Damselfly
Active member
Whitecap & No. Kennebago Divide - 6/30/12
Lew, Joanie, Suzanne and I headed up to hike Whitecap & No. Kennebago Divide from its eastern approach.
Road approach: We traveled from Eustis to the trailhead via Tim Pond Road to Wiggle Brook to Bear Brook. The road is in good condition (dusty). We were able to drive up to the very end of the road where it turns to grass (2660'). The 26.5 mile trek (Cabin to Trailhead) took us 1 1/2 hours.
White Cap: Proceed and climb along through the grassy and overgrown logging road. There is an evident foot path and it was easy to follow. (At 3200' a footpath came in on the left; this is the approach we took down from NDK... or one that would make a nice winter ascent route.) Continue along the logging road, following the very evident path. The road passes over a height of land, and continues, bending around the shoulder and up the west side of White Cap. At about 3665', you'll see a pile of rocks. Duck into the woods here, and within a few feet, you'll pick up a foot path that will take you all the way to the summit. Traveling on the slower side due to heat, this only took 1:15.
[The log contents on White Cap were soaked and rotting. The canister is a PVC tube with pressed fit top and bottom, thus, no seal from the water. I took the (smelly & icky) log contents and have dried and salvaged most of it. I have been in contact with J.G. from the 4K committee as to what to do with the contents. I did not have a log to place in the tube... but if I did, that too would surely also get ruined until the canister gets fixed or replaced.]
North Kennebago Divide: We backtracked off of White Cap, back to the "height of land." From this point, there were several "ferny" areas that appeared to lead in the correct compass line towards NKD. Seeing no obvious signs that any one route was better than the next, we picked one and headed into the ferns and woods. By staying along the "spine," we eventually picked up the herd path at around 3560'. It took us to the summit without too much difficulty. White Cap summit to NDK summit: 1:15.
Descending, we decided to try to follow the herd path all the way out, to see where we should have picked it up. But when we came to a fork (3410'), we took the right path as it seemed that this would take us off the hill easterly towards our car. Indeed, it brought us out to the logging road at 3200' as mentioned above.
Including long breaks on the summits, the trip was somewhere under 5 miles, and took us 4 1/2 hours with 1835' of gain.
We had other plans, and had to leave. But for those going up, consider combining this hike with Cupsuptic Snow. It's a long drive to get out there, and Cupsuptic Snow can be done, in and out, in an easy two hours.
Beth Zimmer
btzimr at gmail dot com
Lew, Joanie, Suzanne and I headed up to hike Whitecap & No. Kennebago Divide from its eastern approach.
Road approach: We traveled from Eustis to the trailhead via Tim Pond Road to Wiggle Brook to Bear Brook. The road is in good condition (dusty). We were able to drive up to the very end of the road where it turns to grass (2660'). The 26.5 mile trek (Cabin to Trailhead) took us 1 1/2 hours.
White Cap: Proceed and climb along through the grassy and overgrown logging road. There is an evident foot path and it was easy to follow. (At 3200' a footpath came in on the left; this is the approach we took down from NDK... or one that would make a nice winter ascent route.) Continue along the logging road, following the very evident path. The road passes over a height of land, and continues, bending around the shoulder and up the west side of White Cap. At about 3665', you'll see a pile of rocks. Duck into the woods here, and within a few feet, you'll pick up a foot path that will take you all the way to the summit. Traveling on the slower side due to heat, this only took 1:15.
[The log contents on White Cap were soaked and rotting. The canister is a PVC tube with pressed fit top and bottom, thus, no seal from the water. I took the (smelly & icky) log contents and have dried and salvaged most of it. I have been in contact with J.G. from the 4K committee as to what to do with the contents. I did not have a log to place in the tube... but if I did, that too would surely also get ruined until the canister gets fixed or replaced.]
North Kennebago Divide: We backtracked off of White Cap, back to the "height of land." From this point, there were several "ferny" areas that appeared to lead in the correct compass line towards NKD. Seeing no obvious signs that any one route was better than the next, we picked one and headed into the ferns and woods. By staying along the "spine," we eventually picked up the herd path at around 3560'. It took us to the summit without too much difficulty. White Cap summit to NDK summit: 1:15.
Descending, we decided to try to follow the herd path all the way out, to see where we should have picked it up. But when we came to a fork (3410'), we took the right path as it seemed that this would take us off the hill easterly towards our car. Indeed, it brought us out to the logging road at 3200' as mentioned above.
Including long breaks on the summits, the trip was somewhere under 5 miles, and took us 4 1/2 hours with 1835' of gain.
We had other plans, and had to leave. But for those going up, consider combining this hike with Cupsuptic Snow. It's a long drive to get out there, and Cupsuptic Snow can be done, in and out, in an easy two hours.
Beth Zimmer
btzimr at gmail dot com
