buckyball1
New member
I traveled back to the Katahdin Ironworks area again today to get in at least one/two more peaks before the coming Nor'easter-maybe scout approaches. It was foggy when i left Orrington, mostly sunny when i arrived at the KI gate (unmanned and free after Columbus day 
), but with high cirrus clouds moving in---28 degrees at 7AM
After doing Ebeemee yesterday, i wanted to hike/check out a series of three relatively close peaks running SW from the KI gate.While parked near the gate getting my gear ready, I talked with two guys hunting moose and several bird hunters. As I was ready to head in, the guy doing grading near Ebeemee yesterday came rolling by, saw me and stopped to chat. He reviewed my planned road approaches, thought i'd be fine and warned me about a few washouts/cave-ins.
Houston-1543'-I headed down the Ore Mt Road and turned onto the Houston Rd-both in decent shape. I had been planning to approach Houston from the north on the Cook Rd and park at a hunting camp, but found the camp was long out of business and the road impassable in one spot. The Houston Rd worked well and i was able to park about a crow flies mile SE of the peak. I totally screwed up my approach after passing across an old log clearing with chest high growth and took the wrong skid road - soon dumped in the woods. So i just went "up" and finally found my planned skid trail about 1/2 way up the mountain. I had missed it down low by only about 100 feet. Nothing hard in the woods or on the skid road. As expected, the skid road ended about 0.35 mile from the top and i was able to 'whack thru nice open hardwoods all the way to the peak which was located in a dense grove of evergreen-no views. Descent easy and quick
....I drove back to the Ore Mt Road and headed "W/SW" to Camp Pond and turned "SE"-decent dirt to here , but some axle breaking spots on mostly good dirt roads after this.Now back in about 15 miles from Rt 11, i parked NW of
Roaring Brook-1771'-The entire area i was in today has been heavily logged about 2/3 of the way up each peak. Of course this was some years ago and the skid roads are heavily overgrown, very wet right now and Roaring Brook's were filled with piles of slash-ugly walking and i actually stayed in woods much of the way up. As expected, the woods became much steeper and denser about 0.25 from the top. About 0.10 from the peak, i hit a wall of that super thick spruce 4-10' high that is very difficult to even push through-my thought was, "how will i ever find the top for sure?". Surprise--at the summit was a rocky clearing-obvious top and even some obstructed views. After tackling the evergreen band again, it was smooth sailing down with clear/excellent panoramic views of Whitecap, Hay, Chairback, Columbus, etc.
The skies had now turned totally grey, the wind was picking up and i thought i'd at least check out one more before i headed home early
Benson-1910'-I was a bit worried about Benson as the route i favored was steep near the top and i saw a big band of evergreens guarding the summit. The "top" was uncertain as there is a fairly uncommon? , longish, thin summit ridge all within the same contour. So i go back in another 4 miles past Roaring Brook (18-19 altogether, far beyond any hunting activity/logging/people) and manage to avoid one wicked washout thanks to the "grader guy".
I had even thought about trying an alternate route over less steep terrain up the east ridge of Benson-more than twice as long as "the direct" from the north--but i'm a sucker for the diretissimas. I headed straight into the woods from north of the peak (no skid roads) and had nice open hardwoods and moderate slope. I hit the "steeps" (500' of vertical in 0.2+ miles) where i expected, but the evergreens were very tall and the forest floor was open and clear of blowdown--great stuff, steep is fine in such open going.
The ridge was indeed fairly sharp with several large erratics scattered around. I came up within 100' of what i thought was the "top", but ran the ridge (a delight with partial nice views) about 0.1 miles in each direction. There are two contenders for "top" about 400 feet apart.---yessss, a "worrisome" hike that turned out to be fun.
...19 mile haul back to the hard road.... but wait, i see my moose hunting friends from this morning parked about 1/2 way out and they have a moose, first one for either in over 15 years..has taken them several hours to haul the beast a few hundred feet to the road/trailer, but they're ecstatic
..great day back in pretty "deep" again where three potentially problematic hikes turn out to be satisfying climbs
(and yes, way too much hiking this past week)
jim
), but with high cirrus clouds moving in---28 degrees at 7AMAfter doing Ebeemee yesterday, i wanted to hike/check out a series of three relatively close peaks running SW from the KI gate.While parked near the gate getting my gear ready, I talked with two guys hunting moose and several bird hunters. As I was ready to head in, the guy doing grading near Ebeemee yesterday came rolling by, saw me and stopped to chat. He reviewed my planned road approaches, thought i'd be fine and warned me about a few washouts/cave-ins.
Houston-1543'-I headed down the Ore Mt Road and turned onto the Houston Rd-both in decent shape. I had been planning to approach Houston from the north on the Cook Rd and park at a hunting camp, but found the camp was long out of business and the road impassable in one spot. The Houston Rd worked well and i was able to park about a crow flies mile SE of the peak. I totally screwed up my approach after passing across an old log clearing with chest high growth and took the wrong skid road - soon dumped in the woods. So i just went "up" and finally found my planned skid trail about 1/2 way up the mountain. I had missed it down low by only about 100 feet. Nothing hard in the woods or on the skid road. As expected, the skid road ended about 0.35 mile from the top and i was able to 'whack thru nice open hardwoods all the way to the peak which was located in a dense grove of evergreen-no views. Descent easy and quick
....I drove back to the Ore Mt Road and headed "W/SW" to Camp Pond and turned "SE"-decent dirt to here , but some axle breaking spots on mostly good dirt roads after this.Now back in about 15 miles from Rt 11, i parked NW of
Roaring Brook-1771'-The entire area i was in today has been heavily logged about 2/3 of the way up each peak. Of course this was some years ago and the skid roads are heavily overgrown, very wet right now and Roaring Brook's were filled with piles of slash-ugly walking and i actually stayed in woods much of the way up. As expected, the woods became much steeper and denser about 0.25 from the top. About 0.10 from the peak, i hit a wall of that super thick spruce 4-10' high that is very difficult to even push through-my thought was, "how will i ever find the top for sure?". Surprise--at the summit was a rocky clearing-obvious top and even some obstructed views. After tackling the evergreen band again, it was smooth sailing down with clear/excellent panoramic views of Whitecap, Hay, Chairback, Columbus, etc.
The skies had now turned totally grey, the wind was picking up and i thought i'd at least check out one more before i headed home early
Benson-1910'-I was a bit worried about Benson as the route i favored was steep near the top and i saw a big band of evergreens guarding the summit. The "top" was uncertain as there is a fairly uncommon? , longish, thin summit ridge all within the same contour. So i go back in another 4 miles past Roaring Brook (18-19 altogether, far beyond any hunting activity/logging/people) and manage to avoid one wicked washout thanks to the "grader guy".
I had even thought about trying an alternate route over less steep terrain up the east ridge of Benson-more than twice as long as "the direct" from the north--but i'm a sucker for the diretissimas. I headed straight into the woods from north of the peak (no skid roads) and had nice open hardwoods and moderate slope. I hit the "steeps" (500' of vertical in 0.2+ miles) where i expected, but the evergreens were very tall and the forest floor was open and clear of blowdown--great stuff, steep is fine in such open going.
The ridge was indeed fairly sharp with several large erratics scattered around. I came up within 100' of what i thought was the "top", but ran the ridge (a delight with partial nice views) about 0.1 miles in each direction. There are two contenders for "top" about 400 feet apart.---yessss, a "worrisome" hike that turned out to be fun.
...19 mile haul back to the hard road.... but wait, i see my moose hunting friends from this morning parked about 1/2 way out and they have a moose, first one for either in over 15 years..has taken them several hours to haul the beast a few hundred feet to the road/trailer, but they're ecstatic
..great day back in pretty "deep" again where three potentially problematic hikes turn out to be satisfying climbs
(and yes, way too much hiking this past week)
jim
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