buckyball1
New member
perfect day to hike-cloudless, no wind, cold morning, near record warmth by late afternoon-real bonus day to try for a few more..except it IS a Saturday in November, deer season 
West on the Rt 2 corridor, north on Rt 5 , east over the nice covered bridge toward E Andover, take the Farmers Hill Rd south to
Farmers Hill-1705'-totally different from Farmers Mt, a 3k peak near Barjum and on my summer 2011 to-do list....I decided to try a NE approach to Farmers which in retrospect was 'ok', but probably not optimal..was a coldish (25), but fairly easy 'whack up an ugly little hill,that while cutover in the past offered few useful skid roads going "up".
It ended up being a pretty much straight line shot through small, jail bar hardwoods with too many blowdowns. If you looked "up", you tripped; if you looked "down", you got whipped in the face--nothing bad, just annoying.
After a modest slog, the top was faceless and viewless, mostly woods. Easy descent, back through Rumford and Mexico to Rt 108 and
Burgess Hill-1695', south peak-The smell from the R/M mill was pretty bad today as the smoke poured from multiple stacks. I'm certainly ok with the logging/wood products industry up here, but this mill has always put out a wicked stink. I hoped to head south from Rt 108 on Dickvale Rd, find a power line/gas line cut and hike the corridor as one leg of a longer "sides of a right triangle" approach to Burgess rather than go directly (hypotenuse) at it to see if i could gain altitude in the open rather than the woods. I talked to two guys at the local convenience store who "blessed" my approach.
It was a bit steep, but easy going up the power line cut-talked to 3-4 hunters to let them know i was there and where i'd be. Saturday in deer gun season is probably not the best time to be hiking in Maine, but..The 'whack from the height of land on the power line to the summit of Burgess was a delight, fairly open hardwoods all the way, some partial views, just nice-top was fairly "spikey" and in in moderate woods. Coming down, I found a snowmobile trail paralleling the power line which was much easier on the feet.
Back to Dixville, up Rt 142 to Phillips (great views of Weld area peaks-Tumbledowns, Jacksons, Blueberry, West, Hurricane, etc), Rt149 to Strong and then Rt 234 to New Vineyard and toward N Anson. I turned down the Holland Waite Rd (dirt) onto the Spencer Rd (deteriorating dirt and some really ugly "stay out or else" type signs on properties-crazies) to
Barton-1295'-Having done too much running, woods work, etc over last few days, i was starting to "bonk" and just wanted to get it done. I parked fairly "early" on the approach roads as there were some very wet spots (after mid-Sept, the Maine dirt roads just never dry out) and badly eroded slopes. Probably could have driven further, but walking seemed the better choice. I was able to follow old roads, then log roads much of the way up Barton. The remaining 'whack thru pretty open hardwood (recurring theme on these smaller peaks this Fall) to a non-descript top with 5-6 bumps (all visible from each other), two of which "might" be the top-touched them all. Dragged my butt back to the car and ran into a few somewhat...well, anyway..hunters; good reason i probably shouldn't have been out there
jim
West on the Rt 2 corridor, north on Rt 5 , east over the nice covered bridge toward E Andover, take the Farmers Hill Rd south to
Farmers Hill-1705'-totally different from Farmers Mt, a 3k peak near Barjum and on my summer 2011 to-do list....I decided to try a NE approach to Farmers which in retrospect was 'ok', but probably not optimal..was a coldish (25), but fairly easy 'whack up an ugly little hill,that while cutover in the past offered few useful skid roads going "up".
It ended up being a pretty much straight line shot through small, jail bar hardwoods with too many blowdowns. If you looked "up", you tripped; if you looked "down", you got whipped in the face--nothing bad, just annoying.
After a modest slog, the top was faceless and viewless, mostly woods. Easy descent, back through Rumford and Mexico to Rt 108 and
Burgess Hill-1695', south peak-The smell from the R/M mill was pretty bad today as the smoke poured from multiple stacks. I'm certainly ok with the logging/wood products industry up here, but this mill has always put out a wicked stink. I hoped to head south from Rt 108 on Dickvale Rd, find a power line/gas line cut and hike the corridor as one leg of a longer "sides of a right triangle" approach to Burgess rather than go directly (hypotenuse) at it to see if i could gain altitude in the open rather than the woods. I talked to two guys at the local convenience store who "blessed" my approach.
It was a bit steep, but easy going up the power line cut-talked to 3-4 hunters to let them know i was there and where i'd be. Saturday in deer gun season is probably not the best time to be hiking in Maine
, but..The 'whack from the height of land on the power line to the summit of Burgess was a delight, fairly open hardwoods all the way, some partial views, just nice-top was fairly "spikey" and in in moderate woods. Coming down, I found a snowmobile trail paralleling the power line which was much easier on the feet. Back to Dixville, up Rt 142 to Phillips (great views of Weld area peaks-Tumbledowns, Jacksons, Blueberry, West, Hurricane, etc), Rt149 to Strong and then Rt 234 to New Vineyard and toward N Anson. I turned down the Holland Waite Rd (dirt) onto the Spencer Rd (deteriorating dirt and some really ugly "stay out or else" type signs on properties-crazies) to
Barton-1295'-Having done too much running, woods work, etc over last few days, i was starting to "bonk" and just wanted to get it done. I parked fairly "early" on the approach roads as there were some very wet spots (after mid-Sept, the Maine dirt roads just never dry out) and badly eroded slopes. Probably could have driven further, but walking seemed the better choice. I was able to follow old roads, then log roads much of the way up Barton. The remaining 'whack thru pretty open hardwood (recurring theme on these smaller peaks this Fall) to a non-descript top with 5-6 bumps (all visible from each other), two of which "might" be the top-touched them all. Dragged my butt back to the car and ran into a few somewhat...well, anyway..hunters; good reason i probably shouldn't have been out there
jim
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