buckyball1
New member
I suspect the few of you who read this will find little familiar. Good hikes/interesting "stuff", but the two jars held signatures of about 10 (yes 10 total) people over a span of 20 years, not particularly popular peaks.
On Friday, i did a fairly long,fun hike to try some new gear and summit a peak whose jar contained only 2 sign-ins since JP placed it in 1997. (sorry, no trip report for this one). Oh, great 20 minute "conversation" with 83 year old Fr-Cand along a dirt road made my day--we really struggled on the language, but not the message/sentiment
I was able to field test my new SPOT-2 GPS Messenger (the size of and lighter than my very basic Garmin GPS), which i bought with grave reservations only after serious thought and in spite of many less than stellar reviews. If you read these TRs, you probably know i could use something that "works" re where to find my body and my wife felt i should try it regardless of potential $ loss if it was a dud.
These are only first impressions and i am no expert on the capabilities of the system. Contrary to many reports ("only works on the ocean, in the desert, under clear skies on open mountain tops", etc) all 4 of my test "i'm fine" signals made it to the satellite and were transmitted to my computer at home, etc. All were sent under conditions typical on my hikes, none from perfect geographic surroundings. Even the one sent from within heavy woods i often find myself in was successful albeit with a bit more time needed. So far, i think it'll work for me; updates as i use it more.
After a small issue at US customs about having migraine capsules in with my hike meds w/o my prescription (was fine, but a bit disconcerting), I stayed at the Roadhouse near Stratton on Friday-more people than i've ever seen there. Motel was full, private rooms at RH were full and 1/2 the bunks occupied. Good 1/2 pound cheeseburger and skin on fries as usual at Loony Moose, pint of premium choc ice cream and beautiful moon.Solid night's sleep as opposed to last weekend when there was only one $%^&* with me in the bunkroom.
Up early to a clear morning on Saturday, off to Rangeley/Oquossoc, up to Morton Cut-Off road (Delorme pg 28), then up Burnt Mt Rd (familiar, as i was in that way really far to do Heather/Oxbow last year) for
Burnt Mt 2970'-I had planned to start from some log roads east off the Burnt Mt Rd, but they looked totally undrivable so i parked at the hard north turning "jog" in the BM Rd about 0.75-80 crow flies miles NW of the summit and just went up. Thanks to Herb F for ideas on possible route finding (not sure i was anywhere near the suggested try ).
I was able to use overgrown, but "nice" skid trails to gain almost 0.3 miles and several hundred feet, then plunged into the woods straight for the peak. Decent going, then a rough, thick stretch about 2/3 of the way up and finally a good last section . The jar was an easy find on the very obvious top and there were actually nice views SE and E toward the big lakes in the area. The jar was placed in 1990? by Art/Roy, not visited again 'til 1997 (JP) and since then only by MMark, Von, Carl, Glen and Herb, Pin Pin and Pierre--i'm guessing it must be a MEHH peak. Got off line a bit coming down (veering south too much) and into some very thick crap--slabbed north about 100 yards to regain decent going.
good two days -not sure i'll get any more done this season, but it's been fun--finish next year if healthy
-16-
jim
On Friday, i did a fairly long,fun hike to try some new gear and summit a peak whose jar contained only 2 sign-ins since JP placed it in 1997. (sorry, no trip report for this one). Oh, great 20 minute "conversation" with 83 year old Fr-Cand along a dirt road made my day--we really struggled on the language, but not the message/sentiment
I was able to field test my new SPOT-2 GPS Messenger (the size of and lighter than my very basic Garmin GPS), which i bought with grave reservations only after serious thought and in spite of many less than stellar reviews. If you read these TRs, you probably know i could use something that "works" re where to find my body
and my wife felt i should try it regardless of potential $ loss if it was a dud. These are only first impressions and i am no expert on the capabilities of the system. Contrary to many reports ("only works on the ocean, in the desert, under clear skies on open mountain tops", etc) all 4 of my test "i'm fine" signals made it to the satellite and were transmitted to my computer at home, etc. All were sent under conditions typical on my hikes, none from perfect geographic surroundings. Even the one sent from within heavy woods i often find myself in was successful albeit with a bit more time needed. So far, i think it'll work for me; updates as i use it more.
After a small issue at US customs about having migraine capsules in with my hike meds w/o my prescription (was fine, but a bit disconcerting), I stayed at the Roadhouse near Stratton on Friday-more people than i've ever seen there. Motel was full, private rooms at RH were full and 1/2 the bunks occupied. Good 1/2 pound cheeseburger and skin on fries as usual at Loony Moose, pint of premium choc ice cream and beautiful moon.Solid night's sleep as opposed to last weekend when there was only one $%^&* with me in the bunkroom.
Up early to a clear morning on Saturday, off to Rangeley/Oquossoc, up to Morton Cut-Off road (Delorme pg 28), then up Burnt Mt Rd (familiar, as i was in that way really far to do Heather/Oxbow last year) for
Burnt Mt 2970'-I had planned to start from some log roads east off the Burnt Mt Rd, but they looked totally undrivable so i parked at the hard north turning "jog" in the BM Rd about 0.75-80 crow flies miles NW of the summit and just went up. Thanks to Herb F for ideas on possible route finding (not sure i was anywhere near the suggested try
). I was able to use overgrown, but "nice" skid trails to gain almost 0.3 miles and several hundred feet, then plunged into the woods straight for the peak. Decent going, then a rough, thick stretch about 2/3 of the way up and finally a good last section . The jar was an easy find on the very obvious top and there were actually nice views SE and E toward the big lakes in the area. The jar was placed in 1990? by Art/Roy, not visited again 'til 1997 (JP) and since then only by MMark, Von, Carl, Glen and Herb, Pin Pin and Pierre--i'm guessing it must be a MEHH peak. Got off line a bit coming down (veering south too much) and into some very thick crap--slabbed north about 100 yards to regain decent going.
good two days -not sure i'll get any more done this season, but it's been fun--finish next year if healthy
-16-
jim
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