buckyball1
New member
After a 96 degree day in Orrington (i think the hottest in 9 years we've lived here) and with a similar forecast for today, i headed out very early (230) for another modest "working my way back" hike. Toward western Maine on Rt 2, thru Mexico (the mill is always pungent
), turn onto Rt120 in Rumford, and finally north on South Arm Rd for:
Old Blue-3600' -The peak lies on the AT about 3 miles miles and 2200' from S Arm Rd. The obvious route is to follow the AT, but i had something different in mind. Until the late 1970s?, Old Blue was a somewhat challenging bushwhack with the AT routed closer to Elephant Mt- didn't go over OB. I hoped to start near the "parking area" for Elephant and follow the old AT route (renamed the Clearwater Brook Trail? and not maintained for years) to a spot on the AT about 1 1/2 miles north of the summit and "backtrack" up.
The dirt roads ( two of the ever present moose appeared) to Elephant "lot" seemed placid compared to my last visit when doing the NEHH some years back-probably because there have been too many crazy dirt road approaches in the interim. I parked and started up the overgrown road toward the "turn" to Elephant and E Elephant. Reaching the last clearing with the large cairn, i made a poor choice and headed straight into the woods on a heavily overgrown "trail" rather than bear left following the Elephant "road" route. The "trail" was beyond bad-hard to see or follow, choked with blowdown and new growth-as bad as a 'whack in heavy evergreen. Fortunately it was less than a quarter mile to more open hardwoods where i turned directly east toward the AT, hitting it about 1.4 miles north of the peak.
The AT was typical Maine-dense, with roots, rocks, wet, with rotted bog bridges-ascent became steady over rocks wet from the light rain that fell off and on. The early morning temps were in the 70s with an overcast that spared me from the expected blast furnace. Old Blue's summit is open with a fine 360 degree view slowly surrendering to 4-5' evergreen growth. You can "reach out and touch" the Elephants.
On the descent, i made an effort to look for traces of the old AT route and found it a bit further north than expected. I ran into another hiker zipped in his who was unwilling to come out and seemed reluctant to engage in even minimal conversation.The old trail has not seen much work in years and is a poor route choice-overgrown with blowndown and lots of boggy stretches. You can see a few faded blue blazes placed when it was abandoned as AT path and became Clearwater Brook path.
Further down, i saw considerable flagging running toward the Elephants and back toward where i parked-the lower part of the overgrown trail/road was super boggy for a solid stretch.
Normally i'd have headed for at least another hike, but as i'm in toe rehab mode and trying to be careful after not doing much for 5+ weeks, i headed home-a wise choice given the intense heat that has resurfaced this afternoon.
Had fun, but suggest you don't follow my route for Old Blue, use the AT
26 left....
jim
), turn onto Rt120 in Rumford, and finally north on South Arm Rd for:Old Blue-3600' -The peak lies on the AT about 3 miles miles and 2200' from S Arm Rd. The obvious route is to follow the AT, but i had something different in mind. Until the late 1970s?, Old Blue was a somewhat challenging bushwhack with the AT routed closer to Elephant Mt- didn't go over OB. I hoped to start near the "parking area" for Elephant and follow the old AT route (renamed the Clearwater Brook Trail? and not maintained for years) to a spot on the AT about 1 1/2 miles north of the summit and "backtrack" up.
The dirt roads ( two of the ever present moose appeared) to Elephant "lot" seemed placid compared to my last visit when doing the NEHH some years back-probably because there have been too many crazy dirt road approaches in the interim. I parked and started up the overgrown road toward the "turn" to Elephant and E Elephant. Reaching the last clearing with the large cairn, i made a poor choice and headed straight into the woods on a heavily overgrown "trail" rather than bear left following the Elephant "road" route. The "trail" was beyond bad-hard to see or follow, choked with blowdown and new growth-as bad as a 'whack in heavy evergreen. Fortunately it was less than a quarter mile to more open hardwoods where i turned directly east toward the AT, hitting it about 1.4 miles north of the peak.
The AT was typical Maine-dense, with roots, rocks, wet, with rotted bog bridges-ascent became steady over rocks wet from the light rain that fell off and on. The early morning temps were in the 70s with an overcast that spared me from the expected blast furnace. Old Blue's summit is open with a fine 360 degree view slowly surrendering to 4-5' evergreen growth. You can "reach out and touch" the Elephants.
On the descent, i made an effort to look for traces of the old AT route and found it a bit further north than expected. I ran into another hiker zipped in his who was unwilling to come out and seemed reluctant to engage in even minimal conversation
.The old trail has not seen much work in years and is a poor route choice-overgrown with blowndown and lots of boggy stretches. You can see a few faded blue blazes placed when it was abandoned as AT path and became Clearwater Brook path.Further down, i saw considerable flagging running toward the Elephants and back toward where i parked-the lower part of the overgrown trail/road was super boggy for a solid stretch.
Normally i'd have headed for at least another hike, but as i'm in toe rehab
mode and trying to be careful after not doing much for 5+ weeks, i headed home-a wise choice given the intense heat that has resurfaced this afternoon.Had fun, but suggest you don't follow my route for Old Blue, use the AT
26 left....
jim
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