buckyball1
New member
....late night radio is generally awful and early Sunday morning is the worst--3rd string sports talk hosts, extraterrestrial beings, New Age and religious music and commercials beyond parody ("Police Officer's Right To Sue"--that would be sue the city of New York) ....enough to trigger the gag reflex
It's a "why don't i have my camera?" moment about 510AM as i pass between Sherman and Patten and look over to see a huge, yellow full moon setting right beside Katahdin. On today's agenda is a modest peak in the northern end of Baxter State Park i was interested in it long before my "P" peaks obsession. For years we made the long journey from upstate NY (think Saranac Lake area) to Baxter with the three girls and stayed at South Branch Campground. The North Traveler was always a destination as later would be the Drum Ridge and from both you could see a cool trailess, open top, rocky peak just screaming to be hiked.
Bald-2351'--My hikes so far this season have been hard to access, easy to climb peaks and today it's relatively easy access, but semi-serious hiking again. Go in the Matagoman gate (not yet manned) and take the tote road past Trout Brook Campground to the Fowler Brook Trail. The Fowler Brook Trail runs to Lower Fowler Pond, hooks to the Middle Fowler Brook Trail which takes you to an isolated campsite at the south end of Middle Fowler Pond. I was in here a few years ago to do Billfish (you're left with all these straggler peaks when your plan to do 100 ME P becomes 200, then 300 ME P peaks) and the terrain remains the same- rooty, rocky, filled with PUDs and some very fine pond/mountain views.
The straight line route from the end of Middle Fowler to the summit of Bald is relentlessly steepish and a mix of moderately open hardwoods with lots of low,slashing, patches of dense evergreen and stretches of open rock-a real nice mixed bag bushwhack. There's a lot of 50' Rule stuff here as i encountered thick evergreen going up, but easily avoided it coming down. The open rock offering great views, but is crumbly Traveler Rhyolite which makes for unstable footing and long stretches of sprain your ankle fist size rock.- the otherwise useful LL Bean leathers just don't have enough torsional stability for this stuff, especially descending.
The top of Bald is very fine, with excellent 360 views-- N Traveler, Drum Ridge and Billfish close-The Traveler mid range and great looks into the County and NMWoods to the north. I actually sat and stayed a while, maybe because of my "and the scales feel from his eyes" moment a few months back. No, not that type
, but rather cataract operations on both eyes three weeks apart--good views are once again great views for me.
Many of my hikes are "only if you have" to or are slightly crazed, but this is a really rewarding intermediate level bushwhack hike-you won't be sorry
jim
It's a "why don't i have my camera?" moment about 510AM as i pass between Sherman and Patten and look over to see a huge, yellow full moon setting right beside Katahdin. On today's agenda is a modest peak in the northern end of Baxter State Park i was interested in it long before my "P" peaks obsession. For years we made the long journey from upstate NY (think Saranac Lake area) to Baxter with the three girls and stayed at South Branch Campground. The North Traveler was always a destination as later would be the Drum Ridge and from both you could see a cool trailess, open top, rocky peak just screaming to be hiked.
Bald-2351'--My hikes so far this season have been hard to access, easy to climb peaks and today it's relatively easy access, but semi-serious hiking again. Go in the Matagoman gate (not yet manned) and take the tote road past Trout Brook Campground to the Fowler Brook Trail. The Fowler Brook Trail runs to Lower Fowler Pond, hooks to the Middle Fowler Brook Trail which takes you to an isolated campsite at the south end of Middle Fowler Pond. I was in here a few years ago to do Billfish (you're left with all these straggler peaks when your plan to do 100 ME P becomes 200, then 300 ME P peaks) and the terrain remains the same- rooty, rocky, filled with PUDs and some very fine pond/mountain views.
The straight line route from the end of Middle Fowler to the summit of Bald is relentlessly steepish and a mix of moderately open hardwoods with lots of low,slashing, patches of dense evergreen and stretches of open rock-a real nice mixed bag bushwhack. There's a lot of 50' Rule stuff here as i encountered thick evergreen going up, but easily avoided it coming down. The open rock offering great views, but is crumbly Traveler Rhyolite which makes for unstable footing and long stretches of sprain your ankle fist size rock.- the otherwise useful LL Bean leathers just don't have enough torsional stability for this stuff, especially descending.
The top of Bald is very fine, with excellent 360 views-- N Traveler, Drum Ridge and Billfish close-The Traveler mid range and great looks into the County and NMWoods to the north. I actually sat and stayed a while, maybe because of my "and the scales feel from his eyes" moment a few months back. No, not that type
, but rather cataract operations on both eyes three weeks apart--good views are once again great views for me.Many of my hikes are "only if you have" to or are slightly crazed, but this is a really rewarding intermediate level bushwhack hike-you won't be sorry
jim
