buckyball1
New member
Sally Mtn-2236' is near Jackman. It's not the "trailed" tower summit 2221' which is also an interesting little journey.--still no snow/ice anywhere on peaks of this height in W and N Maine
On my way to Jackman on one of those dark 3 AM drives, i came as close to collecting a moose as possible without it happening--scary--just loped out of the woods and into my path-glad i had the Forester and not the Prizm.
This Sally is SW of the tower peak a long way down the ridge. I was unable to find any beta and considered a few route choices. 1) climb the tower peak again and bush down the ridge- long and potentially thick. 2) Maybe go directly from the tower to the SW peak-huge drop down and climb up cliffy slopes. 3) head in from the Attean Rd to a spot east of the summit--the last two of these would require an ascent that in one stretch is 600' in less than 0.2 miles (cliffs)-----no great choices among these 3
Consequently I decided to head in the same logging road i used for Attean earlier this summer (Sally wasn't on the radar then
)--You can drive about four miles in the "Sandy Stream" road from Rt 201 north of Jackman in Moose River before you reach a locked gate. The land beyond is conservation area where no motorized vehicles can tread (i guess the logging trucks are exempt). I walked in about 3.5+ miles on the nice access road and them swung toward the peak (about 1.7 crow fly miles away) on a good logging road and found the skid road network I saw on the sat pics. On the way, I got a good look at the cliffs on the east side of Sally and was glad i didn't try that.
I've been very lucky on my hikes of late-this was another fun one The route to the top went like clockwork. You can use the skid roads (all pretty decent) to get within 0.25 miles of the peak (if you're good/lucky or both), climb to the ridge and follow the spine to the summit through a heavily wooded area-almost no underbrush and tons of moss (a fairyland type walk).
Near the summit I came across 3 very faded blue blazes on rocks, undoubtedly an old trail which i couldn't find even with a thorough search. The top is pleasant, a decent place to hang out and has some nice views if you search a bit --Jackman, the tower summit, Attean Pond and panorama to the E &SE. ..and surprisingly, there's a tiny cairn....As i started down, i ran into a line of flagging on the ridge and as i had time, i followed it over each little bump to the NW--i don't think it was a trail, but a boundary line as it was right on the ridge crestand i found a concurrent series of old school axe blazes with yellow paint (old enough that the trees had grown "around" the axe cuts) Descent was smooth and rapid.
animal report--2 moose (this time no problem), several deer and two fox
i was also able to get a great closeup look at some serious logging equipment (similar to that i've watched in action with fascination several times this year)-gang skidder, limber and that squatty beast that encircles a tree, saws it off and lays it down--chainsaw like teeth on this, but the cutters are as big as my hand
the promised full sun was nowhere to be seen until i was almost home, but the slate gray skies and terrain were starkly beautiful--good hike
jim
On my way to Jackman on one of those dark 3 AM drives, i came as close to collecting a moose as possible without it happening--scary--just loped out of the woods and into my path-glad i had the Forester and not the Prizm.
This Sally is SW of the tower peak a long way down the ridge. I was unable to find any beta and considered a few route choices. 1) climb the tower peak again and bush down the ridge- long and potentially thick. 2) Maybe go directly from the tower to the SW peak-huge drop down and climb up cliffy slopes. 3) head in from the Attean Rd to a spot east of the summit--the last two of these would require an ascent that in one stretch is 600' in less than 0.2 miles (cliffs)-----no great choices among these 3
Consequently I decided to head in the same logging road i used for Attean earlier this summer (Sally wasn't on the radar then
)--You can drive about four miles in the "Sandy Stream" road from Rt 201 north of Jackman in Moose River before you reach a locked gate. The land beyond is conservation area where no motorized vehicles can tread (i guess the logging trucks are exempt). I walked in about 3.5+ miles on the nice access road and them swung toward the peak (about 1.7 crow fly miles away) on a good logging road and found the skid road network I saw on the sat pics. On the way, I got a good look at the cliffs on the east side of Sally and was glad i didn't try that.I've been very lucky on my hikes of late-this was another fun one The route to the top went like clockwork. You can use the skid roads (all pretty decent) to get within 0.25 miles of the peak (if you're good/lucky or both), climb to the ridge and follow the spine to the summit through a heavily wooded area-almost no underbrush and tons of moss (a fairyland type walk).
Near the summit I came across 3 very faded blue blazes on rocks, undoubtedly an old trail which i couldn't find even with a thorough search. The top is pleasant, a decent place to hang out and has some nice views if you search a bit --Jackman, the tower summit, Attean Pond and panorama to the E &SE. ..and surprisingly, there's a tiny cairn....As i started down, i ran into a line of flagging on the ridge and as i had time, i followed it over each little bump to the NW--i don't think it was a trail, but a boundary line as it was right on the ridge crestand i found a concurrent series of old school axe blazes with yellow paint (old enough that the trees had grown "around" the axe cuts) Descent was smooth and rapid.
animal report--2 moose (this time no problem), several deer and two fox
i was also able to get a great closeup look at some serious logging equipment (similar to that i've watched in action with fascination several times this year)-gang skidder, limber and that squatty beast that encircles a tree, saws it off and lays it down--chainsaw like teeth on this, but the cutters are as big as my hand
the promised full sun was nowhere to be seen until i was almost home, but the slate gray skies and terrain were starkly beautiful--good hike
jim
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