buckyball1
New member
Jo-Mary (2905) is north of Brownville Junction and west of Millinocket
The mountain actually looked imposing as I drove in the Jo-Mary road off Rt 11 (fee gate) on a crystal clear, cold morning; it sits pretty much by itself and is "bulky" looking. I parked directly east of the peak about 9 miles in from the gate and started hiking --33 degrees. There are a number of good looking approaches and I decided to come in from the east, then swing around and go for the top from the NE. There's also a good line directly from the NE further in the JM road and it looks like the easiest "hike" might be from the west, but i have no idea how the approach roads might be. (thanks Nate)
Today was "solve the maze". There's an extensive network of old logging and skidder roads on the mountain which go up surprisingly far. There must have been extensive lumbering on the mountain as some of the roads are pretty serious endeavors while others are just badly overgrown paths and rocky/eroded steep gullies. While you can work your way fairly close to the top using these avenues, you better have a plan as choices aren't always obvious. If you make a mistake down low and need to wack to another spot, the woods are medium density hardwood; higher up the mountain they're medium size very thick evergreen and hard to push through. I was literally "stuck" at one point for at least a minute trying to free myself from the tangle. Close to the summit, the cone is steep with cliffy sections, but not as dense and an OK 'wack. The top is a pretty thick, flat table with considerable blowdown.
I was fortunate to get "off-line" in only a few spots and before I knew it was in the steep, rocky skidder trails high on the mountain. The views form here are superior-endless lakes of all sizes with Katahdin and its friends in the backgroung-worth the hike for this. NO views on top.
Once I 'wacked the last few tenths to the "summit", the fun began. The top is flat and featureless with several areas where the last contour line is 2900; the "top" is 2905 and the topo shows it being in the "center" of the top area. But where's "the top"? I knew there was at least one jar up there and was determined to find it. I think if you sent 5 experienced hikers up with 5 jars they'd all end up in different places. There is an awful lot of area within 10-15' elevation of "the top" and the tiny dips between several areas are really shallow-it's just gently sloping this way and that. I spent 2 hours looking around (longer than it took me to get down), pushing thru thick stuff with occasional small clearings-no jar. I was very methodical at this and even went to the areas where the "other" 2900 foot contours were just in case. I got to know the top pretty intimately and could probably sketch a topo with all the altimeter readings I took. I found the area I felt (uncertainly) was the top, but no jar. I channeled Diogenes (thanks to A
), but got Ahab instead, was getting a bit crazed-I was giving various trees and clearings I saw several times nicknames in my head. I finally realized I was getting exhausted; no "happy" ending, no jar, but i felt I could "count" the peak since I probably walked over whatever is the top(s) multiple times.
Descent was pretty easy and I enjoyed another very good hike, jar or no.
always happy to give more detailed info
jim
The mountain actually looked imposing as I drove in the Jo-Mary road off Rt 11 (fee gate) on a crystal clear, cold morning; it sits pretty much by itself and is "bulky" looking. I parked directly east of the peak about 9 miles in from the gate and started hiking --33 degrees. There are a number of good looking approaches and I decided to come in from the east, then swing around and go for the top from the NE. There's also a good line directly from the NE further in the JM road and it looks like the easiest "hike" might be from the west, but i have no idea how the approach roads might be. (thanks Nate)
Today was "solve the maze". There's an extensive network of old logging and skidder roads on the mountain which go up surprisingly far. There must have been extensive lumbering on the mountain as some of the roads are pretty serious endeavors while others are just badly overgrown paths and rocky/eroded steep gullies. While you can work your way fairly close to the top using these avenues, you better have a plan as choices aren't always obvious. If you make a mistake down low and need to wack to another spot, the woods are medium density hardwood; higher up the mountain they're medium size very thick evergreen and hard to push through. I was literally "stuck" at one point for at least a minute trying to free myself from the tangle. Close to the summit, the cone is steep with cliffy sections, but not as dense and an OK 'wack. The top is a pretty thick, flat table with considerable blowdown.
I was fortunate to get "off-line" in only a few spots and before I knew it was in the steep, rocky skidder trails high on the mountain. The views form here are superior-endless lakes of all sizes with Katahdin and its friends in the backgroung-worth the hike for this. NO views on top.
Once I 'wacked the last few tenths to the "summit", the fun began. The top is flat and featureless with several areas where the last contour line is 2900; the "top" is 2905 and the topo shows it being in the "center" of the top area. But where's "the top"? I knew there was at least one jar up there and was determined to find it. I think if you sent 5 experienced hikers up with 5 jars they'd all end up in different places. There is an awful lot of area within 10-15' elevation of "the top" and the tiny dips between several areas are really shallow-it's just gently sloping this way and that. I spent 2 hours looking around (longer than it took me to get down), pushing thru thick stuff with occasional small clearings-no jar. I was very methodical at this and even went to the areas where the "other" 2900 foot contours were just in case. I got to know the top pretty intimately and could probably sketch a topo with all the altimeter readings I took. I found the area I felt (uncertainly) was the top, but no jar. I channeled Diogenes (thanks to A
), but got Ahab instead, was getting a bit crazed-I was giving various trees and clearings I saw several times nicknames in my head. I finally realized I was getting exhausted; no "happy" ending, no jar, but i felt I could "count" the peak since I probably walked over whatever is the top(s) multiple times.Descent was pretty easy and I enjoyed another very good hike, jar or no.
always happy to give more detailed info
jim
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