buckyball1
New member
a different kind of day for me...very nice....
I drove over through Skowhegan, Madison and turned toward North Anson. The crescent moon rose a bit before the sun and hung in the east as the dark waters of the Kennebec slipped. In North New Portland, I swung north onto Long Falls Dam Rd, a peak filled area i grew to enjoy last year. This is often moose alley, but i saw nary a one as i reached E Flagstaff Rd, turned left and parked in the small camping area near the AT and
Little Bigelow -3070'?-As you might expect, there are some unresolved differences over the Maine Prominence peaks and after a few chats with RS, i added Little Bigelow and Twin Mtn (near Cupsuptic Snow/ the border swath) to my list and rather than play Solomon have decided to just hike 202 rather than 200-glad i did.
It was sooo different following the white blazes again, no mental effort in either the approach drive or the hike, just muscle memory and hammer it--fun. The trail is a joy, some of you could run most of it-no banged shins, no fir face washes, no "scrappy vs crappy" (Onestep) woods choices. I hit the trail about 530 to clear skies, light wind and 29 degrees,even had my iPod phones on. One thing didn't change, saw nary a soul all morning.
The hike was just "nice", open woods, brooks babbling by, well maintained trail with good grades, excellent views and open ledges up high. It's about three miles to what i think people usually refer to as "Little Bigelow"-the SE end of the ridge. The open rock area there has superb views of West/Avery ahead and over to the Crockers, Sugarloaf and Burnt Hill. I was also interested in the 2900ers of Owl's Head and Black Nubble just SE of Sugarloaf and on my "soon to do" agenda. The winter snow to at least the 3100' level is long gone around here, but there was a dusting of new snow above 2700' which lit up all these peaks.
The trail maintainers have been active; appeared a few large blowdowns from our recent high wind days had been cleared-thank you. I hit a bit of verglas around 2300' which increased in frequency to 2800' and was then covered by snow dusting until the summit-some care required. The high point of the AT is about 0.5 miles further along the ridge (right after another good view spot and a short,steep "V")-the actual "summit" of the ridge lies about 125' off the trail through thick woods (thanks Roy)-more partial views if you push a bit further in--great to be up here by 7, but pretty cold with some wind
Scurried back down into the sun and warmer temps, the sound of "The Magnificent 7" roaring in my ears (that would be The Clash, not the Sturges/Bernstein homage to Kurosawa
)--what could be finer?
jim
I drove over through Skowhegan, Madison and turned toward North Anson. The crescent moon rose a bit before the sun and hung in the east as the dark waters of the Kennebec slipped. In North New Portland, I swung north onto Long Falls Dam Rd, a peak filled area i grew to enjoy last year. This is often moose alley, but i saw nary a one as i reached E Flagstaff Rd, turned left and parked in the small camping area near the AT and
Little Bigelow -3070'?-As you might expect, there are some unresolved differences over the Maine Prominence peaks and after a few chats with RS, i added Little Bigelow and Twin Mtn (near Cupsuptic Snow/ the border swath) to my list and rather than play Solomon have decided to just hike 202 rather than 200-glad i did.
It was sooo different following the white blazes again, no mental effort in either the approach drive or the hike, just muscle memory and hammer it--fun. The trail is a joy, some of you could run most of it-no banged shins, no fir face washes, no "scrappy vs crappy" (Onestep) woods choices. I hit the trail about 530 to clear skies, light wind and 29 degrees,even had my iPod phones on. One thing didn't change, saw nary a soul all morning.
The hike was just "nice", open woods, brooks babbling by, well maintained trail with good grades, excellent views and open ledges up high. It's about three miles to what i think people usually refer to as "Little Bigelow"-the SE end of the ridge. The open rock area there has superb views of West/Avery ahead and over to the Crockers, Sugarloaf and Burnt Hill. I was also interested in the 2900ers of Owl's Head and Black Nubble just SE of Sugarloaf and on my "soon to do" agenda. The winter snow to at least the 3100' level is long gone around here, but there was a dusting of new snow above 2700' which lit up all these peaks.
The trail maintainers have been active; appeared a few large blowdowns from our recent high wind days had been cleared-thank you. I hit a bit of verglas around 2300' which increased in frequency to 2800' and was then covered by snow dusting until the summit-some care required. The high point of the AT is about 0.5 miles further along the ridge (right after another good view spot and a short,steep "V")-the actual "summit" of the ridge lies about 125' off the trail through thick woods (thanks Roy)-more partial views if you push a bit further in--great to be up here by 7, but pretty cold with some wind
Scurried back down into the sun and warmer temps, the sound of "The Magnificent 7" roaring in my ears (that would be The Clash, not the Sturges/Bernstein homage to Kurosawa
)--what could be finer?jim
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