buckyball1
New member
Another cold (29), dark, early start. I'm hiking in the Livermore/Livermore Falls area (think Farmington) today (Sunday 10/10) and being near civilization 
means finding the unexpected road/trail to your summit, but also issues of parking and access to planned routes.....today i am just flat lucky
Moose-1116'-Moose is a bit east of Livermore Falls and I park in a cemetery on the Moose Hill Rd. Moose has a communications tower on top (space for another is advertised on a sign by the road) and i am able to scurry up a decent, gated access road about a mile to the tower. I find the top in modest woods about 0.1 miles north of the tower on a small knob with views to the north...back down to Livermore Falls, to Livermore and take the Bear Mt Road (dirt) as far as i can to...
Bear-1208'-another iffy parking situation, but no signs, so i put my "here's what i'm doing and thank you" sign on my windshield and start down a series of old roads/ATV trails-some are a nice gentle road walk, others deep rocky uphill trenches. You need a decent game plan as "this way to Bear" signs are not to be found and the choice of old, overgrown roads is large. After about 1.7 miles and 7-800' I'm on an open top which has a very nice 180 degree south view. I also find the four cement posts/iron rods of a fire tower (removed in the 50s)...careful descent in the rocky trenches, drive to Livermore, through N Turner and to East Summer on Rt 219.
Summer-1170'-West of E. Summer I swing south onto Upper Summer Hill Rd and start looking for an old cemetery (two in one morning) at which i plan to park and bushwhack maybe 1/2 mile to Summer. It becomes obvious that Upper Summer Hill Rd has become more populated and i pass home after trailer until i near my destination and see a real dirt road headed toward Summer Hill. I park and walk up the road (feeling embarrassed to call this one a hike) and soon come to a another small communications tower, but this one has nothing attached and has a "for lease by Spruce Tower" sign affixed. The top is about 30' from the tower. Very nice views all around....and now i deviate from my careful plan....
Things are going well, way ahead of schedule and i have scoped two more hikes with the hope of doing one. Looking at Delorme, which is like the Bible for me, i notice Black Mt (Peru) isn't far away and i know it's deep on the MEP300 list. What i didn't know is there seems to be a trail to the top and it's "marked" in the Delorme. So i head to Summer and then try to find the trailhead to Black with no directions, no detailed topo, etc. Why this hike is "in" Delorme i have no idea. Instead of the crowed, tourist type place i expect to find, i finally locate what i think is the trailhead well up the dirt Bear Mt Rd after a few rough stretches (if you reach the basic wooden bridge, you've gone too far. Signage/direction doesn't jibe well with Delorme. Usually i have a GPS spot for least the park/start point and the "top"-today nada.
Black-2133'-I park near where i think the trail begins and luckily find a young couple who knows the area well (didn't see another soul) who clue me in to the trail issues. There is a trail to the top, but it is obliterated (used that word twice in two trip reports) by logging. There are a few large white scalene triangle signs on trees to mark the trail, but these aren't very useful and one needs to pay attention to the many tiny cairns which are well placed. The trail is not obvious in may places and it's hard to see casual hikers doing well here. I found the hike up a great deal of fun; moderate grade, decent footing and sort of a midpoint feel between a trail and an easy bushwhack. (you should try it if you're a trail only person who "thinks" 'whacking might be a good idea). There are many blowdowns, grown-in sections and probably no maintenance except for hikers like me clearing stuff as they go. Anyway, the trail has about 1300' of ascent over about 2 miles (if you run the ridge). The "official" end is on the E point of the ridge with a cairn and decent views. I ran the ridge a good bit further (nice slab rock, no good views) and feel the "top" is on one of the middle bumps-i hit them all....i just loved this hike though i was concerned re AMS considering my peak heights of late
Well it was time to head home, but since i was in the area, i hoped to check out access problems on two more peaks...so i drove back to Summer, E Summer, to Hartford, then Canton and finally south on Rt 108 to Schackley Hill Rd in search of
Schackley-1112'-Rural housing development seemed as if it might be the problem finding access to this peak. I stopped and chatted with a woman who owna a "pick-your-own apples" orchard and she told me how to find my start point and that her son lived near there and it would be "fine". She also told me "i've been up there", so i somewhat ashamedly assumed it would be cake. It was...a wide woods road, past a beautiful Nolan Pond and winding a mile and 500' or so vertical feet up to a viewless summit with a large blue plastic barrel.
...and did i mention i had cell service almost everywhere today whereas of course usually i find nothing...so off to check access to one more hill which i thought may be problematic as it appeared cut off by a large dairy?? farm..back through Livermore, Livermore Falls, up to Beans Corners (i know it well, really) and down Rt 156 to the Spruce Mt Rd
Spruce-1114'- I drove south/up Spruce Mt Road and did indeed encounter a dairy farm...well....i got out of the car, rapped on the farmhouse door and was greeted by a large barking dog..yikes. However the owner was a nice guy and after we chatted about a lot of things (he has a nice 268 acre farm) he said he'd be happy to let me park and cross his land on my way up. It was an easy 0.75 mile hike though open fields and then slab rocks/light woods to the top. The views on the way up were superb in the direction of the Weld group of peaks (Tumbledown, the Jacksons, Blue, Blueberry, Hurricane, etc). This was an enjoyable, easy hike and a perfect way to end a very long day....never thought i'd do six
-i will pay next year for doing so many of the easier #200-300 now--the deep NMW, Oquossco/Boundary area and Beaudry peaks will be a shade tougher --and then there's Barren
-i slept solid for 10 hours last night, usually lucky to get 7
-great day
jim
means finding the unexpected road/trail to your summit, but also issues of parking and access to planned routes.....today i am just flat luckyMoose-1116'-Moose is a bit east of Livermore Falls and I park in a cemetery on the Moose Hill Rd. Moose has a communications tower on top (space for another is advertised on a sign by the road) and i am able to scurry up a decent, gated access road about a mile to the tower. I find the top in modest woods about 0.1 miles north of the tower on a small knob with views to the north...back down to Livermore Falls, to Livermore and take the Bear Mt Road (dirt) as far as i can to...
Bear-1208'-another iffy parking situation, but no signs, so i put my "here's what i'm doing and thank you" sign on my windshield and start down a series of old roads/ATV trails-some are a nice gentle road walk, others deep rocky uphill trenches. You need a decent game plan as "this way to Bear" signs are not to be found and the choice of old, overgrown roads is large. After about 1.7 miles and 7-800' I'm on an open top which has a very nice 180 degree south view. I also find the four cement posts/iron rods of a fire tower (removed in the 50s)...careful descent in the rocky trenches, drive to Livermore, through N Turner and to East Summer on Rt 219.
Summer-1170'-West of E. Summer I swing south onto Upper Summer Hill Rd and start looking for an old cemetery (two in one morning
) at which i plan to park and bushwhack maybe 1/2 mile to Summer. It becomes obvious that Upper Summer Hill Rd has become more populated and i pass home after trailer until i near my destination and see a real dirt road headed toward Summer Hill. I park and walk up the road (feeling embarrassed to call this one a hike) and soon come to a another small communications tower, but this one has nothing attached and has a "for lease by Spruce Tower" sign affixed. The top is about 30' from the tower. Very nice views all around....and now i deviate from my careful plan....Things are going well, way ahead of schedule and i have scoped two more hikes with the hope of doing one. Looking at Delorme, which is like the Bible for me, i notice Black Mt (Peru) isn't far away and i know it's deep on the MEP300 list. What i didn't know is there seems to be a trail to the top and it's "marked" in the Delorme. So i head to Summer and then try to find the trailhead to Black with no directions, no detailed topo, etc. Why this hike is "in" Delorme i have no idea. Instead of the crowed, tourist type place i expect to find, i finally locate what i think is the trailhead well up the dirt Bear Mt Rd after a few rough stretches (if you reach the basic wooden bridge, you've gone too far. Signage/direction doesn't jibe well with Delorme. Usually i have a GPS spot for least the park/start point and the "top"-today nada.
Black-2133'-I park near where i think the trail begins and luckily find a young couple who knows the area well (didn't see another soul) who clue me in to the trail issues. There is a trail to the top, but it is obliterated (used that word twice in two trip reports) by logging. There are a few large white scalene triangle signs on trees to mark the trail, but these aren't very useful and one needs to pay attention to the many tiny cairns which are well placed. The trail is not obvious in may places and it's hard to see casual hikers doing well here. I found the hike up a great deal of fun; moderate grade, decent footing and sort of a midpoint feel between a trail and an easy bushwhack. (you should try it if you're a trail only person who "thinks" 'whacking might be a good idea). There are many blowdowns, grown-in sections and probably no maintenance except for hikers like me clearing stuff as they go. Anyway, the trail has about 1300' of ascent over about 2 miles (if you run the ridge). The "official" end is on the E point of the ridge with a cairn and decent views. I ran the ridge a good bit further (nice slab rock, no good views) and feel the "top" is on one of the middle bumps-i hit them all....i just loved this hike though i was concerned re AMS
considering my peak heights of lateWell it was time to head home, but since i was in the area, i hoped to check out access problems on two more peaks...so i drove back to Summer, E Summer, to Hartford, then Canton and finally south on Rt 108 to Schackley Hill Rd in search of
Schackley-1112'-Rural housing development seemed as if it might be the problem finding access to this peak. I stopped and chatted with a woman who owna a "pick-your-own apples" orchard and she told me how to find my start point and that her son lived near there and it would be "fine". She also told me "i've been up there", so i somewhat ashamedly assumed it would be cake. It was...a wide woods road, past a beautiful Nolan Pond and winding a mile and 500' or so vertical feet up to a viewless summit with a large blue plastic barrel.
...and did i mention i had cell service almost everywhere today whereas of course usually i find nothing...so off to check access to one more hill which i thought may be problematic as it appeared cut off by a large dairy?? farm..back through Livermore, Livermore Falls, up to Beans Corners (i know it well, really) and down Rt 156 to the Spruce Mt Rd
Spruce-1114'- I drove south/up Spruce Mt Road and did indeed encounter a dairy farm...well....i got out of the car, rapped on the farmhouse door and was greeted by a large barking dog..yikes. However the owner was a nice guy and after we chatted about a lot of things (he has a nice 268 acre farm) he said he'd be happy to let me park and cross his land on my way up. It was an easy 0.75 mile hike though open fields and then slab rocks/light woods to the top. The views on the way up were superb in the direction of the Weld group of peaks (Tumbledown, the Jacksons, Blue, Blueberry, Hurricane, etc). This was an enjoyable, easy hike and a perfect way to end a very long day....never thought i'd do six
-i will pay next year for doing so many of the easier #200-300 now--the deep NMW, Oquossco/Boundary area and Beaudry peaks will be a shade
tougher --and then there's Barren-i slept solid for 10 hours last night, usually lucky to get 7
-great day
jim
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