BillDC
New member
Wadleigh Mountain is east of Moosehead Lake in T1 R12. The trail up it is not really a trail, but a series of old logging roads and a weak herd path near the top.
We took the Lily Bay road from Greenville and followed it through Kokajo until the road turns to gravel. Stay left at the fork where the road turns into the Sias Hill Road. Follow this until you reach a right fork. There will be signs for Mediwisla Sporting Camps and a small blue "Public Reserved Land" sign. Take this right fork. There will be periodic blue signs "Public Reserved Land" along the way as well as smaller white signs with "NLC" on them (Nahmakanta Lake Camps). Follow this road for 4.8 miles where it skirts the western end of Second Roach Pond then turn left. Proceed on this road for 7.4 miles (be sure to stay right at 6.8 miles). At the end of this road, turn left onto Nahmakanta Road where it skirts the northern shore of Penobscot Pond. At 3 miles, bear left. Continue for 1.2 to a left immediately before a bridge. Take this left (Wadleigh Mountain Road) and proceed for about .9 (be sure to ignore a left spur road at .6) where the primary road turns right, but a lesser road continues straight. Park at this fork. The lesser road is a logging road that heads to the summit.
The hike begins on this lesser logging road which starts out fairly narrow and gets more narrow as you go along. It's easy going as most of this road is fairly flat. In a wet area at about 1.5, the road starts to climb bearing left a bit and there will be a sign on a tree that is unreadable, but from a previous trip, it said "Fire Tower Closed". In a short while, the trail, such as it is, leaves left. Parks and Lands had previously flagged this route as the trail is obscure and dim in many areas, so the flagging helps to keep you somewhat on a trail. The route climbs and when you reach some rocky areas, stay aware of a side trail on the right. There are some nice outcrops of rocks where there are nice views to the east.
Continuing on the main route to the summit, it winds through the forest for a little while longer where it reaches the wooded summit. At the top, there is a large rocky ledge where the Wadleigh Mountain Fire Tower still stands. This tower, built in 1927, is still standing and has an accessible cab. Parks and Lands has deemed it unsafe and has posted a "Fire Tower Closed" sign on it. I tried climbing it and about 3/4 of the way up, gusty winds were rocking the tower so I chickened out and decended quickly! I learned later that one of the legs has seperated from the footings and is causing it to rock.
This trail is not the original Watchman's Trail, but one that comes up the eastern side from the south. The original access to this summit was a woods road that started down at Penobscot pond, skirted Third Musquash Pond on the west, and ended at the Watchman's camp south of the summit. From the Watchman's camp, a trail headed north to the summit. We decided to make a loop out of this hike and whack the old watchman's trail down to the camp site and then whack east back to the current trail.
The old Watchman's trail leaves the west side and heads south. We started out following the old phone line which we lost and we wandered a little while until we found some phone line insulators in the trees. When the descent got steeper, the old trail came into view. It is now a drainage gully which goes for quite some time. Once the area leveled out, it dissapeared, but more phone line insulators could be followed. We came to a small stream and on the west side of the stream was the old Watchman's camp site. The camp was burned years ago, but there was plenty of old artifacts leftover. We checked out the area and then headed out and whacked directly east. After about 30 minutes, we came to the current trail and then walked out.
A few photos can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/WadleighMountainME?feat=directlink
Bill
We took the Lily Bay road from Greenville and followed it through Kokajo until the road turns to gravel. Stay left at the fork where the road turns into the Sias Hill Road. Follow this until you reach a right fork. There will be signs for Mediwisla Sporting Camps and a small blue "Public Reserved Land" sign. Take this right fork. There will be periodic blue signs "Public Reserved Land" along the way as well as smaller white signs with "NLC" on them (Nahmakanta Lake Camps). Follow this road for 4.8 miles where it skirts the western end of Second Roach Pond then turn left. Proceed on this road for 7.4 miles (be sure to stay right at 6.8 miles). At the end of this road, turn left onto Nahmakanta Road where it skirts the northern shore of Penobscot Pond. At 3 miles, bear left. Continue for 1.2 to a left immediately before a bridge. Take this left (Wadleigh Mountain Road) and proceed for about .9 (be sure to ignore a left spur road at .6) where the primary road turns right, but a lesser road continues straight. Park at this fork. The lesser road is a logging road that heads to the summit.
The hike begins on this lesser logging road which starts out fairly narrow and gets more narrow as you go along. It's easy going as most of this road is fairly flat. In a wet area at about 1.5, the road starts to climb bearing left a bit and there will be a sign on a tree that is unreadable, but from a previous trip, it said "Fire Tower Closed". In a short while, the trail, such as it is, leaves left. Parks and Lands had previously flagged this route as the trail is obscure and dim in many areas, so the flagging helps to keep you somewhat on a trail. The route climbs and when you reach some rocky areas, stay aware of a side trail on the right. There are some nice outcrops of rocks where there are nice views to the east.
Continuing on the main route to the summit, it winds through the forest for a little while longer where it reaches the wooded summit. At the top, there is a large rocky ledge where the Wadleigh Mountain Fire Tower still stands. This tower, built in 1927, is still standing and has an accessible cab. Parks and Lands has deemed it unsafe and has posted a "Fire Tower Closed" sign on it. I tried climbing it and about 3/4 of the way up, gusty winds were rocking the tower so I chickened out and decended quickly! I learned later that one of the legs has seperated from the footings and is causing it to rock.
This trail is not the original Watchman's Trail, but one that comes up the eastern side from the south. The original access to this summit was a woods road that started down at Penobscot pond, skirted Third Musquash Pond on the west, and ended at the Watchman's camp south of the summit. From the Watchman's camp, a trail headed north to the summit. We decided to make a loop out of this hike and whack the old watchman's trail down to the camp site and then whack east back to the current trail.
The old Watchman's trail leaves the west side and heads south. We started out following the old phone line which we lost and we wandered a little while until we found some phone line insulators in the trees. When the descent got steeper, the old trail came into view. It is now a drainage gully which goes for quite some time. Once the area leveled out, it dissapeared, but more phone line insulators could be followed. We came to a small stream and on the west side of the stream was the old Watchman's camp site. The camp was burned years ago, but there was plenty of old artifacts leftover. We checked out the area and then headed out and whacked directly east. After about 30 minutes, we came to the current trail and then walked out.
A few photos can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/WadleighMountainME?feat=directlink
Bill
