Three ME Gems

dms · Jul 30, 2005

On Thursday and Friday my son and I did three remote and beautiful ME peaks, White Cap, Little Spencer, and Big Spencer. Our first hike was White Cap, and as is the case with many ME peaks, finding the right road to get to the the mountain is always a lot of fun. To access the AT, we followed Frenchtown Road from Kokadjo south 14 miles south to a gate, about .2 mi further beyond the gate, the AT crosses the road. Heading south on the AT, the trail ascends the mountain at moderate grades. The summit views are truly spectacular, with incredible vistas of Katahdin and other BSP peaks. The Bigelows, Sugarloaf and Big Squaw are prominent to the west, and the Spencers to the north. White Cap is rarely a day hike, we met four other groups and all were AT through hikers. As I was also doing Hay and West which are further south on the AT, we had the pleasure of crossing White Cap again on the way back. As it was later in the day, all the lighting conditions were different so the views were different also. This truly is one of the best hikes I've ever had the pleasure of doing, regardless of it's remoteness, I will definitely visit this mountain again! I will post pics later, as well as the desciptions of the other two hikes.

Artex · Jul 30, 2005

Sounds like an awesome area! Thanks for sharing, now I want to check it out.

dms · Jul 30, 2005

Three ME Gems - Part 2, Little Spencer Mountain

Little Spencer is truly a wonderful mountain, it has fantastic views of the Moosehead area, from some very exposed ledges, and the summit. Big Squaw, Lily Bay and the Bakers, White Cap and Big Spencer are just some of the peaks you can see. It is, as the ME Mountain Guide says, a"challenging" trail. it is very steep, has rock slides, ledges, scree slopes and a very interesting 30 - 40 foot chute/chimney. On the way up my son and I met a hiker descending and asked him how it was further up, he told us that he had turned around at the chute, he said "I am a hiker, not a rock climber," and he said that he didn't like the look of the rope protection that was hanging in the chute as a climbing aid. Needless to say this info got our attention. When we finally got to the chute, my son who is an avid rock climber, said that he agreed with the man that we had met a few moments before. There were two ropes, neither of which were climbing ropes, and neither of which were properly secured from a rock climbing safety perspective, and considering that there was about about a 50 foot fallout, we decided that it would be safer for us to not depend on the ropes too much and therefore try to friction climb the chute. it was very invigorating, strenuous, and a lot of fun! Climbing down was also "challenging"! This is definitely not a hike for anyone who is bothered by some exposure. The views and scrambling make for a great time!

Artex · Jul 31, 2005

The "chimney" you describe sounds somewhat reminiscent of the one on Katahdin's Knife Edge. Nice!

dms · Jul 31, 2005

Three ME Gems, part 3

Big Spencer was our second hike of the day on Friday. Actually, my son and I had done this hike 18 years ago when he was just a youngster and getting into hiking. The most striking thing we both noticed was the major deterioration of the warden's cabin and fire tower, it looks as though neither structure is getting any maintenance at all. One of the tower's concrete stanchions, has lost its outside layer and the interior aggregate is now visible and open to the elements. The cab is basically sound, although some of the windows are broken allowing the elements access to the floorboards. Also now on the summit is a helicopter landing pad and an array of solar panels and a couple of nearby buildings the use of which is not clear. The hike itself is very nice, the road to the cabin is very easy, the views of Katahdin from the cabin are now very restricted. The upper mile is very steep, complete with ladders, but the trail is in excellent condition. The views from the summit and tower are spectacular, you feel as though you could reach out and touch Katahdin and the other prominent BSP peaks. The "true" summit is about .2/.3 mi bushwack, these are definitely not open woods, from the tower. There is a register and the last signees were Spencer and Papa Bear in May. We had planned on continuing on to the South peak, but as it was after 5 already we decided to save that for another day. What is truly amazing is that in doing these two wonderful mountains we saw only 1 other hiker all day! So if you want to escape the crowds and traffic, these three peaks should be on your list.

Papa Bear · Jul 31, 2005

dms said:
Little Spencer is truly a wonderful mountain, it has fantastic views of the Moosehead area, from some very exposed ledges, and the summit. Big Squaw, Lily Bay and the Bakers, White Cap and Big Spencer are just some of the peaks you can see. It is, as the ME Mountain Guide says, a"challenging" trail. it is very steep, has rock slides, ledges, scree slopes and a very interesting 30 - 40 foot chute/chimney. ... The views and scrambling make for a great time!

Hi DMS
Enjoyed your reports. That whole area is certainly a marvel.

Spencer and I may hit Little Spencer this coming weekend. One question: the latest DeLorme Atlas (2004 edition) now shows a gate across the road just where it goes around the right side of Spencer Pond at the very top of map 41 (after the left turn). The old DeLorme showed no such gate. Is the gate there?

Thanks

dms · Jul 31, 2005

PB, there is a gate and it clearly is new, but it is open. I also found the milage to the trailhead to be 10.7 mi from the Kokadjo General Store, and I did not see a culvert 80 yards before the trailhead, the trail sign is about 30 ft off the road, but the start of the trail is fairly obvious. And there is a register at the summit cairn. Enjoy!