Bushwhack: N Peak Jackson Mtn, Weld ME

[onestep]

This Saturday, 09-17-05, I'm heading up to the Tumbledown Mtn area to bushwhack the North Peak of Jackson Mountain (3314'). My plan is to follow the hiking trail to the Little Jackson (3434') / Jackson (3568') col and "bushwhack"? up to Jackson (this may be a well defined herd path or an actual trail). From the summit of Jackson the fun begins as we'll bushwhack N following the ridge over to the N Peak (and back, hopefully )

Anyone up for an adventure?
(anyone wanna share their experiance here?)

Onestep

 

[dms]

Jackson

Onestep, the good news is that the woods from Jackson to the north peak are open, with lots of herd paths, very easy going. The not so good news is that the the bw from Little to the main peak is scrappy, not terrible, but not great either. The Jackson summit itself is a stick forest. Enjoy!

 

[onestep]

ahhhh, so the bushwhack to get to the bushwhack is the toughest 'wack

Onestep

 

[Jim lombard]

Onestep, enjoy.

I've done a little bushwhacking around Little Jackson. At that time what seemed like evident herd paths ended in scrub, we ended up descending down towards Tumbledown pond through thick, steep and rocky terrain. I can see why I usually stick to trails

Jim

 

[audrey]

There's a trail going to the summit of Big Jackson from the Big-Little col, about a mile long. It probably follows the herd path that we found about 15 years ago. Our experience was competely different from what DMS describes.

We've tried twice for North Jackson but gave up out of boredom. The ridgewalk was thick with no letup. Another time we started contouring from the Big-Little col and did little else for an hour or two other than schlepping over blowdowns ad nauseum. Someday we'll get it over with.

A third time we drove in from Byron Notch Road quite a distance but the road got too nasty. On the way back we took a wrong turn and some guy came running down his driveway to accuse us of running over his dog, which was limping around near the house. That was reason enough to get out of there!

 

[dms]

Onestep, back in 1987, my friend and I did the Tumbledowns and Jacsksons in the same day, we saw the sunset on N. Tumbledown, so it was a long day, but the conditions were not that bad back then.

 

[Nate]

Onestep, how did this hike go by the way? Did you find a trail up to Big Jackson? How was the going over to North Jackson?

 

[onestep]

Nate,
The trail up Big Jackson is well maintained. Finding it was a bit tricky. I had to drop slightly out of the col on a snowmobile trail to find it. It's pretty obvious though.
The summit of Big J has been cleared. The jar was at the edge of the woods just as you enter the clearing. Leaving the clearing to 'whack over to N Peak is initially *thick*. That doesn't last too long though and then there's many herd paths to follow. The woods on the N peak are very open.
A most enjoyable 'whack... let me know how you do!

Onestep