Evans Notch Follies

[buckyball1]

I left early this AM and took the "southern route" from Orrington to the Cold River Camp area (Rt 113 through the Notch was still closed when I called Maine DOT yesterday)

It was a spectacular day in the Notch-full sun, light breeze, good hiking temps.The plan was to do Eastman via Slippery Brook Trail (thanks to several VFTTers for trail condition info). Meader is also on "this year's list" and I entertained thoughts of perhaps tagging Eastman, then running the ridge over the Balfaces to Meader and down. This was pretty optimistic early in the season for a guy who wakes up each morning and wonders if today might be foot, shin, knee, hamstring, IBS or some combination-my wife and grown daughters just laugh at me.

This was my first time on the Slippery Brook Trail and I found it a delight, a nice, well graded walk in the open woods. As I hiked, I was trying to do mileage/ ascent calculations and theorize how much snow might be on the northern slopes of the Baldfaces. I could see Baldface Knob and the south side of S Baldface were clear, but didn't want to get up there and find 2-3' of snow on the north slopes. As I neared the ridge, I realized I left my extra water bottle and food in the car .

I was feeling good, but now wavered about going over the ridge. The Slippery Brook Trail was almost totally snow free to the ridge and I hit just a few patches on the way up Eastman-great VFTT up there. I started down from Eastman still dithering about what to do next. I was looking at my feet on a moderately steep down when wham! - managed to run directly into a broken branch tip of a blowdown and it speared me at the hairline above the eye. After a few seconds, I felt the blood run down my forehead and into my eye. While I know scalp cuts bleed profusely even when relatively minor, I had to fight down a bit of panic. (the joys of hiking solo) Got myself under control and put the nearby snowbank to good use on the cut. After a few minutes the successively applied ice packs looked a bit less like a cherry snowball and I figured I'd survive.

It was an easy choice to descend and the trip back down Slippery Brook was a breeze. After a few minutes sitting in the car and eating lunch, I decided to give Meader a shot. While I felt good, 15.5 miles and almost 5000 feet of ascent in one day is a pretty tough haul for me.

I parked in a clearing just off 113 beside the logging road which becomes the Mt Meader Trail. It turns out that even a low clearance car could be driven to a clearing about 1/2 mile in and I could have driven the Forester even further up. The trail is pretty easy for the first 2 miles. As with the Slippery Brook Trail, it's been a long time since many sections of the trail have been blazed, but the trails themselves are in good shape. The sign to "designate" the spot to turn off the logging road and into the woods shortly after the cutoff to Bricketts Falls is long gone, but the turn is obvious.

When I hit the switchbacks at about 2 miles, I was gagging a bit for the next mile to the ridge-some fairly steep going. There are some great views from the ledges and the east knob of Meader-the Notch was fairly glowing -a great day for up. I swung toward the Baldfaces at the Meader Ridge Trail and headed toward the "true summit" of Meader-hit some deep snow in the sag.

The true summit of Meader lies a short way north of the trail on a "plateau"-it's flat up there. There is supposed to be a "spur" to the true summit. I reached the height of land and a cairn on the Ridge Trail about 0.2 miles down the ridge and started looking for the 'spur". I went back and forth several times for more than 0.1 miles in each direction, no spur, just dense fir, a good many blowdowns, lots of snow off the trail and no obvious summit area that I could see. For some unfathomable reason I made 4 8-10 minute forays off the trail in the direction I thought the summit might lie. For my trouble I got pretty cut up on the arms and legs (in shorts as usual) to match the gash on my head. I found a spot that "looks" like the summit, but it's similar to several other spots I visited. So maybe I was there, maybe not-it'll have to do. Not sure if there's a jar, but I saw none. I was pretty beat by now and happy to zombie my way back down to the car.

Long, fun, somewhat crazy day and I found that Rt 113 had opened thru the Evans Notch during the day, so it was the northern route home
jim

 

[Amicus]

It was a spectacular day in the Notch-full sun, light breeze, good hiking temps.

It's great you could put this sunny weekday to such good use, esp. for the wonderful views from Eastman. Yet another so-so weekend forecast for the rest of us.

I remember not seeing any kind of herd-path from that Meader "summit plateau" the spur trail goes to. It did seem that the high-point was somewhere north in the woods. I vaguely recall seeing a herd-path running south, from a point further north along the Meader Ridge Trail, that looked like it might go to the true summit. I didn't bother with it because Meader is not a 3K.

You're old enough to know not to bushwhack in shorts.

 

[buckyball1]

just realized this AM.....and the biggest "folly" was.......i should have climbed to Eagle Crag for the "list", not the "true summit" of Meader ----another quick trip up that way in the offing

 

[RoySwkr]

I worked on the Slippery Brook Trail relo (80s?), the FS picked a route but the president of Chatham Trails Assoc. insisted on a more hiker-friendly choice. The AMC/CTA put a lot of money into this project but it seems to be working nicely.

 

[sophie bean]

I'm glad to know that Rt 113 is open through the notch - thanks!

 

[buckyball1]

I was back in the Notch for another excellent day of hiking yesterday-39 and sunny when I started and hazing up late morning-little wind.

Atoning for my mistake on Tuesday, I found Eagle Crag to be considerably more rewarding that Meader - great views all around. The south and east sides of the Carters/Moriahs looks fairly clear, but I'm sure it's far different on the "other" side. As reported previously, the Baldface Circle Trail was clear and pretty dry with patchy snow in the woods high up; the trail is getting a little "bushy" with new growth. There were half a dozen cars in the lot when i returned, but as on Tuesday, i didn't see a soul.

Having had good luck with trail conditions in the area this week, I decided to pound my body a bit more and headed up to West Royce via E Royce Trail, Royce Connector and Royce Trail-expected an easy go. E. Royce and Connector were clear with a bit of patchy snow in woods near the col. However from the intersection of the Connector with the Royce Trail, the trail was a mess--eroded, very wet, sections of deep, unavoidable,soft, rotten snow that had been "undermined"; this continued to the junction with the Burnt Mill Brook Trial and much of the way up the "back side " ascent. Couple this with lack of blazing and blowdowns and there was some iffy trail finding in a few spots-pretty isolated feeling back there. I was happy to see the summit and head back to the car-again, saw not a soul.