buckyball1
New member
...headed out at 3 with some anxiety about this one, not so much the mountain/hike itself, but getting to/from it ..could find nobody (even in the area) who'd heard of it much less hiked it (just a set of contour lines on my older Delormes before finally being listing in the newest one)
Telephone Hill -2310' (near Caucomgomoc Lake in NMW-about 85 miles "in" NW of Millinocket)-
I drove up Rt 95 not only with my usual gear, but an extra spare, and my "medium" chainsaw; nobody may hear that tree when it falls in the woods "behind" me on these drives into nowhere, but it'll block my way out. I timed the drive so I'd pass thru Millinocket and hit the Golden Rd just as there was enough light to see the holes in the road. As i knew from last week's hike of "Pt 1790",the hard surface part of the Golden Rd is a mess especially near the turn to the Telos gate. Telephone Hill is 85 miles from Millinocket via the Golden Rd, past Telos turn, thru Caribou gate (unmanned as yet), over Hannibals Crossing (very wet/ugly around there), up the Ragmuff Rd, then the Caucomgomoc Rd to the very northern end of the Russell Mtn Rd, and south on Russell about 5 miles.
This is pretty far back in there, even for my oddball list-about 30 miles off the Golden Rd which itself isn't downtown Boston. It's a weird feeling not seeing another soul or any activity in all those miles after passing thru Millinocket -totally different-adds edge to the day. The frost is just coming out of the ground and they are just beginning to grade the roads up here-many holes and very slippery in places. Three moose, many rabbits. Driving the roads is a fine balance between getting there in a reasonable amount of time and not destroying your car. After a few thousand miles (really), you do get a feel for this, but there are always mistakes and jarring "did i break anything" thuds. At least for me, the eyes never off the road concentration for hours takes a toll.
I was pleasantly surprised to have no serious problems even on the Russell Mtn road and made it to the base of Telephone-less than 2 miles from its summit. Finding a spot off the narrow road which wasn't sink-in-soft was difficult, but i edged off on a small hill, set the brake and chocked all 4 wheels with big rocks. I always put a small rock on my hood right in front of the steering wheel to remind me to remove the rocks when i come off the mountain in my usual stupor.
I had planned 3 possible ascent lines and after looking them over, stuck with my original choice-looked steep off the road (open hardwoods), then a flat middle and potential problems up top with steeps filled with evergreens and showing big rocks/small cliffs. That's exactly how it went. Easy and wet for 7/8s of ascent-hardwood, old skid trails with lots of brambles and ferocious hobblebush-tons of moose scat, no visible moose, no shed racks
About a quarter mile from the top i hit my first real 'whacking of 2010--steeps, blowdowns,and some cliffy stuff to thread my way thru-typical Maine. As the grade slackened near the summit, the snow, which had been nil/sparse to this point (about 2200'), became a blanket. The last 150 yds was moderate hell with dense rip-your -glasses-off evergreens, blowdowns at your feet and plowing thru snow between waist and crotch deep-tuff going. This was then i really missed my X-mas present OR crocodile gaiters (they are super, but were in the car
) which had served me well Saturday on Seboomook and Ironbound--boots filled with snow.
I spent a lot of energy thrashing all over to find the exact summit; there was nothing special; thick woods , no jar, no Princess phone attached to a tree (again, this area is not S VT )
Made a quick, uneventful descent-tired, realized i'd taken a bit of a full body beating on this one. The toughest part may have been the long, careful drive home.
These "way back in" peaks both scare (getting in) and elate (when done) me. Fortunately/unfortunately i have a lot more to go
jim
Telephone Hill -2310' (near Caucomgomoc Lake in NMW-about 85 miles "in" NW of Millinocket)-
I drove up Rt 95 not only with my usual gear, but an extra spare, and my "medium" chainsaw; nobody may hear that tree when it falls in the woods "behind" me on these drives into nowhere, but it'll block my way out. I timed the drive so I'd pass thru Millinocket and hit the Golden Rd just as there was enough light to see the holes in the road. As i knew from last week's hike of "Pt 1790",the hard surface part of the Golden Rd is a mess especially near the turn to the Telos gate. Telephone Hill is 85 miles from Millinocket via the Golden Rd, past Telos turn, thru Caribou gate (unmanned as yet), over Hannibals Crossing (very wet/ugly around there), up the Ragmuff Rd, then the Caucomgomoc Rd to the very northern end of the Russell Mtn Rd, and south on Russell about 5 miles.
This is pretty far back in there, even for my oddball list-about 30 miles off the Golden Rd which itself isn't downtown Boston. It's a weird feeling not seeing another soul or any activity in all those miles after passing thru Millinocket -totally different-adds edge to the day. The frost is just coming out of the ground and they are just beginning to grade the roads up here-many holes and very slippery in places. Three moose, many rabbits. Driving the roads is a fine balance between getting there in a reasonable amount of time and not destroying your car. After a few thousand miles (really), you do get a feel for this, but there are always mistakes and jarring "did i break anything" thuds. At least for me, the eyes never off the road concentration for hours takes a toll.
I was pleasantly surprised to have no serious problems even on the Russell Mtn road and made it to the base of Telephone-less than 2 miles from its summit. Finding a spot off the narrow road which wasn't sink-in-soft was difficult, but i edged off on a small hill, set the brake and chocked all 4 wheels with big rocks. I always put a small rock on my hood right in front of the steering wheel to remind me to remove the rocks when i come off the mountain in my usual stupor.
I had planned 3 possible ascent lines and after looking them over, stuck with my original choice-looked steep off the road (open hardwoods), then a flat middle and potential problems up top with steeps filled with evergreens and showing big rocks/small cliffs. That's exactly how it went. Easy and wet for 7/8s of ascent-hardwood, old skid trails with lots of brambles and ferocious hobblebush-tons of moose scat, no visible moose, no shed racks
About a quarter mile from the top i hit my first real 'whacking of 2010--steeps, blowdowns,and some cliffy stuff to thread my way thru-typical Maine. As the grade slackened near the summit, the snow, which had been nil/sparse to this point (about 2200'), became a blanket. The last 150 yds was moderate hell with dense rip-your -glasses-off evergreens, blowdowns at your feet and plowing thru snow between waist and crotch deep-tuff going. This was then i really missed my X-mas present OR crocodile gaiters (they are super, but were in the car
) which had served me well Saturday on Seboomook and Ironbound--boots filled with snow.I spent a lot of energy thrashing all over to find the exact summit; there was nothing special; thick woods , no jar, no Princess phone attached to a tree (again, this area is not S VT
)Made a quick, uneventful descent-tired, realized i'd taken a bit of a full body beating on this one. The toughest part may have been the long, careful drive home.
These "way back in" peaks both scare (getting in) and elate (when done) me. Fortunately/unfortunately i have a lot more to go
jim
