back down the west side to a more upper portion of Notch road. Continuing on, the trail walks up the ridge and heads toward the summit. Blue blazes continue to mark the trail. Upon arrival at the summit, you will first see a small log communications building which houses radio equipment for the Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe. On both sides of the log building, the remains of the old collapsed fire tower are still onsite. This tower, erected in 1937, collapsed in the 70s and its wreckage is still present. This mountain has had a fire lookout on it since 1911, when a wooden lookout was built. On the right side of the trail just before the log building, you can still see some of the original 1911 "L" brackets that held the 1911 wood lookout to the rocks. Continuing on, the bald summit offers spectacular views in all directions. Just east of the log building, a new communications building and tower are present, built in 2009. The complex may not be complete as there are bundles of building materials still present. This thing appeared to be beat up a bit. One solar panel has blown off, the cable tray and cables ripped from the building, and the propeller of one of the wind turbines blown off.
After photos and checking out the potpourri of summit artifacts, we sat on the rocks and ate lunch while taking in great views.
Some photos of this hike can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/BoundaryBaldME5262010?feat=directlink
Bill
to a spot to pull off and sleep for the night -now i'd just "plow" (slowly) to the trailhead...i also found the trail itself to be a brook 
