BillDC
New member
Coburn Mountain, Upper Enchanted Mountain Twp
Headed toward the Jackman area hoping to get to the top of Coburn before the rain moved in. Headed over to Route 201 from Greenville. Found Enchanted Mountain Road easily (green street sign marks it) and headed in. This part of the road is well maintained and goes for a short while. The good part of the road heads left, while we went straight. The road has several culverts that are washed out, but can be crossed if taken slow. Other than the culverts, the road is more narrow but certainly passable with the Ford Explorer. No floorboard scraping necessary!
We arrived in a clearing with some old foundations of the former ski area still visible. Drove right and went further to a clearing where another washed out culvert stopped progress. We parked here. We continued on foot on this road where we quickly found another clearing where the old ski area maintenance road goes up left (Marked - "Coburn Mountain Trail Summit 2 Miles") and another road continues right to Parlin Pond (this is also ME Snowmobile route ITS 89). We went left up the maintenance road.
This rocky road wound its way up to a clearing. On the right, there is a small communication facility with solar panels and antenna tower. Beyond that, foundations for the old ski lifts are still visible. Going further in, a wide path rises through a gulley of snow. Very quickly the path forks. The more substantial left path goes into a logging area. The right fork is actually the trail. Immediately blocking the trail was a blowdown where there was an american flag in the stump. The trail which is well worn goes in a bit and then becomes very steep and climbs to the top. The wind was blowing very hard once we arrived and we knew rain was not far away.
At the top of the trail, you arrive in the middle of a communications facility with an array of solar panels and a single building with antennas. Off to the right is the fire tower, which was converted into an observation tower around 1999. It's still in great shape, though its footings are starting to crack and show their age.
Moments after we arrived, the first drops of rain appeared, and then some hail, and then some snow. We took in some diminishing views and decided to take the old wardens trail down and make a loop out of it. That trail leaves beyond the tower to the left of an old clearing which was the location of an old watchman's shack. It burned in the late 80s or early 90s.
The old trail can be easily followed from the summit. There are a few blowdowns early, but is fairly clear for a while. There are multiple generations of flagging on it and there are 2 generations of old phone lines (metalic and insulated line) that can be followed all the way down to the site of the old watchman's camp.
Continuing down under the forest cover, the trail gets steep and obscured with blowdowns and many herd paths crossing in all directions. Between flagging, old phone line on the ground, and insulators on the trees, we made our way down to a clearing where the last watchman's camp used to be. That camp was burned around 1970 and all that remains are artifacts of watchman life. Continuing on to the NE, the phone line runs, likely following the original watchman's trail route which went out to route 201 back in the day. Continuing on out the right corner of the watchman's clearing, it's a short walk out to a spur road that runs back to the maintenance road.
We headed back down the road and headed for a bite to eat in Jackman.
Williams Mountain, Misery Township
Heading out of Jackman on Route 6/15, we found the Williams Mountain Road just over the township line in Sandwich Academy Grant. This is a 4-way intersection with Demo road on the left and Williams Mountain road on the right. Taking the right, Plum Creek has their standard banner sign they use in active work areas displayed here. Also a road closure sign - "Road Closed At Mile 5" was displayed at the beginning.
Not going much more than 1 mile, we continued on. At around .8, there is another logging road on the right. Originally this road was not used much, but is now clear and in good shape due to active logging activities in this area. Continue for around 2.5 and find a logging road on the left. This road is also improved due to active logging. Depending on the vehicle, you may be able to get some of the way up the road.
This road is the approach road to the trailhead. We parked about 1/4 of the way in as it was raining and we did not want to get stuck in the mud. We walked a good distance and the road lost its "improved" status quickly. Deep culverts and growth and mud were the order of the day. An easy hike, but tortuous to a vehicle!
The well defined road ends in a clearing, though a weak road looks to still continue to the right of the clearing. I have been told that going right eventually leads to the tower as well. We took the trail off to the left of the clearing. The trail, which is normally wet on a good day, was torrential river with loads of mud on the lower half due to the rain. Some of the steep sections were draining well enough so not to be rivers. The trail then climbs up to the ridge and flattens for a while and then there is one last steep section where the trail winds around right and reaches the watchman's cabin.
The cabin is open and is used by snowmobilers and ATVers. The inside is still structurally in good shape. We dried off in the cabin and signed the log book. After exploring a bit, we followed the remainer of the trail up to the tower, which still stands and still has a cab. Due to the rain and fog, we did not climb the tower. There was also a jar on a tree near the tower, but we did not sign it as it was pouring rain.
After getting raingear in order, we closed up the cabin and headed back down to the truck.
A few crappy photos from a rainy day can be found here -
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/CoburnAndWilliamsMountainsME?feat=directlink
Bill
Headed toward the Jackman area hoping to get to the top of Coburn before the rain moved in. Headed over to Route 201 from Greenville. Found Enchanted Mountain Road easily (green street sign marks it) and headed in. This part of the road is well maintained and goes for a short while. The good part of the road heads left, while we went straight. The road has several culverts that are washed out, but can be crossed if taken slow. Other than the culverts, the road is more narrow but certainly passable with the Ford Explorer. No floorboard scraping necessary!
We arrived in a clearing with some old foundations of the former ski area still visible. Drove right and went further to a clearing where another washed out culvert stopped progress. We parked here. We continued on foot on this road where we quickly found another clearing where the old ski area maintenance road goes up left (Marked - "Coburn Mountain Trail Summit 2 Miles") and another road continues right to Parlin Pond (this is also ME Snowmobile route ITS 89). We went left up the maintenance road.
This rocky road wound its way up to a clearing. On the right, there is a small communication facility with solar panels and antenna tower. Beyond that, foundations for the old ski lifts are still visible. Going further in, a wide path rises through a gulley of snow. Very quickly the path forks. The more substantial left path goes into a logging area. The right fork is actually the trail. Immediately blocking the trail was a blowdown where there was an american flag in the stump. The trail which is well worn goes in a bit and then becomes very steep and climbs to the top. The wind was blowing very hard once we arrived and we knew rain was not far away.
At the top of the trail, you arrive in the middle of a communications facility with an array of solar panels and a single building with antennas. Off to the right is the fire tower, which was converted into an observation tower around 1999. It's still in great shape, though its footings are starting to crack and show their age.
Moments after we arrived, the first drops of rain appeared, and then some hail, and then some snow. We took in some diminishing views and decided to take the old wardens trail down and make a loop out of it. That trail leaves beyond the tower to the left of an old clearing which was the location of an old watchman's shack. It burned in the late 80s or early 90s.
The old trail can be easily followed from the summit. There are a few blowdowns early, but is fairly clear for a while. There are multiple generations of flagging on it and there are 2 generations of old phone lines (metalic and insulated line) that can be followed all the way down to the site of the old watchman's camp.
Continuing down under the forest cover, the trail gets steep and obscured with blowdowns and many herd paths crossing in all directions. Between flagging, old phone line on the ground, and insulators on the trees, we made our way down to a clearing where the last watchman's camp used to be. That camp was burned around 1970 and all that remains are artifacts of watchman life. Continuing on to the NE, the phone line runs, likely following the original watchman's trail route which went out to route 201 back in the day. Continuing on out the right corner of the watchman's clearing, it's a short walk out to a spur road that runs back to the maintenance road.
We headed back down the road and headed for a bite to eat in Jackman.
Williams Mountain, Misery Township
Heading out of Jackman on Route 6/15, we found the Williams Mountain Road just over the township line in Sandwich Academy Grant. This is a 4-way intersection with Demo road on the left and Williams Mountain road on the right. Taking the right, Plum Creek has their standard banner sign they use in active work areas displayed here. Also a road closure sign - "Road Closed At Mile 5" was displayed at the beginning.
Not going much more than 1 mile, we continued on. At around .8, there is another logging road on the right. Originally this road was not used much, but is now clear and in good shape due to active logging activities in this area. Continue for around 2.5 and find a logging road on the left. This road is also improved due to active logging. Depending on the vehicle, you may be able to get some of the way up the road.
This road is the approach road to the trailhead. We parked about 1/4 of the way in as it was raining and we did not want to get stuck in the mud. We walked a good distance and the road lost its "improved" status quickly. Deep culverts and growth and mud were the order of the day. An easy hike, but tortuous to a vehicle!
The well defined road ends in a clearing, though a weak road looks to still continue to the right of the clearing. I have been told that going right eventually leads to the tower as well. We took the trail off to the left of the clearing. The trail, which is normally wet on a good day, was torrential river with loads of mud on the lower half due to the rain. Some of the steep sections were draining well enough so not to be rivers. The trail then climbs up to the ridge and flattens for a while and then there is one last steep section where the trail winds around right and reaches the watchman's cabin.
The cabin is open and is used by snowmobilers and ATVers. The inside is still structurally in good shape. We dried off in the cabin and signed the log book. After exploring a bit, we followed the remainer of the trail up to the tower, which still stands and still has a cab. Due to the rain and fog, we did not climb the tower. There was also a jar on a tree near the tower, but we did not sign it as it was pouring rain.
After getting raingear in order, we closed up the cabin and headed back down to the truck.
A few crappy photos from a rainy day can be found here -
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/CoburnAndWilliamsMountainsME?feat=directlink
Bill
