Pig Pen
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Sept 2, 2006: Deer Mountain, GAS
Mhrsebego and I met at the west end of the Lincoln Pond Road on Saturday morning for the prequel to Whackfest Tree. First we complied with the requirement that all bushwacks start with one or more people looking at a map on the hood of a car. After that we headed up the Lincoln Pond Road to the Old Lincoln Pond Road to about due west of Deer Mountain. Since we were due west of the mountain we decided to head due east. The woods were mostly open at the bottom, with very occasional scruffy spots as we headed up. The summit was guarded by a small amount of blowdown, but was adorned with a classic 100 highest style PVC cannister with all the usual suspects inside. There were also the remnants of the old fire tower. On the way down we let the woods push us a little to the south where the going was a bit scrubbier than on the way up. We decided that we would have been better off being compass nazis.
We got done with Deer at about 1:00, so we decided we had time for more fun. We headed back to 16 and a short trip to the west to the trailhead for Aziscohos. There we ran in to something that 3k baggers rarely see; People. After quickly brushing up on our English were able to communicate with most of them. The trail lead us to LAS (Low Aziscohos), from the trail junction it is about a .35 whack to GAS (Great Aziscohos, I think). I know it's called GAS because there was a sign that said GAS. The whack was mostly reasonable with alot of moss. After GAS we drove to Shaw's in Monson to prepare for the start of Whackfest Tree.
Sept 3, 2006: West and East Lily Bay
The day started with breakfast at Shaw's. Mhrsebego and I both had "2 up" on French Toast and Eggs. We then drove to Greenville to meet up with Onestep and JimC who were looking at maps on the hood of a car. To get to Lily Bay Mountain just follow the signs to the B-52 and take a left just before Prong Mountain. Then take another left when you are directly South of Lily Bay Mountain. Caution, I recommend that you never actually look up at Lily Bay Mountain. You might see some things that can be disturbing, like lots of dead big trees and lots of little trees with the light green hue of very young firs and spruces. No matter, we started hiking up a logging road that ended at a little brook. We crossed the brook and found another old logging road that lead us toward the west peak. We started whacking where the road started to go in the wrong direction. The woods were mostly open at first, soon things got very steep but still open. At about 2800 feet we started to hit patches of the aforementioned dead trees and young firs and spruces. Once on the ridge the going was constantly thick to impenetrable with occasional 50 foot runs where we could see the person who was 10 feet in front of us. I think it took us over an hour to cover the .4 miles from where we hit the ridge to the East Peak. The jar had one entry (The Schlimmer, who reported that the previous log book was drenched). At the top, Onestep asked me the question that no bushwhacker ever wants to hear; "Excuse me, did you spill grape jelly on your pants?" Nope, those red stains weren't grape jelly, just a routine superficial flesh wound (possible photos later). Anyway, some of us weren't very happy with the ridge, so JimC suggested we drop down off the north side of the ridge as it looked more open as viewed from the top of East Lily Bay. Some of wondered why we would want to go down the wrong side of the mountain. Long story short; JimC is Da Man! The going was much better down low. We regained the ridge about .3 miles from the West Peak where we found a high quality herd path (As promised by the Schlimmer). The herd path led us to the summit area. West Lily Bay has a broad flat summit and it took us about a half hour to find the jar (Hint: go east beyond where the herd path goes away). On the descent we basically fought our way off the summit on a bearing to the vehicles. This tough day was completed fittingly when the low pressure area finally caught up to us. The last hour was done in a light rain storm which was enough to soak us all pretty good. I think Lily Bay will remain on my list of hard ones. One other hint: If you want to try this you might want to look in to an approach from the north. We saw a good looking road that came pretty far up into the northern bowl of the Lily Bay Ridge.
JimC, Mhrsebego, and Onestep were headed for the Bakers the next day. I headed home as they drove north 50% because of a gimpy ankle and 50% because of wimping out in drizzly wet weather. Reenforcements are due for the Spencers on Tuesday. As I drove west I found some better weather, hopefully the good weather reached the Greenville area before the Whackfest Tree crew got too wet.
Maybe Whackfest Tree Part Two will be published when they get back.
Mhrsebego and I met at the west end of the Lincoln Pond Road on Saturday morning for the prequel to Whackfest Tree. First we complied with the requirement that all bushwacks start with one or more people looking at a map on the hood of a car. After that we headed up the Lincoln Pond Road to the Old Lincoln Pond Road to about due west of Deer Mountain. Since we were due west of the mountain we decided to head due east. The woods were mostly open at the bottom, with very occasional scruffy spots as we headed up. The summit was guarded by a small amount of blowdown, but was adorned with a classic 100 highest style PVC cannister with all the usual suspects inside. There were also the remnants of the old fire tower. On the way down we let the woods push us a little to the south where the going was a bit scrubbier than on the way up. We decided that we would have been better off being compass nazis.
We got done with Deer at about 1:00, so we decided we had time for more fun. We headed back to 16 and a short trip to the west to the trailhead for Aziscohos. There we ran in to something that 3k baggers rarely see; People. After quickly brushing up on our English were able to communicate with most of them. The trail lead us to LAS (Low Aziscohos), from the trail junction it is about a .35 whack to GAS (Great Aziscohos, I think). I know it's called GAS because there was a sign that said GAS. The whack was mostly reasonable with alot of moss. After GAS we drove to Shaw's in Monson to prepare for the start of Whackfest Tree.
Sept 3, 2006: West and East Lily Bay
The day started with breakfast at Shaw's. Mhrsebego and I both had "2 up" on French Toast and Eggs. We then drove to Greenville to meet up with Onestep and JimC who were looking at maps on the hood of a car. To get to Lily Bay Mountain just follow the signs to the B-52 and take a left just before Prong Mountain. Then take another left when you are directly South of Lily Bay Mountain. Caution, I recommend that you never actually look up at Lily Bay Mountain. You might see some things that can be disturbing, like lots of dead big trees and lots of little trees with the light green hue of very young firs and spruces. No matter, we started hiking up a logging road that ended at a little brook. We crossed the brook and found another old logging road that lead us toward the west peak. We started whacking where the road started to go in the wrong direction. The woods were mostly open at first, soon things got very steep but still open. At about 2800 feet we started to hit patches of the aforementioned dead trees and young firs and spruces. Once on the ridge the going was constantly thick to impenetrable with occasional 50 foot runs where we could see the person who was 10 feet in front of us. I think it took us over an hour to cover the .4 miles from where we hit the ridge to the East Peak. The jar had one entry (The Schlimmer, who reported that the previous log book was drenched). At the top, Onestep asked me the question that no bushwhacker ever wants to hear; "Excuse me, did you spill grape jelly on your pants?" Nope, those red stains weren't grape jelly, just a routine superficial flesh wound (possible photos later). Anyway, some of us weren't very happy with the ridge, so JimC suggested we drop down off the north side of the ridge as it looked more open as viewed from the top of East Lily Bay. Some of wondered why we would want to go down the wrong side of the mountain. Long story short; JimC is Da Man! The going was much better down low. We regained the ridge about .3 miles from the West Peak where we found a high quality herd path (As promised by the Schlimmer). The herd path led us to the summit area. West Lily Bay has a broad flat summit and it took us about a half hour to find the jar (Hint: go east beyond where the herd path goes away). On the descent we basically fought our way off the summit on a bearing to the vehicles. This tough day was completed fittingly when the low pressure area finally caught up to us. The last hour was done in a light rain storm which was enough to soak us all pretty good. I think Lily Bay will remain on my list of hard ones. One other hint: If you want to try this you might want to look in to an approach from the north. We saw a good looking road that came pretty far up into the northern bowl of the Lily Bay Ridge.
JimC, Mhrsebego, and Onestep were headed for the Bakers the next day. I headed home as they drove north 50% because of a gimpy ankle and 50% because of wimping out in drizzly wet weather. Reenforcements are due for the Spencers on Tuesday. As I drove west I found some better weather, hopefully the good weather reached the Greenville area before the Whackfest Tree crew got too wet.
Maybe Whackfest Tree Part Two will be published when they get back.
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