The Six Pack

I'm in the early stages of planning an early November trip to up yonder Maine to finish off my last six NEHH peaks. East Kennebago, Cupsuptic Snow, White Cap, North Kennebago, Boundary and Snow Chain of Ponds.

Currently thought is to hit them solo and am looking at the week of November 2 - 6 although the exact days aren't quite official yet. Would be open to company though if anyone else is looking to pick off all or a few of these.

Just reply here or shoot me a PM.

If you haven't set your itinerary yet, I found the following two-day itinerary to be reasonable:
Day 0: Drive & arrive
Day 1: Cup Snow, White Cap, NKD, East Kennebago, Wolf Burger @ the White Wolf Inn
Day 2: Snow COP, Boundary, drive home.

Thanks TEO. I might adopt a slightly more leisurely agenda and do them over three or four days with daylight being somewhat less abundant in early November. Will definitely try the wolf burger.

At a minimum, you should consider combining Cup Snow, White Cap, NKD as the drive in/out is like 35 miles (from the north / Tim Pond Road) and 18 (IIRC) from the south... When I went up there, I did 1:drive+Elephant, 2: Cup Snow, WC, NKD, 3: Boundary, COP Snow, 4: EK+drive. See Maine NEHH Six Pack plus Elephant for an embedded Google Map.

Tim

Thank you.

Definitely don't want to do that drive more than once so if I don't knock them all off in a day, I will stay near the "trailheads." Had been thinking of sleeping in my XTerra but TEO sent me some good info on campsites nearby. Should be a fun trip.

bikehikeskifish said:

At a minimum, you should consider combining Cup Snow, White Cap, NKD as the drive in/out is like 35 miles
Tim

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2d that. If 1slowhiker can get all three in a day most people could do all three leisurely:
http://1slowhiker.blogspot.com/2014_10_02_archive.html

I'm still looking to pick off East Kennebago, and would be glad to join you.
Perhaps we could meet for that one first thing on one of the mornings you mention.
I will send you a PM soon, unless you beat me to it.
Thanks in advance and
Cheers

Cool. I'm going to put in for the time off today - week of November 2 - 6. Will try to come up with a loose itinerary in the next few days. Will keep you posted, Weedhopper.

I tried the itinerary suggested by TEO last weekend which would have worked well with a 4wdr. I first hiked WC , NKD and then Snow (Cup) but then gave up on my way up to the East Ken TH with my 2wdr bottoming out one too many times. At that point it was too late in the day to walk the rest of the access road (plus the regular route and back). I overnighted at the AT crossing south of Rangeley which had a few other car-sleepers.
Boundary and Snow (CoP) worked well on the second day. As others have said don't underestimate the time driving the access/logging roads and the border crossing which chews up quite a bit of valuable hiking time.

Also, congrats on summiting Denali and finishing the US50 - awesome achievement-
Peter

Thanks for the intel and your congrats, OnAClearDay! Great screen name BTW.

If things work out on this trip, it will certainly be a big year for list completions.

So here's what I'm thinking:

Day 1 - Drive
Day 2 - East Kennebago (AM), Cupsuptic Snow (PM) ... camp in area
Day 3 - White Cap, North Kennebago Divide ... wolf burger, maybe 2
Day 4 - Snow Chain of Ponds
Day 5 - Boundary from Canadian side and drive home

Allow yourself plenty of time to drive/navigate those gravel roads.

The Maine forest service has an office on rt. 16 between Oquossuc and Aziscohos Lake. If they're open definitely worth a stop for the latest information on roads, campsites (some also shown in DeLorme), logging ops, etc.

There used to be a terrific campsite along side the Kennebago River in a long recovering gravel pit on Wiggle Road ... had a picnic table and old cast iron fireplace which have since been removed because it was not a legal site ... however, I do believe the great horned owls, deer, moose and coyotes (which we heard but did not see as they revealed the wolf in their genes howling along Kennebago Rd aka Old Canada Rd) still abound. No shortage of places to park a tent in the midst of all this but Cathedral Pine Campground in Eustice is likely convenient for one of your nights.

In terms of driving efficiency, I'd start with Boundary (if from the Canadian side ... I'd prefer it from the American side in conjunction with White Cap and North Kennebago Divide) and I'd combine East Kennbago, Chain of Ponds Snow and the wolfburgers on one of the days.

Thanks, Stan. No shortage of good suggestions here. The one thing I'm trying to avoid is the feeling of being rushed ... hence the relaxed approach.

Also had a chance to check out the TRs of bikehikeskifish and 1SlowHiker as well as another I found on the net (Matt's Hikes). Great stuff, great info.

Good chance some weather issues could come into play so I don't want to get too married to an exact order. If it's gonna be wet on a given day, I'll hit one of the more "open" hikes.

Anyway, thanks again for all the replies.

Stan said:

There used to be a terrific campsite along side the Kennebago River in a long recovering gravel pit on Wiggle Road ... had a picnic table and old cast iron fireplace which have since been removed because it was not a legal site ... however, I do believe the great horned owls, deer, moose and coyotes (which we heard but did not see as they revealed the wolf in their genes howling along Kennebago Rd aka Old Canada Rd) still abound. No shortage of places to park a tent in the midst of all this but Cathedral Pine Campground in Eustice is likely convenient for one of your nights.

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It was my impression that all these logging roads along the 27/16 are "no fire, no camping".

In the DeLorme Gazeteer (which you should grab a copy, they sold them in Eustis/Stratton btw), you can see "Maine public land" spot where camping is allowed on a road near the Cathedral Pines campground, but I never took the time to check it out. (The Cathedral Pines is closed even before Columbus day and has a gate, so late arrival and early start are difficult).

There is also the Natanis Point campground, which is probably cheaper, on the 27, near "chain of ponds" towards the frontier. I don't know when it is closed.

If you go there after the AT season, the Stratton motel is a cheap option.

Been a lotta years since I stayed at the Stratton. Nice place though.

Pretty much planning on going low budget this trip. Campgrounds, improvised campgrounds or my XTerra. My bag is rated to -25 so no worries there. Could use a new Delorme's though. Mine is probably 10-15 years old.

Have you done Elephant yet ? That XTerra makes it easy, try with a Fit

Fort and Elephant were the last two I grabbed in 2012. This trip will finish 'em off if successful. First NEHH peaks were back in 1995. Kinda been an on again, off again project.

Elephant with a Fit must have been an adventure.

You're going to have a great week. I think you will find that you have a lot of time to explore. You might brings some beta on other peaks in the area. For example West Kennebago Mountain has a trail to its South summit & a bushwhack to the middle summit. Both are 3k'ers. The trail is in the AMC's Maine Mountain Guide. Kibby is also in the guide, but there are, to state the obvious, many that aren't.

TEO said:

You're going to have a great week.

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Sure hope so.

And thanks again to all for the great replies.

I'll shoot you a PM, Weedhopper, as the trip gets closer.

TEO said:

You're going to have a great week. I think you will find that you have a lot of time to explore. You might brings some beta on other peaks in the area. For example West Kennebago Mountain has a trail to its South summit & a bushwhack to the middle summit. Both are 3k'ers. The trail is in the AMC's Maine Mountain Guide. Kibby is also in the guide, but there are, to state the obvious, many that aren't.

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Indeed, though I didn't find it as memorable as Aziscohos but I suspect, that as with most of us, the "list" comes first. My recollection of most of the "six pack" is that getting there is half the fun ... maybe more ... but that lesser mountains offer more excciting views.