Some smaller peaks in Eastern Maine

[Papa Bear]

I'm going to be climbing some peaks in Washington and Hancock Counties in Maine in a couple of weeks. If anyone knows anything about these, trails, parking, etc. please let me know.

1) Pigeon Hill - on the coast on Map 16 of DeLorme, which shows a dotted line from the NE. Google shows a "road" from the northwest.

2) Burke Hill - near Cherryfield, Map 25, between Rte 182 and Unionville Rd.

3) Tunk Hill - between Franklin and Cherryfield, also Map 25, north of 182. Some logging roads shown DeLorme looping around from the west.

4) Lead Mtn. aka Humpback - north of Rte 9 about 25 miles east of Bangor where Rte 193 turns off 9. DeLorme Map 24-25 shows logging road and trail from the southeast (also Topo map shows same). There is (was?) a tower on this peak.

Ooops, almost forgot. Any reasonable place to stay in Cherryfield or in the general area.


As usual, thanks for any help.

 

[Nate]

Last autumn I hiked pretty much everything in the East of the Penobscot section of the MMG (and since then I've unfortunately been kept too busy to post a proper trip report, but hope to in the coming weeks).

I've never heard of Pigeon or Burke Hills, but for Tunk Mountain, there is a trail that goes all the way to the top. It starts on Route 182, 0.8 miles west of the eastern end of Fox Pond, and is marked with a cairn, some flagging tape, and a sign that says "Tunk." Once on the trail, you'll reach a fork in about 200 yards, where you'll want to bear to the right, as well as the second intersection just beyond it. About a mile in, there's a trail intersection right before Salmon Pond. Turn left here, and once on the western side of the pond, take a second left to get up to Mud Pond. Once there, the trail circles to the western side this smaller pond, then starts heading north to climb up Tunk. It's basically a herd path at this point, but there's occasional blazes and bits of tape, and once you get to the steep climbing, there's even a rope. When I was up there, I found two of the reference marks (which are on ledges south of where the trails reaches the top of the mountain, and are near a green shed), but not the triangulation station (although at the time I didn't know to look for an X on the rocks). A little further south on the ledges is a disk left by the Maine Highway Department.

As for Lead, the trail and surrounding dirt roads have shifted around a bit since it's trail description was written. The description for the turn off of Route 9 is still correct (it's signed as CCC Road and the MFS building is still there). Once you drive past the large parking lot across the street from the fire barn, take the next left and follow it to the end, staying on the main dirt road the whole way. From there, there's a jeep path that continues up the hill to the UMO rain station. Right before you reach the rain site, you want to turn down a what is initially a faint trail (which is next to a brook). You follow this up to the old fire warden's cabin, and just past it the trail turns to the left and begins its outright climb up Lead. It's not very far to the top, and the fire tower on the summit has unfortunately been torn down, and a radio (or cell phone?) tower now stands in that clearing (you'll see the footings of the old fire tower off to one side). For the old Humpback triangulation station, this isn't in the main summit clearing, but in a lesser clearing just to the southwest in the general summit area. The spot is also occupied by a small frame thingy. While in the area, another worthwhile spot to visit is Pleasant Mountain, the COHP for Washington County. The route is described on the COHP website and entails a short, enjoyable bushwhack through open woods.