buckyball1
New member
...with frost on the car windows this morning and 35 degrees at the trailhead just after 6, my hiking days for the year are dwindling as I'm pretty much a fair weather hiker... i've also taken a vow 
to a fellow VFTTer not to post the ungodly hour of my departure from home for a few weeks...
Mosquito is a 2216' isolated lump rising from beside Moxie Pond near The Forks. The road approach is easy from Rt 201, Moxie Falls Rd and a short (2 mile) drive on the dirt Troutdale Rd which was a bit washboardy like it usually is (no problem at all). There is a trail (yeah!), pretty easy to find just after the big power lines come right to the road. There's a pretty good size rock on the north side of the trail start with a faded red paw print on it. The trail is generally easy to follow most of the way to the summit-mellow on the bottom, pretty steep on top. It's only a bit over a mile "straight up" to the top and the way the trail was going at first, i felt "great, right at it, no messing around on this one". Of course about 3/4 of the way up, the trail swings south away from the top and slabs. I think this is probably to avoid an approach too steep and cliffy. The trail comes into a col near the south end of the "ridge" (good view knob off to the left) and then swings along the ridge back to the northwest. There is a false summit and the trail is not totally clear in a few spots, but the top (northwest end) is obvious, big rocks with a 360 degree view-nice and fairly unique vantage point, except it was very cloudy in the mountains all day.
Burnt Hill-across the Kennebec River from Bingham. On my way back to Bingham, I made a few stops to glean local knowledge re approaches to Pierce Pond and Flagstaff. I thought sure Steve Longley, the guy who has ferried AT hikers across the Kennebec for years would be a good source, but to my surprise his store/hostel is out of business and another person is doing the ferrying. Between big investment bank failures and Steve's "demise"..not sure what's happening.
I thought I had Burnt Hill well scoped and while having planned a "moderate" day, thought "man, this is going to be cake". To reach Burnt Hill (2236'), you drive across the Kennebec below the dam and then need to drive about 10 miles "back-in" (over 1/2 on unknown dirt roads). I had done a lot of homework with Delorme, topos, Google earth Sat pics, and even had called a guy at the Williams General Store, but the reality on the ground is often far different from all those sources--lots of logging in the area. I almost gave up trying to get in position to 'wack the peak. I was sure I could "easily" get within a mile or two, but i was so frustrated by multiple choices on roads at various points that I drove 20 miles or more and finally talked with a logging crew before I "found" my planned way. I know how some of you feel re GPS, but without my basic (no map) unit, i don't think I'd ever have gotten through the maze (climb the peak without, sure, did it for years, but find my starting spot, never)--another case of driving approach being way more than half the battle. I was able to park closer than my original plan and might have driven further, but if I can get with a few miles of a top, I'm really happy. The hike up was pretty standard, a bit of road, some heavily overgrown skidder trails (over head high vegetation) and some modest "wacking"-lots of feeling your way up. Top was totally wooded although summit area was pretty "open"- no views, a few if you wandered "out" here and there. There was no sign of a "Person" jar or any other visit by man. But, guess what? In the place i had originally planned to park (a clearing i saw on the sat pics) there was a CELL TOWER--brand new and identical in every way (even the guy wire system) to the one i saw on Beaver last Saturday--they're everywhere.
On the way home, I hit construction on Rt 2 near Newport and while being waved through a "one-lane" situation by a flagger looked up and saw a loaded log truck appear over a blind rise, going way too fast and headed for all of us--he hit the brakes, threw up a huge cloud of rubber smoke and brought it to a stop near the flagger---always an adventure
jim
to a fellow VFTTer not to post the ungodly hour of my departure from home for a few weeks...Mosquito is a 2216' isolated lump rising from beside Moxie Pond near The Forks. The road approach is easy from Rt 201, Moxie Falls Rd and a short (2 mile) drive on the dirt Troutdale Rd which was a bit washboardy like it usually is (no problem at all). There is a trail (yeah!), pretty easy to find just after the big power lines come right to the road. There's a pretty good size rock on the north side of the trail start with a faded red paw print on it. The trail is generally easy to follow most of the way to the summit-mellow on the bottom, pretty steep on top. It's only a bit over a mile "straight up" to the top and the way the trail was going at first, i felt "great, right at it, no messing around on this one". Of course about 3/4 of the way up, the trail swings south away from the top and slabs
. I think this is probably to avoid an approach too steep and cliffy. The trail comes into a col near the south end of the "ridge" (good view knob off to the left) and then swings along the ridge back to the northwest. There is a false summit and the trail is not totally clear in a few spots, but the top (northwest end) is obvious, big rocks with a 360 degree view-nice and fairly unique vantage point, except it was very cloudy in the mountains all day.Burnt Hill-across the Kennebec River from Bingham. On my way back to Bingham, I made a few stops to glean local knowledge re approaches to Pierce Pond and Flagstaff. I thought sure Steve Longley, the guy who has ferried AT hikers across the Kennebec for years would be a good source, but to my surprise his store/hostel is out of business and another person is doing the ferrying. Between big investment bank failures and Steve's "demise"..not sure what's happening.
I thought I had Burnt Hill well scoped and while having planned a "moderate" day, thought "man, this is going to be cake". To reach Burnt Hill (2236'), you drive across the Kennebec below the dam and then need to drive about 10 miles "back-in" (over 1/2 on unknown dirt roads). I had done a lot of homework with Delorme, topos, Google earth Sat pics, and even had called a guy at the Williams General Store, but the reality on the ground is often far different from all those sources--lots of logging in the area. I almost gave up trying to get in position to 'wack the peak. I was sure I could "easily" get within a mile or two, but i was so frustrated by multiple choices on roads at various points that I drove 20 miles or more and finally talked with a logging crew before I "found" my planned way. I know how some of you feel re GPS, but without my basic (no map) unit, i don't think I'd ever have gotten through the maze (climb the peak without, sure, did it for years, but find my starting spot, never)--another case of driving approach being way more than half the battle. I was able to park closer than my original plan and might have driven further, but if I can get with a few miles of a top, I'm really happy. The hike up was pretty standard, a bit of road, some heavily overgrown skidder trails (over head high vegetation) and some modest "wacking"-lots of feeling your way up. Top was totally wooded although summit area was pretty "open"- no views, a few if you wandered "out" here and there. There was no sign of a "Person" jar or any other visit by man. But, guess what? In the place i had originally planned to park (a clearing i saw on the sat pics) there was a CELL TOWER--brand new and identical in every way (even the guy wire system) to the one i saw on Beaver last Saturday--they're everywhere.
On the way home, I hit construction on Rt 2 near Newport and while being waved through a "one-lane" situation by a flagger looked up and saw a loaded log truck appear over a blind rise, going way too fast and headed for all of us--he hit the brakes, threw up a huge cloud of rubber smoke and brought it to a stop near the flagger---always an adventure
jim
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