buckyball1
New member
Looking for "quick/easy", i headed through Monson, Greenville and past Rockwood early this morning. I stopped a bit to talk and pick up some local insight, but there wasn't any. There's been a fair amount of rain in that part of the state and the roads were still wet from last nights showers. Skies were overcast with moderate wind all morning.
thanks to BillDC and Nate for advice re Williams-i screwed up Misery Knob on my own
Williams 2410' is a fire tower peak west of Rockwood off Rt 6/15. I went in the Williams Mtn Rd (dirt, signed) for about 0.85 miles and then turned right onto Smith Pond Rd for another 2.3 miles (do not continue straight on Williams Mt Rd though your bearing may tell you to--the approach is reached via Smith Pond Rd)-trust me.
I turned left off Smith Pond Rd onto an iffy dirt road and tortured the Subaru upward about 0.5 miles and over 5 pretty deep drainage culverts-gotta stop doing this-i am going to get stuck. It would have been wiser, almost as fast and less stress had i parked below. I parked where the iffy road "continues" (you'd need a tank shortly) and you see a cut-over area on the left. You can head up either on "trail" from the open area or try the "road" straight ahead and skidder trails up higher--i chose the road because the woods' floor is so wet and Bill mentioned how much of a mess the trail can be.
The road was easy to follow in all but a few spots, but eventually gave way to a nest of skid trails where you have to guess. After a few of these, I 'whacked the last 0.25 to the peak-open woods, mellow except for a very steep summit cone. The tower stands on a now totally grow in summit-no view. Before I lost my nerve, I went up the tower ladder ( a vertical type) about 2/3 of the way to find a stellar 360 degree view of another region not too many folks see/visit. The tower/ladder seemed pretty sound, but this isn't an endorsement. Easy descent except the woods/rocks/roots/leaves are very slippery-easy to turn an ankle (see hike #2). Came back down the "trail" past the old warden's cabin and then cut back over to my ascent route.
I had two possible approaches scoped for Misery Knob 2125'. One was by heading 8 miles in the Somerset Rd (S of Rockwood, dirt, signed) and using some drivable? walkable? log roads to go a bit higher, then go for the top from the east. The problem is that the sat pics are old enough that often "good looking" road is overgrown, often difficult to even walk on.
As i was already on 6/15 /north/west of Rockwood, I chose to try a different approach from the NW using the Adams Dam Rd (dirt, signed, OK). I drove in about a mile, turned left and hoped to go another 1 1/2 miles on iffy dirt roads which would leave maybe 0.6 to the summit. Of course this didn't work as the roads were totally overgrown and i ended up parking perhaps a straight line mile+ from the summit. I figured I could still walk the roads and then go through some cut-over areas and have a very short summit 'whack.
As happens periodically, i managed to make the climb interesting, but much more difficult. I totally missed the old road and instead took a skidder path. The "road" was about 150 feet from where I parked, but hidden around a sharp corner and the skid trail started in the perfect direction. Of course the skid trail was rough, a mess of slash and head high briers-petered out way short of the cut-over areas. I headed right at the top, had wet, ugly going for a bit, but finally hit the cut-over area ; saved?. Sorry, this area was also filled with slash and had waist high hobblebush over almost all of it-i hate hobblebush.
Of course it wasn't really all that bad and after twisting my ankle (wet wood), i was soon on a totally wooded summit spot (definitive) with only a smidge of "view". I decided to try another route on the descent, hit the cut-over area, followed it to where i hoped to find the road and of course, there was the road-a bit overgrown, but pretty nice walking all the way to 150' (around the corner) from the car.
fun hikes--if you're headed for central or northern Maine, the woods/trail are wet/muddy and more rain tomorrow
jim
thanks to BillDC and Nate for advice re Williams-i screwed up Misery Knob on my own
Williams 2410' is a fire tower peak west of Rockwood off Rt 6/15. I went in the Williams Mtn Rd (dirt, signed) for about 0.85 miles and then turned right onto Smith Pond Rd for another 2.3 miles (do not continue straight on Williams Mt Rd though your bearing may tell you to--the approach is reached via Smith Pond Rd)-trust me.
I turned left off Smith Pond Rd onto an iffy dirt road and tortured the Subaru upward about 0.5 miles and over 5 pretty deep drainage culverts-gotta stop doing this-i am going to get stuck. It would have been wiser, almost as fast and less stress had i parked below. I parked where the iffy road "continues" (you'd need a tank shortly) and you see a cut-over area on the left. You can head up either on "trail" from the open area or try the "road" straight ahead and skidder trails up higher--i chose the road because the woods' floor is so wet and Bill mentioned how much of a mess the trail can be.
The road was easy to follow in all but a few spots, but eventually gave way to a nest of skid trails where you have to guess. After a few of these, I 'whacked the last 0.25 to the peak-open woods, mellow except for a very steep summit cone. The tower stands on a now totally grow in summit-no view. Before I lost my nerve, I went up the tower ladder ( a vertical type) about 2/3 of the way to find a stellar 360 degree view of another region not too many folks see/visit. The tower/ladder seemed pretty sound, but this isn't an endorsement. Easy descent except the woods/rocks/roots/leaves are very slippery-easy to turn an ankle (see hike #2). Came back down the "trail" past the old warden's cabin and then cut back over to my ascent route.
I had two possible approaches scoped for Misery Knob 2125'. One was by heading 8 miles in the Somerset Rd (S of Rockwood, dirt, signed) and using some drivable? walkable? log roads to go a bit higher, then go for the top from the east. The problem is that the sat pics are old enough that often "good looking" road is overgrown, often difficult to even walk on.
As i was already on 6/15 /north/west of Rockwood, I chose to try a different approach from the NW using the Adams Dam Rd (dirt, signed, OK). I drove in about a mile, turned left and hoped to go another 1 1/2 miles on iffy dirt roads which would leave maybe 0.6 to the summit. Of course this didn't work as the roads were totally overgrown and i ended up parking perhaps a straight line mile+ from the summit. I figured I could still walk the roads and then go through some cut-over areas and have a very short summit 'whack.
As happens periodically, i managed to make the climb interesting, but much more difficult. I totally missed the old road and instead took a skidder path. The "road" was about 150 feet from where I parked, but hidden around a sharp corner and the skid trail started in the perfect direction. Of course the skid trail was rough, a mess of slash and head high briers-petered out way short of the cut-over areas. I headed right at the top, had wet, ugly going for a bit, but finally hit the cut-over area ; saved?. Sorry, this area was also filled with slash and had waist high hobblebush over almost all of it-i hate hobblebush.
Of course it wasn't really all that bad and after twisting my ankle (wet wood), i was soon on a totally wooded summit spot (definitive) with only a smidge of "view". I decided to try another route on the descent, hit the cut-over area, followed it to where i hoped to find the road and of course, there was the road-a bit overgrown, but pretty nice walking all the way to 150' (around the corner) from the car.
fun hikes--if you're headed for central or northern Maine, the woods/trail are wet/muddy and more rain tomorrow
jim
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