buckyball1
New member
yeah, i know, i was hanging up my gear for the year after Elephant and Prong Pond....couldn't resist..still no snow/ice of consequence on lower peaks up here.
Headed up 95 at 3AM, to Smyrna Mills, Ashland and in North Maine Woods 6 Mile Gate (open until Thanksgiving weekend-$6, well worth it). The more i travel the NMW and KI lands, the more i appreciate them..lots of roads maintained by private land owners for logging which get me at least close to peaks i'd never reach otherwise.
Chandler 1910' is in the North Maine Woods land SW of Ashland. I had no idea what to expect on this one..couldn't find anyone who'd climbed it. The mountain lies on the Pinkham Rd about 23 miles from Ashland-all dirt roads in excellent shape. You could probably go 60 on some stretches if you were crazy, but extreme care was de rigueur as the log trucks were as thick as i'd ever seen them.
I parked just off the Pinkham Rd below Chandler and looked at three approaches I'd studied. I chose to go up a bit to the west of the summit following old "fingers" of logging to the west col and east to the summit.This was a great hike. The mostly hardwoods were as open as you ever see in Maine for most of the hike. It was a bit steep (one stretch of 600' gain in 0.3 miles) and there was a modest evergreen/blowdown band near the top--no thick spruce, no alders, no hobblebush, just nice uphill walking-a joy at 23 degrees with full sun. I hit the ridge and turned toward the summit through light hardwoods. I'm guessing the rocky spine was at one time open ledge rock with a 360 view. There were some views from the top and on the way down through the leafless tress..the one toward Chandler Lake being especially nice.
Perhaps a bit effusive, but i'd recommend this hike as an excellent place to get your feet wet if you don't bushwhack much. It's short, requires modest route finding, has a bit of everything, but is pretty easy with no "tricks"..and it was great fun. It would also be a good introduction to travel/hiking in NMW land. I enjoyed it as much as any recent hike.
Back 16 miles to the gate (i did 102 miles on dirt today
) and west on the American Realty Rd for about 27 miles almost to McNally's. The American Realty Rd (correct pronunciation is realty, like selling a house, even though many call it the Reality Rd) --name derived from company that was precursor to International Paper. The Realty road is in good shape, but more narrow and with more blind curves than Pinkham Rd--run off the road once by a careless logger (i go out of my way to give them the right away) and a stone chip in the windshield from another. I soon came to the turn for
Horseshoe 2070'-many thanks to BillDC who's helped me on a number of peaks. While i often use advice to confirm the soundness of my plans, his help on this one was indispensable. In my haste while plotting routes to so many peaks, i had just taken "Rocky Brook Mtns" from the list and plotted to climb the northern peak in the range, while a more southerly peak, Horseshoe, was clearly higher and had a tower. Bill gently pointed this out ...duh. It was 2 miles from A Realty in to my planned "trail head" and the road was ugly--no go with low clearance car--mud, water gushing down the road, several washouts and large puddles with thick ice that were deep enough to be "sticked"--several had almost a foot of water. I nursed the Forester a bit over a mile, but after bottoming and slithering through a few spots decided it best to walk an extra mile to the mountain proper. Of course it turns out i'd already driven the worst stretch. I worry more re getting the Subaru in trouble when i'm alone and way back in more than i worry about myself on the actual hike-- feeling that unless badly injured, i can still walk my way out of most anything.(sure i know, this isn't very sound thinking especially as the years toll by)...anyway,...
I am no fan of the short hike up to the Horseshoe tower (maybe 0.6 miles with 700' ups). The lower part of the hill is fairly open woods and the remnants of the wardens trail are in evidence for most of the way. There is overkill flagging on much of the route as it's apparently a slightly popular destination in the summer (i tried to clean this up a bit and take out the bad/misleading stuff) The woods are permanently wet for the winter and there are small ice patches here and there. The whole route just didn't feel "nice/cool" like Chandler-closed in feeling much of the way As you near the top, it gets steep and the woods become very, very thick. The flagging is useful up here as in some places the trial is obliterated and could be lost easily-in a few places large blowdowns require skirting through the woods-careful not to lose the trail.
The tower is intact, but the cab lies in a forlorn heap at its base-blown off? The stairs seemed sound, but a few of the landings have begun to rot--careful. The view makes up for any annoyance with the hike up--gorgeous 360 view from the tower-loved the look north to Horseshoe Pond and the very rocky peak i had planned to climb. Sure the mountains are "small" up here, but you see a huge expanse and there's a nice wild feel to the area. There are two solar panels attached to the tower body and wired to some newish looking batteries in a shed nearby--what for, i know not.
About 200 yds? into my descent, i knew i was "wrong"-- had even been warned by Bill -- the warden's trail appears to go straight where you need to go hard left though scrub (almost impossible to notice unless you're looking). Not sure where this pretty good "trail" may be headed, but knew i was "wrong" when i hit some ledges with a fixed rope (only needed if iced) so i turned around and found my route for an uneventful descent. Just make sure you don't lose the "path" up high as you'd be in for a pretty tough go because the woods are steep, super, and abound in boulders and small cliffs
After another endless drive and back at 6 Mile Gate, I was lucky to talk for 20 minutes with a Ranger who gave me some great beta for a few future hikes--one in particular i "dread" is BM Dry Town in the apparent middle of nowhere between T13R10 and T13R9................then off down 11, 212, 95 to home
Many many hours of driving for a few hours of hikes--Chandler was a little gem as were the views from Horseshoe (tired bunny tonight)
jim
Headed up 95 at 3AM, to Smyrna Mills, Ashland and in North Maine Woods 6 Mile Gate (open until Thanksgiving weekend-$6, well worth it). The more i travel the NMW and KI lands, the more i appreciate them..lots of roads maintained by private land owners for logging which get me at least close to peaks i'd never reach otherwise.
Chandler 1910' is in the North Maine Woods land SW of Ashland. I had no idea what to expect on this one..couldn't find anyone who'd climbed it. The mountain lies on the Pinkham Rd about 23 miles from Ashland-all dirt roads in excellent shape. You could probably go 60 on some stretches if you were crazy, but extreme care was de rigueur as the log trucks were as thick as i'd ever seen them.
I parked just off the Pinkham Rd below Chandler and looked at three approaches I'd studied. I chose to go up a bit to the west of the summit following old "fingers" of logging to the west col and east to the summit.This was a great hike. The mostly hardwoods were as open as you ever see in Maine for most of the hike. It was a bit steep (one stretch of 600' gain in 0.3 miles) and there was a modest evergreen/blowdown band near the top--no thick spruce, no alders, no hobblebush, just nice uphill walking-a joy at 23 degrees with full sun. I hit the ridge and turned toward the summit through light hardwoods. I'm guessing the rocky spine was at one time open ledge rock with a 360 view. There were some views from the top and on the way down through the leafless tress..the one toward Chandler Lake being especially nice.
Perhaps a bit effusive, but i'd recommend this hike as an excellent place to get your feet wet if you don't bushwhack much. It's short, requires modest route finding, has a bit of everything, but is pretty easy with no "tricks"..and it was great fun. It would also be a good introduction to travel/hiking in NMW land. I enjoyed it as much as any recent hike.
Back 16 miles to the gate (i did 102 miles on dirt today
) and west on the American Realty Rd for about 27 miles almost to McNally's. The American Realty Rd (correct pronunciation is realty, like selling a house, even though many call it the Reality Rd) --name derived from company that was precursor to International Paper. The Realty road is in good shape, but more narrow and with more blind curves than Pinkham Rd--run off the road once by a careless logger (i go out of my way to give them the right away) and a stone chip in the windshield from another. I soon came to the turn for Horseshoe 2070'-many thanks to BillDC who's helped me on a number of peaks. While i often use advice to confirm the soundness of my plans, his help on this one was indispensable. In my haste while plotting routes to so many peaks, i had just taken "Rocky Brook Mtns" from the list and plotted to climb the northern peak in the range, while a more southerly peak, Horseshoe, was clearly higher and had a tower. Bill gently pointed this out ...duh. It was 2 miles from A Realty in to my planned "trail head" and the road was ugly--no go with low clearance car--mud, water gushing down the road, several washouts and large puddles with thick ice that were deep enough to be "sticked"--several had almost a foot of water. I nursed the Forester a bit over a mile, but after bottoming and slithering through a few spots decided it best to walk an extra mile to the mountain proper. Of course it turns out i'd already driven the worst stretch. I worry more re getting the Subaru in trouble when i'm alone and way back in more than i worry about myself on the actual hike-- feeling that unless badly injured, i can still walk my way out of most anything.(sure i know, this isn't very sound thinking especially as the years toll by)...anyway,...
I am no fan of the short hike up to the Horseshoe tower (maybe 0.6 miles with 700' ups). The lower part of the hill is fairly open woods and the remnants of the wardens trail are in evidence for most of the way. There is overkill flagging on much of the route as it's apparently a slightly popular destination in the summer (i tried to clean this up a bit and take out the bad/misleading stuff) The woods are permanently wet for the winter and there are small ice patches here and there. The whole route just didn't feel "nice/cool" like Chandler-closed in feeling much of the way As you near the top, it gets steep and the woods become very, very thick. The flagging is useful up here as in some places the trial is obliterated and could be lost easily-in a few places large blowdowns require skirting through the woods-careful not to lose the trail.
The tower is intact, but the cab lies in a forlorn heap at its base-blown off? The stairs seemed sound, but a few of the landings have begun to rot--careful. The view makes up for any annoyance with the hike up--gorgeous 360 view from the tower-loved the look north to Horseshoe Pond and the very rocky peak i had planned to climb. Sure the mountains are "small" up here, but you see a huge expanse and there's a nice wild feel to the area. There are two solar panels attached to the tower body and wired to some newish looking batteries in a shed nearby--what for, i know not.
About 200 yds? into my descent, i knew i was "wrong"-- had even been warned by Bill -- the warden's trail appears to go straight where you need to go hard left though scrub (almost impossible to notice unless you're looking). Not sure where this pretty good "trail" may be headed, but knew i was "wrong" when i hit some ledges with a fixed rope
(only needed if iced) so i turned around and found my route for an uneventful descent. Just make sure you don't lose the "path" up high as you'd be in for a pretty tough go because the woods are steep, super, and abound in boulders and small cliffsAfter another endless drive and back at 6 Mile Gate, I was lucky to talk for 20 minutes with a Ranger who gave me some great beta for a few future hikes--one in particular i "dread" is BM Dry Town in the apparent middle of nowhere between T13R10 and T13R9................then off down 11, 212, 95 to home
Many many hours of driving for a few hours of hikes--Chandler was a little gem as were the views from Horseshoe (tired bunny tonight)
jim
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