Finishing the Vermont County Highpoints, Northeast P2Ks and New England Fifty Finest

[Puma concolor]

A couple of compilation-style trip reports I’ve been working on for several months now. Lots of obscure peaks here … perhaps someone somewhere might find some of it somewhat useful sometime. If not, there’s at least some halfway decent photos.

Pandemic Era Peakbagging Part 1: Vermont County Highpoints and Northeast P2Ks

Pandemic Era Peakbagging Part 2: Finishing the New England Fifty Finest

 

[KRooney]

A good read. Thanks for the effort of writing it up.

 

[maineguy]

A couple of compilation-style trip reports I’ve been working on for several months now. Lots of obscure peaks here … perhaps someone somewhere might find some of it somewhat useful sometime. If not, there’s at least some halfway decent photos.

Pandemic Era Peakbagging Part 1: Vermont County Highpoints and Northeast P2Ks

Pandemic Era Peakbagging Part 2: Finishing the New England Fifty Finest

Great write up as well as outstanding pics. As someone who used to climb Mt Shaw (as part of a traverse from Mt Roberts) twice a year in Spring and Fall, I'm curious how you wound up on Turtleback and Bald Knob. I'm guessing you used one of the trails that start from NH 171 vs leaving from the Castle in the Clouds grounds. Thanks for posting.

ps: You may be running out of lists back East. Time to come out West, there are more mountains out here than you could climb in a lifetime, as I am sure you, as a Highpointer, know.

pss: Last October I finished my last "list", being in all 50 states, by visiting North Dakota

 

[Puma concolor]

^^^^

A boneheaded mistake for sure partially borne from the fact that there exists a “trail” or path or something that cuts up to Bald Knob directly from 171 that is not shown of the attached trail map.

Although I never use a GPS or similar technology on the trail, I always use one while driving to the trailhead. Sooo … I found an address for the Mount Shaw Trail during my online research that I thought correlated with the Mount Shaw parking lot. I “arrived” at said address with no trailhead in sight and continued for maybe a mile with no good suspects. I then turned around and did the slow drive looking for anything resembling a trail. (Keep is mind that I was in a phase of peakbagging where I’m doing a lot of bushwhacking and unofficial trail stuff so this was kind of normal). I spied an unmarked cut and a pull-off big enough for two or three cars. This must be it … so a hiking I did go. It was definitely a real trail that was on the steep and rugged side and I really had no idea I was on the wrong trail until it leveled off and I wasn’t seeing what I felt I should be seeing. I reached Bald Knob first and then followed the trail system to Turtleback. When I got to the summit of Turtleback, I could clearly see Mount Shaw in the distance and considered just whacking my way over to it. But it was one of the shortest days of the year in terms of daylight as well as cloudy so I decided to leave it for another day.

 

[KRooney]

"Although I never use a GPS or similar technology on the trail"

If you don't mind my asking - why don't you use a GPS?

 

[Puma concolor]

And congrats on finishing your 50 state project, maineguy! Very cool … I remember our conversation about that from the spring. And I’m right there with you in spirit in terms of having had enough of the east. The New England Fifty Finest was probably my swan song, but my other half will never willingly leave this place. I’ve been blessed with many, many years of Northeastern US hiking without an injury or a rescue. But my interests have started to evolve away from hiking. That said, I will be dabbling with US Territory highpoints moving forward. I have a trip planned to St. Thomas in April for Crown Mountain and the Pacific Ocean territorial HPs are pretty bad-ass so I still have a few miles left in these legs …

 

[Puma concolor]

"Although I never use a GPS or similar technology on the trail"

If you don't mind my asking - why don't you use a GPS?

I went through a phase where I seriously considered on-trail GPS usage as they started to rise in popularity a couple of decades back. Would have allowed me to pursue the Adirondack Highest Hundred, for example, but I ultimately decided that I liked the map and compass game too much. So - as a solo hiker - that kind of changed the trajectory for me in terms of what was realistic in terms of risk and reward.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

Always enjoy your write-ups, also very nice photos

 

[Cumulus]

Is there still a canister on the true summit of Big Spencer?

--

Cumulus

NE111 in my 50s: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2)
NE111 in my 60s: 87/115 (62/67, 23/46, 2/2)
NEFF: 50/50; Cat35: 39/39; WNH4K: 41/48; NEHH 89/100
LT NB 2009; CT NB 2017; FHT EB 2023

"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll

 

[Puma concolor]

^^^^

There is not. Papa Bear’s 2005 report is the last credible reference I saw to a summit canister on the true summit of Big Spencer. Everything recent on peakbagger.com either makes no mention of one or says none was found. I kept an out for one but wasn’t focused on finding it as I had no expectations that one would be there.

** Edit - Seems the canister was still there in 2014 as indicated in this report: Quincy Koetz - Big Spencer. I methodically hit the highest point of every bump on the dense ridgeline ... but never embarked on a canister search.

It probably took a good 30-40 minutes of up-and-down whacking and searching to find the summit canister but I discovered that it wasn't too far away from the ledges you see in the center of the picture above. Nevertheless, it was lots of searching and doubling back. Some other hikers have noted that this might not be the true summit and if you look at a topographic map, it's possible that there is a higher point on this very dense ridgeline.

 

[Puma concolor]

So I stand partially corrected.

As indicated in the below-linked report from this summer (after my visit), the old canister is still there BUT it is not on the actual true summit, which is further SW along the ridge. This makes sense to me. I crossed over the top of the first SE bump but didn’t spend a lot of time investigating as it was immediately apparent that higher ground lay beyond. My ridge traverse sounds exactly like what the writer of this report experienced. (I visited the mentioned rocky outcrop on the return trip as the terrain was pulling me that way.)

Big Spencer Report - 8/13/24

Perhaps there is a difference in mindset when you go looking for a canister in a generally-known location and when you go with the mindset of finding the highest bit of terrain. That said, at a certain point it comes down to splitting hairs.