buckyball1
New member
.... been putting these two off for awhile as i dreaded the drive...about 370 miles total including 150 of dirt....check them out on Delorme pg 56.....
I headed up toward Millinocket with a "sliver" moon just coming up..turned out the Golden Rd, north on Telos to the gate for North Maine Woods. I checked in at the gate and drove further up Telos to Chamberlain Lake. The dirt roads today were all in excellent shape, Telos almost a highway. The worst road was the stretch of Golden Rd between Millinocket and ABOL bridge-paved road, but with huge holes all over the place-getting worse since the mill closed in 2006 and apparently much less $ for maintaining the surface. I swung around Chamberlain Lake and picked up the "522 Rd"north to Haymock Lake..then to Pillsbury Lake, west on the "47 Mile Connector" (been here to do Big Reed) and to the Cyr Rd. There's logging by the Pelletiers north of the Telos gate, so right now you really need to be careful dodging log trucks. Deer and rabbits all over the place.
I had planned for a grueling drive today, but expected both hikes to be short/steep, no issues....so very wrong. Going with no beta on either peak.. i didn't even ask BillDC, my "tower peak guy" for details re Soper--the routes looked so obvious.
Soper-1685'-I planned to swing east off the Cyr Rd and drive about 2+ miles to the west side of Soper and just go for it....Delorme showed probably drivable log roads and they looked "good enough" on the sat pics...well. When i got there, my roads were heavily overgrown, rutted and very wet from thunderstorms 2 nights ago. I decided to park on the Cyr Rd and turn a 1ish mile round trip into a 5+ mile round trip. I hiked up the road, wet, bit muddy, weedy, but no big rocks and decided "i really should try to drive this"..back to the car, then thought, "better not, as getting stuck out here would be disaster"..back up the road, berating myself for being "chicken", then about 0.2 miles later, it becomes apparent that a tank might have difficulty getting to my planned start point-deep washouts, mud, etc.--Do not try to drive this even in the dry.
After 2+ miles i reach the planned start point west of the peak and 'whack directly into the col between the north and south summits of Soper--south is the peak for today. Getting into the col isn't bad, but going up the north slope is pretty thick and a bit steep, no sign of a watchman's trail-you earn the summit. I've been almost totally soaked since 5 minutes into the hike and the boots are getting bathed..GoreTex in leather Crestas is decent, not wonderful..or maybe i'm sweating.
Soper was a tower peak (dismantled between 1993-96) and now sports a USGS reference plaque, communications tower, an old shed and the strewn metal of the tower skeleton and wood of the cab-views all grown in. The sun is out, i'm feeling good and decide to change my usual mode of operation and soak up some sun. Wandering the summit, i notice a "trail" headed off to the SSW--the old watchman's trail?, but someone has cleaned it recently. I decide to do a dumb thing (nobody would know where i was as my "plan" left at home doesn't show this possible descent) and head down that way on map/compass/altimeter hoping it leads close to my car. The trail is easy to descend and comes out further down the overgrown log road i used before whacking to the col. Approaching this point again, i decide to turn into the woods and whack straight for the Cyr Rdrather than using the circuitous series of roads i hiked in on.--works OK.
So back down the Cyr Rd, east on the 47 Connector and then north on the 522Rd to the Churchill Dam Rd--then west to vicinity of Harrow Lake. Yes, i'm pretty far "in" by now if anything goes awry with the car
. This always concerns me more than something bad happening to me on the actual hikes. I turn in toward Harrow Lake, expecting to get to the north side of Harrow again 0.5 miles from the peak-short and steep...and again wrong. It turns out even the "main" road to Harrow Lake has had washouts for many of last number of years and almost nobody ventures back here. I park several miles from where i hoped to start the 'whack and again i just decide to walk.
Harrow-1688'-The old road is overgrown, but much easier hiking than the one leading to Soper. After about 3/4 mile (and a dance with a cow/calf moose pair), i swing onto a very overgrown skid trail headed straight south at the peak. The woods have dried out under heavy sun and the going thru chest high growth isn't bad until about 0.3 from the summit. Harrow then lives up to it's name-steep, blowdowns, moss, rock traps, the usual crap on a "bad" peak.
I manage to have my watch torn off my wrist w/o realizing it as i'm undergoing a full body beating-no big deal, always a Walmart cheapo as i'm good at losing things whacking heavy woods. The top is about as bad as it gets, just grim-dark, pickup stick blowdown, balsam spears, rock traps-hard to move 20 feet in a straight line. The summit? Well, i had a waypoint and crashed all around, but who knows; top looked like a spot with a huge rootball blowdown in very thick woods.
Descent not too bad, steep and a lot of serious sidehill down stuff-Crestas struggle with not enough torsional stability, but toes feel fine. I realize i've been working/hiking and not concerned about which body part might break or fall off--no longer worried re physical issues (i hope)-- i'm "back" and feels really good-doesn't matter Harrow has been an ugly hike.
At the car, i meet my first human of the day (other than the gate person), a guy who's been a Maine Guide for 51 years and specializes in bear hunts-he's checking all his bait sites. He's the one who fills me in on the area around Harrow and also tells me to use my Medicare before Aug 2nd--bright/nice "old" rural Maine guy--at least 3-4 years older than i --we talk 1/2 hour.
Then it's back on the endless dirt roads-driving waaay too fast. From the Golden Rd, I check out the ABOL Slide up the Magic Mountain (always amazed how steep it looks) and think about whether i'll make what has become an annual Sept hike up that way .....drive through an even more forlorn Millinocket area and finally hit Rt95 to home.
..tired, but a very, very good day for me
jim
I headed up toward Millinocket with a "sliver" moon just coming up..turned out the Golden Rd, north on Telos to the gate for North Maine Woods. I checked in at the gate and drove further up Telos to Chamberlain Lake. The dirt roads today were all in excellent shape, Telos almost a highway. The worst road was the stretch of Golden Rd between Millinocket and ABOL bridge-paved road, but with huge holes all over the place-getting worse since the mill closed in 2006 and apparently much less $ for maintaining the surface. I swung around Chamberlain Lake and picked up the "522 Rd"north to Haymock Lake..then to Pillsbury Lake, west on the "47 Mile Connector" (been here to do Big Reed) and to the Cyr Rd. There's logging by the Pelletiers north of the Telos gate, so right now you really need to be careful dodging log trucks. Deer and rabbits all over the place.
I had planned for a grueling drive today, but expected both hikes to be short/steep, no issues....so very wrong. Going with no beta on either peak.. i didn't even ask BillDC, my "tower peak guy" for details re Soper--the routes looked so obvious.
Soper-1685'-I planned to swing east off the Cyr Rd and drive about 2+ miles to the west side of Soper and just go for it....Delorme showed probably drivable log roads and they looked "good enough" on the sat pics...well. When i got there, my roads were heavily overgrown, rutted and very wet from thunderstorms 2 nights ago. I decided to park on the Cyr Rd and turn a 1ish mile round trip into a 5+ mile round trip. I hiked up the road, wet, bit muddy, weedy, but no big rocks and decided "i really should try to drive this"..back to the car, then thought, "better not, as getting stuck out here would be disaster"..back up the road, berating myself for being "chicken", then about 0.2 miles later, it becomes apparent that a tank might have difficulty getting to my planned start point-deep washouts, mud, etc.--Do not try to drive this even in the dry.
After 2+ miles i reach the planned start point west of the peak and 'whack directly into the col between the north and south summits of Soper--south is the peak for today. Getting into the col isn't bad, but going up the north slope is pretty thick and a bit steep, no sign of a watchman's trail-you earn the summit. I've been almost totally soaked since 5 minutes into the hike and the boots are getting bathed..GoreTex in leather Crestas is decent, not wonderful..or maybe i'm sweating.
Soper was a tower peak (dismantled between 1993-96) and now sports a USGS reference plaque, communications tower, an old shed and the strewn metal of the tower skeleton and wood of the cab-views all grown in. The sun is out, i'm feeling good and decide to change my usual mode of operation and soak up some sun. Wandering the summit, i notice a "trail" headed off to the SSW--the old watchman's trail?, but someone has cleaned it recently. I decide to do a dumb thing (nobody would know where i was as my "plan" left at home doesn't show this possible descent) and head down that way on map/compass/altimeter hoping it leads close to my car. The trail is easy to descend and comes out further down the overgrown log road i used before whacking to the col. Approaching this point again, i decide to turn into the woods and whack straight for the Cyr Rdrather than using the circuitous series of roads i hiked in on.--works OK.
So back down the Cyr Rd, east on the 47 Connector and then north on the 522Rd to the Churchill Dam Rd--then west to vicinity of Harrow Lake. Yes, i'm pretty far "in" by now if anything goes awry with the car
. This always concerns me more than something bad happening to me on the actual hikes. I turn in toward Harrow Lake, expecting to get to the north side of Harrow again 0.5 miles from the peak-short and steep...and again wrong. It turns out even the "main" road to Harrow Lake has had washouts for many of last number of years and almost nobody ventures back here. I park several miles from where i hoped to start the 'whack and again i just decide to walk.Harrow-1688'-The old road is overgrown, but much easier hiking than the one leading to Soper. After about 3/4 mile (and a dance with a cow/calf moose pair), i swing onto a very overgrown skid trail headed straight south at the peak. The woods have dried out under heavy sun and the going thru chest high growth isn't bad until about 0.3 from the summit. Harrow then lives up to it's name-steep, blowdowns, moss, rock traps, the usual crap on a "bad" peak.
I manage to have my watch torn off my wrist w/o realizing it as i'm undergoing a full body beating-no big deal, always a Walmart cheapo as i'm good at losing things whacking heavy woods. The top is about as bad as it gets, just grim-dark, pickup stick blowdown, balsam spears, rock traps-hard to move 20 feet in a straight line. The summit? Well, i had a waypoint and crashed all around, but who knows; top looked like a spot with a huge rootball blowdown in very thick woods.
Descent not too bad, steep and a lot of serious sidehill down stuff-Crestas struggle with not enough torsional stability, but toes feel fine. I realize i've been working/hiking and not concerned about which body part might break or fall off--no longer worried re physical issues (i hope)-- i'm "back" and feels really good-doesn't matter Harrow has been an ugly hike.
At the car, i meet my first human of the day (other than the gate person), a guy who's been a Maine Guide for 51 years and specializes in bear hunts-he's checking all his bait sites. He's the one who fills me in on the area around Harrow and also tells me to use my Medicare before Aug 2nd
--bright/nice "old" rural Maine guy--at least 3-4 years older than i --we talk 1/2 hour. Then it's back on the endless dirt roads-driving waaay too fast. From the Golden Rd, I check out the ABOL Slide up the Magic Mountain (always amazed how steep it looks) and think about whether i'll make what has become an annual Sept hike up that way .....drive through an even more forlorn Millinocket area and finally hit Rt95 to home.
..tired, but a very, very good day for me
jim
Last edited:
