buckyball1
New member
Today was a "more than half the battle is figuring out how to get there" day. I drove up to Old Town and headed a bit downeast into an area totally unknown to me. Both of today's peaks were off the Stud Mill Rd which runs between the outskirts of Old Town and Princeton near Calais.
I left home a bit early and was surprised when the Stud Mill Rd turned out to be all dirt-a good dirt road, but never-the-less not ideal driving on 35 miles one way around daybreak. Fortunately much of the road corridor is a wide open, straight line swath which also houses an electric transmission line on one side and a natural gas pipeline on the other. The area is laced with secondary dirt roads to ponds/camps, but still pretty desolate. I did have four moose cross in front of me within a two mile stretch--much of the land is flat, lowish and boggy-ideal moose habitat.
I passed through "Myra" (saw nothing-no houses, no camps--maybe an old lumber area or rail stop??) and turned north onto a secondary dirt road near Alligator lake..worked my way to the north side of
Eagle-1090'-parked near the end of an iffy dirt road and easily worked my way up on old skid roads and then thru pretty open hardwoods (with evergreens higher up) to find a fairly open top with no views, but a stone ring with a USGS marker -had "Y1928" on it, but new grouting? It was 25 degrees, but yesterday's howling winds had died to nothing and there was abundant sun-nice hiking weather. Coming down i had excellent views of Passadumkeag to the north. Then back to Stud Mill Rd, drive about 10 miles further east and wind north on a side road to the north side of
Sabao-1115'-My great driving luck ran out as the last two sections of planned approach route were "rocked", but that just added a pleasant walk to the hike. There was just a trace (hard to even recognize) of lumber activity on the mountain. The hike was really enjoyable-fairly open hardwoods, moderate grade and little, easy avoidable blowdown. It's nice to have some hikes w/o looking/feeling like you've been in a street-fight. The top was fairly open with partial views to the south. It "looked/felt"
as if there should be some sign of human activity (tower base, USGS marker, etc), but i found nothing.
On the way out Stud Mill, i stopped and talked with a few people about how i might access Springy Brook Mt on another trip. Finally found an older fellow who pointed out my proposed driving approach wasn't going to work and that i should try from Rt 9 near Amherst. Just another tidbit i'm sure you were dying to know, but i never cease to be amazed how much info i can glean by chatting/asking.
jim
I left home a bit early and was surprised when the Stud Mill Rd turned out to be all dirt-a good dirt road, but never-the-less not ideal driving on 35 miles one way around daybreak. Fortunately much of the road corridor is a wide open, straight line swath which also houses an electric transmission line on one side and a natural gas pipeline on the other. The area is laced with secondary dirt roads to ponds/camps, but still pretty desolate. I did have four moose cross in front of me within a two mile stretch--much of the land is flat, lowish and boggy-ideal moose habitat.
I passed through "Myra" (saw nothing-no houses, no camps--maybe an old lumber area or rail stop??) and turned north onto a secondary dirt road near Alligator lake..worked my way to the north side of
Eagle-1090'-parked near the end of an iffy dirt road and easily worked my way up on old skid roads and then thru pretty open hardwoods (with evergreens higher up) to find a fairly open top with no views, but a stone ring with a USGS marker -had "Y1928" on it, but new grouting? It was 25 degrees, but yesterday's howling winds had died to nothing and there was abundant sun-nice hiking weather. Coming down i had excellent views of Passadumkeag to the north. Then back to Stud Mill Rd, drive about 10 miles further east and wind north on a side road to the north side of
Sabao-1115'-My great driving luck ran out as the last two sections of planned approach route were "rocked", but that just added a pleasant walk to the hike. There was just a trace (hard to even recognize) of lumber activity on the mountain. The hike was really enjoyable-fairly open hardwoods, moderate grade and little, easy avoidable blowdown. It's nice to have some hikes w/o looking/feeling like you've been in a street-fight. The top was fairly open with partial views to the south. It "looked/felt"
as if there should be some sign of human activity (tower base, USGS marker, etc), but i found nothing.On the way out Stud Mill, i stopped and talked with a few people about how i might access Springy Brook Mt on another trip. Finally found an older fellow
who pointed out my proposed driving approach wasn't going to work and that i should try from Rt 9 near Amherst. Just another tidbit i'm sure you were dying to know, but i never cease to be amazed how much info i can glean by chatting/asking.jim
