buckyball1
New member
ah, the end...at least for now 
Bear is near Bethel, more properly Sunday River ski area and can be approached from the north using the roads that take you to the Wright Trail for the Mahoosics (instead of the right turn after the two iron bridges, you go "straight". The paved and dirt road to the bridges are in good shape, but you need to exercise care after the bridges-no big ruts, but many sharp/exposed rocks waiting to puncture your tires.
There is a nice clearing (pit?) 3.5 after the iron bridges (could have easily gone in another 0.2 miles)- parked at 1200'. I followed an old, but hikable (not overgrown) road for about 1.4 miles to an altitude of about 2200' before heading into the woods-only problem was standing water everywhere. Streams that would probably be dry in a normal year were crazy high again and the terrain was soaked as it has been all summer. I certainly won't extol the joys of rainy weather hiking I've seen espoused recently--can't imagine any 'whacker in his/her right mind would. The ground in Maine has been saturated so every rainfall causes streams to go way up, swamps old logging roads and makes what is always iffy footing very hard to negotiate. I won't miss being soaked and dirty early in almost every hike.
The hike itself was routine-partly coudy, warm, humid day---modest thickness/slope down low after leaving the road to 'whack the last 0.6 miles and another 1000' of up, then some blowdowns, considerably steeper and lots of hobblebush and ferns so you can't see to place your feet-slip sliding all over. The top is covered with thick krumholtz and made the jar search a bit interesting. I knew there would be several "possible" knobs for the top so after finding what i was sure was the correct spot, (small piece of survey tape on a tree), but no jar, I struggled and looked at several more "maybe" spots--nothings; damn , I was not going to miss a jar on the last peak (think I've only missed 1 maybe 2). I went back to my "i'm sure it's this" knob and noticed not 1, but 2 jars at another bump about 35' away on the the same knob----yessss...one jar empty save for a plastic bag, the other had register placed in 2006 by Kurt? with PPen, Mark and mhr--then Nate and Marc in 2008 and Damon about 2 weeks ago--no others?--it's thick, but jar should be findable. I sat down on the open ledges, tried to dry out (soaked as per usual this year), then hustled down slowly
If you're one of the few who's interested in this stuff, Bear was my 99th and last of the Maine 1000' Prominence peaks-not sure anyone has done this list. Also not sure if this is an "end" or just a breather. I've done little other hiking other than these often obscure, lonely 'whacks since last August and i feel a bit burned out right now....(do i need company? ), but i am trying to find a list of ME Prom peaks # 100-200 . There's something addictive about these sometimes ugly, often neat hikes in places few go....and yes, the approach/hike logistics and meeting people everywhere i go were almost as important to me as the actual hikes
sorry for this, but feel the need
-thanks to Mike for starting me back on bushwhwacking after a 20 year hiatus from my years with the NYSHH (talk about lonely) and being along on the 3? non-solo peaks
-Papa Bear's detailed compilation of the 50F list got me started on "P" peaks
-Roy S put the ME 1Kp idea in my head and helped me throughout with good suggestions
-JP left bottles on a large # of the "99" in his wider adventure-loved seeing them--there are many with nobody else signed in between JP in late 90s/early 00s and me this last year
-Nate gave help with logistics on numerous peaks
-jt for encouragement and Moxie
-for advice and little notes- DR, dms, the mayor,JS, Neil (for GPS help and good Sawtooth stories; my old stomping ground), Albee, nDave, Marc, Audrey, Spencer, herb--am sure there are more, sorry
on to the Colorado rockpiles
jim
Bear is near Bethel, more properly Sunday River ski area and can be approached from the north using the roads that take you to the Wright Trail for the Mahoosics (instead of the right turn after the two iron bridges, you go "straight". The paved and dirt road to the bridges are in good shape, but you need to exercise care after the bridges-no big ruts, but many sharp/exposed rocks waiting to puncture your tires.
There is a nice clearing (pit?) 3.5 after the iron bridges (could have easily gone in another 0.2 miles)- parked at 1200'. I followed an old, but hikable (not overgrown) road for about 1.4 miles to an altitude of about 2200' before heading into the woods-only problem was standing water everywhere. Streams that would probably be dry in a normal year were crazy high again and the terrain was soaked as it has been all summer. I certainly won't extol the joys of rainy weather hiking I've seen espoused recently--can't imagine any 'whacker in his/her right mind would. The ground in Maine has been saturated so every rainfall causes streams to go way up, swamps old logging roads and makes what is always iffy footing very hard to negotiate. I won't miss being soaked and dirty early in almost every hike.
The hike itself was routine-partly coudy, warm, humid day---modest thickness/slope down low after leaving the road to 'whack the last 0.6 miles and another 1000' of up, then some blowdowns, considerably steeper and lots of hobblebush and ferns so you can't see to place your feet-slip sliding all over. The top is covered with thick krumholtz and made the jar search a bit interesting. I knew there would be several "possible" knobs for the top so after finding what i was sure was the correct spot, (small piece of survey tape on a tree), but no jar, I struggled and looked at several more "maybe" spots--nothings; damn , I was not going to miss a jar on the last peak (think I've only missed 1 maybe 2). I went back to my "i'm sure it's this" knob and noticed not 1, but 2 jars at another bump about 35' away on the the same knob----yessss...one jar empty save for a plastic bag, the other had register placed in 2006 by Kurt? with PPen, Mark and mhr--then Nate and Marc in 2008 and Damon about 2 weeks ago--no others?--it's thick, but jar should be findable. I sat down on the open ledges, tried to dry out (soaked as per usual this year), then hustled down slowly
If you're one of the few who's interested in this stuff, Bear was my 99th and last of the Maine 1000' Prominence peaks-not sure anyone has done this list. Also not sure if this is an "end" or just a breather. I've done little other hiking other than these often obscure, lonely 'whacks since last August and i feel a bit burned out right now....(do i need company?
), but i am trying to find a list of ME Prom peaks # 100-200 . There's something addictive about these sometimes ugly, often neat hikes in places few go....and yes, the approach/hike logistics and meeting people everywhere i go were almost as important to me as the actual hikessorry for this, but feel the need
-thanks to Mike for starting me back on bushwhwacking after a 20 year hiatus from my years with the NYSHH (talk about lonely) and being along on the 3? non-solo peaks
-Papa Bear's detailed compilation of the 50F list got me started on "P" peaks
-Roy S put the ME 1Kp idea in my head and helped me throughout with good suggestions
-JP left bottles on a large # of the "99" in his wider adventure-loved seeing them--there are many with nobody else signed in between JP in late 90s/early 00s and me this last year
-Nate gave help with logistics on numerous peaks
-jt for encouragement and Moxie
-for advice and little notes- DR, dms, the mayor,JS, Neil (for GPS help and good Sawtooth stories; my old stomping ground), Albee, nDave, Marc, Audrey, Spencer, herb--am sure there are more, sorry
on to the Colorado rockpiles
jim
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