Boundary Peak, White Cap, and North Peak of Kennebago Divide

[Nate]

My tale begins on Saturday, August 20. By this point in the summer, all my remaining weekends had been committed to non-hiking activities. Considering I only had four peaks remaining unclaimed on the NEHH, it was a bit of a bummer that I'd have to wait until September to finish off that list. Then, at the last minute, some things were postponed for two days, creating just enough of a window of time to finish off these remaining peaks before the end of the summer.

That Saturday I had a relatively straightforward hike up to the Peak above the Nubble, thanks mainly to Papa Bear's quality description of how to reach that summit. Luckily that day's omnipresent showers held off during my trek up that mountain. Even though the clouds prevented any view from PatN, considering all the showers I drove through en route to Haystack Road, I was just happy it was only spritzing a bit on the summit while I was there.

Moving on, with PatN claimed, all I had left was Maine's Boundary Peak, White Cap, and North Peak of Kennebago Divide. I was saving these for last only because they are the furthest into the wilderness of the NEHH peaks, and thus presented the greatest challenge to not getting lost. Since I have yet to gain map and compass skills, one can readily understand my hesitancy in pursuing these mountains. But, now it was finally their turn to be bumped off my "Must Hike" list.

Being in New Hampshire at that point, I went up to Route 16 in order to reach the Rangeley area. En route, I was gassing up in Berlin, and when that was done, I went to start the car and continue on my way, and the darn thing wouldn't start. I'd turn the key, yet it wouldn't make a sound. I'd not encountered that problem in some time, if ever, with that car, but thinking it was merely the battery (which was starting to get old and corroded anyway), I managed to sweet talk some locals into giving me a jumpstart, which got the car going again. Now, I guess a rational person would turn around at this point and seek these peaks on another day, at a time when they know for a fact that their car won't break down in the middle of nowhere. Sadly, I am not such a person. Knowing I'd soon be in the wilds north of Rangeley, I thought I'd have my bases covered simply by getting a battery at the local Wal Mart (which is interesting, considering I found out a few days later that it was actually the starter that needed to be replaced). It should further be noted that I had never replaced a car battery before, and am not a handy person by nature.

Anyhoo, after the stop at Wallyworld I was on the road again, reaching the Norton Cutoff Road around dusk. Having claimed Cupsuptic Snow over Memorial Day Weekend this year, I knew which logging roads to take in order to reach Cupsuptic Pond Road (including the new road along the western side of the Kennebago River/Little Kennebago Lake). Plus, since I drive a low sub-compact, I was quite grateful to find the dirt roads in much better condition than they had been in late May. Wiggle Brook Road was a little narrow in spots because of the undergrowth encroaching into the road, and one should cross both bridges along that stretch cautiously (only because they’re a bit narrow). Regardless, I was able to reach Cupsuptic Pond Road without any problems.

However, from that point on the driving became more interesting. Cupsuptic Pond wasn’t nearly as well maintained as the other roads (it even has weeds growing in the center of it in places this time of year), and within the first mile of turning down it my poor car sustained two solid whacks to the undercarriage (since it was night, I saw neither rock coming). Hence, after that first mile, I decided I’d done enough damage for one day, and pulled over where the road passes through the open bowl of an old sand pit.

It rained that night and into the next morning, so I ended up sleeping in the car (which I was planning on doing anyway). The next morning, by the time I’d finished breakfast the rain had tapered off to some light showers. Since this didn’t quite qualify as desirable bushwhacking weather, I grabbed my umbrella and walked the remaining 1.3 miles to Porter Brook Road, kicking away and removing any rocks I thought might try to violate my oil pan. This also allowed me to scope out the large puddles that had formed along the road recently and figure out how to best drive through them. Once I had returned to the car, the drizzle had stopped but it was still quite damp out, so I walked the mile back to Wiggle Brook Road, removing the all the evil stones in that direction too. With that done, I finally felt safe driving up to Porter Brook Road. Before starting the car, I took a look at its underside, but to my ignorant eyes everything looked okay. Plus, the thing even started, for which I was quite grateful in light of yesterday’s experience at the gas station.

My original plan was to do NKD, White Cap, then Boundary Peak, so in case the hike ran long darkness wouldn’t be as much of an issue when following the border swath and dirt roads, as opposed to trying to follow some overgrown trail in the gathering darkness. However, since everything was still soaked at that point, I didn’t relish the prospect of bushwhacking through wet woods, so making Boundary the first objective made more sense. Especially since the weather predictions claimed that it would clear up by that afternoon, which hopefully would dry out everything before I had to do any real bushwhacking.

I’ve hiked enough in my time that I’ve learned that I don’t need to take much with me (I usually don’t even bring a backpack with me, but I would never ever suggest others do this). For this particular foray, all I was bringing with me was a small GPS device (into which I’d already entered the coordinates for the three peaks), camera, small flashlight, and pen (in case the registers I encountered only had pencils). I wrapped everything up in a plastic grocery bag (it made for a small parcel), which I carried up the sleeve of my long sleeve T-shirt (it was prevented from falling out by the elasticity in the wrist).

Anyway, I managed to park at Porter Brook Road without any further problems in transit. While in the midst of getting ready to head out, I heard a truck driving down the road. Since I was in the middle of nowhere, I was quite intrigued by what anyone else would be doing out there, and I was hoping they’d pull over so that I’d get to talk them. Well, I got my wish, as they turned out to be a ranger with the Maine Forest Service. Right off the bat he wanted to search the car. Since I’d left all my illegal stuff at home for this trip (just kidding) I let him go ahead without any objections. As it turns out, he was looking for hunting and fishing paraphernalia, and Heaven only knows what else. He must have also been looking for non-permitted campers, and he even asked if I’d had a fire the night before. It didn’t occur to me until later to ask how I could have had a campfire in all that rain. Just overall, he seemed quite intrigued by what I could be doing out there (especially while carrying an extra car battery in the car), and he seemed a little surprised that any hiker would travel so far afield to climb a mountain (apparently he doesn’t know our kind very well). Once he had heard my objectives and my proposed route, he advised against wandering into Canada in order to cut the tangent on the border. He warned of the border agents patrolling the area, and how if any of them caught me illegally crossing over, they’d impound my car and haul my butt to Bangor. Since I had to be in Boston the next morning, I didn’t really relish this prospect. In light of my first destination, he suggested parking up at Cupsuptic Pond, then hiking up to the border swath and following that to the peak. But, once I’d explained what it took for me to get my car even that far up the road, he understood why I didn’t want to drive any further. He then told me how on Porter Brook Road there was a trail on the left that went up to the border. He said how its junction was marked by two pieces of surveyor’s tape, and that this side path was quite clear in the winter, when it’s used as a snowmobile trail. However, he was a little foggy on where it started, but he was kind of sure that it was after Porter Brook Road crossed its third culvert, and that it should be the first major left shortly after that He even showed me where it was on his Delorme map (which was the newest edition and thus a little more accurate than the one I had in the car). I’m not sure how much of what I told him he believed, but when we parted ways he advised that when I left the woods, I should leave a note for him at the Oquossoc ranger station so that he’d know I’d gotten out alright. I think he also suspected that I might try to camp without a permit, and he said that if he didn’t see a note from me the next day, he’d be forced to drive back to that very spot to make sure I was gone. He made it clear that if I were still there, bad things would happen. I’d like to note here that the ranger was actually a very nice person, but it’s just that he comes off as very stern when I paraphrase our conversation.

 

[Nate]

Maine Wilderness Continued

Moving on, with that said, he proceeded on to Cupsuptic Pond. Not wanting him to see me walk up to the border or cross into Canada illegally, I abandoned my original route and instead headed into the woods at Porter Brook Road. Thanks to the morning rain and my conversation with Ranger Friendly, it was eleven thirty by that point. Yikes! It was a much later start than I had intended. Considering the situation, it seemed to make the most sense to try to follow the ranger’s route to the border. Normally it is a bad idea to try out a new course like that when given such meager directions (especially when in such wilderness), but I thought that as long as I paid attention to where I was going and was good about marking waypoints with my GPS device, I wouldn’t be too bad off.

At the outset, I had a relatively uneventful walk along the old logging road. I passed three culverts (the first one was almost too shallow to count as one), and not too long after the third one I reached a true trail intersection. Blue and faded orange pieces of surveyor’s tape were tied to trees on the right, while on the left a trail came in. It was the first path on the left that I had encountered to that point that actually looked like a trail. Plus, there was a whole bunch of beer cans at the junction. This intersection seems to have been about a mile from the car. Recording a waypoint, I turned left.

The trail was basically a grown over skidder road, and after no more than a half-mile it became completely overgrown. By this point I was wondering if I’d taken the correct path, since the ranger said the trail connected to the border. Considering the uncertainty of my situation at that point, it seemed to be expecting too much to be able to reach any of the peaks I was shooting for, and I decided I should just be content to not get too lost and just try to learn the lay of the land in preparation of my second attempt.

Anyhow, continuing forward, at least there was still a wide clearing between the trees to follow, even if it was very overgrown. Once it turned up hill, a streamlet went down its center that was difficult to avoid stepping in. At the top of the rise I reached another skidder road. The ranger had also warned about how the border was so overgrown in places that one could walk along it and not even know it was there. Ergo, I thought this might be the border, so I took another waypoint at the spot where I joined this new skidder road and turned right. However, my assumption was quickly proven wrong, as I quickly reached the true border. This I was sure of without a doubt, because I came out right at mile marker 451.

This was good news, since all I had to do at that point was follow the swath, and it would lead me right to Boundary Peak. In trip reports, I’d seen the border described as being like a trail under a powerline. In my experience, powerline trails usually aren’t too bad (I would often go running along them in high school), although they could get quite wet in low places. What I discovered instead was that some sections of the swath weren’t too bad, while other parts were so overgrown that they could be more difficult to get through. Entering at 451, I’d forgotten where in the 440’s the peak was located, but right there, at that very spot, the GPS said it was still over four miles away. Going along, what made the swath interesting were all the hunting blinds and other structures set up along the Canadian side for hunting. I’d never seen anything like that before. I was sure glad too that it wasn’t open season for Nates.

Ascending to mile 450, the border then dropped for a mile down to Dennison Bog. Thanks to the recent rain, it was pretty wet going between monuments 449 and 448. After the bog the swath climbed steeply, and then went more up than down en route to Boundary Peak. Because it was overcast and my GPS device was overstating how far it was to the summit, I didn’t know how much further I had to go until I reached the peak. Nevertheless, I eventually reached it, 130 minutes after leaving the car. I saw the large cairn first, and behind it the tree with the canister resting at its base. Whoever climbs this peak next, it would be really cool of you if you brought the tools to put the canister back on the tree. With the canister found, I then had a dickens of a time trying to get it open. It would have been a real kick in the slats to have come all that way, successfully reaching the summit and everything, only to find I couldn’t sign the register because I couldn’t get the stupid canister open. As it was, it was only after whacking the lid a few times with a rock that I noticed the top had not been placed on evenly. Once it was straightened, it came off easily enough. Raven had been kind enough to place a new register on this summit on July 31. It would seem I was its first visitor since then (or at least the first one that was able to get the canister open). In all, I spent about twenty minutes on Boundary, signing the register, taking pictures, wringing out my soaked socks, etc. During this time, the clouds started to clear, so that the sun began to make appearances shortly thereafter. With the new found visibility, I tried to pick out White Cap, but I wasn’t sure exactly which mountain it was of the ones I could see through the clouds.

I backtracked to mile 450 (Boundary is between monuments 445 and 446), where, on the out trip, I noticed on the GPS that I was within a mile of White Cap. Since the woods in that area are so dense, I really didn’t relish the prospect of a two-mile bushwhack over from Boundary in that stuff. Especially not if I had to worry about avoiding Dennison Bog. At 450, there is a slight clearing in the woods behind the monument on the American side. From there, I could see a prominent peak in the near distance. This most assuredly had to be White Cap.

At this point, it was about ten after three. If I proceeded on back to the car, I would be there in about an hour. I knew I could bushwhack at about a mile an hour, so I could be at the next summit by 4:30. From there, the herd path would lead me back to the old logging road, which in turn, at the end of two miles, would bring me back to the car. Since it wouldn’t get dark until eight, it seemed reasonable to go for it. Thus, after marking another waypoint, I started my bushwhack into the unknown.

It really was dense going as I dropped off the height of land. Although I would occasionally encounter small clearings or overgrown skidder roads, they never really went in the direction I was headed, so they weren’t much help in my battle against the dense trees. At least the trees had dried off a little since midday, so they didn’t get me as soaked as they could have. Going along, eventually the land leveled out, then started to climb again, which meant I’d reached the base of White Cap. From that point, it was just a matter of following the incline, and it would lead me right to the next canister. However, it was still tough going, since I didn’t really encounter any herd paths until I was 4/5’s the way up the peak. But, nevertheless, about an hour after leaving mile 450, White Cap was mine.

I spent about twenty minutes on White Cap, taking pictures, signing the register, and wringing out my poor socks again. It was interesting reading some of the other comments in the log, since they varied from saying it was an easy hike, to those who had tougher experiences reaching the peak. Obviously no one from the former group had come up the same way I did. I really envied those people too, because they knew where the herd path down to the col was. The summit area itself was overgrown enough that the path wasn’t readily apparent, and it didn’t help that I’d come up from a different direction. Climbing a tree, I tried to get a visual bearing on NKD, but the thing’s upper boughs were dead, so I wasn’t able to get up as high as I wanted.

Scouting around a bit, I finally located what turned out to be the herd path. It would grow more indistinct when it reached blow downs or other spots, but even after some missed turns I was always able to find it again and usually it was an adequately clear path. In no time it brought me out to a trail, and this intersection was marked by a cairn where the herd path came in. At this point, I thought I was in the col between White Cap and NKD, and that it was just a matter of continuing straight ahead into the woods, at right angles to the new trail, in order to reach the latter peak. However, what I didn’t know is that White Cap has a shoulder, which was why my GPS was saying NKD was still almost 0.9 miles away. I poked through the immediate area looking for the land to rise again, but it never did. After ten minutes of this, I realized the GPS might be right after all (although when it comes to actually pointing out in what direction I should head it often changes its mind), and through the trees I could see what was probably NKD.

The trees were really dense there, so it wasn’t all that easy to drop off the ridge and into the real col. To this day, I can only wonder where that trail goes that I found at the end of the White Cap herd path. Anyway, once I was definitely in the col I found another trail. I followed it to the right (west) for a little bit, until it brought me as close to NKD as it looked like it would. I then took another waypoint and turned left (south) into the dense woods to tackle this last peak.

 

[Nate]

Maine Wilderness Concluded

It was flat at first, but holding steady the land began to climb. I would encounter little herd paths, but nothing that went very far. Then, ¾’s of the way to the summit, I stumbled onto a path that took me the rest of the way. Once at the canister, the herd path kept going, but I had no desire to follow it any more. I can only wonder if it goes on to connect with Kennebago Divide Road, which is one of the old logging roads that comes off of Cupsuptic Pond Road. Further, I was surprised to see that the summit antlers weren’t there. Because of their absence, at first I kind of wondered if I was at the correct spot, but there’s no arguing with the canister. Opening it, I found the principle notebook to be full, but at least there was an old AMC 3000 pad to use. The entry I made in that register is the only one I’ve made in any NEHH register where I noted my progress in pursuing the NEHH. Obviously, that was one of the most satisfying hundreds I ever wrote. In the process of making the entry, I accidentally dropped the canister’s sole pencil into the plastic bag I brought with me, without noticing it I had done so (I honestly didn’t mean to take it). Hence, whoever visits the peak next, please bring a pencil to leave in the canister. Hopefully one is left there before the cold weather freezes the ink in the pens.

Anyway, I was in the summit clearing for about twenty minutes before shoving off. It was a little before six at this point. I backtracked on the herd path I’d used to ascend, and as it turned out, it got me pretty close to the trail in the col before dying out, so thankfully the descent to the ridge didn’t take very long From there, I used the GPS to find where I’d started my bushwhack up NKD. Because the trees were so thick, even from a close distance I couldn’t see the trail. It got down to 100 feet, 90, 70, and I still couldn’t see it. 50, 40… where was it? I didn’t break through to the trail until I was about sixteen feet from where I’d started. But once I did reach it, I felt greatly reassured. Switching waypoints, I started to track where I’d first turned off Porter Brook Road. According to the GPS, it was about 1.9 miles from that spot, and the trail I was standing on seemed to head in that direction. Turning left, I followed the trail off the ridge, through the high meadows formed from skidder roads, and crossing some other overgrown skidder roads along the way. Since the sky was clear, in this open high section there were great views of the mountains around me and especially to the west. Sadly, I had run out of film while still on NKD. It really was lovely there, particulary because I had just knocked off the three peaks I’d been seeking. I thought the worst was over.

Below the high meadows the trail descended into newer copses of decidious trees, and the path surface alternated between being completely but benignly overgrown and being a real trail. Getting a little lower, it started to widen into an old logging road, although it would still pass through some really overgrown sections. Thankfully none of the latter lasted very long. I had to watch what I was doing, since I was pretty much walking into the slowly sinking sun, so I kept having to shade my eyes. Given the hour, I was doing my best to scoot off the mountain ASAP.

At last, I came to a beautiful sight: the trail junction where I’d first turned off Porter Brook Road. This proved once and for all that not only was I heading in the right direction, but also that I now knew exactly where I was. It really was a happy sight.

Not long after that I was crossing Porter Brook, and then there was my beautiful car. I had gotten back a little before 7:30, which was certainly a good thing. I was so happy not to have needed the flashlight after all, especially since I would have had to take out the batteries from the GPS in order to power it. Anyway, once back, the first order of business was getting into some dry cloths and rehydrating. Thankfully it hadn’t been that hot of a day, so I wasn’t too thirsty by the end. Anyhoo, once all that was done, mercifully the car started. Cupsuptic Pond Road was drier on the second pass, and I could drive its length in full confidence that no oil pan-hungry rocks were lurking in the weeds along the center of the road. Regardless, it was still good to reach the much better maintained Wiggle Brook Road, and from there it was an uneventful drive back to asphalt during the dying throes of the day. It really was a gorgeous route at that hour, so it’s too bad I didn’t have any more film.

Once back at civilization, I left Ranger Friendly a two page note of my misadventures, shot off a quick postcard from Rangeley, then followed Route 16 down to Portsmouth and Boston way. I even managed to get back in time for that commitment Monday morning, so just overall it was a very successful weekend. That Sunday’s hike certainly isn’t one I’ll forget any time soon.


Closing Thoughts:

Just to sum up the items I’d noted in my narrative:

The canister on Boundary Peak fell off its tree, so it would be great if one of the next parties to go that way brings along the tools to put it back up.

The principle register on NKD is getting pretty full and should probably be replaced soon. A pencil should probably be placed up there too before the colder months, when the ink in the pens probably freezes.

Questions:

For people who have hiked up to Boundary Peak, have they ever run into border officials? How likely is one to run into those folks?

For the trail that the White Cap herd path empties onto, where does that go? If I had turned right at the cairn, would that have turned into a tributary trail of Porter Brook Road if I had followed it west far enough?

What happened to the antlers on the summit of NKD? Does anyone know about when they were removed?

For the herd path that goes up NKD, had I continued to follow that south-ish, would it have led anywhere? Does it eventually connect to Kennebago Divide Road?

Finally, now that I’ve hiked all the NEHH peaks, what do I do now? It seems I’ve run out of worthwhile peaks to claim. Would this be a good time to take up golf?

 

[Raymond]

Thanks for the report, Nate. We're heading up there next week to try to bag those same peaks, plus Cupsuptic Snow. You don't have one of those maps with your route superimposed on it by the GPS, do you? I'd love to see it, if you do.

What tools are needed to put the canister in a tree? A screwdriver or wrench? I'll try to remember to bring a couple pencils, too.

I'm having trouble tracing your route on my DeLorme. Wasn't Wiggle Brook Road supposed to be closed because a bridge was removed? You were able to take Morton Cutoff Road to Lincoln Pond Road to Canada Road to Wiggle Brook Road, then drive up to Bowman Town Express? (I'm using the roads as they are named on my 2004 Atlas.)

Then you followed one of those dotted lines on either side of Porter Brook, is that right? Is Boundary Peak the summit that's under the QU in QUÉBEC on the map?

Last year we drove up Burnt Mountain Road to a T between Bull Mountain and Cupsuptic Mountain (according to the map), but we didn't hike. It was my understanding that the road a short distance beyond that, across Cupsuptic River, was blocked by a bad bridge. If Wiggle Brook Road bridge has been replaced, that would be great news. Is that road that parallels Bear Brook open for travel? That's supposed to be an excellent approach to White Cap and Kennebago Divide.

I should probably mention that I have a compact car too, a Corolla.

 

[onestep]

For the trail that the White Cap herd path empties onto, where does that go? If I had turned right at the cairn, would that have turned into a tributary trail of Porter Brook Road if I had followed it west far enough?

If you took a right at the cairn it would have lead you down into the col between WhiteCap & NPK. On your right you would have passed the trail that lead you back to Porter Brook road.

Onestep

Whooooooooow... CONGRATS for completing the NEHH !!
What to do next? Golf? No, may I suggest the Fifty Finest or maybe the 3K's. Lot's of fine bushwacking still to be done!

 

[Papa Bear]

Questions:
For people who have hiked up to Boundary Peak, have they ever run into border officials? How likely is one to run into those folks?

I've been up there twice from the Canadian side. Both times we told the border station folks plus the gate keeper of the small park there and they said sure, go ahead to the boundary, no problem. I don't think it's illegal to walk along the swath, but in this day and age you have to be careful of overzealous officials. If your guy was a Maine Forest Ranger, I'll bet he was just b.s.-ing you. You played it right though, just go along and behave yourself.

For the trail that the White Cap herd path empties onto, where does that go? If I had turned right at the cairn, would that have turned into a tributary trail of Porter Brook Road if I had followed it west far enough?

Check a topo map. Here. From the col to the southeast it becomes an old woods road that goes along Bear Brook to the old Wiggle Brook Bridge (now gone). To the northwest it goes down to the Porter Brook road. Both routes are commonly ussed to get up there. Forget that dotted line that swings over near NKD and down to the south. We could never find that, but probably some of the NKD herd paths approximate parts of that trail.

for herd path that goes up NKD, had I continued to follow that south-ish, would it have led anywhere? Does it eventually connect to Kennebago Divide Road?

This can get you lost. Check Bob & Gerri's report.

Finally, now that I’ve hiked all the NEHH peaks, what do I do now? It seems I’ve run out of worthwhile peaks to claim. Would this be a good time to take up golf?

I think the New England Fifty Finest list is very fine. Check the link in my signature.

Congratulations Nate. You done good!

 

[Nate]

Raymond, thank you so much for reading through my little opus. Here are the answers to your questions, at least to the best of my knowledge:

1. Unfortunately, I don't have a GPS generated route superimposed onto a map. Even though I did have a handheld GPS device with me, if it does have that capability I don't know how to use it. I mostly just use it to track waypoints (usually the car).

2. Thank you for offering to reinstall the canister. Upon some reflection of the condition of the Boundary Peak canister, I now recall that it was attached snuggly to a flat rectangular metal piece by some metal bands. Hence, I think the metal piece simply has to be re-attached to the tree, be it with screws, bolts, or duct tape. If I had been really clever, I would have noted the diameter of the holes on the metal piece, so that I could tell you what size of screw, bolt, or duct tape to bring.

3. As for your question regarding the route to Porter Brook Road, as Cantdog pointed out, the Wiggle Brook Road bridge over the Kennebago River is definitely out. I'm terribly sorry if my account wasn't clear on that point. Having visited the old bridge site back in May, it was obvious they weren't going to be putting another one up any time soon. But, there's a perfectly good dirt road on the western side of the river. What happens is, once the Lincoln Pond/Tim Pond Road heads west past its bridge over the Kennebago River, it passes a driveway on the right (it's marked by a sign with two last names on it, one of which is Sharpe), and just after that an unsigned road comes in on the right. This is the road that will take you up to Wiggle Brook Road, and when I was on it two weeks ago, it was very usable for smaller cars.

As for Cupsuptic Pond Road, I drove up it to the point right before it crosses over Porter Brook. I have the 1999 DeLorme map, which actually depicts the Cupsuptic Pond Road/Porter Brook Road intersection as being north of Porter Brook. The reverse is actually true, and the edition of the Maine atlas that the ranger had did depict this correctly (i.e. Porter Brook Road interects Cupsuptic Pond Road, and just north of there the latter crosses over Porter Brook [according to the ranger, Cupsuptic Pond Road was drivable up to at least Cupsuptic Pond, if not all the way up to the border itself]), but I don't know when DeLorme made this revision to their maps. Plus, in the atlas I have, Porter Brook Road isn't labeled, but it's basically the second right north of what's labeled as the Bowman Town Express. Once you get in the bush, you'll see that Bowman Town is signed as "Old Bridge Crossing," the first right after that is Cloutier Road, and Porter Brook is signed as named.

When you do get up there, once you turn onto Cupsuptic Pond Road, since you have a Corolla, definitely drive carefully. I know the road was perfectly fine up to at least its intersection with Porter Brook Road (due in part to the fact I walked this entire 2.3 stretch and kicked all the threatening rocks off the road's surface) the moment I left it, but every vehicle that passes over it and every rain storm that passes through there causes the road surface to change (and never for the better), so there might already be a new crop of of rocks along the road ready to claim your oil pan. Please, please keep a steely eye out for them, because that's a hell of a place to get stranded. There's no telling when Ranger Friendly will swing through there again to rescue you if you get stuck.
Just overall, good luck in your endeavors in finding these peaks.

As for Papa Bear's comments, he's completely right that no one has an issue with people simply walking along the border swath. Even the MFS ranger concurred with this, and I'm sorry if I wasn't clear on this point. But, in some trip reports I'd seen, hikers would follow Cupsuptic Pond Road up to the border and beyond into Canada, then take the first logging road/ATV trail on the right in order to pop out at mile 448 and cut the tangent along the border. Venturing into Canada like that is technically illegal, so my question was more if anyone who'd done this had run into any border officials, and if so, what the results were.