Mt. Bemis last Saturday - Old Fire Tower, Old Trail, Pictures, Waterfall, etc...

When did the Bemis trail stop being maintained? 1968? - when the fire tower was demolished??

I climbed Bemis on Saturday. Absolutely perfect weather. The snow was supportive of my snowshoes all day and I only seldom post-holed when there were gnarly spruce traps. I took the old fire tower trail up. At about 3000' it totally goes to hell and instead of trying to follow it, I just whacked to the summit, which was quite thick at times. Instead of descending via the old trail and having to go through the thick whack between the summit and 3000', I descended via a drainage which comes out at a little below 2000' on the Nancy Pond Trail. I stayed on the drainage while it was small, until there was too much water volume undermining the snowpack and then got off to the side of it. It was an awesome surprise, when, at about 2300' I encountered a large waterfall. (See photo). It was approx 25' tall and it didn't look as though anyone ever went there. Pretty awesome to find!!

Old fire tower trail still in good shape below approx. 3000'


Great view of Mt. Washington on ascent


Remains of old fire tower


View from fire tower site


Spruce trap


Descending the drainage


Discovering waterfall on drainage


Impressive Bemis Bushwhacking wound

Nancy Pond (not Brook) Trail.

Thanks for posting this. Bemis has been on my to do list for quite some time. Perhaps this year.

I addition to the old trail, there was fairly distinct old road that climbs the east shoulder of the mountain. I think it was used to haul the building materials up to the summit. We did it in winter and it was nice way to climb the mountain but reportedly its pretty nasty in the summer due to blowdown. We eventually encountered the old trail.

Definitely a waste of nice fire tower.

Dingo - oops, I fixed the post - Nancy Pond Trail.

I heard about that haul road. I think there is also some vehicle trailer up there still as well, which someone told me you can see when there's not snow. I also saw an old electrical pole with the light still attached at the top. The pole was down a ways from the tower site. That fire tower definitely seemed built to last when you looked at the bolting, cables and massive beams used to construct it. I agree, it is too bad they took it down and it isn't still standing. Bemis is a fantastic mountain and still lots of great views in various directions during the trip. Encountering that waterfall was a nice surprise too.

peakbagger said:

I addition to the old trail, there was fairly distinct old road that climbs the east shoulder of the mountain. I think it was used to haul the building materials up to the summit. We did it in winter and it was nice way to climb the mountain but reportedly its pretty nasty in the summer due to blowdown. We eventually encountered the old trail.

Click to expand...

I'm curious about this, as my impression was only the road existed, not a separate trail. All the AMC, WMNF and USGS maps I have show it appearing in the 40's and gone in the 60's. Would love to know the general path that the trail goes.