buckyball1
New member
The peaks are off the Stud Mill Rd east of Old Town, ME. If interested, please check my TR of Sabao from10/24/10
After visiting Sabao on Monday and the discussion that ensued on Views, I thought maybe a revisit was in order to sort things out-even if it meant an "extra" 60 miles on the dirt today.
Sabao-1115'-same peak, same road approach as 10/24/10. I decided to head up to the "NE" summit (both it and SW show same contour lines on maps i have). The climb up NE was fun/easy thru open hardwoods all the way. The top is a large, open, bent "figure 8"-must have had nice views at one time, but now ringed by trees. Multiple readings on my Thomen gave an elev of maybe 1105-1110, but would need better measurements for definitive answer. No summit cairnbut a "trail" of rock markers? from the summit leading north-to where, i know not. The ledges are "growing in".
I decide to take a straight shot thru the shallow col to revisit SW summit-0.6 miles. Why? Well, tower "iron" is sometimes removed. Cement footings, probably never? So was i not on top on Monday or... Easy trip over to SW, over same two view spots i saw Monday and arrived at the spot i thought was the top and took altitude reading (only about 15 minutes after the readings on NE). It appears the SW top is 1110-1115-so they're too close to call, but i'd put my money on SW.
Quick glance around for ruins of the tower-nothing. When here Monday, i touched the same spot, looked around at the immediate area briefly and headed down -had no reason to think there was ever anything there. This time, i turn slowly in a circle and see a tower pillar? 100+ feet to the west? of the "top" spot. Head over, trip over tower cable buried in the ground level growth and of course it's a tower pillar/iron piece. The other pillars are there hidden from view by trees/brush. In the trees are 2 sections of tower ladder. So far no turnbuckles or "ladder against trees"? Toward the view (south?) end of the clearing at the drop down/off, i find a bunch of turnbuckles covered by ground growth and a large ladder section and more turnbuckles a bit down over the bank out of view from the top.
So it appears everyone who commented on thread was correct. The NE summit is open ledge, no decent views anymore and may/may not be as high as SW summit There is tower ruin on the SW summit, but perhaps some of it has been moved around? I was on the top both days, but in a hurry and careless in not seeing that pillar on Monday even though the tower was a bit away from the top spot.
Quick descent, back to Stud Mill road to retrace my path 28 miles back past "Myra". I ran into road re-graveling of the Stud Mill both ways and had some time sitting in the sun chatting with dump truck drivers. I found the "22-00-0" road headed south and headed 10 miles in toward
Spring Brook-1045'-This was my original and only destination for a "short" day as i was uncertain if i could drive near the mountain. It lies between Rt 9 (Amherst) and Stud Mill Rd in an area not served by a primary dirt road. There is a network of minor dirt roads around it, but even after talking to people in the area, it was unclear how to get close to Springy Brook by car. My plan of trying from Stud Mill via the 23-00-0 Road came to naught last week and suggestions for access via Amherst and Dutton Pond looked iffy. I finally pieced a route together using sat pics and hearsay that would take me in the 22-00-0 Road and then lesser lesser roads for 10 miles
Driving 10 miles of unknown dirt is nerve-wracking. Just when you think it's all OK, you hit something and break the car. The route turned out to be a major ME snowmobile corridor so it wasn't too bad and the hazards were mostly flagged-rocks, holes, large "permanent" mud puddles (good underlying base around here) and a blind narrow woodn bridge in a quick,sharp dip-that one would have been killer if not for the flagging. With care, it went well and after just a bit of "whiteknuckling" the last mile up a hill, i parked near optimum point. One of my better route finding exercises (not BM Dry Town, but still OK
)
The hike was anticlimactic. I went directly for the top thru easily hikeable mixed woods. The top had a few small clearings (no views) amid moderately thick woods. The mountain had been cut all the way to the summit and overgrown skid trails radiated like spokes from a hub in almost ever direction except the one i came up. Exact summit? who knows? probably between two clearings in some thick evergreens.
I grabbed a skid road for a rapid descent and looking "out'"over the area to the east saw what i took for a large "red" lake in the distance -appeared as if someone had put dye in it (tired? lack of sleep?). Realized it was a huge boggy area and the plant foliage (cranberries?-help me, i have no knowledge here) must be fairly bright red this time of year. Cool, really did appear to be a red lake
more dirt road back to Old Town and home
jim
After visiting Sabao on Monday and the discussion that ensued on Views, I thought maybe a revisit was in order to sort things out-even if it meant an "extra" 60 miles on the dirt today.
Sabao-1115'-same peak, same road approach as 10/24/10. I decided to head up to the "NE" summit (both it and SW show same contour lines on maps i have). The climb up NE was fun/easy thru open hardwoods all the way. The top is a large, open, bent "figure 8"-must have had nice views at one time, but now ringed by trees. Multiple readings on my Thomen gave an elev of maybe 1105-1110, but would need better measurements for definitive answer. No summit cairnbut a "trail" of rock markers? from the summit leading north-to where, i know not. The ledges are "growing in".
I decide to take a straight shot thru the shallow col to revisit SW summit-0.6 miles. Why? Well, tower "iron" is sometimes removed. Cement footings, probably never? So was i not on top on Monday or... Easy trip over to SW, over same two view spots i saw Monday and arrived at the spot i thought was the top and took altitude reading (only about 15 minutes after the readings on NE). It appears the SW top is 1110-1115-so they're too close to call, but i'd put my money on SW.
Quick glance around for ruins of the tower-nothing. When here Monday, i touched the same spot, looked around at the immediate area briefly and headed down -had no reason to think there was ever anything there. This time, i turn slowly in a circle and see a tower pillar? 100+ feet to the west? of the "top" spot. Head over, trip over tower cable buried in the ground level growth and of course it's a tower pillar/iron piece. The other pillars are there hidden from view by trees/brush. In the trees are 2 sections of tower ladder. So far no turnbuckles or "ladder against trees"? Toward the view (south?) end of the clearing at the drop down/off, i find a bunch of turnbuckles covered by ground growth and a large ladder section and more turnbuckles a bit down over the bank out of view from the top.
So it appears everyone who commented on thread was correct. The NE summit is open ledge, no decent views anymore and may/may not be as high as SW summit There is tower ruin on the SW summit, but perhaps some of it has been moved around? I was on the top both days, but in a hurry and careless in not seeing that pillar on Monday even though the tower was a bit away from the top spot.
Quick descent, back to Stud Mill road to retrace my path 28 miles back past "Myra". I ran into road re-graveling of the Stud Mill both ways and had some time sitting in the sun chatting with dump truck drivers. I found the "22-00-0" road headed south and headed 10 miles in toward
Spring Brook-1045'-This was my original and only destination for a "short" day as i was uncertain if i could drive near the mountain. It lies between Rt 9 (Amherst) and Stud Mill Rd in an area not served by a primary dirt road. There is a network of minor dirt roads around it, but even after talking to people in the area, it was unclear how to get close to Springy Brook by car. My plan of trying from Stud Mill via the 23-00-0 Road came to naught last week and suggestions for access via Amherst and Dutton Pond looked iffy. I finally pieced a route together using sat pics and hearsay that would take me in the 22-00-0 Road and then lesser lesser roads for 10 miles
Driving 10 miles of unknown dirt is nerve-wracking. Just when you think it's all OK, you hit something and break the car. The route turned out to be a major ME snowmobile corridor so it wasn't too bad and the hazards were mostly flagged-rocks, holes, large "permanent" mud puddles (good underlying base around here) and a blind narrow woodn bridge in a quick,sharp dip-that one would have been killer if not for the flagging. With care, it went well and after just a bit of "whiteknuckling" the last mile up a hill, i parked near optimum point. One of my better route finding exercises (not BM Dry Town, but still OK
)The hike was anticlimactic. I went directly for the top thru easily hikeable mixed woods. The top had a few small clearings (no views) amid moderately thick woods. The mountain had been cut all the way to the summit and overgrown skid trails radiated like spokes from a hub in almost ever direction except the one i came up. Exact summit? who knows? probably between two clearings in some thick evergreens.
I grabbed a skid road for a rapid descent and looking "out'"over the area to the east saw what i took for a large "red" lake in the distance -appeared as if someone had put dye in it (tired? lack of sleep?). Realized it was a huge boggy area and the plant foliage (cranberries?-help me, i have no knowledge here) must be fairly bright red this time of year. Cool, really did appear to be a red lake
more dirt road back to Old Town and home
jim
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