Saddleback 2590 (Wilton, ME)

[buckyball1]

Because of recent family issues, my first "real" hike of the year

Saddleback 2590 is NW of Wilton, ME and sits "behind" (S of) a much more popular climb, one of the many "Balds". After some thought, I decided to approach it from the west using the Cherry Hill Rd, then some old logging activity/wack to reach the Bald/Saddleback col and then wack straight up the ridge to the summit. You might also approach from the NE via Andersen Brook (thanks One Step) and from Rt 2/17 using recent road activity to study wind farm feasibility.

As I neared Cherry Hill Rd, I stopped on Rt 156 to "consult" a guy walking his dog. Yes, I love local input. He confirmed my thoughts on road/gates and I left him with a sense of deja vu. You can drive in Cherry Hill Rd about a mile to a gate and easily pick up some old logging activity which will take you close to the col between Bald and Saddleback. From there it's a pretty straightforward wack up the ridge with moderate thickness and a few rocks to skirt here and there-no big issues. It was 75, black flies are out and no sign of snow anywhere even on sheltered N slope.

The summit is easily spotted once high on the ridge and is at the SW corner of a fairly large "summit area", on the "back" bump across a col from the bump you reach on the approach ridge. The summit is totally open 360 rock with superb views-love the prominence peaks, so many unexpected gems.There's a small cairn and a "generic" USGS benchmark (no name, no altitude). After a quick look, I was happy to find a Jon Person jar, the usual glass hung with that thin, tough string I've seen on so many of his jars. Always pleased to see Jon's jars just about every peak I visit on this list.

Just then a "head" popped up from the ridge to the south and it was a woman settling in for her 8 hour bird watch survey for the week; works for a company out of Portland. If you look south, you can see a wind measurement tower down that ridge (I thought it was another cell tower) and a slowly rotating device which turns out to be an avian (yes bird) radar setup.

As I was headed up from the col, I realized I'd climbed Bald some years ago (the mind is a sieve) and feel now as then that a good approach would be up Bald and traverse across the col-lots of open rock. I also realized I'd stopped 3 years ago at the same spot on Rt 156 to ask a guy with a dog about Bald-later bought some hand made wooden bowls from him that my family likes. Descent was uneventful though I straight lined down some logging slash.

I knew where I had bought the bowls 3 years ago and when I stopped, IT WAS the same guy from today. He invited me in to look at some amazing wooden train and heavy equipment models he'd made and I bought a bunch more bowls (more like he gave them to me).

Already a good day, but it was early and I decided to head to New Portland area to check out possible hikes on Stewart, Poplar, Flagstaff, Basin and Pierce Pond-not a lot of info out there on this group. In New Portland I saw a bunch of cars at a church and thought "great opportunity" as population density is low up there. Well. it turned out to be a wake , but people were cool and I got some good info. I later talked to a woman putting up flags on telephone poles in N New Portland (we lamented the fact that there was nothing left in town, but "the people") and she steered me to a Maine guide well up the Long Falls Dam road where many of my quarry peaks are located. The fellow was great, helped me on all my planned peaks in the area and offered to show me how to navigate the myriad of dirt roads if/when I need help--gotta love this stuff.

The more I see of these ME1000P peaks, the more I fall in love with the list--like the 50F, only many are somewhat smaller and even more obscure

a good day that i really needed
jim

 

[Gamehiker]

Thanks for the great report. I can see that I will never run out of peaks to do.

 

[bigmoose]

Jim -
Good to hear you're back at it.
Gotta love the pursuit of the obscure list - picking the brains of the locals for best access and approach information. You come back from these trips with so much more than a peak bagged or a jar found. Your adventures are a hell of a lot more interesting than plodding up & down familiar marked trails. Looking forward to your next story. When/where do you expect to finish?!
jt

 

[Amicus]

Your adventures are a hell of a lot more interesting than plodding up & down familiar marked trails.

I agree - once you leave the beaten track, you never know what you'll find, but in places like backwoods Maine, it's likely to be interesting. (Not to diss familiar trails, whose familiarity is usually deserved.)

 

[onestep]

Great trip report Jim. There are so many hidden gems that most never get to see. Bushwhacking, the freedom of the hills.

 

[audrey]

Jim,
That's a grand summit, all right. The first time Pat and I did it, we were trespassing on someone's land while following AMC Maine Guide directions. We had gained the Saddleback ridge as quick as we could and had an interesting ridgewalk to the summit, through several gullies choked with thick vegetation. When we returned to the car, a woman was waiting for us to tell us we were on private property for some of that hike. She was very pleasant, though. Talk about locals! When we told her we were from the Boston area, she said she thought she'd been there once, and wasn't it right on the ocean? That's almost as refreshing as the thru-hiker who said "Who's that?" when Pat mentioned that Clemons had just pitched a no-hitter. Anyway, we promised to tell the AMC to get rid of that section in the next edition. She was really only concerned about liability.

The second time was along the ridge from Bald Mt. on a fun herd path that faded out now and then. We were mightily slowed down by blueberries (the urge to eat handfuls of them, that is).