Barbarossa
Active member
..or is it 'plow up Mt Clough'? If you know how to pronounce it, let me know.
Whatever it is called, I made to the top, more or less. I never found anything man-made like a cairn or a cannister, but it didn't look like I could get much higher.
I drove up Friday night and parked at the Benton Trail parking lot. I started at 6:30 and reached the unnamed peak at the north end of the ridge at about sunset. It is surrounded spruce, the kind that is mature enough so that everything at human level is dead because the trees haven't thinned out yet and all the greenery is above your head.
I spent the night on top of that little knob, which was more open than the slopes immediately below it. I woke up with every weather change, including light rain, and finally seeing the moon rise in the wee hours. I woke at first light and decided to sleep until sunrise, but a mosquito in my ear had other plans.
After packing up, I descended a ways, heading south. I dropped a bit far and had to regain the ridge. The flat part is long, fairly open area with some relatively mature growth. I found a colonial tree (yes, the term is my own) towards the end of the flat part. The tree may not be older than the country, but it was an impressive old beech.
dms had warned me that therer was quite a bit of blowdown near the summit(!!). Yep, there was. The slope was relatively gentle, so it always appeared that the summit was just another 50 yards or so. The growth was an ever-changing patchwork, so I just followed herd paths. 10,000 moose can't be wrong!
I finally came out on a very wide (6 feet?) path that looked like it had been cut by humans. I was sure that was it, but I poked around some more and found some higher spots. The map says 3561'. I'm pretty sure I managed to get that high when standing on tip-toes. Close enough for the Fredd C Dobbs list.
Between prayer, luck, and dead reckoning I managed to reach Tunnel Brook Road just a couple hundred yards away from my car.
Whatever it is called, I made to the top, more or less. I never found anything man-made like a cairn or a cannister, but it didn't look like I could get much higher.
I drove up Friday night and parked at the Benton Trail parking lot. I started at 6:30 and reached the unnamed peak at the north end of the ridge at about sunset. It is surrounded spruce, the kind that is mature enough so that everything at human level is dead because the trees haven't thinned out yet and all the greenery is above your head.
I spent the night on top of that little knob, which was more open than the slopes immediately below it. I woke up with every weather change, including light rain, and finally seeing the moon rise in the wee hours. I woke at first light and decided to sleep until sunrise, but a mosquito in my ear had other plans.
After packing up, I descended a ways, heading south. I dropped a bit far and had to regain the ridge. The flat part is long, fairly open area with some relatively mature growth. I found a colonial tree (yes, the term is my own) towards the end of the flat part. The tree may not be older than the country, but it was an impressive old beech.
dms had warned me that therer was quite a bit of blowdown near the summit(!!). Yep, there was. The slope was relatively gentle, so it always appeared that the summit was just another 50 yards or so. The growth was an ever-changing patchwork, so I just followed herd paths. 10,000 moose can't be wrong!
I finally came out on a very wide (6 feet?) path that looked like it had been cut by humans. I was sure that was it, but I poked around some more and found some higher spots. The map says 3561'. I'm pretty sure I managed to get that high when standing on tip-toes. Close enough for the Fredd C Dobbs list.
Between prayer, luck, and dead reckoning I managed to reach Tunnel Brook Road just a couple hundred yards away from my car.
