Coburn Gore in the Sunshine 6/3/07

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mhrsebago

New member
Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Messages
115
Reaction score
12
Leaving South Casco in a heavy mist, I was pleased that by my meeting point with Onestep (KMart in Auburn) the rain had stopped. The further north we drove the brighter the skies became. As we turned off Rt 27 well north of Eustis at the logging road by Clear Brook, blue sky and sun appeared. The first right hand turn on this road took us to within 1 mi of Sisk (3270'), a "straggler" which had eluded us two weeks earlier during Whackfest More. Hordes of black flies buzzed and landed maddeningly, but didn't bite (I remember now why I prefer winter hiking... luckily they were not an issue on any other peaks). The west slope of Sisk has been recently logged and offered a number of easy routes along old paths or open woods until the usual thickness guarding the summit. My new compass was doing its best imitation of Captain Jack Sparrow's and pointed everywhere but North, but ,of course, OneStep's sense of direction remained true.

Passing through Customs to Canada was painless (her cheery "bonjour" and dazzling blue eyes didn't hurt), then we off to ZEC Louise-Gosford. Past the gatehouse, a Left at the first intersection eventually meanders to within 1 km of the border. A well marked trail leads to the border swath and along it as well. It seems that our concerns regarding the legality of travelling along the swath have been overblown. In the winter there is high volume snowmobile traffic here and the Quebecquois maintain and use official hiking trails along the border here and at several other locations in their park system. Nevertheless, being whackers we opted to head offtrail to the swath just North of Monument 439 and then just inside Maine again to Unnamed Peak, Northwest Pond (3190'). It was here that Jim Crawford finished his 451 last fall!!

Back on the swath we were impressed, as have been many other recent posters, by the bounty of wildflowers - huge carpets of Spring beauty, Goldthread, a few white Moccasinflowers, twinflower. A very impressive ravine was crossed heading North to Monument 437 and Unnamed Peak, Massachusetts Bog (3030'). The jar here was shattered but replaced with the last of our jar repair supplies.

The US Customs agent was mildly more inquisitive and actually looked in the trunk, but didn't open any backpacks. Only a driver's liceinse required... Rt 27 south from Coburn Gore is spectacular - newly reconstructed, one can now actually appreciate the surrounding mountains, lakes and streams rather than hanging on for dear life as the driver dodges frost heaves and potholes. The Tim Pond Rd condition has improved considerably since Marc Howes' report of several weeks ago; there are still a few rutted, muddy sections, though, that require caution. As we approached Black Mt (3183'), the clouds were lower and darker, but still no precip. Starting on a logging road we meandered up through misty open mature forest to the open, blowndown, raspberry encrusted summit. The plastic jar here was in ruins, but we were out of replacement parts. On the descent we happened upon a freshly logged path that led directly down - faster, but less esthetically pleasing.

The mist didn't start until after we marvelled at the cloud-wreathed Bigelow Range across Flagstaff Lake. What a beautiful part of the world!!
 
My intention Sunday was to ‘whack Sisk, and then hit Black on the way home.

On the ride north Mark asked me “What peak do you want to do first?”
I replied “how about Sisk first, then Black on the way home” to which he responded “sounds good, get the straggler first then we’ll head to Canada to grab the Monument peaks”

What the heck I thought, a 4 peak blitz sounds good to me!

Mark! – you’re the man!!
 
Good for you guys, carrying replacement jars and repair kits with you on whacks. We all should do that...carry a replacement notebook or two, too. Weight is minimal, and you're helping to keep the game going.
I, on the other hand, have been lugging 3" capped PVC tubes with assorted hardware when a simple jar would be less burdensome. I gotta start buying peanut butter (for the jars.)
 
Nice report. I've got some questions about going up to 439 and 437.

When Oncoman and I did 443 last year I headed south to HH Boundary Peak (he went north), so I've not been north of 443.

1) How's the swath between 443 and 437? Last summer there were newly cleared sections with tons of slash that made travel very slow.

2) Is there any shortcut off of the swath back along any of the trails in that park, or did you walk all the way back on the swath? There's a trail going west from 443 to a nice parking lot at the head of the road that goes by the HH road (we took that going east from Gosford to 443). Anything further north? Their map shows something going west from the north side of the 438 ravine (plus some parking spots along a road heading back along the stream), but some of those trails on the map are nearly non-existant in the field.

In fact it looks like if you just wanted to do 439 and 437, you could drive to within about a half mile of the 438 ravine and hit them both fairly quickly - at least according to the map.

Thanks
Pb
 
Last edited:
Papa Bear said:
In fact it looks like if you just wanted to do 439 and 437, you could drive to within about a half mile of the 438 ravine and hit them both fairly quickly - at least according to the map.
Pb

Papa Bear,
That is the way we approached 437 & 439. The trails are well marked and in good shape both along the swath and in the woods.

An interesting note, the Gosford gate keeper informed us in broken english that the road towards Boundary Peak - 3810' is still closed due to "2 feet of snow". :eek: :eek: :confused:
 
onestep said:
Papa Bear,
That is the way we approached 437 & 439. The trails are well marked and in good shape both along the swath and in the woods.

An interesting note, the Gosford gate keeper informed us in broken english that the road towards Boundary Peak - 3810' is still closed due to "2 feet of snow". :eek: :eek: :confused:

3810? You mean the HH peak 3855' right?
 
Top