BIGEarl
Well-known member
September 2, 2012: Snow Mountain (Cupsuptic) and Elephant
Trails: Logging Road, Herd Paths, and Bushwhacks
Summits: Snow Mountain, Elephant Mountain
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We started the day with only two Maine NEHH peaks remaining to be hiked; Snow and Elephant. Our plan was for a two-hike day. Each hike was relatively small but there was a 2.5 hour connection between them. We started with Snow.
Snow Mountain (Cupsuptic)
The recent information seemed to indicate most people approach from the north. This could suggest good herd paths exist leading to the summit. There is also a lot of logging activity in the area. This could mean some of the herd paths have been damaged or wiped out completely. We took our chances and also planned to approach from the north.
We drove to the end of the improved road, which is also the location of a very active log yard. Since it was Sunday on a long weekend everything was quiet. We parked opposite the log piles, grabbed our things, and started up. In preparation for the hike we spent time with reports posted by Damselfly, MichaelJ, and Oncoman; each provided additional detail. This base of information helped us understand the general approach that was used in hiking Snow Mountain from the north.
We made our way through the first few milestones along the way and thought everything was going as designed. Then, somewhere around 3000 feet we went right when we should have gone left. The road corridor we were following continued with a beaten down herd path up and to the right of where we should have been heading. Eventually we made our way into an area of recent logging operations. At first it seemed reasonable to think the popular hiking target area had become a logging operation. Snow was on the opposite side of the cut area and we decided to work our way across and search for a herd path.
On the far side of the clear cut we found nothing helpful. Finally we started to consider we had made a wrong turn but we didn’t know where so back-tracking didn’t seem to make sense. We decided to take a bearing to the summit and bushwhack our way up.
This approach wasn’t the most pleasant experience we have ever had but only a week earlier we were in the middle of a mess on White Cap and Kennebago Divide making this seem not so bad. Roughly 250 feet below the summit we ran into a wall of very dense growth and decided to search left or right for some relief. We went right, found a way up and then roughly 100 - 150 feet below the summit landed on a very well worn herd path that led directly to the canister.
That wasn’t terrible, but it did take a little longer than expected. It was still early, Elephant isn’t a big hike, and everything was again under control. We took care of our usual summit activities including a snowman on Snow and then we made the u-turn for our exit hike.
Descending on the herd path brought us directly to a location referenced in the report by Damselfy at 3200 feet. There is a small cairn on the woods road and there is also a couple pieces of flagging in the trees beside the woods road at the start of the herd path. As it turns out, we went right at a fork when we should have gone left. It probably cost between 30 minutes and an hour. We managed to hike out without additional problems and were soon at the truck preparing to head for Elephant.
The time between hikes was ~2.5 hours. Fortunately, the next day was Labor Day and Sue didn’t need to make an early start to her day. We had no significant pressure to be on the road home by a certain time. In other words, we’re still having a good day.
Elephant Mountain
When we arrived to the start location for our hike the sky was overcast and the clouds were dark, really dark. I recall a forecast for thunderstorms during mid to late afternoon. So far it was only cloudy.
We grabbed our things for the hike and set off. The hike was expected to be a combination of herd paths and bushwhacks but I was hoping for more herd paths. We had a tendency to favor the most used herd path and avoid the apparently least used. This cost us in extra distance and possibly time. Early on the hike we came to a herd path that left the trail and headed in the general direction of the summit. The early part of it was really tight and we passed in favor of something that appeared more heavily used.
Eventually we came to another herd path that appeared to be the one we wanted. It stayed with generally open areas and was a pleasure to hike. After a while we found ourselves in a large bog area. I’ve been there before. This boggy area is in the col between the formerly high peak and the current high peak. I knew things were about to go downhill, but that couldn’t happen until we made our way across the bog; and I didn’t know how deep we would go on our way. Carefully we worked from solid high spot to solid high spot and eventually we were again on solid ground on the far side of the bog. That wasn’t to bad.
We started to climb on a bearing to the summit. There was no herd path – we were again bushwhacking. Roughly half way up we ran into an area of dense growth. We spent a few minutes looking left and right but there was nothing. Sue suggested we simply force our way through. In fact, that was probably the only choice we had. We started through. Sue was out front for a while, and then I was out front for a while. We were making pretty good progress but a herd path sure would have been nice. Eventually we managed to break out of the top of the thick growth and almost immediately land on a herd path that took us to the summit canister. That was easy.
We took care of our summit activities and on leaving spent a little time thinking about our approach. We followed the main herd path back to the spruce and it seemed to just end. We spent a little time looking for one that branched off but had no luck. Back into the thick growth we went. We followed a reverse route off the summit. We intended to favor our route to the right on the descent. After a while in the thick growth we landed on a herd path. It went through relatively open areas and extremely thick areas, but it was always heading where we wanted to go. We crossed the very end of the boggy area and continued in a favorable direction. Eventually we popped out at the junction where we passed up on the herd path earlier. We should have made that turn.
Back on familiar trail we cruised the short distance back through the initial turns and on to the truck. It was still early, not as early as we had planned but early enough. We packed our things and got our traveling shoes on for the trip. Soon we were on the road headed south.
Our Maine NEHH list is done. Now we’ll shift our focus to a little clean-up in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Pictures will follow.
Trails: Logging Road, Herd Paths, and Bushwhacks
Summits: Snow Mountain, Elephant Mountain
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We started the day with only two Maine NEHH peaks remaining to be hiked; Snow and Elephant. Our plan was for a two-hike day. Each hike was relatively small but there was a 2.5 hour connection between them. We started with Snow.
Snow Mountain (Cupsuptic)
The recent information seemed to indicate most people approach from the north. This could suggest good herd paths exist leading to the summit. There is also a lot of logging activity in the area. This could mean some of the herd paths have been damaged or wiped out completely. We took our chances and also planned to approach from the north.
We drove to the end of the improved road, which is also the location of a very active log yard. Since it was Sunday on a long weekend everything was quiet. We parked opposite the log piles, grabbed our things, and started up. In preparation for the hike we spent time with reports posted by Damselfly, MichaelJ, and Oncoman; each provided additional detail. This base of information helped us understand the general approach that was used in hiking Snow Mountain from the north.
We made our way through the first few milestones along the way and thought everything was going as designed. Then, somewhere around 3000 feet we went right when we should have gone left. The road corridor we were following continued with a beaten down herd path up and to the right of where we should have been heading. Eventually we made our way into an area of recent logging operations. At first it seemed reasonable to think the popular hiking target area had become a logging operation. Snow was on the opposite side of the cut area and we decided to work our way across and search for a herd path.
On the far side of the clear cut we found nothing helpful. Finally we started to consider we had made a wrong turn but we didn’t know where so back-tracking didn’t seem to make sense. We decided to take a bearing to the summit and bushwhack our way up.
This approach wasn’t the most pleasant experience we have ever had but only a week earlier we were in the middle of a mess on White Cap and Kennebago Divide making this seem not so bad. Roughly 250 feet below the summit we ran into a wall of very dense growth and decided to search left or right for some relief. We went right, found a way up and then roughly 100 - 150 feet below the summit landed on a very well worn herd path that led directly to the canister.
That wasn’t terrible, but it did take a little longer than expected. It was still early, Elephant isn’t a big hike, and everything was again under control. We took care of our usual summit activities including a snowman on Snow and then we made the u-turn for our exit hike.
Descending on the herd path brought us directly to a location referenced in the report by Damselfy at 3200 feet. There is a small cairn on the woods road and there is also a couple pieces of flagging in the trees beside the woods road at the start of the herd path. As it turns out, we went right at a fork when we should have gone left. It probably cost between 30 minutes and an hour. We managed to hike out without additional problems and were soon at the truck preparing to head for Elephant.
The time between hikes was ~2.5 hours. Fortunately, the next day was Labor Day and Sue didn’t need to make an early start to her day. We had no significant pressure to be on the road home by a certain time. In other words, we’re still having a good day.
Elephant Mountain
When we arrived to the start location for our hike the sky was overcast and the clouds were dark, really dark. I recall a forecast for thunderstorms during mid to late afternoon. So far it was only cloudy.
We grabbed our things for the hike and set off. The hike was expected to be a combination of herd paths and bushwhacks but I was hoping for more herd paths. We had a tendency to favor the most used herd path and avoid the apparently least used. This cost us in extra distance and possibly time. Early on the hike we came to a herd path that left the trail and headed in the general direction of the summit. The early part of it was really tight and we passed in favor of something that appeared more heavily used.
Eventually we came to another herd path that appeared to be the one we wanted. It stayed with generally open areas and was a pleasure to hike. After a while we found ourselves in a large bog area. I’ve been there before. This boggy area is in the col between the formerly high peak and the current high peak. I knew things were about to go downhill, but that couldn’t happen until we made our way across the bog; and I didn’t know how deep we would go on our way. Carefully we worked from solid high spot to solid high spot and eventually we were again on solid ground on the far side of the bog. That wasn’t to bad.
We started to climb on a bearing to the summit. There was no herd path – we were again bushwhacking. Roughly half way up we ran into an area of dense growth. We spent a few minutes looking left and right but there was nothing. Sue suggested we simply force our way through. In fact, that was probably the only choice we had. We started through. Sue was out front for a while, and then I was out front for a while. We were making pretty good progress but a herd path sure would have been nice. Eventually we managed to break out of the top of the thick growth and almost immediately land on a herd path that took us to the summit canister. That was easy.
We took care of our summit activities and on leaving spent a little time thinking about our approach. We followed the main herd path back to the spruce and it seemed to just end. We spent a little time looking for one that branched off but had no luck. Back into the thick growth we went. We followed a reverse route off the summit. We intended to favor our route to the right on the descent. After a while in the thick growth we landed on a herd path. It went through relatively open areas and extremely thick areas, but it was always heading where we wanted to go. We crossed the very end of the boggy area and continued in a favorable direction. Eventually we popped out at the junction where we passed up on the herd path earlier. We should have made that turn.
Back on familiar trail we cruised the short distance back through the initial turns and on to the truck. It was still early, not as early as we had planned but early enough. We packed our things and got our traveling shoes on for the trip. Soon we were on the road headed south.
Our Maine NEHH list is done. Now we’ll shift our focus to a little clean-up in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Pictures will follow.
