BillDC
New member
Number Four Mountain is just to the east of Moosehead Lake in Frenchtown Township. When I was last here in the early 90s, the original wardens trail started from the Frenchtown road just below First Roach pond. Since that time, Plum Creek has logged and built new roads throughout the area. They relocated the trailhead during this time and cut about 2+ miles off of the original trail.
To get to the new trailhead, we took the Lily Bay Road up from Greenville to the Meadow Brook road (about 13.3 mi from the blinking light in Greenville). If coming from the south, Meadow Brook road has a little pull-in just before the road. We took this road about 1.7 mi and then took a left. We continued to around 3.9 mi and parked. The trailhead is on the right side of this road and is clearly marked with Plum Creek sign. Plum Creek created a parking area on the left side of the road just before the trailhead.
The trail starts in a slightly wet area and soon arrives in an area where you can see Lagoon Brook on the left. If you go left and cross the brook, this is where the original watchman's trail from the Frenchtown road came in. Stay right and continue. Just above this junction with the old trail, the site of the old watchman's camp can be found on the right side up on a slight rise. A skidder has driven through the site, but multiple artifacts can be seen including the foundation, bed frame, sink and other items. Continuing on the trail you will start to climb a bit as you leave the old growth and quickly arrive into a long section of trail that traverses a cut area from 2007. This is all new growth and even now at the end of May is starting to get overgrown.
We continued through the logged area and at times, struggling to stay on the trail. The trail is well worn, it is just the encroaching new growth that is starting to eat away at the trail. This area continues for a while and you gradually rise to a point where the cut area ends and you enter old growth forest again. The trail almost immediately begins to get steep and stays that way until near the top where it levels off just before the summit. There were multiple blowdowns on this section, some look like they have been there for a while as the trail has been rerouted around it. Other blowdowns look newer. There is plenty of evidence of blowdowns that have been recently cut, so there appears to be some maintenance going on.
Arriving at the summit, the fire tower is still standing, though the cab has been blown off since the late 80s. This lookout operated until the end of the 1964 fire season and then closed. The tower is still accessible via ladder and provides access to great views. At the base of the tower just to the southeast, the remains of the cab can be found. At this spot, just to the southeast of the tower, another trail continues to an open area looking down into a back valley area. There were some wood artifacts here that someone has assembled into benches for seating. I also think I have read that this may have been a former Heliograph site. The trail leading to this area is not long, but something funny struck me about it. This trail contained an incredible amount of Moose crap. I mean the trail was a river of it for at least several hundred feet!
After taking in the views and checking out the "Team Maine Racing" Geocache, we descended and called it a day.
Some photos of this hike can be found here -
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/NumberFourMountainME5282010?feat=directlink
Bill
To get to the new trailhead, we took the Lily Bay Road up from Greenville to the Meadow Brook road (about 13.3 mi from the blinking light in Greenville). If coming from the south, Meadow Brook road has a little pull-in just before the road. We took this road about 1.7 mi and then took a left. We continued to around 3.9 mi and parked. The trailhead is on the right side of this road and is clearly marked with Plum Creek sign. Plum Creek created a parking area on the left side of the road just before the trailhead.
The trail starts in a slightly wet area and soon arrives in an area where you can see Lagoon Brook on the left. If you go left and cross the brook, this is where the original watchman's trail from the Frenchtown road came in. Stay right and continue. Just above this junction with the old trail, the site of the old watchman's camp can be found on the right side up on a slight rise. A skidder has driven through the site, but multiple artifacts can be seen including the foundation, bed frame, sink and other items. Continuing on the trail you will start to climb a bit as you leave the old growth and quickly arrive into a long section of trail that traverses a cut area from 2007. This is all new growth and even now at the end of May is starting to get overgrown.
We continued through the logged area and at times, struggling to stay on the trail. The trail is well worn, it is just the encroaching new growth that is starting to eat away at the trail. This area continues for a while and you gradually rise to a point where the cut area ends and you enter old growth forest again. The trail almost immediately begins to get steep and stays that way until near the top where it levels off just before the summit. There were multiple blowdowns on this section, some look like they have been there for a while as the trail has been rerouted around it. Other blowdowns look newer. There is plenty of evidence of blowdowns that have been recently cut, so there appears to be some maintenance going on.
Arriving at the summit, the fire tower is still standing, though the cab has been blown off since the late 80s. This lookout operated until the end of the 1964 fire season and then closed. The tower is still accessible via ladder and provides access to great views. At the base of the tower just to the southeast, the remains of the cab can be found. At this spot, just to the southeast of the tower, another trail continues to an open area looking down into a back valley area. There were some wood artifacts here that someone has assembled into benches for seating. I also think I have read that this may have been a former Heliograph site. The trail leading to this area is not long, but something funny struck me about it. This trail contained an incredible amount of Moose crap. I mean the trail was a river of it for at least several hundred feet!
After taking in the views and checking out the "Team Maine Racing" Geocache, we descended and called it a day.
Some photos of this hike can be found here -
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/NumberFourMountainME5282010?feat=directlink
Bill
