buckyball1
New member
...off to The County at 245 this morning; put 400+ miles on the car today-"easy day" + a small adventure....
An almost full moon was setting as i drove north on RT 95 to Exit 286, thru Smyrna Mills, up Rt 212 and north on Rt 11 toward Fort Kent-the Rt 11 corridor between Knowles Corner and Fort Kent is always filled with log trucks barreling down the road in the dark. (mills/log yards/logging ops in Masardis, Squa Pan, Ashland,, Portage, Fort Kent areas) After going through Ashland and Portage, i parked at a picnic area on the west side of Rt 11 for
Hedgehog-1590'-cold (27), windy and sunny as it would be most of the day--This is a straightforward, trailed hike leaving from the left corner (facing the mountain) of the picnic area. After passing 2 dilapidated buildings used when the fire tower was still in place, the trail winds fairly steeply to the SE ridge and thence to the summit-sun not yet above the horizon. The 4 piers for the former fire tower (removed in 1978) are still in place amidst a few 30' evergreens and there's a battered USGS marker. There is a nice view toward the SW, but it's now limited to about a 30 degree viewing angle. If you happen to be going by, the hike is short and pretty easy, but i think there are much better views of The County (e.g. see below)--back to Ashland, east on Rt 163 to just west of Mapleton for
Pyle-1285'-If you've been by here, you've almost surely seen Haystack Mt right beside the road; a neat looking, spiky, very steep rock at the top peak. Pyle is its unassuming cousin to the NE (but it's my "list"). There are two obvious approaches to Pyle. One is from the south, directly "up" from Rt 163 through easily negotiated hardwoods-no trail/roads. When i reached the top (just a spot in the woods-no view), i realized that just north and over the the summit crown was a new cell tower (i had seen it from a distance, but paid little attention. Exploring a bit as a trace of snow fell and swirled, i found the access road going off the north side of the peak toward the Dudley Rd (my second possible approach) with excellent views to the north.
Having passed by and admired Haystack-1341' (it's volcanic) several times in the past, i decided to take a flyer and give it a try-after all it was trailed with an "official" looking sign and was "right there" a short distance up off Rt 163-how tuff could it be?. Parking in the nice, large lot, i started up trail finding as expected a wide, steep trail with loose rock-evidence of considerable usage was everywhere (butts, bottles, paper). There were numerous huge, yellow blazes on the tress and i'm smugly thinking "tourist peak".
I'm motoring along about 4/5 of the way up when the blazes disappear and i'm confronted with a very steep, sizable rock cone pitch to the top-really should carry a camera. Hmmm, how can this be?-i search right/east for a better way and find none, so abandoning my trusty poles i climb the rock-wide open, no foliage -exhilarating-hand over hand in a few spots-combo of loose crap and almost polished rocks-more worrisome than than it should be-won't come down this way--totally unexpected.
The top is wide open, superb views all around of Arrostook County in it's desolate gray splendor (just like last Sunday
. There are bottles and trash on the top which i know weren't put there by people coming up the way i did so i look for the "easy" way off-nothing obvious, but i didn't try too hard. I start down directly east into the woods, but after a bit it gets crazy steep with a much longer drop than i came up and between moss and ice, i'm worried about coming off even with the scrubby trees around me-i haul myself a long way back up to the top using every small evergreen i think looks stable and search briefly to the west-looks no better.
Well, time to slowly head down the rock i came up-a bit dicey in a few spots, but with care and a "downclimb" or two i reach my abandoned poles and the top of the steep trail. Coming down i notice that there are iron rings bolted into the rocks in numerous places, probably for a long gone assist cable, maybe for use of protection. Maybe i didn't want to see these going up? Headed down the trail about 100' and i of course see a small yellow blaze leading off to the west of the rock cone-the "right" way to the top--duh--haste and an unwarranted "no problem, i've got it covered" attitude had gotten me into an iffy spot i could/should? have avoided--but it WAS fun.
Back at the car, I spent a bit of time exploring a possible approach to the north end of Squa Pan Mt (not the tower end), stopped in Ashland for homemade donuts and in Masardis at Forest Service office to discuss dirt road conditions deep into NMW between 6 Mile, Oxbow, St Francis and and Allagash gates for numerous hikes next summer. Back down Rt 11 to Rt 212, thru Smyrna Mills and down Rt 2 thru Dyer Brook to a peak i scouted last Sunday
Pt 1249-1249'. I parked in another nice picnic area on Rt 2 and just went for the top in a bent "L" route so as to hit both tops even though the NE one was clearly higher -about a mile thru fairly easy hardwoods-no issues. The woods were faceless, but the hike was relaxing and fun-end of the day. The top was definitive (woods-no views) and tied around a tree on the very peak was a short piece of pink survey tape with "Tp-251"-as with a number of other things of late (the red "lake" off Springy Brook, the "cooking spot" on Bates), i have no clue; perhaps a lumbering or survey thing? Quick, straight line descent.
On the way home, i could see considerable snow on the Katahdin massif. It's been a very good, productive last 6 weeks after my several month hiatus-looking forward to a number of hard climbs next Spring/Summer after the snow melts
jim
An almost full moon was setting as i drove north on RT 95 to Exit 286, thru Smyrna Mills, up Rt 212 and north on Rt 11 toward Fort Kent-the Rt 11 corridor between Knowles Corner and Fort Kent is always filled with log trucks barreling down the road in the dark. (mills/log yards/logging ops in Masardis, Squa Pan, Ashland,, Portage, Fort Kent areas) After going through Ashland and Portage, i parked at a picnic area on the west side of Rt 11 for
Hedgehog-1590'-cold (27), windy and sunny as it would be most of the day--This is a straightforward, trailed hike leaving from the left corner (facing the mountain) of the picnic area. After passing 2 dilapidated buildings used when the fire tower was still in place, the trail winds fairly steeply to the SE ridge and thence to the summit-sun not yet above the horizon. The 4 piers for the former fire tower (removed in 1978) are still in place amidst a few 30' evergreens and there's a battered USGS marker. There is a nice view toward the SW, but it's now limited to about a 30 degree viewing angle. If you happen to be going by, the hike is short and pretty easy, but i think there are much better views of The County (e.g. see below)--back to Ashland, east on Rt 163 to just west of Mapleton for
Pyle-1285'-If you've been by here, you've almost surely seen Haystack Mt right beside the road; a neat looking, spiky, very steep rock at the top peak. Pyle is its unassuming cousin to the NE (but it's my "list"). There are two obvious approaches to Pyle. One is from the south, directly "up" from Rt 163 through easily negotiated hardwoods-no trail/roads. When i reached the top (just a spot in the woods-no view), i realized that just north and over the the summit crown was a new cell tower (i had seen it from a distance, but paid little attention. Exploring a bit as a trace of snow fell and swirled, i found the access road going off the north side of the peak toward the Dudley Rd (my second possible approach) with excellent views to the north.
Having passed by and admired Haystack-1341' (it's volcanic) several times in the past, i decided to take a flyer and give it a try-after all it was trailed with an "official" looking sign and was "right there" a short distance up off Rt 163-how tuff could it be?. Parking in the nice, large lot, i started up trail finding as expected a wide, steep trail with loose rock-evidence of considerable usage was everywhere (butts, bottles, paper). There were numerous huge, yellow blazes on the tress and i'm smugly thinking "tourist peak".
I'm motoring along about 4/5 of the way up when the blazes disappear and i'm confronted with a very steep, sizable rock cone pitch to the top-really should carry a camera. Hmmm, how can this be?-i search right/east for a better way and find none, so abandoning my trusty poles i climb the rock-wide open, no foliage -exhilarating-hand over hand in a few spots-combo of loose crap and almost polished rocks-more worrisome than than it should be-won't come down this way--totally unexpected.
The top is wide open, superb views all around of Arrostook County in it's desolate gray splendor (just like last Sunday
. There are bottles and trash on the top which i know weren't put there by people coming up the way i did so i look for the "easy" way off-nothing obvious, but i didn't try too hard. I start down directly east into the woods, but after a bit it gets crazy steep with a much longer drop than i came up and between moss and ice, i'm worried about coming off even with the scrubby trees around me-i haul myself a long way back up to the top using every small evergreen i think looks stable and search briefly to the west-looks no better.Well, time to slowly head down the rock i came up-a bit dicey in a few spots, but with care and a "downclimb" or two i reach my abandoned poles and the top of the steep trail. Coming down i notice that there are iron rings bolted into the rocks in numerous places, probably for a long gone assist cable, maybe for use of protection. Maybe i didn't want to see these going up
? Headed down the trail about 100' and i of course see a small yellow blaze leading off to the west of the rock cone-the "right" way to the top--duh--haste and an unwarranted "no problem, i've got it covered" attitude had gotten me into an iffy spot i could/should? have avoided--but it WAS fun.Back at the car, I spent a bit of time exploring a possible approach to the north end of Squa Pan Mt (not the tower end), stopped in Ashland for homemade donuts and in Masardis at Forest Service office to discuss dirt road conditions deep into NMW between 6 Mile, Oxbow, St Francis and and Allagash gates for numerous hikes next summer. Back down Rt 11 to Rt 212, thru Smyrna Mills and down Rt 2 thru Dyer Brook to a peak i scouted last Sunday
Pt 1249-1249'. I parked in another nice picnic area on Rt 2 and just went for the top in a bent "L" route so as to hit both tops even though the NE one was clearly higher -about a mile thru fairly easy hardwoods-no issues. The woods were faceless, but the hike was relaxing and fun-end of the day. The top was definitive (woods-no views) and tied around a tree on the very peak was a short piece of pink survey tape with "Tp-251"-as with a number of other things of late (the red "lake" off Springy Brook, the "cooking spot" on Bates), i have no clue; perhaps a lumbering or survey thing? Quick, straight line descent.
On the way home, i could see considerable snow on the Katahdin massif. It's been a very good, productive last 6 weeks after my several month hiatus-looking forward to a number of hard climbs next Spring/Summer after the snow melts
jim
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