"Cushman is a nasty peak."

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TEO

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The late bushwhacker & VFTT member of some renown, Bill Bowden, once described Mt. Cushman (3,221') with those words on this forum. So it was with some excitement, & perhaps a little trepidation, that we—my friend, Jeff, & my brother, Ben—anticipated our first hike of yesterday in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. Anticipating Kineo (3,313') & East Kineo (2,982') to be an easier hike, we thought that we would get the harder hike of Cushman out of the way in the morning & save the Kineos for the afternoon.

At the crack of about 9:30 a.m., we left the West end of FR 22 & headed up Cushman on a general bearing plotted with map & compass. Leading the way, I generally skirted around to the West of any thickish looking bits. Onestep reported back in March 2008 that the lower two-thirds were open hardwoods & the upper third was steep & thick to the summit ridge, which also was thick. As sometimes happens when bushwhacking, we found that magic line & the woods were open all the way to the summit ridge & remained so as we headed East along the ridge to the summit. The oldest sign-in in one of the summit logs dated to 2 October 1993, which was pretty neat.

We enjoyed a snack of landjäger from Karl's Sausage Kitchen & a brief respite, before heading down, attempting to retrace our magical line of ascent. We had no such luck, & hit a handful of mildly thick sections, though it never got too terrible. We popped out on the Hubbard Brook Trail just West of the trail's East trailhead.

At the conclusion of the hike, we ate lunch, repositioned our cars, & set off for Kineo & East Kineo. The second hike of the day was pleasant & uneventful, though it took a little longer than we had anticipated, particularly the bushwhacking along the ridgeline. I particularly enjoyed the sharp summit of Kineo, from whence the mountain's apt name is derived. We finished our second hike minutes shy of 8 p.m. & after enjoying Goya Ginger Beer, headed home. Along the descent of Hubbard Brook Road, an almost full-sized immature Barred Owl buzzed our car & landed on a tree just above the edge of the road. We stopped to marvel at it for a few minutes before moving on.
 
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