For the third year in a row, Whichway and I traveled up to western Maine to bag New England Fifty Finest peaks. For the second year in a row we were accompanied by the Manbearpig and his lovely wife, who has declined all attempts at being trailnamed.
For the third year in a row we had great weather for our hikes. Although it rained on the drive up and on the drive back we had no rain on the trail or in camp. Over these three trips I've spent nine days hiking and seven days camping and haven't seen a drop of rain while doing either.
Autumn was a little past peak then, but there were still a lot of yellow and golden sugar maples.
I took the day off work Friday and drove up in the afternoon, arriving in Stratton well before our meeting time. I ate supper in the White Wolf Restaurant in Stratton, and while there was surprised to meet Pam, who was there with a groups of hikers to spend the weekend hiking mountains on the New England Hundred Highest list.
Whichway was due to come Saturday morning, so when the Manbearpig and his bride showed up we all went to camp at a site on Flagstaff Lake. On Saturday Whichway and her dog Delilah showed up and we all drove to Kibby Mountain. Both days involved a lot of driving on dirt roads of varying quality. For a couple of hikes I would park my car (really my wife's) and ride with Whichway in hers. Whichway's car has more clearance than mine, and the Manbearpig is fearless, but I didn't want to risk my wife's car if it wasn't necessary. In any event, whichever cars we were taking, Whichway's and my strategy in driving to the trailheads was "follow the MBP".
On Saturday we did Kibby and Caribou Mountains. One of these is on the NEFF list, but nobody is sure which. The NEFF is a prominence based list, and whichever of these mountains is a little higher than the other is on the list and the other isn't. Kibby's approach is mostly dirt roads, although to be honest even though it's only been three days since the trip the different mountains are starting to blur together in my memory, so I'm not sure now how traillike Kibby's approach became. In any case, there is a viewing tower on Kibby which afforded great views of northwest Maine. The Manbearpig has a summit ID app on his smartphone and was identifying peaks there and on the other summits with views. The Bigelows, for instance, were very noticeable there, and I think from all of the weekend's peaks, as well as Sugarloaf.
On the way down from Kibby we investigated some traps we kept seeing along the trail. There were about a half dozen, and one of them had the remains of some bait. We couldn't figure out how the traps worked, though. We also looked at a cabin on the way down.
After Kibby we did Caribou. This had (IIRC) more of a true trail, and was the only summit of the weekend without views on the actual summit, although there were some close by. The summit canister on Caribou is broken and the log rain damaged, unfortunately, and we didn't bring a replacement.
We spent the night at a campsite which was the site of an old WW2 POW camp. The Manbearpig built a roaring fire. At one point I looked up and the Milky Way from Cassiopeia to Aquila was perfectly lined up with the gap in the trees.
On Sunday morning we drove to Coburn. I think it was during this drive where we saw the moose. In any event, during one of those drives, the Manbearpig was leading, Whichway was behind him, and I was in the rear, and a cow moose ran across the road in front of the lead car.
On Coburn we saw the only other hikers that weekend, a man and a woman coming down just as we were starting up. They had apparently backpacked. We also briefly saw some guy without a pack who apparently had driven part way up the dirt road which was the trail. That's it for other people on the trail, although on Saturday we had seen a lot of hunters on the road.
Coburn's trail goes up a dirt road, and then up a real trail, which is steep but not too long. It has a viewing tower on top, as well as some buildings and solar panels and whatnot.
After Coburn we went to Moxie, which, in spite of being the shortest of the four peaks, had the most challenging hike, although still not particularly difficult. It did have a few rock scrambles, though, enough to be interesting. Moxie had a platform instead of a tower, but still very good views.
Afterwards we went out for ice cream and then returned to our various homes.
This recurring autumn / late summer western Maine trip has become one of my favorite weekends of the year. Thanks again to Whichway, the Manbearpig, She Who Shall Not Be Trailnamed, and of course Delilah for making it so.
Here are the pictures for Saturday (Kibby and Caribou).
Here are the pictures for Sunday (Coburn and Moxie).
Kibby or Caribou, Coburn, and Moxie are numbers 32-34 on the NEFF list for me, and, I believe, numbers 42-44 for Whichway.
--
Cumulus
NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 23/39; WNH4K: 29/48; NEFF: 34/50
LT NB 2009
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
For the third year in a row we had great weather for our hikes. Although it rained on the drive up and on the drive back we had no rain on the trail or in camp. Over these three trips I've spent nine days hiking and seven days camping and haven't seen a drop of rain while doing either.
Autumn was a little past peak then, but there were still a lot of yellow and golden sugar maples.
I took the day off work Friday and drove up in the afternoon, arriving in Stratton well before our meeting time. I ate supper in the White Wolf Restaurant in Stratton, and while there was surprised to meet Pam, who was there with a groups of hikers to spend the weekend hiking mountains on the New England Hundred Highest list.
Whichway was due to come Saturday morning, so when the Manbearpig and his bride showed up we all went to camp at a site on Flagstaff Lake. On Saturday Whichway and her dog Delilah showed up and we all drove to Kibby Mountain. Both days involved a lot of driving on dirt roads of varying quality. For a couple of hikes I would park my car (really my wife's) and ride with Whichway in hers. Whichway's car has more clearance than mine, and the Manbearpig is fearless, but I didn't want to risk my wife's car if it wasn't necessary. In any event, whichever cars we were taking, Whichway's and my strategy in driving to the trailheads was "follow the MBP".
On Saturday we did Kibby and Caribou Mountains. One of these is on the NEFF list, but nobody is sure which. The NEFF is a prominence based list, and whichever of these mountains is a little higher than the other is on the list and the other isn't. Kibby's approach is mostly dirt roads, although to be honest even though it's only been three days since the trip the different mountains are starting to blur together in my memory, so I'm not sure now how traillike Kibby's approach became. In any case, there is a viewing tower on Kibby which afforded great views of northwest Maine. The Manbearpig has a summit ID app on his smartphone and was identifying peaks there and on the other summits with views. The Bigelows, for instance, were very noticeable there, and I think from all of the weekend's peaks, as well as Sugarloaf.
On the way down from Kibby we investigated some traps we kept seeing along the trail. There were about a half dozen, and one of them had the remains of some bait. We couldn't figure out how the traps worked, though. We also looked at a cabin on the way down.
After Kibby we did Caribou. This had (IIRC) more of a true trail, and was the only summit of the weekend without views on the actual summit, although there were some close by. The summit canister on Caribou is broken and the log rain damaged, unfortunately, and we didn't bring a replacement.
We spent the night at a campsite which was the site of an old WW2 POW camp. The Manbearpig built a roaring fire. At one point I looked up and the Milky Way from Cassiopeia to Aquila was perfectly lined up with the gap in the trees.
On Sunday morning we drove to Coburn. I think it was during this drive where we saw the moose. In any event, during one of those drives, the Manbearpig was leading, Whichway was behind him, and I was in the rear, and a cow moose ran across the road in front of the lead car.
On Coburn we saw the only other hikers that weekend, a man and a woman coming down just as we were starting up. They had apparently backpacked. We also briefly saw some guy without a pack who apparently had driven part way up the dirt road which was the trail. That's it for other people on the trail, although on Saturday we had seen a lot of hunters on the road.
Coburn's trail goes up a dirt road, and then up a real trail, which is steep but not too long. It has a viewing tower on top, as well as some buildings and solar panels and whatnot.
After Coburn we went to Moxie, which, in spite of being the shortest of the four peaks, had the most challenging hike, although still not particularly difficult. It did have a few rock scrambles, though, enough to be interesting. Moxie had a platform instead of a tower, but still very good views.
Afterwards we went out for ice cream and then returned to our various homes.
This recurring autumn / late summer western Maine trip has become one of my favorite weekends of the year. Thanks again to Whichway, the Manbearpig, She Who Shall Not Be Trailnamed, and of course Delilah for making it so.
Here are the pictures for Saturday (Kibby and Caribou).
Here are the pictures for Sunday (Coburn and Moxie).
Kibby or Caribou, Coburn, and Moxie are numbers 32-34 on the NEFF list for me, and, I believe, numbers 42-44 for Whichway.
--
Cumulus
NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 23/39; WNH4K: 29/48; NEFF: 34/50
LT NB 2009
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
