buckyball1
New member
....decided to try to grab two "oddballs" today if time permitted--these prominence peaks are by definition usually pretty widely scattered so there's often way too much driving involved
Hurricane-2489' -near Weld/Blue Mt State Park
I left at 330 for Hurricane, one of the peaks i haven't been able to get any beta on. The driving approach was relatively benign; head up to Weld, take Rt142 to Chase Corners, go in the "other" end of the Center Hill Rd (dirt on this end) and try to get as close as possible using whatever roads work. The dirt roads in were in decent shape, but i hit an unexpected obstacle over a mile from my planned start point-large rigid plastic "sap" lines running across the road that i could not weasel under with the Forester
. I had checked and was sure this was a "public" series of roads. Rather than take a chance of breaking the lines if i tried to raise/prop them with a tree limb, i parked and started the hike from there...hiking by 6
It was an almost perfect hike morning as i started up the dirt road, 40s, bright sunshine..but a wind velocity apropos the intended destination-gusts of 40mph even in the woods. I was able to follow old log roads much of the way up and the remaining 'whack was easy. I ascended from the NW and snow appeared in patches around 1900' and by the time i reached the ridge at 2200', there was a blanket of several inches of wet, crunchy stuff from the recent late season storm. The summit was semi-open, mostly deciduous trees, and there were good views in all directions if you wandered around. The top was obvious, but i was disappointed not to find the "JP" jar i expect in ME on peaks over 2400'-search yielded no jar, no string. I imagine it was removed as the area clearly sees a lot of hunting activity (small trailers/ratty shacks/ stands). Bottom line, a nice little peak to wander up
I descended rapidly with no problem and as i approached where the sap line blocked my car, i ran into two guys who turn out to be "contract sappers". I've seen tons of the lines in my travels, especially near the swath and never knew that "all" of them are run under contract by various mostly "local" hired help. As is my wont, i spent some time with the guys getting a quick overview of the operation and then they laughed and told me there was a trail up the SW side of Hurricane which would have taken me right through their entire operation and quickly to the summit--no way you'll find it w/o "knowing" where it is.
Then it was off for another 4 hour drive, past home territory and to...
Duck-1225'-near Burlington (ME)
Again, i had been unable to get and info on this peak, but finally talked to MFS head in Lee region and he was a great help explaining the way through the dirt road maze to the peak (i had planned to go up the "wrong" side and would never have reached it by car-those roads long since overgrown.)
I drove up Rt95, got off at Howland, passed thru Enfield, Burlington and Saponac and worked my way through about 20 miles of dirt roads around Nicatous and Duck Lakes. I was able to park exactly where i hoped within a mile of the summit-roads are all OK, with a few badly rutted/wet spots. This was definitely a "have your chainsaw" drive and of course i left mine at home. I saw a large tree that had blocked the road which was clearly cut just this morning--thank you whomever
There is NO reason to ever hike this little lump of a mountain unless you need it for some list. It's only 1225' high, but has 860' of prominence-nothing much rises up around that area. A routine ascent through scrubby hardwoods, lot of hobble bush and too many blowdown limbs-not one view anywhere on the hike and the terrain is lumpy both in a micro and macro sense-rocks, roots, moss-just ugly. Black flies were out. Totally wooded top with a few big evergreens and some large rocks.
2 1/2 more hours driving home, but another good day
jim
Hurricane-2489' -near Weld/Blue Mt State Park
I left at 330 for Hurricane, one of the peaks i haven't been able to get any beta on. The driving approach was relatively benign; head up to Weld, take Rt142 to Chase Corners, go in the "other" end of the Center Hill Rd (dirt on this end) and try to get as close as possible using whatever roads work. The dirt roads in were in decent shape, but i hit an unexpected obstacle over a mile from my planned start point-large rigid plastic "sap" lines running across the road that i could not weasel under with the Forester
. I had checked and was sure this was a "public" series of roads. Rather than take a chance of breaking the lines if i tried to raise/prop them with a tree limb, i parked and started the hike from there...hiking by 6It was an almost perfect hike morning as i started up the dirt road, 40s, bright sunshine..but a wind velocity apropos the intended destination-gusts of 40mph even in the woods. I was able to follow old log roads much of the way up and the remaining 'whack was easy. I ascended from the NW and snow appeared in patches around 1900' and by the time i reached the ridge at 2200', there was a blanket of several inches of wet, crunchy stuff from the recent late season storm. The summit was semi-open, mostly deciduous trees, and there were good views in all directions if you wandered around. The top was obvious, but i was disappointed not to find the "JP" jar i expect in ME on peaks over 2400'-search yielded no jar, no string. I imagine it was removed as the area clearly sees a lot of hunting activity (small trailers/ratty shacks/ stands). Bottom line, a nice little peak to wander up
I descended rapidly with no problem and as i approached where the sap line blocked my car, i ran into two guys who turn out to be "contract sappers". I've seen tons of the lines in my travels, especially near the swath and never knew that "all" of them are run under contract by various mostly "local" hired help. As is my wont, i spent some time with the guys getting a quick overview of the operation and then they laughed and told me there was a trail up the SW side of Hurricane which would have taken me right through their entire operation and quickly to the summit--no way you'll find it w/o "knowing" where it is.
Then it was off for another 4 hour drive, past home territory and to...
Duck-1225'-near Burlington (ME)
Again, i had been unable to get and info on this peak, but finally talked to MFS head in Lee region and he was a great help explaining the way through the dirt road maze to the peak (i had planned to go up the "wrong" side and would never have reached it by car-those roads long since overgrown.)
I drove up Rt95, got off at Howland, passed thru Enfield, Burlington and Saponac and worked my way through about 20 miles of dirt roads around Nicatous and Duck Lakes. I was able to park exactly where i hoped within a mile of the summit-roads are all OK, with a few badly rutted/wet spots. This was definitely a "have your chainsaw" drive and of course i left mine at home. I saw a large tree that had blocked the road which was clearly cut just this morning--thank you whomever
There is NO reason to ever hike this little lump of a mountain unless you need it for some list. It's only 1225' high, but has 860' of prominence-nothing much rises up around that area. A routine ascent through scrubby hardwoods, lot of hobble bush and too many blowdown limbs-not one view anywhere on the hike and the terrain is lumpy both in a micro and macro sense-rocks, roots, moss-just ugly. Black flies were out. Totally wooded top with a few big evergreens and some large rocks.
2 1/2 more hours driving home, but another good day
jim
Last edited:
