buckyball1
New member
After getting some new tires for the Forester this AM, i ran up to Katahdin Ironworks area to scout/get info re 4 future hikes and perhaps do one?
A mixed day weatherwise- sun, then clouds for several hours and sun again as i headed home. I passed through Lagrange, Milo, Brownville, Brownville Junction and swung back the dirt KI road. About 1/2 mile in i headed northwestish on an old log road. I had talked to a log hauler a few minutes before and he told me that the area was logged years ago, but not active recently-bummer as that might mean bad road or pulled culverts. It turns out they were grading the road for the first time in many years. Grading is good as it smooths the road and takes out the crown, but also brings lots of fist to cantaloupe size rocks to the surface. You want to be on the road a week or two after they grade it and certainly not before it's "raked"--so...15mph travel for about 5 miles. I caught up with the grader, the driver got down from the cab and we chatted. He said he hadn't graded in there for years and for the mile i traveled after i passed him the road was really grim..<10mph.
I parked NW of the summit of
Ebeemee-1885'--pronounced Bee-Me or eh'Bee Me depending on which old timer you speak with. The mountain had been heavily logged to about 2/3 of the way up, but any skid trails low down were high brambles; better off in the moderate density hardwoods.The skid trails were better as you ascended and i got about 2/3 of the way up easily. Then i hit "the wall". I knew from sat pics that my way was barred by about 0.15 miles of evergreens and it turned out to be evergreen/small hardwood mix with progress measured in feet for a bit. Near the top, the woods opened up and the summit was fairly open with a few large rocks/no view. There was evidence of thick decomposing white plastic (bags?) (of what?)
To avoid the worst of the evergreens, i went down in a more northerly direction and hit the expected "extension" of the road i parked on. It was totally grass covered, but a solid road-could have driven here easily-little evidence of any recent activity. Back to the car-slow drive out.
I headed into the KI gate to chat with the "keeper" re 3 other peaks i have planned-closed for the year yesterday (free entry
). I found the keeper closing up the buildings and he helped with possible approaches to my 3 peaks. One approach i felt was solid was a sure "no-go" due to a deep, impassable, water filled ditch
jim
A mixed day weatherwise- sun, then clouds for several hours and sun again as i headed home. I passed through Lagrange, Milo, Brownville, Brownville Junction and swung back the dirt KI road. About 1/2 mile in i headed northwestish on an old log road. I had talked to a log hauler a few minutes before and he told me that the area was logged years ago, but not active recently-bummer as that might mean bad road or pulled culverts. It turns out they were grading the road for the first time in many years. Grading is good as it smooths the road and takes out the crown, but also brings lots of fist to cantaloupe size rocks to the surface. You want to be on the road a week or two after they grade it and certainly not before it's "raked"--so...15mph travel for about 5 miles. I caught up with the grader, the driver got down from the cab and we chatted. He said he hadn't graded in there for years and for the mile i traveled after i passed him the road was really grim..<10mph.
I parked NW of the summit of
Ebeemee-1885'--pronounced Bee-Me or eh'Bee Me depending on which old timer you speak with. The mountain had been heavily logged to about 2/3 of the way up, but any skid trails low down were high brambles; better off in the moderate density hardwoods.The skid trails were better as you ascended and i got about 2/3 of the way up easily. Then i hit "the wall". I knew from sat pics that my way was barred by about 0.15 miles of evergreens and it turned out to be evergreen/small hardwood mix with progress measured in feet for a bit. Near the top, the woods opened up and the summit was fairly open with a few large rocks/no view. There was evidence of thick decomposing white plastic (bags?) (of what?)
To avoid the worst of the evergreens, i went down in a more northerly direction and hit the expected "extension" of the road i parked on. It was totally grass covered, but a solid road-could have driven here easily-little evidence of any recent activity. Back to the car-slow drive out.
I headed into the KI gate to chat with the "keeper" re 3 other peaks i have planned-closed for the year yesterday (free entry
). I found the keeper closing up the buildings and he helped with possible approaches to my 3 peaks. One approach i felt was solid was a sure "no-go" due to a deep, impassable, water filled ditchjim
