BillDC
New member
Sally Mountain in Jackman can be accessed by boat from Attean Pond and by car via the Attean road off of RT201. Go down the Attean road 1.4 until you get to a parking area just past a gated road, or park next to the gate, just don't block it as it was in use when we were there. After the parking area, the road goes left and continues to the Attean Pond Boat landing. If you reach it, you have gone too far.
Start walking the road beyond the gate, which is an access road to the Canadian Pacific Railroad. It's also a parking area for folks staying at a camp on the other side of the tracks. Once you reach the tracks, take a left. You have to walk the tracks for about 1.7 miles. On a hot day, they can be murder. We went early where there was enough shade to make it tolerable. Along the way, you will cross a trestle which traverses the Moose River. This one was built in 1931, but there is a nice walking grate on the right side. Not much to see on the tracks. Old signal line is still present as well as the old signal lights and control boxes. Someone is storing jugs of water in one of the control boxes.
There is now a bright yellow sign marking the traihead on the right. This is the beginning of the watchman's trail. There is a trail to the left which goes down to Attean Pond, which is the boat access to the trail. This trail is currently being maintained by the folks at Attean Lake Lodge, so it is in good shape. The trail starts out through a bog area where there are bog bridges though the area. Cross a stream and the trail wanders through the forest without much of a steep climb. The trail is pretty wet and muddy on the lower half. The trail is blazed with green much of the way and has a few mile markers. About half way up, there is a spring that is marked with a sign on the right. There is a wooden enclosure around it and a ladle is available to scoop water out. Along the lower trail, a pipe can be seen following the trail. This pipe was used to bring water from the spring down to the Attean Pond Camps in the old days. The old watchman's phone line can also be seen along the way in places on its way to the watchman's camp site (about 100 feet below the spring) and then on to the tower site.
From the spring, the trail steepens and rises quickly to rocky outcrops and winds along these ledges until it reaches the summit. The trail is blazed blue once the trail hits the rocks. There may be slightly better views from the rocks of the Attean Pond side than from the summit. At the top, the summit is marked with mile marker 1.6. The old fire tower angle irons are still in place. The last tower that stood here burned in the 30s when it was struck by lightning. The original tower before that burned when the entire mountain saw a hard burn in 1908. The trail does continue from here into the saddle and up to the SW peak of Sally. We did not continue on this and just headed down the way we came.
Some photos can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/SallyMountainME?feat=directlink
Bill
Start walking the road beyond the gate, which is an access road to the Canadian Pacific Railroad. It's also a parking area for folks staying at a camp on the other side of the tracks. Once you reach the tracks, take a left. You have to walk the tracks for about 1.7 miles. On a hot day, they can be murder. We went early where there was enough shade to make it tolerable. Along the way, you will cross a trestle which traverses the Moose River. This one was built in 1931, but there is a nice walking grate on the right side. Not much to see on the tracks. Old signal line is still present as well as the old signal lights and control boxes. Someone is storing jugs of water in one of the control boxes.
There is now a bright yellow sign marking the traihead on the right. This is the beginning of the watchman's trail. There is a trail to the left which goes down to Attean Pond, which is the boat access to the trail. This trail is currently being maintained by the folks at Attean Lake Lodge, so it is in good shape. The trail starts out through a bog area where there are bog bridges though the area. Cross a stream and the trail wanders through the forest without much of a steep climb. The trail is pretty wet and muddy on the lower half. The trail is blazed with green much of the way and has a few mile markers. About half way up, there is a spring that is marked with a sign on the right. There is a wooden enclosure around it and a ladle is available to scoop water out. Along the lower trail, a pipe can be seen following the trail. This pipe was used to bring water from the spring down to the Attean Pond Camps in the old days. The old watchman's phone line can also be seen along the way in places on its way to the watchman's camp site (about 100 feet below the spring) and then on to the tower site.
From the spring, the trail steepens and rises quickly to rocky outcrops and winds along these ledges until it reaches the summit. The trail is blazed blue once the trail hits the rocks. There may be slightly better views from the rocks of the Attean Pond side than from the summit. At the top, the summit is marked with mile marker 1.6. The old fire tower angle irons are still in place. The last tower that stood here burned in the 30s when it was struck by lightning. The original tower before that burned when the entire mountain saw a hard burn in 1908. The trail does continue from here into the saddle and up to the SW peak of Sally. We did not continue on this and just headed down the way we came.
Some photos can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/SallyMountainME?feat=directlink
Bill
---you could get out on the bridge structure to get out of the way, but i hope never to need to
